Military Spouse Day, Mother's Day, and more good news for you today! It's like the weekend celebration will never end!

Today Salute To Spouses would like to announce a new partnership with Mom Corps, an award-winning career development firm that has agreed to help military spouses kick-start their careers. Mom Corps shares our commitment to support military spouses as they grow their career and educational goals.

Mom Corps was created and is led by an Army spouse who experienced the challenges of re-entering the workforce after each PCS. Now, her program gathers experts, advice and resources into one online community where women can find help in meeting their career goals.

When you join the site you will have access to career experts who deliver training in the areas of job search, workplace flexibility and business ownership. Members can also use the Mom Corps community to network with other professionals.

In honor of Military Spouse Appreciation Day, and all the hard work spouses do all year long, Mom Corps is giving away 10, free, one-year memberships to fans of Salute to Spouses. This is a $99.99 value!

This is your opportunity to have free access to expert advice, rub elbows with industry pros and have the most up to the minute information on what is trending in the business world.

To apply, visit http://www.momcorps.com/blog/blog/2014/05/08/salute-to-spouses-partners-with-mom-corps-to-support-military-spouses

Today, ladies, take a bow.

It is National Military Spouses Day.

And even if the next 12 hours drags on the same as any other day of the year as you head to work or school, do the dishes and the laundry and maybe even continue to charge through another day of deployment, know that today the country has paused for just a moment to recognize that the military might that defends this nation would stop functioning without your support.

That's right, you heard me. You are responsible for the fact that America is able to win wars.

Military spouses do not just send letters and packages to the front lines. We keep going, no matter the circumstances: through separation, loss of pay due to Congressional bickering, PCS flights on Christmas Day and even as we bow our heads to mourn the loss of a beloved brother in arms - we continue to march forward. To make the world better.  To serve our community and our country.

To pick up the pieces when our civilian counterparts cannot and even will not.

On some bases, there will be celebrations. For other spouses, especially those whose significant other serves in the reserves and Guard and are therefore separated from the unit by distance, there will be nary a person who mentions it.

But know this, the success of an entire nation has been built partially on your back and of the thousands of spouses who have served since America declared its independence. And you are appreciated. You are important.

Take a moment and remind yourself that the smallest acts can result in incredible greatness. Every day you continue to serve selflessly as a military spouse is evidence of that. 

Happy Military Spouses Day friends! 

No experience needed.

You read correctly. None. Nada. Zip. Zero.

Of course, we might have to edit the heck out of you and send you a complimentary dictionary. Nah, just kidding. Ok, maybe.

But, we are not kidding about the writing part. Salute to Spouses is for military spouses, written by military spouses. And we want you to have the chance to tell your story.

We are thousands of women who move every three years to different places around the world, meet hundreds of new people and learn all kinds of great things. We are an incredible group of people with a lot of experience and fabulous stories under our belts.

So now is your time to share them. And grow a career. And be published. And get paid for it!

Yes my friends, there is money involved. And no experience necessary. Seriously, this is a gig to go for.

If you are interested, please email me at adperkins@bryantstratton.edu  Tell me about yourself, why you would like to write a blog and why you think other military spouses would like to read your blog.

 Let your voice be heard. We are here to hold the microphone. 

Where do you study? At the kitchen table? At the sink as you watch over boiling pots for dinner? In bed as you try not to drift off to sleep?

An important part of building a study routine is to find a study space that helps your efforts, not hinder them.

Now, there are a myriad of articles out there that will say that a well-lit, quiet, desk-like environment is essential to studying. However, as a mother of small children, I happen to find the extreme quiet disturbing. Typically, it means someone is planning on flushing a non-flushable item down the toilet, or perhaps has found it appropriate to paint their sibling in glittery nail polish. 

At any rate, I have found that I am fundamentally incapable of sitting at a kitchen table with an overhead light and focus on academics. That incapability forced me into planning mode, which led to trial and error mode, which eventually led to a system that actually works for me. 

I’m sure that many researchers and academic gurus would be more than happy to tell you that my habit is an absolute train wreck, and an embarrassment to the student community. 

I’m cool with that. 

First, I settle myself into the appropriate room.  It’s not always the same room, but it is the same sitting position in whichever room I choose. I will either sit on my seat on the couch, or on my spot on the bed.  I have chosen those spots for comfort. 

Next, I gather every supply I might need:  pens, notebooks, literature, laptop, highlighters, post its, coffee. I am a veritable hoarder of school supplies. Why? It’s simple:  if I have to leave my spot to get a pen or a highlighter or a cup of coffee, my kids will see me and inevitably need something and that can be a slippery slope. It’s akin to giving a mouse a cookie, really. 

Third, I find whatever lighting is comfortable, and I go with it. Additionally, I like to find music that is helpful to the focusing process. Music is key for two reasons: not only does it help relaxation and focus, it also helps drown out yelling children. Again, it’s all about efficiency, baby. 

Once I am truly settled, I hunker down - like, hunker down. I will only be lured away from my study session for reasons related to life, limb, eyesight, caffeine replenishment and the subsequent bathroom urgencies.  If it does not involve those reasons, I will not leave my comfy, functional space for any reason. 

More often than not, these things have helped me remain focused on the tasks at hand. Sure, it isn’t a perfect system, but what is? We are simply wives and mothers who have dared to seek some time for ourselves in an effort to further our education. And if it takes a little drowning out of children with trip-hop or Metallica? Let’s be honest. It’s worth it.  

After a very long winter under a blanket of frozen snow we are all busting at the seams to lather on sunscreen and don our bathing suits.

You’ve probably already started buying beach gear, the latest summer styles and even plopped a bucket of flowers on your front porch.

So why haven’t you devoted the same amount of thought and time into prepping for when that summer sun turns to violent summer storms?

You should.

Just weeks ago, most of the nation suffered white outs, several days of power outages in freezing temperatures and impassable roads this winter. This week that same giant swath of land was terrorized by deadly flood waters, tornadoes and violent thunder storms.

Were you ready?

The last minute rush on supplies and decimated, empty aisles in grocery stores suggests most of us probably were not.

Emergency storm prep is no joke but it also is something a lot of us forget about. We feel like we rarely need it. A supply of extra food, water (per person), medicine, batteries and a generator? Who has the money or space to store it?

Military families have the extra burden of having less storage area in government quarters to keep these life-saving supplies and sometimes move so frequently (with six months to a year between some PCS moves) that it makes no sense to keep all these extra items on hand.

It can be a pain, it can take money from your budget but you just need to do it.

While there is often a few days warning for bad winter weather, summer storms can appear seemingly out of nowhere. Tornadoes do not make appointments. And you do not have to take a direct hit from a hurricane to feel the pain for days after.

Military families who PCS during the summer should take extra care to learn the lay of the land while they are creating their emergency kit. When the weatherman says, ‘Those in the northeast part of the county need to seek shelter now’, you want to know where your live in the county before the storm starts, not begin Googling it as the storm churns overhead. Map the evacuation routes, learn where the county emergency shelters are.

This is simple advice. Build an emergency kit. Visit http://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit  for instructions on what to place in your kit but also advice on surviving a weather emergency.

With everything you have to maintain, move and purchase over and over again every time you PCS as a military family, I know this adds to the list and it is an easy item to skip.

Just don’t. Make it a priority. Be ready. 

We are taking a vacation.

We haven’t taken a family vacation since I was newly pregnant with my second child and celebrating the news by puking my guts out, on an airplane, halfway across the country. It wasn’t quite a work-free vacation. We helped my in-laws move. Then, my 1-year-old spiked a crazy high fever from some mutant virus and I got so car sick driving in the Ozark Mountains that I puked in a shoe box – the one that held a new pair of shoes I had just bought on the trip.

That was almost two years ago.  And I would still like a do-over.

Granted, we have taken trips since. But it’s just been my girls and me - flying to weddings, driving to see friends in another state, visiting my parents over the holidays.

But our deployment schedules haven’t allowed my husband to join us until now.

I am tickled pink at the thought of having someone else to help me drag car seats, strollers and carry-ons onto the plane. I don’t have to be the only person running my toddler back and forth to the “scary” airplane potty. I can get coffee while he rides the airport escalator with the girls. And I won’t be the only one juggling seat belts and lap children and iPads in airplane mode.

Be still my heart, but I may actually get to take a nap on this vacation.

It is funny how accustomed I am to functioning without my husband. How I know how to travel without him, even learning which items need to go into the carry-on, in the right order, so I’m not fishing for the one item I need with two screaming kids.

So now that he’s here, helping me pack and carry our children through security, I feel quite a load off. 

What a treat.

And yet, as I watched my dog do the nervous pace and twitch he saves for every time the luggage comes out of the closet, I realized I’m still anxious, too.

Truthfully, while I may be a seasoned solo traveler, I’m not sure I remember how to travel with a companion over the age of 2.

He asked me after dinner to review what we needed to pack. I brushed him off with a quick, “It’s fine.  I’ve got it figured out.”

I hadn’t even considered what he would need. Or what he wanted to make sure we had, in terms of snacks for the girls or movies to watch on the iPad.

I have forgotten what it’s like to have help.

I want it; it makes life so much easier.

But it’s hard to be the one always self-sustaining, only to find you don’t have to anymore, or at least for the moment.

I couldn’t be any happier, but my nerves are still firing as if I’m revving up for a 5 a.m. flight.

Learning to have help may make vacation harder than I ever thought.

Did you happen to see the pictures of naked military spouses who are trying to draw attention and support for soldiers battling PTSD?

I don't know how I missed this. In 2012, a group called Battling Bare, based in Kentucky, took photos of military spouses stripped down to the skin. They wrote on their bodies about the pain of enduring PTSD and their never ending love for their service member as they fight to bring him back from the brink of the disease.

It is pretty powerful stuff. These women literally put all of themselves out there to catch America's attention. They need help. Their soldiers are suffering.

But did anyone listen?

The statistics grow every day. Suicides among not just service members, but also their families, are happening daily. Ten plus years of war is taking its toll. Now, budget cuts mean families who have literally dedicated every day of those ten years to war are being pink slipped and sent packing - a fact that few Americans realize.

America's military families need help. Every day, as the war winds down, there are fewer hands reaching out to offer assistance.

Kudos to the ladies of Battling Bare who continue to fight for us all. Their Facebook page offers encouragement, resources and a safe environment for those who are suffering to share and be understood.

Check them out at www.facebook.com/BattlingBare

Well, its garage-sale season around here.

Which normally brings a little bit of joy to my Type-A heart because I get to sticker and label and color-code things.

I get rid of several bins of crap crowding my garage. I get to sort through too-small baby clothes, toys, and books we no longer need. I get to bring out my big jar of spare change and haggle with my neighbors over a dime.

It’s great times.

Except, in a military town, garage sales have an underlying meaning.

There is more stuff for sale, for starters. More clothes, more furniture, more appliances. More baggage.

This year’s garage sale, I’m throwing with three other friends. Two of whom are months away from PCS-ing.

Which, honestly, I still forget, as we go on our daily jogs or take our kids to the library’s story hour.

So when we were discussing whether we wanted to hang up clothes or lay them out on a tarp at this weekend’s sale, I was a bit startled when one soon-to-move friend looked at us, panicked.

“I still haven’t had the courage to dig through our closets. And I need to. I need to get rid of this stuff. We don’t need it all. And there’s no point making the Navy move it, then,” she said.

No amount of color-coded stickers could cheer us up after that.

I am a firm member of Camp Denial when I lose a fellow member of my “mama tribe,” i.e., my fellow military-wife friends who get it and have my back, too.

I prefer not to think about the fact that my kids won’t always run into their homes, familiar with them and their children. That we won’t always know what the coded language means when we are excited our husbands are about to come home. That we won’t always be there to drop soup on a sick friend’s doorstep or watch children during a rather tedious FRG meeting.

When I was a newlywed, sending my husband off to boot camp, I thought I knew all about the goodbyes.

How hard it would be to say goodbye to him. To miss him. To feel the empty hole he left.

I didn’t think about the other good-byes. To the friends. To the co-workers. To the barista at the local Starbucks who knows I want a decaf cafe latte with soy before I even pull up to the window on my morning drive to my daughter’s pre-school.

Those goodbyes evaded me as we set off on our military adventure.

And now, here I sit, a regular old pro at saying goodbye to my husband over and over and over again, but still struggling with the less-frequent but often more gut-wrenching farewells I have to say to our friends.

It makes these next few months all the more bittersweet. The last coffee dates. The last beach trips. The last time we wait for a husband to return.

The last garage sale.

Where I have to watch my friends sell off the unnecessary furniture, too-small baby clothes, and extra colanders and kitchen gear they no longer want to take to their new Navy home.

Sending my husband off to boot camp taught me a lot.

But it didn’t teach me how to survive the last garage sale.

Next week marks the one-year anniversary of purchasing our home at our new duty station. I cannot believe we have been here for a year already. I often catch myself introducing myself to new people by saying that, “we just moved here”.

Compared to our last duty station, which lasted just 10 months, we should feel settled and home by now. Some days I really struggle with feeling settled.  Next summer we could possibly be moving (which we knew was a possibility when we bought our home) so we could technically be halfway through our time here.

I am beginning to feel like I will have this unsettled feeling for the rest of our military experience. Whether it be 10 months or four years, eventually our time comes to an end at each duty station. With that reality, will I ever feel like I am settled somewhere? Will I ever feel home?

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy our current home for the most part. There are a few things I miss about our previous duty stations, like the Southern California weather or having Target only a few minutes away. We have fallen into a pretty good routine and are looking forward to spending our summer days at the beach.

However, every now and then I find myself in a bit of a funk. Sometimes I am bored of our neighborhood with no pool or playground accessibility. I’m tired of rainy days that ruin our plans or the fact that small town businesses here often close on a weekends because of off-season hours. I am annoyed with my 45-minute drive to civilization (Target in my book).

Somehow I have a reason to dislike this place. Am I itching to try somewhere new already? I couldn’t wait to have this last PCS over with and yet I find myself daydreaming of our next adventure.

Usually, that thought doesn’t last long because I realize for right now I don’t have to schedule a move or live with boxes piled up or survive with two toddlers in a hotel room while we wait for on-base housing. Right now, we are home.

As I look around at pictures from our travels and time in this military roller coaster of a life, I realize that despite the rocky transition each move may have been, there were lots of good memories in between. No matter where we go, we go together and that what makes it a home.  

Like most government programs, the Post-9-11 GI Bill has stipulations that can make it difficult to determine how much and exactly what you are eligible for.

A new online tool vows to make that that process easier.

Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, is on the news and talk show circuit this week to introduce the GI Bill Comparison Tool, produced by Joining Forces, a national initiative by Biden and First Lady Michelle Obama to engage communities in reaching out to military families and provide them with opportunities and assistance. The announcement also highlights the organization's third anniversary.

Previously, the same information regarding the GI Bill was available, but at several different websites which veterans had to dig into to find the data.

Now, Biden said, veterans can use this one website to estimate tuition and fees, housing allowances and book stipends for each school they are interested in.

So, curious, I popped into the site to see exactly what it does. And, it does a pretty good job of compiling a lot of info. There are dropdown tabs to input your eligibility level and a dropdown menu to find your school. If it doesn't pop up, it means you cannot use your GI Bill benefits there, simple.

There is a button to indicate whether you will be strictly an online student or attend on campus and waalaa! The site posts the amount of tuition your benefit will cover, how much housing allowance you will receive per month (full time students only) and your annual book stipend.

It also indicates whether the school  participates in the federal Principals of Excellence program and agrees to adhere to strict guidelines in order to receive federal funding for veteran education, the Yellow Ribbon Program in which the school covers part of the tuition costs for veterans and the number of GI Bill beneficiaries who attend.

Finally, the page provide the school's graduation rate, the default rate for students of that school and the median amount of money family's generally borrow to fund an undergraduate education at this school.

I'm not going to lie, I spent more than a few minutes putting in different schools to see where the best deals could be had. And it was a much more pleasant experience to simply type the name of the school rather than compare several open tabs on my screen. To find this same information on my own, I would have trekked and searched at least five different websites.

For military families, who typically don't have a lot of time to waste searching, I say, this site is a winner.

And considering that the Veterans Affairs Department estimates that it has distributed more than $30 billion in tuition and education-related payments to more than 1 million veterans and family members, my guess is this site, is going to provide a lot of help, to a lot of people.

Check it out at: 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/04/14/estimate-your-education-costs-just-few-clicks-gi-bill-comparison-tool