Tonight, I looked at my beautiful children–a sight that normally fills me with love and joy–and felt dread. I felt the dread of the solo bedtime routine. Trying to balance the needs and desires of two very young kids while still leaving myself enough time to do work and straighten up can be exhausting.

But I am not a single parent.

We chatted with Keri Smith, aka “GlamorousArmy”, to find out more about her humorous take on the ups and downs of Army life and to discover how she adds a touch of Army Wife Glamor to even the most difficult situation. Keri blogs at The Glamorous Life of an Army Wife.

Fallon Wharton is a proud Army Wife who holds a degree in Mass Communications / Journalism and has her own career aspirations. She enjoys writing poetry and short stories that draw upon her experiences and she has launched her own blog. She shared this post with us.

Sometimes life is about knowing…

I first published this post in 2005 on this blog and then in a local paper. In 2007, I sold a revised version to Military Spouse Magazine (10 Reasons Why Mrs. Clause Must Be a Military Spouse - typo NOT mine) and a friend of mine let me know recently that it is online.

I thought I’d re-print the original and link to the “Top Ten List” version…hope you enjoy!

Pam, who is just a ball of kindness and enthusiasm and positive energy, told us about how she writes “about everything, love, marriage, the military, children, cooking, crafts, homeschooling” at Troop Petrie.

Krystel, who blogs at Army Wife 101, is one of my personal favorite Military Spouse bloggers. She always comes up with fresh and interesting takes on military family issues and is a great community builder. She answered a few questions for us about her blog where she shares great information and her personal journey…

You are invited to our Army Wives on Lifetime coffee…or I suppose it is a Hail and Farewell since this is the finale. I’ve never done this before but basically this is an open thread for any readers who would like to share their thoughts on this episode or the series in general. Please feel free to comment while watching, either here or on the post on our Army Wives’ Lives facebook page!

***NO SPOILERS***

The Season 4 Finale of Lifetime’s Army Wives will air on Sunday, August 22, 2010, at 10:00pm ET/PT. Lifetime kindly sent me a screener and fans of the show are not going to want to miss this season finale.

This is a NO SPOILER post and I request that you keep the comments spoiler-free as well.

Leslie Drinkwine, wife of a Brigade Commander, has been banned from her FRG due to an investigations into her actions…Have you ever encountered a spouse who has “pulled her husband’s rank”? How did you handle it? How can the military overhaul the FRG structure to make it more professional?

I missed a week of the Military Monday carnival…and hopefully haven’t completely lost the momentum we were building!

I’m sure you will forgive me once you hear about the drill gremlins, kissing cousins of the deployment gremlins.