Memorial Day

Every year the beginning of Summer is marked by the first 3 day weekend of the Summer, Memorial Day. It is great to have a 3 day weekend at the end of May every year. Picnics, bbq's, camping, road trips, trips to the river or lake or just lounging by the pool and hanging out with family. These are all great things to do and a lot of fun. They are necessary for our sanity for sure. But, while you are doing these fun things, I would ask you to please remember the real meaning of this day.

Memorial Day was first enacted to honor the Union and Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War and then extended after World War I to honor those Americans that lost their lives from all wars. It is to commemorate those that lost their lives while in military service.

I want to remember all service men and women. I am so grateful for the sacrifices that are made every single day to protect our freedoms, our country and our lives. The sacrifices that are made are not only to their physical bodies...putting themselves in harms way, losing limbs, getting wounded or the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives. They also sacrifice time with their families, being able to settle down in one place for very long and they sacrifice their mental health.

I'm going to talk about that for just a minute, because that has a special place in my heart. Human beings are not made to see the things they see in war...bodies being blown apart, their comrads dying and innocent people being killed as a casualty of war. Humans are not meant to kill other humans. It's not normal. We are taught our whole lives that it is a huge sin to kill and it is not right, normal or good, and it's not. However, sometimes it has to be done to protect what is right...freedom. Free agency is what God gave us in the very beginning and we need to do what is necessary to protect that. In the beginning God had two sons. One said he would force us to comply and do what we were supposed to. The other son said He would teach us right from wrong and let us choose and make our own mistakes. Jesus Christ was willing to sacrifice his life to be our Savior and protect our free agency. That is how important freedom is. It isn't free. Even those that come home from war with no visible injuries, no scars that we can see with our eyes, they still have scars. If they say it didn't bother them, then they are lying to protect themselves. They have images of horrible things that will be forever in their minds. Some are able to get help, cope and live with it. Some are not.

I grew up in a home where it was taught how important freedom and agency are and how important it is to respect those that sacrificed for us so we could vote, express our opinions without fear, worship as we choose, right to bear arms and how important it is to have laws to continue to protect us. I was also taught that if we don't vote, then it is being disrespectful to those that sacrificed to help us keep that right. When I met my late husband, one of the things that I loved about him, was his patriotism. He was one of the most patriotic people I have ever met. He was in the Navy and then in the Army National Guard. He fought in Desert Storm. When he had a little bit of free time during the war, he worked in the POW camps in Iraq and he fought the oil fires that were burning over there. He was tormented by the things he saw and did in an act of war and many years later took his own life. My dad was in the Air Force and fought in Vietnam. He saw his best friend die right next to him. He doesn't talk about Vietnam very often, but once in a while he says something about this so it is still there and always will be.

I will be forever grateful to those from the beginning of time to present day that have laid down their lives for me and for you. They died knowing how important freedom is and that it needs to be protected at all costs, even the ultimate price if necessary.

Extreme Couponing

If there is anyone out there that hasn't watched the show Extreme Couponing on TLC, I would highly recommend watching it at least once. Very entertaining! When they say extreme, they aren't kidding. There are people on there that have enough food and other things to live for about 4 years without having to go shopping. To quote a teenage boy on the show talking about his friend's family, "If there is a natural disaster, I'm coming here!". Although, to go to the extreme of having enough toilet paper to last for 30 years really isn't my goal, I am definitely trying get better at shopping with coupons.

There are websites that charge you to tell you how to be an extreme couponer. They give you tips and tell you what is on sale, which coupons to use to get free or cheap stuff. I have a hard time justifying paying for it, even though it would be good to get their tips. I follow a few free websites and I get my coupons from friends at work and from my mom who gets them from the ladies she works with. It has worked out pretty well so far.

The show tells us what all these extremers do to save so much money. Every single one of them has an organized system that works for them. Some have books, some have boxes, etc. They all go in with a list and know EXACTLY how much money they will be spending and they don't deviate from their list unless there is something on clearance that they happen to have a coupon for. Some of them dumpster dive for coupons, some walk the neighborhood and get coupons from their neighbors. One lady wrote her local newspaper and asked for all the extra coupons to be delivered to her house instead of them throwing the coupons out. They check their store's coupon policy everytime they shop because it changes. They also get their kids involved in the excitement. One family had 7 or 8 kids and she would sit them all down at the table and have her kids cut out all the coupons. Everytime the mom went shopping she would take at least one of her older kids with her so they would know how to shop with coupons.

So, here are the things that I am finding frustrating. There are hardly any coupons for milk and other dairy products that are used often and very few coupons for meat and produce. These are things that are needed so when I go shopping, my savings aren't the 90% or more that the people on the show have. I don't know how they do that...I'm still trying to figure that out. I also don't have 30 hrs a week to clip coupons and scour the sales like they do. For some it's a full time job and it can also be an obsession. Every one of them is very proud of their stash and some their stash is taking over their homes. Coupons are money to them. They pay with coupons, not money.

I'm getting better at it. For example, mustard was on sale and I had 5 coupons for mustard. I ended up getting 5 bottles of mustard for $.49 a bottle...good thing mustard lasts a long time!! I have had my coupons organized in a 3 ring binder for over a year now. It is much easier to see them. I'm also learning that, until you build up your stash, it is still kind of expensive to shop, but once you get it built up some, you can do pretty well. You also have to ask yourself, is the money that you save worth the time you spend doing it? I think it is. Times are tough for everyone. Gas prices are outrageous so if we can save money on other things, then I would say go for it! If anyone has any extra coupons or gets the paper and doesn't use their coupons, I will take them off your hands!!!!!! Happy couponing!

Social Networking

My friend J recently wrote a post on her blog about the good of Facebook. I'm going to copy her to an extent and write one too, but I'm going to put a slightly different slant on it. Sorry J, I don't want to copy you, but it was too good not to! :) She is an amazing writer!

Anyway, for nearly 20 years I went without knowing where a lot of my school friends were and I had no idea how to get in touch with them. We all left our hometown for an adventure into the unknown called life and we lost track of each other. Right around the time we started planning our 20 year class reunion, we all started working to find each other. That is when I was introduced to Facebook. I was a little leary about it, but when I figured out I could get in touch with people I hadn't spoken to in 20 years, I was very excited! It has now become a way for me to do some socializing. We recently planned a bbq with people from my hometown and it was a great success! We wouldn't have been able to do something like that without facebook. I'm able to keep in touch with family members that I hardly ever get to see and I can keep up with what is going on in people's lives. I have friends that live out of state and because of facebook, I know what is going on in their lives and know how to reach them if needed. I found out a friend had cancer and was able to visit her in the hospital and several other friends that have serious health issues. I have found out when family members die, when people change their relationship status and when babies are born. There have been many, many happy birthday wishes, congratulations extended, support given, prayers asked for and given and condolences. There have been support group sessions when something traumatic has happened as well. I have also found out about events I'm interested in on facebook...like the suicide prevention walk. It is a place where we can vent, share funny stories about our kids or our lives and have a conversation with 10 people where none of us are in the same room and some of the people don't know each other, but we have friends in common. At least one thing a day makes me laugh on facebook and laughter is so important!! J is right in her blog, nothing beats a face to face relationship or conversation, but it's not always possible. I have some friends that don't text on their phones, so the fastest way for them to reach me is through facebook. They send me a msg and because I have facebook on my phone, I'm able to respond right away.

Sometimes on facebook, people say things that we may not agree with. There may be swear words, religious or politcal beliefs we don't agree with or a lifestyle we don't live, but that doesn't mean those people are bad and it doesn't mean that I don't want to be friends with them. The greatest thing about living where we do is our free agency. We have the right to say and do what we want...that doesn't mean it is without consequence of course, but we do have the freedom to express our opinions. We also have the freedom not to listen to those opinions. If someone says something I don't like or don't agree with I can either say something to that person or I can not read it...it is my choice.

I am also on Twitter. I sometimes make posts on there, but not all too often. I mostly follow Twitter because I can get breaking news. For example, one day there was a huge fire in the city. I had a lot of people sending me messages wanting to know what is going on. I got on Twitter and found there was a big fire at a recycling plant...it took me less than a minute to find out. I know what roads are closed, what is coming out of Washington D.C and what kind of exercises are good for troubled areas. Not to mention keeping up with celebrities by reading their drunk tweets! Very good entertainment! hahaha

I have some friends and family that don't like the social networking thing because of the danger of it. My feeling is, do the best you can to protect yourself and live a little. We can't live in a bubble or live like those that live near my hometown...on 40 acres with nothing around, surrounding yourself with barbed wire and booby traps. That is not the way to live, although I can see the temptation for it sometimes!

Sacrifices

I think I'm going to have to come up with nicknames for my friends when I talk about them. I refer to them so much in my blogs because they are a big part of my life, that I confuse myself sometimes when I talk about them, let alone anyone else! I want to keep this as anonymous as possible so that only those that are in it, know who I'm talking about, but yet at the same time give you enough information you can understand and get a visual. That is not an easy thing to do and I'm not sure if I accomplish it, but I keep trying. I think I will call my best guy friend, bestie...I know he will love that! haha Good thing he doesn't read this. hehehe Ok, I will give him a more manly name...Bud (drawn out like Rudy used to say it in The Cosby Show).

Bud is so nice...he bought my son a pocket knife. It's not just any pocket knife. It has all the cool attachments. Two different screw driver heads, can opener, knife, scissors, saw, cork screw and it even has a tiny light on it. Oh my goodness...my boy was super excited! I still don't trust him to have that knife full time, so I will hang onto it for him and he will have it for his next boyscout campout. My son loves boyscouts! It is about the only time he gets to be around boys and men since he is around girls all the time. He has boy cousins, but they are so much younger and his uncles are super busy and my dad lives far away.

So, I think I'm going to try and teach my son how to fish. This should be a pretty funny thing to watch. Candid camera would get some good film footage from it for sure. I don't fish. I went fishing a couple times with my late husband...he was a big time fisherman. I spent most of the time reading or just enjoying watching him be so happy and calm. Here's the thing...I'm very much a girl. I don't like to camp, hunt or fish. I prefer toilets, showers, running water and a bed. I don't mind outside activities as long as I have access to these things. The closest thing I got to camping in recent years was the breast cancer 3day and we slept in tents and had to use portapotties. I also hate touching things that squirm or are slimy. So, putting a worm on a hook would totally send me into convulsions...not only would I have to touch a worm, but I would have to poke a hook through it! Then, if a fish is caught, I have to touch the squirmy fish to get it off the hook...ooooo...I'm shuddering just thinking about it!! All of that said, I can't wait around for a man to do this. With the way my luck is going, my son will be grown and gone before that happens....and we need to make sacrifices for our kids, right?????? Wish me luck! If anyone wants to join in the fun, let me know...should be entertaining to say the least!