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Open For Questions
I got this email and thought I would share it with all of our readers. It is an interesting way to get your concerns out there to the White House. Open For Questions is an opportunity to open up the White House to all Americans. Submit your own question about the economy, health care, education, veterans and other subjects that are important to you. Sign in to vote on questions and suggest your own, or read some of the questions already submitted. “The White House is open for questions.We invite you to participate in our community-moderated online town hall. Submit your own question about the economy and vote on submissions…
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MilitaryAvenue Alerts
Are you interested in Military Discounts in your area? Did you know we have numerous companies sign-up to be part of MilitaryAvenue every day? We call them MilitaryAvenue Partners. The Partners can have a free ad on MilitaryAvenue as long as they offer a military-discount to our well-deserving service-members and families. (That’s you, military spouses and military members!) It can be hard to keep up with all the new discounts around any given installation so a few months ago we launched the Military Alerts System. It is fairly simple. You register at MilitaryAvenue: Then you fill out a very simple User Profile: Based on your “Current Location” from your profile,…
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Household Penny Pinching from the House Guy!
Household Penny Pinching We owned homes while on active duty but spent a lot of time in military housing too as we moved so many times. One of the challenges of post military living has been household expenses and budgeting. We chose to live near family in a cold winter environment with a propane tank due to our country lifestyle. As we try to control electrical and propane bills we also saw the rise of fuel prices so it became critical to maintaining our costs. We like to travel and needed to see what we could do to save precious resources. We also saw it as a way to decrease…
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Veteran Education and Your “Education Bank Account”
Did you know you started your “Education Bank Account” when you finished Basic Training? A veteran receives a minimum of two hours of college Phys Ed credit for just completing basic! Nice! I just met with Dr Merodie Hancock, the Vice President/Executive Director of Central Michigan’s Off-Campus Programs who shared some great information about veteran education opportunities! Dr Hancock has extensive experience working with veterans and helping them pursue their educational goals. She commented that her classroom experience with veterans was exciting and that she found them to have numerous strengths including: diversity, a global view and being incredibly informed. That was the start of a great interview and I…
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Three going on 14
*C* will be four next month. I’m SO ready to move on past age three. The whining and “Whys” are enough to drive me insane. WHY is that car red? Because they painted it red. WHY did they paint it red? That’s what color they wanted it. I don’t know WHY they wanted it red, honey. And believe me this conversation won’t end that simply… it will end with my wanting to pull my hair out despite loving him to pieces. But there are moments, seconds, fleeting minutes that I want to just gobble him up. This is one of them: Recently he has been *all about* his brother’s mp3…
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Don’t watch your words, use them wisely!
We came back from a great vacation. Our bags were overstuffed, our ‘fun limit’ was about maxed out. Our spirits were high but the line to customs was ahead. It is interesting how emotions can take roller coaster rides in break neck speed. Rifling through my bags to find passport and declaration paper I approached the customs officer waiting at the desk. His first words were, “Welcome Home!” WOW!Wide eyed I looked at him and said a heart felt thank you! He meant it. I meant it. Then, after seeing my Military ID, he thanked me for my service! “I’m the spouse.” I said. He said he recognized that and…
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Vices and Grace
I was guilty. Zooming down the country roads of Michigan about 30 miles away from any major highway I was on my way home. I had visited my parents for the weekend. It was a GREAT weekend. I met my newborn niece for the first time. She was one-week old; beautiful, sweet, and as perfect as they come. I watched my boys, 6 and 3 play with their cousins, age 3 and 1 1/2. I laughed and smiled, enjoying the time with my two brothers and sister-in-laws. I thoroughly enjoyed being with my mom and dad. Going ‘home’ is always a funny thing for me. “Home is where the heart…
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Set the world into a calidiscope of color: One lesson at a time.
Ricki taught me about quilting. She opened a world to me of cutting, pasting, pinning, precision, and above all patience. I saw folded pieces of cloth translate into fat quarters. Ricki taught me to distinguish the value of colors. I valued friendship. I valued time well spent. I valued money.I had no idea what she was talking about in the value of colors. I know that chocolates come in light, dark and milk: each type with an appreciation of it’s own.NowI knowthat colors have values too.And I know that they are just as intoxicating as a great piece of chocolate! Before I started a quilting class, the fabric store I…
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Spring Bunny Rolls
Spring is finally here. It is outside – the proof is tulips poking out, daffodil spiking up, hyacinths branching out. Color will soon be where decaying oak leaves blanketed the bulbs. So, watch out!Those pesky rabbits will be chomping on the leaves and blossoms as they appear. I say turn about is fair play… chomp on the rabbit. Not being a hunter… I vote for bunny rolls. Yeasty rabbit rolls served piping hot with cold sweet butter. Nice 3/4 c milk1/2 c shortening1/2 c sugar1 t salt2 pkgs. active dry yeast1/2 c warm water (110 to 115 degrees)4 1/4 to 4 3/4 bread flour2 eggs Scald milk in microwave –…
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Spring has more promise than a PCS move has boxes!
Spring New beginnings.New promises of hope.New joys to be seen every morning. We just returned from a fabulous vacation. Fabulous is putting it lightly. It was an escape from the winter’s cloudy skies, dirty snow and icy roads. We chose to escape as far as we could manage – just north of the equator: meaning the Caribbean. Ahhhhhhhhhh doesn’t that even sound good. We were pampered to put it mildly. I was Madame for 10 days. I had coffee and croissants brought to the room each morning. ‘Wake up’ called just prior to sunrise so that we could go to the veranda, sit in luxurious bathrobes, feel the sea breeze…
