! The Crafty Military Wife !

#Missing #Montana Woman Sherry Arnold - Please Spread The Word!

2012-01-10T00:23:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2012. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I am posting tonight asking you to do a huge favor. There is a Sidney, Montana woman who has been missing since Saturday morning. I need your help spreading the word to get her home safely! It's been almost 3 days since she has been seen, and if we can spread the word as quick as possible, the quicker she may be found! Sidney is just a few hours from here.

Her name is Sherry Whited Arnold. She is 43 years old and went for a jog on Saturday morning (1/7/12) around 6:30am and never returned. A running shoe was found later that afternoon that was positively identified as belonging to her. There are no more clues.

She is described as being 5'10", 140 lbs, athletic, and has black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt with white stripes on the sleeves, red nylon pants with black leggings and black gloves. She is also missing at least one shoe.

If you have any information on her whereabouts or anything you think may be helpful PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE call the Sidney Police Dept. at 406-433-2210.

You can help get her story out by clicking the orange "+Share" button below this post and spreading the word on the social networks you belong to. Thank you! Let's get her home safe to her family!

EdenFantasys -- For Prudes Too!! :)

2012-01-07T03:20:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2012. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

WARNING:This post contains a topic of a mature subject nature and is intended for adults 18+. Please do not read or open links with children present, or if you’re at work.

I am a prude. I will be the first to tell you that. When “those” commercials come on the TV, I either change the channel or turn my head. So, needless to say, I have never checked out the online adult shop EdenFantasys.com. Until now.

I heard EdenFantasys has other things besides what my prudey self wouldn’t be interested in. So, intrigued, I went on the site. I’ll be honest; I thought when the page loaded, I would see tons of nude people doing...well, what nude people do. I kinda did the “scary movie” glance out of the corner of my eye to make sure it was alright to look. It wasn’t bad at all. Sure there are toys on the site, but that’s not what I’m going to talk about. :)

I looked around. I actually found some cool stuff. They have a pretty cool “Beauty & Body” section. There are lotions, scrubs, and even a belly balm for expecting mommies!

They have makeup! WHAT?! For example, this Bella in Bloom Face Palette is complete with 4 eyeshadows, 3 lip glosses, and 1 blush. It currently holds a 5/5 star product rating! Not a bad price either, plus they’re currently offering a free towel with purchase.

I am really dying to try this Flirty Little Favorites set, especially after reading the reviews! It has a perfume oil, pink caviar scrub, and luminizing body butter. The scent description is “A natural jojoba oil that's infused with an enticing blend of plums, raspberries, jasmine, cedar and sandalwood- plus Booty Parlor's flirty pheromones.” Can you say Y-U-M?!? I have found that MOST fragrances I choose have some sort of woodsy tone in them somewhere, mostly sandalwood, and lookie here....SANDALWOOD!! So as I said, I’m dying to try it!! They are also offering a free towel with the purchase of this item.

So, as you can see, there is quite a selection on there. It’s not just a site for sex toys. There is also free shipping on orders $59+! You can’t beat that! Check them out sometime. You might just find something you like. I did. :)

DISCLAIMER:

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are 100% mine and were not swayed in any way by compensation by EdenFantasys. For a full disclosure, please view my Disclosure Policy.

The Friday Night Police Dept. Visit

2011-12-18T01:11:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

"If it isn't one thing, it's another". That's been my life story lately. If you've read my last couple posts, you'll know why.

Things had been going quite well. My Dad got out of the hospital and is feeling a lot better. ("Feeling a lot better" translates to "Out chasing cows on foot when he should be resting"...ugh!) So anyway, he's doing better for now. YAY! :)

Then Friday rolls around. Yay, happy time...spending time with my hubby and baby. We missed the Holiday Train last year when it rolled through town, and just found out it was gonna be in town Friday night at 7:15, so we decided we'd take Johnny to go see it since he's infatuated with Christmas lights, trains, and music. They actually have a stage that pops out from the boxcar and they sing and play music. All you have to do to see it is bring non-perishable food items to donate for the food pantry. See it below...isn't it cool?!? {photo source Canadian Pacific Holiday Train Facebook}

So everything was cool and we had a great day Christmas shopping and just being a family. We had to run to Walmart to get a couple things and some canned goods to donate. This is where the crap hits the fan.

We walked inside the grocery doors and went over to the buggies to put Johnny in one. I think I was on my phone checking email or reading more about the Holiday Train. I just know I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings. We were the only people standing there by the buggies. Next thing I know, this buggy is RAMMED into me really hard! WTF?!

It hurt and it stunned me. I think I was stunned more than anything. I expected it to be somebody I know, just goofing around, so I looked up, but nobody was there. I looked around like, "What the eff just happened???" and still had no clue. I was just...stunned.

John yells out, "Thank you!!!!" Not sure if he saw who did it or was just yelling it in general. Then this old blonde lint trap in a dark brown or black winter coat, who will be referred to as "The Bitch", looks in and starts yelling something. We couldn't understand anything of what she was saying, but it sure didn't seem apologetic or sympathetic in the least bit. She seemed drunk.

I was super pissed off, but wanted to get in, get the shopping done, and go see the train because we had less than an hour to get there. The more I stood, the more it started hurting. It didn't feel right. So I called my mom and asked what she thought I should do. She said she thought we should talk to a manager and see if they could watch the security tapes and find out where The Bitch went to see if her license plate was visible. So we went and talked to the manager. He said the only thing he could advise is to go file a police report and then the police can come in and look at the tapes. I mostly wanted to find out who The Bitch was just in case I needed medical treatment.

So off we went to the police department. The officer was really nice, but said there was nothing they could do because Walmart's cameras suck. So the cops won't do anything.

So we missed the Holiday Train because of this old bag of rags (a.k.a. The Bitch). We came home and I was in so much pain that I went to bed early. I got a little bit of sleep but woke up at 6 or 7am in a lot of pain. It hurts when I sit or lay down. It has hurt throughout the day and now hurts tonight. Pain meds won't even touch it (even prescription). It's a constant dull ache right in my hip and it makes me nauseous.

I'm afraid I either have a bone chip, bone bruise, or a fracture. Of course it is the same hip that when I was a baby didn't have a hip socket formed. That was fixed though and is normal now, but how do I know The Bitch didn't jar something? I'm just so pissed off and want to punch her in her stupid old face!

I just don't know what to do since the cops won't help. If I have to go to the doctor for this or have surgery or anything, I WANT TO KNOW WHO SHE IS!! This fricking asshole has no business doing negligent acts like this and showing no remorse! She needs to be told she's an asshole! I want to be the one to do it! So help me God, if I see her again, I will!

I'm so thankful that she didn't hit my 2yr old! The corner of the buggy is what hit me in the hip. That would be his head level, and a blow like that could have killed him. If that had happened, she would not be alive. I would have killed her with my bare hands on the spot. She is a very lucky Bitch for that to have not happened.

Back Story to Yesterday's Post

2011-12-11T22:22:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Ok, so yesterday's post maybe was a little over the top. I dunno. But I just want to express how thankful I am for the comments everyone left. I haven't looked back at that post; I can't right now. I received the comments through e-mail, and I thank you. Sometimes I think my blog friends are more friends to me than real-life friends that I've known for years.

I know I am a horrible blogger. I don't frequently post and when I do post it's probably something stupid anyway LOL. I barely have time to post something, let alone open my Google Reader to read your lovely blogs like I used to. I feel so guilty when y'all comment on my blog and where have I been to comment on yours? I promise I'll work on that.

What triggered yesterday's post was the fact that I feel like the world is just falling down on me and my family. I feel like I have nobody. (I don't trust anybody for starters, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms.) I've gone through a lot of crap in the past 8-9 years. Sometimes I wish I could just go back to 2003 and start over fresh. Maybe I'll post about some of that stuff in the future, to help heal me.

Anyhow, for kind of a back story, for those of you who don't know, my Dad has Stage 5 Kidney Disease. It just kinda slapped us in the face one day. It came on suddenly, so we really had no time to prepare. This year has been spent trying to get everything figured out. His doctor is a moron and I finally got them talked into seeing a doctor in Bismarck, where I went for my knee (different doc though--haha), but that doc didn't want anything to do with him really since he couldn't do dialysis down there. So back to the quack. My dad's kidney function #'s were almost to single digits. I asked my mom if the doctor had talked about dialysis or transplant and she said no. So I begged her to discuss it with him, which she did.

My Dad had a surgery in August to place a fistula in his arm so he could go on dialysis. Once it matured, he could start dialysis. Well it kept taking forever and not maturing.

My parents' insurance company that they had for multiple policies (farm/ranch/homeowners/vehicle) for over 25 years decided to drop them because their house wasn't sided to their specifications. Well, we organized a few people to get together to get the house sided by the 2 month deadline the insurance company gave, but they decided to drop them anyway before the deadline. (If you're in ND, stay away from Nodak Mutual).

My Dad has been in and out of the hospital since September. He had a surgery to open up a blockage in his legs and also had a new port put in his chest for dialysis while his other fistula got redone on his arm. The stitches opened up on his leg, forcing him back in. Luckily he has started dialysis and is almost ready for the transplant list. He was just put on an oxygen machine this past week because his lungs are really tight and it's hard for him to breathe.

The night before last (the night after I went in to the ER), my mom called, upset and in kind of a panic. She said the ambulance was coming for my Dad (they live 45 minutes from the nearest hospital) because he couldn't breathe and was gasping for air. So we met her at the ER, but I didn't get to go back. They X-Rayed his lungs and he had a lot of fluid on them, but not the kind that can be drained...it was in the tissue or something. The doctor also thought he had pneumonia. He is still in the hospital and slowly getting better. His kidney doc doesn't think it's pneumonia, but he'll be having more tests done tomorrow.

It seems like everything with him is one step up and three steps back. He'll do so well for a while and then BOOM, out of nowhere something bad happens. All I can do is pray though. I even taught Baby Johnny how to pray for Papa. I doubt he understands what it means though.

NOW, to top it off...John's sister (that I've met like twice and never talk to) read on my Facebook that my Dad is in the hospital again. No big deal. Well, she can't take 2 minutes to comment and say, "I'm sorry your Dad is sick...I'll be thinking about him". Instead she runs straight to their mom and reports it, and then their mom mentions it to John, and denies where it came from (kinda obvious). She spies on me and reports everything to my MIL, who then chews John out if it's something she doesn't like (eg. how he bought me a guitar earlier this year). It's so annoying and I'm really pissed off that now she's gossiping about my sick dad.

I'm not the kind of person to use my blog as a platform to complain about family members openly and publicly on the internet, BUT this is getting ridiculous and now that MY family is being brought in, I have a problem with it.

Drowning in Lemonade

2011-12-10T14:32:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

This post is gonna be raw and it's gonna be real. I may lose blog followers over it, but that's ok because I'm done trying to sugar coat my posts because I "think" that's what people want to read. I'm gonna get right down to it. The year 2011 has been a complete shitstorm of events. It is by far the worst year of my life. I hate 2011 and I want it over with.

You know that phrase, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade"? Well I've made so much damn lemonade that I'm drowning in it along with all the fake happiness I've been hiding behind.

The year 2011 has had me questioning a lot of things. I've questioned life. I've questioned death. I've questioned my marriage. I've questioned the military. I've even questioned why my parents would bring me into this world just so I can die inside a little more each time one of them gets sick. Then I feel guilty that I'll be putting my own son through the same thing as I get older.

I've seen beautiful things this year, and I've seen downright ugly things. Sadly, by far, there's been more ugly. I am at the lowest point I've ever been in my life. My chest has been hurting every single hour of every single day for the past 2 months. I've just been pushing it aside, thinking it will go away in time. Well I ended up in the ER the night before last thinking I was having a heart attack. The ER doc told me I have pleurisy, which is an inflammation of the lining of my lungs. He said stress can make it worse, and on a scale of 1-10, my stress level is a 15. He gave me pain pills and sent me on my way. They're not working.

And the sad thing...nobody f*cking cares! I have what I consider to be a small friends list on Facebook of roughly 160 people. I typically add only people I know or have met in real life, with the exception of a handful. I use that platform to update them on events in my life, how my son is growing, etc. I post on there that I'm going to the ER or that my Dad is in the hospital again. I can pretty much count on one hand the number of people who even say anything, and 95% of these people are supposed to be "friends". I don't get any texts or phone calls or people telling me it will be ok. My husband is gone 4 days every week, so I barely have him. All I have is my 2 yr old. The only time anybody really comments on my posts or engages in a conversation with me is if I have something they want or if me or my skills can benefit them in some way.

Sometimes I just want to curl up in a ball and die. I have no happiness left in me. Even if I did die, nobody would care. I'm debating permanently deleting my blog, my Facebook, and my Twitter. That way I don't get upset over the posts I don't make about the shit life brings that people don't comment on. Just a simple, "It will be ok" would suffice. Who knows, maybe I'm just being selfish, because who really cares about some asshole's post on the internet. But it sure would be nice to know I have a friend.

I shouldn't need to say this because nobody will care or read this far anyway, but even though this post is dark, I'm not going to harm myself.

Spill-It Saturday Week 25

2011-11-12T01:12:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 25!

Sorry I'm not getting this up consistently every Saturday. Keep submitting your SECRETS though and I will get them up when I can!

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

{click on the secret to make it bigger if it's hard to read}

Spill-It Saturday Week 24

2011-10-29T00:34:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 24!

I'm so sorry I've been neglecting this! I've been so busy that I've barely been on the computer lately. I have not been home an entire weekend since the beginning of September! Life is crazy!

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

{click on the secret to make it bigger if it's hard to read}

Shutterfly Giveaway WINNERS!

2011-10-29T00:16:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I just drew the winners for the Shutterfly Giveaway! It had super-low entries, so I feel bad that not everybody won!

I won't keep you waiting any longer! With the help of my trusty friend RANDOM.ORG, here are the 3 winners of the 25 free 5x7 Holiday Cards from Shutterfly!

Winner #1

Winner #2

Winner #3

Thank you to everyone who entered! :) The promotion codes have been sent to the winners' e-mail addresses provided, so look for an e-mail from yours truly!

Stay tuned for a Spill-It Saturday post! :)

Shutterfly #GIVEAWAY!

2011-10-25T00:41:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Christmas is right around the corner and I am VERY excited that the awesome folks at Shutterfly are doing their blogger holiday promotion once again this year! They sent out invitation e-mails to select bloggers for the promotion. If you didn't get an e-mail, don't fret! There is a super-cool giveaway if you keep reading this post! :)

I thought last year's decision on which design I liked was hard, but I think this year will be even more difficult! I like love them ALL! Just on the first page of my quest to find the perfect holiday card, I already fell in love with these 3 designs. I love the fonts they used!

I took some pictures of our son this past summer during our visit to the Badlands, so I know exactly which photos I want to use this year. I also know I'm in good hands with Shutterfly. My cards last year turned out AMAZING! This is the style I chose last year.

If holiday cards aren't your thing, Shutterfly has many more items to choose from! They do it all, from birth announcements to photo books!

I am very grateful Shutterfly is doing this promotion once again for bloggers, as holiday cards were not really in our budget for this year.

Now on to the giveaway! The folks at Shutterfly have been gracious enough to allow the readers of The Crafty Military Wife the chance to win 1 of 3 promotional codes good for 25 FREE 5x7 flat or folded cards!! (All applicable taxes, shipping and handling will apply to orders in which these codes are redeemed. Promotion codes expire 31 Dec 2011. Open to residents of the USA age 18+ only.)

HOW TO WIN:

COMMENT BELOW. Just leave me any comment, but please include your e-mail address (so I can notify you and send you your code if you win!)

That's it!! You can enter once per day!

The giveaway will END on Friday 28 October at 11pm CST. There is no purchase necessary to enter.

GOOD LUCK!! :)

*This is a sponsored post, but all thoughts, views, and opinions are my own perspective.

DIY "Livin' Our Love Song" Canvas Tutorial

2011-10-12T00:01:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

When I combined my two blogs, I had every intention of doing tutorials and all that fun crafty stuff, but I barely have time to breathe anymore, so that kind of went by the wayside.

I took a "sick day" today because I am not feeling so hot and neither is my little man. My brother has shared his pneumonia & bronchitis germs with everyone in a 50-mile radius and I'm hoping that's not what we have. Anyhow, I decided to work on something for myself today. I picked up a couple canvases at Hobby Lobby yesterday because I had a crazy idea pop into my head for something to put in our bedroom, since we've yet to decorate it after living here 3½ years!

I have always wanted to incorporate the phrase "Livin' Our Love Song" into a crafting project. I decided this was the perfect time. So this SUPER-INEXPENSIVE project was born. :) Forgive me for not having step-by-step photos.

I hope this tutorial makes sense because I'm writing it fairly quick, and in an effort to avoid doing my quarterly taxes. Ahh procrastination. :)

------------------------------------------------

HERE'S WHAT'CHA NEED:

--2 Canvases - I used 7x11 -$5.99 @ Hobby Lobby for a 2-pk (sometimes they're on sale for 30-50% off if you can catch a deal!)

--Mod Podge - The jar I have was $6.99 and has lasted me quite a while.

--1½-2" Paintbrush

--Smaller Paintbrush (for the writing)

--4 sheets of different colored Cardstock {for the letters L-O-V-E}

--4 sheets of coordinating scrapbook paper {for the background of "LOVE"}

--Black Paint

--Scotch Tape

------------------------------------------------

HERE'S WHAT'CHA DO:

1. Cut a 5.5" {w} x 6" {h} piece from each of the 4 pieces of scrapbook paper.

2. Tape the first 2 pieces of scrapbook paper together. Center them on the first canvas. There should be 4" on the top of the scrapbook paper and 4" below. Make pencil marks if you have to so you can line it up for when you Mod Podge it down. TIP: Make a "hinge" by taping the left side of the scrapbook paper to the left side of the canvas. This way, you can flip it back, Mod Podge {glue}, and set it back down in place.

3. Using the bigger paint brush, Mod Podge the canvas where your scrapbook paper will go. Don't put on too much, but make sure it's enough. The paper will likely bubble from the glue underneath, but you can flip the canvas over and smooth out the back side with your hands, but be sure to flip it back over so if any glue spills out it doesn't stick to your work surface! You can also smooth out any surface bubbles by gently using an old credit card as a squeegee.

4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 for the second canvas. Set aside to dry. Check Facebook. Tweet, etc.

5. Once those have dried, you can Mod Podge the TOP of the paper. This will help seal the paper to the canvas, as well as protect it. Set aside to dry.

6. Now get ready to cut your L-O-V-E letters out of the Cardstock. I used my Cricut and SCAL2 software for this part, but if you're good at freehand drawing, that will work, as will stencils, etc. For easy centering, I made my letters 3.5" {w} x 4" {h}. TIP: To make the letters stand out even more, I used inkpad antiquing/distressing chalk for paper in contrasting colors. This is totally optional.

7. Once those are cut and the Mod Podge is dry, Mod Podge the backs of the letters and center them on each respective square.

8. Once the letters are glued in place on the canvas, Mod Podge over the tops of them to seal them on.

9. When that is dry, it's now time to paint the phrase with the Black Paint. You can free-hand this. I, personally, think it looks cool when it overlaps the 2 canvases. I cheated and made a stencil for this because my handwriting totally sucks. I'm not even kidding you. I was not blessed with pretty handwriting.

10. Let it dry and you're DONE! Hang your masterpiece on the wall, take a picture and let me know how it looks! :) You could even add little flowers or something to it also, to dress it up. But seriously, if you do this project, I'd love to see it! :)

Mark Your Calendars, Yo!

2011-09-21T00:03:00.001-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I am super excited to be part of a 5-day-long giveaway over at Skinnie Piggie to help celebrate her 25th birthday, starting on Monday! My giveaway will open at 9am CST on Wednesday 9/28 on her blog, so be watching for it! This is what the winner will get...

One military sign {"Home is where the ... sends us"} for any branch with all duty stations up to the current from my store Country Scents 'N Signs Etc.

I currently have a Waiting List for these, but the winner will receive their sign 2-4 weeks after I get the info for it. :)

So go check out Skinnie Piggie for all the details on her 25th Birthday Giveaway Palooza!

I Was Getting Ready for School

2011-09-11T08:00:00.020-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I was getting ready for school at 8:00 a.m., this exact time, 10 years ago today. I was 17 and it was a couple weeks into my Senior year in high school. I don't really remember much about my Senior year, except that every teacher pretty much loved my entire class, the whole 6 of us. Yeah, I'm from a really really small community.

Anyhow, I was getting ready for school. I was in the bathroom putting makeup on and doing my hair and I decided to turn on the TV in the living room so I could have something to listen to. For some reason, instead of my normal Sally Jessy show routine, I put it on CNN. I saw a big building with smoke coming out of it. I didn't really think too much of it until I heard them say "New York" and that a plane had crashed into the building (North Tower of the World Trade Center).

I went to wake up my mom because this was all just too crazy. By the time she got her TV on CNN, the 2nd plane had crashed into the South Tower. We just watched in awe. We couldn't believe what we saw.

I had to get to school. It was a beautiful morning and the sun was shining. Most every morning I listened to Bob & Sheri on the radio during my boring 15 minute drive across the flat North Dakota prairie, and this morning was no different. They were talking about the planes crashing. Then President Bush came on to address the nation. It was apparent America was under attack by terrorists. It was a very eerie feeling, and nothing like I had ever felt before.

Everybody was talking about it when I got to first-hour English class when the bell rang at 8:45. We turned the TV on in the classroom and learned the Pentagon had been hit within the last couple of minutes. We continued to watch all throughout the day in our different classes. When we learned of the 4th plane crashing in Pennsylvania it was just like a bad dream.

I remember getting home that afternoon and just being glued to the TV. Anytime I see the news ticker across the bottom of any news channel, I am instantly reminded of 9/11.

Everytime I watch a documentary or read the timeline of the events of that tragic day, I find myself wishing the ending has changed, or that everybody survived. But sadly, that's not the case. I see the people jumping from the windows of the towers, and I can't even begin to imagine what was going through their minds.

So many innocent people lost their lives that day. I can't imagine the terror they endured in that short amount of time. I feel for the families who watched it unfold on TV, and those that got that last phone call from their loved one on the plane. I feel for the people who didn't get the chance to say goodbye. I feel for everyone.

I was listening to an ABC special the other night while crafting and this little boy was born in October 2001, and his father died on Sept. 11. He read a letter he'd written to his dad and it had me in tears.

I was getting ready for school on the morning that changed so many lives, including my own, forever.

Spill-It Saturday Week 23

2011-09-10T23:58:00.001-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 23!

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

{click on the secret to make it bigger if it's hard to read}

Spill-It Saturday Week 22

2011-09-03T16:03:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 22!

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

{click on the secret to make it bigger if it's hard to read}

Ungrateful

2011-09-02T00:37:00.004-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

By the title of this post alone, you can probably guess what it is I'm going to be talking ranting about. Heroes At Home. You know, the wonderful program sponsored by Sears where many generous folks from all over donate so about 20k military families can have a nice Christmas?

I just found out about this program last year, right after it ended, so I didn't get a chance to register last year. Then about a week ago, I found out they were going to open it up earlier this year, around September. The day before yesterday I found out it would be from 1-3pm the next day. I happened to be home, so I got the link handy {from Army Wife 101's blog --Krystel is amazing, btw...love her!}.

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Well, 1pm rolls around and the link isn't working. I get a page that says it will be opening at 1pm. Then 1:01, same thing. Then 1:02, 1:03...1:08...1:15...1:20...still get the page saying it will open at 1pm. I decided to open up my IE browser and try my luck in there, and VIOLA! Got in right away! So I hurried up and submitted my info {err rather hubby's info}, and got the "thank you" message. I was excited! I even posted on Sears' Wall, thanking them and the donors for this wonderful program.

The whole time I was watching the drama unfold on the Sears Facebook Page. Other military spouses had been having the same problems as me and getting the same page that said it wasn't open. Then the site was having problems with recognizing August birthdays and telling people they had to be over 18. Don't even get me started on the "early registration" fiasco. However, instead of sucking it up like me, many spouses chose to piss and moan and bitch and complain. Then they started bashing Sears, the program, the site, and even each other. Really? Is this how you conduct yourself?

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They were bashing everything under the sun and just causing quite an uproar and making themselves look like ungrateful fools. It was at this point that I realized I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed for them, for their husbands, their families, and for probably being stereotyped right along with them, just for being a military spouse.

I do not know everybody's financial situations, BUT, it seems as if some people are counting on this giftcard from Sears for their Christmas. Honestly, it's pretty sad to feel entitled to a handout just because your husband is in the military.

CONTENT STOLEN FROM RAMBLINGMILITARYWIFE.BLOGSPOT.COM

Why do certain military spouses feel they're entitled to a handout? YOU are not the military member! It makes me wanna hurl when spouses talk about who gives a military discount and who gives out free things for military, etc. Some say it's a pride thing. Well, I'm very proud of my husband for everything he does and has done in his military career, but I don't go flashing my dependent ID card everywhere I go looking to save thirty cents. Maybe that's just me. I know military doesn't get paid a lot, but still.

This attitude problem is ridiculous and needs to STOP! I don't know what happened last year during the HAH registration, but I just hear it was bad, and a lot of people are surprised this program is still around. After seeing what happened this year, I can understand why. Right now there are over 1000 comments on one of Sears' posts with spouses fighting with each other and complaining. Seriously, grow up!

CONTENT STOLEN FROM RAMBLINGMILITARYWIFE.BLOGSPOT.COM

I registered for us. I decided if we get picked, we get picked. If we don't, we don't. It won't affect our Christmas negatively in any way. They are holding a new registration on Saturday now because of all the problems with the one yesterday, so I will have to re-register. I'm not even sure if I will. For one thing, I might not be home, and for another, I might just let it go and not be associated with the drama. If I do register us and we get picked, I won't ever register again, so other families can get in on it. It's a wonderful program. Let's keep it that way.

Final thought to those suffering from Entitlement Syndrome:

Just remember, the way you conduct yourself wherever you are, and even on the internet reflects on your husband, and can in turn, reflect on the military. When/If you think you're entitled to something, take a step back and collect yourself, because you're more than likely not. Check your attitude at the door {or Facebook login} and try to act like you have some class.

<< RANT OVER >>

Spill-It Saturday Week 21

2011-08-27T08:00:00.002-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 21!

Sorry I didn't get it posted last week. I had a crazy busy week and by the time I realized I'd forgotten, it was already Monday!

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

{click on the secret to make it bigger if it's hard to read}

Auction for a Fallen #Navy SEAL

2011-08-15T14:34:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I'm sure everyone has heard about the tragic helicopter crash that happened on August 6th in Afghanistan. Everyone inside the CH-47 Chinook was killed, including 22 Navy SEALs, 3 USAF airmen, a 5-member Army air crew, and a military dog. There were also 7 Afghan commandos and a civilian Afghan interpreter on board.

The Chinook was called in to aid an Army Ranger unit that was on the ground and under attack. They wanted the SEALs to go after some insurgents that had escaped. The helicopter was trying to land in Tangi Valley in eastern Afghanistan, in a dangerous region of Wardak province. It reportedly crashed after it was fired on by an insurgent RPG.

All but 2 of the SEALs were from Seal Team Six, the unit that killed Osama bin Laden, but officials said none of them participated in the raid.

Aaron Vaughn {source: navytimes.com}

One of those SEALs was Aaron Vaughn, 30, stationed out of Virginia Beach. He deployed just a couple weeks after his daughter Chamberlyn was born this summer. His family has said in interviews how he loved his job and wouldn't have left the Earth any other way. He was a football star in high school and he loved to hunt. He had wanted to be a Navy SEAL since he was 10 or 12 years old. He is described by his family as a man of true faith and patriotism.

Aaron and his wife Kimberly have 2 small children, 2-year old Reagan and 2 month old Chamberlyn. There is an auction set up on Facebook for the Vaughn Family.

Auction for the Vaughn Family

It is set to start once they receive enough donations of items. If you are crafty, have something you can donate, or want to bid on the items, it is for a great cause! As of right now they are still looking for donations, but I believe it is starting very soon. Please click on the picture above for more information.

Spill-It Saturday Week 20

2011-08-13T08:00:00.004-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 20!

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

Spill-It Saturday Week 19

2011-08-06T17:06:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 19!

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

Cold Water Tail

2011-08-02T01:15:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I wanted to take a minute to blog about this condition, since very few veterinarians seem to know a whole lot about this, and I've heard it's not something covered in veterinary school.

We took our 3 labs swimming yesterday since they haven't been yet this summer, and they live for the water. They love retrieving bumpers and dummies that we throw in the water. Remi is the 3-yr old "prize" hunting dog of John's and Missy is my 2.5-yr old "dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks-but-tries-hard-anyway" dog. Well they both were going strong and Missy actually impressed me because she put some weight on over the winter and is stepping up her game.

We came home and the dogs were beat from all that retrieving. After a few hours, I went outside because they were barking at something and I noticed Remi was acting really really weird and just not herself. Then I saw her tail. It looked broken and she acted like she was in lots of pain.

Missy has had this a couple times in the past 9 months or so, and I had researched it on my phone and come up with "Cold Water Tail", but then I decided that wasn't what she had, since the pictures I had seen didn't really look like it. The first time she'd had it, John's mom was here and I thought maybe she was a little on edge since she hadn't met her before and was in "protector" mode, because Missy is VERY protective of me and the baby. It lasted probably a week or two.

Last night I decided to look it up again for Remi and found the same picture I'd seen before on my phone. This time I was on my computer and it was exactly what hers looks like.

As you can see in the pictures of Remi below, her tail is sticking out about 2-3" and then it just falls limp.

From my research:

Basically, "Cold Water Tail" (also known as "Flaccid Tail", "Limp Tail", etc.) is caused by overuse of the muscles in the tail, particularly while during a heavy hunt or workout. It can also be caused by swimming (or bathing) in cold water, and even in too warm of water. It is mostly seen in hunting and sporting breeds, and in both males and females. There are other beliefs as to the cause, but the above-mentioned is the cause for our 2 labs.

The base of the tail is generally painful when touched. It will be sticking out a couple inches and the rest of the tail will be limp, close to the body, and sometimes even tucked in between the dog's legs, leaving the owner to believe it may be broken. The dog won't use its tail for anything during the bout with Cold Water Tail, and the tail will stay in the same position, even while the dog is moving about.

It will last anywhere from a few days to 2 weeks. If the dog seems to be in pain, you can give him or her some non-coated baby aspirin (81mg) to help alleviate the pain. Call your vet to get the proper dosage for the weight of your dog.

Also, allow your dog a few days to rest. Once the dog has had a case of Cold Water Tail, he or she will generally get it again.

Our 2 female labs have completely different levels of pain tolerance. Missy didn't seem to be too affected by Cold Water Tail, other than the appearance of her tail, so that's why it didn't really strike us as a problem. Remi, on the other hand, has been running around constantly when she's outside, like she's trying to make it stop hurting. You can see in her eyes she hurts. When they were both spayed, Missy was up jumping around right after the surgery and it was hard to keep her still. Remi was in pain and depressed for days.

I just wanted to post this because I thought it might help someone out who has a dog that has had or is having a bout with Cold Water Tail. I'm not by any means a vet, so if you think your dog has a serious problem, it's best to get it checked out.

Spill-It Saturday Week 18

2011-07-30T08:00:00.001-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 18!

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

McConnell Taping 1 Week Down

2011-07-28T20:07:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I just wanted to give a quick update on how the McConnell Taping is going with my knee. I've been doing it for a little over a week now. It's amazing! I really wish I'd have known about this sooner because it would have saved me a decade of pain and discomfort.

The only "gripe" I have with it is with the adhesive on the tape. It's VERY strong. The white tape underneath doesn't really serve a purpose other than protecting your skin from the brown tape. The brown tape would probably pull your skin right off; that's how strong it is! I had to buy alcohol swabs because the gunk would not come off my skin. I even scrubbed it and it appeared to be gone, but it wasn't. The alcohol swabs help out a lot. I'm willing to put up with it though, if it means I have no pain!

I can't wait to go back to the doctor and let him know my progress. Then he will decide if I need the lateral release so my kneecap will sit correctly.

Oak Park, #Minot Contest!

2011-07-19T22:07:00.001-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

As the flood waters recede and people are let back into their homes to clean up, reality is setting in as to how bad the damage is from the 2011 Mouse River Flood in Minot.

Throughout this whole ordeal, people from near and far across the world have come together and shown support for one another in fighting the flood. For a slight glimpse into how this town has come together, volunteers opened their homes to complete strangers, sandbagged in different towns along the Mouse River, made and delivered sandwiches to sandbaggers, manned the flood hotline, and have been walking displaced pets at the animal shelters.

It's now time to come together once again, for cleanup, gutting basements, and hauling decades of memories to the curb to be taken to the landfill.

In addition to the six schools and many businesses lost to the flood, Oak Park was also flooded. The Mouse River runs through Oak Park. The green in the picture below represents the park.

These next pictures are of the flooded homes and businesses surrounding Oak Park. I couldn't find any of the park itself from the flood. They were taken by Andrea Booher of FEMA.

Now, some good news at such a gloomy time. Oak Park has been nominated as a Favorite Park in the Coca-Cola Live Positively Contest. The 3rd Place park wins a $25,000 grant; 2nd place wins a $50,000 grant; and the 1st Place, or "America's Favorite Park", wins a $100,000 grant for restoring, rebuilding, or enhancing places within the park to play or be active.

When I first heard about this today, I visited the site and voted. Oak Park was in 15th place. Word spread and people voted, and right now it's in 2nd place!! It would be so amazing if Oak Park could win this! It is definitely needed right now, especially since the flood. The contest ends September 6th.

Oak Park has always been a summer hangout since I moved to Minot. There is a walking trail, picnic areas, a nice big playground for kids, and wildlife, just to name a few things. I saw my very first wood duck in the Mouse River while walking through the park. You always see geese walking around, nesting, eating, and sleeping right along the walking trail in the park. During Christmas, different city businesses make up Christmas light displays in there and you can drive through for $5/car and view all the displays set to Christmas music. It's a wonderful place and to think of all the restorations they'll have to make after the flood saddens me.

If you'd like to vote for Oak Park in the contest, please visit the Contest Page and type in Minot in the search box. Oak Park is the only Minot park listed, as well as the only one in ND. You don't have to register to vote in the contest AND you can vote as many times as you'd like! Please do this! It will only take a minute of your time!

McConnell Taping

2011-07-19T16:52:00.002-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I went to the doctor yesterday morning about my knee. Yes, I'm still having problems with it and I can't seem to get a doctor who wants to actually help me. They'd rather just tell me to take ibuprofen and deal with it.

So it's now been nearly 11 years since my original injury and it's just not getting any better. So we asked TriCare if I could go see a doctor of my choosing since I've already seen all of the supposed "best" doctors in Minot. TriCare approved it and I got an appointment with a bone & joint doctor in Bismarck, 2 hours away.

I was so nervous and dreading that he would give me the same song and dance all the Minot doctors had for the past 11 years. "It healed properly", "Take ibuprofen", "Try physical therapy again"...yadda yadda yadda.

To start it off, we got there early and the clinic was so easy to find, I almost knew something was going to go wrong, because this was just too easy. We got in and I had to go register with them since I'd never been there before. I had a clipboard and a 3-page questionnaire I had to fill out with my information. They called me back 10 minutes early! Wow, really? This is amazing....what's going to go wrong?

The nurse asked me some questions and left, telling me the doctor would be in in a few minutes. Ok, a "few minutes" in doctor's time is like 30. He came in within 5 minutes! Probably not even that. He was super nice and he even KNEW where my hometown was...my little town that had a 2010 census population of 85 people! He actually even knew a guy from my hometown, who happened to be his math teacher! Wow, small world! So yeah...back to me thinking what is gonna go wrong...

He pulled up my MRI and actually showed John and me the images and pointed out things (something which none of my other doctors have ever done). Nothing of which seemed all that bad. :( Here we go again...just tell me it's nothing and I'm fine..give me a "prescription" for physical therapy and send me on my way already so I can bawl all the way home about this giant waste of time...

He said these "tears" in my meniscus that the Minot clinic found he wouldn't really classify as tears. He said there is a small cyst in part of the cartilage, but nothing that should be giving me problems. My ligaments and everything all look great and I have no fluid in my knee.

Then he sent me for an X-Ray of my knees in a "sunrise" view, so he could get a view behind the kneecap. The X-Ray was up on his screen by the time I got back to the room (I was there and back within 5 minutes). I couldn't believe the efficiency of this place!

He looked at the X-Ray and determined that my patella (kneecap) is slightly tilted and this is probably why I feel the grinding, catching and nastiness, and probably where a lot of my pain is coming from.

So we then talked about McConnell Taping. He said he wasn't gonna put me through the torture of physical therapy again. There IS a God!! He asked if I'd ever done it before. I'd never even heard of it! Here's a little background on it...

McConnell Taping was first introduced in 1984 by Australian physical therapist Jenny McConnell. Her 13-year-old sister was suffering from patello-femoral pain (also called chondromalacia patella) while she was going to school to be a physical therapist and she discovered this method to alleviate the pain. The intent of taping was to alter the tilt and position of the patella. So if your knee is tracking ineffectively, it can be taped a certain way so your patella finds the "groove" and tracks correctly and reduces pain.

A physical therapist came in and had me do a quick "exercise" before he taped my knee. I stood on this stepstool that was probably 6" off the ground. I put my weight on my right knee and stepped down with me left, while using his hands for balance, and without actually touching the floor with my left foot. I did this 3 times. My knee cracked, popped, was grinding, and hurt.

He taped my knee and had me walk. At first I was extremely skeptical because it felt really weird and awkward, and I'm sure I looked really funny. He had me go up to a set of 3 steps at the end of the hallway. I walked up...no cracking, grinding, or pain! I walked down...no cracking, grinding, or pain! OMG...you're kidding me!

Then it was time for the "real" test. He had me stand on the bottom step and do that exercise again that I did just before he taped my knee. So I did, and absolutely NO cracking, grinding, or pain! WOW!! I almost started crying because this is truly a breakthrough in my knee pain!

So I went back in and met with the doctor and he told me to try this for a month and if it works and I have no pain or symptoms, we will discuss him going in and scoping my knee and probably cutting a little piece out so my patella sits normal and I won't have to tape it. So, I will find out August 22nd what will happen.

I am truly over the moon about this! I have cried about it today because I'm so happy. I feel like I'm getting my life back. My knee pain and problems have held me back from doing so many things, most importantly, playing with my son. I still play with him, but my knee hasn't allowed me to run around and go crazy with him.

He is super excited about it as well...he watched me tape my knee this morning, and he wanted his done too, so I "taped" it for him. Here he is demonstrating his McConnell Taping! He's so funny!

Here are also a couple videos about McConnell Taping. The first one is Jenny McConnell, herself, talking about it and the 2nd one is showing how it's done. The lady that demonstrates it says it pretty much word-for-word how my physical therapist had me do it, however, he had me use 1 piece of white tape and 2 pieces of the brown tape. If you are having patello-femoral problems and pain, please ask your doctor or PT about McConnell Taping. I wish I had known about it sooner. It truly feels like a miracle!

Spill-It Saturday Week 17

2011-07-16T08:00:00.007-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 17!

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

Time to Say Goodbye?

2011-07-15T14:25:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I am afraid it's going to be time to say "Goodbye" to one of our 4-legged family members very soon. Our male lab, Zeus, is 12 years old. John has had him since high school. Zeus stayed behind when John joined the Air Force and got stationed in Alaska. When we got married and got our house on base, he had Zeus flown here and I met him for the first time as he entered my home.

{Zeus (L) and Remi relaxing in the kiddie pool}

He was the biggest lab I had ever seen! He was 95 lbs of tongue! He likes to lick everybody to death even after you shoo him away. The only way to "shoo" him is by blowing in his face. He HATES it! How he can be outside when it's windy is beyond me!

A few years back, Zeus was apparently hit by a car and suffered some problems to one of his hips. I've always noticed his back end is a little stiff and it's hard for him to get up and even sit or lay down. He is a very crotchety old man, and I think it's because of his hips. We had him on glucosamine for a while, but it didn't really seem to help, so we stopped.

{Remi (L) and Zeus playing in the water at the lake}

Within the past couple weeks, he has really seemed to go downhill. He's seemed more stiff and he moans and groans when getting up or down. Our dogs have really been good about not going potty in the house. We've been blessed with that. Last Saturday we were gone for an extended period of time and expected a puddle on the floor in their little room, which we did find.

The next day, John was laying on the couch and Zeus came into the house and walked over to John and started peeing right in front of him after he'd just been outside. Not cool.

This morning I woke up and could smell dog crap. Great. So I came downstairs, dreading every step I took, because it was one step closer to the brown surprise. Sure enough, there were 5 clumps of dog crap on the floor. It looked like a parade had come through. gag

So I cleaned it up and called John and we've been discussing putting him down. John is really dreading it because he's had Zeus for so long and he's basically the only thing John has with him from home. I feel really bad for John.

I, personally, never bonded with the dog. Sure, I'll be sad when the day comes, but I never had a bond with him. He is VERY stubborn and has never listened to me, and I'm not gonna lie - he's been a giant pain in my ass most of the time for numerous reasons. We won't let him around Johnny because he's snarled at him once, so Johnny has never bonded with him either.

{The most recent pic of Zeus. No gray! Pretty impressive for an old man!}

But, the day will probably be coming pretty soon. I'm sure when John gets home from the field, we will discuss it more. He thinks Zeus has kidney failure. If he does, he doesn't need to be living in that misery. :/

Flood Fight Blog CHALLENGE!

2011-07-11T02:05:00.001-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I have been non-stop brainstorming ways I can help raise money for Minot and how I can get the word out that we still need help. Then I came up with something I think is kinda cool. I'm creating the Flood Fight Blog CHALLENGE!

<a href="http://ramblingmilitarywife.blogspot.com"><img alt="The Crafty Military Wife" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f27lz3znXVc/ThqNyD8Uf1I/AAAAAAAAA6w/5ozqtBjP9PM/s320/floodfightblogchallengesm.jpg" /></a>

I was thinking that if every one of my bloggy friends could find just $1 to donate to one of the organizations I will list later on in this post, that's over $400 we can raise to help rebuild Minot!

If everyone could donate $5, that would be nearly $2100!! How awesome would that be?!

So I'm challenging YOU, my bloggy friends, to post about this Blog Challenge. Use the graphic above, and help me get the word out and get some money raised for my town!

I have made up some graphics you can post on your blog or wherever you'd like if you do decide to donate! They'll be on the Flood Fight page.

To sum up just some of the damage this flood has left behind...

Minot lost SIX schools to the flood. Yes, SIX.

Over 4,000 homes in Minot and Ward County have been damaged.

Over HALF of those homes have extensive water damage from having 6-10 feet of water in them.

Maybe 1/10 of those homeowners had flood insurance.

Many homes will be deemed unlivable and will need to be destroyed.

This area is now anticipating $300 MILLION worth of damages.

Some ways you can help...

There is a "Box Top Drive" to help rebuild the 6 schools that were lost during the flood. If you go to the Facebook Page created for this drive, you can find out more and get the address where to send them.

Minot Area Community Foundation

Minot Salvation Army

American Red Cross Mid-Dakota Chapter

Souris Valley United Way

If you donate to one of the above places for Minot flood relief, please feel free to take one of these badges for your wonderful generosity! If you need one with a different increment made, please contact me and I will make it for you! :) The rest of the badges can be found on my Flood Fight Page

Thank you so much for any help you can give! The city of Minot and surrounding areas GREATLY appreciate it! God Bless!

Minot, North Dakota Will "Stand Back Up"!

2011-06-28T15:35:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

This is a video I put together using flood pictures that KX News Minot Facebook fans have submitted. I'm not gonna lie; it makes me cry when I watch it. I'll have a full post sometime this week detailing the events of the situation. We had the flood, almost-tornadoes, contaminated water, and now limited-to-no water. Please watch the video and pray for my town. <3

Today is the day it all goes down...

2011-06-22T02:25:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

We NEED prayers. By now you have maybe heard. Minot, North Dakota is going to flood. It's going to be bad. It's going to affect thousands of people. It's going to get ugly.

I was born in Minot and grew up in the area and we are now stationed at Minot AFB, which is safe from the rising flood waters. I lived in the city of Minot for 5 years. It's pretty much where I call "home".

We had more snow than we knew what to do with this past winter. So did Canada. We've also been getting insane amounts of rain, along with Canada. Canada's reservoirs are full, so they're pushing the water down to us, but we're pretty much full also. This will be the worst flood in the history of the city. The NDNG is here with hundreds of troops helping out. The NDNG Commander said this is the worst flooding situation he's seen in his 40-year career.

They had been saying that the river would be expected to go 9 feet higher than the previous record-setting flood of 1969, but they dropped it to 5 feet higher.

Minot is considered "small" by many, with a population of roughly 41,000 people. Out of those, at least 12,000 have had to evacuate. There are also people in neighboring communities including Burlington that are also having to evacuate. The zoo is also going to flood, so the animals have been evacuated. Pets are at makeshift shelters because owners can't take them with.

Our local news station, KXMC, has been doing amazing coverage of the flood and keeping everyone up to date with round-the-clock live coverage. Their Facebook Page has gained thousands of fans over the past few weeks. They have live cams going of a couple different bridges so people can watch instead of going out to sight-see and get in the way. The sad thing is that most of these news anchors live in the valley and have to evacuate as well.

What impresses me the most is the outpouring of kindness and help from complete strangers. People are asking who needs help, and some are just showing up at people's houses and offering a hand. We plan to get our enclosed trailer tomorrow after hubs gets home from work and see if anyone needs help. We're praying it's not too late.

I wish there were aerial photos, but here are some photos of the flood situation from the KX News Minot Facebook Page.

I know Minot will get through this. I know it will be ok. It's gonna suck for a while, but it isn't called the "Magic City" for nothing. If we can get through -50* winters, a little old flood isn't going to stop us!

Spill-It Saturday Week 16

2011-06-11T17:50:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 16!

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

It's a CELEBRATION!

2011-06-06T14:52:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Wow, I wasn't expecting to see what I saw when I signed into blogger a few minutes ago! I have OVER 400 bloggy friends! Wow! So this calls for a celebration!!

I decided that to celebrate, I will put the spotlight on a few newer bloggers that have recently found and followed my blog. I can remember when I first started my blog and was trying to find a blogging niche. I think I was mostly blogging to myself. :/ I was trying to get from 3 to 15 followers so I could just have a giveaway. I swear it took FOREVER! So please check these blogs out, follow them, if you wish, and leave them a comment. I'm sure they'd absolutely love it! :) (P.S. Blogger is being cRaZy, so I'm sorry if this post looks weird.)

**'Tis The Life of the Army Wife**

*post of interest - What To Know During Deployments..

=========================================

The crazy life of being a Yeakley

*post of interest -157 days...

=========================================

**Stitchings of an Army Wife**

*post of interest - Army

=========================================

**Jess & The Mess**

*post of interest - 1000 ways to die, plant edition...

=========================================

**Packing His Bags; Preparing My Heart**

*post of interest - The Most Annoying Things On Facebook

=========================================

**Beyond The Acronyms**

*post of interest - Northern Exposure

=========================================

**Ramblings of an Air Force Wife**

*post of interest - Introduction

=========================================

**Sea Shells and Snapshots**

*post of interest - It's a...duckling?

=========================================

**Fräulein Sarah and her Schatzies... **

*post of interest -Get to know me better day

=========================================

**miss alana's miscellany**

*post of interest -the damage

**WARNING** You'll need a tissue for this one!!

Spill-It Saturday Week 15

2011-05-28T18:31:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 15!

Thanks to everyone for the submissions this week! There were quite a few! Remember it's totally anonymous and I have no idea who submits what.

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

Frustrated!

2011-05-26T23:16:00.001-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I am so frustrated right now! Obviously, by my blog title, right? LOL.

So I've been trying to eat right and healthy so I can lose these 15 pounds that seem to keep clinging on for dear life. I was doing pretty good. Then we went on a 50-hour road trip to Ohio and back. I gained 7 freaking pounds!! S-E-V-E-N!!!!!!!

Dear Indiana,
Your interstate McDonald's/Dairy Queen truckstops freaking rock, however they were absolute poison to my diet!

So we get home and I get all gung-ho about my diet again because I've been asked to be in a wedding in July. I discover a supplement called OxyElite Pro (OEP) that people are getting crazy results from. I need a boost because with my knee all jacked up and not being able to run or do anything high-impact, it's rough. So I ordered some OEP and got it last week.

I've been doing everything according to plan. I'm eating 1200 calories a day, drinking mad amounts of water, and exercising at least 30 min a day. One would think I'd see results, especially because all these reviews on OEP say people lose like 10 pounds in a week or 2. Nope.

My weight has been fluctuating like crazy. I'll lose a pound or two, then gain one. The other day I lost 3 pounds over the course of a day and the next I gained 2. It's one step up and two steps back. I've never had this problem. Ever.

I am so annoyed. Part of me wants to blame it on my scale. The battery died today so that could be the reason ***I HOPE***. Now that I think about it though, hubs is also trying to cut some weight and he has also complained about his weight fluctuating. So now maybe I don't feel so bad?

Today was my cheat day so I don't really wanna weigh in tomorrow morning! Maybe Monday. Maybe.

On another note, blogger is still annoying me. It's like my font is 2 different styles, but I haven't changed anything. GRR!

Spill-It Saturday Week 14

2011-05-21T16:59:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 14!

Sorry this wasn't posted last week. I was having computer problems, but now I have a brand new computer! YAY! Thanks to everyone for the submissions this week! Remember it's totally anonymous and I have no idea who submits what.

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

Guest Blog - Broken Promise To Veterans

2011-05-20T12:10:00.002-05:00

A while back I was contacted by a young man by the name of Taylor Dardan, who was interested in writing a guest blog for me here at The Crafty Military Wife. I said yes and he wrote up a post.

Taylor Dardan is a dedicated advocate of veteran's benefits. He is a recent college graduate and an aspiring writer who currently lives in the South. He is a proud American and loves supporting the troops who fight for our freedom. Here is his post.

Broken Promise To Veterans by Taylor Dardan

Broken promises are often a major trend in politics. Still, even with many politicians making statements and not baking them up, this trend is heavily aggravating. President Obama is often the target of these types of claims, but his statements on veteran homelessness deserve to be reviewed. He developed a plan that he said would end veteran homelessness by 2015, yet he has done little to get these issues rolling in the right direction.

Obama started off in good fashion towards the goal by signing through the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act. This act for veterans was set for a January 2011 deadline but the date came and went without the plan being enabled. Meanwhile, the President, the VA, and Congress remain responsible as they try and actually get this act up and running. Certainly there are other important issues on the President’s plate, but surely Congress and the VA could have the ball rolling by now.

The caregiver act would look to support veterans who served after 2001 who are in need of caregiver support. The benefits would include financial and lodging expenses, respite care, and education for prospective caregivers. This need for support for vets and their caregivers is crucial, as many of the illnesses that plague these soldiers are directly related to military service.

A veteran may often need a caregiver for a variety of reasons, while many of them are connected to health problems related to their military service. PTSD and TBI are often tied directly to wartime wounds, while mesothelioma has occurred from asbestos exposure on bases and cases of Parkinson’s have been related to service in Vietnam. This act would help to support these veterans and soldiers who are in dire need of caregivers.

That being said, the caregivers themselves are in need of support as well, which the act would provide as well. Many of these caregivers are spouses and family members who are forced to drop nearly everything to take care of veterans. Training and some financial support could be absolutely crucial in continuing proper care for our veterans.

Getting this act finally enabled would be the first step in the right direction for the President, VA, and Congress. They’ve failed these vets for the late part of 2010 and into 2011. It hasn’t even been mentioned that the act is rather confined and should include support for older vets as well. The longer this inability to get the program running goes on, the closer the President gets to a broken promise.

Spill-It Saturday Week 13

2011-05-07T13:29:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 13!

Thanks to everyone for the submissions this week! Remember it's totally anonymous and I have no idea who submits what.

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

Nothing is the same

2011-05-05T12:19:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

DISCLAIMER: This post may or may not make complete sense, or any sense at all. I'm just typing as the words come out. Please bear with me.

I don't know if I'm just getting old or what my problem is, but it bothers me how nothing stays the same. I have never been one to embrace changes. I mean, I complain everytime Facebook makes an update that I have to get used to. But I learn to deal with it and move on.

The one thing I don't know how to deal with, though, is everytime I go home to my hometown and to visit my parents, it's a constant struggle to feel like I belong there anymore. My hometown is incredibly small. The population is not even 100 people. Since I've left, businesses have closed. The grocery store my mom ran from the time I was 8 until I was 14 was completely torn down and now there's grass growing in its place, so you could never even tell what once stood there. Last year they closed the elementary school. I really don't know anyone there anymore because all the old people are dying or moving away and the new people are just following the oil boom. All the "little kids" have grown up and I don't recognize them anymore.

I spent 19 years on my parents' farm. It's where my dad grew up as well. That house was my home. Was. It's so different now, but yet it shouldn't be. Things around there need replaced. The house just seems so OLD now, but it always has been. It never bothered me before, but now I can really see it. They have gotten new furniture and I can never make myself comfortable on it. It's not the same. I don't have a bedroom there anymore. So if me, hubby, and baby were to stay there, we'd have to sleep in the living room on the couch or in the chairs - the new furniture I don't like.

My mom had my cat put to sleep 3 or 4 years ago. I'd had this cat since I was 5. Everytime I'd drive home after I left, it was like she could sense I was coming and she'd be there waiting for me in the driveway and she'd run up to the house to greet me as I pulled in. I still look for that every single time out of habit. Then when I realize I won't see her, I get sad.

And now my dad's health isn't so good. He's had kidney problems and was recently diagnosed with diabetes. So my mom has been trying to figure out how to cook for him and manage his diabetes and keep his blood sugar good. Well he went to the doctor last week and the doctor told him that his already-bad kidneys have gotten 50% worse in the past 3 months and he has what is considered a "severe kidney injury". So today he is going in for a kidney biopsy to find out what exactly is going on because the doctor has no explanation.

It hurts me to see his health failing. He has something wrong with his leg and toe also, which makes it hard for him to walk. My dad is the person I strive to be like. He was the basketball star in high school, served in the military, has worked the same job for like 40 years, and he would give the shirt off his back to anyone. I have heard him cuss maybe twice in my life. He is the reason I love basketball and baseball. He is the reason I wanted to join the military. He is the reason I want to be a good person. Don't get me wrong - he's not perfect; he had a rough spot in his life, but that is what makes me not want to go there.

It just kills me to see him in pain. What's even worse is the guilt I feel that if he needs a kidney transplant, I am not a match. We have a different blood type. I'm his only biological child and I owe that to him. It's not fair.

This post probably doesn't make any sense at all, but I needed to write it. I needed to get it out. I keep most of this locked up deep inside and never tell anyone.

Spill-It Saturday Week 12

2011-04-30T01:13:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 12!

YAY I'm actually getting this up in time this week! Thanks to everyone for the submissions this week! Remember it's totally anonymous and I have no idea who submits what.

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

Spill-It Saturday Week 11

2011-04-23T16:01:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 11!

I haven't posted this recently because there have been very few submissions. Is there still interest in this? Remember it's totally anonymous and I have no idea who submits what.

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

Hotel 1 November 1, Emergency Room, Giveaway!

2011-04-23T15:08:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Hey everyone! It's been a while, yet again! Let me tell you, life is crazy! I'd like to send a shout-out to my new bloggy friends! It's nice to see new faces added to my sidebar over there ---> especially when I've been absent from bloggyland for a while. I'd love to follow your blogs, so if your link isn't in your profile, please leave me a comment with it! :)

Hopefully I can get back into blogging and interacting with other blogs in the near future. My computer is not doing well, so I really hate using it for blogging, photos, or anything that takes a while to load. -- Plus I hate seeing the alerts for other blogs that have stolen my content. :( -- BUT after weeks of searching, I have finally found THEEEEE laptop I want! It has all the features I "need" PLUS all the ones I think "would be nice". So I'm really excited to be ordering that soon!

My business has been doing really well, so that takes up a lot of my time, along with my toddler, aka Mr. Tude!

Speaking of him, I just realized we've been to the ER with him 4 times in the past 4 months! I think they're gonna know us by name soon! The first time was his eye infection he had on Christmas Day, then in March he got this really mysterious fever. It would hover between 101 and 103 and wouldn't go down with medication. He seemed fine otherwise. He just had this weird fever. We chalked it up to teething because he doesn't have all of his teeth yet.

Well it started sticking around 103 and he was very lethargic. I'm talking "lay down on the floor and fall asleep" lethargic. This is a kid that is constantly on the go, 12 hours a day with no stopping! He doesn't even watch TV. He would also lay lengthwise across the bottom step and whine. He had been having problems going to the bathroom, so we gave him a laxative, which helped, but we decided to take him to the ER.

The doctor was not impressive. He didn't seem like he cared what we had to say at all. He had them hook my son up to an IV and take blood for tests. All his tests came back normal, so after like 4 hours they sent us home with an enema for him.

The next day he still had a 103 fever and was even more lethargic. He would stand over the couch and fall asleep. I said I wanted to take him back in. So we did. The doctor we got that night was outstanding. I wish I could give him a medal! He was very friendly, personable, asked us what our opinions were on different things, and was very good with our son. They still hooked him up to an IV and filled him with fluids, gave him Tylenol/Motrin, but this time they did tests for the flu and RSV. If you haven't ever experienced those with a child, good luck! They're awful!

His fever was going down and after his IV finished they were getting ready to send us home again. The doc had said he knew it was a virus but not sure what. Well he came racing into our room to tell us he knew what it was. Johnny had H1N1!!! Are you kidding me?!? My jaw hit the floor. I couldn't believe it.

I'm the mom that carries 2 bottles of hand sanitizer in her purse. The mom that wipes down every buggy we come in contact with in the store. I'm a complete germophobe. UGH!! The lucky thing about this though, is he didn't have the "bad" H1N1. He didn't have any symptoms of respiratory problems and all he had was the fever. The doc figured he was about 5 days into it and since he had no respiratory problems, Tamiflu wouldn't help. So we just alternated Tylenol and Motrin and by the next day his fever had broke. Whew!!

The most recent time, we were in Ohio. This was a week ago today. My husband's sister was getting married and the ceremony had ended and everyone was standing outside the church. Johnny was playing in the parking lot, just off the curb, and there was a car coming so I motioned for my husband to grab him before he ran out in front of it. Well Johnny was wearing new dressy shoes that he wasn't used to with his little suit, and he fell. ONTO A BURNING CIGARETTE BUTT!! For real?

John grabbed him and pulled him up off of it before he burned himself too bad and we went back inside for pictures. He was crying and didn't want to move his right arm. We figured he burned it but he wouldn't let us look at it. So we decided to go to the ER in the next town over. He didn't move his arm the whole time. It just sat there limp. I even tried to trick him into using it and he wouldn't. While we were there I noticed a blister on his palm where he fell on the cigarette.

Turns out his elbow was dislocated from John grabbing him up off the cigarette I guess. The doc put it back in place and gave him a stuffed animal and we were on our way back to the reception.

The trip was 50 hours total of driving. I highly discourage anyone who thinks they need to drive a trip like this with a toddler from doing it. We thought he'd sleep a lot. Nope. He just kept chucking his toys up front at us. He wasn't even really interested in the portable DVD player we brought along. We did get him to sing along with my iPod. The little monster knows practically every word to every song on Gary Allan's "Get off on the Pain" CD!!

One last thing and I'll shut up, I promise! I am going to be having a giveaway when I reach 400 fans/likes on my Facebook page! I haven't quite figured out what I'm giving away yet, but it will be awesome, nonetheless!! So go "like" my page and tell your friends! The FB widget is in my right sidebar ---->

Ok that's all for now, folks! Have a great Easter!! :)

Spill-It Saturday Week 10

2011-03-26T23:33:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 10!

Sorry it's late again this week, everyone. I totally forgot today is Saturday! Keep the secrets and confessions coming! Remember it's totally anonymous and I have no idea who submits what.

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

===============

Spill-It Saturday Week 9

2011-03-19T17:09:00.000-05:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 9!

Hi new blog friends!! If I'm not following you, please let me know so that I can! :) Keep the secrets and confessions coming! Remember it's totally anonymous and I have no idea who submits what.

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

Spill-It Saturday Week 8

2011-03-12T08:00:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 8!

Hi new blog friends!! If I'm not following you, please let me know so that I can! :) Sorry about missing last week. My computer got a stupid virus and it took me a couple days to remove it. We have some good secrets/confessions this week!! Keep 'em coming! Remember it's totally anonymous and I have no idea who submits what.

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

Auction and Playing Catch-Up...kinda

2011-03-03T15:28:00.001-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

If you remember my post about the 19-month-old little boy who passed away from long-term child abuse, you'll remember how upset and helpless I was (and still am) feeling. I wanted to do an auction of one of my signs to help raise money for his funeral expenses, but I didn't know where to start. People had been contacting me and saying they would like to donate items to the auction as well. I started an artists & crafters Facebook page a couple months ago and have met some great ladies. I brought the idea up of an auction and got a great response!

We decided that a few of us from the artists & crafters page would donate items and auction them off in an online auction so people near and far can bid. The funeral expenses had been paid for by the time the auction started, so we are donating the proceeds to the Childrens' Advocacy Center here in town in the little boy's memory. We opened the auction on Tuesday and it runs until noon CST tomorrow.

If you wanna check it out, you can visit the Auction Page here. We have items with no bids and low bids. There are tutus for little girls, hair accessories, a crayon caddy, a knit fox hat, knit dinosaur hat, and body scrubs to name a few. Some of the local-only items donated are a photoshoot, makeup session, a 2-tier cake, and Avon perfume. Pictured below are some of the items.

This morning we learned that so far our highest bid total has reached over $500!! This is so exciting! I can't wait to hand the money over to the CAC!!

Now on to some awards that lovely bloggy friends that have been so gracious to give me!! I'm seriously behind on blogging and reading all your blogs and for y'all to still think of me means a lot!! I have been meaning to post these for some time now, but my computer is a huge pile of junk and freezes up on me and I can't afford a new one at the moment. (To get an idea, I started this post last night and had to re-boot halfway through and finally gave up and went to bed.) I hope you'll forgive me!

First up, I received the Stylish Blogger Award from Miss Darlene at Creative, Crazy and Camouflage AND Miss Erica at Dinosaurs & Dandelions. Thank you ladies very much!!

I think all of my bloggy friends have received it already, so I am going to skip listing the 7 things about myself and passing it on.

And last I received the Most Valuable Milspouse Award from the lovely Mrs. Sergeant at Air Force. Wife. Life. Thank you so much!!!

This award is for super-awesome milspouse bloggers! We all are pretty much super-awesome because of all we have to deal with and we can understand and support one another when times get rough. I am to pass this award on to 5 milspouses that totally ROCK. So here they are in no particular order.

Lacey @ Guinn and Bare It

Bonnie @ The Sometimes Single Mom

Jenn @ From Texas to Alaska - A Cup of Jenn

Darlene @ Creative, Crazy and Camouflage

Rheanna @ Cammo Style Love

CSN Stores Review Pt. 2

2011-02-27T14:00:00.001-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I have had enough time to review my item that I received from CSN Stores. I decided on the Nine Stars 7 gallon automatic infrared trash can.

As you may remember from this post, I was contacted by CSN stores to do an honest review of one of their products and was given a $35 gift code to use toward that product. So I chose that trash can, but only in red because I love red appliances and I put it in my kitchen!

I had been wanting a motion sensing trash can for a while, especially since my mom got one a few years ago. They are so handy, especially when your hands are full and you can't open the trash can lid! Not to mention if you have icky stuff in your hands that you don't want to get on anything. You just wave your arm in front of it, or sometimes even walking in front of it will make it open on its own.

It runs on 4 D batteries and the battery compartment is on the underside of the lid. It makes the lid a little heavy, but it's nothing bad. If anything, it helps it stay in place. There is an on/off switch on the back side of it, which is great if you have little munchkins that find out they like to play with the motion sensor! Well, it was great for me until mine figured out where the on/off switch was!

There is an open button as well as a close button on the front of the unit so you can open it for a longer period of time if you need. This is helpful if you're making trips back and forth to the trash can and you don't need to wave your hand in front to get it to open. The close button you press to close it. You can also close it by just closing the lid.

I went from a round 5 gallon stainless steel trash can to this and there is no comparison! I love the Nine Stars one!! With the round one we could barely fit anything inside, especially cereal boxes and anything big. The shape was way too awkward. Now with the Nine Stars one, we can get a LOT more in there and it definitely saves on frustration!

The only "cons" (I don't even really call them "cons" because they don't bother me) I have found with the Nine Stars trash can are the logo on the top of the trash can and the mis-matched colors of the trash can and lid. The logo isn't "pretty" by any means, but it doesn't bother me and wouldn't sway me from purchasing this again or recommending it to a friend. The trash can itself is a brighter red than the lid, although it's not very noticeable and again would not sway me from purchasing it again or recommending it to a friend.

I've only had it for a week or so, but I would definitely recommend it and would give it 5 out of 5 stars!

Here is a video I did of my review as well. It shows it in better detail and "in action", since my camera batteries were dead and I couldn't take very good pictures. I'm sure I sound dorky, so just bear with me!! I've never done a video review before!

Spill-It Saturday Week 7

2011-02-27T02:49:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 7!

I know I'm a little late...I'm sorry! Keep the secrets/confessions coming though!! Remember it's totally anonymous and I have no idea who submits what.

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

Emotions - I've cried a million tears

2011-02-22T01:25:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I don't know where to even start this post, so I m going to jump right in. Last week I found out some really disturbing and horrific news. News that makes my stomach turn in a way I've never felt before. A precious 19-month-old little boy from here passed away on Valentine's Day, a day that is supposed to be about LOVE. While my husband was giving me roses and chocolate, God called this little angel home.

The reason it's such a big deal is because he was allegedly beaten to death by his mother and her boyfriend, the people he loved the most. The people he trusted. The police responded to their apartment Saturday night (the 12th) after receiving a call that a child wasn't breathing. They found this poor child with bruises head to toe, all in various stages of healing, a broken jaw, fractured skull, and a body temperature of 91 degrees. He was rushed to the hospital and put on a breathing machine. After they were told he had no chance of survival, his mother made the decision to pull the plug.

This has become a hot topic around here. There is a Facebook group dedicated to bringing him and other children justice. Everyday I read it and every day my heart breaks more and more. My son is 6 months older than him. How can someone harm an innocent little boy and feel nothing? How can it continue over and over and over. The mom and her boyfriend admitted to cops that they would hit him with their hands and use a belt on him. She is also pregnant again! Why did he need to suffer that kind of abuse? Why was he a human punching bag? How could you look into those innocent little eyes, the eyes of a little person who loves you and wants to be like you and please you, and turn around and beat them? Everytime I think about this I get knots in my stomach and my eyes well up with tears. I think I could fill the deepest ocean with my tears. I pray for him every night.

I can't imagine the pain he endured. I can't imagine how scared he was. I can't imagine the looks on the police officers', paramedics', doctors', nurses', and everyone's faces when they first saw him. His mother kept him from the rest of the family for a while, supposedly claiming she was potty training him. So all of this was going on and nobody knew. It makes me wonder if they were even feeding him. Nobody heard his cries for help in the apartments next door. Nobody saw the bruises covering his little body. Someone had posted a picture of him in the hospital and it was the worst thing I've ever seen.

I have been bawling so much since this happened. My son sees me cry and just looks at me like I'm crazy. I hug, kiss, and love on him more than I ever have because he is my blessing and he needs to know that. I'm constantly telling him how much I love him, and I always have, multiple times a day, every day. I never knew it was possible to feel this way about a child I didn't even know. I really wish I could've somehow been there to help him and stop these monsters. I wish I could've taken him in and shown him the love he deserved.

So I guess what I'm saying is, make sure you hold your little ones tight, for they truly are a miracle and if you see anything or hear anything out of the ordinary, report it. It could save a life.

Rest in peace, little angel. You're with God now and nobody will ever hurt you again. <3

Spill-It Saturday Week 6

2011-02-19T13:30:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 6!

This week really picked up again! Keep the secrets/confessions coming!! Remember it's totally anonymous and I have no idea who submits what.

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

Girls' Night In Giveaway WINNERS!

2011-02-13T18:54:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I drew the winners today for the Girls' Night In Giveaway. I won't keep you in suspense any longer. The winner of the Life As We Know It DVD is comment #...

That belongs to....

And the winner of the film soundtrack is comment #...

that belongs to...

Congrats, ladies!! I will be emailing you for your addresses!

Spill-It Saturday Week 5

2011-02-12T16:46:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 5!

This week really picked up! YAY! Keep 'em coming!! Remember it's totally anonymous and I have no idea who submits what.

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are this week's submissions!

Girls' Night In GIVEAWAY!

2011-02-10T15:50:00.001-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Thank you to all who entered!

Exciting news! Not one, but TWO of you lucky ladies reading this right now are going to win a super-cool prize! One of you will win a DVD copy of Warner Bros.' newest romantic comedy, Life As We Know It, starring Katherine Heigl (Grey's Anatomy & 27 Dresses) and Josh Duhamel (native of right here in Minot, ND!). The other winner will receive a copy of the film's soundtrack!

Below you'll see a video clip and some tips for a Girls' Night In! You can also buy the DVD, follow Warner Bros. Pictures on Twitter, and "like" the movie on Facebook, by using the links in the widget below. Make sure to check out the eVites to plan your own Girls Night In!

Wanna know how to win? Well I'm keeping it real simple! Since I know local folks LOVE Josh Duhamel, I'm allowing everybody to enter. You don't have to be a follower of this blog! Here are the rules:

1 - Leave a comment telling me what your favorite activities for a Girls Night In are. (required)

2 - Leave me your e-mail address or way to contact you in the same comment as item #1. (required)

You need to leave both items as 1 comment below or your entry will be VOID. Your comment counts as 1 entry. Limit 1 entry per person, unless you do the activities required for Extra Entries.

--EXTRA ENTRIES--

1 - Follow Warner Bros. on Twitter by using the link in the widget above. (1 entry, leave a separate comment below stating you did this)

2 - "Like" Life As We Know It on Facebook by using the link in the widget above. (1 entry, leave a separate comment)

3 - Follow my blog. Current followers this is for you also. (1 entry, leave a separate comment)

This giveaway will end on SUNDAY 13 FEB 2011 at Noon CST. I know it's a little shorter than normal giveaways, but I have to send in the winners' names and addresses. Winner will be chosen at random from the numbered comments below by using a random number generator.

Good Luck to everybody!!!

Spill-It Saturday Week 4

2011-02-05T14:56:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 4!

**There was only 1 submission for this week again sad face. Remember it's totally anonymous and I have no idea who submits what.**

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here is this week's submission!

"She Gets Me"

2011-02-04T01:17:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I know I've been sucking at posting lately. I've been mega-super-busy. I have had a ton of orders for my military signs and that's where all my extra time has been going. The old blog has been neglected. Poor fella. Or is it a girl blog? I dunno...I forgot to put Spill-It Saturday up last Saturday, so my apologies. I will get it up this Saturday, I promise. I only had one entry though, so if anyone wants to submit a secret before Saturday so this one isn't all by its lonesome, check out the link in the top left sidebar. I also have awards I need to post about.

I just wanted to make a quick post and share with you something I've wanted to for a while. If anyone truly knows me, they know I'm a country girl. I love country music. I also love Gary Allan. There's just something about his voice and style that makes me want to listen to him all day long every day. Well on his new album, "Get Off on the Pain", he has a song on there called "She Gets Me" that my husband loves.

I often put that CD in and let it repeat over and over when I'm driving his truck. Well I got to listening to it one day and thought, "Man, this song could totally be about the military lifestyle". He's obviously talking about the life of a singer on the road and how his woman "gets" him, but if you listen to the lyrics, it totally tells the tale of a military man talking about his wife or SO. I'm going to try to embed the song below so you all can hear it. You can find the lyrics here.

Gary Allan - "She Gets Me"

Written by Gary Allan, Kendell Marvel, Matthew Warren

Gary Allan - She Gets Me found on Pop

CSN Stores Review!

2011-01-28T01:59:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I was recently contacted again by CSN Stores to do a review of one of their products! How awesome is this?! If you aren't familiar with CSN Stores, you need to be! CSN Stores is made up of over 200 online stores - yes, 200! - where you can find anything from a corner TV stand to power tools and exercise equipment! They even sell caskets!! They are considered one of the Top 3 e-tailers in the country by Internet Retailer.

Here are some of the products they sell.

And some a little more "manly"....

I'm not exactly positive what I'm going to be doing my review on just yet. I need to go browse a little more. CSN Stores has offered to give me $35 toward any 1 item in any of their stores to do a review on. Does anybody have anything they'd like to see me review?

Disclosure for this post: I was asked by CSN Stores to include a hyperlink for "corner TV stand" as part of the agreement and terms of the review. By doing so, I am receiving $35 in compensation for advertising their store. In turn, I am able to receive an item from CSN Stores to review. I entered this agreement by my choice and the compensation will not affect the outcome of my review.

Spill-It Saturday Week 3

2011-01-15T20:43:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved. Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to

Spill-It Saturday Week 3!

**There was only 1 submission for this week sad face. It's a pretty good one though! :) Hopefully it picks up soon and I get a ton of them to post.**

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here is this week's submission!

Spill-It Saturday Week 2

2011-01-07T23:20:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Spill-It Saturday is back!

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are a few of this week's submissions!

Sick & Operation: Flab to FAB

2011-01-04T01:51:00.001-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Am I too late to say Happy New Year?!? Man has it been a crazy past couple of weeks. This nasty cold bug has made its rounds through our entire house and even managed to get into my parents' house. Ugh. It is a nasty one too!

The eye ointment thing was fun with Johnny. Not. He fought worse and worse every single time. John had to go to work for 4 days so my mom came and stayed with me so I could have some help with holding Johnny down to put that ointment in his eyes. Eye drops would've been SOOOOO much better!

So in the middle of all that, I got the cold. I haven't felt this rotten in a LONG time. My whole face hurt and I've never had that happen before. My glands were swollen, plus I had a reaaaaallllly bad sore throat. I think I finally got over that today. I took NyQuil but apparently they've changed their formula and it doesn't help me sleep anymore. Jerks. Then my eye crusted shut and swelled up a couple nights ago, so now I'm dealing with that. FUN!

I have a few sign orders I need to get done and it's no fun working on them when I'm sick like this! I can't even wear my contacts because of my eye and my eyes are so bad I can't just wear 1. So I'm wearing my glasses that I last updated in...oh, 2004!!!

In other news, since it is now 2011, I am once again buckling down and doing Operation: Flab To FAB.

It was a blog I started last year to hold myself accountable for my weight loss. My goal was to lose 25 lbs, and I lost 15. I've kept 14 of it off, and I'm now trying to finish the goal of 25. If anyone else wants to participate as a weight-loss buddy, let me know and I will set you up on the blog.

I also have started a brand new business. It's called Country Scents 'N Signs Etc. I have a new Facebook for it and a web site! I can't believe I can call myself a business owner now. I am planning a giveaway in the near future and anybody who was a fan of my Eleven-Five Designs page (up until Jan 1st) that "likes" my new page and enters this giveaway will automatically get an EXTRA entry. There is also a new discount code for liking the new page. Check it out!

How was everyone's New Year's??

P.S. "Spill-It Saturday" will be back this Saturday, so stay tuned!!! If you have any juicy secrets, make sure to submit them!! It's totally anonymous! :)

Christmas Ghost

2010-12-27T00:20:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I don't mean the ghost of Christmas Past, Present, or Future...I mean "Freaking Ghost in my Living Room on Christmas Eve"!!! But we'll get to that in a minute.

Christmas this year was...well, interesting. We were going to go to my parents' farm for Christmas Eve and attend church services in my hometown. Then we were going to go out there again on Christmas Day and open presents and eat a yummy dinner. That would've happened if life went as planned.

But, life LOVES to throw a wrench into any plans our family ever makes. Last year we got a 3-day blizzard over Christmas and missed going to my parents'. Then it took us 3 days to dig completely out! (<<---you can see some crazy snow pictures in those posts.) Johnny was also sick over Christmas last year and was miserable.

Let's move on to this year. Johnny sick? Check. John sick? Check. Blizzard? Nope. They were sick enough to keep us home though. Johnny started out coughing. Then he got a little congested. Then he lost his appetite altogether. He didn't wanna eat or drink. He was moaning and crying and saying "Ghee", which is basically his word for "get the hell away from me". Christmas Eve night he was having a really rough time sleeping. I went to check on him at 2am and his eyes were swollen and almost closed, with lots of goopy and crusty matter in them. I cleaned them out and we got him put back to bed. He was crying and moaning and barely slept. We considered taking him to the ER since nothing was open.

Christmas morning it was the same story when he woke up. I got his eyes cleaned out the best I could and we decided to take him in to the ER. They were talking about his poor eyes being the most miserable pair they've seen. They said he has a viral infection in his eyes and got some ointment for pink eye. Great. It has to be administered 4x a day for 5 days. Double great.

Even though it was Christmas and I'm sure nobody cared to be working, everybody seemed to be in good spirits. There were plenty of patients there, that's for sure.

We let him open a present on Christmas Eve. He got a kitchen set. It took us 2 HOURS to put it together! Yes, 2 hours!! It was brutal. I only had space for 12 pictures on my camera so I had to choose wisely what pictures I took. I uploaded them onto my computer tonight and as I was looking at them, I noticed something strange.

This one was taken at 8:50 pm on Christmas Eve... It's nothing out of the ordinary, but just notice the green ribbon in the bottom right corner of the picture.

I decided to flip my camera so I could get the whole kitchen set in the picture. This picture was also taken at 8:50 pm, just seconds after the first one...

WHOA!! I about peed my pants when I saw this white "figure" when I was scanning through the pictures! You can see through parts of it. At the bottom of it, you can see the green ribbon a little bit through the mist. I'm curious what it looks like to other people...any ideas/thoughts??? My mom and I decided on a foot, more specifically a right foot with a boot on and jeans that are covering the top of the boot. I am going to try to contact some paranormal investigators and see what they think.

I have honestly been waiting my whole life to capture a ghost on camera. And now, I just happened to snap a picture at that exact moment when it appeared. It's just surprising because like I said, I had limited space on my SD card so I was choosing wisely. So now I know I'm not crazy (well, not completely crazy) and I know for SURE there is something/someone in this house!

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-23T22:09:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I am taking a break from wrapping Santa's presents for him. Boy are there a lot!! Whew! Anywhooo, I decided to jump on here before my computer explodes. (If Santa really loved me he would get me a new one...I've been extra good this year!)

My poor little monster is sick. I'm afraid this is gonna be a repeat of last Christmas. He was sick as a little dog last year. He didn't want to eat anything yesterday and then whined all night until bedtime. Today he's been eating but now tonight I could tell he was not feeling well again. He is waking up and whining tonight. :(

I finally finished Christmas shopping today. I visited a store I'd never been to...Real Deals on Home Decor. If you have one in your area, you should check it out! They have super cute stuff!

Due to this Saturday being Christmas and next being New Year's, I don't think I will be posting Spill-It Saturday those two days. I won't be around very much this weekend since we are visiting my family, and I'm not sure what will be happening next weekend. I hope everybody gets their secrets in though, so I'll have a TON of them to post the following week!

So with all that said, I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and since I'll probably forget to say it next week, Happy New Year too!!

I'll end this post with a couple pictures I took while I was playing around with my camera the other day.

Can anyone see the heart in my Christmas tree lights? I didn't notice it at first. I think it's pretty cool!

Spill-It Saturday Week 1

2010-12-18T02:54:00.001-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Welcome to the First-Ever Spill-It Saturday!

Do you dance around to embarrassing music when you're alone?

Do you carry on conversations with your cat?

Maybe you prank called the grocery store and asked if their freezers were running, or maybe you Facebook stalk your ex. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need to vent. Well look no further!

You can leave me your deepest, darkest secret(s) anonymously and I will post them on my blog for others to see during Spill-It Saturday each week! This is 100% anonymous and a lot of fun!

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing! You can fill out the anonymous secret submission form here and it's open 24/7!! Tell all your friends! The more secrets there are, the more fun we have!

Here are a few of this week's submissions!

New Game... Spill-It Saturday!

2010-12-17T02:33:00.002-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

Ok everyone! I have a new game! It's called "Spill-It Saturday".

Here's how it works: {1} You submit your deep, dark secret(s) to me anonymously using the form below {2} I post a few of the submissions every Saturday {3} Everyone reads the secrets I've posted and laughs/cries/etc. {4} Everyone has fun! --YAY!--(Depending on the number of responses received, there might not be a post this Saturday)

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;Loading...&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

Winner of the CafePress Giveaway...

2010-12-17T00:33:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife ©2010-2011. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I have just picked the winner for my CafePress giveaway! So without further ado, the winner is...

Lucky #

Who happens to be the lovely...

and this is her tweet...

Congrats!!! I'll need your e-mail address so I can send you all the details! You can shoot me a message at afwife08 {at} gmail {dot} com!

Thank you to all who entered!

The sights of winter in North Dakota

2010-12-13T23:47:00.000-06:00

By The Crafty Military Wife © 14 December 2010. All Rights Reserved.Please report if this post appears elsewhere.

I know it's not "officially" Winter yet, but here in good ole North Dakota, it has officially set in. This definitely calls for some fantastic photo opportunities. A few nights back I noticed some strange looking spots in the snow beside one of the back corner posts for our fence in the backyard. It looked like someone had been making snow angels. There were no human tracks leading up to them though. Then I noticed little tiny tracks, which I decided had to be deer.

I waited up til midnight and looked out and these 2 fellas were staring back at me!

Sorry the pictures are so blurry! I couldn't believe what I saw! I couldn't count the points on them, but I think they're both at least 8-point bucks. They just laid there and watched me take their pictures. Then I had to let the dogs out for last call and all hell broke loose. One of the deer had gotten up and moved onward in search of food and the other stayed. The dogs didn't even notice him. He just eyed them down, watching their every move. Our almost 11-yr old male lab was out frolicking in the snow and he spooked the deer. The deer got up to run and Zeus saw him and let out this gigantic bark that had to have echoed for miles. That got our 2 females riled up and they were running around like morons trying to jump the fence to go "attack". Like seriously, what are you going to do? Lick the deer to death? Yeah that's what I thought...

Then a few days ago, we had a gorgeous sight outside in the back yard. Frost! Here are a few of the pictures of that.

Frost falling from the trees

One of my absolute favorites!!

This is it for today. I hope everyone is staying warm and being safe while traveling! I know it's nuts out there!

Oh yeah, don't forget about my CafePress giveaway! It was my first-ever product review! It ends Thursday night!