High Heels and Combat Boots: May 2011

1. “… you go weeks without hearing from, talking to or seeing your spouse and only start to worry when it starts hitting the two month mark.” submitted by Wife of a Sailor
2. “… you have a better support network online while your spouse is deployed than you do with your own family.” submitted by Wife of a Sailor
3. “…you live life expecting the unexpected!” submitted by T, C and E
4. “…you refer to your friends as “my civilian friend so & so” or “my military friend so & so” during conversations. This can confuse civilians when you live in a non-military community.” submitted by Married/Single Parent
5. “…majority of your laundry consists of camo, tan shirts, and green socks. (It seems like a never ending supply.)” submitted by Oh, How Delightful!
6. “…you can pack and unpack a house within a couple of days. Like a pro!” submitted by Air Force. Wife. Life.
7. “…you use a military id, but the bank teller wants a “real” id (especially when you have a special military bank account)” submitted by I Married Into the Army
8. “…there are more challenge coins laying around your home than nickels, dimes, etc.” submitted by I Married Into the Army
9. “…your husband pulls out the pro mask anytime you’re sick.” submitted by I Married Into the Army
10. “…you’re tempted to dye your pet’s hair green (or blue in the future to match the Class A’s).” submitted by I Married Into the Army
11. “…you know to shine the Class A shoes w/Windex.” submitted by I Married Into the Army
12. “… you know you can never make plans ahead of time, because the Army always finds ways to change them.” submitted by It’s My Party and I’ll Cry If I Want To
13. “… getting a power of attorney is a regular occurrence for you.” submitted by The Squid’s Accomplice
14. “… if your kids are all born in different states.” submitted by The Squid’s Accomplice
15. “… if you get a little embarrassed when your kids call anyone in a uniform “daddy”, particularly in an exchange or commissary.” submitted by The Squid’s Accomplice and Our Crazy Life
16. “… you still find colorful little moving tags on various pieces of furniture even though it’s been two years since you PCSed. Bonus points if there are multiple tags stuck atop one another.” submitted by To The Nth
17. “… you don’t panic when the GYN walks into the room wearing ACUs.” submitted by Our Crazy Life
18. “… you don’t flinch when a man with a gun asks for your ID at the grocery store!” submitted by Our Crazy Life
19. “… your 8yo son tells you how the mall ‘downtown’ is not a secure location.” submitted by Our Crazy Life
20. “… you know that a month long separation is short, no matter what anyone says.” submitted by Ramblings of a Military Wife
21. “… you own at least one “I Love My Soldier” t-shirt, bumper sticker, purse or anything camouflaged!” submitted by Honey Bunches of “Oaks”
22. “… you get bored after living in one place more than a year.” submitted by Adventures of M-Squared
23. “… you use so many acronyms when talking about your day that those outside of the military community have no idea what you are saying.” submitted by My Life as His (Air Force) Wife and Army Soldier, Army Wife
24. “… you might be a MilSpouse if you read all of the homecoming banners and smile over each one, all the while thinking “What will my banner say?” submitted by Young But Not Completely Dumb
25. “… you take your computer to bed each night with hopes that you might catch your husband online should he get on SKYPE, Facebook, messenger, etc.” submitted by A Florida Girl and Her Soldier
26. “…you can unpack an entire house in less than a week….or your garage still has unopened boxes and you moved in over a year ago!” submitted by Always Moving Forward
27. “… you accidentally start to put down your spouse’s SSN when filling out documents about yourself.” submitted by Every Branch
28. “… you save voicemails from your spouse, so you can hear his/her voice any time you think of them.” submitted by Smurfolfauge Cafe
29. “… your hubby is on deployment and you wake up in the middle of the night and you check your email…more than once before you fall back asleep.” submitted by The Thrifty Military Wife
30. “… your civilian friends think you’re crazy when you say “Oh, he’s only going to be gone six months this time, that’s not so bad.” submitted by Life on Planet Caddick
31. “… you were once the shyest person on the earth and then you married your military member and now it is life or death to be outgoing! (well not really death, but you would be really lonely).” submitted by Anchor’s Away
32. “… you have 2 anniversaries: the Justice of the Peace anniversary and your “wedding” anniversary.” submitted by The Diary of a Mrs.
33. “… you spend Christmas, New Years, Valentine’s Day, Your Birthday and other big holidays away…all in the first year of marriage.” submitted by The Diary of a Mrs.
34. “… you ALWAYS buy insurance when traveling because plans change.” submitted by The Diary of a Mrs.
35. “… you long for the stench of their gear…it might be nasty but it means they’re home.” submitted by three krakens & a momma
36. “… if you spend more time away from your guy than with him.” submitted by Flying High With My Flyboy and Life and Times of a Displaced Jersey Girl
37. “… you answer your husband’s texts with “Roger” submitted by Army of Two
38. “… you can never plan too far in advance and you never really know where you will spend Christmas until it gets a lot closer to December.” submitted by Julie the Army Wife
39. “… you had to buy a body pillow to make it through a night alone in your bed during a deployment!” submitted by Simply Sunshine and Daisies
40. “… you never know what’s going on when because one day you are about to face a deployment, the next week there’s no longer a deployment.” submitted by Mrs. CNB
41. “… you automatically pull out your ID to get to where you live and it doesn’t faze you when there are guys guarding the gate with rifles.” submitted by Our Okinawa Life
42. “… you have three jobs on your resume for the past two years.” submitted by Stay At Home Mom and Marine Wife
43. “… you ALWAYS have a current Power of Attorney on hand.” submitted by A Marine & All His Girls
44. “… you know your spouse’s social security number better than your own. (I am constantly confusing the two these days.)” submitted by L to the Third
45. “… when you hear a civilian gal whining about her husband being gone on a business trip for a few days and babbling on about how she misses him so terribly even though he texts her throughout the day and calls her every night, your eyes get kinda squinty and you look away and keep your mouth shut because your mama told you that if you can’t say something nice, don’t say it. But you’re really thinking to yourself, “ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME?!?!?!” submitted by the C.W
46. “… if you’re a single parent, but married. I joke with my friends that I’m a single mom for next few weeks/months when my husband leaves for training.” submitted by Army Wife and Mom
47. “… you speak in acronyms and understand them!” submitted by Tiara’s & ACU’s and Just a Girl
48. “… you never know where you’ll be next year.” submitted by Pattie the Chaplain’s Wife
49. “… your husband has more boots than you have shoes.” submitted by A{muse}ing Mommy on a Pink Park Bench
50. “… you have a love/hate relationship with Murphy.” submitted by A{muse}ing Mommy on a Pink Park Bench
51. “… you refer to everyone not carrying a military ID card as a civilian.” submitted by A{muse}ing Mommy on a Pink Park Bench
52. “… you know all the last names of who your husband works with, but rarely their first names or gender.” submitted by A{muse}ing Mommy on a Pink Park Bench
53. ”… you use a POA…whether your husband is deployed or standing in the next room.” submitted by A{muse}ing Mommy on a Pink Park Bench
54. “… you love the military…no, you hate it….wait, you love it….damn you military!…military, you complete me…Ef you military and the tank you rolled in on…you think the military rocks…the military can suck it… “ submitted by A{muse}ing Mommy on a Pink Park Bench
55. “… you routinely ask for a military discount because you don’t want to give California more money than it deserves.” submitted by Wookie & Co.
56. “… you see all those “Support The Troops” causes on Facebook and laugh to yourself because you support them to the fullest extent by supporting your own spouse (in more than one way) and their whole crew.” submitted by A little of this, A little of that
57. “… you & your husband do repeatbacks. “Honey, would you take out the trash?” “Taking out the trash, aye.” submitted by NH Girl Displaced
58. “… you have been married longer then you have been physically together!” submitted by The Peacock Tale
59. “… you move to a foreign country to have your family together only to find out 2 weeks after you get there your husband has to leave for the field for over a month. Learning new traditions, the language, the location, the do’s and don’ts by yourself in order to inform him when he gets back.” submitted by Painting My Canvas
60. “… you trip over miscellaneous uniform items in the morning while making your half-asleep trudge to the bathroom.” submitted by Maine-ly Taryn
61. “… your toddler knows the word “commissary.” submitted by Live it. Love it (or not). Write about it.
62. “… you celebrate holidays based on duty schedules.” Live it. Love it (or not). Write about it.
63. “… you have 20 different sized curtains to fit all the different windows of the houses you have lived in.” submitted by Perfectly Imperfect
64. “… your husband talks in acronyms and you understand him completely.” submitted by I&J
65. “… there are at least 30 different states and 15 different countries represented in your list of Facebook friends.” submitted by Marrying the Navy
66. “… you refer to your friends’ husbands by their call signs… cuz you probably can’t remember their real names anyway.” submitted by Marrying the Navy
67. “… you plan your life around an upcoming move, only to find out that your orders have changed and you are moving somewhere totally different at a different time of year. And of course, you take all of this in stride, because that’s what the military life is all about.” submitted by Little Moments Like This
68. “… you start thinking of how you’ll deal with life events without your husband there.” submitted by Eights on the Move
69. “… you know what a POA, TDY or PCS is…or if you can use numerous other acronyms in everyday life correctly.” submitted by Many Waters
70. “… you go weeks, sometimes months without seeing or talking to your husband.” submitted by Not Just an Army Wife
71. “… if TMO has ever packed your trash can for a PCS with the trash still in it! … True story… happened to us when we moved from Oklahoma to Georgia… my god did our apartment stink for about 3 days before we figured out which box had the trash still in it! GROSS!” submitted by Just a Geek Named Jess
72. “… if you do your husband’s laundry after he has come home from an exercise and your washer is filled with little yellow or orange ear plugs.” submitted by Just a Geek Named Jess
73. “… if you’ve ever shouted “Fly By” or “Low Pass” into the phone at someone 2 seconds before a jet roar’s past you over head.” submitted by Just a Geek Named Jess
74. “… you’ve ever gone to the commissary and seen a woman breast feeding while shopping.” submitted by Adventures in Life
75. “… you don’t own any blue pens. Because you are very aware that you can only use black pens when filling out ANYTHING for the military!” submitted by Creative, Crazy and Camouflage
76. “… when your car or sink break and you simply grab the tools and fix it. No men required.” submitted by Trust. Love. Believe. Bake.
77. “… your military husband or wife says there’s a rumor of an upcoming deployment, and you don’t toss it up as “it’s just a rumor,” you take it seriously and start planning ahead. You don’t mess with deployments, and taking a rumor lightly doesn’t happen too often.” submitted by Between the Lines
78. “… you constantly have to explain to employers why you have had so many jobs at 25 and why you have a random area code.” submitted by my-inspired-nest
79. “… come holiday time and your spouse is deployed, although you miss them, you don’t miss a beat because you’re so use to them missing the holidays.” submitted by Life as Mrs. JPT
80. “… his gear starts to take over your house!” submitted by Chances I’m Taking
81. “… you are an independent dependent.” submitted by Destination: RN!
82. “… you have an expired Texas license, with a Florida address, and you live in North Dakota.” submitted by Married My Airman
83. “… you automatically use phrases like “Good to go”, end phone calls with “Out” instead of goodbye, and start calling your time off from work “leave” instead of PTO or day off.” submitted by Standing By Him
84. “… you celebrate holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, etc months after they actually occurred.” submitted by Sarah Ruth Today
85. “… when your spouse calls and tells you that they have news, your first instinct is to ask how long this deployment/exercise will be.” submitted by The Pavlik Perspective
86. “… when telling a (non-military) story to some colleagues, you got weird looks for saying “he discharged his weapon” rather than “he shot his gun.” submitted by Christine’s Little Blog
87. “… you can give directions to the commissary in three states or more, a career MilSpouse if it’s six or more!” submitted by When Good People Get Together
88. “… your driver’s license is shoved in the back sleeve of your wallet because your military ID now has priority.” submitted by Cows and Combat Boots
89. “… you answer your phone for any unknown number at all hours of the night or early in the morning because your husband is calling you.” submitted by Living, Learning, Loving as a Marine Corps Wife
90. “… you wake up converting time to the Middle East.” submitted by Keep Calm and Soldier On
91. “… you have a minor panic attack when you miss your hubby’s call . . . and then you suddenly realize that it’s actually okay . . . because he is home!” submitted by Scrubs, ACUs and One Crazy Ride
92. “… you’re talking to one of your best friends, who’s coming to visit you in a month, and you keep telling her: “Remember to bring your driving license. You can’t even see my house without your ID – they’ll ask for it at the gate.” submitted by Free Borboleta
93. “… if you and your husband get into a vehicle one hour after your wedding, and drive for 6 hours because he has to be back at the barracks by 5am to check in and get orders changed that include his new wife.” submitted by Diapers, Dogs and Deployments
94. “… a temporary long distance relationship is no biggie.” submitted by Raising Roscoe
95. “… hearing noises from the gunneries and artillery at home don’t faze you anymore.” submitted by Life is a {Beautiful} Mess
96. “… you know more about your twitter/blogger friends than your IRL ones.” submitted by Modern Meets Traditional
97. “… you sleep with your phone AND computer by your bed!!” submitted by Randomly Robyn
98. “… you have nieces or nephews you have never met, except on Skype.” submitted by The Evolution of Peacocks
99. “… after a deployment any time your spouse has to be away you think “oh it’s not that bad, can’t be worse than a deployment.” submitted by Pink Champagne, Gatorade and MREs
100. “… you’ve heard mortar rounds going off on in the background of a phone call during a deployment and that was considered “normal.” submitted by Tegan’s Musings
101. “… you actually know your spouse’s SSN by heart and have every power of attorney there is!” submitted by From Army Brat to Navy Wife
102. “… you are married to your computer. (It’s the first thing you visit when you wake up in the mornings, it’s the first place you go when you walk in the door, it’s the last place you are at nights, and last but not least, you even make dates with it.)” submitted by The 4M Project
103. “… your children respond to your command to come here with, “stand by one mom”. and I’m totally serious when i say that this occurs in our home with my 4 year old!” submitted by Cammo Style Love
104. “… you are married not only to your spouse but also phone, computer and any other communication device you can think about, you can cook mac ‘n cheese as well as change oil or tires in your car, and you do not stress over small stuff – such as changing plans.” submitted by Nina Grennon
105. “… 2 weeks after your love goes back to war, you finally get around to washing the towel he last used and left hanging in the bathroom.” submitted by for ever & for always, no matter what
106. “… your spouse comes home and says they are going TDY for 3 weeks and you say, “ONLY 3 weeks?” submitted by The Albrecht Squad
107. “… you can catch flaws on your spouse’s uniform better than they can.” submitted by Combat Boots & Pointe Shoes
108. “… you use acronyms that are longer than the words they abbreviated.” submitted by Megan Dub-Yuh
109. “… you might be a MilSpouse if: you only write in pencil because EVERYTHING is subject to change. ” submitted by Our First Deployment– ALD & ARP
110. “… you tear up when you hear “Proud to Be An American,” even though you’ve heard it 50 times by now.” submitted by Our First Deployment– ALD & ARP

Well I figured I would post about our trip since I have been home for a few days now! It was really amazing. Australia was absolutely beautiful. Even if it was cloudy it was still hot because of the humidity. We spent 5 nights in Port Douglas right across from the beach. We stayed in a hotel that was more like an apartment with a kitchen living room and everything. Our deck over looked the pool it was great. My favorite thing there was when we went on the 8 hour cruise to the Great Barrier reef. It took an hour on boat to get there then we hung out on this platform. We got to go snorkeling had a great lunch and even went on a helicopter ride over the reef! It was awesome to get to see it from above. Also while we were in port Douglas we went to a place called the habitat where we walked around with kangaroos, wallabies, and emus. It was so awesome to get to touch and feed them! I even got to hold a koala! They had some cool shops and we walked around and went to a flea market and went to the beach of course! After those 5 nights we flew to Brisbane where we stayed down town. It was a bit colder there. Down town was a typical city. We went to Steve Irwins zoo the first day which was by far the best zoo we have ever been too! It was huge. We got to feed elephants and more kangaroos! The last day we went to an island called Tangalooma. It was really beautiful there. We went sand tobogganing and feed wild dolphins in the ocean and went kayaking! It was a good way to end our trip. I had such an amazing time with my husband! Now its back to work for him for a week and a half after a much needed break. Then we are off to Colorado for a night or two then to Ohio for a week and a half! So excited! I really need these next week and a half to recoup.. jet lag is killing me and I have so much to do!