Book Review: Three Cups of Tea

Many of our spouses have spent time in Iraq or Afghanistan, and in the coming years, many of them will probably return.  So much of the news is that comes out of that region of the world is so incredibly horrible, American casualties, civilian casualties, insurgency, civil war that it becomes very difficult to remember the people our spouses and our country are doing this for.

The book Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson is an amazing chronicle of a former mountaineer's work to build schools for the children, and especially the girls of rural Afghanistan and Pakistan.  On his descent after a failed attempt at climbing K2, the second highest mountain in the world, Greg Mortenson became separated from the rest of his party in the Pakistani wilderness.  He stumbles upon a very small poverty stricken village where he is fellowshipped, feed, and nursed back to health.  While there, the village leader shows him their school where the children are huddled underneath a tree, using sticks to write in the dirt.  Their teacher is away teaching at another village, and so they come to work on their lessons anyway.  Mortenson becomes determined to build a school to serve these children and improve the quality of life for the entire village.  Over the next ten years, he has managed not only to build one school, but over fifty-five and a number of other projects including fresh water and vocational centers.  His story is inspiring, but it also gave me a totally new perspective on Islam, and how keeping promises can combat hate.  I know many of our spouses have the same opportunities to show the communities they serve in the Middle East, that we do want to make their lives better, and even though we maybe be infidels, we can show that we are all brothers and sisters.

If you'd like more information about Mortenson's Central Asia Institute, please visit their website.

Moving, Stuff, and Food Storage Ideas

We moved to our current duty station 6 months ago from a tiny 500 square foot apartment with the plan, goal and determination, that our stuff would not expand with a bigger place.  I was looking in our closets the other day, and I was floored.  Where did all this stuff come from?  How did we get so much stuff?  I usually have this reaction right before a move, but I have decided to institute a new plan to help us control our "stuff" before it becomes a moving nightmare.  This is not an idea I came up with but the plan is, birthdays are for getting, half birthdays are for giving.  So we are going to start with my half birthday since it comes up first, I am going to go through my closets, and some of my other stuff, and get rid of it, donate it to Goodwill and not get more.  I figure our 6 month anniversary will be a good time to go through family stuff and try to figure out what family stuff needs to be purged.

Also on a moving note... Crate moves.  I haven't had to do this yet since our only move has been a ditty move, but it is my understanding that a crate move is the way to go.  This is where they bring giant wooden crates, kind of like PODS, on a flat bed truck, the movers fill them up with your stuff and then they ship the crates to your new duty station. If you are moving to or from OCONUS, you will automatically get a crate move, but even if you are moving within CONUS, you can request a crate move.  The reason this is better is that in a regular move, your stuff is put on a truck, taken to a warehouse, put on another truck, taken to another warehouse, sometimes several times before it gets to you.  That is so many more opportunities for things to get broken, lost, damaged.  So it is something to think about when your next orders come.

Finally, food storage.  Food storage  is difficult with moving all the time and weight limits for rank, but this is an idea that I got from my in-laws that can make at least canned goods food storage easier to deal with.  At the holidays when all of the food banks are doing their food drives, you purge all of the canned food you have (except for what you are going to use up in that next month.)  Then in January when grocery stores and the commissary often have case lot sales, you buy what you will need for the coming year.  And then you just repeat the cycle.  I know that a lot of us don't have the room or the money for a year's worth of corn and peaches.  The nice thing about buying cases is they fit really well under beds and they are easy to stack in closets.  One thing you can try to make it easier to handle the cost is to take $5 out of your grocery money every week and save it for this purpose.  If you can save $5 a week for a year, you will have $260 saved up for canned goods.  If you will be moving soon, only buy 6 months or 3 months and save the rest of the money to stock up when you reach your new post.  Another idea would be to use when you should be getting new orders as your purge - buy new stuff, point.  If you know you have orders for two years at a certain duty station and you will (assuming things don't change which they probably will) be moving sometime in April, then choose April to be the time you are finishing up the food you have and donating what is left.

I'd love to hear any ideas or comments you have on these things!

Holiday Traditions

First off, a huge apology for being such a slacker.  I don't even have a good excuse, I have been off work, haven't really been traveling, only sort of had family in town.  But my new year's resolution is to do better about blogging!

So on to holiday traditions.  Without children and only having been married for a couple of years, holidays have been fun, but we haven't really figured out what our holiday traditions are.  This year we had my spouse's sister and her family stay with us over Christmas and it was fun to start figuring out some traditions.  And we finally have a real house to decorate, so that added to the fun.

We figured out a traditional Christmas morning breakfast, and that we like to do the big dinner on Christmas Eve and then do the Christmas story.  Open presents on Christmas morning and then do stockings on Christmas night.

So what traditions do you have?  How have you made them work with different moves and deployments? 

Have you found...

My search for a modest formal dress to wear to military functions is beginning and my outlook is not at all rosy on the prospect.  Has anyone found a site or retailer who has garment friendly formal dresses that don't scream prom dresses, bridesmaid dress, or mother of the bride dresses?  In the past I have used a sweater skirt combo, but hubby doesn't think it quite works.  He also thinks this should be a relatively easy task.  Maybe it is and my pessimism is getting the best of me, but this subject has caused me many a headache in the past.  I have found a few that might work, I just cling to the hope that somewhere out there there is someone who recognizes that there are younger LDS women who have to attend formal events who don't want to look like a frumpy old lady or a tiny-boper Laurel off to prom.  If you know if such a thing exists, please let me know!

Grateful for a Job

There are things I hate about military life, like deployment, but given the economic uncertainty in our country, I am very grateful my spouse has a job.  We have good health insurance, dental, vision, a good home to live in, and the knowledge we have job security.  Flexibility is key to surviving as a military spouse, you have to know plans can always change (my spouse almost got called home early from our honeymoon to deploy 4 weeks early) and there really is no such thing as a sure thing when you are talking about orders, but today, I am very grateful getting laid off isn't something I have to have a contingency plan for.  I am also grateful that military retirement is still a really good deal.  Don't get me wrong, twenty-years is a big chunk of your life, but it also has some good perks at the end.  So for today, I am just thankful.

Commissary - Friend or Foe?

I have this ongoing battle with my spouse regarding the commissary.  Okay, it's not so much a battle as it is a lack of understanding.  I love the commissary, even though I have to tip the baggers (most of whom are old and shouldn't be carrying my groceries) and the stores are less than modern.  My spouse, not so much.   He is not a fan of stores that are feeling their age and he is convinced that prices are the same at stores out in town.  Don't get me wrong, shopping sales, I can get stuff way cheaper than at the commissary, but not every day and not all of the stuff we use.  Last night we ventured to a store out in town and I was shocked at some of the prices.  I seriously was wondering how anyone affords to eat!

My biggest gripe about the commissary (besides the rather aggressive 90 year-old baggers who work only for tips) is the lack of generic products.  I fully recognize that I am paying generic prices for name brand products for the most part, but not always.  And I really appreciate the generic products that the commissary does carry.  

I know the quality of commissaries vary greatly from post to post.  I have been in some on large posts, that are nicer than any store out in town, but we have mostly been stationed at smaller posts with older, smaller facilities.

Do you use the commissary?  Does it save you money?  Does your commissary have very aggressive elderly baggers?  Or are the hassles involved more than you can handle?

Register to Vote!

For those of you who happen to be in California, this is extra-especially important this election.  Believe me, I know it is hard to get motivated to vote in an area where you may only be for a couple of years, you don't know the local politics, and if you are like me, you don't really care who wins for city counsel.  This year those who live in California have the chance to vote on Proposition 8 which is a constitutional amendment that will define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.  Regardless of how adamantly you feel on the topic, our church leaders have stressed the importance of the outcome of this vote.  We can't pretend to understand the potential ramifications if this measure fails, but I believe our leaders do.  For that reason I am encouraging everyone who can vote in California to do so.  Educate yourself on this issue, get registered, and have your voice heard.  For those who don't live in California, register anyway!  This is one of the many freedoms our spouses fight for, it would be tragic to not let our voices be heard.  Remember, there is not enough darkness in all the world, to put out the light of one small candle!