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.

DIY Guest Room Transformation: Painted Bedroom

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Most of the room is this color: Behr Ultra Premium Plus in a color called "Dry Pasture".
Most of the room is this color: Behr Ultra Premium Plus in a color called “Dry Pasture”.

We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day to paint a bedroom. Even though it’s mid-October, today Colorado Springs hit a high temperature of 87F, shattering the record for this date by FIVE DEGREES! We were able to open the windows and let the warm air quickly dry the walls and we were able to put both coats of color on the walls in about 4 hours.

The colors we chose were ones that we already had from previous painting work. The greenish color is Behr’s Ultra Premium Plus “Dry Pasture“, which we already have on our dining room and basement bathroom walls. We had a full can of Dry Pasture in the basement storage area, which ended up taking care of about 85% of what we needed. Isn’t it always like that? Dave ran to our local Home Depot and picked up another can while I worked on the corners and top edges.

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DIY Guest Room Transformation

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Some of the accessories have already been placed in the spare bedroom but when it's fully complete it will be transformed into something pretty cool! We can't wait!
The guest bedroom is the last liveable part of the house that has not been painted since we moved here. It’s still the original builder-grade paint, in fact. Some of the accessories have already been placed in the spare bedroom (lamp on the nightstand, some antlers on the far left edge) but when it’s fully complete it will be transformed into something pretty cool! We can’t wait!

Hello there! I’ve been a bit scarce lately, mostly because my MacBook’s keyboard died. I turned it in this weekend for repairs at my local Apple Store, which was a monumental task in and of itself. The Apple Store here is so swamped, you have to make an appointment to turn in the computer for repairs, and they were booking a week out.

In the meantime, I’m using a Acer touchscreen laptop we had bought a few years ago, but had given us so much trouble with Windows 8.1 not being compatible with the built-in WiFi adapter. Last spring I blew away the Windows operating system and completely replaced it with the Ubuntu system (Linux). I found the proper drivers to re-activate the touchscreen with Ubuntu, and things are going decently. I still miss my MacBook, though…I’ll have it back by next weekend.

So on to our next project: changing the guest room from a plain junk-storage space that occasionally hosts guests to a no-kidding guest bedroom. This past summer when Dave and I visited the local Parade of Homes we saw a DIY idea that we both agreed was worth trying to do: planking a wall to look like a log-cabin.

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Review: The Martian

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The Martian by Andy Weir My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was an amazing read! Not since The Da Vinci Code has a book commanded my attention as much as The Martian! It’s a very simple exposition, with minimal backstory. You are rooting for the Mark Watney in the here and now, the crew … Read more

Our Next DIY Project: A Faux Log Cabin Guest Room

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I am mainly writing up this post so we have something to stash to Pinterest.

Dave and I joined some friends who just moved to the area in the Colorado Springs area Parade of Homes. Unlike other Parades I’d been to in other communities, this one requires you to drive all over the city to see the houses in assorted neighborhoods.

In the Banning Lewis Ranch neighborhood, about 10 minutes from our house, was a house that had a youth bedroom decorated like a hunting lodge.

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Dave and I love this! We think this can be done pretty nicely with our guest room!

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Colorado Discoveries 45: Denver Comic Con

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The Colorado Convention Center is Denver is famous for the giant blue bear peering inside.
The Colorado Convention Center is Denver is famous for the giant blue bear peering inside.

My family had the chance to attend Denver Comic Con* this past Memorial Day weekend with family press passes I obtained through my association with GeekMom, a $150 value. This fact that the organization offered complimentary admission to our entire family is a testament to what a family-friendly experience this particular Comic Con is trying to maintain: children’s admission was only $5 per day and $10 for the entire event.

Accompanying the press passes were interview opportunities with the celebrities and comic book artists. Interviews are not my strong suit but I did my best.

Because DCC provided complimentary admission, I made sure the timely writing about the event was posted to GeekMom first back in June, but I figured I’d summarize all the posts here and then share the full photo album.

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Utah Discoveries 11: Alta Ski Area

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This was a shot I took in between snow showers at the top of the one of the numerous mountain peaks at Alta Ski Area.
This was a shot I took in between snow showers at the top of the one of the numerous mountain peaks at Alta Ski Area: Sugarloaf Peak (just over 11,000′). Note how much snow there was here compared to at Park City 48 hours prior, just one canyon south.

For our last day in Utah, we decided to make the trek over to Alta Ski Area, which is one canyon south of Park City. It seems so simple, but in reality, what we had to do was take a route that was a 270 degree loop that was ~40 miles to visit a resort only 10 miles away from our condo. It was about a one hour drive.

Please note that Alta Ski Area is a ski only resort. Snowboards are not allowed. I know that for many families this might be a show-stopper.

We are very happy that we elected to visit Alta during our Utah trip. It was some of the best skiing we’d ever experienced. We weren’t sure about making the trip over to the next canyon, for fear of being disappointed.

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Utah Discoveries 10: Golden Spike National Historic Site near Promontory, Utah

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This is seriously out-of-the-way place to visit, but worth it if you have time in the Salt Lake City Area.
This is seriously out-of-the-way place to visit that doesn’t look that interesting at first glance, but the trip is worth it if you have time in the Salt Lake City Area. Here, Timmy is looking at a replica of the last tie laid…into which the Golden Spike was driven.

After a disappointing day of skiing at Park City Resort without any new snow in the forecast, our family decided to do something else the following day. We drove into Salt Lake City, had lunch at In-N-Out Burger, and then continued northeastward towards Promontory Summit to visit the Golden Spike* National Historic Site.

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So Much to Catch Up On…Where Do I Begin?

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Yes, I’m pretty far behind. I think…before the DIY Kitchen Transformation posts…I left off in the middle of our trip to Utah back in March? Yikes, I’m terrible!

Well, for now, let me leave you these photos of the boys on the first day of school. Jacob is getting increasingly annoyed with my photographing him on the first day of school, to which I had to respond, “Get over it, you’re getting photographed.”

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Weird Al Yankovic In Concert!

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We don't go to concerts often, but when we can take our kids, all the better!
In front of the Paramount Theater in downtown Denver. We don’t go to concerts often, but when we can take our kids, all the better!

Last August “Weird” Al Yankovic came in concert in Denver. We got tickets for the whole family! This tour was announced in 2014 not long after Weird Al’s Mandatory Fun album was released, and our boys absolutely loved the songs and music videos.

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