"PCSing...it's a Spouse thing!" now 25% off with publisher's discount!

Purchase PCSing...It's a Spouse Thing! at 15% off with coupon code RESOLUTION305. The book is currently reduced by 10% so that's a 25% savings off the full price!

Disclaimer: Use coupon code RESOLUTION305 at checkout and receive 15% off PCSing...It's a Spouse Thing!. Maximum savings with this promotion is $10. You can only use the code once per account, and you can't use this coupon in combination with other coupon codes. This great offer ends on January 15, 2010 at 11:59 PM EST so try not to procrastinate!

While very unlikely we do reserve the right to change or revoke this offer at anytime, and of course we cannot offer this coupon where it is against the law to do so. Finally, Lulu incurs the cost of this discount, so it does not impact the Author's proceeds of the book. 

~ j

The First "Jenny" Book is HERE!!!

"Jenny" is on hiatus while we suffer through yet another PCS. Please feel free to browse the archives located on the main page of http://jennyspouse.com to get your weekly milspouse chuckle.

OR...You can order the very first "Jenny" book ever and get your milspouse chuckle whenever you want! Just in time for Christmas, the book is located at: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/pcsingits-a-spouse-thing/13835448

Selling for $19.95, it's the greatest gift you can get for any military spouse you know. She/He will see themselves among these 120 pages more than once.

Help yourself to a handful of books this holiday season. Don't leave anyone out! ~ j

Electronic Cigarettes or What to put in a care package...

The Great American Smokeout 2010 is tomorrow, November 18. (http://www.ucanquit2.org/facts/gaso/default.aspx) This is the perfect time to help your loved one quit smoking.

I know it's tough but they don't have to go cold turkey.

My friend, @Michal Douglas, owns an electronic cigarette company and sells to a lot of military folks. He placed a small ad on my site and, as I do with everyone who advertises on jennyspouse.com, I want to send him a lot of traffic.

But I mostly want to help people quit smoking. So this is a selfish plug on my part. I really believe in this product.

Michal's company is called "America's Best Buys" and you'll get a 10% discount at checkout when you use the code MILITARY. He's doing this just for us so I hope you get over there and take advantage of it. (http://americasbestbuys.com/home.asp)

Michal and his original business partner started marketing e-cigarettes because the business partner was dying of lung cancer, directly related to smoking. I knew them briefly right before he died. It was awful. But the one thing that has always stuck with Michal is that his friend told him, "I wish I'd known about these things a lot earlier."

I can't explain how they work but America's Best Buys will tell you everything you need to know. Do it. Now. Before it's too late.

Why Should We Care About Prince William's Engagement?

Because Great Britain is our greatest ally and our best friend. In order to nurture a friendship, you must take an interest in your friend's children and family. A sure way to kill a friendship is to show utter disinterest in her family's joyful moments and to ignore their milestones.

Because we've watched this boy grow up and have held him to higher standards than we've held our own children, judging his life on a global level like no other. We should celebrate when he's happy.

Because we know that one day he WILL be the King of England and it is in our best interest that he possess sound judgment and above-average decision making skills. One day every decision he makes concerning Great Britain will directly affect our very best friend and so affect us.

Yes, we should be interested in this and pay attention. It's important.

~ j

Hats Off to Volunteers! April 18 - 24 Ft. Bliss, TX

I've just returned from my trip to Ft. Bliss, El Paso, TX, where I spoke at a luncheon for the post's volunteers. The program is headed by Army Volunteer Corps (AVC) Coordinator, Tephanie Hopper, and her staff from the AVC office located in the ACS Bldg. 2494, for those of you who want to join the legion of incredibly motivated volunteers at Ft. Bliss.

The event I attended was called "WHATTAWEDNDESDAY" on April 21st. This was the second in a series of events planned for the volunteers throughout National Volunteer Week (April 18 - 24). The first get-together of the week was "Manic Monday" and featured a salsa class to help get everyone into the feel-good spirit of the week.

"WHATTAWEDNESDAY" took place in the Centennial Banquet & Conference Center and featured free massages, Reiki, makeovers, food and prizes. A local beauty school was in attendance to give free haircuts and manicures. They even did eyebrows and makeup!

The final event of the week was held Friday night at the Centennial. This was the official Fort Bliss Annual Volunteer Recognition Awards Ceremony. Awards presented by: Maj. Gen. Howard Bromberg. Their guest speaker was Brian McNamara of Lifetime Television's Army Wives.

Here is the information Tephanie sent me:

"Each year our nation celebrates volunteers during National Volunteer Week. The Fort Bliss community follows this great tradition established by President Richard Nixon in 1974. We have numerous activities to show appreciation for the volunteers who selflessly support our Soldiers, Family Members, and Retirees. The largest event is our recognition dinner hosted by our Commanding General. The recognition dinner is scheduled to be held April 23rd from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

Our theme is "Hats Off to Volunteers".

The following are some accomplishments of our installation volunteer

program:

2350 volunteers

155,000 hours

3 million dollars worth of hours contributed to the installation.

Volunteer Positions include:

Supporting our youth through coaching sports.

Teaching our family members through Army Family Team Building.

Meeting Soldiers/ Families as they deploy or return from deployment.

Family Readiness Group support

Supporting our Junior Enlisted Family Readiness Group

Soldiers mentoring kids through Partners In Education

Support advocacy walks

Tax Preparation

and MANY MORE!"

How could I say No to an invitation like that? I had a great time, got to meet some no-nonsense Army spouses, and came away with a feeling that this is a group of strong women I could definitely be a part of. I would go back to Ft. Bliss in a heartbeat.

I hope some of them will be in D.C. for Spouse Appreciation weekend, May 7 - 9, 2010. I sincerely hope to see you there or back in Fort Bliss.

You ladies ROCK!

~ j

Attention Macon Residents! Vote for Comics!

The Macon Telegraph is running a comics contest.

They recently ran a "favorites" poll and only received 1500 votes, resulting in SSDD (Same Shit, Different Day). The favorites were:

1. Blondie
2. Beetle Bailey
3. Family Circus
4. For Better or For Worse
5. Zits
6. Garfield
7. B.C.
8. Snuffy Smith
9. Andy Capp
10. Hagar the Horrible

Now they'd like us readers to vote on comics to ADD to the line-up above. No word on whether they're keeping all of those golden oldies but I say "Let them go!". It's time to give the younger, more contemporary voices the exposure they deserve.

I commend The Telegraph on some of the new additions they're proposing: The Knight Life, Get Fuzzy, F-Minus, Frazz, Cul de Sac, Retail, and (my favorite and the only entry by a female cartoonist) Rhymes with Orange, but the examples they include don't show even half the talent and genius behind these strips.

For example, the Rhymes with Orange entries were notated "Hil is on vacation" and were drawn by guest cartoonist Mo Willems. Are readers judging whether they like Hilary or Mo? Hil's faithful readers will "get it" but newcomers might not. I fear these particular samples will knock her out of the running.

The F-Minus entries are dull and don't show Tony Carrillo at his best. I encourage readers to catch up on the F-Minus archives in order to get a better sense of Tony's very special style and humor.

The Telegraph gives us a total of fifteen strips to choose from but we're only allowed to select FOUR. That's right. Only 4.

If you live in the Macon area, go to this link from macon.com. Please read all of the entries and judge them fairly and wisely.

Help upgrade the comics pages from Same-Old-Thing to Smart, Progressive, and Finally Funny.

That is all.

~ j

Update: I don't know why they even held this contest. The only ones they chose from the list were Frazz, Get Fuzzy, and Rose is Rose. And those are only available online. They're not running them in the paper. Maybe they're going to insert them on Sundays or something. Still, they don't even have a link online to F-Minus or Rhymes with Orange. I don't get it. :-(

Saying "So Long" to the Big Dead Tree

The Big Dead Tree

Ever since we moved into base housing (July '09), we've been surrogate owners of a big dead tree in our front yard. It was somewhat embarrassing because all of the neighbors could see it.

After all, it was big. Bigger than our house.

The neighbors, well-meaning souls all, would stop and render their opinions, "Your tree is dead", and their advice, "Hang some plants from it, dress it up a little". We always thanked them but there wasn't much we could do about it.

The ultimate decision was made by others, of course, and so it was that, on Monday morning, a truck equipped with a cherry-picker pulled up in front of the house and released two men determined to bring down The Big Dead Tree.

I felt sad. The Big Dead Tree hadn't been bothering anyone. Anyone at all.

Except, of course, my husband who kept having to drag the branches off the roof and out of the lawn to the field across the street. The Big Dead Tree dropped branches day in and day out. Some of the bigger ones crashed to the ground with a vibration that made the house shudder but most of the smaller ones fell unnoticed and simply lay quietly in the yard. Not bothering anyone at all.

The two men rode that cherry-picker basket up and down all day long, the incessant noise from their chainsaws threatening to explode the contents of my brain, until The Big Dead Tree was stripped bare.

Limbs and branches had been falling falling falling, booming against the ground in angry, noisy protest. Our house shook and trembled in response throughout the operation. When the sun set, the men left and The Big Dead Tree stood cold in the yard as if finally accepting its fate.

It was now a tall, bare, stump.

The next day, more men came and took their chainsaws to its body. The tall, bare, stump was cut into sections that boomed to the ground. The windows shook when they hit.

Soon, all that was left of The Big Dead Tree was a pile of logs lying in a mound of sawdust. It was the last time our yard would be littered by the old nuisance.

The men cleaned up the yard and took all signs of their activities with away with them. They left the yard clean as a whistle...

...no more Big Dead Tree. No tree at all, in fact.

Now that's sad.

******
~ j

All I want for Christmas is a Fern Glade beret

This is the Christmas present I made for my daughter. It's a slouchy hat from the pattern Fern Glade. You can find it at knitty.com, my favorite site for alternative knitwear patterns.

I've used this pattern twice before and absolutely love it. I'm looking forward to making another one for my mom.

My yarn of choice is the bamboo-blend, "Spa", from Naturally Caron. The color of this hat is 'naturally 0007'. I've used 'ocean spray' for this pattern but I also have 'rose bisque' and 'soft sunshine' in my stash, patiently awaiting their turns.

The only adjustment I advise for Fern Glade is to take out the K1 stitch on Row 14. (Now that I look at it again, the editors have struck that stitch out and all is right with the world of Fern Glade.)

If you decide to knit this one up, you might want to use a stretchier yarn than I did. Knitting the headband too tightly or loosely can backfire if your yarn can't compensate and bounce back.

Lastly, I don't use circular needles. Just can't get a good rhythm going with those things. So I use dp needles. No matter which you choose, you'll need U.S. sizes 3 and 6.


I hope you enjoy creating Fern Glade as much as I have. You can find the author of the pattern, Megan Marshall, on ravelry.com or at her blog, I saw her STRANDing there.

Happy Knitting! ~ j

Fort Knox creator and USO team up for Military Kids

WASHINGTON, December 17, 2009

Fort Knox cartoonist Paul Jon has created five special pieces of line art for a USO coloring contest for kids. The art features the Fort Knox characters, Major Joe Knox, his wife, Jane, and their two boys, Donald and Wesley, as well as typical scenes of USO events for kids. The top entries will be featured on the USO's blog site throughout the week of December 27th.

The USO reported an immediate, record-breaking response, with more than 130 downloads of the art in the first two hours the contest was posted. You can read all about the contest on the USO's web site

Fort Knox Cartoonist Paul Jon is a military brat himself, and he approached the USO with an offer to help military families. The USO came up with this project to give children something fun to do for the holidays.

Paul Jon is the son of an Army colonel whose tours of duty included Fort Leavenworth, Fort Jackson and Fort Knox. In addition to his daily and Sunday Fort Knox duties, Paul Jon runs the creative services department of a software company, and his artwork has appeared in newspapers, magazines and online publications across the country. He earned his B.A. in journalism from the University of South Carolina. He is married and has two beautiful goldfish.

My Old Editorial Toons

I found these in a box of old photos. They're two of my editorial cartoons from the late '80s. They're somewhat yellowed but still fun to read.





The backstory is that I'd just given birth to my daughter and was approaching my deadline. So, naturally, I wrote about my maternity ward experience. The editor received a ton of feedback, both good and bad, and asked me to make the next strip about him taking the heat for the toon's content.

My editor was Pat Moser and the newspaper was the Hermiston Herald in Oregon. If anybody runs into Pat, tell him I said "Hey!"

~ j

All About That Military Brat Comic Strip called Fort Knox

I've got an Army Brat friend who created a comic strip based on his childhood and - guess what? - it got picked up by a major syndicate! So now he finds himself scrambling to drum up readership to prove to his new bosses that they weren't wrong in taking him on.

Which they weren't.

After all, how many people out there are Military Brats? I'm gonna say KA-Zillions, including me. (In fact, I've never really known any other lifestyle other than military...born into it, married into it)

I'm pretty sure we Brats can relate to my friend's comic strip in more ways than we can relate to a lot of the strips out there that are currently in full-tilt boogey.

My friend is Paul Boscacci and his new toon is "Fort Knox". You can see a complete run-down of it here: http://www.postwritersgroup.com/comics/fortknox.htm

The Facebook page is here: http://www.facebook.com/pboscacci#/fortknoxcomic?ref=share

Right now, Paul's working on placing his strip in the Garden City, Kansas, area. Please participate in the poll being conducted by the GC Telegram: http://swktalk.com/comics/ Kick back for a while and read through all of the strips. Each one of them is in danger of elimination so make sure you vote to keep the ones you like. Personally, I'm going to vote to keep all of them. After all, what makes me laugh might not make someone else laugh and vice-versa. :-)

"Fort Knox" officially premiers on October 5th. Give it a shot and give it a chance. And, remember, enjoy comic strips every day or they'll go away!

~ j

New PCS, New Life, New Post

Hello! I've been away from my blog since May but it wasn't due to neglect. It was due to another PCS. We recently relocated to Robins AFB, Georgia, USA.

Life has been busy, as you might expect. Here's what's been going on at our house:

On June 1st, we put our house in Oklahoma up for sale and hit the road for a house hunting trip to Robins. My husband stayed at the base and I flew back to Oklahoma. He checked in at his squadron on the 15th and spent the next two weeks completing his in-processing while I spent the same two weeks packing out of our house.

Didn't I just "pack IN" six months ago while he was TDY? Seems like that's all I do lately.

So I got to Georgia on July 4th, celebrated my birthday on July 6th (Woo Hoo!), our furniture arrived on the 10th, and my husband had knee surgery on the 14th. For the next two weeks, he was on 'convalescence leave' and was in too much pain to help me unpack the house.

Meanwhile, a film crew from the Pentagon Channel's TV show, ReCon, came to our house to film a segment on how military cartooning has changed since the days of "Willie and Joe".

So, now that our first week in town was over, I had to catch up on "Jenny" comics...and the blogging continues to remain on hold.

I also attended a meeting with the Southeast Chapter of the NCS and, ever since, have been extremely motivated to get together a marketing packet full of new material. This means creating new material, however, so that keeps me even busier.

So...to make a long story short, I've been away from blogspot for over two months because my life has been really busy. I realize this simply repeats what I said in the beginning of this note but, this time, I added really for emphasis.

BTW...I do have a new essay written but I haven't typed it up, yet. I write all of my essays in long-hand. Helps me think better when I have the creative connection going on with my hand and pencil.

So that'll be posted soon.

I gotta get back to work. I emptied out about four boxes of office stuff and forgot that I don't have anywhere for all of it to go so now it's just laying all over the floor. It's not an attractive look plus a pile of stuff on the floor makes it hard to get to the kitchen for more coffee.

Have a nice Sunday.

~ j

Military Spouse Appreciation Day

Happy Military Spouse Appreciation Day!

This is YOUR day...NOT Mother's Day, NOT Father's Day, NOT my birthday......I mean, YOUR birthday...!

This is the day that your family should take a moment and truly understand what you've done for them during your active-duty military spouse's career.

For instance...

Did your a.d. spouse ever sit with restless and rowdy children for hours on end, waiting for medical clearance to that overseas base, wondering if you were going to be disqualified because your youngest had "something"?

Did your a.d. spouse ever wait on the porch all day for the packing crew that never showed? (...while the movers did?)

Did your a.d. spouse ever sell Pampered Chef or Party Lite products because they couldn't get a job because local employers don't HIRE military spouses?

Did your a.d. spouse quit every single job they ever had because they had to PCS (sometimes after only six months)?

Better yet...did your a.d. spouse ever put their career on hold for YOU?

?????!!!!!

Okay, maybe I'm getting a little out of control here but...one last question...

Did your active duty spouse ever watch the news and wonder if you were on it?










Celebrate yourself. Not only on May 8th but all year long.

Go to jennyspouse.com for this week's comic.

~ j

What's on YOUR mind, Facebook?

I love when Facebook wants to know what's on my mind. Is it really that interested in me? Apparently not because, when I told it the following, it wouldn't take it. ha.

Here goes...this is What's on My Mind right now:

Penny the Puppy wants me to Get Up! from the computer. There's a lake in our backyard from the storms last night and she's dragged in something gross. The vacuum cleaner is sitting in the middle of the livingroom, chillin'...'cause it knows it'll be awhile before I get in there. All of my websites, "friends", and other annoyances are updated... except my nemesis, The Archives at jennyspouse. (2009 is STILL not posted!)

The cat, Miss Kitty, is sitting right in the middle of the diningroom table, shedding, leaving pawprints, checking her manicure, and giving me the stink-eye.

The electricity went out last night and I need to go around the house resetting the clocks or I'll be late for work tomorrow. I have a bunch of writing to do but the house needs cleaning first or I won't be able to concentrate.

I think I bought the wrong gift for my mother-in-law yesterday for Mother's Day so I may have more shopping to do.

I need a bulletin board in here.

I slept wrong so now my knee is stiff.

How's that? (I think I'll deal with Miss Penny first and see what she wants...that should distract me from everything else I have to do today. She's real good at that.)

Hmmm...I wonder why Facebook wouldn't accept what was on my mind? :-)

Cheers! ~ j

PS...This week's "Jenny" is UP! "Living in TLF"



:-)

This week's "Jenny" is UP! "The Potty Routes"

This PCS has been very eye-opening for me.

For instance, while getting ready for bed in our fourth hotel of the trip, I realized I was subconsciously "mapping out" the route to the bathroom.

I was also memorizing where the furniture was. That didn't surprise me because my baby toes ALWAYS take the hit whenever I make a mistake.

Chandra is PCSing right now and I thought that she MUST be going through the same things, especially when her children need to go potty in the middle of the night.

Go to jennyspouse.com to get your weekly chuckle!

Have a laugh-filled week!

Cheers! ~ j

Army Wives Renews for 4th Season

Just a little news about Army Wives.  They've been renewed for a fourth season even before the third season has begun (June 2009).

Here's the link to the story:  http://www.tvguide.com/News/Army-Wives-renewal-1003295.aspx

~ j

Interview with Terri Barnes of "Spouse Calls"

Terri Barnes and I have been
e-mail buddies for a couple of years now. After I moved back to the states, she wanted me to get somewhat settled so she could interview me.

Great! I love her stuff! So, between her busy, busy schedule and my so-so schedule, we picked a day she'd call and...

I gave her the wrong phone number.

Because, as it turns out, when you PCS, you get about twenty-seven new numbers to memorize and the hardest one of all is your own phone number. Honestly, when do you really use that one?

Terri apparently had a nice chat with the lady who answered - so that's a good thing - but I'd screwed up our window of time and now we had to resort to an e-mail interview. I stayed up until 2 a.m. that night, making sure I answered her questions as fully and completely as possible. After all, I owed it to her to at least get this one thing right.

But I think you can tell I'm getting tired and a little bit loopy by the last few questions.

Luckily, the interview turned out really great. Terri posted the uncut, unedited version on her blog over at Spouse Calls.

I hope you enjoy it. (...and don't forget to head to jennyspouse.com for today's latest chuckle)

~ j

...and the winner is...

Here are the results of the voting process so far...

1. "Welcome Home Syndrome" - November 2, 2008 Episode 157

2. "Moving Day" - January 13, 2008 Episode 115

3. "The July 4th Episode" - June 29, 2008 Episode139

4. "The Difference Between Guys and Girls" - April 20, 2008 Episode 129

5. "Holiday Military Spouse" - December 30, 2007 Episode 113

6. "New Spouse Orientation" - January 27, 2008 Episode 117

Tied for 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th Place:

"Yoga Schmoga" - February 17, 2008 Episode 120

"Listening is Love" - April 27, 2008 Episode 30

"Support the Troops" - July 13, 2008 Episode 141

"Patty Lynn, Command Spouse" - August 31, 2008 Episode 148

The top five strips will run in the Stars & Stripes during February, excluding "Moving Day" which has already been published twice and needs a rest. :-)

~ jewls

"Jenny" photos from Army Wives, Season 2

I've finally received photos of the "Jenny" comics used on the set of Army Wives, Season 2.

A few locations where you can spot the strips are: on the refrigerator in the Holden House (Michael and Claudia Joy), in the Burton House (Joan and Roland), and on the wall by the desk in the ADAPC office.

Melissa Berent, the set decorator, sent me two from the Holden's fridge and three from the mock base newspaper. Here they are (click the images to make them larger):

The three comics shown in this photo are, from top t0 bottom: Episode 51, Officers' Wives' Bob, October 22 , 2006; Episode 4, Are We There Yet?, December 4, 2005; and Episode 37, It Needs to be Bigger, July 16, 2006.








This is the front of the fridge. The featured strip is Episode 31, New Spouse Orientation, June 4, 2006.

This episode was one of my favorite strips to draw because I channeled Dave Berg's (MAD Magazine) style.

It came out exactly as I'd planned.




At this point, I need to say that Melissa and her crew totally "get" the message I'm trying to convey through the "Jenny" comic strip.  Not only is it tough to be married to a military member but sometimes it's also hard to get along with the other spouses, cope with all of the traveling, the incessant rules of the military way of life, and so on and so on.

These few comics alone are perfect for instilling the "flavor" of military spousehood into the psyche of the actors on the set; it's a great way to use the strip. I commend the set decorators for their ability to climb inside our minds and "go there".

Here are the rest of the photos...

This newspaper (held by AW graphic designer, Paul, and created specially for Army Wives) was used in several episodes and was shown being read by different characters, including General Holden.



I haven't seen those episodes yet so give me a couple of days and I'll find them for you! :)

Here's the "above the fold" of said newspaper.








Here's their featured strip. Looks like it was on the outside so the cameras could see it. :)







That's all for now. If anyone has any other "Jenny-spotting" to report, let me know.

I spotted the strip on the Holden's fridge on Season 2, Episode 16, but totally missed spotting anyone reading the newspaper.

That's all I have for now. The next episode of AW airs in either June or July. They told me they'll be using "Jenny" more than ever during Season 3.

Get your DVRs ready!

Needless to say...Discussion to be Continued!

~ j

Two New Interviews

I've recently completed two new interviews.

One was via a stateside phone call from DC to Okinawa by Washington Times journalist, Karen Goff, and the other was a long sit-down chat at Chili's with Joelle, a journalist from the website, Okinawa Hai.

Joelle and I talked so much, and about so many things, that I sometimes forgot we were interviewing! haha

Make sure you check that site out...it's truly an informative and useful source for those of us living here on Okinawa.


Follow the links above or cut-n-paste these:

Washington Times - "Jenny's Mission of Mirth"
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/28/jennys-mission-of-mirth/

Okinawa Hai
http://www.okinawahai.com/my_weblog/2008/09/julie-n-works-t.html

Enjoy!

(All of this year's interviews are listed on my homepage at jennyspouse.com)