things i'm loving '500 followers & Army wife life'

Greetings all,

This week with Paisley Jade 'i'm loving' . . . the big warm hug of 500+ followers, thank you & welcome.  I blog for my husband - he lives interstate & overseas - we miss him, but here he can see how the children are growing & what we're up to.  It's such a lovely bonus & surprise to know you are here too, i appreciate you all so much, your comments warm my lonely heart & blogging is the nicest head space. 

I've celebreated each new 100 followers with a little post sharing more about moi.  With the tragic news of the death of another soldier this week (& more wounded), it's a timely reminder of just how dangerous my husband's work is & the impact on families like us, so i'm going to share my take on . . . what it's like to be married to my handsome soldier.  As an independent woman, it might be odd that my personal introduction to new people includes 'my husband is a soldier'.  It defines me, why i'm on my own, why i am self employed, where we live & where the children go school.   

With all the deployments, exercises, training & courses (read: time apart); moving interstate; war zones; parents with cancer/ heart attacks/ strokes/ Alzheimer's; buying houses; having babies; multiple babies . . . i've got a psych degree - i know these are ALL most stressful life experiences - we dealt with them all, in our 20s!!  We've never missed a beat, no break ups or hiccups, he's so easy to love & i could never stay angry with him for long . . . he has dimples!!     

 I could have been born 100 years ago . . . child bride marrying a soldier, having a large family, being a stay at home mother, breastfeeding, cloth nappies, handmade clothes, baking & loving it all, i think it fits with the challenges of modern Army wife life - those vintage ways & times - they got it so right.  Those mothers were on their own & had to discipline, teach & love the children, good cop & bad cop.  We wash the cars, put the bins out, clean gutters, drag 15m long palm fronds out of the garden . . . you just never stop.  

 So what is it REALLY like being an Army wife, beyond the fact you're married to a totally hot guy who makes you feel safe, loved & protected, he is paid to work out & has amazing job satisfaction from being in the ultimate boy's club . . . driving tanks, riding in helicopters, shooting guns & playing with high tech equipment with your mates.  We've seen helmet camera vision from Afghanistan - it's like an xBox war game.  It's balanced by statistics - soldiers typically have daughters & have to plait hair, tolerate pink & deal with glitter. 



When he's home, he's HOME, no laptops, phone calls or work (obviously, he doesn't practise soldiering around the house, doing room clearances & lobbing granades) so we fill the days with trips to museums, galleries, picnics & fun.  Soldiers have MORE clothes, shoes, accessories, luggage & expensive trinkets than an over indulged heiress.  Some have dedicated 'dressing rooms'.  If you dare say "seriously, you need another whatever" they have the "it might save my life" excuse.  There are trunks of gear in our garage i'll never wish to open!!

Everything in the Army has an acronym or abbreviation & many soldiers don't know how to speak in full sentances, as initials will do.  At BBQs they talk 'shop' which is so boring but . . . my all time FAVOURITE acronym is P.E.N.I.S. which stands for Practical Exercise Not Including Students & the abbreviation WOANAL for Warrant Officer Analyst.  He he he.  My husband loathes me changing plans without it in writing & 24 hours notice, pretty sure he'd like a shopping list to read "steaks, individual, eye fillet x 6".  His life is systematic, itemised & orderly.  He even likes his socks folded a certain way (happy socks ladies, they smile!!)

There is a rough, tattooed, drinking & party hard culture in the Army (trust me, we've had them as neighbours) but my husband would rather relax at home with us & save his hard earned money to invest in property & our children's education.  When handsome soldier is away, our German Shepherd (now 3.5 years old, that's him as a new puppy above) sleeps in our hallway, patrolling the house.  Army wives have to be strong . . . mentally - you might be at home with a new baby, your husband is at war & you get one phone call a fortnight . . . & physically - starting an ancient second hand lawn mower calls on Herculean strength!! 

Dumb things which have happened to me while handsome soldier has been away . . . eldest child locked me out of the house in pyjamas & i had to call the fire brigade to remove my front door . . . had his car stolen from Sydney University car park . . . driven into the neighbour's garden wall, blown a tyre & ruined the wheel . . . locked keys in the car 3 times . . . locked myself out of the house at least 10 times . . . run out of fuel on a country highway with 4 children in the car . . . our house has been burgled . . . i've hit a HUGE kangaroo . . . rushed to hospital by ambulance with food poisoning . . . i've been pulled over by the Federal Police because my children were being too raucous in the car . . . OMG, i'm like a combination of ALL the Desperate Housewives & should NOT be left home alone!! 

"Do you worry about him??"  It's confronting question & bubbles my happy denial & la la la everything will be fine.  Accidents happen in peace time; bombs, rockets & bullets fly in war time.  He's highly trained & has great equipment, it's not just what we're encouraged to say to show our support.  Worry - like cry myself to sleep worry & a million reminders a day about him in a war zone worry, YES i worry but have healthy distractions like children to be positive for, a gym to take my tension out in & my sewing to release my creativity!!

 Above all, i'm extremely proud of what my husband does & who he is, he truly makes a difference in this world.  He won't be in the Army forever, it's an amazing adventure with many stories to tell.  He's off to the desert again so i'll be blogging my heart out.  Love Posie

PS Handmade Summit all inclusive pass giveaway ends next Friday & 

mega Lego City NASA Space giveaway ends this Sunday, don't miss out!! 

PPS Is anyone having huge issues leaving comments??  I can log into Blogger to do a post but i can't log into Blogger to leave comments on any blogs!!  Argh, i'm reading you, i just can't leave comments & i'm trapped going around in circles, sorry!!

i'm grateful for . . . my husband & children & flexible life

Greetings all,

Joining in with Maxabella Love's I'm Grateful For this Saturday . . . i know it's a cliche to be grateful for your husband & children but man, the way my husband handled my parents yesterday was a dream. 
We had simple plans to take them to The Poacher's Pantry, world famous smoked game shop/ restuarant/ vineyard/ beautiful farm outside of Canberra, then Shop Handmade, simple, non??  Then my Dad jumped in the car & straight up said "show me this land you want to buy".  So we started the trip, only to have the school ring at 10a.m. "we've had a McClelland take a tumble, she's in sick bay" so we turned the car around to scoop number 3 up.  Turned into a 250km trip but my husband kept driving & driving.  I took car craft, thank goodness, i made over 40 headbands in the 3rd row of the car, i know my place!!

 We tripped out to the farm we want to buy, THEN onto Poacher's, which i can assure you, Miss-Grazed-Hands-Elbow-Knees was not disappointed.  She's our meat lover & ordered lamb chops for lunch, as you do when you're 9, then ate all the rabbit, kangaroo etc off our platters. 

 When we found out the year 6 dinner/ dance ensemble now required a mask (kill me) my husband & big girl started creating this, just the two of them, with enamel paint.  Nothing like watching handsome soldier with his girls, sequins, glitter & feathers!!

 She even let me (as she decided i too could be useful) to make her dress for the dinner/ dance.  I only stuck 2 pins into her directly, we're still on good terms!!  This is saving me $200 on a new dress which wouldn't fit her properly as she's so petite.

 I mean, who wouldn't be extra grateful for a husband who leaves your stove top looking like this after each meal??  He also polishes my leather shoes, ahhh, love some aspects of Army & it's anal cleaning ways!!

 Check this out, my girls are great mates (this won't change in their teens, i've ordered them not to ever stop loving each other) having a sleepover at home!!

I'm truly grateful for my flexible life, i've withdrawn from today's market, so i can spend more time with my family, take my parents to see our beautiful Shop Handmade & help my brother out.  It's stressful, it's hard, it's sad, Alzheimer's just sucks.  Have to say, having a child with us yesterday was a nice ice breaker, as she's by far the sweet one, she played along with being called the wrong name all day & never stopped smiling at her grandmother. 
Lots of follow up posts required on the dress, mask, Poacher's Pantry & healing those grazed body parts!!
To hear more grateful people appreciate how lucky they are, check out Maxabella + don't miss out on a super cool giveaway below!!  Love Posie

gratuitous shots of fire fighters, for a good cause!!

Greetings all,

Last night's little SIDS&kids market was fun, the entertainment even better!!  These kind & generous fire fighters were paraded around in a fashion show in casual jeans, beach apparel (swim suit section), suits . . . then, what we'd all be waiting for - in their uniforms!!  As someone married to a sexy man in uniform, i get to giggle at this kind of scene every day (lucky me), but for the ladies in the crowd who were let loose on a Friday night with a few glasses of champagne under their belts, there was plenty of cheering, whistling & waving.  Yes, the poor blokes were pieces of meat, raising money for the neonatal ward at the Canberra Hospital.

 Here's Mr February signing my calendar.  As a sometimes ditsy blonde & naive girl who married her teenage sweetheart, it wasn't until i got home & my husband pointed out the double meaning of what he wrote . . . "Dear Jennie, Remember, get down low & go go go" to which i responded to the fire fighter at the time . . . "oh yes, my children know the home fire safety drill".  Now i can understand his puzzled face & how dumb i must have looked.  I just said to my handsome soldier, "clearly i only have eyes for you".

All for a good cause, raising money for SIDS&kids plus the local neonatal ward.  I happily bought raffle tickets all night & came home to kiss & cuddle all my 4 happy, healthy, sleeping babies (well 7 to 11 year olds), very lucky to have them.  We never needed neo natal treatment for any of them & raised them in the Northern Territory where they have the lowest SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) figures in Australia. 
On an aside, have you ever been rescued by a fire fighter??  I have, well my eldest daughter was, when she was 18 months old!!  Back in the year 2000 i was feeding our puppy dinner & the door closed behind me.  Trying to get an toddler to flick a dead lock with frantic hand signals, isn't easy!!  Long story short, me in a tank top & pyjama pants, no bra, had 8 burly fire fighters arrive & slowly remove our front door to reunite mother & daughter.  Knowing my absent husband would never believe the story, i had them all stop & pose for photos holding our daughter (more gratuitous shots of fire fighters).  The next day i took a few cases of beer to the Station (Stuart Park NT if you were wondering) to say thank you & lucky me, didn't get the idiot bill which they charge some people - the pricey call out fee for dumb scenarios.  Have safe weekends everyone, love Posie