Confessions from Householdsix » Uncategorized

Free Sundae At Walmart

Amanda — Sat, 22 May 2010 12:58:29 +0000

Walmart is offering free sundaes, today May 22, 2010 from 11am-4pm. It looks like all the local stores from Waynesboro, PA to Harrisburg, PA are participating. Check Walmart’s site to make sure the store you want to visit is participating before you go.

Army Fun Facts

Amanda — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:01:44 +0000

These are based upon my experiences as an Army spouse. My experience falls as a traditional Army National Guard spouse and now as an Active Guard/Reserve spouse (AGR) with a combined total of 10 years.

-We ALL pay for our dental health coverage. Even soldiers. We pay soldier only, or it’s based on soldier and number of dependents up to a certain number. After that cut off number it’s the same premium no matter how many kids you have.

-The dental coverage really isn’t bad.

-Tricare, our health care system, is good IF you ONLY need routine care.

-You may or may not know who your Primary Care Manager (PCM) is. If you’re seen at a post clinic, they get you in with whoever has an opening.

-The Army has posts. The other branches have bases.

-Mental health care coverage for us ALL sucks donkey balls.

-Just because a hospital participates with Tricare, doesn’t mean their behavioral health department does. In fact often times, they don’t.

-For parents of Autistic kids, your “best” option is to stay on Tricare Prime, use ONLY network providers (because that’s all you’re allowed to see), enroll your child in ECHO, and then STILL pay your monthly co pay based on your spouse’s rank.

-We do NOT get our housing for free. We DO get a housing allowance every month. This is based on rank, if you have dependents or not, and where your soldier is stationed. If you live on post, they just take your housing allowance out of your pay and give it to the privatized housing company. If you live off post, you get that money to put towards a place to live. There are pros and cons to both.

-There are a lot of military families on WIC and federal food assistance to make ends meet each month. This goes for all components, including active duty.

-Government contracts go to the lowest bidder, not who can deliver the best quality.

-National Guard families NEED your support. Most do not live near a post, and some don’t live near the unit in which their spouse serves. The unit your spouse serves in depends on where there is a job with his or her qualifications available. It’s not always close to your home.

-Officers pay for everything out of pocket whether active duty or National Guard. This hurts the budgets of many of our Guard families where the soldiers’ yearly salaries are not even close to that of their active duty counterparts when the Army keeps changing the uniforms.

-If you’re on Tricare Prime, you have to get a referral for specialists. You have to make sure they’re all up to date as most expire within 6 months if you have chronic conditions. You can get referrals for up to a year if your doctor is willing.

-Your housing contract may say that all pets need to be on leashes, but it may not be enforced. It’s highly annoying to find dog crap in your yard when you don’t own a dog, and after repeated complaints to your housing office. Your neighbors also shouldn’t complain if one day you accidentally happen to run over their cat because it’s in your driveway. (This hasn’t happened yet, but just sayin’)

-As a spouse, you don’t wear your soldier’s rank.

-Chain of command often fails. I’ve learned to go to who gets results even if that means stepping on someone else’s toes.

-An effective Family Readiness Group Leader (FRG) allows others to help when they volunteer. Don’t complain that no one volunteers when you have volunteers and turn them away.

-Displaying several Ranger tabs on the same vehicle makes me think you’re compensating for something else. Especially if you’re not in you’re early 20′s anymore.

-Just because it’s at the Commissary (military grocery store on post) doesn’t mean it’s cheaper than the grocery store in town. If you’re on a budget, you still need to look at the ads, clip coupons, and comparison shop.

-Just because it’s an Army post, that doesn’t mean they have Military Clothing Sales. You may need to go to another post.

-If the trip to clothing sales is not one of convenience, ALWAYS call to see if they have what you need in stock. Too many times you’ll get there, and they’re missing ONE item that you need.

-Ordering from AAFES online is a pain in the ass. Not only do you have to enter a shipping address for each item as you add it to your cart, but half the time you can’t find what you need or it’s not even to be found online.

-Nothing is etched in stone. Even orders change. Plan for what you’re told, but don’t count on it. Always have plans B and C ready just in case.

-If planning a family, remember that you will be a single parent more than you’d like, and at times when you can’t control.

-Eye exams are paid for by our health care, but glasses if needed are ONLY covered for the soldier.

-Only soldiers are seen at dental clinics on post. Family members must find a civilian dentist in the town where they are stationed to see for their care.

-National Guard Spouses, your soldier DOES get paid for drill and other training no matter what they tell you, unless they royally effed up.

Did I miss any? This is going to become a static page on this blog. If you’d like to add any I’ve missed, please add them in the comments.

Thrid Grade is Torture

Amanda — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:50:14 +0000

I’ve decided that the sole existence of the third grade is to torture parents. Especially torture parents of kids that are “quirky” and require a certain amount of routine. Third grade has also enlisted the help of El Niño to be sure of my untimely demise.

First we have two hour delays as a result of the first round of snow. Thankfully the bulk of it occurred over a weekend, so no school days were lost. A few days later, we got another apocalyptic (at least for this area) snow storm. I’d even classify this second one as a blizzard since we had the winds for it. Once again things were shut down. Not only was EVERYTHING closed, but the kids were out of school for parent conferences. There was a scheduled six day weekend. SIX DAYS! Do they know what these breaks do to me?Add on to that there was NOWHERE to go to get out of the house and an eight year old who thinks it’s his sole purpose in life to annoy his three year old brother. I’m amazed I wasn’t in the corner rocking and muttering to myself.

Not only are the kids off from Wednesday through Monday, but they have homework. Not just any homework – a book report. Do they know how hard it is to get my kid with Asperger’s to sit down and draw a detailed and colorful picture of the book for the cover, and then write a description of the book? Details are not this kid’s forte. And to top it all off, it has to be done neatly. Have they not seen his handwriting? On writing assignments, the kids can get up to three points for handwriting. For Zach to get a two is just as good as him getting a three. He usually gets zeros and ones.

We did the book report. He had to make revisions and redo parts of it no less than four times. By the end of the whole process I felt like I’d rather undergo waterboarding, and it’s still only a good enough product.

After being snowed in with a kid who needs routine that is out of his routine, and doing that book report, I can’t wait for school on Tuesday. Of course we’re due to get more snow that our forecast labels as anything from, and I quote “plowable amounts” to 1-3″. Please let there be school all week. We need our routine back.

Construction

Amanda — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:57:00 +0000

Please excuse the dust, cobwebs, and lack of posting while I make some changes around here. Thanks for your patience. I’ll be back to my normal self soon.

Holidays Are Now Complete

Amanda — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:50:00 +0000

What holiday season isn’t complete without a family illness? Aaron’s Christmas gift to the rest of us was his cold. I suggest buying stock in tea and kleenex.

A Must Read

Amanda — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:49:00 +0000

I just read something that is better than any blog post I could have come up with today. So rather than bore you with all the bs I’ve had to deal with lately and people who aren’t dealing with a full deck, go read about corn and think about it. But don’t think too hard. I wouldn’t want anyone to get an aneurysm.

Back After These Messages

Amanda — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:20:00 +0000

I was sniffing some of the good glue again, and made 7:50am eye exam appts for myself and Zach. I’ll be back later today with a real blog post.

Funky

Amanda — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 11:16:00 +0000

I think I’ve hit my winter funk. Not bad that it took until the beginning of March for me to really feel the effects of winter this year. This usually happens much sooner. I’m just done. I need Spring to come with its warmer temperatures and sunny skies.

I’ve been trying to change my blog template for a month now. I want to, but I just can’t bring myself to actually do it. There’s comfort in familiarity. But then I look at my blog and think it’s too cluttered and the layout could be so much better – more streamlined.

I have e-mails that need answered but I just can’t bring myself to get to them. It’s so much easier to just surf blogs and forums. Although even that I’ve been doing halfassed.

The kids have been out of sorts for some reason. Maybe they’re picking up that I’m out of sorts for some reason. My 7yo has regressed again. Just when we thought we were making progress with him. My 2yo is back to not sleeping at night. For some reason the hours from 1-4am are for being awake now. Usually by 4am I give up because DH has to get up for PT a little after 5am, and then I have to get up to start the getting ready for the school routine at 6am.

There are things going on I should be excited about, but I’m not.

Maybe it’s sleep deprivation. It’s something. All I know is I have a serious case of the “fuck it”s lately.

Changes

Amanda — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:27:00 +0000

You may notice a change in your web address bar. There are more changes coming. Domain was first as that was the easiest. Now to hopefully make things a little more reader friendly for y’all around here.

Tagged

Amanda — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 09:57:00 +0000

I got tagged by Miranda from Keeper of the Cheerios awhile ago. She wants to know more about me, so the rest of you have to suffer at her request LOL. I’m sorry I didn’t get to this sooner. I’m terrible about getting back to these sometimes. I’ll also admit that Miranda, you might see some of your same answers here, because they were just so darned good and I agree. These are in no particular order:

6 Things I Value:

1. My family

2. The Army (it’s a love/hate relationship we have)

3. Our country and the freedoms we have

4. True friendship

5. Good health care

6. Good food

6 Things I Support:

1. Our Soldiers

2. Our Schools

3. Operation Baby Blanket – I haven’t been an active member in quite awhile, but it’s an amazing group of women doing amazing work for our soldier’s families here at home.

4. Scouting – I was a Girls Scout for many years as a kid, and my son was a cub scout. We’re just taking a break this year. Besides, who can resist those cookies?

5. Books for kids – my kids know I’m a sucker in the book store.

6. Letting kids be kids, and not scheduling their every waking minute each day.

6 Things I Do Not Support:

1. Universal health care

2. Terrorism – in any form

3. Child Abuse

4. People who whine about a problem but do nothing to try and change their situation even when presented with options.

5. The biased media

6. People who spout off about freedom of speech yet at the same time disparage our military members. Oh the irony.

6 People I Tag

I would love to know these things about the following bloggers so hopefully they will play along (if they want to) and then let me know when they have posted so I can come read.

1. Diane from Carjazi Designs
2. Lora from Jakezilla
3. Rose from Rose McDigital Designs
4. Eve from All About Me and a Bag of Chips
5.Dana from Windows Wide Open
6. Lisa from Go Fish