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Birds and Military Kids – the Split S Acrobatics and “Winged Adventures”
“… the tiny bird executed a perfect “Split S” acrobatic maneuver and dove between the railing posts.” Our military kids are located all over this great nation thanks to their parents service in the National Guard, Reserves or Recruiting Services. Some have parents that are retired with 20+ years of service or are disabled medical retirees that settled down in a new area for employment or returned to their roots. Others have a parent or parents that are deployed and they headed out to be near grandparents, etc. They come in all sizes and shapes; backgrounds and dispositions but all know when they are loved. Military kids are so vulnerable…
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40 Ways to Find Solace in a Storm
“I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.” ― Oscar Wilde Call your dad Sip a hot cup of coffee Take 10 minutes to soak up some sun on a warm, sunny front porch Feet up & a good book Jump on your bike and take a ride Grab the music player, pop in the ear buds, play your favorite upbeat music and ask the vacuum to dance (Bonus you get some clean floors) Give a lingering hug with someone you love Look through old photos, create a collage of someone you love using Picasa or other photo editor…
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5 Practical Ways to Save Money on Groceries
1. Make a list. I know, time and time again you hear it. “Make a list and stick to it.” But writing a list on scarp paper and then losing that paper isn’t going to help. Instead make the list practical. I like using technology and since my phone is usually in the kitchen on the dock, it is very practical to keep my list there. The free app that I use, is Grocery Pal but there are dozens of list apps out there. I add items when I need them, when I start to run low, when I know it is time to restock. I love that after I buy…
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U.S. Special Operations Command Virtual Town Hall Meeting, 3/7/2013
I love technology! Especially when it is used in the right place, for the right reason.Military Families spread out far and wide can’t usually go to a specific place, to meet people that can give them answers. Stepping up to the plate, meet the Virtual Town Hall Meeting: Are you a part of the U.S. Special Operations Command? Part of the family? Learn more about this opportunity to engage with leadership. Ask the questions you need answer to. Empower yourself with the facts. 1) Write your question on their Facebook wall: facebook.com/ussocom 2) Learn more about recording your own question on a video: 3) Find USSOCOM on Google+ where they will have their Live chat…
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Military Saves Week, 2013
It is Military Saves week! Financial Readiness, Financial Fitness, Financial Know-How. All very important to the military family. Important to the service-memeber. Important to me. Source: youtube.com via MilitaryAvenue.com on PinterestChairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey and his senior enlisted advisor Sgt. Maj. Bryan Battaglia encourage service members to plan for the future by saving a little bit today Here are some quick tips and tricks that have helped this military family, I’m sure they can help yours too! The Grocery Bill Source: militaryblog.militaryavenue.com via MilitaryAvenue.com on Pinterest The Stress of Making a Purchase Source: militaryblog.militaryavenue.com via MilitaryAvenue.com on Pinterest Saving Money Around the House Source:…
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The Path to Investing
Military Saves week is coming! From February 25 through March 2 there will be a concentrated effort to get our military families on the road to Financial Readiness, a subject matter near and dear to my heart. To get you thinking about this important week we have a guest blogger, Amy, Army spouse who shares some great thoughts about getting started on investing. Thank you, Amy, for helping to empower our military families through sharing your thoughts: “It’s important that both you and your spouse understand the investments that you have chosen”. I stared at this sentence, and felt like a hypocrite. I had shared a financial book with a friend who…
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Raising a Generation that Loves
Today Newtown, Conneticut will bury the first of their children. Noah Pozner, age 6, will be laid to rest at 1:00pm. (Newtown shooting victims: First funerals to be held) Then there will be 19 more funerals for children and 7 for adults. Oh deep sorrow runs through my blood. My husband, the level headed soldier who has seen more then I would like to imagine, came home on Friday and immediately turned on the news. He watched for a quite a while, standing there stunned. Then the man who is never sick complained of a headache the rest of the night. I don’t know if it was a headache as much…
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Self Esteem vs Self Respect
Last weekend was cold. Cold and rainy. The kind of weather that makes you want to curl up in front of a fire with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book. Instead I was at a soccer tournament for my ten-year old. Three games over Saturday and Sunday 90 minutes from home. Three games of pure determination on our boys’ parts. Three games of ‘Go, Avon, Go!’ … Three losses. Continue Reading about how to turn the loss into a win, Self Esteem vs Self Respect But that doesn’t necessarily make this mom sad: * The relationships that those boys are making out there on the field, the friendships…
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Going to Bat for the Bullied
October is National Bullying Prevention Month. A great time to educate yourself, empower yourself, think about how to handle future bully problems in your own children’s lives. Stopbullying.gov is a great resource, as is StompOutBullying.org. I’ve written about my own experience with bullying once before and I stand by my thoughts, “Bullying and our Military Children“. But amidst all these awareness programs an article caught my eye :Dad Takes on School That Suspended His Son for Being a ‘Bully’A normal first assumption is why would Dad be upset with the school for punishing his son, the bully? Why would his dad be upset that his own kid was throwing punches, kicking…
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Summer Camp
I had NO IDEA it would be this hard to let go. This past Sunday Hubs and I dropped *E*, 9 years old, off at his first week-long, without his Mom, Summer Camp. EGADS! (That’s me biting at my nails, my belly doing flip-flops everytime I think about what he might be doing at that very moment.) *E* was a little nervous on the way there, a three hour drive from home. But he popped in his favorite DVD and multi-tasked with a game on the iPad for the 200 miles we were on the road. It was a great attention diverter. When we got there the camp was ALIVE with youth. Youth workers…