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Vision a 20 20 Deal and Bright Hope for Tomorrow
Vision with age is supposed to diminish. Yet, life hones, shapes and directs vision by allowing light in, fracturing those simple rays. Prisms are laid out complete with memories of faces, places, smells and sounds. Vision for the future crescendos with strength of the past, desires of present but can be walled in by anxieties unseen. Vision takes ‘challenge’ and uses it like a battering ramp against the walls of prejudice, loneliness, touches of arthritis and other cob webs! Life requires so much work to be able to see. On our own we can be spooked by the moonlight and blinded by the sun. Grasshoppers can still be giants. That…
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A Minute Out of the Norm: Helping the Birds
I love birds. We have a couple of feeders around our house and a much used bird bath in the front garden. My favorite feeder is viewable from my kitchen window as well as the deck door. I’ll find myself sometimes just staring out the window watching the birds. Other times my boys will give a loud shout-out. “Mom, a Cardinal.” “Mom, a Blue Jay.” ” Mom, oooo come look at this one.” It is just fun to have a simple thing to enjoy with my boys. (After all I can only feign so much ‘interest’ in Pokemon, jokes involving bodily functions and games like Mario Cart). Today in my monthly-newsletter from my local metro-park…
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Military Saves Week: Ideas from our Community of Military Families and Friends
I enjoyed the tips that we got from Facebook Fans and MilitaryAvenue Partners and wanted to share them with you, our blogging community: Again, a big ‘Congrats’ to the winner in our “Penny Saved. Penny Earned.” Contest was Roxie. Her savings idea was: “Pack healthy snacks and drinks for the little ones in reusable containers and bpa free drink bottles. There’s nothing like hungry kids in the car to make you spend a lot of money for unhealthy, greasy drive-thru fast food out of desperation! Good for the environment, good for your kids, good for your wallet.:-)” … and here are some more great ideas … Master Craft Carpet and…
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A Minute out of the Norm: St Patrick’s Day Shamrocks
I have to admit it… I have the perfect kitchen door. It is a sliding glass door that catches the morning sun, brings about afternoon shade and a perfect view of the evening stars. I am a light-person. I crave sun-shine. I LOVE a warm sunbeam. Winter can be long and hard on me, especially in cloudy, wintry northern-Ohio. But back to that perfect kitchen door. It is a great spot to hang hand-made seasonal decor. We’ve hung painted-Easter egg crafts; Valentine Hearts; a cut-out snowflake or two; even some summer home-made flowers. If there is a decoration that can be made out of paper, made by a preschooler or grade-schooler … we…
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DoD Roundtable on 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit “Compassionate Warriors” to Haiti
The DoD New Media Directorate arranged for a DoDLive Roundtable with Captain Clark Carpenter, US Marine Corps, the Public Affairs Officer for the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit which is currently preparing to embark for Haiti. Capt Clark said that unit morale is extremely high as they prepare to assist the Haitian people with humanitarian assistance following the devastating earthquake. The unit just returned from a seven month deployment in early December and has responded to the crisis with a “Compassionate Warrior” attitude and are eager to help. In addition, many of the personnel have previously participated in humanitarian relief and are prepared for the situations they will face when arriving…
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A Simple Gift to Make That Looks Good!
At thanksgiving time, I like to have something set up for folks to do wile either waiting for the turkey to fill the house with that undeniable, wonderful aroma … or to do while waiting for that undeniable FULL feeling to fade. We have put together simple quilts, sewn up patchwork pillow cases, made Santa faces out of magnolia pods and even painted tree ornaments. All were fun and a bit challenging. I think being artistically challenged allows us not to go for perfection… but allows us to be perfectly content! And after a large meal… being content is a good thing! This year we will be putting together a…
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A Minute Out of the Norm: Christmas Craft Idea for the kids
I struggle with Christmas ideas for my deployed husband. The deadline for getting packages in the mail is quickly approaching and I know I need to get everything wrapped up and mailed. But it is hard to wrap ‘nothing’. Hubby says that he doesn’t need anything. Hubby tends to get his boxers in a tizzy if I spend too much money. [He’s the financial conservative in the family… I’m all about keeping the economy going ;)] So when Hubby says he doesn’t need anything and doesn’t want me to spend money … makes it hard to send a Christmas package. So I was walking the crafts section of our local…
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A Minute Out of the Norm: “I Spy… Nature”
AH Spring… flowers are in bloom, grass is turning green, there are new things to discover every day in the eyes of a preschooler. This week I am visiting my parents. They are about a five-hour drive from my home so when we go to visit we usually stay awhile! (Not that I can complain about five hours. We were many many more hours away from my own grandparents growing up.) My parents’ have a great home for their grandsons to visit: acres of property, hills to rough and tumble on, old ‘hunter’s stands’ for great forts, and a dirt driveway for Tonka-trucks and -bulldozers. What more could could the…
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A Minute out of the Norm: Paint some Easter Decorations
I thought I would start a new ‘department’ here on “Our Letters to You“. I find with my husband gone for long periods of time I’m always looking to ‘shake things up a bit’. It’s when our routine becomes too routine that we really miss his presence. I’m no Martha Stewart but as I come up with new ideas that we did just to change the routine by 5 to 10 minutes I would like to share them with you. So without further ado I present our first “Minutes out of the Norm”. Today my boys and I painted Easter Eggs; Not the real kind of eggs … the paper…
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It is wonderful to be able to say “Thank You”
Ohio got walloped this weekend. The snow started on Friday morning and didn’t let up until Saturday night. There were moments when I could not see across the street & it brought back fond (or maybe not-so-fond) memories of our time at Keflavik NAS, Iceland as most of the snow fell ‘sideways’. I would have loved this storm if it was January, but snow storms that hit us in March just try my patience. What I least looked forward to as I watched the weather forecast was keeping the driveway shoveled. That is Paul’s job when he is home. I do love getting outside & I am no weakling. I…
