Oh looky, a blog!

I honestly don't know how to begin. I'm about 3 or 4 years behind the times, apparently. Anyway, why am I here?

What I would ultimately like to do is keep myself busy with new projects (that are already underway) and connect with some other military family members. My husband is on active duty but currently is assigned to a billet that has taken us away from any installation and plopped us into civilian life. Don't get me wrong-- I'm certainly not complaining! Not only do we get the perks of civilian life like no deployments, making friends with all different types of "locals" and even living in a great area. On top of that, if you're a military wife, right about now you're thinking my old man must be either a recruiter or on I & I duty. It's actually neither of those. He does work a lot and get those crazy night and weekend phone calls but he is rarely out of town at all. So, basically right now we have it made. And I would never look a gift horse in the mouth. The thing is, though, that I miss being in the thick of things with other Marine wives and the resources that are available to us (when we go to the trouble to find and use them). I'm glad that I can TRULY pick my friends here of my own volition and don't have to form associations by default because my husband works with so-and-so's husband. At the same time, if you're married to an active duty service member you will know what I mean when I say that only other military wives GET certain things. When I tell my close girlfriend here that we can't hang out on a Thursday night because the old man has a PFT or a hump the next morning, it doesn't quite register. No offense to her-- she's been busy living a relatively normal life for years now and would never have needed to know about such things. And she certainly can grasp them when explained. There's something about the having to explain, though, that makes a girl miss her "sisters." And of course I am still in touch with many of my friends from over the years but these are, of course, long distance relationships.

What I'm getting at here is that I am truly enjoying our life right now. I wouldn't dare complain, especially given the remote possibility that some dear sister whose husband is deployed for the umpteenth time (and I HAVE been there, by the way) might read this and think what a presumptuous witch I am. No, no complaints. I just miss some aspects of what we might describe as "our" life. I miss my girls. I miss the commissary (as shocked as I am to ever be having that thought!). I miss cadence and ooh rah and yellow ribbons. I miss feeling it. It would be a stretch to say that I'd rather be feeling it than be where I am. But being a greedy little snot, I hope to find a way to have my cake and maybe eat a little slice of it, too, by reaching out to some other ladies online. There's something comforting about talking to women who are familiar with the terms "Comrats" and "BAH." Are you ladies out there? And, if so, do you have room for one more? I promise I don't bite!

At the top of my page is a link to a CafePress store I started recently. I want to be clear in saying that while it would be fun to sell something, I frankly don't expect much to come of it and am mainly doing that for fun and another outlet. I'm new at this whole thing and just want to have fun with it. I'm going to have some handmade items for sell on Etsy.com soon, too. And in all honesty I will be humbled and shocked if I sell anything! But these little projects are giving me an outlet making me feel as though I still have some sort of connection to "our" life. I just want anyone who might read this to know, I won't spam you and I'm not a salesperson. I'm just a chick who's feeling a little out of her element and decided to tinker around with some things that might make me feel a little bit more connected. If you do happen to look at any of my stuff and just tell me that it's cute (certainly without buying anything) I won't be mad at ya, though. Or tell me what sucks about it, too. I think I want to prove to myself that I still rate bragging rights!

If you're reading this, thanks for bothering. I'm sure you have better things to do. And if you're reading this and your husband or wife is deployed, BIG THANKS for THAT. I'm a big old sap and I wish I could say something or reach out in some way to every single one of you. There's a silly little Marine wife out here who appreciates you and your service members more than you know.