Carepackage Idea List

Recently, I've had a lot of friends and family requesting a military carepackage idea list. I typed one up real fast and wanted to share it with all of you looking for something new to send your service member. Remember this is just a list I threw together. Feel free to add suggestions in the comments.

A few care package ideas:

• Oral care: Toothbrush, Toothpaste, Mouthwash, Floss
• Deodorant
• Fitness/Car/Truck/Gun/Tattoo Magazines
• Deck of Cards/Uno/Dice
• Hacky Sack
• Black/White/Olive Green Boot Socks
• Gold Bond Foot/Body Powder
• Sunblock
• Eye Drops
• Vitamins
• Q-Tips
• Chapstick (tubes only)
• Nail Clippers
• Lotion
• Liquid Body Soap
• Shampoo/Conditioner (2in1 is best)
• Razors
• Kleenex (Travel Size)
• Twin Size Sheet Set
• Bath Towel/Washcloth
• Books
• DVD’s/CD’s
• Headphones/Earbuds
• Word Search/Game Books
• Instant Coffee
• Power Bars/Protein Bars/Granola Bars
• Chicken/Tuna Lunch Kits (Pouches)
• Nuts/Sunflower Seeds/Pumpkin Seeds/Dried Fruit/Trail Mix
• Hard Candies
• Cookies
• Pop Tarts/Cereal Bars
• Bags of Snacks/Box of Crackers
• Gatorade Mix
• Crystal Light
• Beef Jerky
• Jelly Beans/Licorice etc.
• Gum
• Mints

How well does he know me?

This was fun. I sent a list of  questions to the Mr. in an email and within a couple hours he was on the phone laughing saying how much he needed that fun little pick-me-up. Thank you, The Life Of A Not So Ordinary Wife.







 

 
So here we go :

How long have you been married?  

his: 11 awesome years

hers: 11 years

Where was your first date?  

his: Well the first time we went anywhere together was McDonalds for lunch. Our first real date would be Applebee’s and a movie, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back -and we left early.

hers: McD's drive thru on our lunch breaks

 
Where was your first kiss? 

his: Swing set at the elementary school, more specific on a blue slide. 

hers: a playground. we went for a walk one night. 

 
Who first said, "I love you"?  

his: Most def I did at the river.

hers: Him. :)

 
What were your wedding colors? 

his: LOL Blue and Gold... baby. (go Rams)

hers: no real set on colors. 

 
What is her most commonly used phrase?  

his: Really, seriously, whatever.

hers: Are you freakin kidding me?

 
Who is her celebrity crush?  

his: Dan in real life. ( or any manly dude that cries) 

hers: Steve Carell  

 
If she was ordering drinks for both of you what would you each get? 

his: Coors for me and the list is too long to just pick one, bit of a drinker this one.

hers: if at a bar or pub, beer for both!

 
What is the best meal she has ever cooked you?  

his: Hands down chicken and dumplings.

hers: I think I make a mean pot roast.

  
What is the worst meal she has ever cooked you? 

his: It was just once but it was these weird green chicken things

hers: HA green chicken for sure! it was a total accident too.

 
What is the most-played song on her iPod?  

his: again a very long list, let’s say at the moment i would say Tegan and Sara, or Florence and the machines, or any number of indie rock girl bands. 

hers: I love so much... hard to say, but 'Back in your head' is played A LOT.

 
What would you say is her most annoying habit? 

his: Self confidence (or the lack there of)

hers: forgetfullness

 
What is the last thing she does before she goes to bed?

 his: (smoke a bowl if she can)    Sometimes he just shouldn't speak :-)

hers: play a game on my phone. 

 
If you could throw out one item of her clothing what would it be? 

his: any and all flip flops

hers: he hates crop pants.

 
What would you say is your favorite thing about her? 

his: Her laugh 

hers: sense of humor. 

 
What's her go-to drink at Starbucks?  

his: Carmel Macchiato

hers: Carmel Macchiato

  
What's her blog's name?! 

his: I gave it to her so i think i would know it, Ballistic Gypsy.

hers: Ballistic Gypsy!   

I miss him so very much.

Me - You = Sad

When was the last time you sat down and wrote out,  
[BY HAND] , a letter to someone?

Well, Holy Ravioli. I tried to write my Mr. some overly sweet, mushy, make you want to gag, letter and I am ashamed of how hard it was to do. Not the words, those come easy when he's gone, but making my hand do what my brain wanted was far more difficult than I had expected. Admittingly, I have neglected my journal for the past few months and I think that is the cause of this. I'm still having a hard time wrapping my brain around the idea that I was so out of practice of writing. WRITING. The thing I had done every single day of my life in one form or another until a few months ago.

Technology has ruined us.

When was the last time you wrote a love letter to your significant other?

Relationships are hard - Even harder with you have to deal with long distance relationships. Regardless of the distance, sometimes its nice to put down your phone, stop surfing the web, or pinning your heart out. This Valentines Day, write your loved one a letter. I recommend having a huge pad of paper ready and practicing because there is no backspace/delete when in ink. And if you're anything like me, whiteout is NOT an option. I have to start all over if one letter doesn't look as nice as I would like. It's annoying, really.

“I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” - Mark Twain

If you don't have the time or desire to get all lovey dovey with your love letter, then don't. A perfect alternative is to make a list of 'I Love You More Than...'s.

I Love You More Than Doctor Who.
I Love You More Than Pinterest.
I Love You More Than A Trip To Target Alone.
I Love You More Than White Wine.
I Love You More Than Bubble Baths.
I Love You More Than Pancakes.
I Love You More Than Instagram.
I Love You More Than Warm Gooey Marshmallows.
I Love You More Than Pretty Vintage Pyrex.
I Love You More Than Fruit.
I Love You More Than A Warm Blanket From The Dryer.
I Love You More Than Sheldon's Mom Loves Jesus. 
I Love You More Than My Phone.
I Love You More Than A Good Thrift Haul.
I Love You More Than The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Ah those are always fun.

Deployment 101

Deployment 101: Whatever obscure, weird, random thing that could go wrong- WILL. Save yourself the added headache and just be ready for it. If you're standing next to your printer/copier and you ask your soldier to please make a copy of his ID for your deployment binder, just grab that ID from him and do it yourself. Fifth deployment and that man still forgot to leave me a photo copy of his ID and guess what! I needed it the week he left to mail off his drivers licensed renewal stuff.  Luckily, he was able to copy it and email it to me within hours of asking for it. But the point is, try not to rely on him/her being able to send you what you need. YOU, as the spouse, need to make sure you're ready for what ever comes your way.


Here is a quick run down of a few things that you are going to want to start a handy dandy deployment binder.

 

You can request a Deployment Kit from USAA here. Some FRG's will provide this for you. I didn't want to use this big bulky thing, so I used some of the info and put into my binder.

Power of Attorney: You want a General POA for sure. Don't forget a Special POA if you are planning on any major purchases while your soldier is gone.

I had my man get a special POA specifically for taxes and one for anything dealing with the house. We own our home and I just wanted to have it JUST IN CASE something was to happen.

Passport: I still haven't taken the steps to do this, but I do recommend it. If your soldier gets hurt in combat, they are most likely sending him/her to Germany. If you want to be with them, you need your passport!

Customs forms: You know how friends and family are always asking, "Hey get me ________'s address & I'll send them a box!" but when they get to the Post Office many are faced with the challenge of figuring out a customs form. Filling those babies out are second nature to many mil spouses, but not all civi's know what its all about. What I do at the beginning of each deployment is go to the Post Office and grab a handful of forms and fill out the addresses in advance. I try to keep them in both my binder and in my purse. This saves the lovely friend wanting to help out, the headache at the Post Office and its a lot easier on me as well.

 
Soldier's ID: Copy his/her Military ID front and back as well as their drivers license. You just never know what you will need! {{{Having a copy of military ID is against DOD, do this at your own discretion. We have needed it in the past, but often times you are fine with just having a copy of his/her state ID}}}

Red Cross Info: In case of an emergency, before calling your local Red Cross chapter make sure and have the following information handy: servicemember's rank, address (unit, company and location where he or she is stationed), social security number, and branch of service.

I keep a copy of all this in my binder just in case something was to happen to me.  I have also told a trusted friend where my binder is if she needed to be the one to contact him.

FRG info: I, for one, am not big on the whole FRG thing. I know they are there for a reason and they are a very important part of the military. They are there to help! I recoment keeping the phone tree roster in your binder as well. You may need to contact someone if they have not contacted you about Home Coming information. No one wants to be the spouse not at the dag/hanger/field when your honey gets home. TRUST ME. It almost happened to a friend of mine a few deployments back. Right, Rain.

There you have it. A few tips that have helped me in the past. This is a tried and true method of keeping all info right where you know where it is.

Reminder: You will have sensitive information in here. Keep it in a safe, but convenient place.

Chapter 2013 Page 1 of 365...

 Peace Out 2012. 

Unfortunately I will spend the majority of the year away from my hubs. I still have a hard time believing that he is actually gone again. I don't know why I'm having such a hard time this go around, but I am. 

Up until now, I have spent the past 37 days mostly doing nothing but willing the next day to hurry up and get here so that it too may pass.  

I was lucky enough to have my sis and niece come spend a little over a week with us. It was a nice distraction to be around family. We took a mini road trip to New Mexico and explored a little over there. [More on their visit to come.]

As for now, it is high time to knock off the Poor-Pitiful-Me BS and get back to reality. He has his own time consuming daily agenda  and I need to get back to mine as well and get out of this damn rut once and for all.

 

So here's to a 

New Year, New Adventures, 

New Friends and Cheap Wine!  

{CHEERS}

Money & Attitude

I was the person in our relationship to take care of all household finances. Was, being the key word. Admittedly, I have a bad habit of taking things the wrong way (almost always. I'm working on this) and lets just say that my hubs had asked too many questions about our accounts one day. I took it as him questioning my abilities and maybe I told him he could F himself and do it alone. Maybe.

Fast forward a year and a half and he is now deployed and I'm back at the budget stuff again. Now that I have the bad ass Mac I'm looking for an awesome app to help me keep track of everything. I'm still used to living on post and them automatically taking out our rent & utilities. I never realized how spoiled I had gotten. 
Do you use one of these apps to help you keep track of everything?

Deployment Tip:

• Call your cell phone carrier and suspend your soldiers phone line. 
• Also ask if you should lower your minutes now that you're the only one using them. (Between suspending my Mr's line and lowering my mins. I was able to knock $30 off my cell bill. SCORE!)
• Soldier and Sailor Civil Relief Act info here
• Deployment Checklist here

December Photo a Day {day 1}

I'm sure Fat Mum Slim had no idea that her first prompt for her photo challenge just happened to be a very important one for me.  At 8 o'clock  we were saying our goodbyes and starting our 5th deployment. 

Goodbye, My Love.

And I will wait, I will wait for you

The hugs are a little bit longer, the kisses are a little softer and the I love you's come just a little more often… 

We are in our last few weeks together as a whole family.  My heart is already starting to ache. 
 
The garage is full with a combination of new gear and old memories.
 
Our Thanksgiving feast will be intimate and private as we share what we are thankful for then proceed to putting up the tree. Our Christmas will take place just days later and then we will say our goodbyes.

I apologize, again, and in advance, for being MIA for the past month and some of the month still to come.

Quick Note:

Hey Guys-

Just a little update here. I will be back to blogging regularly, soon! The Mr. has been on block leave and we've been spending some 'quality' time together for the past month (ish). I'm not gonna lie, its been nice acting like we were dating again. [insert mushy love junk here]

Then he even offered to clean my Dyson- I Know!

But then he broke a piece to the beast and now we are waiting on our part to be shipped from Dyson HQ. smh. Well, Dream Hubby was nice while he lasted.

USPS ~

a true story of humans acting awesome

Isn't it funny how you can remember things at the most unexpected times?!

Today, while standing in a busy Post Office I thought about ...


A few years back (probably in '07) I was struggling to stay sane and make it through another busy day as a deployment-induced "single parent." I had a wild toddler son and a needy baby girl, who demanded my attention every second of every day. I had just finished filling two large boxes with all the fake Christmas spirit I could muster up.  There was a small wooden Christmas tree, cookies, letters, pictures, candy, peppermints, snow flake confetti, and many many other goodies nearly busting out of these two boxes that the kids had scribbled "pictures" on. 

After loading the boxes, the kids, and the stroller into our car we headed out the Post Office off post in Savannah, Ga. We parked, Dollface went in the stroller, Redd was holding on to my back packet, and the boxes + customs forms were being balances on the stroller. I'm pretty sure my hair was a mess and Dollface was missing a shoe. We ventured on and made our way in the Post Office and found ourselves at the end of a very long holiday line. Redd was an active toddler and trying his hardest to have fun and play, Dollface was getting fussy and I was trying to fight off the empty feeling of sadness from spending another Christmas without my husband-their father.

I was able to see the light at the end of the tunnel; we were next to be called to the counter. Dollface was starting her soft cry she used to let me know shes had enough and its just a matter of time before she goes full blown spaz-child on me. Perhaps the lady in line before me over heard Redd and I talking about sending Daddy his boxes? Perhaps she could see the desperation on my face? Maybe she had planned on paying for someones packages before she ever went in there? I don't know what inspired her, but when the postal worker turned to me, and asked if my boxes were addressed properly with customs forms ready, then said to go a head and sit them on the counter and to have a happy holidays, I about fell over in shock/gratitude/disbelief/love. 

I some how formed the words Thank You then turned and walked away. I wanted to hug her, and I probably should have, but I knew I needed out there and away from all those people before the tears came. After I had kids in their car-seats and everything ready to go, I couldn't leave the parking lot without saying Thank You one more time. But I couldn't find her. It was busy, it was crowded, it was prime shipping time for the holidays. She was no where to be found. 

Every year I think about that nice lady at the Post Office. Though I never properly thanked her, or expressed my true gratitude for what she did that day, I still think fondly of her. I hope she knows that she reaffirmed my faith in humanity. 

Thank you, sweet southern lady in Savannah, Ga. 

9/11/2001

This time, 11 years ago, Patrick & I had just started seeing each other. We were maybe three weeks into our young relationship. Little did we know how how our lives would forever be changed from what was taking place. A trip to the recruiters office in Rolla, Missouri, a promise to each other, and far too many deployments later, we find ourselves in Texas and preparing for another year apart. We have lost friends, we have lost family, and we will never forget.

 Deployment Day November, 2009

photo cred: Sweet Green Tangerine

source

 

Love you like a box of kittens

 

Maxwell Poirier via pinterest
((Fricken Awesome Movie)) 
 

I've been thinking an awful lot about the upcoming deployment recently.  It's hard not to when its so close. He will absolutely be gone before Christmas; this we know for sure. We have also heard that he is on ADVON  so if this is true, not only will he miss Christmas, but Thanksgiving as well. 

I hate to think of another year of holidays without him. 

As I was sitting in the pickup line outside the kids school yesterday, I was poking around his ugly old truck when I noticed that he STILL has my blue ribbon from our wedding day attached to his sun visor and  an old ankle bracelet of mine on his 4WD shifter thingy. I'm not going to lie, I teared up a bit. 

These things have been in his truck for 10+ years! Seriously. This man is either sentimental or lazy.