Being your own cheerleader

You may not think this at first but I do actually have an idea in this post. Please bare with me as I get to it though. There is a reason for the idea but to understand the idea, you must also know why the idea was thought of and to maybe begin to understand the need for the idea.

I had a rough 24 hours not too long ago. I had someone post something about their other half being gone for the summer on my Facebook last night. Summer is what 2-3 months? You can still pick up the phone and call them easily right? He might even be able to take some time to come visit you or you visit him right? Okay well then stop the complaining. Because that is so much better then what a Military Significant Other goes through.
If you are not a Military SO, I apologize now if I end up offending you. But take it from one. You go a few days, a few weeks, even maybe a few months without seeing your other half. But that is NOTHING compared to what a Military wife or girlfriend goes through. To give you a slight idea because it will be very hard to understand without fully going through it... we get very little to no communication, we cannot just pick up the phone randomly during down time to say hi, we do not have physical contact while they are gone which if it's a deployment is 6 or more months, when we need support for something difficult from our loved one we don't get it. We have to relay on the phone calls that only come every so often, emails, Skype, other Military SO's, and memories of their touch to get us through the deployment.

If we are having something done that we need our main supporter we can't just say "Hey, Babe, can you take a few days off and come home and take care of me after it all?" Why? Because they work 7 days a week 12+ hours a day. They don't get vacations, days off, nothing. They can't ask for the days off.

Not to mention, they are fighting for our freedoms and a lot of times, that means going into a hazardous area and hoping they don't get killed.

With that being said, I posted a status myself about if you aren't a Military SO, you don't really have a place to complain especially if you know one. I didn't say it in those words but something similar. I have deleted it since then and don't remember but it was something like that just said we have it worse then you really think. I had a "friend" one who I thought should be the most empathic to my situation because she knows my husband and I and see what I go through say some very mean things to this. It of course upset me. Again, she knows us and sees how I am doing. I put on a brave front even in front of her... she must believe it.

Now, I understand every one can miss their other half and you have every right to do so but if you know a Military SO... you may not want to post it in a public place for them to see. Because in comparison you have it easy.

For the main reason of this post and idea. I was talking about it all with my mother and telling her how I don't typically post things about missing my husband or it being hard because I don't want the criticism that I got and end up getting. I just need someone to say supportive things and be a cheerleader and reinforce that brave face I put on, on a daily basis. Because believe it or not... it is hard. She told me to put up notes around the apartment and be my own cheerleader. I shouldn't have to relay on others to get it.

As she said this I remembered I had "Window Crayons" found here and I could do just that. I may not be able to do it everywhere. But I could do it in certain locations. Like on mirrors. So, in our bathroom I have generic sayings such as "You're awesome!" One other place I did it was high on the tile in our shower. This way I have him around. I will probably add some more in the bedroom on our mirrored closest doors but for now I have what made me happy.

This one is the one that I have high on the shower tile.

For those of you who read this, that are Military SO's, I hope this helps and gets you through those hard times or the times when you need that support but no one is really understanding. Become your own cheerleader! We all have those great days when we know we are being strong and awesome and through this idea I'm hoping to remember those and not feel so alone in this deployment.

Getting the Ironing Board Out of the Way!

I'm not sure how many people still actually iron or not but my husband is ironing weekly when he's home. I do not know if it's just his base or what but every Monday he is supposed to wear his dress blues. When we first moved into our apartment, he set it up and we've left it there. I was pretty much okay with it. Throughout the week we would put things on it and on Monday he would clear it. Even now that he's gone, it has still been a catch all for things. After reading a book called Spaces and Places by Debbie Diller which is about organizing a classroom I realized there were a few places in my apartment that are becoming catch-alls for my stuff.

Well as I was cleaning things today getting ready to go on vacation. Random thought: Don't you hate how we spend hours cleaning our homes before going on vacation? I understand why we do it but it's just so ugh! Especially me because it's been awhile since I've done it because of my very busy schedule.

Anyway, back to what I was saying... I was cleaning off the ironing board to put all the stuff away. While doing that I was thinking about getting it out of the way. I looked over to one of our walls and saw a space that I could place the ironing board. Then I looked over to the french doors to our bedroom (one of which we keep closed) and remembered a pin that I had repinned recently having to do with the ironing board. They had taken two individual coat hangers mounted onto a piece of decorative board. The board was then mounted to the wall and there hung to ironing board. It looked very pretty and out of the way.

Well, again, I modified this idea to what I needed out of it. I thought about using an over the door coat hanger that you can get at Target to do the same thing. So off to target.com I went to see what I could find. I hate going to the store to find things and not really know what my options are. Also, I wanted to ask the husband for his opinion to see what he thought about it all. I originally was looking for a hanger with just two hooks. Almost right away I found something to modify the idea to what I really was looking to do. I wanted to store the iron some place as well. This is what I found. Asked the hubby and he agreed. So the next chance I got which was when I was done cleaning the living room I went to the local target to find it.

The following is what the packaging looks like and how it looks when it all is put away :). For this particular coat hanger, you will probably actually want to look in the same asile as where the 3M Command Strips are located.

The iron does not fit the exact what I wanted it too but it still works out nicely. The four hooks are actually better because all are supporting the board now instead of just having two try and support it. The two hook ones have the two hooks so close that it might have been supported as well.

I'm extremely happy that these are now up and out of the way and not going to be a catch-all for our stuff. We also don't really have a real laundry room so that makes storing it a bit harder as well. And again, he was using it so often it makes sense for us to have it in an area that can be accessed easily. Now, they are still in the same area to where they were set up but no longer in the way or anything. My dining room and walking area are free of clutter now!

Baked goods and packages

Now that my husband is actually deployed, I am always looking for things to send him and things to make for him to send him. When I first got onto Pinterst, I found a recipe that sounded different and interesting. It was for Mountain Dew cupcakes. I was looking forward to eventually trying it. When I found it, I was wanting to do it before he left. However, that didn't work out all that well. So now, I'm on summer break, wanting to bake, his craving Mountain Dew like none other. Prefect time to try them! I found that recipe from the website All Things Cupcakes. One thing that I would add to her recipe is that you should bake them at 350 degrees.

I baked them yesterday and made the frosting as well. What I must say about the frosting is keep mixing until it actually looks like frosting. At first I just mixed until things were blended but it didn't look right. I thought it wasn't enough powered sugar so I added a little more and mixed and mixed and mixed. It will take several minutes of mixing and you might even want to do it on high for awhile. After that it looked much better.

After the baking cooling, and making of the frosting now comes the task of shipping the cupcakes to him at his current duty station while deployed. Well, Pinterest to the rescue again! While just looking on there several times, I saw how someone was packaging cupcakes for easy grab and go for parties. But why not modify it (I'm such a Special Ed teacher) to make it fit for what I needed? The original idea can be found here. However, my modifications are to not put the frosting on and using Glad Press and Seal instead of the celo wrap and ribbon.

First get the cups. They are those clear 9oz short plastic cups. The smallest pack I found was 40 cups. I already had the press and seal because I like to use that more then the regular stuff. I feel it's a little easier to manage when it comes off the roll as well.

Next, place the cupcake into the cup.

Third, you will need a piece about this width. Approx. 4-6 inches I would say.

Another reason I love the Press and Seal is it's easy to "cut" in half. I would press a corner onto the counter then start a small tare about half way. Then I wold pick it up and finish the tare to get a piece that looked about like a square.

Then stretched the piece over the cup.

 Followed by pressing the sides down around the cup.

There you go! You now have a cupcake that is ready to ship in a care package or to someone else and you don't have to worry about them getting destroyed!

On the off change that you are sending homemade frosting as well like I did, you may want to use containers like those pictured below. I knew that I would be doing this soon, so I actually just bought that Hillshire Farms deli meat that comes in the re-usable containers. I unexpectedly found something else that I would be sending and bought the store brand of the twisting locking containers for that. Either would probably work.

I also put them in a zip lock bag then into one or two plastic grocery bags. However, before putting them into any type of bag, I used some fun duck tape that I bought the hubby to make sure the Hillshire Farm container stayed closed. You can use whatever you have around the house though.

I then put everything and a few other things into the large flat rate boxes and shipped it all off!

Just as a side note: the cupcakes and frosting do taste really yummy. I'm not sure how much like Mountain Dew they really taste but they do taste pretty amazing!

Note as of 6/28/12: Hubby received his package last night and all but one cupcake survived. He believes the one is still able to be eaten though. Also, he said that the cupcakes were very good :).