Frustrated. Disappointed. Lonely.

As previous stated the FRG meeting earlier was completely unhelpful. I hate this. I was sincerely hoping they would provide something useful. I think you can understand my frustration, anger and disappointment I felt when all I was provided was an 8 day window! Now I am forced to make a more realistic guess for my MIL. So that hopefully she and my FIL would be in town for the Homecoming Ceremony. I hate the idea of having to take full responsibility for my husband's Mother's attendance at his 3rd Homecoming Ceremony. What if I'm wrong and she misses it? UGH! I am ridiculously over all of this Army BS.

I get the importance of OPSEC. Hence why we have the secure FRG website. With this secure site why couldn't they give us the exact date? Why sit and make us stew on this, wondering and above all GUESSING. It's sick. The Commanders down-range know when they are leaving their FOB, when they're getting to Kuwait... hmmm so why wouldn't they know WHAT day they're leaving Kuwait and therefore returning to Post? Tell me (for example) they'll be home the 28th; being that I'm a reasonable minded individual I understand that they may get delayed somewhere along the route and they may not make it home until the 29th. See, now was that so hard?

My bitching and complaining will get me no where. I will be stuck waiting and hoping my guess was accurate enough and Kevin will see his mother's and step-fathers smiling faces amongst the crowd at this, his 3rd Welcome Home Ceremony!

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Sleeping has become quite the chore as of late. The anticipation coupled with the lack of information makes me extremely uneasy, come bed time. Plus, a year of sleeping a lone has just taken it's tole on me. I'm over it.

As stated in this post I have an issue with paranoia (see #5). When Kevin and I got married than bought our home I insisted on a security system. Some people have alarms in their homes as a standard; I did not. But when I chose to marry a soldier that meant, field rotations, NTC and most notably deployments. Long story-short: I was going to be alone quite a bit. Left alone+paranoia= this-girl-gets-an-alarm!

Lately... the alarm is falling short on the piece-of-mind category. Instead I wake up in the middle of the night to the dog snoring or shifting his weight outside the bedroom door and immediately freak out. Thought #1: I wish Kevin were here. Thought #2: IF someone is there, what do they want? Thought #3: "SAM! Stop thinking like that! No one is there. If someone were there the siren would be baring!" Thought #4: I wish Kevin were here. Thought #5: I sleep much more soundly when I sleep next to my husband. Thought #6: I wish Kevin were here.

Life right now... consists a lot of frustration, disappointment and loneliness.

The Stuff: GI Joe. FR-Useless!. Chick-pea Salad.

Yesterday was a fairly good day: Pool in the AM with Nathan and sister. Then came home to bathe and fix myself for the day. Then my sister forced me to go see GI Joe! You see, her and Mr. Channing Tatum have this 'thing' going. So she had to go support his career. Does anyone else find it completely LAME that there were Army Recruiters set up in the lobby of the movie theater?? I thought that was lame. All the same, the movie was about as corny as you would assume it was going to be. However, there were some legitimately funny parts (Funny- HAHA. Not Funny- "are you kidding me"-funny.)There were also little pot shots at the Air Force through out the movie... which I guess is half-expected I mean the movie is titled "GI Joe" after all. It was all in good fun people. I have to concede looking at Channing Tatum was a great way to spend the afternoon. Although, all of the movie theater snacks didn't set well with my tummy (after dieting and such)! All and all it was enjoyable (but wont be taking home Oscars. What a shocker huh?).

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Today was my final FRG Meeting. WOOO HOO! Right? WRONG! I wish that somebody, anybody would have had more specific information to give. That would be nice right? Instead they provided me with an 8-day window; the 16th-24th!?? Huh- Seriously?? You have got to be kidding! How is that helpful... in anyway? I guess that is helpful for females that don't speak to their husbands (for one reason or another) but that absolutely does not help me in the slightest. When I'm done blogging about my complete and utter disappointment in this FRG I will have to pow-wow with my MIL, as her and my FIL are road-tripping it out here for the Homecoming ceremony!

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Tonight I made the chick-pea salad I blogged about last week. The lemon juice really stole the show here! It is fantastic! Try it folks!! :)

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Who likes give-a-ways?? I DO! Please go check out my friend Jen! I love her blog and I want her free stuff! :) LOL!

I'm sure I'll have more to add later... But at least now you're caught up. ;)

Laaaa De Daaa De Daaa

FIRST: I think I put together the most fantastic care package EVER today! =) Which is extra funny because I sent Kevin two packages just two days ago... but I felt like I owed him some more goodies.

SECOND: I think I've figured out why more seasoned Army wives dislike the FRG. I have been a POC for a few months now... and I have been encouraging my friend Kaitlyn to stick with it, continue going to meetings and participating. Which at this point sounds like the punchline to a bad joke... I can't seem to encourage myself to stick with it. Basically I think it is just this troop. When Kevin was in Alpha troop that FRG rocked. This troop- not so much. It's not for lack of trying on the leader's part either. I really feel for her, she does put a lot of energy into this. Either way I'm thinking my time with the FRG is coming to an end. Why? Well I am not a babysitter and I do not take kindly to being attacked by random females. One of the wives I am responsible for contacting sent me an email stating how she hasn't ever been contacted by the FRG and is extremely frustrated. So kindly reminded her of our first conversation to let her know that she has infact been contacted and informed of meetings ect... I also apologized for any misunderstandings. Well at this point she threw a hissy fit. "OIY" that is all I can really come up with. Why do grown folks have to act like children? I for a fact this specific individual is the mother of four- FOUR KIDS! I'm not sure how she manages this when she can't even keep track of emails she's received.

We'll see what comes next people. Hope all is well.

The Interview

I just got home from my interview with Tierra Vista. It went really well and the girl, Jennifer hinted that she liked me. We chatted briefly about my resume, than discussed her life (marry guy, divorce guy, re-marry same guy, and now getting divorced again! OIY!), where we went to high school , TriCare, the company and then voila the interview was over. I think that it went well and that she really did like me but we'll see. It's hard to get too confident or comfortable with this job market you know? Well ladies keep your fingers crossed just a few more days- time will tell!!!

Other than that I don't have much that I CAN report. Things have been going on in my world but it's not my business to broadcast. So unfortunately I can't blog away about my woes. I hope everything works out and we can all go back to being happy and living in a world filled with love and marshmallows! =)

PS: FRG fundraiser isn't going that well! =( I need $200 by the 16th! urg... Who has spare cash!!!? :-p

Be good, Be easy, Be safe, Stay positive out there ladies! =)

FRG Update

As promised here is some very exciting news from my FRG Meeting yesterday:

I should start by saying my hubs left for deployment 2 Sept 08- with Main Body 2. Main Body 1 left 1 Sept 08. Okie dokie.. Now that, that is out of the way... Yesterday at the meeting our leader says that she received an email from my hubby's Cpt saying that all of the guys should be home within the next 4 months (which would put us right at the end of August). My first reaction to that was... "So? What is so exciting about that? How is the end of August anything more than an on-time re-deployment of soldiers? (based on when they left)?" Well, I said as much in the meeting and was promptly corrected: The Cpt saying that ALL soldiers should be stateside by the end of August would put the first group of guys re-deploying in July, and Main Bodies early August-ish. This is more exciting for me to think about. However... the Army being what the Army is, it's still hard to jump up and down about it. For the guys who return in July this is definitely early... however for those that re-deploy the beginning or middle of August... it's really not that much different. I mean really, if my hubs returns home the 15 of August and people ask how long he was gone I'm going to say "A year." not "11 and a half months." I mean seriously it's about the same. And again the nature of the beast kind of tells all of us whom are familiar to be hopeful but not expect anything. Early August is exciting to think about but I won't hold my breath!

Other than that we discussed fundraising and what we can do for the single Joe's return. I don't know about you but it's extra sad to see all these guys reuniting with family and some of these guys have no one there to welcome them, take them to dinner (or give then a home-cooked meal for that matter), make sure they have necessities on hand and at the end of the day make sure that their absence the last year has been noticed, missed and greatly appreciated. So that is one of the main purposes behind our current fundraising efforts. I think it's well worth it- don't you? Also, I think maybe even a little more urgent is our current lack of participation in this FRG. The first meeting I attended (with this troop; since my hubs was moved when he put on rank last December) was March 8th (read here). This meeting was just for POC's and only 6 (maybe 7) wives showed up. Than the next meeting was a few weeks later (where we received a new address for our guys) and only 7 people showed up again (some of the POC's and 1 or 2 new people). So yesterday's meeting was extra disheartening because there were only 5 ladies in attendance. I think we all agreed that we should do something for those single Joe's but that we definitely need to budget our money in order to encourage more wives to get involved. Kaitlyn and I were saying we should have BBQ's and things like that- separate from FRG Business so that the other wives that have been less enthusiastic to get involved could come out for free food a lil booze (maybe..) and meet those of us that do lend our time and at that point they would possibly like us more, create some friendships and attend meetings and such!

What do you guys think??? Is there something that your FRG has done (similar to what we're getting at) that you really enjoyed? Maybe where you met another Army wife that you liked, or where you were motivated to be more involved?? Thanks for your ideas....!!

Questions....

Hey everyone! The snow finally stopped falling and I was able to escape my house yesterday evening!!! whoo hoo. I was thinking it is pretty weird that I was super upset that I was "trapped" or "stuck" in the house from Thursday about Noon until Friday about 7pm... I'm thinking I would have [honestly] been in the house during those time phrames even if it weren't snowing. What is it about having you're options taken away, that is so upsetting? Maybe it's an American thing...? We are just so used to being able to come and go as we please, that once we can't do it anymore it drives us crazy!! Who knows... either way when I couldn't leave the house for some reason I wanted to or felt like I had to. Well thank goodness I was able to escape Friday evening!!! All of that is behind us now.

So, today we had a troop FRG meeting, which only the POC's showed up to. That's so fun. It is disconcerting when you get involved and want to be there for other wives to help provide some semblance of normalcy, and no one responds to it. I have 7other wives to keep informed, and invite to upcoming FRG meetings. I spend time out of my day attempting to contact them and to provide them with updated information and they say they'll attend the meeting and don't show! It's funny because when I spoke with each of my wives they all said that they would come, that they didn't have anything else going on; bored, have no friends, ect... So why not take advantage? Why sit at home doing nothing or chasing your kids? Versus getting out of the house, participating in an adult conversation (for those who have kids), and maybe just possibly making a friend or two?
I know that a lot of FRG's are filled with caddy gossip mongers! But as I stated in my previous email regarding FRG's, whenever you put a group of women together they are going to gossip, and there are going to be your "bad eggs". All the same, I strongly believe that you get out of groups, situations, relationships what you put into them. If you put nothing into it, then you'll get that back! I got involved with my FRG to meet some people, possibly make a friend (which I did!!!!), and to actually do something productive with my person (since I'm not working... and no one wants to hire me! ugh! that is for another blog). So I am attending meetings, attempting to contact my wives; I am getting out of it what I am putting into it! :)

So ladies, I am hoping that some of you can explain to me why people are uninterested in the FRG, but then want to sit at home playing the victim being lonely!!??

Also, if any of you are active in your FRG's what are some fun things that you do together.. what are things that you enjoyed? Things that you didn't like so much..?

Thanks for your help! I do appreciate it.

FRG

I'm starting to discover my life isn't all that interesting. So far I'm only moved to blog once a week. Well, it is what it is. Besides most people don't have the time to read or check in with multiple blogs every single day so, in theory I'm helping them out by not blogging constantly. Right? That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Today was a good day, I'm happy to report! Of course I was extra sleepy because our clocks "sprang forward" an hour this morning. But, I started my day with an FRG Meeting. For those of you who are not familiar with this acronym the FRG, is the Family Readiness Group. The FRG is meant as a source of information for the families of our soldiers. While our spouses are deployed the FRG is in contact with Commanders in order to receive the must up to date information. The Commanders let the FRG leaders know what is happening with our soldiers and what is in the pipeline so that we can relay information accordingly. A few days back I was contact by the FRG leader for Delta Troop, 1-10 Cav and asked if I would mind helping out the FRG by becoming a Point of Contact (POC) for our troop. I agreed, and attended the meeting this morning. We received our phone rosters and discussed upcoming troop FRG meetings and other events. It was nice to meet some other Army Wives, I feel more involved now and I think it will really help me survive the rest of the deployment! :) So I'll keep everyone updated on my FRG happenings! *** For family and friend's Kevin will be getting a new address so please do not send any more mail... I'll get the new address to you as soon as possible! ***

Oh, and when I did get home my husband's dog had completely devoured his new $30 leather leash! Brody, is officially in the "dog house".

Saturday my neighbor and "homie" Nikki deployed to Baghdad, Iraq. Whether she knew it or not she really helped me to stay sane and continue to feel useful, and wanted since Kevin left last fall. Since she was just right across the street we wound up seeing each other a few times a week. We would stop by and shoot the shit, she'd tell me about her woes at work (she is a person that really is not designed to sit at a desk all day... she had many woes!), I'd gossip about other people's lives (because I obviously don't have one- ha ha), we'd go to dinner, or run errands. It's really nice to not have to go to Wal-mart or a restaurant alone. So I'm going to miss her! She'll be home just after Kevin gets back, so I guess it's not too bad...