Super Sign Up Success

For those of you who don't know, I am the President of the Team Charleston Spouses Club. Today we had our Super Sign Up Membership Drive. The idea was to invite other Military spouses who have home based businesses to be vendors. Once prospective members paid their annual dues, then they could shop vendors and have light refreshments.  The day ended up being a HUGE success! We have many new members and in one day, have exceeded last year's total membership!

And here I am looking very Presidential

And at the end of the day, I took advantage of our Massage Therapist Amy. Let me tell you what, that 10 minute session was just enough to work out the stress in my neck. It was wonderful. I was so mentally drained due to putting so much time and effort into this event that immediately after my massage, I went home, had a glass of wine and took a nap!!!

I am going to book a full body massage with Amy ASAP!



"Come on Eileen" - I mean Irene

So, I heard there is the potential to have a major Hurricane hit the Carolinas! But unfortunately for me, every time I hear about Irene the Hurricane, what I'm really hearing is "Come On Eileen." Groovy, huh? Since I am always giving to others, I'm going to share this song with all of you loyal readers so that you may have it stuck in your head also! You can thank me later!



Speaking of Groovy, since the husband isn't home, I should celebrate Irene's arrival with a good old fashioned Hurricane Party!!! I can make some of these: YUM!

Wowza! Look at her go. Seriously though, I hope that this Hurricane doesn't do too much damage and that people don't lose their lives. That would be horrible. 

Don't worry about me.  If the base calls for a mandatory evacuation then I will drive myself and the dogs to stay with my sister Kelly in Kentucky. Otherwise, me and the pooches are going to ride out this storm.  I may even be able to get some very cool pictures!  On a side note, people really do think that Armageddon is approaching.  I saw a man with TWO grocery carts filled to the top with water bottles.  Every one of the large gallons of water was sold out at the Commissary, as was every battery in the store. I tried going down the isle that had batteries, and this over zealous lady literally blocked my cart with hers, and reached over my cart to grab the last package of AA batteries. Listen here crazy lady - I don't want those batteries anyway. So there is NO need to play crash up derby with your cart you Hurricane Hoarder!!! 

I will update y'all again soon. I'm sure there will be more Hurricane stories to tell.  And I really do want to make that drink...

Anything bad that can happen - WILL happen!

Here is a bit of Military Spouse wisdom I'd like to pass on:

Whenever our spouses leave for TDY or on a long deployment, it is 100% certain that something will go wrong.  It always does. Not just to me, but to every spouse I know.  I found an old email that I had written Steve a couple weeks after he arrived in Iraq.  I am sharing it with all of you.  It made me laugh re-reading what I wrote.  Please excuse my language. I am not altering my original email so that you can get a true sense of what I was feeling, um or smelling.

Subject: Poop Duty

Well, I never thought doggie vomit could smell as bad as doggy diarrhea... but it does. Ruby was laying at my feet between the couch and coffee table and yaked quite violently, narrowly missing my feet. So, I led her outside (she was embarrassed, even though I spoke to her softly, she still had her ears down and tail tucked cause she knew she should be outside).

I had to shampoo our area rug all the while heaving my gutts out. It was disgusting and warm, and smelly, and mucousy. STOP LAUGHING! LOL. I have dry heaved so much my ribs hurt.

So, I put the dog bed into the kitchen, made Ruby a pot of white rice, and blocked the kitchen off and had her stay in there. About a half hour later, I hear her whining at the baby gate, so I let her go outside and and she has projectile diarrhea by the back door. She's freaking out. I'm just trying to keep her out of her own water poop. Then, she comes back to the door and quickly turns and runs out to the grass for some more squirts before finally coming inside.

Ruby is sleeping in the kitchen. I guess if I wake up to find shit and vomit on the kitchen floor, at least I can mop it up and it won't stain anything. The house smelled so bad earlier, I  mopped the kitchen floor with enough bleach (about an entire gallon) mixture to kill the poop/puke smell in the house. It worked. The smell of bleach in high quantities somehow trumps the smell of dog poop and vomit. Lucky Me... Meanwhile my eyes are watering.

So, there is the latest dog update. I'm thinking I deserve a nice trip to Hawaii when you get back for all my pain and suffering! Or, lots of jewelry, or PCS orders to Charleston! Think you can deliver any of that? hehehee

Alright, well I should head to bed now. I love you big bunches. If Ruby is still vomiting, and shitting water tomorrow I will call the vet.

Love Always, (even when our dog is literally and figuratively  a shithead)
Me

"I'm so embarrassed" (Ruby)

 I got my trip to Hawaii

And we got that assignment to Charleston.

I didn't get the jewlery though... Steve is gone now.  Maybe if Ruby throws up on the carpet tonight I can get those diamond earrings!

I guess the moral of the story is that even as bad as it seems at the time, things will always get better.  There is light at the end of the tunnel, I promise!!

I'm having a good Air Force wife kind of day!

I get asked from my civilain friends all the time HOW do I make the Air Force life work?  How do I stand the long deployments (Steve was in Iraq for nearly 7 months, then he did an additional 3 months of training soon after), How do I stand the loss of identity? Do I ever get lonely? Do I worry that he will die? Do I get tired of moving around? What is my personal opinion about war, our President, the state of our economic depression? Or, my favorite, "Your husband must be rolling in the money, and have all kinds of power since he's a Lt. Colonel." Now, that was funny. Hilarious.  If my husband had lots of power, I'd want him to fire up a C17 and take me places!  I'm sure the Air Force won't mind if we take a $237 MILLION dollar aircraft out for a little spin.

The Air Force can be inconvenient. Yes, spouses can easily lose their identity. You have to move and change jobs, or have to put off going to school.  There are long deployments, where skype becomes your best friend. But, at the end of the day, I can honestly say that I am proud of my husband. He does an amazing job, doing something that I could never do.

Look at ALL those shiny buttons and switches! I could do some permanent damage if only given the chance!

The C17 has some amazing capabilites. One of the most important is Medical evacuations, or transporting the bodies of our Fallen Heroes. This is what a Med. Evac. in the cargo bay looks like.



Here, a Fallen Soldier is being brought home. Sobering, isn't it?

Steve will be retiring June 1, 2012. We will have an amazing ceremony and party on his behalf. He deserves it. After spending 23 years in the Air Force, he needs to go out with a BANG!  I'm actually hoping our party is so BIG that we get noise complaints! (just kidding. I hope to bribe all of our neighbors with free booze and a shrimp boil).



Here we are reuniting after Steve spent nearly 7 months in Iraq last year.

So, for today I'm a happy Air Force spouse. I'm sitting here in my tiny base house. I just returned home from a  meeting with our Base Commander's spouses; brainstorming how to make our spouses club a better, more meaningful organization.  I'm happy to spend my last year as a military spouse helping pave the way for future generations of spouses who will have the same struggles. Maybe I will be able to pass a little bit of my knowledge on.





Seems like now is a great time to start!

I'd like to know where is MY welcome mat?  Here I am! It's me Tonya and I'm actually blogging. I have had some friends and family members try unsuccessfully to get me to blog for a number of years now.  Finally giving in to peer pressure, I'm going to give this blogging thing a shot.  Surely, someone out there will find my day-to-day ramblings amusing, insightful, and brilliant, right?

I will start off by telling you that I was inspired today. I had lunch (Panera Bread, YUM) with a couple of new friends Gaylie and Mandi.  During the course of our lunch we discussed how short and beautiful life really is. We don't know what tomorrow holds, so enjoy the moment. Savor it, live it, let go of negativity and bad energy. Have you ever known someone who, after being around them for any length of time, they suck the life right out of you? Have you noticed how their constant negativity, complaining, and criticizing just make you feel tired and drained?  We all know people like that in our lives.  No matter how hard we try to encourage that person, uplift them, make them feel good - nothing seems to work.  I've made a conscious decision to distance myself from anyone who is not putting forth any sort of effort to have a happy and fulfilling life.  Why should I waste my days on people who suck the life out of me?  Now don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about ditching a friend who is having the occassional bad day, and who just needs to vent. I'm talking about the person who never has anything positive to say, ever.  I've noticed that those friendships are difficult to maintain anyway. I keep trying, out of fear of being seen as a snob, or even worse yet *gasp* a bad friend!  I just realized that the life sucking friend isn't really a friend any way. When the so-called friendship is a one way street, it's not truly friendship to begin with. So, I'm not going to feel guilty about walking away.  Good bye negativity. Hello beautiful life!


This is a picture of my friend Gaylie. I love her energy.

This is Gaylie and her handsome hubby.

 This is Mandi. I'm told she was watching a football game when this picture was taken. We're going to be football buddies!  I'll even forgive her for being a Tennessee fan.