Home sweet home??

Well, the warm weather, is finally approaching. If it's over 50, at this point, I'll take it. Of course I will change my mind in about a month, I will want it warmer, ha ha. So now is the time, to clean up the yard, and get ready for the warm weather. This, coming from a gal who still has Christmas lights up on the house, and in a tree out in front of the house.  At Christmas, a friend came over, and offered to put them up. I told him, "well, I wasn't gonna put them up, since it's hard for me to get them down afterwards". He said "oh, don't be silly, I will help you" , and here I am. Lights still up. People are talking, I just know they are. I gotta get out the big ladder and climb up there and take them off of the gutters. And the tree? Ought to be fun. I am certainly hoping that I won't have a hard time with it, and also that I don't need to do much with the gutters. I need to rake up leaves. I live near some woods, and most of the people on my street, just take a wheelbarrell up to the woods to dump the leaves. I have 2 gardens to prepare, that used to be my parent's. One flowers, and the other for vegetables. Not to mention the pool we put in a few years back, and the big ol' RV in the back yard. I need to get that opened up, and ready for camping season. So I guess I have my work cut out for me. I have no idea how I am going to get all of this stuff done, plus run every day errands, and heaven forbid one of the kids gets sick and I have to go get them from school or something. When Hubby is deployed, I get to play the role of both the Wife, and the Husband. I will soon have to throw in lawn care in to the mix, probably by next month. Ugh. How on earth am I to do this???!!!

I remember when our now almost 13 yr old Patrick was born, my Husband had to go "TDY" after just a few weeks after having the baby.We lived on the base at the time, in housing.  One afternoon, I got a knock on the door. It was someone in uniform, with a slip of paper. He informed me that I did not have any mulch around the tree in front of my house. I said ok, when my husband returns from TDY the following week, I would tell him. He said "No Ma'am, this has to be taken care of now". I said "but I just had a baby, I am not supposed to be lifting anything heavy or doing heavy work for a few more weeks". He said that I needed to figure it out, but I had to get it fixed NOW.  I was like "Are you kidding me?" Mulch. around a tree. Like I gave a hoot! So that afternoon, I packed up my newborn and my daughter and a shovel, and a box or something to put it in, and went to collect the mulch from the spot that the military provided it for residents of base housing. I shoveled, loaded it up, took it home and put it around the stupid tree. I could not believe this. I was irate, hot, tired, and sore. The baby was crying, but I had to get this done. NOW. See, after (I think) 3 write ups in a month, you could get evicted from the base military housing. We were new there. I didn't know a lot of people. And I did not want my Husband to get in to trouble.
The military wants their base looking "just so"... and if your yard "sticks out" or what have you, they're gonna let you know. I got written up once for having too many outdoor toys on my front porch. For not taking the trash barrells off of the curb in time. For not keeping the trash barrells in the garage. For lawn that was getting too high. For weeds in the bushes. You name it, we were written up for it. So I guess I am glad that they aren't around me now, ha ha, I definately would have been written up for these darn Christmas lights!!! LOL!

Living on the base also has it's perks, however. You are surrounded by other military families, who know first hand, exactly what you are going through. You develop a life-long friendship with many of these folks, and we "cover each other's backs" when needed.  It is a friendship, like I cannot describe. We have so much in common. We know how it feels when our spouses deploy. We know how hard it is, and try to help. We know when the spouse is gone, you need a break so we take the kids, or cook a meal. Or just call to check up on one another. Hopefully, everyone has atleast one friend whom they can count on like this. I would be lost without my friends, that's for sure.   Because we are in the Air Force, we are subjected to moves, or "PCS" which stands for "Permanent change of station". Sometimes the moves are "stateside", some times they are overseas. But it doesn't matter where you live, when it comes time to leave, and say goodbye to people who have lived around you for the past few years, that maybe you got close to in some way. It's one of the hardest things, to do, is to say goodbye to a friend, and you are not sure when you will see them again. Now a days, we have the internet, and "Skype" . I am thrilled, that we are still able to be connected in some way, after moving away from one another! So many people, some Military, some are not, have touched our lives in some way.
Atleast we have modern technology to help us stay connected! And I will definately say, that it is modern technology that is keeping me connected to my Husband while he is away. Because of the time difference, he will "Skype" me sometimes around 6:30 am. I don't know about you, but the last thing on my mind at 6:30 am is a video camera... but it's all I can get, so I take it. I usually look like "my morning self", and I have my coffee with me, and kids climbing on me to see and talk to their Dad. This Skype thing helps us out in sooo many ways, with coping while Daddy is gone. 
Yes, I know. I have gone from my gutters, to Skype... I can only imagine what you are thinking, wow- talk about a wandering mind! And all I can say is Yup- that's me!!  As the warmer weather approaches you, take advantage of it. Embrace the sunshine, the flowers, the leaves on the trees, the blue skies! And if that doesn't work for ya, you can always come by my place and help me with these darn lights and gutters.... :o)