The Waiting Game....Part II

For those that aren't, have never been or ever had anyone remotely related or close to them in the Service...I apologize. This is the part that those outside rarely hear about or if they do they sort of brush it off as a "no big deal" kinda thing. But this part, the part where you as a spouse/servicemember must let it go and wait, is a biggie. The part where you have all of your paper ducks in a row but you now have to wait on the overproccessed bureaucracy of the military.

The Waiting Game.

If you didn't already know, the Army's real motto is not "Army Strong" (or whatever it is this week)...it's "Hurry up and wait" (p.s. I liked the name of the group, lol)...seriously.

You bust your hump, pulling DD forms out of thin air that must be filled out and turned in by 0830 yesterday, kissing butt of unhappy workers (usually civilian contractors) that think you are taking up too much of their Bejeweled time (a game, if you don't know) just to be sure that your end of the deal is upheld in a timely manner. Then you....wait. Wait on order changes, wait on passports, wait on flight dates, wait on transportation, wait....and wait some more.

During all of this waiting you get a half million gazillion phone calls that are updates with nothing new to report. You also make a half million gazillion phone calls to make sure that the hold up isn't caused by you and one measely little form that states you aren't infected with the Southeast Mid-Atlantic Seafoam Bluegrass Orange disease or blind. Because heaven forbid you forget to initial that 1mm line that says so. Then you wait some more.

I am not a patient person by nature. It does not bring out the sweetness in me to be kept waiting. It also does not bring out the sweetness in me to be spoken to like an idiot because I interrupted your Solitaire game in order to ask you to do your job (hello lady @ FLW transportation).

So though we have orders and a fly date...we still wait.

Oh...Really?

~~Warning: the following post is chock full of intense sarcasm and downright snarkiness. No apologies are made for hurt feelings or trite comments.~~

We got our "money's worth" did we?  Whatever VP.

Glad you think so in your bunker hidden beneath...wait, we aren't supposed to know, remember. Open mouth, insert foot Biden...you do that incredibly well. Be sure to say that line again when the estimated 5 million folks currently depending on unemployment get cut off in a few months. We got our money's worth alright...wonder how all those that voted FOR you and the Prez are feeling right about now...wonder how many of them are set to get cut off come June?

This year is shaping up to be a doozy. A big fat wake up call for millions of folks that have been happily floating along in a daze of sublime bullshit. It's not yet too late to do a little something that will help in the lean times to come (maybe a few months), but seriously at this point how many are going to listen...after all, the government will save them. Oops, forgot about Katrina, Ike and Haiti (which really isn't our responsibility but there is that whole damned if you do, damned if you don't thing) already haven't they? Yep, government will save you alright...save you right into non-being. How many less mouths to feed is that now? (I can see them asking one another over their lattes in a bunker filled with everything they themselves need to survive.)

Keep right on believing that folks, keep floating along on your lazy dazy river of bullshit...you are safe, secure and nothing can touch your serene little lives that are wrapped up in bubble wrap. Yep, believe it.

For those that are just waking up...welcome to the real world. You know, the one were a big chunk of us have been living for quite some time now. Paycheck to paycheck sucks...having one doesn't. No credit cards sucks...but no credit card bills doesn't. Take that $$ that you would spend on some new gadget (coming from a self-professed gadget lover whose last purchase of that sort was MONTHS ago...aka the laptop) and buy some long lasting staples (beans, rice, flour, sugar, yeast, etc). Oh, and do try to learn to cook with them...or don't if you feel like having food that you don't know how to use. Or buy a bunch of overprocessed, packaged crap with instructions on the outside of the box then enjoy the chemicals coursing through your ever clogging arteries and veins. Up to you.

Frankly, watching the oncoming train wreck is giving me a migraine. Worse is watching so many that refuse to see what's coming. "More things, must have more useless things" I can practically hear them chanting as they checkout at Big Box store. Go on, go ahead...I give you permission...more things. After all, it is the American consumers' fault that we are still in a slacking economy and the jobless rate is going to stay high. Spend, spend, spend your way out of debt...it obviously works.

This is tiring and disheartening. This watching the ever spiraling swirl as the whole mess circles the drain. We've come so far in the past 100 years, but we are no better off now (as a country/nation/species) because honestly...how many know how to do for themselves (aka grow food, cook food from scratch, survive on the real basics, etc)?

Watching the train/swirl is like watching history repeat in slow motion...you see it coming, you know it's on its way but seriously there is nothing that you as one person can do other than shout "don't you see it" to people who refuse to listen. I feel like a tornado warning siren in a trailer park...letting you know it's there, it's coming but watching as you seek shelter in the worst possible place. Disheartening.

Contingency...

You know the saying, "The best laid plans....."

I am faced with a dilemma...a problem.  And yes, it involves the preps.  While I am quite content that what we have on hand is enough to see us through a fairly good amount of time (not years, maybe a year) I am faced with the undeniable fact that I can't take it with me.  Weight limits et al put a stop to that thought.  So I am left standing over the preps, trying to decide what comes with and what says with the folks.

I also have to think on the possibility that our "household" goods will be delayed (sometimes it happens...months of happening).  Which means stuff sitting in port with all the port related creatures (bugs, rats, mice, thieves, etc).  Sure, it's covered under "insurance" but that doesn't keep the mind to secure, insurance doesn't always pay.  You see the dilemma, I hope.

What to take, what to leave...it isn't as if I can't rebuild, but that takes months.  It isn't as if I can take everything (some items prohibited) but I hate to leave so much behind.

The problem plagues me.

So I pose this question to you, dear readers...what would you do (and no, staying is not an option...sorry)?  What essentials would you take on a 3300+ mile trek, halfway across the world, to start anew?

(I also thought it would be an interesting study of comparisons...old time 1800's pioneers vs modern...responses should be intriguing I think.)

This should be Interesting....

orders came down...we are off to the EU...interesting, no?

I now get to play "run around like a mad woman" in order to have all the proper paper ducks in a happy little quacking row so the screamers and myself can actually fly WITH the Spouse vs. sitting here waiting for the process to start from over "there"...fun, right?

So the blog morphs again in a fashion...American prepping for those sometimes super harsh German winters in Germany.  And more....you that haven't been overseas will be in for a treat.  I plan on putting up perfect examples of the fantastic gardens that I grew to love on our first tour.  True square foot gardening.  Beautiful.

My own garden will be a complete experiment and completely depends on the possibility of a balconey...no yards where we'll be so far as I can tell.  At least not for a low ranking peon like the Spouse, lol.

There ya have it.  Ozark Momma will be leaving the Ozarks soon...with a little luck mid-March.  I can't tell you how thrilled (really, seriously, no joking thrilled) we are to be going.  Even the screamers are excited.

Yesterday...

I had a birthday.  Yep, another year added to the been there, done that list.  Some time during all the wild celebrating (we sat around in jammies all day...but I did actually get a full cup of coffee in me before it got cold...woot) I thought about how once upon a time in human development I would have been considered a senior citizen at the ripe old age of 33.  Then I pondered the implications of that and decided that if I lived in a more open-minded and humor-filled area I may try for a senior discount at McD's using the Neanderthal excuse.

Alas, I do not live in such an area.  Do not even speak the words evolution here...the eyes kinda glaze over et al.  The standard 'round here is that we are pretty much now just as we have always been and always will be.  So that thought being thought and nipped in the bud, I began to ponder how many useful calories were in my coffee from which I moved on to thinking about lunch plans for today with my little men.  After that, I thought about going out to play in the snow, but it was nap time.

You see how my day went.  And a brief look into how my mind tends to jump about thinking on random/useless things...I wonder if this is a sign of aging?