I hate you commissary bagger

While my sister was here we made a trip to the commissary. Not a big deal, she's not a normal house guest after all (she even lived with us for around a year when biggish first born) and really part of the fun of her visits is that they're really quite low key. We do some geocaching, goofing off, Scrabble playing, that's about it. But I digress...so we went to the commissary. Not exciting. What was exciting in my small world was having someone help wrangle my two small people. Which is when I got annoyed. Nay upset. No, that's not right either. Nope. That's when I got so mad that I seethed and then cried later. I very very rarely cry. I'm just not a crier but damn it all, it was rude and it HURT. 

If you've never been to a commissary then you may not know that there are baggers who work for tips only. They're frequently older Asian women at least in my experience they are. I usually don't have cash (damn this cashless society!) so I usually either take out my own or just use the self check out as to avoid the baggers however this day I used a bagger. I wish I had not and I probably will not any time in the near future. Yes it made me that mad. So we check out and all that jazz, the smalls are attached to auntie and are walking slower and showing her all kinds of things that are interesting to 3 and 6 year olds everywhere. I'm walking with the bagger and she asks me if the that was my nanny. I'm slightly befuddled as my sister and I look pretty darn similar - she's quite a bit taller (haha close to 6 inches, yes that was the bane of my existence growing up since she's younger) and I'm curvier. That's when the bagger said "huh well cause she so tall and skinny and you so fat." 

ARE YOU FOR REAL?!

Did you just call me fat? You work for tips and you just flat out called me fat? I started shaking I was so upset. 

Yes I know I'm not the skinniest girl in the world (and for the record my sister is a runner and is in amazing shape but she's not even remotely close to stick thin either!!). I have CURVES! I'm 5' 6" and I am a story of averages, seriously. I am the average height of a woman, I am the average size of a woman. I wear a size 14. I've birthed and nursed two babies...and those puppies never shrank so yeah I'm a bit top heavy too.  I work out EVERY single day - we walk at least 2 miles a day every day. That hurt, weight is something that has always been a struggle for me. I've been dieting for basically 15 years...I don't eat crazy amounts of crap...although sometimes I want to and just give up and give into it but damnit I DON'T.

I reported her to management and didn't see her when I ran in yesterday. I don't want her to get fired but seriously hope that there were repercussions because I was in shock at the insane inappropriateness of her comments. 

But I think it's going to be a very long time before I use a bagger again....

This is where I will dazzle you with the stupidity of the Army.

Today the hubs called from work...but first you have to understand a little about his work, the unit he's attached to is akin to the asshole of a pig. Except pigs are cute. And smart. Neither are qualities that anyone at his job seems to posses. When he tells people here (or even other Army folk not here) the standard and expected response is  a sympathetic sigh and a "I'm so sorry!" Yes it's *that* fabulous. So anyways, that is the number one reason that we've stopped fighting the orders to Fort Hood...it's an escape.

So anyways he calls with really awesome news. That is if you define awesome as "someone giving you 10,000 paper cuts all over your body then dunking you in lemon juice." Someone, no one is exactly sure who has decided that the hubs is going TDY (temporary duty somewhere that is not here) on January 12th. Ok, fine I say. Until he says "for three weeks." To which I promptly started yelling and eventually crying. Which makes exactly nothing better but still. Why is this so massively stupid? Oh where do I start?

For one the dates that he was given means that he will have exactly THREE DAYS to completely clear the base here AND get his ass to Texas. To put it mildly, it ain't gonna happen. There is no way in this reality or any other that he can clear the base in less than 3 days let alone drive 1500 miles in those same three days. The Army standard is 10 working days to clear a base!

Ok says the husband, I'll just change my date to check in to Fort Hood.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Not happening. To add to the fun, if he does NOT check in to Fort Hood on time even if he still hasn't checked OUT of Ft. Stewart, he was be regarded as AWOL. Seriously.

I'm not even putting the boys and I into the equation. I've moved alone before, while it's a huge pain in the ass, I can do it. I haven't done it alone with two kids but I have some awesome friends here so I know that I can get some help at least with someone keeping the midgets while I supervise packing etc. The drive doesn't bother me either. The boys and I drove more than 6,000 miles alone this summer so another 1,500 is nothing.

Right now I'm more pissed off than anything else. I mean, seriously? Are they stupid or are they dumb as a damn rock? Who makes decisions like this? Right now I want to walk in there and yell at someone. Which would not help anything but holy crap would it make me feel better.

New Adventures

As seems to be typical of my husband's career, we were just informed that we will be moving....in roughly 6 weeks. We're not particularly pleased with where. In fact he turned down orders several times to this base in the last few months but apparently the powers that be have a sick sense of humor so off to Fort Hood we go. The whole situation is so idiotic that it's funny. He first got orders to Fort Hood in May - hubs promptly told the powers that be "Thanks but no thanks" so the rescinded those orders and issued new ones...for a different unit at, you guessed it, Fort Hood. To which we're like "Really?!" So phone calls were made, asses were reamed (in a really nice way of course) and those were rescinded. Cue deja vu orders. Same result, same annoyance by us. I just wanted to call and yell at them "MORONS! The point is we do NOT want to go to Fort Hood! Different units at the same place do not change the result!" But alas they do not fancy speaking to angry spouses. During all that, the hubs was deployed so that was fun to add onto that existing stress. But we dealt and he's home now. Sure was a nice welcome home/Christmas present to be issued orders to freaking Fort Hood yet again.

So we capitulate to the powers that be. You win.

Obviously there is a reason that we're going to Fort Hood. I may be going not exactly willingly but I'm going. I'm wee bit miffed BUT at this point I'm resolved and will make the best of it. It will be nice to be so close to Austin and the frequent (and not too pricey) flights to the California bay area aka home.

I'm also realizing that professionally for both the hubs and myself, Fort Hood won't be that bad. For him he's really just happy to be getting away from his current unit which is known as the scourge of Fort Stewart. For myself, Fort Hood has the largest mental heath treatment unit and considering that I'm going to need to start interning shortly, that will be ideal. Considering that I'm going back to school to be a licensed counselor specializing in PTSD and mental health issues specific as they effect soldiers and their families, being in a place with such a large concentration of people needing help isn't exactly a bad thing for me professionally. Hopefully by the time we leave Texas, I'll be fully licensed and on the short road to getting my PhD.

Two other very large pluses - the hub's gaining unit will be deploying as we arrive and since he just got home, he will not be. He's not really big on being on Rear-D but frankly we both know it's better than deploying. With that deployment and dwell time cycle, it looks like the entire time we're in Texas, he won't deploy which makes me do very enthusiastic happy dances. The other biggie is that we will only be there for two years. Its double edged because I know that by the time we really feel settled, we'll be leaving BUT hopefully then we'll be able to maybe, hopefully get orders somewhere we actually want to go.

And at this point I should stop rambling as typing while being climbed on by a certain smallish who is insisting that he's Buzz Lightyear is becoming challenging to say the least :)