MSRRA - The Surge!

I was asked to put in a link for this post - this is the Facebook link to the MSRRA Facebook site.

DC Area Spouses Are Invited - Senate Bill 475, Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, which provides the option of a home state to Military Spouses, will be heard in a Senate Hearing, Wednesday April 29th. The time of the hearing is 9:30 to 10:30am in the Senate Office Building Dirksen, Room 562. Please be there by 9:20am. Please allow 30 minutes to walk from the Metro Capitol South stop and get through security.

See you there! Let's work for something REAL!

LAW

MSRRA - time to get loud, Y'all!

From the MSRRA site: From Monday, April 20th to Friday, May 8th (Military Spouses Appreciation Day) we are launching a campaign to inundate the Senate with calls from military spouses urging their Senators to sign on as Co-Sponsors of this bill and show their support of Military Spouses. We truly believe in the power of the Military Spouse network and need your help in order to get this legislation signed into law."

Now, from me - call the Senator from your home state, call the Senator from the state you live in now, call the Senator from the state you lived in before you PCSed...CALL - Email - if you see one of them in town, talk to them. Call the local office, call the DC office, ask for the Military coordinator, ask for the Veteran's coordinator, the Women's issue coordinator - We need to be heard! Call your friends, tell them to call. There are thousands of military spouses out there - let's just call this our ultimate phone tree.

LAW

It's the little things that help the most

Chief emailed me today and alerted me to this group. Now he loves music - plays guitar, is trying to learn the bagpipes (oh, the dog LOVED that one... howled in a descant!) and the mandolin, plays harmonica... and when he saw Operation Happy Note, he was intrigued. Then he saw - they are from Fergus Falls Minnesota, so there's a "home state" connection for us.

The Baker's, from Fergus Falls MN sent their son and a friend of his guitars when they were deployed in 2005. Since then, they set up Operation Happy Note, and have been sending all kinds of instruments, guitars, violins, banjos, mandolins, harmonicas to deployed troops. They have help from manufacturers, but the shipping costs - are up to OHN and can be quite high (as you and I know from sending our care packages!) It's hard to know that there are instruments waiting to be sent to someone who could use that escape that can be found in making music, because of postage!

If you are feeling in the giving mood - think about Operation Happy Note Oh - Pass it On!

Never judge a woman by her looks

Or a book by it's cover. For those who haven't seen this - you need to go, take about 5 minutes and watch a woman change a lot of people's perceptions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

LAW

That BLOODY Cat!

I've been worrying, the cat is going through one of his phases of "I don't want to eat this... or that.... and not that either".. (which is why my kitchen cupboard is full of different cans of cat food) He first decides on one, then after a few days he refuses to touch it, and I get a few different ones, till he chooses another kind to be the favourite. But right now, he only wants treats and won't touch the food. I checked his litter box - Nothing. So I'm worrying he's not - let's find a nice euphemism - voiding at all. I checked around the apartment, no little piles or wet spots... I'm thinking the vet, ya know?

THEN I checked out on the balcony. A large pot that did hold a tomato plant last year, that I hadn't bought a plant to put in yet was sitting there... and I wondered what on earth.... Yeah. the little brat has been using IT for his litter box! So that soil has to be emptied out. I have the pot covered. covered all the other pots too - and I suppose I should be glad he's not sick, that I don't have to take him to the vet, but this is the first time I've had box problems with him.

That BLOODY bloody cat!

*** After a full day of his stubbornly standing by the balcony door and yelling, with me not opening it... the sweet sound of the automatic litter box proved, once again, the woman with the opposable thumbs WINS! ****

LAW

How to be a good milspouse

OK, now I didn't believe this the first time I read it... and I still don't. When I described it to someone, they wondered if it was copied from some book in the 1950s... You be the judge.

Try This

Military Spouse Employment - A Series

No, not here - it's on Left Face. We are talking about employment for milspouses, what kind of job can we find, discrimination in hiring and pay, job satisfaction. Please come over, join the conversation. We love to hear from you!

Click HERE and drop in for some thoughtful conversation, and please add to it, it's about all of us who move, and move, and move, whilst trying to hold on to the career we trained for, make enough money to keep our family happier (or in some cases, to pay for the house you still own at the LAST duty station) , use the degree we are still paying for... all of it.

LAW

A wounded National Guardsman

This family needs our help - our support. This story hit me very hard, SFC Kevin Dupont is a 52 year old Massachusetts National Guardsman - he was VSI in Afghanistan and is now in an induced coma at Brooke Army Medical Center. He's our age! He could be home, in Massachusetts, with his family but he volunteered to go. His wife is also Guard, an MP and did her tour in Iraq. This brings back so many memories of our time in the MN Guard and for me, this is what the Guard is, a family affair and now one of our family needs support. A fund has been set up - the address is on Blackfive - the link is here. Please, drop by and read the full account. Send his wife Lisa a note of encouragement - she reads everything to Kevin.


LAW

Wounded Warrior Project

So... I just sat and bawled like a 2 year old watching the CMA's - and saw Trace Adkins and the West Point Glee Club sing for the Wounded Warrior Project.

Normally, I'd put a link in right about here... but I can't. The page won't load, the traffic seems to be so heavy that there isn't a way to get through. And I'm so happy about that! I'm hoping every single person who goes to wounded warrior project.org buys that download. I'll put the link in as soon as I can get it!

I was so impressed with the wounded warrior chosen to introduce the piece - he said it all - this is about the warriors, not the war. If we can all remember that!

**** I managed to get on this morning - but be patient, load time takes quite a while, due to increased traffic! That's wonderful!

LAW

Go Vote!

Left Face- another blog made up of left leaning military spouses -

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2009/03/contest-spouse-blogs.html

Unfortunately, one milspouse has decided to get inappropriate - ignore it please.

LAW

The infamous IPod

For those who don't know me, I am an Anglophile - I'll freely admit it. I've been reading about the gift the Obamas gave Her Majesty yesterday, and for some reason many people are SHOCKED that they would give her an IPod and a rare book.

First, HM loves her present IPod, and has been seen listening to it while walking the dogs and there are rumours that she listens to it when on trips. She loves music, especially musicals. So the gift, which had musicals already loaded and the pictures of her recent trip to the US, was a thoughtful, personal gift. The rare song book? Her library collection is one of the largest "private" collections (it belongs to the head of State, and will be passed on intact upon her death" and is one of the treasures of the State. She takes an active enjoyment in it, so a rare book, signed by a great American Songwriter - very suitable.

What do these people want to give her? another framed picture? GWB gave her a statue - not exactly a personal gift - although the box of letters from the archives was a nice one. Another sterling silver box? a little redundant, don't you think? These gifts are supposed to be personal, not an exercise in "look what I'm rich enough to give you"... She, one of the richest people in the world, gives a picture in a frame.

As for those who talk about the President's answers to reporters being stuttering and stammering - please, remember last year... GWB making up words and babbling inanely. Even you, the faithful, cannot say the man could actually parse a coherent sentence.

LAW