Feels Like Just Six Months Ago I Was Doing This....

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

‎"I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure."

It came across my @BreakingNews Twitter feed this evening.  Before CNN, before FoxNews...Yahoo news had apprently caught it from Yonhap News Agency.

I did get a grin out of Korea Central News Agency apparently reporting that their "Dear Leader" died of fatigue on a train.  Um...okay!

Dave and I were in Seoul, S. Korea from May 1998 - June 2000 (me) and July 2000 (Dave).  We had a great time there, but you couldn't get complacent...every 3-4 months some sort of dialogue or action would remind us that there was real evil less than 100 km away.  We were in missile range if the poop really hit the fan.

So as I did for Bin Laden 6.5 months ago, I present to you my favorite song when an Axis of Evil leader passes away.

Hurlburt Spouses' Club Charity Auction

I just got home from the Hurlburt Spouses' Club Charity Auction.  This year was the 25th year of the auction.  The auction is the year's biggest fundraiser for the organization's scholarship fund.

Being that this was my first HSC auction experience, I didn't really know what to expect.  All the ladies said "It's a really great time!" and they were right!  I saw dozens of planning e-mails (I'm on the Spouses' Club board and I was privy to a lot of the planning information, although I wasn't on the committee this year) and heard dozens of stories of everything that goes into a successful auction.  It was amazing seeing it all come together for a very successful evening.

A sampling of the items offered for auction.  The framed items on the table are tickets to attractions (such as Disney World), a pair of plane tickets for any day/anywhere in the U.S. on Southwest Airlines, and several weekend getaways at area golf resorts and casino hotels.

Dave's Mom joined me tonight and she and I had so much fun!  Seeing the team spirit at many of the tables and the crazy antics during some of the more creative auction items was great!  (Such as the auction for the Wing Commander's family cooking dinner for the highest bidder -- which he then converted into TWO dinners and he turned one $500 bid into TWO $500 bids in an instant.)  Above all, the generosity was phenomenal!

One of the part of the event is the "Decadent Dessert" auction.  About 15 of the items are auctioned off early on in the program.  The winner has the option to serve up the dessert right there at their table.  Out of over 50 desserts, I was thrilled that my cake was one of the ones to be offered up for the tables.

Two boxes of Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate cake mix.  The icing?  Are you ready for this?  Whisk 12 oz. of heavy cream with 12 oz. of semisweet chocolate chips in a double boiler.  After it's smooth, stir in 3 Tbsp. of Kahlua coffee liqueur.

I was tickled to see some of the first desserts bring well over $100!  They were definitely worth it!  The cake I made brought in $50 for the scholarship fund, but I will say that my cake plate was one of the less-elaborate ones.  Many got into bidding wars just for the pretty holiday platters that some of the cakes were on.

Even though I had my heart set on only one thing -- a Keurig Elite coffee maker, which I won, yay -- it was thrilling to see the bidding wars on many of the bigger-ticket items: over $600 for a Gibson acoustic guitar signed by the members of Sugarland!

I'm looking forward to hearing how much money was earned for the scholarship fund, and I know the spouses are incredibly grateful for the donations from around the community -- actually, from around the country!  My hats off to the ladies of the club who worked so hard to make this evening a success!  I become more involved in the spring for our 2nd largest fundraiser: The Golf Scramble, which is scheduled in mid-April 2012!

A hand-knit American flag afghan, knit by a member of the Hurlburt community.  The stars were hand-crocheted also.  

A full house -- nearly 200 people present!

Roses...Roses...and More Roses...

I'm making a cake later this week for the Hurlburt Spouses' Club Charity Auction.  I hope it turns out really pretty and yummy...the money earned from the auction will help provide scholarships for members of the Team Hurlburt family!

Tonight I decided to start on the roses, since I hadn't made roses in several years.  2007?  2008?  I can't remember.

Let me say that skill in making icing roses is NOT like the skills you develop riding a bike!  I had a hard time remembering how to do it and I really struggled with the icing temperature.  I got a little out of control.  Out of all these roses, I only need about 10 of them.

I'll take a picture of the completed cake on Friday, I promise!

Change of Command

Last Friday was Dave's change of command.  He took command of the 2d Combat Weather Systems Squadron.  For any no-longer-actively-serving-in-Air-Force-Weather types, the squadron stood up in early 2010 combining personnel from the AF Combat Weather Center at Hurlburt Field with the Weather System Support Cadres from Robins and Tinker AFBs.

Both sets of parents, Dave's brother and our niece came into town to see the ceremony.  It went off without a hitch, and here are a few pictures of our day.

I think I'm looking at someone else taking a picture of me, but I wanted to show off one of the pretty corsages all the ladies in our family were wearing.

Dave presented me flowers.  He called it an advance apology for late nights and changes to weekend plans.  :-)  He knew to get me a mixed bouquet instead of roses or lilies, which are typically what one sees given.  That mixed bouquet is still looking like it was just picked 5 days later in a vase on our kitchen table :-)

The boys each got one of these coins.  A great gift!  Good job Dad!  We're so proud of you!

Change of Command Time!

Hey -- is this lady really juggling for you?  In my blog post draft this is animated!

Today I'm doing a "reset" of sorts.  As great a time as we had at Disneyworld, on our road trip, and hosting our North Carolina friends showing off the sights of the Florida Panhandle, I realized we were "on the go" for a solid MONTH!

From June 8th through July 10th!  Wow!  And then there's GeekMom Jenny who's currently halfway through a 40-day vacation!

So here's our "reset": The kids are taking it easy, we're taking care of a few errands, cleaning up the house some, and we're getting ready for this weekend's next set of festivities.

My Dear Husband's assumption of command is this Friday.  Dave will be taking command of an Air Force weather squadron, and I couldn't be more proud!  The "change of command" ceremony itself is a pretty elegant affair, and much of our extended family is coming into town this weekend to see the ceremony and celebrate with Dave.

I did a cursory search for some easy-to-digest information to help define Air Force Squadron command to a non-military member.  I didn't think I'd find it, but I found this recent blog post with exactly what I need!  An Air Force Colonel at Sheppard AFB, TX wrote about how squadron commanders are selected and what kind of job is ahead of the Air Force's newest squadron commanders.  Wow!  How easy is that?  I'll just link it for you here:

Sheppard Live: Squadron Command

I'm proud and excited for Dave, but also nervous about what impact squadron command will have on the family.  While part of me is dreading that I'll never see Dave for the next 2 years, that his new wife will be his squadron, I also remember how it was when Dave first started his 3-year PhD program in North Carolina.  Several fellow Air Force PhD-student families warned me, "Kiss Dave goodbye for the next 3 years.  He's going to be living at his office!".

So. Not. True.  Dave did a great job managing his time and even though it was tough work, things didn't seem as bad as I thought they would be.

We are looking forward to have all the parents in town for the weekend, along with Dave's brother and our 16-year-old niece.

How to Be An Air Force Wife, 2011 Style...

The reason I was inspired to post about that 1957 Air Force wife book last week was because I was thinking about getting some "calling cards" of my own.  I've done this in the past, it's great for trading playdate information on the playground.  It's also much classier than scrawling down your information on the back of a crumbled gas station receipt at the bottom of your purse.  It helps out as a reservist, too, when you can't access your military phone and e-mail account daily, you can just hand someone a personal card to follow up on a correspondence.

I learned this idea through a Mom on a playground in Cary, North Carolina back in 2005, but it's reaped dividends as a military wife...when you have to introduce yourself to a new circle of friends every 2-3 years.

I had placed an order a couple weeks ago through VistaPrint.com for my free** 250 business cards and they arrived on Tuesday.

You really thought I'd show the world our address and phone number?  These cards are also great for "We've Moved" cards.  That way folks could just put your new address/phone/e-mail address in with other business cards.

Since they're free**, you'll be shamelessly promoting VistaPrint every time you share one of your cards.  I don't mind, can't argue with cheap well-made business cards.

**The cards are free, but you pay a small shipping fee (~$5).  Plus you have to be prepared to weed through no less than 15 webpages worth of "Would you like to add XX onto your order??" offers.

How to Be an Air Force Wife, 1957 Style...

(Click on the pictures to see closeups of the text in the pictures).

Several years ago I received this book from my father-in-law.  He got it from a friend who sells antiques.  Dad thought I'd be intrigued by it, and gave it to me as a tongue-in-cheek gift.

I read the book the same weekend that Dave's dad gave it to me and it put a lot of smiles on my face.  The book has been sitting with our other "old books", and I discovered it again last month when we were unloading/organizing our bookcases in our new house.  I'll share some of the tips and tricks here, but know that my intent here is NOT to be like the infamous 15 Minute Lunch post from 2007 (<--click it, if you haven't seen the old Penney's catalog blog posts, they're AWESOME!).

Amazon offers the book, as you can see from my link on the left, but I absolutely have to share with you the typeface of the cover of my own copy.  It's pretty cool!

A look at the back cover to learn a little more about the authors...

....wait a second!  They aren't even AIR FORCE wives????  Actually these two ladies brought in several USAF wives for the various chapters, and they're credit inside the book.

The forward was written by Mrs. Nathan Twining, the wife of the then-Chief of Staff of the Air Force.  That's very nice -- seriously, it was nice of her to endorse it.  Not sure if I would have bought it otherwise, especially after learning the authors were Navy wives.

I didn't feel like scanning in the whole book, so I took photos of some of the funnier topics to share with you...

First of all, there's this notion of calling cards.  According to this book, you need to ensure you have the proper stationary made up at a reputable engraver.  The sizes of the cardstock, paper and engraving type are recommended here:

Here are some examples of what calling cards should look like.

The book then goes into page after page about where and when to leave calling cards (Hint: you leave them when you "go calling"), what to write on the fronts, on the backs, and whether or not to use envelopes.  And PLEASE, no children!!!

The next picture stunned me.  May women wear Air Force insignia?  My first instincts is "WTF?  Don't you get put in jail for doing that???"  But according to the book:

And if you go calling and the servant answers the door?  The servant?  Wow, I am definitely an AF wife in the wrong era:

Here's something I've always needed help with.  And don't forget that hot bouillon on a cold day for the early-arrivals :-)

Now, here's a tip that I know is still true 60+ years later!  Many of these military spouse functions fall by the wayside when you're stationed in Washington, D.C.  I'm definitely glad the President no longer requires officers to call upon him.

To me, this paragraph is timeless.  I'm even going to make the picture bigger for you.  This is precisely why is probably wasn't in the best interest for Captain Honor of the USS Enterprise or General McChrystal of US Forces Afghanistan to do things they did.  Believe me, I've said my share of things over a few beers at the club that I would never wanted recorded!  I have my opinions about publicizing those things that were recorded. Nonetheless, the cat was let out of the bag and the general public was left with a poor taste about our military leaders, who are trusted with our nation's sons, daughters, husbands and wives.

What is a Military Wife?

This was sent to me by an Air Force wife who's soon leaving us for (I think) Florida. Or was it New Mexico?

**********************************************************************************
What is a Military Wife?*
By Jane Hubbard Hyde

A Military wife can be tough to describe.

She is a southern belle, a northeastern mets fan, a California 3rd generation re-cycler, a Pacific Islander.

She is short or tall

a tomboy

a fashion diva

a physician's assistant

a Republican

a Democrat (yes, even THAT!)

A Military Wife is a career gal

a home-schooler

a scrap-booker

an accomplished cellist

an auto mechanic

What is a MILITARY Wife?

They may look different and each is wonderfully unique

But this they have in common.

lots of moving---

moving, moving, moving far from home

moving two cars, three kids and one dog----all riding with HER of course

moving sofas to basements because they won't go in THIS house

moving curtains that won't fit

moving jobs and certifications and professional development hours

moving away from friends moving toward new friends

moving her most important luggage; her trunkful of memories

often waiting-

waiting, waiting, waiting for housing; waiting for orders; waiting
for deployment; waiting for reunion; waiting for phones calls;
waiting for the new curtains to arrive; waiting for him to come home
for dinner----AGAIN!

They call her "military dependent", but she knows better

she can balance a checkbook

handle the yard work

fix a noisy toilet.

She is intimately familiar with drywall anchors, and toggle bolts.

She can file the taxes, sell a house, buy a car, or set up a move, --
--all with ONE Power of Attorney.

She welcomes neighbors that don't welcome her.

Reinvents her career with every PCS; locates a house in the desert,
the arctic, or the deep south and learns to call them all "home".

She MAKES them all home.

She is fiercely IN-dependent

Military Wives are somewhat hasty

They leap into decorating, leadership, volunteering, career
alternatives, churches and friendships.

They don't have 15 years to get to know people.

Their roots are short but flexible.

They plant annuals for themselves and
perennials for those who come after them.

Military Wives quickly learn to value each other.

They connect over
coffee, rely on the spouse-network and accept offers of friendship
and favors and record addresses in pencil.

Military Wives have a common bond.

The Military Wife has a husband unlike other husbands his commitment
is unique He doesn't have a job, he has a "mission" he can't just
decide to quit he's on-call for his country 24/7 but for you, he's
the most

Unreliable guy in town!

His language is foreign

TDY

PCS

OPR

ACC

BDU

And so, a Military Wife is a translator for her family and his.

She is the long-distance link to keep them informed, the glue that
holds them together.

Military Wife has her moments----

She wants to wring his neck, dye his uniform pink, and refuse to
move to Siberia.

But she pulls herself together.

Give her a few days, a travel brochure, a long hot bath, a pledge to
the flag, and a wedding picture.

And she goes.

She packs.

She moves.

She follows.

Why?
What for?

How come?

You may think it is because she has lost her mind.

But actually it is because she has lost her heart.

It was stolen from her by a man

who puts duty first

who longs to deploy

who salutes the flag

and whose boots in the doorway remind her that as long as he is her
Military husband,

She will remain his Military wife.

*Disclaimer: I'm not your normal military wife, since I'm still part-time military, sometimes my husband has to bear part of this burden.

The Incredible Changing Woman

I'm quite impressed -- in 2 1/2 weeks I was able to go from this:

From 2009 04 07 Muff_My_Last_Week

To this:

From 2009 04 24 AFWA_DiningOut

(Do I look like one of those ladies from the cast of Dynasty just standing around in a formal gown?)

I made it home from the desert in time to go with Dave to his office's "dining out". For some reason I emphatically proclaimed that I wanted to wear a dress instead of my mess dress. This is the first time in 15 years I've been to a military formal NOT in my mess dress:

From 2006 03 26 NCSU AFROTC Ball Pic

Also, I have to express how impressed I am that I'm wearing a NINE YEAR OLD DRESS! Whoo hoo! It's still in pretty good shape, structurally, and (most importantly) IT STILL FITS ME!

Lucky me, I found this picture of me in the dress from almost exactly 9 years ago:

From 2009 04 24 AFWA_DiningOut

Pardon the strange-looking makeup there.  I look like an unpopular geisha or something...

My Tightrope Walk...

More evidence that I tend to lead a double life. I have the honor of not just being a member of the military, but I'm also a proud Air Force wife.

When I was active duty, I'd attempt to participate in spouse functions, sometimes successfully, but sometimes NOT. Most were very welcoming and I had a great time playing Bunco, going on shopping trips, and attending countless bridal and baby showers.

The Air Force Wive's group when I was in Korea in the late 90s was a prime example of not feeling welcome...most of their functions were tailored to times when the kids were in school, but once I made it to an evening event, and, to be honest, I wasn't very comfortable listening to the men I worked with being referred to as "Billy", "Joey", "Tommy", etc.

On the other hand, when I was stationed with the Army in my first years in the USAF, many of the Army ladies' functions I participated in were great! They seemed much more laid back, and I didn't see the distinctions between whether your spouse is enlisted, officer, the commander, etc. And they certainly didn't care that I was Air Force, not Army.

If you're a commander's wife, you're expected to be a leader in the spouse's group. Obviously it isn't required, but the other spouses will look to the commander's spouse for guidance.

"What in the world is making you think of this NOW?"

Here's what. Last week I attended a spouse's appreciation function at Dave's office. There were about 20 of us, we had a nice catered lunch and they even had some young Airmen who took Timmy and sat with him in a conference room where "Tale of Desperaux" was playing. After the lunch, we received the official Air Force Weather Agency briefing and then got a tour of the relatively-new building they work in now.

I like things like this.  Dave will tell you about how much fun I have at social functions, and it's important to me to know about the people and their families in Dave's professional life, we help each other out in times of need.

During the function, the AFWA commander came out and addressed us, thanking us for supporting our husbands and even giving us these lovely certificates.

From 2009 05 11 AFWA Spouse Certificate

I felt like a heel. Honestly, what have *I* done lately to be a supportive wife to Dave? It should have been vice versa, someone should be giving DAVE a certificate thanking him for supporting his wife!

It was great meeting other wives, I have to say. I'd laid low from spouses' functions from when we got to Nebraska, mainly because I'd been quite busy since October preparing for my deployment. Now I'm finally getting to meet all the other ladies, including two wives of Airmen who are still deployed, who I had the honor of serving with while I was there. That was nice.

With this certificate in hand (plus a number of other "thank you gifts"), I started to reflect on my current role. Dave is being considered for command real soon, and I'll have to kick it up a notch in terms of my involvement if he were to become a commander one day.

As a semi-joke a couple years ago, Dave's Dad gave me a 1957 "Air Force Social Handbook" that he found at an antique store:

From 2009 05 11 AFWA Spouse Certificate

I enjoyed the foreword by Mrs. Nathan Twining:

From 2009 05 11 AFWA Spouse Certificate

Talk about kickin' it old skool! This book emphasizes that being a military spouse holds you to a higher social standard than in civilian life:

-  You MUST call on your Base Commander and your husband's commander upon reporting to a new location.
- Calls are typically made between 7:30-9:30pm.  They shouldn't exceed 20 minutes.
- If a senior officer and his wife arrive for a call, your role is to graciously exit.
- If a servant answers the door, you're to hand a calling card to the servant who will announce your visit.
- "Only engraved calling cards are considered correct.  Consult a reputable engraver who will give you advice to size and form.  An officer's card is 2 7/8" x 1 1/2", a lady's card is 3 1/4" x 2 1/4".  The husband's and wife's cards should match in color, style and type of engraving."

From 2009 05 11 AFWA Spouse Certificate

Wha?????

Holy smokes!  If today's senior officers had servants now, I think the general public would go APE SHIT (pardon my French).  Who do you think pays for those servants?  Engraved calling cards? (I'm a Vista Print fan, myself.)  The chapter goes on to discuss who in a group does and does not receive the calling cards (never to exceed leaving more than 3 at a function).

Are you confused?  I sure am!

The book continues much like an Emily Post etiquette handbook, discussion what to wear to breakfasts, brunches, luncheons, coffees, weddings, "dessert bridge", "bridge teas", formal teas, cocktail parties, suppers, something called an "At Home", barbecues, and formal dinners.

There are several miscellaneous items unique to military life, such as respecting foreign customs when living overseas, how to act at a parade (i.e., military parade), how to go through a receiving line, orders of introductions (i.e., "General's Wife, please meet Captain's Wife"...not the other way around)., how to work a room when socializing (senior ranking guests get your attention first), how to make a seating chart for a formal dinner, when to be "Mrs. David Vollmer" as opposed to "Mrs. Patricia Vollmer" or "Patricia Vollmer", etc. (and it's never "Mrs. Major David Vollmer", thank heavens!)

Well, that was definitely THEN.  1957, to be exact.  Back then a military officer's official record had not just records of duty performance, but it also had photographs of the military member AND of his family.  Seriously.  My first squadron commander's wife showed me the official family pictures that used to sit in her husband's record.  It had to be done once a year, and if you recently married or had kids.

It probably started to fade about the time I came on active duty -- the importance of the social aspect of officership.  You were expected to be a member of the base club, your spouse was expected to be active in the community and the wive's club, and officers were expected to marry and have children at a certain point in his career.  Advancing in rank could even be held up if you were still a playboy and it was professionally time to "settle down".

This probably is most irrelevant to most of you, but heck, it's on my mind and I thought I'd throw it out there for some discussion.

So What Else Could POSSIBLY Happen to Us Here in NE?

Dave went to the emergency room at about 4pm Wednesday with pains near his appendix. After a CT scan at 7pm, it was inconclusive whether it was really appendicitis, but Dave and the doctor made the decision at about 8:30pm to perform a "laproscopic appendectomy" Wednesday night. The surgeon (an Air Force doctor, actually, with privledges at the hospital) was able to look around quite a bit with the camera and couldn't see any other problems, it's most likely that Dave was responding to the earliest stages of appendicitis. They removed the appendix. At least that won't bug him in the future!

Dave's been in recovery since midnight Wednesday night/Thursday morning. He spent all of Thursday at the hospital with hopes of coming home Thursday afternoon. I spent several hours at the hospital Thursday over 3 visits (Timmy and Jake can only tolerate but so much time in a hospital room).

Unfortunately, he's still at the hospital. The original pain that brought him to the emergency room in the first place is still present even after the surgery. He's currently on Vicadin and that's keeping the pain at bay (and his brain at bay, too!) His surgeon has elevated his case to the next level and on Thursday night a GI specialist is supposed to come in and do a consult.

The response from the families in Dave's office has been astounding! It's a little awkward since we just moved here, so in many ways I'm receiving all these offers to watch the boys and cook meals from complete strangers, but they won't be strangers for long, and of course we're all family: they're all part of our Air Force Family!

Tonight Dave's group commander (a Colonel, it's his boss's boss) and his wife brought over spaghetti with (bison) meat sauce that was TO DIE FOR! Too bad the boys took exception to the spaghetti and sauce already being mixed together, and also too bad Dave couldn't taste it when it was fresh out of the pot. I've heard from several other wives asking how they can help out...the meals are great because I'm using the time I would spend preparing meals visiting with Dave.

So that's where we stand: Dave's appendix is out, but he's still in a lot of pain in his lower abdomen. I'm trying to keep busy with the kids and the house -- last night in the emergency room, and today while Timmy was napping and Jake was at school, I worked on stamping "We've Moved" cards. Cranked out about 50 of them!

Taking Stock!

I get to blog about cooking again, yay! Vegetarians, avert your eyes!

One of the perks of being back near an Air Force Base is the commissary benefit. You've heard me talk about the awesome-awesomeness of getting to shop at commissaries, so I won't go through all that again.

Incidentally, the Offutt AFB commissary just so happens to be the nearest grocery store to our house. How cool is that? There's a store called Baker's nearby, but it's just a couple more traffic lights away. I take 4-lane divided highways to the base, and an exit dumps me out about a mile from the gate nearest the commissary in 10 minutes.

So I check out the selection -- not the biggest commissary I've been to (that distinction goes to Ft. Bragg), but definitely not the smallest (NAVMAG Lualualei, where I lived from 1977-1980, wins that one). They carry local produce (sometimes) and has a sushi bar and a decent organic foods selection. I see that whole chickens are only $3-4 each, and they're sized perfectly for our family. About 1/2 the price per pound compared to the Tyson "Whole Chicken Cut-up". So I pick one up and dissect it for a couple of meals. The breasts went into chicken soft tacos, and last night I oven-fried the leg quarters. Yum.

I'm left with the carcass and wings. I stuck them in the freezer over the weekend and today I started to think about making a chicken ettouffee either Friday or Saturday. My favorite recipe in the whole wide world!

So I decided to break out the carcass and get it simmering on veggies for some homemade stock. I don't do this often, I typically take the lazy route and use the Swanson's stuff. I also delved into the blogosphere a bit to see what folks are saying about making chicken stock. Holy cow -- who woulda thunk there was so much to say about it?

But I was particularly interested in this posting -- everything you EVER wanted to know about chicken stock. Enjoy! It's definitely rated PG-13 for some frank discussions of chicken parts.