Yeah.

SWo. It's friggin' midnight. I'm all sleepy on the couch, just about to go upstairs to go to bed. The hubby comes schlumping down the stairs, swearing. He checks out his PT's, and swears more.
One of his Sgt's just texted, telling him to make sure it's spotless for tomorrow. At friggin' midnight!! He couldn't have texted just a little earlier?!

So now I have to stay up for another hour and a half. Why? 25 minutes to wash, and an hour to dry, and I have to check them when they're done. Our dryer is a little spotty and sometimes doesn't dry things all the way, and I'm not letting my husband walk out in 10 degree weather wearing damp clothing.

Seriously, someone needs to unfuck themselves. Don't get me wrong, it's not my hubby's fault, or his Sgt's fault. It's whoever the hell is higher up sending out these orders that doesn't care about the soldiers, just about image. So - Unfuck yourselves!

Stress

It's been a few days since I last posted. Things have been a little crazy here. We're in a really bad financial situation, so we've been working on getting an AER loan to get some relief. According to our financial worksheet, we're -400 every month. Pretty sure I made some errors in there, though, because I know we're not, lol.
I've also been trying to help my best friend. She's having a hard time with her pregnancy, and her husband is kind of an ass lately. My house is a disaster zone, because I can't seem to find the time or motivation to truly clean. My husband had to pack his tuff box and bring it in. Problem is, no one was ever told what you can and can't pack. Plus, deployment is still 3 months away. So, he threw in a blanket, a pillow and a book.
My daughter is going through a stage where she doesn't want to listen. She completely ignores me, and when I try to tell her to do something, she says, "I don't want to!"

So that's annoying. We're also trying to break her off the sippy cup. It's a struggle. I worry about her not drinking enough, but at the same time, it's kind of ridiculous for her to have three cups of milk throughout the night.
We're heading to Golden Corral, on the 17th. They're having a night where soldiers eat free. Hopefully that'll be fun.

I guess that's all for now. Stressed, tired, and waiting for the hubby to come home from therapy.

Well, crap!

So it's official. Barack Obama is our next president.

And I'm scared shitless.

I watched the whole thing on CNN last night, and I knew it was over when McCain lost Pennsylvania. I'm sad, disappointed, and slightly disgusted.

McCain and Palin were raked over the coals for the littlest things by the MSM, meanwhile Obama enjoyed "golden boy" status. I truly believe had the MSM not been so harshly biased, this outcome would be different.

Comparing government experience alone, it should have been a landslide in favor of McCain. And yet the American public allowed the wool to be pulled over their eyes. They heard promises of big things, and jumped on the Obama bandwagon.

Some of the pundits have said that it was the Minority and the Young voters who won this for Obama. Well, apparently they aren't really a minority anymore, now are they? As for the young voters, it just saddens me. I asked my own sister, who was a first time voter, why she supported Obama. She couldn't list a single reason actually related to any important issue. It basically came down to "McCain is too old, and Obama is cool. "

This, more than any election I've been old enough to understand, was a popularity contest.

Important issues were thrown out the window in favor of familiarity, sniping and the grasping onto whatever would make the voters vote.

Am I the only one who wonders, where the hell has the military actions in the middle east gone? To me personally, and many of the people I know, that is by far the most important issue.

Screw the economy. It will bounce back, like it always has. I do not believe for a single moment that our economy is literally about to collapse. Our country has seen worse, and survived.

But the men and women who are sacrificing their lives in the middle east just aren't as important, and that makes me furious. The economy will come back, those men and women will not? Which is more important?

Why did the press make such a huge deal over Palin's wardrobe, meanwhile ignoring the associations and friendships of Obama, such as Bill Ayers, Reverend Wright, etc? How are her clothes more important?

I don't give a shit how much she, or the GOP, spends on her clothes. I'd rather have her dressed in Gucci than in LL Bean plaid. What she wears had no direct effect on her policies, ideals, or morals. Obama's friendships and associations have a very real direct effect on his policies, ideals and morals. And yet her clothing is more important to the MSM.

Screw the media. Screw the bandwagon voters. Screw the uninformed masses who listen to the hype instead of doing their own research. You've just screwed the pooch.

Obama's Grandmother

The Obama camp has confirmed to the MSM that Obama's grandmother passed away last night after a long battle with cancer. The timing of her passing is sad and tragic. While I'm not an Obama supporter, I remember that Obama is a person, with loved family members, and a heart that surely aches at this loss. I worry that this sad event will be seized upon by unscrupulous members of our society, and made into a mockery to bash the Obama campaign. My vote is strongly McCain, but I also respect anyone in the public view who is suffering from grief. I guess the point of my post is this: Democrat, Republican, Independant, black, white, brown, or any of the other labels you could give... Offer you prayers or well-wishes for the Obama family during this time, leave the politics out of it. If it was your grandma, would you want your political ideals dragged in?

Give Me A Break...

So let me get this straight...

Barack Obama graduated law school. Practiced as a Civil Rights attorney. Taught Constitutional Law. Is a Senator.

And he didn't know his aunt was living in the U.S. illegally? All the while, contributing illegally to his campaign??

He claims it's because they had "limited contact" over the years. But there was enough contact for her to be present at his Swearing-In Ceremony to the Illinois Senate.

How the hell did it just escape his attention entirely that this woman was literally a fugitive? She was ordered to leave the country in 2004 by Immigration. And yet, she's still here. Not only here, but living in government-provided housing!

Seriously. Give me a break.

Arrrgh....

So the past few days have been so crazy. My husband was supposed to get home from his MRX around 1800 Wednesday. So, I was there to pick him up, as he'd asked me to. Our cell phones weren't working, so we had no way to keep in touch. After sitting in the parking lot for three hours, I headed to my friend's house, as her husband (Pv2 Magoo) and mine are in the same unit. Turns out, he had called to let her know they were stuck there, and had no idea when they would be home. So I waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, he comes home about 0530. I had waited up in case he needed me to pick him up, but he ended up getting a ride from Pv2 Magoo. He had enough time to grab a shower, brush his teeth, shave and take a two-hour nap. I needed the car for the day, so I had to drive him to work.

Somewhere while waiting last night, I lost my ID. Normally not a big deal, but when you live on post it's impossible to do a damn thing without it. So I dropped him off, picked up Pv2 Magoos wife and her two boys, strapped my daughter in with, and we were on our way. First stop, looking for my ID.

No luck. We searched parking lots, the car, my house, her house, everywhere. So we headed over to the MP desk, and I reported it lost/stolen. Then I dropper her off at her house, ran to pick up my husband for lunch, and returned to her house to eat. He grabbed some pancakes, and took his time, as he had permission from his Team Leader to go with me to Bldg 600 after 1300.

So, we strap our kiddo in and head out. We get there, so I can get a new ID, and there's literally 20 dudes waiting in the room. 15 of them are from his unit. Apparently it was the deadline for them to make sure their tags were updated. So I ended up meeting a bunch of the guys he works with that I've never gotten the chance to meet. Kinda neat.

We waited about an hour, and finally got to go in and get my new ID. Quick like a bunny. Then it was off to the AER office to see if we can get a little help, because we're behind on a couple bills and right now it's just not possible to catch up. We get the paperwork, hear what we need to do, and we leave. Off to JAG. We got our General POA done, and our Military Affairs POA done. Took about 10 minutes once we got in the office. Made an appointment to go back in a couple weeks and get Wills and Living Wills done. Finally, I drop him off back at work. It's 1530. I head over the Pv2's wife's house, as we're supposed to go grocery shopping together. No luck, she has her sign up, letting people know she's napping with the boys.

Pv2's wife, Kristen, is 7 months pregnant with their third child. All boys! Since I only have one midget, and it's a girl, which is so much easier, I generally help her out with her two, bring her shopping and do errands and appt's with her, since she's so very preggo.

Anyways, I head home, sit down for about an hour, then leave again to pick up my hubby from work. I pick him up, I make dinner and we all head to bed early since we, Ember included, only got a couple hours sleep the night before.

He wakes up 0515 to head to PT, is released early to go to a dentist appointment. From there, he runs to his first of the day therapy appointments, then comes home. He gets here about 9, wakes me up, so we wake up the kiddo. We have breakfast, then just kinda relax for a while.

About 1100, I leave Ember with Derrick, and head to Kristen's house. Pv2 Magoo is home for lunch, so we ditch the boys with him, and head to do our grocery shopping. We get it done in record time, and we're back at her house by 1245. I drop her off, and go home.

Ember's down for her nap, so me and Derrick just chill. Watch some TV, surf the web a bit, the usual. He leaves at about 1430 to head to his next appointment. I wake up Ember at about 1630, and he returns home shortly after.

I leave Derrick and Ember at home, and run to pick up Kristen. We go to Wal-Mart, where we speed shop to get some crafts to throw together the rest of Ember's Halloween costume. I also picked up some more hair dye, some shampoo and conditioner, and a new belt, as mine literally fell off me while shopping because I've lost so much weight in the past few months. We run back to post to pick up Derrick and Ember to go to her house to get ready for Trick or Treating. Well, his dentist had given him fillings, and he was in agony. He ended up staying home, and we grabbed Ember.

We returned to her house, threw together the rest of her costume, and headed out with Ember, Kristen, Pv2 Magoo, and their two boys, Kyle and Zack. We head to the Mall, where there's supposed to be Trick or Treating store to store. Well, only about 10 stores in a three story building actually gave anything out. We give up, and decide to go back to Wal-Mart and just buy the kids some candy. The kids didn't know better, they still had fun being dressed up and running around the mall. While we're at Wal-Mart, I pick up a movie to watch with the hubby.

We finally get back to post, I head home, and put Ember to bed. We pop in the movie, and just chill. We watch Journey To The Center Of The Earth. It was a pretty damn fun movie. When it was over, we watched the last hour of Ghost Hunter's Live, followed by a movie called Gravedancers, which was creepy as hell. We head to bed, and that was that.

And now it's Saturday morning. I feel drained, exhausted, but happy. It was a crazy few days, but we got a lot done, and had a lot of fun in the process. Kristen is my best friend here in Alaska. I love that girl to death, and I'm so glad we're able to ignore the drama and be friends. We also had picked up an acrylic nail kit while we were at Wal-Mart, and she's going to help me with that, and dying and trimming my hair on Sunday. She took cosmetology and worked as a hairdresser, so she knows what she's doing, which is more than what I can say! So anyways, that's it for right now. I've been ignoring the news since I've been so busy, but hopefully I can catch up today and get back to posting regularly. I noticed I've got what looks like a regular viewer or two. Feel free to leave me a comment and say hi!

Obama and Redistribution of Wealth

From Michelle Malkin :

The blogosphere is buzzing about this video posted on YouTube Sunday night. It’s Barack Obama musing about how best to redistribute wealth in America in a Chicago Public Radio interview in 2001.

Not whether, but how: Through the courts or through legislation?

A caller asks The One to explain how he would do “reparative economic work.” Obama gives the legislative route two thumbs up as his preferred method of “breaking free of the constraints” placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution and then burbles about cobbling together the “actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change.”


Read the rest here.

Frustration

So, it's 3:30 am. I would love to be in bed, sleeping. However, a conversation about me wanting a dog, was somehow turned into a conversation about me spending money, and then into me being selfish. Now, I'm annoyed to the point I really want nothing to do with my husband.

I brought up that I would like to get a dog while he deploys. Partly for some comfort, and partly because it would make me feel a little safer without him here. He started talking about how I keep wanting to spend money, and I keep finding reasons to do so. His reasoning being that I mentioned wanting a new set of dining room chairs, and a new bed. Granted, those things cost money, but I have legitimate reasons for them.

The chairs. The ones we have right now, are badly damaged by age. The support bars that hold the legs stable are all broken, and all of the legs are badly loose. They're a safety hazard for our daughter. I'm worried that she's going to climb up to eat, and the chair is going to collapse. So, we need new chairs. I don't give a crap about a matching dining set, U just want sturdy chairs. I'll even buy secondhand, I don't much care.

The bed. I have a birth defect in my spine that causes me daily pain. It has been an issue in my life since I was 12. It will affect me for the rest of my life. Living with chronic pain is a challenge. I'm constantly seeking ways to find relief, without drugs or surgery. I even have a machine that provides electric shock stimulus to my muscles in my lower back to try and ease some of the pain. Now, over the years, I've slept in hundreds of homes, hotels and assorted other places. The one and only time I woke without back pain was when I stayed with my father, and slept in his bed. He owns a Sleep Number bed. For the first time in years, I woke up and my back felt fine. I told my husband I want to buy one next year, with some of the money we save during deployment. He's totally against it, saying they're too expensive. Now, I've done the research. The model I want is exactly the same price as a brand new mattress and box spring from a name brand company. Either way, we need a new bed, as our current mattress sags badly and the springs are felt as soon as you lay down.

He tells me he worries about my health, worries about my well-being, worries about my daily pain levels. But one of the few things I can find that I know will provide some relief, he refuses to let me do. He tells me he hurts every day too, because he has a physical job, and I just need to suck it up and get over it. So, having chronic pain due to a spinal malformation, and having sore muscles from PT and other assorted training, are the same thing. I'm sorry, I don't see the comparison. His aches are easily managed by rest, some tylenol, and a hot shower and/or ice pack. My condition is alleviated by very few things. I can take narcotics, which work nicely, aside from the whole being stoned aspect. I can have surgery, which would lay me up for over 6 months,followed by another 6 months or so of physical therapy, meaning there's no way he could deploy. That's pretty much it. The Sleep Number bed would help in that I wouldn't wake up in pain, and I would find it easier to sleep without being woken by the pain when I turn over. How is this a selfish desire? How is the cost not justified by the amount of relief it would provide? When I asked him those very questions, I was told, "Don't try to turn this around. Just shut up and find something cheap. Go to sleep."

Now, I fully understand the need to save money, as I'm the one who handles our budget. It's not like I'm going to buy the damn thing if we're not making ends meet. I'm not going to put uis in the hole to buy it. I'm only going to get it if we're able to save money during the time he is gone. Now, he talks about taking his bonus, or deployment savings, and doing all sorts of shit. He wants to go to tattooing school. He wants to buy a 7000 dollar guitar. He wants to get a ton of tattoos. He wants to go to Las Vegas. He wants to do all this stuff. But the two or three things I really want, that I have legitimate reasons for, that owuld improve our lives and well-being, are deemed too expensive.

Can someone explain this to me?

A Painful and Beautiful Truth

Picked this up on Blackfive. It honestly moved me to tears. I don't have the words to express my respect, gratitude and pride I have for Sen. McCain.

WTF?!

So I found this posted on Blackfive. I'm so disgusted, I'm actually nauseous. I truly hope this man gets a kick in the balls for this shit.

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2008/10/if-you-are-in-t.html#more

Popcorn and ACU's

I decided it might be a good idea to explain the title of this blog. Kinda random, no?

So, there are three sections to my life:
Home: Family, close friends, etc.
Military: My husbands unit, their families, NCO's, FRG, etc.
Popcorn: All the stupid bullshit that happens on life that you have no control over, but it affects your life anyway. Why do I call it popcorn? Well, most people call it drama. But I love dramatic cinema, and my favorite thing to do while watching a good movie is eat popcorn. There ya go.

Want a couple examples of popcorn? Ok. PFC Choc-nilla's wife heard from SPC Quiet Man's wife that I was badmouthing her husband. The story was that I was going around and telling "the world" that PFC Choc-nilla was cheating on her. Instead of asking me, calling me, emailing me, anything, she does nothing except continue the Popcorn. It takes me going to her house and asking her about the situation. Now the reality is that I had reason to believe he WAS being unfaithful. However, I spoke to two and only two people about this. My husband, to ask him if I should talk to her about it, and Pvt Magoo's wife to ask her to have PFC Choc-nilla's wife to call. Now, you may ask, why didn't I directly call PFC Choc-nilla's wife with my concern? Well, it's simple. I did. I called more than three times, and each time the call was unanswered, and my voicemails were not returned. I did this in view of my husband, on the off chance that Popcorn would ensue. And of course, it did. Now, I have no resentment toward PFC Choc-nilla, or his wife. I can either assume Pvt Magoo's wife told other people what I had talked to her about, or assume my husband did. Being that I'm unwilling to deal with more Popcorn, I simply drop it, mend the fences with PFC Choc-nilla's wife, and move on. Now, how does this affect my life? That depends on me. I can either get upset at the resulting opinion that I'm a "shit-talker," or I can ignore it and move on. I tend to take sort of the middle road. I do my best to show people I'm honest, but I don't force the issue when they refuse to accept it.

Now. Currently my husband is on an MRX. A rather ridiculous one, but it's still frustrating. He and his unit and currently sleeping in their shop, on post, less than 2 miles from our house. They stay there for 4 days, come home for a 3 day, then return for another 4 days. The point? No one is quite sure.

I guess I digressed a bit from the original subject of this post. But oh well. This is the one place where I can talk about this shit and vent and put my thoughts on "paper", as it were.

Not like anyone's going to read this anyway.

The Beginning

I suppose I should start at the beginning, as it's usually the best place to start.

My name is Jaime. At the age of 18, I met my future husband. At a Goth club. Yes, I know, how cliche. At the time, we were both involved with other people, but that didn't stop us from flirting. He was fresh out of the USMC at the time, and drunk as hell. We left the club with a group of friends, and went to Denny's. He was so drunk, he couldn't feed himself.

So, doing my duty as a military supporter, I fed him his cheese fries while completely ignoring my boyfriend. ;) That was the last time I would see him for about 2 years. We never forget each other.

When those 2 years had passed, and I had moved back to NH, we ended up bumping into each other, and the rest is history.

We got pregnany, we broke up, we got back together, had a daughter and got hitched. Then real life hit.

We were both in our early 20's, new parents, with no college education. I was lucky enough to have a decent job at a hotel, where I was an assistant manager. He, however, couldn't find anything other than a shitty job at Wal- Mart. In 2007, things had become desperate. We were in debt up to our eyeballs, risking eviction, and skipping meals to feed our daughter. This is the following conversation that would change our lives.

Derrick: I think I should go talk to a recruiter.

Jaime: A recruiter for what?

Derrick: The military. The Army.

J: The Army? Since when did you want to go back in the military?

D: Well, I've been thinking about it for a while, and I think it would really get us back on track.

J: Alright, well, let's go talk to one then.

And that was that. The papers were signed within a week, and he left for WTC (Warrior Transition Course) a couple days before our first wedding anniversary.

He was stationed in Alaska, where we now reside. Our first deployment is fast approaching. And the unit he has been assigned to is the most ridiculous, mickey-mouse, ass-kissing group of morons I've ever met who wear uniforms.

Don't get me wrong, I support and respect all the men and women of the Armed Forces. But the sheer amount of office politics and brown nosing that occurs within this particular unit is rather disturbing.

This is my place, for our story. Where I don't have to worry about other people on post reading. Where I can say what I want, without the 18 year old Army Wives talking shit. This is where I can tell my husband's story, pre-deployment and all the way through to his homecoming.

This is my new Sanctuary.
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