Commitment Issues?

        This is an OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT....I have decided to make a change to a different blog site. Truth be told, Google Blogger and I have been having relationship quarrels a lot lately and I just can't take it anymore, so I am pleased to announce that I am leaving him and committing to a new blog creator named WordPress. I know what some of you might be thinking..."geeze you haven't been using Google Blogger for even three weeks!! Sounds like you have commitment issues!" FALSE! Google Blogger has left me close to tears twice now, which is two times too many. The formatting issues I have encountered are too much for me to overcome in order to stay devoted to Google Blogger.
        I have found that WordPress and I are much more compatible, he understands me and what I want. It is much more "customizable", allowing the blog to feel more like mine. I have transferred everything from this blog over to my new one, so I will no longer be posting on this site,  I will just pick up where I left off here, over there. I hope you find the new site as enjoyable!
        In addition for this site being easier for me to create and therefore more enjoyable, it is also better for you as followers. Instead of having to create a whole limited blogger profile in order to leave comments on my blog, like you had to for the Google Blogger, NOW you just have to enter your email address and a name you want to post with and 1, 2, 3 you can comment!! (I'm sorry I couldn't transfer the comments of those who had already commented on this one, but I hope you will comment on the new one too!) Also, perhaps most convenient, anyone can "follow" this blog, meaning when you view the blog, and click "follow" in the bottom right hand corner and enter your email address, you get an email sent to you when I post new things on the blog! WIN-WIN! With out further ado:

My new blog can be found at:

http://myforeignendeavors.wordpress.com/ 

Merely an Entity?

           Interesting things happen when you enter the military as a spouse I have come to find. Just the simple acts of getting my dependent military ID and filling out some travel paperwork have enlightened me to this phenomenon. There I was, sitting in the little cubicle with my husband answering questions as the nice man entered my information into the computer, all is normal, social security numbers flying everywhere which apparently is normal for the military. We're reaching the end, he takes my picture, a horrible one and it only appears in black and white on the card, and then he places a form in front of us. He paused and then said something like "I always feel bad saying this, but you (looking at my husband) need to sign and date this form stating that you are allowing your dependent to have a military ID." We both laugh a little, meanwhile me thinking in my head "you've got to be freaking kidding me, my husband doesn't allow me to do anything! I do what I want!" The nice man continued saying something like "Yeah I hate saying that, but the military essentially sees you (now looking at me) as an entity of your spouse." Whoa! Hold the phone! An entity?! Isn't that a little harsh? If I was the kind of woman who didn't find that rhetoric at least slightly outrageous, then the psychological effects of the word "entity" would have been incredibly destructive to my identity. And thus, I now understand where the zombie spouses come from, they must not have found that rhetoric strange in the slightest. This was only my first encounter with this "entity" phenomenon...it only began to compound as I noticed more things where I was considered to be merely an entity.
            For example, in filling out the paperwork in order for us to get reimbursed for my travel down here to Texas, we were reminded at the desk to fill out the paperwork using my husband's information. But wait, isn't that lying? It wasn't my husband who did the trip, it was me...oh ok, there is a small little box to put my name. When I asked him if it was weird that he had to put his information even though it was my trip, he jokingly reminded me "well you are an entity of me". Another thing I noticed besides my healthcare and dental care, was while reading through one of the spouse handbooks (yes...I know), there was a section about driving on base, that is the importance of following the traffic laws on base. This I was already aware of, it is absolutely important to drive the speed limit, make complete stops, and wear your seat belt. However, what struck me was the part that said if you (the dependent spouse) get a traffic ticket on base, then your spouse would have to show that ticket to his/her commander. Sooooo if I mess up, being the entity of my husband that I am, then it's like he messes up?! Mind-blowing! I'm still totally terrified by this and obey all traffic laws on base but wow.
            So, by this time I was becoming more and more aware of this "entity" phenomenon. As much as I felt like I had to fight it, because I didn't want it to grind and chip away at my personal identity, I also didn't want to ever embarrass my husband or, I suppose to fit in with the "entity" rhetoric, "shame" him. I mean I do obviously care about him and wouldn't want to jeopardize any of his opportunities with say a speeding on base ticket. With having wrestled with this phenomenon the first week and a half and having found a little peace with it, I was blind-sided with the final "entity" straw. I was so excited to hear there was a library on base, I love libraries! I mean I was a history major for heaven's sake. So on a free afternoon, my husband and I went down to check it out...it's not the largest library, but there are a respectable number of books to explore, dvds, and complete tv seasons. Sweet! Dvds you can can check out for free! I obviously needed a library card! I love getting library cards; who knew that such a small piece of plastic with a bar-code could give you such a liberating feeling with so much knowledge at your fingertips! Wait what?! You need my husband to fill out the application for me to get a library card? "Yes, we need his information, he's your sponsor," said the woman behind the counter, who although following the library's/military's rules for getting library cards was obviously not educated enough to be working there. I kept my cool on the outside, but my God! I, the "entity," needed my sponsor in order to get my little plastic ticket to unlimited knowledge?! Well, at least he doesn't have to be with me every time I want to go to the library, but heaven forbid if I keep a book overdue on my card....Lord knows what that will mean for my husband's job! Ok, so I'm being a little cynical now...but it was somewhat painful. Like going back to when I was old enough to have my own library card but my mom had to fill out the paperwork, you know because I was 8 years old. Am I 8 years old?! Oh boy...
             All in all, the "entity" phenomenon is a struggle. I sit wondering if it is a struggle for other spouses, whether or not I am just bothered by it because I didn't grow up in the military, or if it has to do with being from the northwest. Only being about two and a half weeks in, I am sure that 1. this will not be the end of the ever compounding "entity" phenomenon, and 2. that in time I will absolutely find a balance between being this entity, while compromising little of my own personal identity. In the meantime, I'm going to use my library card as much as I can. I am not merely an entity.

Real Texan Rodeo

            "Are we really going? Do you really want to go?" I asked my husband who held out the two free County Rodeo tickets in front of me. I guess the rodeo had given the base a ton of free tickets to the rodeo, and it was something new we could do; was at least a way for us to go out on a Saturday night. Definitely something cultural to experience right? I can be optimistic and open-minded! It is possible. Now, there are rodeos in the northwest and there are I suppose what one would call cowboys/girls in parts of Oregon, but I knew this would be intense and serious, we are in Texas after all. I assume Texas is where the rodeo was invented....yes, I'm sure that's accurate. Okay I can do this, it will be fun!...great, I'm going to stick out like a sore thumb. I'm not the biggest fan of looking like I don't belong and getting scowled at; although it does give me reason to scowl back at people and therefore justifies my judging them, which I am all for. Regardless of my favorite pastime, I still wanted to look like I somewhat knew where I was going. Well, the most country attire I own is probably my white "wife-beater" tank top from the Coyote Ugly club in Vegas that says "I danced on the bar" on the front, and has about 7 signatures on the back from the babes that were working there that night. (Sidenote: Coyote Ugly rocks my socks, so fun!) Too skanky? Oh well! It was going to have to work. Well I had the short-shorts on lock-down, but no cowgirl boots...the gray keds would have to do. Ample substitute? Not even close. But I didn't want to wear sandals to something I knew was going to be dusty and probably smell like animal poo. Now I do have a cowgirl hat (everyone received and decorated cowgirl hats at my first bridal shower that was Texas themed, BRILLIANT! Kuddos to my bridesmaids!), but I unfortunately left it back in Oregon because of the lack of room in boxes. Balls! How did I not anticipate going to a rodeo?! Well working with what I had, I finished getting dressed and grabbed the most fitting sunglasses I had....pause not. I grabbed my bright blue "Ray-Ban" hipster look-a-like free pair of sunglasses. My best friend would be so proud at how not country I looked HAHA. And off to the rodeo we went!
           I love people watching, and a rodeo, it turns out, is a perfect place to people watch. You could definitely tell who had come from the military base and who were locals. So many things to observe! Types of cowboy/girl attire, who had bedazzled jeans, who had tattoos, types of cowboy/girl boots, tightness of wrangler jeans, who were the pretty-boy cowboys and who were real dirt-loving ones. Perhaps most perplexing question of the night, are you a real cowgirl if while sitting in your short-shorts and cowgirl boots, you pull your white iPhone 4 from your new Coach clutch? Is this just a sign of changing times, or is she an impostor/wannabe?! I'll let that brew for a bit...We found seats in the stands and there began two and a half hours of confusing, terrifying, adorable, and impressive action. None of those words however even begins to describe my feelings towards clowns...I never, never expected there to be clowns at a rodeo. It turns out that it is normal for a few people to dress up like scary clowns in order to 1. "add humor" to the rodeo and have a "funny" dialogue with the announcer, 2. perform menial tasks out on the rodeo dirt, and 3. to distract and take on the bucking bulls after they have thrown their cowboys from their backs. It was only number 3 that allowed me to stay calm with them down there constantly in my sight. Irregardless* of the fact that they were actually humans underneath the horrible clown costumes, those humans made the conscious choice to take on these mortifying personas, in which case I was praying that the bull might actually puncture them with their horns and teach them that clowns are awful creatures from hell. I did not feel bad at all for wishing these humans harm. Anyway, focusing back on the animals....
          I'm guessing that one has to first, get over the repulsive and horrifying act of lasso-ing little defenseless calves, yanking them back so hard their necks should snap, slamming them on the ground and roping all their legs together, and second, understand that it's mostly a sport of practical ranching skills, in order to enjoy most of the rodeo events. I am still wrestling with this...my eyes seem to just focus on the poor little calves that are obviously traumatized as they flee for safety after being released from their death ropes, to my surprise still alive. My guess is the Romans never had this struggle in finding the Gladiator fights enjoyable. So this first event was hard for me to swallow, but the rodeo did pick up some steam on the fun-meter. My favorite event, which was really just a time filler in between grown-up events, was called Mutton Busting. In a nut shell, a group of about 10 little kids would get onto the backs of these Mutton (sheep), the Mutton would all be released from the gate running, these kids holding on for dear life, and the winner was the one who holds on the longest. There were three heats, and each heat was equally entertaining (See video for heat #2). Besides those, there were what seemed to be the usual barrel racing on horses, father/son roping, team roping, and of course the bull riding as the grande finale. My only complaint on the bull riding at the end was that there was no big screen or pictures in the program so that I could see what the contestants looked like. How else am I supposed to decide on who to support?! No one really stayed on the bull all that long, I know 8 seconds is the goal, and the first guy was the only one remotely close to that...the only one I didn't record...they had some really raging bulls last night I guess. All in all, the rodeo was a great success! I clearly only fit in there because it was obvious I was from the military base, which the locals are very friendly to. It was over two hours of a brand new kind of entertainment for us, a real Texan rodeo,
         
        *Irregardless is a word even though it is not featured in the usual dictionary. It means the same as "regardless" and the "ir" is added to the beginning for emphasis, which was absolutely necessary in talking about harming clowns.
   

Flour Everywhere!

            Now having quite a bit more time on my hands and more amazing kitchen supplies (thanks to the amazing and generous wedding gifts from our family and friends), I have found a new love of cooking and baking. I have always had the interest, but with school, nights of debauchery with friends, and ... well, more school, it was always hard to have the time to really do some serious cooking. Of course my best friend and I would go through our baking spouts where we would make batches of pumpkin muffins, whoopy pies, and cookies which was a blast! Now I have my own kitchen?! I love having my own kitchen! (That needs to go on my "love list") So now with the time and ample equipment I can take on more! I find myself loving to look through cookbooks, especially my Barefoot Contessa cookbook that was a wedding gift. I could absolutely see myself living in the Hamptons with her, and being her best friend. The pictures of the food are gorgeous and I would be so excited if what I made looked that appetizing and beautiful! I have developed cooking and baking goals for the next few months. One, I am going to plan and cook two special meals a week, usually there is so much for just two people that we have plenty of food left over for the rest of the week. And two, I am going to bake some sort of delicious treat once a week.

Little Rolls before they're baked

            Last week was the beginning of this quest, and my baked good of choice was cinnamon rolls. My husband LOVES cinnamon rolls and he needed some lovin' from the oven that week. So on my quest, I began to look up recipes and decided on the good old Alton Brown and his recipe for Overnight Cinnamon Rolls*. So believing I was all equipped, and finally feeling very at home in my kitchen, I realized that I didn't have maybe the most important piece of equipment....the standing mixer! How am I going to make the dough?! All in a panic, I called my dad who simply laughed and asked me if people ever made dough before the age of mixers...damn, wise parents strike again! Feeling kind of stupid, especially having just earned a history degree, I was reminded of how incredibly modern my life is. You mean, I can do this by hand without electricity and a bread hook?! Ok! I can do this! I am going to somehow take on the identity of some pioneer woman and make this dough by hand! It'll be like I'm on the Oregon Trail! The process was in a nut shell messy, exhausting, stressful, but ultimately very rewarding. I probably called my dad a total of 4 times through the whole process, double checking with him on things like types of yeast, the difference between milk and buttermilk, and dough rising techniques. There was flour everywhere by the time the dough was rising in its special bowl, bits of dough on the wall, all over my hands, but I had done it! The first baking endeavor was a success and I have pictures to prove it! Do they look good enough to be in one of those cook books where you drool over the pictures? Don't quite know yet, but they're a start. Perhaps because I am their creator, but they might be one of the most beautiful things I have created. On the docket for this week, continuing my baking goal, are Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars, hopefully I can contain the mess a little bit better and make fewer frantic calls to my dad. Will keep you posted!

Fresh out of the oven!!

* Alton Brown's Overnight Cinnamon Rolls are delicious and easy! Highly recommend!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/overnight-cinnamon-rolls-recipe/index.html

Basil's Bloodsucker

     I need to provide a quick update on Basil's condition (again Basil with a short "a"). In nursing him back to health, from his initial condition of bug eaten leaves, dried ends of leaves, and overall look of despair and pain, I kept him inside in the sun lit window for the first day. In examining some of his leaves and cleaning him up (removing the eaten leaves), I discovered it!! On the underside of one of the leaves, there I found a quite large caterpillar the same color green as the leaves. Camouflaged!! There he sat, probably having enjoyed his free reign of meals for weeks! Fat and happy. Although he was kind of cute, he was threatening my baby Basil's life by sucking the life from him. So I removed the caterpillar, thought about taking him back to Home Depot to shove in Ms. Un-interested's face since she said it couldn't possibly be bugs, but ultimately just set him outside to take on some other plant. This was two days ago, and now Basil is visibly happier, growing baby leaves and gets to be outside. "Oh yeah, they'll live no problem!" proclaimed Ms. Un-interested before we picked out our little ones, well I would say "Yeah they are going to live! Because of my attentive, loving care! Now eat this caterpillar!" More to come on Basil's already improving condition.

My Babies

        One of the things I was most surprised by following the wedding was the amount of people who ask you when you are going to have children. I suppose it is naturally the next big milestone in life following marriage but come on! I am 22! Regardless of how young I was when we got married doesn't mean that I just want to high-tail the whole process forward; someday...but not now. We have only been living together for a week and half for heaven's sake. Regardless of our plans, I had a suspicion/fear that many of the young couples in the military and on base would have children already and would think we were weird for not having any. I also had this imaginary expectation that there would be this creepy phenomenon where at a certain time each day/night on base in our neighborhood, spouses would come out to the culdesacs with their children and mingle with each other....almost a zombie-like desperate housewives situation, where I would just watch from my front room window (child-less) and feel them glaring at me. Well, I can tell you so far that I have not witnessed any zombie housewives yet, but there are a ton of kids living here! Maybe it is just because it is summer time, school is out, but there are a lot of children. Literally as I type, there are five young kids jumping on a trampoline across the street and two other boys running around with a small chihuahua and batman capes. Besides the children, there are playgrounds everywhere...I am not exaggerating when I say that there is a small playground on every street and large ones on several parts of the base. Is this to encourage child production?

Here they are! My new babies!! (Left to Right: Rose (Rosemary),
Tom (Tomato), and Basil (pronounced the English way with a short "a")

        Regardless of the base's subliminal messages, I do have babies of my own...they are just of a much greener, photosynthesizing, and soil loving nature. A few days ago, my husband and I went on a quest for plants. It has been one of my goals, in having our own house, to plant a garden. So to Home Depot we went! (It should be noted that it was a big deal to step foot in Home Depot because of my father's boycott of the chain after being screwed out of a rebate he legitimately filled out; however, I take the fact that our small town has a Home Depot to mean there is a little bit of civilization out here.) Walking into the garden section, I could instantly tell that the employee out there was not thrilled to be there. Looking at the garden starter plants, the basil was all bug eaten, there weren't many good tomato plants...I had obviously gotten my hopes up. After looking for a few minutes Ms. Un-interested came over to inform me that all the plants were fine, they would live and that she would even take some off the price for us to buy them. When I asked if the holes in the basil leaves were caused by bugs, she in a very sure voice answered no, they could not be because of bugs because then all of the other plants would look like that. WOW brilliant logic! My philosophy professors would have had a fit. Although I was convinced that I didn't like her, I wasn't convinced that I should buy at that moment, just didn't feel right. So we went to a couple other garden sections at other stores in the area, but none at garden starter plants. Well played Home Depot...my anger and judgement turned into determination, mostly after I called my mom to talk about the plants and she reminded me "you know they don't hire biologists to work there", so we went back to Ms. Un-interested and I made it my personal mission to bring this basil back to full life. Plants are resilient after all! We spoke to another employee there, which if you ever visit this Home Depot ask for Hektor! He rocked our world! So kind, considerate, informative and interested! When we asked him if the holes were caused by bugs he said yes, and even showed us some sprays to help combat the bugs....stupid illogical Ms. Un-interested. Long story short (oops) We took home with us a basil, rosemary, and roma tomato plant along with a pot for each and planted them.

Nature (Neature** if you like)

          I came down here with an intense fear that I would be bombarded with a ton of over sized bugs, you know the kind with wings, lots of legs, and fangs dripping with venom. To my surprise I really haven't encountered any bugs that I was convinced could possibly eat me or drop me with one bite. However, in place of insects, we have been caught off guard a few times by random animals. Beginning with our skunk encounter, my husband and I have been taking long walks at night because by about 9:30 or 10 it is cool enough to have a nice walk. The base as a really nice paved walkway that winds around the base and is really well lit. One of the first nights I was here, we went for a walk along this path. Although there is a sometimes deafening insect orchestra playing outside at night (of which I actually really like the sound) they stay hidden in the trees and grass. I am okay with this. Well, rounding a corner along our path we come across a skunk, a real one! I swear the only skunks I have ever seen have been dead on the side of the road in Oregon or animated in Disney's Bambi. We stop instantly, trying to register what this little creature was. I know we need to book it before the skunk turns around and opens fire, so we turn around and bolt it across the grass. Looking back behind us, the skunk is also booking it the opposite direction. Is the skunk afraid of us too? But he has so much more ammunition than us! After we were finished running and calmed down, we laughed about it the rest of the walk. A skunk? Really?! But I am pretty sure we both saw our clean-smelling lives flash before our eyes in our frantic run to safety.
          Our next near death experience with nature came the following day when we went out to a shooting range in town. The range was down a long road heading away from town (oh yeah, and we passed by the prison) into what seemed like pure desert. There were cacti, wire fences, and lots of dirt/sand. On our way out there sitting atop these wire fences we discovered two vultures. Yes, that's right vultures. I really don't think I had ever seen a vulture other than in a zoo or again in animated Disney movies like Robin Hood, The Jungle Book, and Snow White. Apparently I have obtained a lot of knowledge about animals through the wonderful world of Disney. Well, according to "Disney Wiki" online, vultures usually show up in a Disney film to "foreshadow something bad will happen." Oh great, what did this mean for our journey? There they were, a pair of them sitting on that wire fence, huge bodies like turkeys, dark black feathers, and bright red, bald, disgusting heads. As we passed them, they just sat there, in hindsight definitely foreshadowing their attack later on. After finishing up at the shooting range, which I should point out is owned by a 79 year old man, still kicking and possibly the epitome of an NRA member, we left for home; Mr. NRA kindly escorted us through his two locked gates to his property. Driving down that same very country road, there sat those two vultures again, with their hairless, red heads waiting to dive into some kind of animal carcass. I was commenting to my husband of how baffled I was that there were real vultures out here, and just as we passed them, as if they heard me calling them ugly names, they both swooped down off of their fence perches in front of our windshield, completely blinding the one side with their fat black feathered bodies. My husband slammed on the brakes with the surprise, startling us both, and we are pretty sure the vultures grazed our windshields in their air strike only to just fly off to the side again and resume their perches. Again, really?! Whether the vultures heard what I was saying about them, confused our black car for a buffalo, or hoped to cause us to crash, have our bodies flung from the car and eat us, I know those vultures are devious, evil creatures. My mind is still completely blown from seeing vultures in the wild. We did make it home safely, and I will forever take Texan wildlife seriously. I am sure there will be more nature encounters to come, but these two are for the books.         


**"Neature" refers to the youtube series created by Lenny Pepperbottom, which I hope one day will be viral so everyone can experience how funny and ridiculous "Neature Walk" is...here's a video to get you started:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm3JodBR-vs&feature=relmfu
A huge thank you to my Best Friend who first exposed me to Mr. Pepperbottom.