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Veterans in the News
I love to see relevant and factual stories about veterans in the news. Their service, patriotism, family touches and caring for others despite the tragedies of war are mentioned often. But why does the media insist on placing “Veteran” in the headline when it has no relevance? Caring for injured Haitians DoD PhotoThere seems to be a trend in the news lately. I am a fan of the news and freedom of the press in the US! It is one of our freedoms that makes this country great and allows us to keep up to date as citizens. By the way, I think that bloggers also should be protected by…
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Attainable Goals and the Sky-Blue Hue of Celery
It started as a simple experiment. My four-year old neighbor was over and she had never done the ‘celery experiment’. Imagine that! So I dug in my produce drawer and pulled out two stalks. We put a piece in each cup and then added food dye to the water. Red and blue. We watched them through the day and we saw the change. We noticed how the celery was drinking the water as the celery turned from green to a shade of the color of its water. We talked about the importance of drinking and how, yes, even plants drink. Her eyes were widened at this thought. Then my mind started spinning…
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Just Wait, military spouse suicide
Spouses looking out for other spouses, Her War, Her Voice! has teamed up with Not Alone to combat military spouse suicide rates and to ensure there is a safe haven for quality help. Melissa and Christina of ‘Her War, Her Voice!’ continue groundbreaking holistic military spouse retreats, as well as Just Wait, a place where military spouses can empower, encourage, and inspire each other through their art and their stories. Who do you turn to when you need help? Make a plan because when you hit that pit – and I know that pit, I don’t know many milspouses that don’t – you need a plan already in place. We are military-spouses and…
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Drink More … Feel Better
It was a rough start to our Christmas Break. The night before the final day of school and my first-grader was thinking of a school field trip in the morning and a class-party in the afternoon. What a fun day it was going to be. He had a rough cough for the past week but I just knew it would go away. Eventually. As we were settling into our bedtime routine that Thursday night *C* lost it. Vomit, vomit, vomit. Gross, gross gross. He spiked a fever and I knew he was down for the count. That cough stayed with him for another week. Cough medicine didn’t touch it and I was…
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Resolutions for the New Year
It is snowing outside the window… 33 degrees wet heavy snow. It is sticking and beautiful and white against the dark tree limbs. I love the look. I love the feel of it all. New Year’s Eve is right at the door step. 2012 is almost tangible. Time to think of improvements, self, household, work and community. Resolving to put energy, time and resources toward good. I have a list! Children in the neighborhood need smiles, someone to look them in the eye and listen to their excitement. My avenue is Wednesday nights: Pioneer Club. This new year the resolve will be to get them to bring more friends, get…
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Small Business Saturday
I am really intrigued by this idea of “Small Business Saturday”. The premise is the Saturday after Thanksgiving you go to your local family-owned, small business stores to do your Christmas Shopping. I got this ‘chain email from my mother-in-law a couple weeks ago. Usually I immediately hit delete on chains. Sorry, I get about 50 emails a day – and that is just personal. But this one caught my eye and hits right along the Small Business Saturday concept: As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high gear to provide Americans with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods — merchandise that has been produced at the…
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Helping a Veteran!
The Big Dead Tree … respecting the flag they fought under… The weather is getting a bit cooler, the days shorter, school has started and Fall is upon us! Veteran’s Day is fast approaching … The MilitaryAvenue team is busy preparing for Veteran’s Day with helpful articles, blogs, another Giveaway opportunity, recognizing veteran support organizations and much more during the almost two months preceding November 11th. Then I thought about how I had so much to be thankful for as a veteran. A loving wife (who moved 18 times and will celebrate a 40th anniversary in the spring) and family, a great support team of family/friends, veteran benefits, a church…
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Rebuilding and Cleaning Up Iraq – “The Right Thing To Do” DoD Blogger Roundtable
American forces are preparing to leave Iraq on December 31st and in fact, some of our folks are “looking at their watches” but what have we accomplished after a war, the loss of too many American lives and huge expenditures of our national treasure? Brig. Gen. Rock DonahueThose thoughts ran through my mind as I talked with Brig. Gen. Rock Donahue , director of U.S. Forces Iraq J7, the senior engineer in Iraq during the DoD Bloggers Roundtable. Gen Donahue carefully went through the statistics, the huge effort, that, our men and women in the military community have made to clean up Iraq during and after the war. He was…
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Back to the Big Metal Tube – Part 2 Cancer Redux
Yep, “call in two days” if you have not heard from us is truly an eternity for the patient and loved ones. Our journey with cancer is always an interesting one! We were visiting a doctor two weeks ago to help with some post surgery issues on my skin. When we mentioned that some of the skin near the surgery location in my heel was similar to what we had seen prior to discovering cancer in that location, he almost ran from the room. Deb and I almost laughed at his patient care style but understood as it is such a unique cancer (1% of 1%, da da da) and…
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Staying Healthy: Get those endorphins going
Health experts call endorphins “feel-good hormones.” Endorphins are natural chemicals released by the brain that improve your mood, relive pain, reduce stress, and produce an overall feeling of well being. They also help you sleep better. The easiest way to get your body to release endorphins is to exercise. Even a moderate workout eases tension and improves mental and physical health. More vigorous exercise really gets those endorphins going. The positive effect of endorphins can last for several hours, according to some endocrinologists. – Feeling Good – 100 ways to feel better every day Walking the Paul Henry TrailIt can’t be morning. The covers are still so comfy. Ohhh the…
