6 Months!!

Another Army wife told me her way of surviving deployment is to celebrate anything you can so you have something to look forward to and be happy about. Today marks our 6 month wedding anniversary!! Hard to believe it's been 6 months! It has flown!! I love my husband so much and am becoming more proud of him each day!!! It hasn't been an easy 6 months with being apart more than we have been together, but I figure we're learning right up front skills that will enrich our marriage for years to come! Is that cliche? Well whatever!

Here are a few (from the 1,000+) of my favorite pictures from the day thanks to Megan W!! Enjoy!

housewife knowledge??

HAHAHA I laugh at that! I'm such a terrible housewife! Maybe when husband actually lives here I'll be better!! Anyway - I read this article and wanted to share!

Do you have issues with filmy dishes? I DO!!! It is so obnoxious!! The last time I had people over (well last time and the first and only time..) for dinner I was so super careful to count out the dishes and rewash all of them before the guests came over! I promise my dishes are clean (when I actually get to cleaning them!) but they come out looking GROSS! I totally stole the above picture from here. But mine come out of the dishwasher with the same nastiness!!

Apparently it's an issue with phosphates being removed from our dish detergent, or something. These bloggers suggest citric acid or a product called Lemi Shine to mix with regular detergent!

I've totally added Lemi Shine to my shopping list!

Also, Mom-in-law tells me that if you get rings in your glass (mine are from leaving glasses on the windowsill so the cats can drink water from them = high maintenance) denture cleaner works too! I have a big stack from her that I have yet to use, so I'll report back on that as well! This Lemi Shine stuff seems to be an all purpose solve-it though if it'll fix my glasses and dishes!

Do you have any good housewife tricks to share??

Army Wife Love!

I'm feeling so encouraged tonight! I started a facebook group yesterday for the women of the unit that is being deployed, and already we have 53 members! It's connecting women and serving as another way to spread the word. One of my big frustrations with the Army is the lack of communication! I mean, communication is what we live for as an Army family member! We wait and wait to hear word about SOMETHING and when we finally get some nugget of information I hate knowing that not all parties involved are getting that information. Obviously not everyone can or wants to do FRG, but there has got to be another way. If facebook reintroduced me to my now husband, surely it can help out Army wives! Pretty soon facebook will be curing diseases folks! All powerful! Ok, so not really..

I know there is a risk of people spreading bad information and the "well I heard....." and "oh well I heard ....", I just hope that bottom line, it's a good thing and it can be a place for women to support each other during this deployment, and be a reminder that we are not alone, that other people are going through it too! What a wonderful reminder. Praises! :)

the ick continues

Happy Monday! I survived day 1 at work feeling under the weather. It really is a somewhat troublesome thing when you realize staying home will help make you feel better more quickly and prevent the spread of nastiness, however my PTO bank is sadly low, low, lowwww. Lame on having a real job! Really though, the company is very generous with the amount of time off we get, I just have to work for it! I'm sure the is probably a sick policy and they'll let me leave, its just I don't fell bad enough to want to use it. Whatever. Call me hard working or call me a germ spreader! Either way, I plan to continue going to work! Don't worry though, I have the sneeze-tissue blow-hand sanitizer follow up down to a science. BTW, yesterday marked 2 months at the big girl job! *pats self on back* Thank you, Thank you!

So another fashion-y post - blogger Jill GG's Good Life (For Less) posted a few combination of outfits for a reader request (someone that wants easy outfits to wear, but still look fashionable - hello! who does this NOT speak to!?), and I love everything about this outfit! Oh, I have eyes of someone not on a social worker budget. Sigh! But really! How cute is that sweater, sweatery jacket thing, and those moccasins! LOVE!

Click on the link above to see her other pics and links for where to buy!

P.S. Has anyone been watching Private Practice lately? I just got caught up on Hulu yesterday, and oh my word! How intense was that last episode?? Disturbing!

Time to prepare for a fantastic evening in with soup, candles and cozy blankets - AND a new episode of 90210. Living the life! Hopefully a phone call from husband too! Bye bye!

30 for 30

For those of you who don't follow Kendi Everyday, well first of all, you should! She is doing another 30 for 30 challenge (click on the first link for details). I am not participating in this challenge, this time, but it's making my fashion wheels turn! For the challenge, over 300 blog readers are picking 30 items in their closet (including shoes, but not coats or accessories) and using only those 30 items make outfits for the next 30 days! Also, no shopping for 30 days!

I will be following these bloggers as they do the challenge:

1) Jill GG's Good Life (for Less)

2) The Daybook

3) What Would A Nerd Wear

4) Kendi Everyday

I'm hoping that I'll get ideas from them on good items to select, and be able to participate in the next one - or just do it on my own! I feel like if I was in school and not working, this challenge would be much easier! Work clothes make it tricky! But maybe that's a cop out? 

Would you ever do this challenge? What are your thoughts?

Is it Christmas??

So I woke up and had this feeling that it was Christmas. Exciting? No. You see, for quite sometime I would get sick every Christmas, so now when I get my yearly fall/winter cold, it feels like Christmas! How is that for an example, behavioral psychology! I had thought it was allergies for awhile, and yesterday when my 24 hr claritin didn't really work worth crap it dawned on me.

Being new to what I think are allergies, does it make sense that claritin wouldn't fix cold symptoms even if they are disguised as allergy symptoms (sneezing, running nose etc)? I think so. This morning in addition to the previously mentioned ick I have the sore throat, headache, body aches (which may be due to the 5k walk I did yesterday Fighting Hunger! Yay for me and Momma M!). Oh Joy! I'll know if my hypothesis is true based on the result of swapping Tylenol Cold for Claritin! Exciting stuff readers, be sure to check back!

It really should be Christmas though. Certainly the malls make me want to think that! I was at the mall this week trying to use a coupon and they had red bows EVERYWHERE and Christmas music and the sales people were just a little too cheery... I had to leave! Sorry Limited, I probably don't need your $15 anyway!

I'm sure there have been studies about how Christmas decorations and music in stores increase purchases but I just find it so annoying the first week in November! I walked into Macy's as Mr. Macy's guy was moving a cart of empty boxes (that probably had all sorts of Christmas decorations in it). It's like clockwork! Good bye Halloween, hello Christmas! One retail holiday to the next! It made me think that in reality if they don't get these gaudy decorations up stat they'll lose on sales? Maybe? I don't know. In my head it was like a competition of who can get their Christmas decorations up the fastest after Halloween.

I happen to like Thanksgiving, which may be a surprise to some who know that I actually don't care for most Thanksgiving foods, but it's a good fall holiday! Thanksgiving has the benefit of not being a retail holiday (however with Black Friday, perhaps not!) and allows the focus to be on family. Maybe I've been conditioned a little bit too, since husband's birthday is around Thanksgiving at the end of November, I know it frustrates him to no end with all the Christmas stuff up already! It's like wait! I have a birthday in there! It's not time for Christmas yet! I agree.

Speaking of his birthday, he has GOT to get me a list! I have a few ideas, but what does one buy for someone who is being deployed and has to fit their life into 3 boxes? Err.. not sure! If you are reading this husband... LIST, PLEASE!

Ok, I'm going to take my sniffling self back to bed to finish watching Juno!

Movember

Happy November! Have you heard about Movember? It's a fundraiser to "change the face of men's health". Basically, starting today, men everywhere can grow a mustache for 30 days to increase awareness and raise money towards prostate cancer research. Check it out!

And yes, husband is going to do this too (with a bunch of guys in his company and unit). Those skype dates are going to start to feel a little bit funny once he has a caterpillar living under his nose! I may start taking suggestions for what to name this caterpillar. Any thoughts?