Saturday 31 December 2011

It's that time again

So Christmas is done and dusted for another year. Presents have been played with. Too much food and drink has been consumed. But there is no post Christmas relaxing in this household this year because it is that time again. Yep you guessed it - my husband has a new posting which means it's moving time! Yay!

Before each move I always tell myself that I'm going to be so organised this time and I'm not going to leave everything to the last minute, but I still always manage to be up til all hours the night before pre-pack, trying to get the house ready. But no, not this time. This time I am going to be Super Army Wife. Clothes will be packed away neatly. Trampolines will be dismantled before the removalists arrive. I WILL have the fridge cleaned properly so it won't have mould growing in it by the time it arrives at our new house (that's what happens when you leave those sorts of jobs to the men grrrr!). You would think that with this being our 6th move I would be all over this process by now but I still learn something new each move. We have come a long way since our first disastrous move all those years ago. The first lesson I ever learnt was not to leave the packing of clothes to my husband. He packed everything while I was at work and it wasn't until the truck was leaving our driveway with all our gear on board that he realised he had forgotten to leave me any clothes to wear on our 4 day trip to the new location!

Right - I'm off to get organised. Oh, and I just found an important job that has to be done before we move. There are a few opened bottles of alcohol that can't be packed. I hate to see wastage :-). Besides, what sort of Super Army Wife would I be if I didn't 'organise' those bottles???

Until next time,

C.

P.S. Just Another Army Wife Blog now has a Facebook page! So make sure you click here to check it out and 'Like' it :-)

Saturday 24 December 2011

Merry Christmas

I am very excited to say that as I write (type?) this post, I am sitting at the airport waiting to welcome home my hubby from deployment :-D I think it safe to say that it is my best Christmas present ever!! So before I get swamped by a mountain stinky, dirty cams to wash, I wanted to take a minute to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Hope Santa is good to you :-)

Until next time

C.

Monday 19 December 2011

Just had to get this off my chest...

Everyone knows that when you are married to someone in the Army, life isn't always going to be a breeze. There have been times when this lifestyle has caused me to be upset, overwhelmed and lonely but through all the ups and downs I can honestly say that I wouldn't trade this lifestyle for anything. I am generally a 'glass half full' kind of person so one of the things that irritates me the most is other Army Wives who constantly complain and who make out like they are a 'victim' of this lifestyle.

Now I am definitely not a feminist, but sometimes I feel that there are a lot of Army Wives out there who are selling themselves short. I see people post sappy poems that basically describe Army Wives as clingy women who sit at home alone, pining for their husbands while they are away. Just today, I read a blog by an Army Wife where she was complaining about how hard it was for her to go a party and meet new people without her husband by her side. SERIOUSLY LADIES!! We are stronger than that! Yes, it is ok to miss your husband when he is away but we can't stop living our own lives just because they are not around. Yes, it can be daunting meeting a lot of new people for the first time but as an Army Wife there is no room for being scared of meeting new people.

So if anyone (other than my mum lol) is reading this, let me say this to you. Yes, being an Army Wife can be ... well, for lack of a better word... it can be shit. But complaining and feeling sorry for yourself isn't going to make things any easier. So stir that teaspoon of cement into your glass and drink up ladies! Cheers!

Until next time,

C.

Friday 16 December 2011

Things Facebook has taught me about Army Wives

UPDATE!!! Just Another Army Wife Blog now has a Facebook page :-) Check it out here!

Ah Facebook! I must confess that I am a Facebook tragic. I often wonder how much cleaner my house would be if Facebook had never been invented. Even though Facebook steals my time and often is the cause of many late nights, it has taught me a few things, especially about Army Wives.

Before Facebook you had fellow army wife friends scattered all over the country and in most cases, once you left a posting, there wasn't much further contact with them until of course you met up again in another posting location a few years later. Now, with a few clicks you can stay in contact no matter where they are and you can jump on any number Defence support groups and communicate with hundreds of other wives all around Australia.

But with these support groups have come some new breeds of Army Wives. So this is my breakdown on the types of Army Wives on Facebook:

The Debater
This wife is never far from an argument and will debate any topic.

The Overly Sensitive
Takes offense to even the most tame of comments. Their Messages folder most likely is full of complaints they have sent to group admins.

The 5 Second Army Wife
This wife has been living this lifestyle for less than 12 months and loves to tell anyone who will listen that they are an Army Wife. Whether their partner has just joined up, or they have just hooked up with an already serving member, the 5 Second Army Wife can fall into 1 of 2 sub-categories:

The Totally Clueless - has trouble comprehending simple army processes and their ignorance often leads them to spout pearls of wisdom like "the army sucks" and "they are being unfair with our defacto application".

The 5 second going on 5 year wife - they think they already know everything about being an Army Wife and are often known to dish out advice to others on topics they know nothing about.

The Passive Aggressive
This wife won't participate in debates by commenting but rather just by 'liking' other people's comments.

The Power Tripping Admin
Known for their fondness of the delete button. Views their role to be of the highest importance most likely because they are lacking same in real life.

The Look at Me
This wife is always posting about some sort of drama in her life, usually just to get some attention.

The TMI (too much information)
Guilty of giving out too much information on a range of topics from their sex life / relationships to their health issues.

The Jackpot
This is a wife who falls into 3 or more of the above categories. You know you should just ignore her but she is like a car crash - you can't help but watch!

So they are my types of Facebook Army Wives. Some of us (myself included) know that we have probably dipped into those categories from time to time. If you were offended by any of the above, then chances are I was talking about you! So lighten up and remember there is a great big real world outside of Facebook - so start living in it!

I better go, this blogging thing is seriously interfering with my Facebook time ;-P

Until next time,

C.

Wednesday 14 December 2011

Where do I start?

So guess what I did today? I finally got up enough courage to start a blog! Yay me! I have been toying with the idea for a while but up until now I haven’t been brave enough to share my writing with anyone else. So thank you to some of my fellow army wives for inspiring me to just do it :-)
I don’t have any grand plans for what I want to achieve with this blog. Basically I will be just be blogging about things that amuse or irritate me, my 3 gorgeous (and sometimes insane) children and just life in general. Now as you clever kids would have picked up on from the name of my blog, I am an army wife. Even though I try not to let that define who I am, I can’t escape the fact that our life revolves around the army, so chances are that a lot of my posts will be about life as an army wife.
I can’t guarantee that my posts will always be entertaining (or free from grammar and spelling mistakes lol), but I promise they will always be honest, real…and maybe sometimes a little cheeky :-p

Until next time,
C.