Our deaf guard dog cracks me up when he barks/growls. It’s not a “normal” dog sound, but it’s his sound. For reference on Skah’s size, he’s on a California King size bed and Huzzy is 6’5″.

I grew up, like 99 percent of my friends, believing in Santa. He was a magical part of life that made me think anything was possible.  Come on, if a bajillion year-old guy  who lives at the North Pole and flies in a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer (nine if you count Rudolph) around the world to deliver presents made by his many tiny elves in one night without freezing his tookus off… anything is possible.

It was magical until I asked my mom if Santa was real. But it didn’t scar me… quite the opposite. 

Every year around this time, there’s debate on whether parents should tell their children about Santa and whether they risk losing the child’s trust for life. Personally, I don’t think this is an issue at all but that’s because of the way my parents handled the situation. One that I plan to repeat with our future children.

When I was seven, I asked my mom if Santa was real. She, in turn, asked me if I really wanted to know. I thought about it and told her no.

The next year, I asked my mom if Santa was real. Again, she asked me if I really wanted to know. I said yes. And this is where she forever changed my life…

My mom sat down with me and told me that the Santa Claus we all know isn’t real BUT he was based on a real person called Saint Nicholas. She went on to tell me that St. Nick was a real person who lived long ago and who really secretly gave people presents and made the lives of those around him better. She told me that we all have a little bit of St. Nick in us and that we must remember to do good to those around us.

She said Santa helps kids learn about how it good it makes people feel to receive things from others for no reason… and that we must strive to do the same thing as St. Nick and help those around us feel the same things as we felt when we opened gifts from Santa.

While Jesus is the reason for the Season… I think Santa Claus can be a part of it too without ruining it—as long as Santa is a tool to teach children about giving rather than greed. Heck, I still get a gift from “Santa” each year. It’s a great reminder to brighten the lives of those around me.

You may see my post on this over at SpouseBuzz, but you can read it here too (though you really should go over to SpouseBuzz if you aren’t already a reader!).

The Twelve Subby (Wife) Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas, my subby gave to me:
A seabag of clothes smelling of amine!

On the second day of Christmas, my subby gave to me:
Two phone calls from topside,
And a seabag of clothes smelling of amine (gosh you really stink!)!

On the third day of Christmas, my subby gave to me:
Three strains of boat crud,
Two phone calls from topside (shhh, don’t tell),
And a seabag of clothes smelling of amine!

On the fourth day of Christmas, my subby gave to me:
Four missed holidays,
Three strains of boat crud (*cough* thanks, hubby),
Two phone calls from topside,
And a seabag of clothes smelling of amine!

On the fifth day of Christmas, my subby gave to me:
Fiiiiive emails at once!
Four missed holidays (yes my birthday counts),
Three strains of boat crud,
Two phone calls from topside,
And a seabag of clothes smelling of amine!

On the sixth day of Christmas, my subby gave to me:
Six days of duty…
Fiiiiive emails at once! (Boy did I need that!)
Four missed holidays,
Three strains of boat crud,
Two phone calls from topside,
And a seabag of clothes smelling of amine!

On the seventh day of Christmas, my subby gave to me:
Seven days to pay the rec bill
Six days of duty (New Year’s Eve, again?)…
Fiiiiive emails at once! (finally!)
Four missed holidays,
Three strains of boat crud,
Two phone calls from topside,
And a seabag of clothes smelling of amine!

On the eighth day of Christmas, my subby gave to me:
Eight Single Sailors at dinner,
Seven days to pay the rec bill (WHAT did he spend it on?),
Six days of duty…
Fiiiiive emails at once! (finally!)
Four missed holidays,
Three strains of boat crud,
Two phone calls from topside,
And a seabag of clothes smelling of amine!

On the ninth day of Christmas, my subby gave to me:
Nine different duty stations! …
Eight Single Sailors at dinner (how much do they eat?),
Seven days to pay the rec bill,
Six days of duty…
Fiiiiive emails at once! (finally!)
Four missed holidays,
Three strains of boat crud,
Two phone calls from topside,
And a seabag of clothes smelling of amine!

On the 10^th day of Christmas, my subby gave to me:
10 weeks ‘til the next deployment…
Nine different duty stations (I don’t even know where I am!),
Eight Single Sailors at dinner,
Seven days to pay the rec bill,
Six days of duty…
Fiiiiive emails at once! (finally!)
Four missed holidays,
Three strains of boat crud,
Two phone calls from topside,
And a seabag of clothes smelling of amine!

On the 11^th day of Christmas, my subby gave to me:
11 still-unpacked boxes!…
10 weeks ‘til the next deployment (yikes, already?),
Nine different duty stations,
Eight Single Sailors at dinner,
Seven days to pay the rec bill,
Six days of duty…
Fiiiiive emails at once! (finally!)
Four missed holidays,
Three strains of boat crud,
Two phone calls from topside,
And a seabag of clothes smelling of amine!

On the 12^th day of Christmas, my subby gave to me:
A 12-hour plane ride to see family!…
11 still-unpacked boxes (from three moves ago!),
10 weeks ‘til the next deployment,
Nine different duty stations,
Eight Single Sailors at dinner,
Seven days to pay the rec bill,
Six days of duty…
Fiiiiive emails at once! (finally!)
Four missed holidays,
Three strains of boat crud,
Two phone calls from topside,
And a seabag of clothes smelling of amine!

Thanks to my friend Sespi over at And You Never Did Think for her help in proofreading and giving a few suggestions. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

(oh, and if you are so inclined to copy this or use this ANY where else, please give credit back to me and a link to my blog here)

Yeah, I know, three posts in one week, plus my two MFF. Deal with it

—

So I was on Facebook tonight and one of my friends (E) commented on my status. She was a reporter at the local TV station in Michigan and I worked with her quite a bit until she moved to Arizona. One of the last times I saw her (if not THE last time) was when we were opening a new section of our museum, which included new rides (yes, a museum with awesome rides!).

As the public relations manager, I was the one to meet reporters at 0400 when they came to do morning live shots (okay, I had to be there between 0330 and 0345 to open the place). My CEO would usually join us because he was always interested in media coverage. Anyway, since it was so early in the morning, we obviously didn’t have guests for them to shoot video of so E went on the rides and did her morning reporting while doing them. Until it came to a ride that she needed a second person on.

This ride looks like a big hamster ball. It’s basically a gyroscope for those who know what it is. It will twist and turn and go one way and then another. You really have to have two people on it or the one person ends up spinning wildly (more wildly than normal) on it. My CEO turned to me and said, “You go on it with her.”

I probably looked like a deer in the headlights because I incredulously replied, “Uh, you realize I get sick on spinny rides, right?” He laughed it off and said I’d be fine. So I got strapped in. And when I  say strapped in, I mean hair tied back, ankles strapped down, wrists strapped down… the whole she-bang. I looked over at E and warned her that these type of rides and I don’t go well together. She laughed and said to let her know if I needed to stop the ride but the cameras were only going to roll for 10 seconds.

So the camera starts rolling (did I mention this is LIVE TV?) and E does her intro about the museum opening the new section and the ride starts spinning. Upside-down. Left. Right. Violently. As my face goes whipping by, I can see that the camera is still rolling.

Ten seconds goes by. Still rolling… just like my stomach is starting to.

Fifteen seconds go by. It’s creeping up my esophagus.

Twenty seconds go by. I start telling E it’s about time to stop this (thinking the cameras had stopped by now).

Twenty-five seconds go by. I’m urgently telling E it’s time to stop.

Thirty seconds go by… the camera drops down and E says “okay, we’re done.”

And the ride stops.

My head and stomach are still spinning.

I get off the ride and my CEO takes one look at me and immediately starts asking if I was okay (must have looked pretty pale/sick!). He asks if I need a washcloth for my face/forehead. Insists I sit down. I must have really looked bad. I just said softly, “I told you I don’t do spinny rides.”

I look up at E and ask her why we were on the ride so long. She laughs and says the producers were having fun watching the two of us and were hoping one of us would throw up. My jaw dropped. I asked her if the cameras were rolling the whole time. She said yes. I swallow and then ask if it was live the whole time. She said yes.

I groaned and dropped my head and asked if they were able to hear me telling her we needed to quit NOW. She said the producers could hear it and were laughing, but the television audience couldn’t hear it.

So yeah. I was THISCLOSE to becoming a YouTube sensation of yacking on camera fame.

But what brought all this up? Like I said, my friend E commented a Facebook status and I responded and jokingly told her, “By the way, I’ve ALMOST forgiven you for making me nearly puke on air. Well, you and the producers who thought it was funny and kept the segment going longer than planned .”

Her response?

“You made my resume tape with that one . “

*groan*

I have decided to do a Secret MilSpouse Santa this year (including fiancees/fiances and girlfriends/boyfriends). It’s going to have a max of $20 (plus shipping) so we can all participate, even if funds are tight this year.

I’m not ready to do the sign-up yet, but what I AM looking for are businesses that would like to offer discounts on their products (remember, this is a $20 max gift) to participants of the Secret Santa. When I announce the sign-ups for Secret MilSpouse Santa, I’d like to also have a list of businesses that will be offering discounts to the participants so participants.

Hopefully this will help promote MilSpouse businesses and businesses that support our military.

So, if you have a business and would like to offer a discount to participants of the Secret MilSpouse Santa, please send me an email at wifeofasailor (at) gmail (dot) com with your business name, what you would like to offer and a link to your business site. I’ll need to have this list ready by Friday, October 29.

I’ve been remiss in sharing with you the present I received from Amber (The Unlikely Momma) as part of the Blogger Santa matchup that Ashley at I Heart Change did.

I didn’t know Amber before the matchup (okay “know” as in virtually “meet” by reading her blog) which is why matchups like this are fun. You get to know more people.  I’m pretty sure she wasn’t a reader of my blog before (and hope she is now!).

But wow, she sure checked out my blog and learned enough about me to get an awesome present.  If you have been reading this blog long, you’ll see how perfect this gift is.  Lookie at this book:

Yeah, she got me an I Can Haz Cheezburger? book. That’s awesome. I opened it and the first thing I saw is my favorite LOL Cat of all times:

I made you a cookie. But I eated it.

He he. So great. I needed the laugh. Thanks Amber for the perfect gift!!

2009 was a year that had its ups and downs. It was the year I said goodbye to my husband (for eight months of the year) and it was the year I went through my first deployment as a Navy wife. It was a year of injury and a year of being in constant financial worry. But it was also the year I got engaged. And the year I married my fantastic husband.  And the year I became a Navy Reserve officer. So I have mixed feelings about 2009. But, in all, I’d say it was a pretty good year. No one close to me died. I consider that a very good year.

2009 is also the end of a decade.  Or so most seem to think. I’m not sure about you, but I count 1, 2, 3, … 9, 10. So wouldn’t that make 2010 the end of the decade?  We had this discussion back in 2000 when the class of 2001 argued that THEY were the first class of the new millennium.  No matter, I’ll follow like a sheep and recount my first decade in the new millennium too.

2000- This year saw me graduate from high school, become a camp counselor at a YMCA camp, take off on an international trip to the Dominican Republic with two friends and start college on the other side of the state.

Sadie with her teddy bear

2001- I got my first animal as an adult, my calico cat Sadie and become an RA at my college. 9-11 also happened and that’s when I first realized that the U.S. is not invincible.

2002- Honestly, I can’t really remember much of this year. I know that I was working full-time (two jobs) plus going to school full time. One of the jobs was as an animal demonstrator at a zoo… yeah, I got to play with the snakes, birds, opossum, and more!

2003- I turned 21 (which really isn’t a huge deal) and graduated from college after being there for just over three years.

2004- This year saw me get my first real-world job (and subsequently move an hour south of the college), become financially independent and adopt my second cat, Jake.

Skiing in Colorado

2005- This was a rough year for me. The worst in my life. In February, after a week of my dad being close to death in the hospital, making a miraculous recovery and being sent home by flabbergasted doctors, I found my dad dead outside from a heart attack. It was a very dark year. My mom, grandma and I spent Father’s Day in Colorado with my cousin to help avoid the holiday. I started a new job (which is where I work now) and used the money I received from my dad’s estate to put a down payment on my house.

2006- I can’t remember much about this year, either. I do know that for the first anniversary of my dad’s death, I headed by myself to Colorado to see my cousin again. We had a great time. I adopted my first dog, Chase the Greyhound. Four months later, I agreed to foster two Greyhound puppies and three months after that, I officially adopted Lulu (one of the puppies).

Chase and Lulu

2007- While recovering from a tonsillectomy, I met Huzzy, who I had been talking to online off and on for a few months (have I ever told you the story of how we met? If not, it’s funny).

2008- Continued to date Huzzy, he moved in and he got a fuzzy Great Pyrenees puppy called Skah. I also decided that I wanted to put together a package to try and receive a commission as a Navy Reserve Public Affairs Officer.

and that leaves us with 2009….

January: I found out I was recommended for commissioning by the Navy board that looked at my officer package.

First Navy function with Huzzy

February: Huzzy proposed to me on Friday, February 13. Yes, Friday the 13th. I think that makes Friday the 13th a lucky day from now on, instead of an ominous one. Right? Also, started planning the wedding… we only had five weeks to plan.

March: Huzzy and I were married on March 21st. The first day of Spring. For our “honeymoon” (which was really 3 days of house-hunting leave for you MilSpouse) we flew to Washington state. It was my first time visiting the gorgeous land that will eventually become my home.

April: Huzzy checked out of his recruiting command and started his 40+ days of leave. The movers came and packed up our entire house except what we figured we’d need to get by for a few months. How wrong that assumption would end up being.

May: Huzzy left to PCS to Washington. We had been married for seven weeks at the time. I slept on couch cushions surrounded by our three dogs and two cats. I started living with about 7 changes of clothes, one pot, one pan and one baking dish.  It was this month that I also received my official letter that I was going to be commissioned.

Skah at 6 weeks

June: Raised my hand and swore to defend the Constitution of the United States and signed my life over to the military for eight years.  Well, kinda, since I’m in the Reserves, but they have rights to me for eight years! Oh, and my mom brought me a twin mattress so I didn’t have to sleep on the couch cushions anymore. I continue to sleep on that on the floor. I started working a second job to make ends meet.

July: Stepped on a carpet staple on my second toe on my right foot and thought nothing of it. It didn’t even bleed. This started four months of hell. Flew to Washington to drill for the first time and to see Huzzy for the first time in weeks.

August: Spent two glorious weeks of vacation (with a drill weekend thrown in!) with Huzzy. We went whitewater rafting, too… a first for both of us. We thought this would be the last time we’d see each other before deployment. Toe was still injured and a pain–literally–to walk on. The Navy realized they screwed up Huzzy’s paycheck six months prior and decided to rectify it… by taking ALL of his pay for the entire month of September. Not fun.

March 21, 2009

September: Stopped working the second job because I couldn’t do another 57 day stretch where I got only 3 days off.

October: Drilled for the first time with my new (and current) unit. Surprisingly was able to see Huzzy one more time before he went on deployment. Finally got the toe taken care of. Apparently, my skin decided to go crazy and make extra scar tissue (from the pin-prick that never bled!). Had the extra scar tissue removed ala “cookie-cutter” method.  Huge hole left. Nice scar now.

November: Went active duty for one week where I traveled to Rhode Island for the first time.  Was immersed in deployment. Spent Thanksgiving without Huzzy. Didn’t get to talk to him for the last half of the month.

December: Spent Christmas without Huzzy and didn’t hear his voice for nearly the entire month. Spent New Year’s with a friend at a local hockey game… but was in bed before midnight!

Anheuser-Busch website photo

submitting his or her information or in the entrance plaza of participating parks, and show a Department of Defense photo ID.  Dependents may take advantage of the offer without their service member, though an adult must accompany minor dependents, and dependent ages 10 and over must present valid dependent I.D.

That would be so awesome to do!  I hope many of you will take advantage of this.  Thank you, Anheuser-Busch… and thanks for also remembering those of us who serve in the Reserves!  We appreciate it!

Of course, don’t forget to check out my Free Stuff & Discounts for Military page! Don’t forget to let me know if you know of other discounts. We want to give these companies as much exposure as we can.

So my 100th post is coming up very soon.  Like this is my 98th post.  I just realized I should do something special for my 100th post. Now, we don’t have a lot of money right now and have to really save money just in case I have to go on unemployment if I don’t have a job when I move to Washington, so I can’t spend a lot.

But, hey, a freebie is a freebie, right?  I’m offering a choice of a $10 gift card for iTunes or a $10 gift card to someplace else of the winner’s choice.

Leave a comment on this post and you’ll get an entry.  Want a better chance to win? Here are some other ways to enter.

• Leave a comment (like I already mentioned)
• Tweet about my contest (make sure you let me know you did this)
• Announce my contest on your blog (again, make sure you let me know you did this)
• Ask a question that you’d like me to answer in my 100th post (ya know, to learn more about me or get my opinion on things, etc)

So, in theory, you can get four different entries. And since I don’t have many readers, you have a good chance to win, anyway!  I’ll use the random number chooser thingy to impartially pick the winner. You have until next Sunday (27DEC) at 1200 EST (that’s noon on the East Coast!) to enter.

In my 100th  post, I’ll answer your questions and maybe provide you with more information (that you didn’t ask! ha!) about me.

Good luck!

By 9 a.m., I was itching to write a post about how this had been a pretty crappy Monday and a pretty crappy way to start the week.

It started out earlier than I expected because Skah had decided that he was going to pace and pace and pace the hardwood floors in the livingroom and the *PLOP* his 120-pound self down onto the floor only to get up and pace again because he felt that at 5:30 in the morning, it was time to get up.

After taking the dogs outside (and it was rainy and icky to stand out there), it was time to get their food. I opened the refrigerator because that’s where the open can of pumpkin is kept (in order to keep nasty Big D days from being repeated) for his daily food add-in.   Yeah, as I was taking it out, I managed to spill an entire large bowl of garlic mashed cauliflower (awesome substitute for potatoes!) all down the shelves of fridge and all across the kitchen floor.

After cleaning that up, I was quite late getting ready for work when Huzzy called… at the time I was already supposed to be at work.  So I did what any other good MilSpouse would do when a husband who is deployed calls… forget work and sit down and talk to him.  So that lasted about half an hour so I was REALLY late for work, but wasn’t worried since I’m salaried and can make it up by staying late or taking a shorter lunch (I live 2 minutes from work).

Flowers from anonymous coworker

So I grabbed the brand new tweed peacoat that I also purchased and went to head out the door… only to notice that they left the security ink tag on it.  And I had put my only other jacket that I have left in Michigan in the wash.  Luckily it was 50 outside so while it was chilly, I didn’t NEED it.  But I sure wasn’t happy to have to go back to the store to get it taken off.  Halfway to work, I realized that I had forgotten my cell phone at work.  Fan-flippin-tastic.

And that was all by 9 a.m.

Nothing else happened that made the day worse, but the start just kinda ruined it and it just felt crappy.  Until the afternoon.

I was in a co-worker’s office that she shares with two other people (a very large office) and commented that the other female co-worker’s flowers that she got a few weeks ago were amazing since they were just now dying.  Then I mentioned how I’ve only received flowers at work from Huzzy once (got flowers twice total since we met). I also said I wasn’t complaining especially since he remembered that I loved daisies and made sure those were in the vase.

Two hours later, I get a call from the front desk saying I had flowers waiting for me. I almost started crying because I couldn’t believe what a coincidence it was for Huzzy to send me flowers just a few hours after mentioning that he’s only sent me them once at work. I mentioned this to my office mate and she was extremely excited too.

So I went down to get the flowers and was blinking back the tears of joy. I read on the card, “And now it’s two.”  And they were yellow daisies.

Um… that wasn’t from Huzzy.  So I went straight upstairs to coworker’s office and told her that she didn’t need to send me the flowers and but that I appreciated them.  She insisted that she didn’t send them and suggested that maybe my husband did send them.

So I went back to my office and called the flower shop to inquire as to who sent them.  The guy on the other end said he didn’t know who it was and that it looked like it had been paid in cash.  So I asked him if they were ordered today or sometime in the past and he said today.  Obviously that wasn’t Huzzy since he’s somewhere in the Pacific.

Then I started thinking that there WAS one other person in the room when coworker and I had our conversation. Coworker #3… a guy who I’ve not always had the best working relationship with and who will be retiring in a few years. So I went to him and told him the same thing… that he really shouldn’t have but that I appreciated it.  He, too, insisted that it wasn’t him.

So coworker #1 and I went back to check the card and it definitely looked very similar to coworker #3′s writing. So I went back to him and he still insisted that it wasn’t him.  I decided that it has to be one of those two and that it could possibly be both of them.  So I told them that if they did it, they totally made my day because I was having a bad one. And I thanked them.

I think I’m going to write a thank you letter and address it to both of them. Just telling them that I’m still pretty sure it was one of them and that it’s fine if they don’t want to come forward but that they totally made my day. And I’m going to promise to pay it forward one day.  Because I feel that is very important.  I’ve done it in the past and it is just such a wonderful feeling.