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A Family Member With Four Legs
She has lived in 6 states and has an Icelandic name and is part of our family! Vigdis is the puppy that joined us almost 16 years ago and has moved from the DC area to the great Southwest, then to the Low Country at Charleston AFB, then to the beautiful Northwest, made a short stop in Ohio and has settled into Michigan with us in our retirement place! She has also visited many locations with our adult children as we PCS’d to avoid lengthy stays in the kennel while we waited for housing. Her travels have been epic (do I dare say she hates to fly!??)and frequent. Her roles…
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S’more Simple Pleasures
Give a 5 year old, or a 50 year old a stick, a place in front of an outdoor fireplace, unlimited marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers. Ahhhhhhh life, it is good! We live in the country. We clear land, burn wood, cut thin branches and eat s’mores! My daughter lives in suburbia. They buy wood, fire up the deck fire pit, and use coat hangers for the ‘roasting’, and eat s’mores. Simple pleasures. Life long memories. Instant road back to childhood. Instant road to ‘maturity’ – holding something so close to the fire. (With permission!) One roasted marshmallow can cover a square foot of skin in less than it takes…
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Top Ten DAK values: a True Military Man
Seasonal changes help me value my source of year long strength! My husband is a leader, listener and life partner: full of love and laughter. I have listed Dave Letterman style, top ten attributes of Dale. I know it is a personal blog entry… but I know it is a good thing to share personal pride and bits of his personality. It is fun to write him up this way! 10. Love of music: loud and all types 9. Fearlessness in communication **Open home: studies, youth groups, work parties **Open Mind: listen, value, accept or reject ideas. 8. Change is good. Experience is Better. 7. Strength can be SHOUTED in…
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Roller Coasters
What a week! I have never been on such an amazingly, terrifying roller-coaster in my life. But this isn’t one you find at Cedar Point or Disney World. No this is emotional. Saturday was my husband’s going-away party for his upcoming deployment. Friends and families came to wish him farewell. Of course I looked at it more as “See ya later” then “Good-bye”. I had a nice time. Our neighbors were here, my family came in from Michigan, Hubby’s family was here (most happen to live in the area) and friends from work and small-group all dropped by. We had a Taco Bar with all of the fixings. My mom…
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How to get the most miles to the gallon of gold (gas)!
We are all looking at the gas pumps today and thinking about the impact on the monthly budget and that vacation or trip home for the family reunion this summer. How about that PCS move this summer? I started thinking of ways I have used to improve the mileage in my vehicles and a couple of things quickly come to mind. Its not an extensive list but just some common things you may have forgotten or just needed the reminder to help yourself a bit. First, check those tires for proper inflation. After a long winter pull out that tire pressure gauge and see where they are at and put…
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Bumps, Bruises & Hugs
The windows are wide open at my house! It is 75 degrees out according to the little thermometer in my kitchen. AH! My soul is feeling refreshed already. My little boys are outside in shorts & t-shirts. They would like to be barefoot too but are wearing socks & sneakers much to their chagrin. I have pulled tricycles up out of the basement. I grabbed sidewalk-paint & chalk off of the garage-shelves. The Little Tikes basketball hoop now sits proudly in the driveway screaming to be played with. My three-year-old has already fallen and has two bloody knees. He cried for 20 seconds but he would much rather get back…
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The Weekend Getaway
Recently, our kids and grandkids decided that we all needed a weekend getaway! We found a state park with a wonderful old inn that was a short drive (less than 200 miles) for all the family to meet and the facilities were great for the entire crew. Pokagon State Park is at the intersection of I-69 and I-80/90 and is only about 3 hours from Wright Patterson AFB, OH, 3.5 hours from Great Lakes Naval Training Center,IL and 2.5 hours from Selfridge Air National Guard Base, MI. The park had hiking trails, a horse barn for saddle enthusiasts, an indoor pool to entertain the younger set, a game room with…
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Feeling out of sorts? Wondering where you are?
Direction:There will never be a time in your life when you don’t need it!Therefore, there will always be something new.There will always be someplace where others have been… and you will soon experience.There are places and times to listen, read and remember.There are navigation aids: maps, Garmin or TomTom, cook books, the Bible, WebMD, Instruction manuals, report cards, IRS sheets. Going alone is a plan that sometimes has to be followed.Going with a team member makes the journey a bit lighter.Being a team member and helping with the load, the listening, the remembering readies the team for the goal. Find your direction with help. Use the resources that are out…
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New Beginnings
Hubby is home today. I can tell things are winding down for him. It’s been forever since he got up and put on jeans as opposed to a suit. He is self-employed so he is having to “close up shop” while he is deployed. Yesterday was hard for me for some reason; but today I’m feeling pretty good. Nothing like an emotional roller coaster! I woke up yesterday weepy, realizing that his ‘going away party’ is this weekend. (I’ll have to devout a whole blog-entry to his party preparations later.) Feeling weepy & fighting a cold I headed off to MOPS with my two boys regardless. We have ‘two chapters’…
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Small Group: The Joys of Entertaining
Wednesday was small group at my house. I am enjoying the company of our weekly small-group from church. We are a range of ages. Hubby and I happen to be the youngest at 34. The oldest couple’s child just left for college this fall & they are empty nesters. One member of our group is single and another member’s husband has dart-league the same night we meet. Soon Hubby will be gone and that will just add to the dynamic, me being the temporary single-mom. So we are a group of 14 of all different backgrounds and I love it. The month of April “Small Group” has been at our…
