brought to you by the united states air force

John and I do not have TV channels to speak of. We sorta get in PBS and once in a while some great snow, but that is about it. We do watch movies and what not but we fulfill our TV show desires on hulu. Now, if you haven't heard of hulu then you should go check it out and see what you can watch for free. No cable bill here!

Tonight we watched the new episode of Chuck. We really enjoy Chuck... and we often will catch The Office and 30 Rock, or whatever else we decide to waste time on.

Hulu has minimal commercials during the show and they are always just one sponsor per show. Tonight, that sponsor was the United States Air Force and they had about four spots or so interspersed through the show.

It was just very amusing to us because as the show started it said, "This show is brought to you by the United States Air Force." Since I still get a kick out of the fact that John is in the military (don't ask it is a complicated and weird part of me) I looked at him and raised my eyebrows. He laughed and replied, "We should have that announcement on everything here."

Can't you just see it? I open my microwave, bought with money from my husband's paycheck, and the microwave says, "Brought to you from the United States Air Force."

The thought of this made me laugh every time an AF commercial came on. I can see everything in my house covered with tags labeling how we got everything we own.

The military is a different world and they do tend to own you. Once I was very much awake and it was quite late and John was trying to go to sleep, but I really needed to get all my words out for the day and I kept talking to him (I am sure those of you that know me are shocked with this information). And finally he whined at me, "This is abuse of government property." I laughed so hard that I about fell off the bed.

The problem is that this is so true. We are a home where all the income comes from the military. He is their property and all we have should say as you use it, "Brought to you by the United States Air Force."

Every now and then I have to remind the kids that Daddy has to work. Frankly, they would rather he be home everyday to play with them. I have to tell them that Daddy works so we can have a nice warm home and food for them to eat and all those things. Every now and then I need to remind myself and my family that the Air Force doesn't own all we have. Sure, they own this house and they sorta own my husband in some ways, but they do not really own any of it.

All of this belongs to God. Every stick. Every penny. Every blanket. Every bear. Every hand woven mohair blanket. It is all His. We are just borrowing it all.

So, what would be even more interesting is if everything in this house had labels on it saying, "Brought to you by God."

If my little one walked in for breakfast with a night gown, embroidered on the front, "Brought to you by God." Would I reconsider ever getting snippy with her? Would I hug her tighter if I were reminded of this constantly? Would children anywhere be abused? Neglected? Forgotten?

What a different place we would live in if things had that label everywhere we went.

my first tag! should I cry or cheer?

So, I have been tagged and I decided to go ahead and take the plunge! My wonderful friend M at Faith, Hope and Love tagged me. The process was rather amusing to me, as I had watched this tag float around a few blogs I read and finally it came to rest here on me. I really thought I had dodged the bullet, but the bullet has come home to rest.



The Rules: In order to accept this Bloggy Award/Tag, you must do the following.....

1. Write a post showing it, together with the name and link of who has given it to you.
2. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in their content or design.
3. Show their names and links and leave them a comment informing they were prized with ‘Honest Weblog’.
4. List [if you can and/or dare] at least ten honest things about yourself. And then, pass it on.

10 Honest Things About Me! (does it get more egocentric than this?)

1.I love the smell of babies. I think that the smell is second only to the smell of coffee. No, really, I don't know anything better then the smell of babies. Actually, I don't think there is anything better then that baby smell. I will be down visiting my friend again soon and I will be frantically sniffing that baby every chance I get. My friend will have to beat me off with a wet burp rag.

2. I am pretty good at many things, but I don't feel that I am VERY good at too many things. I feel that while I can do art and I can do a bit of writing and I can do a bit of speech stuff and I can do a bit of decorating and a bit of gardening, I don't feel that I have any one area that I am stellar in. I am not complaining... I just feel like I am good at many things, but not amazing at any of them. I am content with this.

Isn't he a cutie!!!

3. I love my husband more then I probably should. He is my rock and I stand amazed by him everyday. He is strong and patient and loving and kind. He has a very common sense outlook on life and he sees things for what they are. He is able to be to the kids what I cannot be. He relates to them in ways that I cannot. One of my favorite things is watching him play with the kids and watching him read to them or watching them and their love for their daddy. He balances me and I do need that. I can be very artistic and spontaneous and flighty and forgetful and he is able to bring balance to my force... sorta like Anakin Skywalker.

HA! He would be so proud of my Star Wars reference!

4. I do not eat breakfast unless I actually cook something and I certainly do not cook breakfast everyday. I do however drink coffee. Everyday. Without fail.

5. I love my life as an Air Force wife. I am very proud of my husband and I enjoy being a military spouse.

John in Iraq.

I like talking to people about the military and what is is like being part of that culture.

The garage door decorated for a homecoming from Iraq.

I remember what is it like being civilian looking in and I understand the questions that people have. I have no problem answering them, actually I welcome them because if anything, the military needs more people to understand what is going on now in our little culture bubble. We need people to understand how to help military families as our spouses are deployed again and again.

You see my kitty keeps trying to grab me in this picture. She likes me too!

6. I like animals a lot. If I had my way I would have a small zoo here. Fortunately, like my earlier post stated, John keeps me in check. He allows me to have the one beautiful puppy and the one sweet kitty and the one boring sucker fish. If it were up to me, I would have another 4 or 5 pets. Then I would start going crazy cause I can't bring balance to the force of the litter boxes and the tanks and whatnot. It would get scary people and that is why we have Anakin... er... I mean, John here.

7. I have this really weird tendency. I talk for things. Things like animals but also things like tea kettles. My tea kettle doesn't just whistle it yells. No kidding. The tea kettle will be whistling away on top of the stove and my kids will yell at me to let me know, cause obviously I cannot hear the screaming tea kettle in the room with me and I will start talking for the tea pot, "HEY! I'M HOT!!! TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF! I AM HOT!!!" I will also speak for animals that are in videos or pictures or just out. I am afraid it is a sickness. I will talk for our pets. For example, the dog will be looking at me and her eyebrows are dancing and I will be saying something like, "Are they talking about going for a walk? I can't tell cause they have learned to use that code word. Maybe they are! I would love to take a walk, but then again, I would love to snuggle them. I love everything cause I am a goofy Lab and I just love life! I love my pillow and I love my dog dish and well... I love my toy! Yippie! Mommy is getting out Peanut Butter! My favorite!" Do you see how this is a disease?! The problem is when I do not feel like doing this and the kids really think I should. They ask me constantly, "Mom, what is that bird saying?" If I am tired of it I will reply, "Nothing. The bird is saying nothing." They beg. They just know that the bird is saying something SO funny in their momma's head.

"Nope, I don't hear the train coming, but I may or may not hear a herd of buffalo."

7. My husband is helping me out here, so for this one, he says that I need to put down that I talk in a very "theatrical way." He says that I sound like I am narrating a play when I talk all the time. Maybe I should ask him what that means? Does he like this? He has never mentioned it before? Does it grate on his nerves and he feels like he finally got the chance to tell me? Who knows... I am not going to risk asking him. He will just have to deal with the narrator's voice for the rest of his life, cause I do not think I can change that.

8. I love my coffee. I have teased you all here in the past about me quitting my addiction, but I do not think it is going to happen anytime soon. I have even bought that Teechino stuff and I have not brewed ANY of it. It is supposed to help me break my coffee addiction and it was expensive. It is still sitting on the shelf in my kitchen. I have contemplated brewing some in the evening for a nice warm drink, but I haven't even thought seriously about brewing it in the morning. That is crazy! I stumble into the kitchen and start my coffee making and I have never contemplated brewing Teechino for my morning brew because at that point my body needs only one thing. Caffeine. My body needs it bad. I know my whole house will be happier if I just have my caffeine, SO I just have my caffeine. Ah well. Anyone want a full bag of Teechino?

9. I am Obsessive about things. I am not OCD... I am just obsessive about things. When I get interested in something, I get REALLY interested in something. When I want start learning about something new, I mull it over in my head constantly. I dream about it, I watch information on it. I read about it. I check out books from the Library on it. My friends have to listen to me talk about it constantly. I am sure it is a chore for them, but they must be good friends cause they are still around. My poor friend Kristen has seen me through many of these obsessive times with me. I am sure she was ready to pull her hair out during the WoW faze. I am sorry Kristen. What can I say? My husband was deployed?! I don't know. I am hanging my head in shame. Honest.

K10 and K26 checking out a brand new egg!

When I was going through a Bald Eagle Obsessive time, we were watching the Bald Eagle web cams and reading up on Eagles and we went on a field trip to a Birds of Prey sanctuary and one morning My Girl came in to ask me a question when I was stil mostly asleep. She asked, "Momma, who are Doodle's parents?" I replied in my sleepy stupor, "K10 and K26 of course." Then I stopped and paused and woke up slightly and said, "No, they aren't. K10 and K26 are EAGLES and Doodles is a cat. We don't know Doodles parents." My daughter went away confused. Poor girl.

10. Sometimes I take really, really random pictures.

It is sorta scary,

but you never know when you are going to get a really great shot.

Right? You just never know.



Now, I am supposed to tag 7 people. Are you worried? Oh, come on, this is fun!

Anyone and everyone who reads this blog is tagged. That should be about seven! hehe... Now, all of you, go out and type up ten true things and hit publish on your blog. If you don't have a blog, make one. If nothing else, it is therapeutic and a great way to waste time on the computer!

What month is it?

On the Air Force Base, where we live, they have these teal colored metal ribbons on all the posts. I racked my brain trying to figure out what they were for. I finally remembered that it is "The Month of the Military Child," and assumed that must be what they were for. It puzzled me that they would put them up for The Military Child, as this wasn't really a cause to warrant the colored ribbon thing. We need to raise awareness of The Military Child? Is it a problem? I was confused, until I finally saw a sign that explained them. They are there to signify that it is, "Sexual Assault Awareness Month." This is something that apparently the military has some issues with.

Before I realized what the ribbons were about, I did puzzle over the fact that it could also be due to Autism Awareness Month, but figured that wasn't a big enough deal for the military to order all these metal ribbon signs made and then have them all bolted to the poles. I was right. I will say that as a mother it is something that you look for. You are told the signs. You know that it won't show up until at least 18 months of age. You look for and carefully scrutinize your children hoping that they will not be part of the growing number of children with Autism. There is tons of information on Autism, but they still really do not know the why and how of this disability. Much more research needs to be done to figure out what is going on with Autism.

I also know that this month is a big focus for environmentalists because of Earth Day, some people celebrate it as Earth Month, but that doesn't seem to be as widely recognized. They have a great map where you can look up events in your area to participate in. I will be checking out how I can take care of this great Earth God has given us.

It is also a month of Remembrance. It is Holocaust Remembrance Days. The actual days for this are April 27th - May 4th. To remember and to study so that we will not forget the oath, "Never Again."

I went ahead and looked up what else this month is about. This is the list that I found. I did not search forever and I am sure there are probably more official lists out there, but this list is quite extensive.

Now, this is where the post fizzles, because I cannot for the life of me think of a way to close this post. That is just sad, but there you go. A month of causes... check them out.

I Got a Promotion!

A few years back I received a piece of mail from someone that was addressed to Colonel Anna Lastname. I thought it was so funny at the time. My husband isn't even on that side of the fence in the Air Force and somehow I am a Colonel?!

Today, I went out to the mailbox to get the mail to find a piece of mail for me, Colonel Anna Lastname, and this mail is from Armed Forces Insurance... I laughed all the way back from the mailbox. Maybe I should call them up and demand back pay for all the time I have served. I should ask them why I am being mistreated as a woman? Why am I stuck against this glass ceiling at home teaching two kids? I could be in that great sandbox and could really turn things around I tell ya! I could teach everyone of those Airman what a noun is for goodness sakes! ;)

I am now commanding my troops to stop sucking on their lollipops and to get in here and learn about the Babylonians! See! I am already commanding my troops around that great sandbox!