Monday, January 30, 2012

My Little Boys

My little boys are a bundle of energy from the moment they wake up in the morning til they finally pass out at night. I do not know where they get all their energy from and I am even more lost as to where to direct all that energy when it is cold, windy, or rainy outside. Being in the house seems to bring out their natural craziness even more. I am constantly trying to prevent them from jumping on my couch or their bed. They want to run in circles and spin til they drop on the ground. It is quite funny and exciting to watch but it makes me crazy. I of course have to protect Miss H because she is just a baby and cannot move fast enough if one of them were to fall, so somedays that feels like all I get accomplished. As I type this, I am chasing them off the furniture so that hopefully this furniture might last a few years. I love that they love to play and use their wild imaginations but I really wish there were times that they would just sit and play quietly. Oh well there are much worse things going on in the world. :)

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Glasses Online


*this is the pair of glasses I ordered from Coastal



Today I had my first eye exam since high school. Yes that was a long time ago since I am going to turn 32 in February. I walked in thinking it was going to be an easy exam. It took me almost 2 hours to go through all sorts of tests and now I have to go back for a peripheral vision test and a scan of my head. I did walk out with a prescription for glasses. They are supposed to help me see things up close better. I priced glasses at the on base optical shop and it would cost me $300 for the pair of glasses that I liked. They charge separately for frames and lenses. It is a lot of money. If I end up buying them I will have to buy them out of our tax return as I don't usually have that much free money to spend. I did some research online and there are several online places to buy glasses. I decided to try out a could of them. I ordered a free pair from Coastal.com, a free pair from Firmoo.com, and a $6.95 pair from Zennioptical.com. I am a bit nervous trying online places especially ones who send free glasses with just the cost of shipping. These places include the cost of basic lenses in the cost of their frames. You would pay a extra for coatings or better lenses. I figured since my first prescription isn't very high I would be able to get away with the basic lenses.

Have you ever ordered glasses online? Did you like them?

If you order a pair from this link at Coastal I can get some referral credit to help fund a future pair. I would be so thankful if you would check it out or recommend this post to your friends to check out the links. The free glasses opportunities are for new customers only.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Cleaning

I hate cleaning house. I only do it because I have to and I generally try get The Man and the kids involved because I do not want to clean up every body's mess all by myself. The Man is usually really good about helping on the weekends but he is so tired and worn out from his work schedule and lack of sleep during the week that he doesn't do much during the week.

The oldest boy is supposed to do a chore every day but rarely gets one accomplished between school, homework, dinner, and practicing his instruments. I am quite lax on him about the chores because I think that the school work and practicing the instruments is more important. I never had the opportunity to learn to play an instrument when I was a child so I am thankful he gets the chance to learn two. He also has a bad attitude when I ask him to do anything and when he does do something he puts very little effort into it and it usually isn't much better than it was before. How do you get an 11 year old boy to understand that helping out in the house is important?

The little two boys don't quite get what chores are. I try to get them involved with helping but if I am not right there helping them they make more mess than the help is worth. I can hand them wet washcloths to help wash fingerprints off walls and if I walk away they are smacking each other with the rags. I will help them start cleaning the toys off their floor in their room but if I leave the room for any reason they start playing and pull out more toys. I have taken toys away for them being left out and it doesn't seem to affect them. What are some easy chores for little kids (5&3) that they really cannot make too much mess with?

The baby of course cannot do much at this point. It would help if she would play peacefully in her playpen for a little and not cry when I walk out of her sight so I could get a whole lot more accomplished.

I struggle on how to implement the family's help so that I am not the only one who is stressed out about it all the time. I read a few blogs about large families (much larger than mine) and they seem to have figured out how to limit the "stuff" their kids have and they home school so there are more helping hours. I don't home school mostly for my lack of strict structure and my oldest son's attitude. I would love to be that great mom who was able to home school her children and get everything done around the house as well, but I am not.

While I know my house isn't a pigsty or a disaster it is cluttered and always looks too lived in for my liking. I do not know how to combat this. I can figure out how to get rid of "stuff" but new stuff seems to just come in to replace it. I am really hoping that as my children age that the house wont look so messy to me all the time.

Do you have children who are great helpers around the house? How did you get them to be involved without the attitude? Do you have some suggestions on how to get everyone involved without too much arguing and complaining?

Friday, January 20, 2012

Schooling - Part 3

My financial aid portion was approved. I am now waiting on the 1st of February to be enrolled and then my books to arrive. I am so excited and scared. I know I will be able to do it but I know I will have to make an effort for time for myself so I can study. I am also excited to show S (the oldest boy) how Mom can still study and get good grades. I think this is going to be important for him because he has decided he doesn't like school and doesn't want to put forth an effort.

If you know a military spouse of an E1 - E5 or O1- O2 let them know there is money for school out there for them. Free money. Tell them to contact Military One Source and ask about the MyCAA.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Schooling - part 2

My school goal was approved and now I am waiting on the financial aid portion to be approved. I could start my online class as early as February 1. I am super excited and nervous.  I want so badly to be able to get a really great grade in the class so that I can get my certificate and possibly take another class come October/November.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Schooling

I was/am a licensed cosmetologist. I went to beauty school right out of high school. I then worked in a salon for 6.5 years. I really enjoyed being a hairstylist but it is really hard on the body and I am a bit over weight, which doesn't help. I have been a stay at home mom now since 2006 when I was put on bed rest while pregnant with T. I really miss being a hairstylist but I am afraid that being out of the business too long I will need to update my knowledge just a bit before going back into the hair business. I cannot really do that while I am here so I have decided to strengthen my knowledge by taking an online class in a different subject. I will worry about updating my cosmetology skills once I am back stateside. I know most of the basics are not out of date but there have been up and coming things like threading and new hair straightening techniques that I would hope to learn.

I found out that the government has some money set aside to help military spouses go to school for what they deem "portable" careers. This is free money to go toward and associates or a certificate in these "portable" careers. The program is called Military Spouse Career Advancement Account. I have signed up and am waiting for the approval to take an online course for a certificate in medical billing and coding. There are lots of schools to choose from and I am going to be taking mine through a stateside university continuing education program. Once you sign up for MyCAA then you choose the education path you want to do and submit it to the program for approval. Once it is approved then your financial aid portion is submitted and approved. I am hoping that I should be able to start my classes in February. I am a bit scared because I have not been to any kind of schooling since leaving beauty school back in 1999. I am excited because I will get to learn something new and hopefully something I could put toward job finding when we get back to the states.

If you would like to find out more about the MyCAA program visit www.militaryonesource.com.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

I Am Stressed

I am stressed. Not just stressed but, STRESSED. I like for my life to be pretty boring and for everything to run just the way I need it to. It does not always do that for me and I end up stressed. It appears to me that every time I get to a place where I feel comfortable in my life once again something has to come along and ruin it for me.

I have been married almost 7 years now. I married The Man in April 2005. The beginning of our marriage was quite rough as he was deployed more than half of our first 3 years of marriage. It is rough sitting home hoping and praying for an email to let you know that your loved one was OK. We found out that in 2009 we would be moving to England for 4 years. This sounded great to us because we would get to travel a bit and see another country that we might not otherwise get to see. He has also informed me that he would not be deploying as much since which was exciting to me. I wanted him to be able to see his kids grow up a little bit. Since we have been here the house prices have dropped where we came from to a level that we could have bought a house had we not been sent over here. This stresses me out. I want to buy a house. I want to know that I will have a roof over my head always. This year they (whatever great source pays the military people) have also decided that our COLA (cost of living allowance) is too much so over the course of this year they are  going to take $190.00 a month away from us. This hurts me. The food prices here are amazingly high compared to where we came from. There are also no double coupons and things do not go on great sales. The higher costs mean that we do not get to travel like we thought we would. So much for being in such a beautiful country.

Just recently I was delivered another blow. The Man has been in the military for 14 years this month. Great feat if you do ask me, as this life is not easy for sure. The plan has been to make it to 20 years and retire so that we would be OK on medical insurance and some sort of pay check while we were able to get settled and find new jobs. Well, thanks to the need to cut military troops there is a very real possibility that my husband could be kicked out of the military in 2013. He must make his next rank this year or next or he is done and will not be allowed to continue to retirement. The problem with this theory is that while my husband is awesome at his hands on work he has a much harder time taking written tests. They do not just give out rank because you are great at your job, you have to pass a written test. This might not be so terrible to some people but I have been a stay at home mom now for 5.5 years so we have no second income to fall back on. We are living overseas where I cannot just buy a house or try to get settled. We are, at minimum, 9-11 hours airplane ride away from our families. We are not due to go back to the states til only a few months prior to this new "rule" taking effect. I cannot get prepared quick enough for this.

I am scared out of my mind. I have never considered the possibility that my husband might not have his job. I cannot sleep. I am nauseous. I have to try to pay off any sort of debts between now and then, just in case. We just financed a vehicle that will not be paid off before this could happen. I have tried to explain my stress to The Man but I don't think he understands. I am the planner and the one who takes care of all the finances. He is very laid back and figures everything will just fall into place. I am very scared of the unknown. I need to know where life is heading.

If you have some time would you please pray, hope, think positive thoughts that my husband will be able to pass his test this year and that June will bring us great news. I would love to be able to feel the comfort again of knowing that we will be able to provide for our children. I do not like this feeling of uncertainty at all.

I am sorry if this isn't very well put together and sounds a bit jumbled. It is the middle of the night and I have so many scary thoughts running through my head I don't know how to sort them at the moment.