Each year I try to come up with something to say about Memorial Day and each year I can't. The words won't come. So I'll send you over to The Sniper's place and you can read what he wrote. He said it better than I could have.
This is an edited repost from years past and is, in no way, comprehensive.
Staff Sgt. Charles Sanders and the crew of Big Windy 25
CW2 Theodore U. "Tuc" Church and 1st Lt. Keith Heidtman
CW2 S. Blane Hepfner and CW2 J. Bryce Millward
CW2 Earl R. Scott III and CW2 Mathew C. Heffelfinger
CW3 Phillip E. Windorski
CW3 Corey J. Goodnature and the crew of Turbine 33 as well as the SEAL team they were heading to assist
SPC Thomas Allison and the crew of "Wild 42"
Chief Warrant Officer Alan W. Gunn - for whom I wear a bracelet
Clay Hunt
Lex.
CW3 Frank Buoniconti
My God, I miss my friends. For the ones I didn't know well or personally, my heart aches for their families - today and always.
Feel free to leave the names of those you are remembering in the comments below.
Pau.
- hfs
5.27.2013
5.23.2013
Memorial Day is coming
This is a repost from 2010. Memorial Day for me used to be a holiday focused on BBQs and the coming of summer. It means so much more now. Go read "Happy" Memorial Day?.
Memorial Day is so much more now. So much more.
Pau.
- hfs
Memorial Day is so much more now. So much more.
Pau.
- hfs
5.18.2013
한국에 오신 것을 환영합니다
Curious about the title? It says 'Welcome to Korea'...in Korean!
Looks like that is where we are headed in the near future!
We are excited but still a little incredulous and definitely overwhelmed. The company for whom he'll be working makes no provisions for shipping any household goods (HHGs) other than the tools he'll need for his job. Nor do they pay for anyone's plane ticket other than the employee. So anything we ship over as well as our plane tickets will have to come out of our pocket.
We do not know how long we will be there. Our plan (I know, I can hear God chuckling right now) is to sell anything that does not hold sentimental value or is not irreplaceable and put the rest in storage. We'll ship over clothing, bed linens (one set per bed), our school supplies (the basics, not everything), a few personal items, a few kitchen items I doubt I'll be able to find in Korea and don't want to rebuy, and that's about it!
I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it all. I"m really excited at the possibility for international travel, being able to see and touch many of the things we've studied in history, explore a new culture, learn a new language...and I'm overwhelmed at the idea of having to learn a new language, navigate a foreign country, learn a new monetary system, and be away from America. I've never set foot outside of the United States, other than a few hours in Haines Junction (Canada) on our way down from Alaska. I've never been to Mexico. Hawaii and Alaska are as close as I've ever come to living outside of the United States. So this is new.
Very, very new.
I'm thrilled that MacGyver has a job, doing what he loves to do and one that will take him closer to his long term goals. I just need to remember to breathe...
Pau. (I'm going to have to figure out what 'done' means in Korean.)
- hfs
5.10.2013
Poor pitiable blog
I just looked at the date of my last post and it wasn't as long ago as I thought. I was thinking it had been a month since I last posted but it's only been about 3 weeks...because, you know, that makes a difference!
The end of the school year is always a horrible time for me when it comes to writing - trying to wrap up the loose ends of the school year, yearning to get outside and soak up some Vitamin D with the sunlight (and I type that as it's currently overcast, gloomy, and 55° outside...yay spring...), plant seeds and watch stuff grow, transition from school-year activities to summer activities, spring clean, etc. all take their toll on my ability to form coherent thoughts. Spring tried to show up the other day but Mother Nature has her own ideas and we've been on quite an interesting ride of late. We saw snow the first week of May following near record temps the week before. We're now back down into something that more closely resembles spring weather (thunderstorms, breezy, warm days, cool nights, etc.) but today kind of looks and feels more like winter than spring. My knees agree. This getting old thing is for the birds. It's supposed to clear up for the weekend and into next week so that's good.
School IS wrapping up nicely. We finished history a while back and opted not to start on the next volume, instead turning our focus toward wrapping up Anatomy and our other subjects. The nice thing about being ahead in our other subjects is that we can be done when we feel like being done! So we'll be done when the public school kids are done. All in all it's been a good year. We're tweaking a few things for the upcoming school year but not much. This summer will be spent at the pool, a few art lessons, some baseball, and lots of time with friends.
I do have a tidbit of news to share...things on the job front for MacGyver are starting to work themselves out. I can't go into detail yet (nothing is solid and I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch) but the few pieces we were waiting to have fall into place have done so (yay!!!) and now it's a matter of figuring out which job offer works best for MacGyver professionally and what works best for us as a family - hopefully we can find one that does BOTH! That being said, one of them would be QUITE the adventure for our little family and has me both overwhelmed and excited, all at the same time. We shall see!
And with that, I am off for the weekend with The Girl for some one-on-one time. The Boy gets to go to his very first baseball practice with his dad and enjoy some male-bonding time as well. Two weeks of school and then it's POOL TIME!!!
What do you have in store for the spring/summer? Have a great weekend!
Pau.
- hfs
The end of the school year is always a horrible time for me when it comes to writing - trying to wrap up the loose ends of the school year, yearning to get outside and soak up some Vitamin D with the sunlight (and I type that as it's currently overcast, gloomy, and 55° outside...yay spring...), plant seeds and watch stuff grow, transition from school-year activities to summer activities, spring clean, etc. all take their toll on my ability to form coherent thoughts. Spring tried to show up the other day but Mother Nature has her own ideas and we've been on quite an interesting ride of late. We saw snow the first week of May following near record temps the week before. We're now back down into something that more closely resembles spring weather (thunderstorms, breezy, warm days, cool nights, etc.) but today kind of looks and feels more like winter than spring. My knees agree. This getting old thing is for the birds. It's supposed to clear up for the weekend and into next week so that's good.
School IS wrapping up nicely. We finished history a while back and opted not to start on the next volume, instead turning our focus toward wrapping up Anatomy and our other subjects. The nice thing about being ahead in our other subjects is that we can be done when we feel like being done! So we'll be done when the public school kids are done. All in all it's been a good year. We're tweaking a few things for the upcoming school year but not much. This summer will be spent at the pool, a few art lessons, some baseball, and lots of time with friends.
I do have a tidbit of news to share...things on the job front for MacGyver are starting to work themselves out. I can't go into detail yet (nothing is solid and I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch) but the few pieces we were waiting to have fall into place have done so (yay!!!) and now it's a matter of figuring out which job offer works best for MacGyver professionally and what works best for us as a family - hopefully we can find one that does BOTH! That being said, one of them would be QUITE the adventure for our little family and has me both overwhelmed and excited, all at the same time. We shall see!
And with that, I am off for the weekend with The Girl for some one-on-one time. The Boy gets to go to his very first baseball practice with his dad and enjoy some male-bonding time as well. Two weeks of school and then it's POOL TIME!!!
What do you have in store for the spring/summer? Have a great weekend!
Pau.
- hfs
4.20.2013
This week...
"When the world seems loud, we must be quiet. When the world seems evil, we must be good. When the world seems terrifying, we must comfort each other. " ~ Momastery
The Onion put up a post a few days ago about this week - before the manhunt that consumed Boston for the better part of 24 hours on Friday - and it really summed up my reaction to this week:
“Maybe next time we have a week, they can try not to pack it completely to the @#$%^&* brim with explosions, mutilations, death, manhunts, lies, weeping, and the utter uselessness of our political system,” said basically every person in America who isn’t comatose or a complete sociopath. “You know, maybe try to spread some of that total misery across the other 51 weeks in the year. Just a thought.”
So very true. In Hawaii, there was this plant called 'Sleeping Grass'. If you touch it, it responds by withdrawing and closing up. If I had a plant Doppleganger, Sleeping Grass would be mine. I spent the better part of Monday trying to come to terms with the fact that a woman I know online had to say goodbye to her 5 year old son. Gavin was amazing - their whole family is amazing - and I cannot begin to imagine the horrible pain of losing a child. And then Boston...I had friends there. Trying to track them down and make sure they were (literally) all in one piece was exhausting on top of everything else and by the end of Monday, I was ready for the week to be over. But it just kept going: political worthlessness (what's new?), conspiracy theories and tinfoil hats, explosions, more casualties, and so on.
By Friday, I was done. Stick a fork in me and call me dinner DONE. Thankfully, life conspired to keep me away from both the computer and the television and for that, I was grateful. And now, it is Saturday. The manhunts are over. The Monday-morning quarterbacking (or Saturday, as it were) has begun and I just can't handle it. It's taking what little self-control I have not to rip people to shreds for criticizing how the manhunt in Boston was handled ('martial law'? Really? Shut up.) and looking for conspiracy theories where there aren't any. If people have enough time on their hands to come up with that kind of tripe, they need to get on the horn to their CongressCritter and demand a full - PUBLIC - investigation into Benghazi. But Boston?
No. Not Boston.
But rather than pick a fight with crazy people, I retreat like Sleeping Grass and call it a day. It's just too much. Maybe I'm becoming soft in my old age (is 40ish really 'old' these days?). Or maybe the events of the past 12 years have just worn me down to a point where I can no longer tolerate some things without being overwhelmed. I don't know. I saw a tweet on Twitter the other day that about sums it up for me: "Beginning to think that getting your news a day later on a piece of paper really was the way to go." So true. So true.
Pau.
- hfs
The Onion put up a post a few days ago about this week - before the manhunt that consumed Boston for the better part of 24 hours on Friday - and it really summed up my reaction to this week:
“Maybe next time we have a week, they can try not to pack it completely to the @#$%^&* brim with explosions, mutilations, death, manhunts, lies, weeping, and the utter uselessness of our political system,” said basically every person in America who isn’t comatose or a complete sociopath. “You know, maybe try to spread some of that total misery across the other 51 weeks in the year. Just a thought.”
So very true. In Hawaii, there was this plant called 'Sleeping Grass'. If you touch it, it responds by withdrawing and closing up. If I had a plant Doppleganger, Sleeping Grass would be mine. I spent the better part of Monday trying to come to terms with the fact that a woman I know online had to say goodbye to her 5 year old son. Gavin was amazing - their whole family is amazing - and I cannot begin to imagine the horrible pain of losing a child. And then Boston...I had friends there. Trying to track them down and make sure they were (literally) all in one piece was exhausting on top of everything else and by the end of Monday, I was ready for the week to be over. But it just kept going: political worthlessness (what's new?), conspiracy theories and tinfoil hats, explosions, more casualties, and so on.
By Friday, I was done. Stick a fork in me and call me dinner DONE. Thankfully, life conspired to keep me away from both the computer and the television and for that, I was grateful. And now, it is Saturday. The manhunts are over. The Monday-morning quarterbacking (or Saturday, as it were) has begun and I just can't handle it. It's taking what little self-control I have not to rip people to shreds for criticizing how the manhunt in Boston was handled ('martial law'? Really? Shut up.) and looking for conspiracy theories where there aren't any. If people have enough time on their hands to come up with that kind of tripe, they need to get on the horn to their CongressCritter and demand a full - PUBLIC - investigation into Benghazi. But Boston?
No. Not Boston.
But rather than pick a fight with crazy people, I retreat like Sleeping Grass and call it a day. It's just too much. Maybe I'm becoming soft in my old age (is 40ish really 'old' these days?). Or maybe the events of the past 12 years have just worn me down to a point where I can no longer tolerate some things without being overwhelmed. I don't know. I saw a tweet on Twitter the other day that about sums it up for me: "Beginning to think that getting your news a day later on a piece of paper really was the way to go." So true. So true.
Pau.
- hfs
4.01.2013
April Challenge
Do you have an Aldi grocery store near you? I had never heard of them until we moved here. They carry the equivalent of store-brand goods. They are bare-bones: bring a quarter to 'rent' a shopping cart if you plan to use one (you'll get it back once you return the cart) and bring your own shopping bags. Credit cards are a no-no but they do accept debit cards and cash. I had poked in for a walk-through a while back and have decided that this month, I will try out a few items - items that I normally buy at the 'big box' grocery store or the commissary. I'll be posting what I buy and our assessment of them over the next month or so.
This month, I bought trash bags, some Belgian-style cookies (Aldi is a European-owned corporation so I've found a lot of European foods there), chicken nuggets, and smoked Gouda cheese.
This month, I bought trash bags, some Belgian-style cookies (Aldi is a European-owned corporation so I've found a lot of European foods there), chicken nuggets, and smoked Gouda cheese.
First up are trash bags. I managed to throw away my receipt before I noted the price but I believe I paid $3.99 for this box of 45 bags. So far (we've used about 10 of them thus far), they have held up nicely and I can't tell the difference between the Boulder brand and the Glad brand that I normally buy. For my next post, I'll do a better job of posting the price from our 'normal' grocery store in comparison.
** VERDICT: worth the money. I won't buy trash bags at the 'big name' grocery store again.
** VERDICT: worth the money. I won't buy trash bags at the 'big name' grocery store again.
My children like chicken nuggets. If I were a better crunchy mom, I'd make my own by dicing up free range chicken, coating it in non-GMO bread crumbs, and baking them myself but I have about 10,485 other things that need my attention during the day (to include Facebook. Don't judge.) so bagged nuggets once a week are my go-to. This bag was $3.99 for a 32-ounce bag. The same sized bag at our normal grocery store would run me at least $5.99.
** VERDICT: The Girl said she didn't notice a difference but she has a lousy sense of smell (and, therefore, taste) so I only give her opinion so much weight (sorry, baby!). The Boy said his tummy hurt after eating them but his tummy hurts often so I'm not sure we can attribute that to the nuggets. We will have 1/2 of a bag left so we'll try again.
** VERDICT: The Girl said she didn't notice a difference but she has a lousy sense of smell (and, therefore, taste) so I only give her opinion so much weight (sorry, baby!). The Boy said his tummy hurt after eating them but his tummy hurts often so I'm not sure we can attribute that to the nuggets. We will have 1/2 of a bag left so we'll try again.
We love chocolate in this house. And we love cookies. And when you combine the two, we have a happy house. So we grabbed these for $2.99 and hoped for the best. Similar cookies in either the grocery store or commissary would run easily more than $5.00 so this was an easy call. I mean, really, cookies and chocolate (dark, at that!) for under $3.00? Who can say no to that?
** VERDICT: The chocolate, as European chocolate is known to be, was wonderful - smooth, creamy, rich. The cookies themselves had an odd chemical taste but that was mostly overpowered by the wonderful chocolate. I would have just sucked the chocolate off the cookies and thrown the actual cookie in the trash but my children elbowed me out of the way (The Girl has bony elbows!) and then viciously declared that I was not allowed to touch them. Heh. They have to sleep at some point.
** VERDICT: The chocolate, as European chocolate is known to be, was wonderful - smooth, creamy, rich. The cookies themselves had an odd chemical taste but that was mostly overpowered by the wonderful chocolate. I would have just sucked the chocolate off the cookies and thrown the actual cookie in the trash but my children elbowed me out of the way (The Girl has bony elbows!) and then viciously declared that I was not allowed to touch them. Heh. They have to sleep at some point.
We also bought a wheel of smoked Gouda but I failed to get a picture of it before it was devoured. If there is anything in this house that is devoured more quickly than chocolate, it's cheese. We like cheese on our cheese. This cheese was mild and creamy with a good, solid hint of smoke to it. Perfect. It was$2.99 for a 7 ounce wheel. A perfect price for a small indulgence.
MacGyver hit the commissary today (soldiers who are involuntarily separated from the military maintain access to the PX and commissary for 2 years) and they had cereal on sale so we stocked up there. I'm still working my way through some stuff I have in the freezer for meals so I don't need to do a major shop just yet. I do need to go pick up some frozen veggies and the everyday stuff (bread, orange juice, peanut butter, etc.) but I'm going to put that off as long as possible. We managed to stay close to my $300 budget last month but went over a smidge so I'm trying to get closer this month.
Still no word on the job front - still waiting for a few pieces to fall into place. If you're the praying type, we could definitely use them.
Have you shopped at Aldi?
Have you shopped at Aldi?
Pau.
- hfs
3.21.2013
Spring Break
I had grand intentions for Spring Break but we all know where that road leads. It started with a tickle in
the back of my throat and I woke up Monday with a wicked headache and the distinct need for Sudafed. So my good intentions were shelved for the day and I slept. I slept long and hard in an attempt to head this cold off and then laid low for the rest of the day. It didn't help and now I'm on day 4 of this annoying cold.
 |
| ** edited for Pinch Paisley who wanted to see pictures from my Spring Break ** |
This week, I cooked up a batch of Greek Lentil Soup and a homemade loaf of beer bread. We have snow on the way later this week and it's still pretty chilly outside so this hit the spot and there was enough for leftovers. Delish but next time I'll add more carrots and maybe a ham bone for depth of flavor.
Hopefully, this cold will back off and I can get cracking on the things I wanted to do around here - namely tackle the basement/school area and get that all tidied up for our last quarter of school. Things have piled up and it is all kind of a mess down there right now. I'm in the middle of reassessing our curriculum choices for next year and I have some things I need to get rid of as well as getting completed schoolwork organized so that I can create end of the year portfolios for The Boy and The Girl.
I did do one remarkable thing this week - I paid off every dime of credit card debt that we have. This is momentous - never once, in the history of our marriage (and, I'm pretty sure, not since I procured my first credit card) have we been without credit card debt. And our outstanding balances have been BIG - due in part to legal fees we incurred and in part to our decision to bulk up our cash savings in preparation for MacGyver's exit from the Army rather than pay down our debt. This was a double-edged sword - to do this, we used some of the money MacGyver received as part of his separation. Basically, we used part of his retirement savings to do this. But this was only after careful consideration and consultation with our financial advisor. It makes more sense to knock out unsecured debt that was dragging in 10+% in interest charges rather than let that cash sit in a savings account, earning a measly 1.0% (if we're lucky).
And now, it is done. No more credit card debt. Now, the trick will be to KEEP it that way. We have several recurring charges that run through our credit card - primarily for convenience: cell phone bill, swim team payment, and our sponsorship through Compassion International. I refuse to allow our debit card to be used online in any way so we will still use our credit card for online purchases. However, I'm going to 'borrow' Teresa's idea and keep a running monthly tally of our credit card charges on the fridge so that MacGyver and I both know what we've spent and the statement won't be a surprise when it comes in the mail.
For the past few months, we've been running our grocery purchases through our Amex card (which has a cash back bonus) but I'm finding that I'm breaking my food budget too easily that way so this month we are back to operating on a cash basis. This makes it easier for me to make sure we stay on budget. We buy raw milk, eggs, and beef (which we buy very rarely) from local suppliers so I know what my monthly expenditures there will be: about $50 per month. We also have started participating in Bountiful Baskets, which provides low-cost fresh fruits and veggies for a really great price (and they offer an organic option as well!) so that's about $50 per month. Our monthly food budget is $400 so that leaves me with $300 for everything else, which is usually plenty, especially if I am good about making snacky-type items from scratch (cookies, muffins, etc.).
Another thing that helps is Harvester's. Our church participates in this and offers distribution through Harvester's each month and we are involved in helping. It's a great way for us to give back to our community and a wonderful way for our children to do so as well. At the end of the day, the people that help are welcome to take home any of the remaining food before it is taken to a local food bank. Last time, there was a HUGE dearth of Bosc pears, cabbage, Kraft Take Fresh kits, and boxed salad so we were blessed to take some of that home as well. That definitely helped offset our food budget.
Lastly, I stumbled across Danielle over at Blissful and Domestic and found that she and I are about in the same boat - living on a very frugal budget and doing our best to make ends meet. We don't own our own home like they do but it looks like, pretty soon, we'll be living on the GIBill and, if she can do it, so can we. Or so I hope! Looks like we may very well be finding out.
I am starting to look for ways to bring in some extra income. I'm selling off some things that we no longer need, writing some freelance articles (like this one --> Getting Out), selling some advertising space on the old blog, and looking into offering tutoring services to people who need them. Every extra dollar helps. Now that the weather is *supposed* to start warming up, MacGyver is going to reinsure the motorcycle and start riding that rather than driving the truck, which should help cut our petrol bill back even further. We're still line-drying most of our clothes and keeping the thermostat nice and low so that has helped keep our electricity bill low as well.
Next up will be cutting back on the cell phone plan (we don't use enough data or enough anytime minutes to warrant unlimited plans for those items. Ditto on the texting.) and probably ditching cable. Between Netflix, Amazon Prime's streaming, and the Roku box that MacGyver scored off Craigslist for dirt cheap, we really don't need, nor do we use, cable. So that should save us about $50 per month on cable and I'm hoping we'll be able to knock $50 per month off of our cell phone bill as well.
And, if it looks like we're going to be here longer than I expected, I am going to see whether or not the swim team has room on deck for another coach. Even if they can only waive my kids' fees, that's worth it. We'll see! For now, I am off to take more Sudafed and Mucinex and see about tackling the basement.
Pau.
- hfs
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