Tuesday, August 11, 2009

And we're off...........

Ok, so I have FINALLY set in motion the Army wife pin up calendar! I have chosen the girls and came up with a sketch of the theme for each month as well as ideas for the outfits. Now all I need is the funding right? WRONG! As a friend was telling me today I need to get a domain name as well as getting things started for the IRS. It all just seems so over whelming! Am I in over my head?!? It seemed like a good idea at the time but now............... I know it is for a good cause and according to the feedback that I got on Twitter there seems to be some interest in it but I want to make sure that it would be worth all of the time and effort that I will be putting into it! Any feedback that I can get would be very helpful. I will base my decision on whether or not I go forward with this project on the responses that I get to this blog. Please help me out and leave a comment. Thank you in advance!

Friday, June 26, 2009

Day 10 - Death of a legend

On June 25th 2009 around 5:26pm (EST) Michael Jackson was pronounced dead. Sources say it was due to a cardiac arrest. Latest news is that the police are looking for his personal physician because apparently he gave him a shot od Demerol shortly before his cardiac arrest. His family thinks that the doctor gave him too much.

Now I know there are a lot of people who didn't like him due to his child molestations allegations and his eccentric lifestyle. I am the first to admit that I did not care for what was going on in his personal life, but the truth is that the man was a true musical genius! His music reached all across the globe and I don not think that there is a man, woman or child out there today who does not know who is is or has never listened to his music. He has influenced an entire generation with his music and dancing.

Who hasn't seen Thriller? I remember when I was little my brother and I would LOVE to watch it because our sister was SO scared of it that she wouldn't even come into the therefore giving us a break from her! Michael Jackson was ALWAYS playing in our house. My mom loved to dance with us and the song that has always came to my mind is "Wanna Be Startin Something", she loved to dance to that song.

I remember going to Disneyland MANY moons ago. While we were there we got to see Captain EO in 3D. It stared Michael Jackson and Anjelica Houston. 18 years later, I still remember that! That is the type of impact that he had on me! I remember walking to Walmart carying my CD walkman listening to Thriller. I repeated Thriller over and over so I could learn the words. Who hasn't tried to learn the dance moves?!? I remember seeing a video of someone's reception where the bride and groom (maybe it was the whole wedding party) danced to Thriller. Not sure if it was their frist dance or not, but it was funny!

The type of talent he had is only around once in a lifetime. I never understood why everone was crying when I saw clips of Elvis Presley's death. Now I do. To me, this is what it must have felt like to my mom when Elvis died. She grew up listening to his music just as I grew up listening to Michael Jackson.

If you watch videos of his performences, like the 1984 Grammy Awards, he was an awesome entertainer! No one will be able to repeat what he had done for the music industry. he had such a profound influence on so many through his moves and music ranging from the "average Joe" to some of the well known recording artists like Madonna, Britney Spears, Cher and Celion Dion.

You don't have to like the man to LOVE the music!

R.I.P. Michael Joseph Jackson. You will live forever through your music and influence on the music industry.


Michael Joseph Jackson
August 29 1958 - June 25 2009

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Day 9 - Catching up

So I know it has been a while since I have posted! I have been a busy little bee! We have a lot to discuss; there is the Wii Active, the calendar and the book.

Wii Active - I really can only do the Wii Active durnig the week. I work full-time and hubby is deployed so the only time I really have to do anything is after work. I get off from work at 1630 and go to my friends house to do the Active and then I go pick up my daughter at 1800. So needless to say that my schedule is off from everyone else's even though I did start on June 1 like everyone else did. So, so far it has really worked me. I HATE the running! I was never a runner. I think I can actually walk faster than I can run. My favorite is anything sports related! I especially like tennis. I think I could really tome up and lose weight if I could just get my eating on track. During the week I usually make myself a smoothie or I will go and buy one here at a local place (along with a blueberry bagel w/butter) and for lunch 8 times out of 10 I will get Subway. I do slip on occasion, but I'm only human! During the week I usually don't eat much, if anything at all. I recall eating 4 string cheese and some water with Crystal Light, or a couple, ok, several handfuls of dry cerealand a few root beers. My schedule weeknights don't allow for eating. I come home aroun 1830 - 2000 depending on if I need to go to the store or an FRG meeting, I then feed Shannon and let her play for a bit while I clean up something. I TRY and clean up after myself during the week but most of the time I only wash out her bottles. Then around 2000-2100 I give Shannon a bottle while twittering or checking email or going on facebook. Once she is asleep I put her in her crib and take the lap top with me to bed and I am usually on til about 2300. So as you can see, I have my priorities messed up but it works for me!

The Calendar - As most of you know, and for those of you that don't, I did a pin up photo shoot with a local photographer to send to the hubby. I LOVED it! I didn't think I would because I don't feel I am where I need to be for those kinds of pics (I feel those kind of pics are a privlege, NOT a right, like spandex and bikinis). Anyways, so after I had them done I had someone on twitter ask me who sponsored me to get the pics done?! SPONSORED?? I guess the Army since I payed for them myself. This conversation led to an idea. What if I put together a calendar of Army wives in the classic pin-up poses and sell them. The proceeds could go to a non-profit that supports our troops, a way for us wives to support those that support our husbands. I put it out there to my twitter friends (you know who you are) and everyone loved the idea! After I started getting messages that people would buy it (still not sure if they were serious or being nice) I decided I would try and get er done! So a week into this process I have talked to the same photographer that did my pics (also an Army wife) and she is on board to do them at a discounted rate. She is going to get with her hair and makeup gals to see if they would be interested. I put an ad on craigslist asking for Army wives that would like to participate and got an overwhelming response! Now I am just waiting until the photographer to come back from vacation (he hubby just got back from Iraq) and we will discuss details. I will also be asking my aunt, a seamstress in AZ, if she would donate/discount her time and skills to make the outfits. I have also decided that when someone purchases a calendar they will get to decide which non-profit they would like their money to go to. Now I am going to be realistic, not ALL the money will go to the non-profit, we will have some go to the NP and some stay so we can crank out more calendars. Now, I know it's not all about the Army (DeltaWhiskey1), so I thought that I would "test" it out with Army wives first and if it sells, I will do one with every branch of the military! I have my fingers crossed!

The Book - I'm not quite sure that I put this out there, but I am "working" for the new Army Wife Magazine (launching in the Fall 2009), I will be "reporting" here from Fort Drum about things going on here and in the outside community as well as doing an advice column called "Letters to Limerick". The person responsible for putting the magazine together is also going to be putting a book together. It will be letters of encouragement and advice from Army wives to Army wives. There will be many chapters like Deployment (before, during and after), Finance, Dealing With Loss and Education. I am one that gets the letters, reads them and determines what section it should fall under and if it should be included. I think it will be GREAT! It's basically a book of other Army wives saying "I wish I knew about this....." or "When I was dealing with this I found this helpful........" Like I said, it should be great!

Anyways, if anyone out there is interested in getting involved in any of the great things that I am helping out with/heading, just let me know! If you want to help financially or with a service you can twitter me (JenTheArmyWife) or if you would like to write a question to the advice column or write for the book you can email me at jen@armywifemagazine.com.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Day 8 - Wii Active Training Day 1

I know that this is a little late but I had a photo shoot that I was doing all day yesterday, but that is another blog story!



So, day 1 of the Wii Active Personal Trainer. I really think that doing some of the pre-made exercises helped out a lot before I started this journey! I knew what to expect and I knew what I could do. I have it on the medium setting right now. I enjoy doing this because it feels like you are playing a game! Seeing the other "you" on the screen helps out! One thing that I wish they had an option for is actually doing the 30 day challenge with a friend. You can do the pre-made workouts together, but you can't do it with a friend?!

So Day 1 went well for me because of getting to know some of the exercises before hand! I think the hardest thing that I am going to have to accomplish is the eating. I usually have a smoothie for breakfast, Subway for lunch and something small and handy for dinner. Lately it has been string cheese or the Minute Rice brown rice in the single servings container. I have a 5 month old and as most of you parents out there know, she comes first. By the time I feed her, bathe her and put her to bed it's too late for me to eat a "real" meal. This is something that I am working on but once the hubby comes home from Afghanistan it will be better. Before he left I ALWAYS made a complete meal. With him gone, I have no one to cook for until Shannon starts eating real food. Until then it's string cheese, water or anything else that is quick and portable!

Since I didn't do it yesterday (and I'm sure my Wii will yell at me) I am going to be doing day 2 today. I did hear that if you miss a day the program auto-corrects itself and makes you work out harder to compensate. *SAYS SARCASTICLY* Yippy I can't wait!

Friday, May 22, 2009

Day 7 - Wii Active Personal Trainer

I just purchased a Wii Active Personal Trainier because I've heard good things about it. I went to the website to find out a little more about it and I discovered that they will be doing another 30 day challenge starting on June 1st. I will be doing that challenge and bloggin about it everyday during the challenge as well as tweeting about it. Many of you have asked me to let you know how it is. I hope by blogging my progress it will help you to determine if you would like to get one as well. I will start blogging on June 1st with my measurements so everyone knows the start point. On June 15th's blog I will put my measurements halfway through and then my final results on the last day of the challenge1 I hope that you all will make comments and keep me motivated because Lord knows I'm gonna need it!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Day 6 - Television VS Reality

I will be the first one to tell you how much I LOVE TV. It's like a mini-vacation that your brain gets to take, a little break throughout your day. I know that every show/movies is mostly made for the entertainment value, even if it is based on a true story/real life. Even reality TV shows now-a-days are edited and "tweeked" to make it more entertaining. I think most people agree with me on this, but there are those few, and sometimes even more, that think that what they see on TV HAS to be the way it actually is.

When my husband joined the Army, he was looking forward to Basic Training. The reason? He had watched Full Metal Jacket and thought that that was how Basic Training was going to be. The yelling in your face, beat you senseless without laying a finger on you type discipline. Boy, was he disappointed! They did none of that! They very rarely yelled at you and since it's the kinder, gentler Army, it's even worse.

Now, for the BIG one........Army Wives. Let me start off by saying that I LOVE that show! I love the story and the characters. most people don't realize that it's just that, a STORY! It's entertainment, nothing more, nothing less. Let me give you some examples.

Housing - My mom visited recently. I took her on post to show her around. I told her that we would go by housing and the first thing she asked me was "Is it like the houses on Army Wives?". Let me tell you, it's nothing like those houses. Most houses on post are duplexes or 4 home apartments unless you are either VERY lucky or an officer. Although they are building new houses, they are still duplexes for the most part. The newer houses also look a little nicer than what is portrayed on the show but there are posts that have worse looking houses.

FRG - The way that the have the FRG on there is fictional as well. The way and FRG works is it is by Company/Battery, not by installation! In the show, all of the characters are in one FRG. Claudia-Joy, being the Post Commanders wife, would NOT be in the same FRG as everyone else.

Hump Bar explosion - There is an episode (at the end of Season 1) where a Soldier follows his wife to the Hump Bar, a local bar just off post. She was leaving him (because he was abusive) and was meeting her boyfriend there to run away together. The Soldier walks into the crowded bar and blows himself up, killing his wife, her boyfriend and Claudia-Joys' daughter, Amanda. In reality this wouldn't have happened the way it did on the show. Michael (the post commander) was informed that the explosives were missing well in advance to the bar being blown up. In reality when the explosives were discovered missing every Soldier in that affected unit would have been recalled pending an inspection and a Health and Welfare (personal inspection). They would have brought in a special K9 unit to aide in the search as well and more than likely would have found them in time.

I'm sure that will be more examples with the season starting again on June 7th (YAY) but if there are any questions you may have about the show VS reality, just let me know! I would be HAPPY to answer them!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Day 5 - Celebrities

So today on twitter I had a little fun with a celebrity. You may know him as @carsonjdaly. If you were not around to see it, let me tell you, I had SO much fun! Here is the story.

Yesterday Carson Daly put out there that he got someone's pic of their hubby/boyfrind/whatever from overseas. I decided that I would send him one of my hubby as well. So I got an @ today from him telling me that he thought it was a good pic and he thanked me. For whatever reason still unknown to me I decided that it would be funny to act like one of those overly obsessed, needs a hobby other than stalking fans! I tweeted something along the lines of "*SQUEELS LIKE A TEENAGER* OMG @carsonjdaly wrote to me BREATHE BREATHE" or something to that affect. Well, surprisingly, and not at all planned on, I started getting responses like crazy! Stuff like "Take deep breathes" and "He is just like us LOL" So as I was responding to those tweets, in the same fun fashion I was doing with Carson Daly, he tweeted to me telling me that he laughed when he saw the description. I, being the person that I am, had even MORE fun with it saying "*SQUEEL AGAIN* He tweeted me AGAIN *HYPERVENTALATING* I need to sit down" and stuff like that.

Now I am fairly certain by this point he thinks I am ABSOLUTELY insane! I think others were thinking that as well, but for thise who know me, they can tell you that that is NOT like me at all! I do firmly believe that celebrities are just like normal people but I do want to thank Carson Daly for putting up with me and taking the risk of writing me back the second time! You truly are a great and caring guy and I only hope that I get to meet you in the future!

So, now that that is said, let me talk about celebrities and our obessesions with them. I just don't get it, and maybe someone can explain, but why do people get so up in arms when they meet/see/tweet with a celebrity? Is it because they are more well known? Is it because you respect what they do, or is it because they are out of their mind obsessed? I remember watching news clips about people fainting and crying during concerts and such or seeing a celebrity on the street and mowing them down trying to hug them. Seriously? Why do we get so facinated with people who are in the "spotlight" Do they have some kind of superpower that makes people lose their minds when "commoners" see them?

I think that it is ridiculous how some of them are treated. Some can't ever pee in private, some are hounded by photographers and other insist on being treated like a king/queen. Well I have news for you, they are no more special than you or I. Acting/singing/dancing/hosting or whatever it is that they do as their profession is just a job. I have a job and I don't see anyone asking me for my autograph! So most of them are good at what they do and there aren't a lot of people who can't memorize lines, sing in tune or dance like there is no tomorrow, but there are also some people out there that can't do brain surgery, defend a client in court and win or run a PATRIOT missle system but I don't see anyone asking them for autographs! The truth is is that I think people are drwan to the money and what that money can bring. Expensive cars, houses, boats and huge houses amoung other things. Things that "normal" people only DREAM about and being able to touch, hug, kiss, see those who can makes people feel closer to obtaining that dream.

Now, let's reverse it. There are a lot of celebrities out there that have gone insane over being in the public eye. Whether it's shaving your head (love you Brit) or smashing cameras or "running over" cameramen, they go nuts! My question for them is why? You knew what you were getting into when you decided to audition. You were hoping that you would become rich and famous and now that you are you can't handle it? It wasn't like you didn't know that the possibility was there, in fact I would bet that it was something that you were HOPING! It reminds me of a song where they sing about the "problems" that celebrities have and then say that they wish that they had those "problems". Another good song is "Celebrity" By Brad Paisley. If I ever met a celebrity or *crossing fingers* become one myself, I wouldn't treat them any different then anyone else. People think that celebrities are interesting. Well, I think there are plenty of interesting people out there that AREN'T celebrities like Military wives (you knew that was coming), single mothers/fathers, police officers, fire fighters, paramedics, assistants, doctors, nurses and the list goes on and on! So next time you meet/see/tweet with a celebrit, just remember, they have no special superpower, they are just good at their job. Treat them like any other average person cause that is what they are (minus the fame, fortune, personal trainer, chef, butler, maid and nanny).