Fort Sill: Pros and Cons

We've been at Fort Sill for almost two months now (minus the time we went home on leave) and we are getting settled in.  We are still waiting on our household goods, our storage from Louisiana and our car to get here. Needless to say I'm ready to have all my stuff!  So, I wanted to give my two cents so far about what I think about Fort Sill

Pros:

The post has a lot to offer and is large. At least larger than the previous two posts we've been at.

The commissary is open 7 days a week (huge plus!) and has a good selection

I like our house. It's big for 2 people and the biggest house we've had while in the military. I even have bushes out front!

The library is good with lots of great choices and services. Libraries are always one of the first things I check out at each post.

People are friendly and generally very helpful. This was not the case of most people, at least in the customer service capacity at our last post, so the change is nice.

I love the old historic buildings and homes that are on post. Can we say photo time?

There is a decent mix of classes at the gym, athough I wish they offered more yoga classes. And all the classes are free, which is a huge perk.

Lawton is a decent sized town, with lots of antique stores, restaurants, two Goodwills (squee!) and pretty any other store you need. No Target yet, although that is rumored to be on the way, along with a TJ Maxx.

Lots of nice walking paths on post. I've been taking Boomer on walks in the evening and we've both been enjoying getting out and about.

Cons:

As with any post, I've noticed wives like to complain about being stationed here.  "Oh, we don't have fill in the blank in this town, I hate it here."  Listen here toots, you pretty much have all the basics, plus lots of extras. If you can't find it here, drive an hour and a half to Oklahoma City or trek three hours to Dallas. I'm sure you can find it there. Sometimes I want to tell these wives they'd never make it stationed in Europe when they can't even find the basics they are used to, or try Fort Polk where you had to drive 45 minutes to the nearest mall or chain sit down restaurants. Grow up!

We have roaches in our home. I haven't had to deal with roaches since college in some of the apartments I've lived in. I'm currently trying to get rid of them, even though I realize I'll probably never get rid of all of them.

The speed limits in the housing areas are kind of ridiculous. I understand why they are low, but at least set them to 20 and not 15mph. I pretty much have to ride the brake the entire time.

The PX customer service does need improvement. For starters the PX is split into two different stores. One has most of the main things and the food court, the other has furniture, garden tools, toys, etc.  When you're new, it's a pain if you're trying to find something and then realize you have to go to the other PX to get it.  Also, we tried to buy a couch and loveseat from the PX and it turned into a huge mess and we finally just said forget it.

There you have it! My take on Fort Sill so far. I really like it here told Sean I was kind of disappointed we weren't going to be here for more than a year, because I'd like being stationed here for longer.

Oh....and before I forget, to thank you all for being such great blog readers, I'm giving you a code for 15% off in my Etsy shop. Just use the code blogfriends when you check out.

Photography Opinions Needed!

I'm currently in the process of revamping my Etsy shop: Around the World in 80 Frames. If you haven't been there, there's a handy link on my left side panel to my shop.

For the last year I've been selling 8x12 prints because I like the way they look. There is no cropping done to the original image like there would be to fit the dimensions of an 8x10. The only problem is that you don't normally find 8x12 frames, which I think is why I haven't been selling more prints.

So, I'm going to change the default size I sell to either 8x10 or 9x12.  With those sizes I know you can easily find frames to fit them.  Less cropping occurs with 9x12 which is my obvious choice, but I'm not the consumer. You are.  So what's your opinion? Which would you be more likely to buy?

Keep in mind, I ALWAYS have the option of offering both sizes, but I normally put most of my listings in one specific size and then give the customer the option in the listing of different sizes and what the price would be.  For the record, I also have listings for larger sizes.

I welcome your feedback or suggestions and please vote in the poll below.  For all your help I'll be offering a discount code for my shop in the near future.

Thanks a bunch!

Instagram

Sorry for the sporadic posting folks! Sean and I are on leave and visiting my parents' and our hometown and I'd rather be out doing things then stuck on the computer.

So...if you want to keep up with our adventures, I've been posting a lot on Instagram. You can find me under (where else?) but Newgirlonpost.

Hopefully I'll be back to regular posting soon!

Government Resume Help

Here's the situation, looking on USAjobs today I ran across a few jobs here at Ft. Sill that I'm interested in.  The bad news is the date that they close is in two days.  Even worse news is that my resume hasn't been updated in awhile and I know that government resumes are different in that keywords in the resume is what helps your resume get sorted from the rest.

I don't have time to sign up and take the government resume writing class before these jobs close, so I'm coming to you, my readers. If you've written a government resume, taken the ACS class about it or know a helpful website about it, please let me know!

I need all the help I can get!

I Need a New Look

I kind of forgot that once I moved back from Italy that my blog would need to be redone, as my "Adventures in Italy" tag on my header is no longer true.

So...I need a blog redesign.  I'll probably need one now and later down the road when Sean is out of the military, because let's face it, I'm not going to be New Girl on Post at that time anymore.

If you are a blog designer or know of someone who is, or just love the designer who did your blog, let me know. I'd love to see examples of your/their work and see what my options are.

Thanks!

Your Favorite Apps?

Sean and I have finally joined the 21st century and obtained smart phones.  Although we were looking at getting iPhones, we ultimately decided to go with Androids. I got the Samsung Galaxy II and am quite pleased with my choice. The only downside is my phone had to be ordered and won't be in until next week.

So, in the meantime I'd love to hear what Apps you love and use often.  I know Android and Apple have some similiar apps, but also there are som that I won't be able to get not having an iPhone.

Let's hear those app suggestions!

Fort Sill Update

I just wanted to do an update to talk about how life has been for us at Ft. Sill so far.

Our flights to the states were pretty uneventful. I was a nervous wreck since we were flying with Boomer, but other than a few minor issues, we got to our destination with all our bags and Boomer.

My family actuallly picked us up at the airport. I can't tell you how great it was to see a friendly face at the airport. Not to mention I haven't seen my family since Christmas and Sean hasn't seen most of my family since last summer.  We got settled in our hotel room, which is pretty awesome in the way of on-post hotels. We have two bedrooms, a bathroom, large living room and a kitchen complete with two fridges and some burners. I'm was hoping for an oven, but we're making do with what we have.  Luckily they have a good lending closet where we borrowed a crockpot and other kitchen necessities. Unfortunately they do not have any government furniture we can borrow, so we will either have to borrow from friends or my parents until our household goods get here.

We have good news about our housing situation.  We actually have a house, although we have yet to see it. We are due to sign the papers and move into it on the 26th of this month. Although like I said before we have nothing really to move into it except what we brought in our suitcases.

Sean has put in a pass for about 2 weeks so after we sign the house paperwork, we can go four hours north to our hometown and stay with my parents for a couple of weeks, which will cut down on the amount of time we have to pay out of pocket for a hotel room/give us the chance to visit with friends and family/ and give us some time to relax and eat at our favorite restaurants. It's win/win.

As far as Ft. Sill goes, I haven't seen a lot of the post, but what I have seen reminds me of Fort Polk.  There are three gyms here, which is a plus and so far I've only been to one. The fitness classes are free which is AWESOME and I went to my first Zumba class here today. It was awesome. I've never been to a fitness class with so many people there. There were probably 60 people in this Zumba class today. I will be going back several days a week, as well as getting back to my running and weight lifting routines as well.  The PX and commissary here are about average. I'm excited to check out the library and thrift store as well.

I'm also excited about the free upcoming Brad Paisley concert happening on post in August. It's been awhile since I've been to a concert, so I'm pretty pumped about it.

What I'm not excited about is the fact that our paycheck is about half of what we were making while we were OCONUS.  We aren't hurting for money, but the fact is I need to buy camera equipment and we need to save a bit more for when we buy a house, so once we get back from leave, I'll be job searching. I'm hoping for something on post. Crossing my fingers for something good!

Now if I could only get my car so I could go visit Goodwill and Hobby Lobby....