Kimber's Navy Family

I'm starting this blog post off with a disclaimer: this was my experience as a Navy spouse as my husband went through prototype, another school in the nuclear Navy officer pipeline-- not his point of view, but mine. These are my thoughts and words, not his. My husband is prior enlisted. When he went through prototype this time around, he had already gone through prototype before {as enlisted}; he had already been on a submarine; he had been in the Navy for 10 years. He went through the STA-21 program {more blog posts on that under " Military Resources "} and is going back through the pipeline as an officer. I felt his prior experience would work to his advantage in prototype and at least give him more time with our family than he had while in power school {read the " Power school " blog post}. Students in prototype are on rotating shift work. The shifts are roughly these times, depending on which boat you get on and various other factors: Days {day shift ...

As a larger family, our grocery budget can be a little intense, especially as we have really tried to cut the crap out of our diet. I've written before about how we cut out hydrogenated oils and aspartame (" The first step ") and how we really try to eat at home (" Dinnertime "). Over two years has passed since I wrote those blog posts and I wanted to do a follow up. How are we doing now that we have two busy toddlers, a homeschooling preschooler, and another on the way? And, since I wrote those original posts, we've moved twice (" Across town move " and " PCS to South Carolina ") and my hubby started power school--a lot has changed since we decided to undertake a new family diet! I'm happy to report that our family diet is going even better than we had anticipated! Not only have we cut out hydrogenated oils and aspartame, but we've also cut out food coloring and fast food. We stick to foods that have ingredients we can prono...

I love vinegar water. My mom used it as a cleaner when we were growing up and so the smell brings back memories of my childhood home. I've always kept a spray bottle of vinegar water in our home. I have used it for a bunch of small cleaning tasks, but it hasn't been until our most recent move that I have started using it for all my cleaning needs. (Probably because up until we moved to South Carolina I had a housekeeper... read " Domestic goddess "). I want to say what prompted our shift to vinegar water is how environmentally friendly it is, but that's not true. What prompted the switch is how easy it is to make and how inexpensive it is. What kind of cleaning products did I used to use? I used to use the Swiffer Wet Jet , but you have to buy the Swiffer Wet Jet Cleaner Refills and the Swiffer Wet Jet Spray Mop Cleaner Pad Refills , not to mention have the Swiffer Wet Jet Mop. I also had the Swiffer Dust Mop (needs the Swiffer Sweeper Dry Sweeping Cloth...

Picture taken by TwinBug Photography at twinbugphotography@yahoo.c om If you have read my blog post " 0-2 year old twin must-haves ," you know how I feel about having a housekeeper. However, things have changed for us. We moved from North Carolina to South Carolina (read " PCS to South Carolina ") and our financial situation has changed (student loans!). We moved away from our housekeeper in North Carolina and do not have plan to get one-- yet-- here in South Carolina. My husband and I have had many discussions regarding a housekeeper. While our opinion on having a housekeeper is remarkably similar, I still want to knee him in the... well, you know, whenever he says, "We really don't need a housekeeper. We really can do it just fine " (my emphasis). Who does the housework around here, if not the housekeeper? That's right! Me! ;) Our agreement is basically that we want to let our finances settle from the move, have a chance to adjust our f...

  This is our third PCS together. There were a lot of reasons why this past move went as well as it did, many of which you already know if you read my last blog post, " PCS to South Carolina ." Here are the major reasons as to why this was such a good move: My husband was home on both ends and did not have to go into work much. In North Carolina he was working with the ROTC after he graduated college; he took 10 days of house hunting leave during our PCS. Now in South Carolina he is on hold before he actually starts power school. We did not have to deal with a boat schedule or him being underway while I set up the move. That was a nice change (read " STA-21 'Officer's' Program "). Since we moved one state down (North Carolina to South Carolina), we did not have to ship any vehicles and try to figure out how we were going to negotiate having one car for an extended period of time. Along the same vein, we also did not have to deal with getting specif...

Whenever I look at must-have lists on the Internet, I'm usually surprised to find that I own little of what is on them. So consider this Kimber's Must Have list. What is something that makes it a Must Have for me? For one the cost must not outweigh the amount of time we will use it. I have always wanted a Nap Nanny (like, really, really, really wanted a Nap Nanny... well, two Nap Nannies...), but I could never justify the cost of something that is so easily outgrown that costs over $100 a piece, plus the cost of additional covers-- not to mention the later recall of the product. As long as the cost isn't just totally over the moon, I don't mind an expensive product that is worth  the investment, especially when I can use it from 0-2 years. I heart convenience. Many of the products on this list are overlapped with my past lists. Here are the links to my previous must-have lists: My all-time most viewed post, " I love my stroller ," posted when the twi...