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Week in Review: July 17 – 23, 2011 (Military News) #MilitaryMon
Popular Military Family Articles for the week of July 17 – 23 on MilitaryAvenue.comLittle Known TRICARE Benefits:TRICARE offers comprehensive, affordable health coverage to more than 9.6 million eligible beneficiaries worldwide. It is an enormous military health benefits system and because of its complexity, many beneficiaries may be unsure of all the benefits and programs available to them. TRICARE has decided to highlight several well-know and maybe not-so-well-known benefits … Let’s Celebrate!: Get ready though… we have big plans for our 1,000 post coming soon! Prizes from USAA, Sears, Home Depot, Army Wife Network, Prudential and more. But I can’t stop there because the list is growing daily. (Are you a…
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We Are Grilling to Stay Cool!
It is hot, so we decided to stay out of the kitchen as much as possible at dinner time. Avoiding use of the oven will certainly keep the house cooler and keep that electricity bill down a few cents. So, with some fresh green beans picked from the garden (1.5 cups with ends picked off), a yellow onion sliced thin, olive oil, four chicken breasts, some “Sweet Baby Rays” sauce and some herbs (basil, parsley and rosemary) mixed into the sauce I headed out the door to the grill. Deb did make some very nice garlic potatoes on the stove but it was an on and off quickly. The chicken…
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“Your Future Demands Greatness, A Soldiers Inheritance” A Book Review
A young man joins the Army and goes off to basic training. Happens a thousand times a month! But this young man treasures letters from his dad through the whole process! “Your Future Demands Greatness” is a father’s wisdom and guidance for his son while he is in basic training, AIT and his first year of service. Full of humor and family, this book makes you feel like you are a member of the family but smiling as you watch Joseph meeting life’s changes! This is a great book for young people going off to be soldiers but also the other services as well! The helpful hints to deal with…
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Mom Means Business
My boys are a hurricane. A tornado. A path of destruction. We are working hard at starting good habits, staying organized, picking up when they are done playing, not waiting till Mom blows her top tells them to. I have found if I help organize the toys in their room that it only gets me very frustrated and my ideas fall apart in less then a couple of days. So now they are left to their own vices. I sent them to clean their room the other day, and told them anything left on their floor when they were done was going into the garbage. Sure enough they came down 30 minutes later declaring they…
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Unbroken: a Travelogue That Paralyzes the Mind and Pounds on the Heart
War movies do not intrigue me… I enter into the big screen arena. I am there, almost smelling the dynamite and JP4. I do not like being blown up, punched, starved or mutilated. I enter into the movie, my heart pounds with the characters. Then… I remember, they are only actors. They go out to eat at night and party on the weekend. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand rockets the reader back in time. Allows one to cheer and jeer at the Louie Zamperini, the bad boy in town. Never portraying Louie as a complete scoundrel, but a child/man with a mind in action. A creative, courageous and caring character. Ya…
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Tasty Tuesday! Col K’s Sassy and Yummy Salsa
Col K’s Sassy and Yummy Salsa finaleWhat a refreshing, thick and tasty salsa. We had it with a few chips and a glass of wine on the deck at the end of a busy day and it helped cool us off! As a follow on, we had a 6 year old grandson’s birthday party and knew it would be a hit! Be sure to chill for at least an hour after putting together! Easy to make; place ingredients in a mixing bowl and if wanted you can transfer to a nice dish later. Many of our items were fresh from the garden including the herbs or local farmer’s market! It…
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Week in Review: July 10 – 16, 2011 (Military News) #MilitaryMon
Popular Military Family Articles for the week of July 10 – 16 on MilitaryAvenue.comPCS Allowances and Entitlements: Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH): is an allowance to offset the cost of housing when you do not receive government-provided housing. Your BAH depends upon your location, pay grade and whether you have dependents. BAH rates are set by surveying the cost of rental properties in each geographic location. The rates are established such that members in each pay grade, independent of location, pay approximately the same out-of-pocket expenses. … MSEP Jobs! Connecting Military Spouses to Employers: It’s finally here! An online portal that connects military spouses directly to employers who want to…
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Sermon Notes: My Rock
As the young and vibrant woman of God led us into a time of worship this morning she asked, “Who is God to you?” He can be so many things at so many times but what resonated in my head was “He’s my Rock.” Because as beautiful as a sandy beach is, I can’t ground myself on thousands of pieces of shifty sand, thousands of things pulling and pushing me this way and that. However, that Rock; That Rock keeps me grounded. It keeps me grounded in the midst of turmoil: relationship troubles, financial problems, teenage angst, childhood rebellion, infant tantrums, tumultuous emotions. It doesn’t matter what is happening around me when I stand solidly on…
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That Military House: Moments of Sanity Are on the Checklist!
Move it – or lose it. Adventure advise from Sandee Payne. That Military House helps one open boxes and doors during all steps of the inevitable move.Be prepared, organized, clutter free and open mindedAre you at home with your surroundings? Oh the joy of waking up in the morning knowing the coffee pot is on the counter, milk in the refrigerator, spoons in the drawer. And then. Hello military spouse! It is PCS (Permanent Change of Station) season and that season, as a hunting season, is 365 days a year. You my dear are the item in the sites, laser beams are pointed straight at you. Or is that just…
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A Split Second Decision – and a Medal of Honor! DoD Blogger Roundtable
Medal Of Honor Recipient Sergeant First Class Leroy Petry and his wife Ashley“Rangers Lead the Way” We all make them – those decisions that are made in the blink of an eye. But some are more important than others, how about life changing ones? We take time to consider those? Right? Sergeant First Class Leroy Petry had a life changing decision and he only had the blink of an eye to make it in – the grenade was live, it was close and he and his fellow Rangers were going to die. His decision to pick up the Taliban’s grenade and throw it away from his team saved their lives and…