Soldier's Wife, Crazy Life

Military Life

My Trip to Indiana And The Scentsy Family Reunion

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Scentsy Family ReunionI am finally getting around to writing about our trip to Indiana and the Scentsy Family reunion. I had a really amazing time, met a lot of wonderful people and learned a lot of awesome things.

We left Tennessee on the 10th and made the four-hour trip to my friend’s house. She lives about 30 minutes from Indianapolis where the Reunion was being held. Now I hate driving. It kills me to even have to drive to Nashville which is 45 minutes away. So to drive for four hours? That was hard for me. I had my GPS, directions from my friend and a lot of prayers. I wanted to be in Indiana so I made myself go. It was worth it and I battled a big fear of mine. Will I be driving somewhere far sometime in the future? No, it was a challenge I think I will wait until my husband is home to drive us on our next road trip.

We arrived at my friend’s house almost exactly four hours later. It was so good to see her and her son who is my 2.5 year old’s best buddy. They moved back to Indiana in May after her husband got out of the Army.

We took the boys to McDonald’s and got to catch up a little bit.  After that I got ready and my friend drove me into the city. Another thing I have a problem with is driving in downtown places. I love visiting big cities as long as someone else was going to do the driving. However, in order for this to work I would need to drive into the city, finding my parking garage and walk to where the Reunion was. So that first night my friend’s husband watched the boys and my friend took me there.

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By this point I was so tired. I also didn’t come with anyone. None of my downline could go this year, next year should be a different story 🙂  Anyway, I knew of a couple of people in my Sponsor’s downline that were there but I didn’t have any way to connect with them. The first night was the opening and Kelly Clarkson concert.

I tried to stay as long as possible but after the drive and the fact that I was feeling really really hungry, I had my friend pick me up early and we stopped for dinner. That was nice. A dinner without the kids has been hard to come by lately. The next morning I got up early and left her house at about 6:45. I was nervous but had my GPS and a lot of prayers and I was going to do this downtown thing. It really was not so bad. The drive was pretty easy and my GPS got me to where I needed to go.

I met a couple of girls from New Jersey in the parking garage and we all walked together. It was about a 15 minute walk but only $5.50 a day for parking. Once we got to the stadium I found my seat. I was wearing my team shirt which was bright green and happy to see a few other ladies in the exact same shirt.  This was exciting for me because I got to meet new people and we had a great time talking and going through everything together. We are all under the same Star Director so we will get to see each other in the future as well.

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I got so much out of the reunion. It was SO exciting to see the new products being revealed. I also got a lot out of the speakers. We had other consultants come up and share what was working for them. We also got to listen to Mary Christensen, Brené Brown and Daniel H. Pink. They really told us a lot of amazing things and were so inspiring.

Scentsy also gave us $200 in credit to pick our giveaway items out. It was awesome and we were able to pick everything using the internet. I love technology! Everything showed up at my house a few days after I got home.

 

I left the reunion feeling SO excited for my future with Scentsy! I can’t wait until the reunion next year. It is going to be in St. Louis 🙂 And after going I have to say if you are in direct sales, try hard to get to your annual convention. It will be totally worth it on so many levels. I am SO glad I was able to go and that I have such an amazing friend who didn’t mind watching my boys.

Have you ever been to a direct sales annual convention?

 

Patriotism And The Military Spouse

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From Sea to Shining SeaToday’s post for Blue Star Families is going to be on Patriotism. As a Military spouse I often feel like I am surrounded by it. It is everywhere and it is nice to see.

I have always considered myself a patriotic person. I have always thought of it as a love for your country going further than just putting up red, white and blue things and singing patriotic songs.  Since becoming a Military spouse I have realized patriotism is a lot more than that. It is giving up something you love for your country, it is standing by your soldier as he has to go on yet another deployment, it is supporting other Military spouses and it is remembering where our country has been and who we are today. I guess you can say my patriotism has grown, how can it not?

When I look around me at the general public I see a lot of patriotism. I see it on days such as Memorial Day or the 4th of July but I also see it other times of the year. I think most people in the US love the US even if they have different religious or political beliefs. Even if what they think would help America looks different than what I would think would help America.  I am not sure this has changed over the years. I do think that personal sacrifice has. It used to be that almost every man in this country served in the Military. It is not that way anymore although we still have battles to fight.

I don’t expect everyone to join the Military but what has happened because of that is that people no longer have a personal connection to the Military. This can make it easy to for people to forget what the Military does or has to give up.  Personally speaking I have been blessed to have the support of friends and family even if Ben is the closest person they know who serves. People are praying for us and tell us so. They thank us and make us feel like what we are doing is not in vain.

As a Military spouse I just want the American public to remember that we still are involved in a war. It has not gone away just because it is coming to an end. Deployments are still happening and can be just as difficult as they were a few years ago. Plus we do not know what the future holds. As things heat up in other parts of the world I don’t see deployments ending anytime soon . I guess we have to see what happens with that.

How do you see patriotism? What does it mean to you to be a patriotic American?

 

Follow Blue Star Families on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ and build a support network so you can keep your family and personal community strong throughout the duration of the entire deployment life cycle.



Blogging At Blue Star Families

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I will now be blogging with Blue Star Families 🙂 This is my introduction post!

My name is Julie and I have been an Army wife since 2005. My husband and I got married in 2002 and we have three boys. They are 8, 6 and 2.5. I am a blogger who loves photography, loves to write, loves coffee and loves to read. I also enjoy spending time with my friends and family. We started off our Army adventure by spending four years in Germany. While we were there we went through two deployments. The first one was a horrible 15 month deployment that we thought was going to be 9-12 months. It was hard for so many of us. We moved to Fort Campbell in the Spring of 2010. We went through our 3rd deployment here and my husband just left for his 4th a few weeks ago.

I have been able to stay home with my children since my oldest was born. Other than our time in Germany I have always made a little extra money for us from home. A while ago I did this by selling things on Ebay. These days I do this by blogging, writing and selling Scentsy. Although I love to take pictures I have decided to not going into the business, at least not right now. I stay super busy and trying to balance everything can be a challenge sometimes.

I started blogging publicly in 2009 when we were in Germany. I wanted to create a place where I could share my Army wife adventures, meet other Military spouses and be able to write about my life. I have enjoyed blogging and have met so many wonderful people because of it.

I am looking forward to being able to write about the deployment. Deployments are not easy and I already feel this one is going to be harder than others. I hope that I can share my journey and help others who might be going through something just like it. I hope that by writing out my thoughts I can help myself stay positive and not have so many down days. The worst thing is to feel alone during a deployment. By writing about it I hope that readers will realize that they are not alone. I hope they can see that the feelings they have are okay and that they will make it through all the hard stuff too.

I am excited to be working with Blue Star Families on the book Everyone Serves. This will be a handbook for friends and families of service members.

Follow Blue Star Families on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ and build a support network so you can keep your family and personal community strong throughout the duration of the entire deployment life cycle.

 

How To Conquer Deployment Sadness

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How To Conquer Deployment Sadness

It’s D day. You have to say goodbye. You drop them off. You hug and kiss for the last time. You drive away and then what? Sadness, just sadness and it can last for a while.

At least that is how it goes for me. Just a feeling of sadness. Sad that you had to say goodbye, sad that you are alone, sad that you can think of everything they are going to miss.

So how do you conquer this deployment sadness? How do you start to feel joy?

Well…we are 3.5 weeks in to this deployment and I think I have turned a corner. I don’t really feel that sadness as much. Yes, I am sad he is gone, I miss him like crazy and I still hate the fact that he is deployed but it is different than it was the first few weeks.

I knew this. I knew that as sad as I felt, it would get better and it has.

I saw a friend of mine the day after he left. She asked how I was and I said I felt like I was in some bad dream. It just didn’t feel real. It just felt sad.

Now if someone asks I can say, “I am ok, feeling a bitter better than I was.”

The first few weeks were so stressful, so painful and so exhausting. It wasn’t that I wasn’t sleeping, I was just emotionally spent. It still felt like he was here. I still had his laundry to put away. I kept thinking things like, “It was just last week we all went to the park together.” It is hard. It is like they are a ghost and they are just gone. You have to get used to that. It takes time before you get into your deployment mode and start to think that you actually can get through the next 200-300 days without your husband.

It is never going to feel normal. Never. It never will feel completely right. I can have a wonderful day, get home, put the kids to bed and then shed a couple of tears because I miss him. It isn’t going to feel 100% right again until he is home. At least that is the way it is for me.

We can have fun, we can have good days, we can go a whole week without a tear but it still will not be right until he is home.

So, how do you conquer the sadness? I don’t think there is much you can do. You can stay busy, you can journal, you can remind yourself 1,000 times that the deployment won’t last forever and that you won’t feel so horrible the whole time but the only true cure is time. You have to get through more and more days until you hit that deployment stride that will take to you the end.

It is just like when you are getting on a freeway with a really long on-ramp. You seem to be going in a circle for a while then finally you emerge on the freeway headed to your destination. That is how I feel right now. I have survived the first few weeks of yuck. Our one month mark is just around the corner. I am finally on the freeway. I still have a long way to go but at least we are finally headed at a better pace.

I really do think the first month and last month of a deployment are the worst. You just have to get through them. One day at a time or one hour at a time if you must.

Anyone else just hit this point?

Free Bloomin’ Onion At Outback

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Content and/or other value provided by our partner, Outback Steakhouse. I will be compensated for this post.

 

outback, bloomin onion, military mates, military, operation homefront

In pursuit of life, liberty and bloomin’ happiness, declare your independence from paying for a Bloomin’ Onion®! Outback celebrates America’s Independence Day by offering free Bloomin’ Onions on July 4. It’s time to let freedom bloom!

Visit an Outback location in the 50 states on July 4, tell your server to “let freedom bloom!” and you’ll receive a free Bloomin’ Onion to share with your best mates! To find an Outback location near you, visit outback.com/Locations.

I love a good Bloomin’ Onion. I have a hard time not ordering one when I got to Outback. I try not to eat too much of it but they are just so yummy.

Who will be going to get their free Bloomin’ Onion this year?

This Week In My Garden

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I am so glad I have this garden while my husband is away. It makes life a little nicer around here.

As the days go on I am learning new things. I learned that if I want to grow corn, I have to plant a lot of it. I learned that there are some crazy bugs out there. I learned that different plants grow in different ways. I am also learning what I really want to grow and what I don’t.

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I am glad to have a little helper with me most of the time. Isn’t he cute?

 

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My first Marigold that I planted from seed. I think I love Marigolds. I bought some for the front yard and my son brought some home from school for Mother’s Day.

 

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Cherry tomato plant!

 

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My green beans getting bigger everyday.

 

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The carrots are getting bigger too. Well this first batch that I planted. The other bed has some but they were planted later so not as big.

 

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My pepper plant has a flower!

 

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My Cosmos, I love these!

 

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My Sugar Snap Peas. I am so so glad I grew these. I really wasn’t totally sure what I was doing but I filled two of my squares will them and they grew well. Next year I will plant more than two!

 

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My first two tomatoes. I am so excited! The boys and I loved watching them turn from green, to light yellow, to orange and then to red. I cut them up for tacos.

 

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Our first Sunflower. We went a little sunflower happy here so in a few weeks we will probably have a ton of them!

I think I slowed down in my desire to plant things. Now I am more tending them. This morning I woke up to find my jalapeno plant pulled up 🙁 I also saw that one of my cucumber plants was also messed with. Not sure what animal did this but thinking either bunnies or squirrels or even birds.

What has been growing in your garden this week?

Why You Don’t Put Rocks In Your Ears

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My Son stuck a rock in his earBefore this deployment started I was pretty freaked out about going it alone with the three boys. Well…looks like I was right. This deployment started out in a very crazy way and I am still wondering how we are going to make it.

Although apart of me hopes that because it started in such a way, it will only get better. One can hope.

Anyway, last week my 8-year-old went to Boy Scout day camp. He had a blast. I picked him up on Friday and took him home. I noticed he was touching his ear but didn’t think too much about it.

I went about my day. I decided I was going to make a nice meal. I had put a roast in the crock pot and even made cornbread muffins. Yum. I was looking forward to sitting down and relaxing while I ate my yummy meal. My kids will eat it too which is a plus. Well I put all the food on the table and noticed my son messing with his ear again. I asked him what was wrong and if it was hurting him. That is when he told me… HE PUT A ROCK IN HIS EAR! Say what? Really? Why? He told me it was itching him. This is the only time he would admit why he did it. Anytime anyone else asked him he said he didn’t know.

Okay…so I take a deep breath. Maybe he means a tiny little pebble about the size of sand. We always get sand in our ear at the beach, no big deal right? I will get my husband’s little flashlight and look.

Man…that is a ROCK not a little sand size grain. It was now 6:00. I had to think about to do. I didn’t want to take any chances but I knew that it would be best if we had food in our tummy. I made everyone eat and I quickly finished my meal. So much for enjoying it. I didn’t even take the time to butter my cornbread.

I called my friend J. She is amazing. I hate hate having to ask for help but I also could not see taking all three boys to the ER with me. She was able to take my other two and we headed to her house. On the way, Drew, my six-year-old told me it was really good that he was going to her house because he isn’t so good at waiting in waiting rooms. So true and glad he can recognize that about himself.

Anyway, dropped them off and headed to the ER. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had never been there before except when I had what we later found out was Bell’s Palsy and then it was called Urgent Care. It wasn’t too bad. We checked in and five minutes later they called us to one of the rooms. I was thinking it wasn’t going to be a big deal. They would just pull the rock out and we would be on our way.

Well the first guy couldn’t do it. He said they would need to use water so we would need to wait for a room.

We only had to wait 15 minutes and then they took us back. The first nurse said he didn’t even see a rock. Trust me nurse, I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t seen the rock with my own eyes.

The doctor came in, saw the rock and tried a few different things. It really seemed like they didn’t want to try hard to get it out. While I understand this I was just getting frustrated. To me it looked simple with the right tools but the ER didn’t have any of those. They sent in another nurse to try the water. That didn’t work so they gave him some drops and told us to call ENT on Monday if it was still in there. I guess it isn’t a huge deal to have a rock in your ear for a few days as long as it really isn’t hurting you.

I made the decision to not go back to BACH but to call our regular doctor on Monday. So when I woke up Monday morning and saw that stupid rock was still there, I called and made an appointment. I thought for sure they could get it out. A few months ago they had to remove some ear wax build up and I thought this would be easy compared to that.

So Monday we went in and they tried to get it out but didn’t feel very comfortable with it either. They told me they would set up an appointment for an ENT for him. We did have to wait on Tricare. Here I am thinking he would have to live with the rock for another few days. As soon as we got home I got a call that we did get the referral and we could come into the ENT anytime.

I wanted to go ASAP because I was so over the stupid rock. We had to wait for a bit but then once the doctor came in he was able to get it out right away. It was the tool he used I am sure and probably just having more experience with things in ears. I was so relieved. We were able to keep the rock and I plan to frame it as a reminder to my son to never ever put anything in his ear and to remind myself that even though crappy things happy during a deployment, I can survive them.

So that folks is why you should never put rocks in your ears.

PS: I think if this had happened on a Thursday night and not the weekend it could have been taken care of the very next morning and would have been a lot less stressful.