Major Mom

My name is Patricia, but in the blogging world I became known as "Major Mom" thanks to a friend in the Air Force Reserves. As soon as he had said it, the David Bowie song "Space Oddity" went through my mind. I am a mother and wife first - an Air Force wife, that is. My husband proudly serves in the Air Force as a weather officer. I also continue to serve my country as a Major in the Air Force Reserves. It's a wonderful double-life I lead. It was a very difficult decision for me -- I had our second son in early 2005 just before the 10-year-point in my career. It was already tough having to turn my oldest son over to a child care center every duty day -- 50 hours per week. So in spring 2005 I took advantage of a Reserves job opening for which I was qualified in Norfolk, Virginia -- my hometown! It's truly wonderful getting to see my sons grow up, and be able to help out at their school, on their sports teams (I've coached soccer before) and as a Cub Scout den leader. I'm not sure I'd have had time for that if I had remained on active duty. We currently live in Navarre, Florida, while my wonderful husband is assigned to Hurlburt Field, Florida. We've also lived in the following locations since we graduated from Penn State University in 1995: Fort Polk, Louisiana, 1995-1998 Yongsan Army Installation, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 1998-2000 Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, 2000-2002 Patrick AFB, Florida, 2002-2005 Raleigh, North Carolina (Dave was assigned to North Carolina State University), 2005-2008 Offutt AFB, Nebraska, 2008-2010 Hurlburt Field, Florida, 2010-present I started this blog in December 2007, thanks to suggestions from friends. We're in our third home since I started the blog. I used to send out captioned photo albums -- from AOL Pictures to Shutterfly albums to Picasaweb albums. Instead of flooding everyone with photos, now I can use this blog to send out the highlights. I'll talk about anything on here -- usually I'm talking about the kids, but I'll also delve into the local scene wherever we're living, and you'll also see some great posts about the two military moves (PCS: Permanent Changes of Station) we've had. Sometimes I talk about utter nonsense, such as finding a product called "Piggies in Pancakes" in a grocery store in South Carolina. In my spare time I write for the parenting blog GeekMom.com, I serve on the board of the Hurlburt Spouses' Club, and I'm a Cub Scout den leader. I also enjoy running and playing the violin.

Slowly but surely…

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…it took till nearly midnight to convince my laptop that YES I wanted the hard drive formatted! It isn’t as easy as you might think, and I don’t have the wherewithal to go into it here, so I won’t! I’ll just refer you here, which is one of the many geeky sites I had to … Read more

Wiped Clean!

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As I’m writing this on my upstairs desktop, that kitchen laptop so proudly pictured here is in the middle of a re-format/re-installation. Sniff sniff…like I have time for this. Of course, here I am blogging to all of you.

Cinnamon Rolls, Mommy! The ones you BAKE!

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Yeah. The ones I BAKE. You don’t know how badly I want to try the cinnamon roll recipe featured here: http://www.thepioneerwomancooks.com/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_.html But that is NOT what the kids mean. THIS is what they mean: I was at Target today and was looking for the Pillsbury ones, but alas, they were ALL sold out. Even the … Read more

FRUS-TRAY-SHUN!

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I came downstairs this morning to my kitchen laptop having all these red icons in the lower right corner. You know, down there with the clock. There’s this Windows Security Alert that’s red, McAfee antivirus in red, an AOL Active Security Monitor that’s blinking red……so I guess there’s a problem, huh? Upon further investigation, I … Read more

Who’s the latest Victim for the 13th Annual Vollmer Diet Attempt?

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So…who should be our victim this year? A better question probably is: Which of these diet programs have the Vollmer already attempted??? You’d be surprised! Since we’re not in a financial position to pay for those “We supply the food” programs, I guess LA Weight Loss, Nutrisystem and Jenny Craig are out. Did anyone else … Read more

We put the DUMP in DUMPLING!

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So how were they? With LOTS of butter, they were barely tolerable. But this batch is certainly NOT worth keeping. I guess unless we needed something to keep Howie (our dog) from soiling our lawn. The good news is that the pork loin with diced apples, brown sugar and sauerkraut came out PERFECTLY! Yum! Dave … Read more

Potato Dumplings — or ARE they?

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POTATO DUMPLINGS: (courtesy of Food Network, click link for full recipe) Mix instant potatoes for 6 servings2 eggs2 to 3 cups flour, plus more for kneading1 teaspoon baking powder Combine dumpling ingredients well. Put out on floured bread board and knead more flour in until stiff-like bread dough and it isn’t sticky to your hands. … Read more

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Dave’s ready to Bottle his homebrew.

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(The label Dave came up with for his first batch of Homebrew! — Howie’s our dog…) Dave got a Mr. Beer for Christmas. It was “given” to him by his two sons. (Am I mother-of-the-year or what — convincing her sons to give Daddy a Home Brewery for Christmas!). On Christmas afternoon, he took over … Read more

"MOMMY! I ‘need’ you."

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Timmy’s new mantra. He’s my 2-year-old. Starting about a week ago he decided he could say this and I’d pick him up. He’d been on an independent streak until recently — now he wants to be held all the time and I’m just not into that anymore. He’s almost 3 years old (end of January), … Read more