Travel Plans

In the coming months I'm hoping to get my European Adventures truly underway! I have BIG, BIG plans.. Here's whats on tap:
The end of March

Keukenhof Gardens, Holland. 
I'm planning to go view over 7,000,000 (million) flowers, walk through the gardens arranged in many different shapes and scapes. I've heard it's awesome and can't wait to experience it!

Mid April

Prague Easter Market
Czech Republic
The easter market is similar to the Christmas Markets that the hubs and I visited in Weisbaden this past December. Besides, who doesn't want to see the sites in Prague!?

For the end of April/Beginning of May/My Birfday!

{source}

Salzburg, Austria
A huge goal I had for our time in Germany was seeing the Sound of Music sites! Isn't that every girl's dream!!? There are tons of tours in and round Salzburg to show us the Mondsee Church were Maria and the Captain were married, Nonnberg Abbey, Leopoldskron Castle (you know it, AKA the VonTrapp family home... and so much more!
Happy Birthday to ME!

I plan to keep busy while my husband is deployed and the Army is on a hiring freeze (really gets in the way of obtaining a job...)!

Moody

So I've been in a funky mood lately. I find myself without anything nice to say (hence the lack of posts lately). In the absence of anything nice to say I figured I'd share some pics with you all from our trip to Baden Baden a few weeks ago.

The hubs and I had been aching to get out of the house and we had a four day the weekend before Valentine's day so we figured lets just jump in the car and go. We had heard Baden Baden had great spas and we figured could there be any better way to celebrate our V-day? So we booked a room and headed down there. Little did we know (or fully think through) that this was A: the most pompous and expensive town around and B: the spas would obviously be all booked up with it being Valentine's Weekend- Duh...

The fun (and by "fun" I mean our first blow-out with our Garmin GPS) started on the drive down Friday night. We were blindly trusting our GPS to get us there without nervous breakdowns, trips out of the country, in the fastest, most fuel efficient way possible; something we would later learn was too much to ask of our dear sweet Garmin (maybe if I say nice things about her she won't cause me future headaches haha). We were driving along going through an awful lot of Villages... this only bothered me because it slowed us down- at first. Then after we leave one village we were on some anchient one-way-both-ways road and I bust out my handy-dandy iphone to see (where the hell we really are) and realize ummmm... we're literally ON the boarder with France. Swell. Queue nervous breakdown. We enter another village and what do I see?

Not my photo, I didn't have time during my Nervous Breakdown
to snap a photo

Swell, so we've now entered into France. Me without my Passport. YAY! How could this be better? So we've now successfully smuggled our way into France now we have to follow our evil loving GPS back into Germany (as that is where Baden Baden is). The entire 10 minutes we were in France I was very high strung. We now have learned to view the entire route of our trip before we hit the road- blindly trusting the GPS is bad.

All the same we made it back into Germany without problem. We knew they had a Casino and while packing I had this instinct the Casino would be high-class, versus our Vegas ways... I suggested Kevin pack something fancy-pants but he said noooo I have jeans and a button up shirt. Yeah...that was a no go. Turns out this was once the only Casino open in Germany and all the celebrity types would frequent it, "very James Bond" as we were told by one of many sales men we encountered while trying to purchase my husband a pair of slacks under 100 Euros. We spent saturday walking the streets of Baden Baden, eating and shopping. Saturday night we hit the Casino. Another interesting story: did you know Roulette pays 35/1?? Yea... I do! I was playing our anniversary (the 15th) for a few mins... of course it didn't hit. I say to myself "screw this table!" so we move to the next table and watch what's happening. I turn to get 5 or 10 Euro's from Kevin because I just KNEW 15 would hit, but he left me.... to see what else was going on. Guess what... 15 hit and continued to hit on every table but one! HA! At least we were > < this close to making some nice cash... right?

Anyway we made the best of our Valentines weekend and all in all Baden Baden wasn't too bad

Church

Outside of Casino

Casino Interior

Ooops, did I forget to mention how amazing and breath-taking the interior of the Casino was? My bad...

Teen Mom

Lets have it out... I'm so confused. I get being sucked into the trashiness because you just can't help but watch- I <3 Jersey Shore not like that's too many steps above Teen Mom right? Well my problem is for the other teens out there having sex (with or without protection) thinking that pregnancy, having babies and raising babies is glamourous. I've gathered from my few experiences actually watching this filthy show that it's all about the drama (the couples)but very little attention* is paid to the responsibility that comes with being a parent, who pays for the birth, the babies food and diapers, clothes, crib, car seat, hell who pays for the car the baby will be carted around in?

From what I've seen sex is carefree and fun for the teens (not that it shows that part), babies are a (hopefully) cute accessory to daily life on mom's hip, collar popped and hair spiked. It's sick. Not every teen mom gets paid by MTV; on the contrary I have a nagging feeling that our tax dollars support most of these kids in one or more ways: WIC, Medicaid... This pisses me off. Anyone else? I have a feeling that the trend will only continue because teens are given epidurals so birth doesn't cause discomfort or pain and well, the entire process and new life are free because someone else pays for pre-natal care, birth and hospital stay and formula.

Obviously teen pregnancies were on the rise before MTV dipped their toes in the pool, so don't get me wrong I'm not holding MTV (or show participants) solely responsible for the trend... I'm just saying it's a drain on our already weak economy. Also, I know many military families that partake in government assistance as it pertains to their children, I've even had civilians in my family throw this fact in my face and to that I say: we sacrifice for our country and the fact that these sacrifices warrant so low pay that our service members even qualify for these programs is asinine, nevermind a CHILD who probably hasn't even paid anything into the tax system they're taking full advantage of, by birthing spawn because it's cool it's even more asinine and again a drain on the economy. I'm just saying- it pisses me off!

*with the exception of the one couple who gave up their baby for adoption, seemed to realize what a child costs and would (selfishly) cost them in life experience.

ps: I just don't think all teen or young mothers suck at life or take advantage of our government...

The D-Word

So it only took 2 months and 7 days since arriving in Baumholder for serious talks of Deployment to start. The Army being what the Army is, we of course, know nothing concrete. I don't know if I'll have 2 days, 2 hours, or 2 months with my husband before he leaves on his 4th deployment. I know that Kevin has been lucky in regards to dwell time and stabilization, in comparison to others. He wasn't caught up in the troop surge. He wasn't extended to 18 months like some families I know. But the reality of "this is really happening, again" just hit me. I lost hope this morning, of spending his birthday with him this year, or mine, and most likely our anniversary.

Here I am, after surviving Kevin's last deployment of 355 days, only looking at (approx.) 275 days without my love and I'm feeling lucky, scared, deprived and proud. I'm Lucky because we've had the last 547 days together and we're only facing 275 days apart. I'm Scared because we're all people, human, regardless of age, time in grade, enlisted or officer, we all love our husbands and worry the same way. I feel Deprived because I have no solid information as to when Kevin will be leaving (things are still up in the air); we have a 4-day this weekend. A 4-day we could venture to Paris or Munich, but we'll spend it close to home.... waiting. I feel Proud because, to this day there is nothing I've done that I'm more proud of then standing by (behind, whichever adjective you prefer) my husband, supporting him throughout his deployments.

I've often wondered if life would be easier for the Pamela and Chase's out there; the Delta's (hush hush, shhh) leaving on a moment's notice. You don't have this 3 month pre-deployment build up of non-sense to deal with. You get to rip the bandaid and press on with business. Of course, the grass isn't always greener- I understand that the "high speed" fellas (as I like to refer to them) do a lot more training (as they should, they're high speed after all) a lot more deployments (lest they be shorter, but different missions, ect). I really don't need all the spouses of the high speed fella's coming out of the wood work to explain the differences to me, trust me I get them and I fully respect them. I'm just saying this one aspect is something I've wondered about; Would it be easier to cope with, that way (not the whole High speed aspect, JUST the last minute/no notice part)?

I guess I'll find out, won't I?

Friday Favorite

Here's a new thing I'm going to do- starting today! Basically I'm going to share my favorite blog post from the week with you ladies. I'm going to have a McLinky up so that you can share your favorite blog post from the on your blog with your readers, come back here and link up. It's basically a weekly Blog Hop, but instead of just introducing yourself (every Friday) you'll come back and share a post and blogger with everyone else! Honestly, it's motivation for me to blog better (maybe I'll be your favorite next week?) ;)!!

Another very important part is to share WHY your favorite post was your favorite!!

My favorite post from this past week was from Melissa over at for the love. Melissa is a hilariously- clever attorney who recently announced she's expecting her first baby! My favorite post from this week was entitled "This Aint No Etch-A-Sketch" and provided loads and loads of giggles and quotes from everyone's favorite Teen Mom, Juno.

You can come back any Link-up (on the right) with your favorite post from this week.
Side note: I've used both McLinky (Linkytools) and Inlink and none of the codes I've copied and pasted work. The linky template doesn't show up, only the html code. Any thoughts on why that is?? But it obviously does work in my sidebar... what's up with this? Help!

I Want It Wednesday...

I want... to get out of the house- I see a walk in my future.

I want...

Some Wal-Mart Brand Fruit Punch!
It's funny the things you take for granted. I think everything pretty much hates/hated actually going to the Wal-Mart... it's a disaster dodging all the people and children cutting off your cart. But, you just wait until you can't have it anymore... then you'll appreciate it. It's not the Wal-Mart so much that I miss as the Wal-Mart prices. The commissary, of course, has Crystal Light but it's SUPER DUPER expensive. Believe it or not it's still cheaper to have someone (cough, cough my momma) buy the Wally-World Brand shizzle and ship it to me than to buy the Crystal Light at the commissary!

I want... to stop and smell the roses no really, I want to "sample" the new Yankee Candle Spring fragrances:

well these are the ones that appealed to me, there are a few others that I assumed would be more soapy-smelling.

Since I can't do that I'll stick with old favorites:

What do you want today?

Super Bowl Fun!

For my CONUS readers you enjoyed the Super Bowl about 10 hours ago. I could have stayed up all night to watch it but I don't so much care about Green Bay or The Steelers so I figured I'd enjoy precious sleep instead!
Today I woke to a hot cup of coffee, AOL.com, Christina Aguilera royally screwing up the National Anthem and the opportunity to view all of the Super Bowl Ads (via http://superbowlads.fanhouse.com/)! My morning worked out quite nicely, after Kev and I watched all the ads and I jumped in the shower the game came on AFN for our viewing pleasure.

What were your favorite ads? Following were a few of my favs:

These are the snippets that didn't make the cut- HILARIOUS! 




Update: We just watched the Half Time show with the Black Eyed Peas... WOAH!? They really just aren't my cup of tea, I've never been really into their music. But WTH was up with Fergie? She's so extra... What did you think of the BEP's Half Time Show? 

Living Situation..

When we first got our orders to Baumholder I knew that it was all apartment style living and that E6 and below HAD to (unless we had a valid reason for requesting an exception to policy) live on post. So we knew we'd been reverting back to an apartment. Which is a downgrade for us. We gave up a lot in our journey to Germany: our dog, about 500 square feet of living space, a car and other things. We took our lumps and carried on. The past 6 months have had their ups and downs but we're finally settled in here:

Smith Housing Area, Baumholder, GE

Not the best picture but you get the idea. The architecture (and I use that word loosely) reminds me of the projects, minus graffiti. They're just stale looking and all the same. On the upside the unit accommodates our furniture nicely (with the exception of our dining room table, anyone want to buy it?!) and the Master Bedroom is actually bigger than our last one.
But lets get real, the major issue with apartment style living is the other people. Us human folk need interaction from others... we crave it. While this is true I'm not always such a fan of people. There are 4 stories to each building. I live on the 3rd floor of the first stairwell. The only problem (outside of something rotting in the stairwell on the 1st floor) we have is with the people above us. They have a small child (not a problem, in and of itself) who doesn't appear to have any regular bedtime and likes very much to run and jump and scream (and be screamed at) when he or she is awake. Kids will be kids, I understand- truly I do and I know none of us chose this apartment-style living arrangement but since we're all in it I think we should go the extra mile as to not cause the people above, below, and beside us any undue discomfort. Seriously, I'm just looking for a little consideration: Don't blare your music so that I can not only hear the thud-thud of the base but can also clearly make out the words (I don't care if you're into country, rap, r&b or currently really loving Justin Bieber), Don't allow your small child to cause a huge ruckus at 1030 at night during the week (we're married to soldiers for goodness sake- they're up EARLY).
Ok, so I'm the first to admit, I'm no one's mother so I have no idea first hand the stress that comes with being with a child 24-7; dealing with all their wants and needs has to be daunting and extremely stressful. But here's what I do know. If and when I have my babies and they are pushing their Terrible Two's and I'm forced into an apartment style living situation I'm going to do my damnedest not to allow my child to put my business out in the street. Here's what I mean: when your kid throws an un-Godly fit for 20 mins+, daily that reflects on what's going on in the household, especially when the mother screams "SHUT UP!" about 5 minutes into the thing which only prompts Junior to scream louder. (parenting at it's finest)

It's just annoying. Especially (which I think I've said that word like 18 times in this post) when the hubs is coming off CQ. Things may get ugly today... eeeek. Hopefully Junior (upstairs) catches on soon. I know that we try to be considerate of the people around us. When we're watching a movie with the surround sound on we constantly adjust the sound, when there's shooting or explosions and a lot of action we turn it down a few notches, when there's more dialogue we turn it up so we actually have a clue as to what's going on. We TRY, I wish others would too!

I Want it Wednesday...

First I have to say, baby Logan is feeling much better he's been oxygenating away and back at home! Lets hope that was the last of this babies hospital visits.

On to the good stuff!
I want.... the oriental snack mix from the Hyatt back in the states.

(source)

I want.... This mirror from Ikea for our bedroom.

I want... tiebacks for my curtains. More specifically these tiebacks.

You have to love Etsy, don't you!? You can find anything that your needed there.

What do you want today???

Bickering McBickerson's.

Hello, my name is Samantha and I'm kind of narcotic. I'm mostly(totally playing) happily married to Kevin, who is usually easy-going, laid back, et cetera, et cetera... My hubs is not perfect but neither am I. Lately the un-perfect sides of us have been butting heads more than the perfect-for-eachother sides of us making nice with each other. 


Now don't go and get up on your high horse; judging me. Evidently I'm a flawed person and so is my husband. We fight, we argue and we bicker. If you don't... well then good for you. But here at the McBickerson's that's how we roll. We may do all this bickering but we love each other. I've found that after we grew out of our "honeymoon" phase we learned more about each other, became closer and loved each other more. 


Enough explanating our normal behavior. I have to say I'm not really enjoying the amount of bickering going on lately here in The McBickerson's. The stress from leaving the family, moving 6,000 miles away from anything familiar, THEN being cramped into 300 sqft for 43 days is a recipe for disaster. 


Well, my name is Samantha and I'm a Bickering McBickerson. First step to every 12-step program in America is admitting you have a problem, right!?