Key Spousing

Episode № 84 talks about being a Key Spouse for a bit, but also my breakup with Amazon, and why we brought back the baby gate.

Full transcript available for FREE99 at LadyJupiterPodcast.wordpress.com.

Transcript

Episode № 84 Key Spousing

Welcome back everybody!
Lady Jupiter Podcast is the audio accompaniment to LadyJupiter.com a lifestyle blog where I write about my family’s military life, our home life, and other tiny details that I just like to share. I’m happy that you’re here with me.

In this episode I’ll share an update on our life as affected by the U.S. military, then continue with a blog update, and wrap up with something domestic.

Today in our military-affected lives I have nothing significant to update.

Mister Jupiter has been busy flying, and I’ve been busy running the house.

I went to a meeting for Key Spouses and Key Spouse Mentors - it was hosted by the Wing Commander and her Command Chiefs. These meetings are an opportunity for Key Spouses to share comments and concerns that we’ve heard from our own squadrons and the families that we support. It’s one of the reasons that I really enjoy the Key Spouse Program - it’s just communication, and we volunteer to be the middlemen between families and Command.

[Kid Jupiter “Oh Nos?” Me: “Not right now.”]

Not to say that families can’t go directly to commanders (because they can!), but Key Spouses already have established communication with their squadron’s commander and is updated regularly on local programs and resources. When things get communicated to me, I can easily share any concerns up the chain.

So I asked for more movies on base! This wasn’t a concern from one of the squadron spouses - it was a request from me, I’m a spouse too! The last movie was shown during business hours on a weekday - and for the record it was set up for local airmen to enjoy. So I asked if we could get some weekend showings too, because families would like to watch movies on base also. Others agreed and supported that idea, so here’s hoping that we can have regular movies on base. Fun fact - a short 18 years ago I worked for AAFES, and I worked in a movie theater on an installation.

I worked concessions, and it was fun. You know when kids save their spare change for treats, and go to the theater with a bag of pennies? Well, it’s a great opportunity to practice coin stacking and counting by tens. I also had a lot of very serious conversations about dinosaurs with kids who were waiting for their parents to pick them up. It wasn’t the most serious job that I’ve held, but it was fun and definitely had the most popcorn.

Anyway - It’s nice having a voice on our installation, even though we’re just a tenant squadron and not even part of the local wing. I still have a seat at the table and I appreciate that. We talked about upcoming events, and got some updates about the Child Development Center and clarity about capacity restrictions. I learned a little something new about the local Key Spouses who attended, and was happy to be there. 

For today’s LadyJupiter.com update…I wrote and published a new Picks of the Week, and I’m trying to decide if I want to keep writing those at all. As usual, I started writing them in the first place because I was bursting with ideas and the need to share literally kept me up at night. But now I am less motivated to share, and even though it’s only five things, picking the things and writing about them is starting to feel like a chore. I will certainly figure something out, I’m the first person to remove things from my life that aren’t working for me.
📌 Picks of the Week № 32 

Oh! And since we last spoke Amazon broke up with me, so I am no longer an Amazon Associate (it was a minimal relationship anyway, they gave me a special link to use and gave me a tiny commission from the sales that came from my link). It was never a big money maker anyway; and over the years, the the terms only got worse - specifically in the spring of 2020, when the lockdowns started happening. Amazon lowered the commission rate, and increased restrictions. So my every-other month tiny check became less frequent…so I’m really not losing much. And honestly, I think I’ve found more cash in parking lots than I ever earned from commissions (especially since the percentage was reduced).

So I’m happy to no longer be an Amazon Associate. I’ll be writing about that when I can too. Meanwhile I’ll be spending moments here and there to remove those links from LadyJupiter.com. I am far too small for Amazon to do anything negative if I leave the links up, but frankly I don’t care to generate any traffic to them when the relationship is so one-sided in their favor - so I’ll be removing those links at my convenience.

And lastly something domestic.

I don’t have anything special to share this week, so I figured I would at least tell you that the baby gates are back up in the house because the dogs were getting too predatory around the toddler at meal times, and I got tired of batting them off.

I haven’t decided if our future dream home is going to be super compartmentalized or not, but for now I can definitely tell you that I am over having an open concept house. It’s impossible to keep the dogs out of the kitchen when the kitchen is in the living room. I like dining rooms in the kitchen, but again I need some way to keep belligerent dogs away from the food and I would rather not use baby gates for the rest of my life. I am aware that canine discipline is an option, but I have to admit that our large, old dogs are not very obedient. They are good boys, don’t get me wrong. But they will be as close to the food for as long as possible without a physical barrier.

And that’s it for today’s episode.

Show notes and transcript are available online. Visit LadyJupiter.com/podcast.
📌Ladyjupiter.com/Podcast

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I will talk to you when I can record next. Bye for now!