MilSpouce Friday Fill-In # 38

This my first time participating in this MilSpouce Friday Fil-In at Wife of a Sailor and I am late. Ooooppps, this will probably be a habit for me but I am going to try it out.

1.How many pets do you have? And what type? submitted by Life and Times of a Displaced Jersey Girl

Well, we have 4 dogs, 1 cat and a 75 gallon fish tank. Our 4 dogs are; Duke who is, a Black Lab mix, is stationed in Rio, WI (Grandpa's house). Osa who is a Schipperke and Kuma who is a chihuahua, both names mean bear and they are stationed in De Forrest, WI (Grandma's house). Last but not least is Devin who is a Huskey mix that is stationed in Cincinnati, OH (Cousin's house). Our cat is Chance because he was my last chance to have a cat. He made the cut and is now stationed in Lake Station, IN (Other Grandpa's house)The fish do not have names and were stationed back to the pet store and probably resold :( they were getting big too and now we have to start all over when we get home. So thats my zoo across 3 States. I miss them very much and I have pictures of them all in my Family and Photos tabs.

2.What are your favorite projects to do while hubby is away? submitted by my-inspired-nest

Well, so far when hubby is away so am I. We met on our last deployment and now we are both currently deployed again. Hopefully I will never know.

3.What are the must-haves in your deployment care packages? submitted by Christine’s Little Blog

When I send my husband something I try to find something that is special and unexpected. Something that will let him know that he is on my mind and that he is my top priority. Last time I went online and made him a photo book to take with him on his deployment. One our first deployment I made him a fleece blanket. I want him to know he is everything to me.

He sends me cards a lot and he is actually a very good writter and I always feel so special when I read them.

4.If you could star in any TV show, which would it be? submitted by Just a Girl

I would be on The Amazing Race!! I have applied twice with my dad and once with my husband but I guess we are not all that exciting.......no-one ever called us :( Oh well.

5.What was the biggest hurdle that you faced during your/your significant other’s first deployment? submitted by The Pavlik Perspective

First deployment is when we met so it was all good. I didn't have much to miss. Just my parents, friends and the one dog (Osa) that I had at the time. This time I REALLY MISS my life. This is the hardest 2 years of my life and I am only half way through it. I miss my husband, my two stepsons, my pets, my belongings, my house, my van and I still miss my family and friends. Oh and there is the baby thing, but you will have to read 3 Appointments and Lots of Meds for that story. (It's Long) I have also missed the birth of my sisters first baby (girl), my nieces second baby (Missed the first on on my first deployment, both boys), my husbands sister's second baby (boy), and now a friends baby will be born in a month or so (surprize).

USAA ROCKS!!!!!

I swear USAA has got to be the best bank in the world. By far!!!!! The only accounts that I cannot see in my USAA home page are store credit cards and I bet I could get them added by using the credit card company rather than the store name. I think it is amazing and awesome to see all of my accounts right there and they up date on a regular basis. I just love it. I can even see investment accounts. Everything, I can see everything all at once.

Also, they are the best to work with. They are so polite and understanding and thankful to SM's. I would buy gas from them if they sold it. They are like the Wal-Mart of Finance. The only time we didn't have an exceptional experience with USAA was with our home loans. Neither was anything great but the second home loan was not smooth at all. But still the worst experience is still 100X better than most Banks best experience. We switched over a long time ago but when we went into our old bank to close our account we told them that USAA deposits our pay check the day before we get paid. haha They tried to tell me that was impossible. haha Well the impossible is possible because they do and they never hold any deposits.

I love USAA!!!! Now take over the cell phone and internet industry!!

Sand Showers

Check out the Mil Spouce Weekly Roundup hosted at Our Crazy Life Also, check out Riding the Roller Coaster who started the Mil Spouce Weekly Roundup.

I have been meaning to Blog about our recent sand storms here in Kuwait but I have not had the chance. So, I am a little late but it was a crazy day so I still want to share it with everyone.

A couple weeks ago we got hit with a huge wall of sand. It was by far the worst that I have seen. It was so bad that there was sand all over inside the buildings, everything was closed; the PX, DFAC, all resturants. I did not actually see the storm come in because I was in a movie. We have a free theatre here on camp, yes that is right I said free and it is awesome. We get to see all of the new movies on the big screen for free. Anyways, while in the movie I noticed that I could see the light for the movie shooting through the air to the screen. Then we could smell the dust in the air and it clicked. I could see the dust in the light of the movie going to the screen becasue there was a sand storm. Once the movie was over we went out to the lobby and the dust was everywhere. you could see it, smell it, taste it, and feel it!!!! Then we looked outside, OMG!!!! It was crazy!!!

So, the office is about a block away and I would much rather be stuck at the office than the at the movies. Alisha and I discussed it and decided to go for the office. Yeah, you can't open your eyes at all because the second that you do you get an eye full of sand. We had to squint every few steps to stay on the path but we kept our eyes closed for most of the walk back. We rinsed our face off with water as soon as we got to the office.

Once it died down we were able to get a ride back to our PCB's. I blew my nose and cleaned out my ears and it was nothing but a bunch of sand. Gross!!! Just had to deal with it until the next day because the showers are not in the same building. It would have been pointless to take a shower and then walk in the settleing sand back to our rooms with wet hair. We have had a couple more since then as well but none that were as bad as that one was.

Here are a few pictures, like I said I did not see the storm come in. It wasn't until I went to Facebook and saw all the pictures and videos of it that I realized why it was so bad. It was literally a big wall of sand!

Alpha to Zulu

I think I am coming at this from the wrong angle since I am currently Deployed, however, I am still a military spouce as my husband is on his way over. Regardless, here is my Alpha to Zulu.........Enjoy! Alpha Acronyms, Army, Active Duty, Air Force, ACU's, AAFES, Afghanistan, Army Regulation(AR), Airborne, APFT, Attention, Accountability, AIT, Appreciation, Aircraft, AKO Bravo Boots, Badges, Belt, Body Building, Brave, BAS, BAH, Basic Pay, Battle Buddy, Bonus, BCT, Benefits Charlie Combat Boots, Camo,Camels, Camel Spiders, Chapel, Cardio, Commander, Chow Hall, CONUS, COLA, Combat Zon Tax Exclusion, Care Packages, Civilians, Count Down, Convoy, Communication, Counseling, Commitment, Crazy, Cashier Delta Dog TAgs, Desert, Deployments, Detachment, Detachment Sergeant, DFAC, DD Form..., DA Form..., Department of Defense (DOD), Defense Finance and Accounting Services (DFAS), Dependents, Duty Roster, Disbursing Office Echo Emergency, E-mail, Escalation of Force (EOF), Equal Opportunity (EO), Extra Duty Foxtrot Financial Management Company (FMCO), Finance, Family Readiness Group (FRG), Family Separation Allowance (FSA), Family, Friends, Flag, Family Care Plan, Formation, Flights, Fun Runs Golf Government, Gear, GI Joe, Germany Hotel Hostile Fire Pay, Hazardous Duty Pay (HDP), History, Hot A's, HMMWV (Humvee), Home of Record, Helicopter India Immunizations, Invitational Travel Orders, Iraq, Internet Juliet Joint Federal Travel Regulation (JFTR), Jump Pay, JAG Kilo Kuwait, Korea, Kitchen Patrol (KP), K-9 Unit Lima Love, Leave, Letters, Land Nav Mike Money, Member to Member, Magic Jack, MWR, Move, MOS, More Gear, MRE, Military Police (MP), Multi Purpose, Military, Mental Fitness, Medical, M16 November NCO, NCOIC, National Guard, Network, Night Vision Goggles (NOG), Navigation Oscar OCONUS, Operation Security (OPSEC), Officer in Charge (OIC), Orders Papa PCB, Phone Calls, PT, Pictures, Promotion, Pay Grade, PCS, Preventative Maintenance Checks and Services (PMCS), Porta Potty Quebec Quality Time, Wuarters, Qualification Romeo Reserves, R&R, Retreat, Reveille, Rank, Resiliency, Retention, Recruiter, Roaming Guard Sierra Secret Security Clearance, Skype, Support, Sick Call, Salute, Sensitive Items, Spouse, SGLI, Savings Deposit Program 10% (SDP), Sand Storm, Space A Tango TMC, Tour, Training, TSP, Time in Service (TIS), Texting, Temporary Duty, TCS, Travel Vouchers, Targets Uniform Understanding, USAA, Uniforms, Unit, United We Stand, UCMJ Victor Visit, Vendors, Veteran, Vicoty, Vest, Vault Guard Whiskey Work, Warrior Leaders Course (WLC), Will, Weapons, War, Wet Weather Gear X-Ray X-Ray, X-Box, XXX Yankee Yellow Ribbon Events, Years in Service Zulu Zip Ties, Zero Range