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.

Holy Smokes!

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Part of why you guys saw a series of posts about Magic Rocks was because the Raleigh area was under smoke from the “Evans Road” wildfire. The fires are originating near the east coast of NC and today’s easterly winds brought the smoke plume RIGHT OVER Raleigh. It was definitely hazy, with visibility down to … Read more

Is Your House Made of Ticky-Tacky?

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I have started watching “Weeds” on Showtime. I seem to be attracted to these twisted shows that have a hint of black humor. Since “Six Feet Under” finished on HBO a couple years ago, there’s been some close ones (Nip/Tuck on FX), but nothing close till I caught my first full episode of Weeds a … Read more

Don’t You Hate it When…

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…You have a good-sized length of wrapping paper left and it’s NOT QUITE enough to cover the gift??? PS: Can you see what I’m wrapping??? Good, then Dave won’t know either 🙂

My Messy Marvins

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I just have to refer you here — Maryann captured some million-dollar smiles of my boys on Sunday. It was horribly hot all weekend, so she and I were looking for indoor activities for our boys. We turned them loose with some crafts, and the painting went from “let’s paint with sponges” to “let’s paint … Read more

About to Explode

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No…not me. My poor husband. He’s at T-6 days and counting till his PhD dissertation defense. I won’t even TRY to explain what he’s up to, but let me just refer you here if you also have a 100lb. brain and would like to learn more. He last updated the homepage on 18 Oct 07, … Read more

Stunned!

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I am stunned! For the uninitiated in the Air Force/military lifestyle, Dave and I are what you might consider “middle management”. The tasks we do often involve having to tie Airman issues with “the bigger picture”. Example: “Ma’am, I’d like to deploy to Iraq and work with the Army.” In this case, the Airman might … Read more

You Pay HOW MUCH for Your Habit?

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This week, New York state raised their cigarette tax to the highest in the nation. They basically tacked an additional $1.25 per pack onto the price. New York City added an additional tax as well, so cigarettes in NYC will cost an extra $1.50 compared to yesterday. I’m speechless. Some New Yorkers will be paying … Read more

The BEST Banana Nut Bread!

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This isn’t the best picture of my latest baking creation, but hopefully it captures the quality of this recipe! Today I made my favorite banana bread recipe. In this case, it ISN’T a Pioneer Woman recipe. It’s from my handy-dandy Betty Crocker cookbook…one of my wedding gifts from a billion* years ago. *Billion = 12 … Read more

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Slip n slide

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We’re back at it again…it’s been a personal mission for me to get the water flowing at a bare minimum while still giving the kids the slippery surface. I think a lightly misting sprayer hose at the top at a bare minimum with misting sprinkler in the middle is our winner.