MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #46

I hadn't planned to do this week's Friday Fill-in since we're on vacation, but here I am sitting with Dave and the kids at a model railroaders' auction in Harrisburg with some time to kill, so I thought I'd have a little fun!

Besides, I'm excited to share my Amazing Race plans to conquer the world :-)

1. Are you a different person than you were five years ago? submitted by Sisterly Thoughts

Let's do the math...it was June 2006 five years ago.  So I was living in NC, I'd been a non-active duty stay-at-home Mom for about a year.

I had a very hard time transitioning from active duty with plenty of adult interaction to the stay-home Mom life, spending days mostly with the kids.  I was accustomed to sharing all the chores, including getting up in the middle of the night for the babies.  Every time I'd do my reserve weekends, I'd come home with visions in my head of how much extra work I'd want to do -- and then remember, "Oh wait, my responsibility is to my family first now...."

Five years later, I have struck a nice balance, IMHO.  Definitely a different place than 5 years ago.  No longer resentful of my husband being the one on active duty.  The only household chore (of the shared chores we used to do) is that I still refuse to pack my husbands' lunches.  I always seem to do something wrong with his lunches, so one day I just stopped.  It's a pretty sticky point in our marriage ;-)

2. If you could go on Amazing Race, who would you take with you as your partner and why? submitted by Thoughts from a Poekitten

My family LOVES The Amazing Race!  We stop everything at 7pm on Sundays (when the show is on) and we watch it together...I'm reminded of old fashioned family gatherings to watching wholesome shows such as The Waltons or Little House on the Prairie.  It's the only show we all watch together without fail (even if it's on the DVR).

My youngest son (age 6) has been wanting to do the race one day.  He's incessantly talking about "what I would do if I were on the Amazing Race!".  I told him about the season where they did a family race and he'd like to do that.  He has also said that he'd want to do it with me if he's a grownup.  So sweet...

(He also bawled his eyes out and threatened to never watch the show again the week that Jet and Cord were eliminated this past season.)

But if I had the chance to run the race starting tomorrow, since our kids are too young, I'd be running the race with my Dear Husband Dave, hands down!  We have a LOT of experience with public transportation, understanding the ins and outs of how to quickly schedule flights, train rides, etc., and experimenting with strange foods!  I can drive a stick shift on foreign car rentals.  In our younger days we've attempted white water rafting, mountain climbing, etc.

And I also think we could run pretty darned fast!

3. Does Facebook or Twitter actually bring more stress or good in to your life? submitted by Just an Arizona Girl

That's a tough one.  Overall, this is a great tool to keep connected with my family.  (Just about) every single person in my life who I'd want to keep in touch with is on Facebook.

Unfortunately I spend too much time on Twitter and Facebook, where I could be spending the time on otehr things, such as playing with my kids, keeping up with the housework, or crocheting for the HAP charity with which I'm involved.

4. June is National Soul Food Month- what’s your soul food? submitted by NH Girl Displaced

Chicken fried steak!  I LOVE IT!

Sadly, though, I only get a chance to eat it once every two years or so.  I don't make it for my family -- I rarely fry foods in my house -- and I rarely get to diners or dives where chicken fried steaks are REALLY good!  I had my last one a couple years ago in a moment of weakness at a Cracker Barrel restaurant...it was decent.

For a fun read, I recommend the excerpt about chicken fried steak from Robert Fulghum's All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.  I found the excerpt here, but the whole book is fun too!

5. If you could live in any other era than the current, which one would it? why?submitted by Sugar in My Grits

I'm convinced I would have been better off in turn-of-the-century America.  There's a certain beauty to that time period, when girls were JUST ABLE to start pursuing their own careers without social suicide, and America was undergoing a technological revolution that wouldn't be seen again until World War II.

Just watch Meet Me in St. Louis, starring Judy Garland.  One of my favorites, set in 1904!  Maybe because I'm sitting in a train convention right now and the song "Clang Clang Clang Went the Trolley" (more appropriately known as "The Trolley Song") is running through my head.