In My Own Words

It has been a crazy past couple of weeks, but I’m getting back on an even keel and into the swing of things once again.

For six months I followed Sis’s postings on facebook of the ups and downs Nafe went through before he finally lost the fight, and I shared those postings with my facebook friends since they were all lifting him and the family in prayer throughout the ordeal. Several sent cards and words of encouragement to Nafe, which not only raised his spirits but also touched Sis’s heart. A lot of these people I have never met in person, and probably won’t in my lifetime, but I feel like I’ve known them forever and I consider myself fortunate to have them as friends. When Nafe passed and my heart was breaking for Sis, there were many kind words and condolences posted; a lot of my fb friends signed the online guestbook, lit candles, and left hearts for the family on Mitchell-Jerdan Funeral Home’s website.

The day after Nafe passed, a fellow AnySoldier.com troop supporter and friend from Louisiana went to my website and donated $50 in Nafe’s honor. Another friend & fellow troop supporter in Alabama went to the site and donated $50 to help with the trip to Illinois. Today I got a beautiful card from a friend & fellow troop supporter in Texas with a $50 check enclosed, and the message written inside the card says “I didn’t send flowers to Nafe’s funeral because I wanted to make a donation to your favorite cause. Please use this check to fill a box for some of your soldiers in honor of Nafe’s memory. You are loved.” Is it any wonder my eyes have been leaking so much lately?

I want to send out special thanks to “Maddog,” Carol, Patricia, Phillis, as well as to everyone who prayed for Nafe for six months, sent cards & letters to encourage him, and offered condolences at his passsing. Honor in Great Britain, Cornelia in Greece, Laura and Denra at Ft. Campbell – y’all are treasures! Hugs {{{{{{Everyone of you!}}}}}}

My troop support account was down to pretty much nothing again, so I haven’t been able to send many boxes lately. I baked bread Sunday to take to work Monday and sold all but one loaf. That gave me $40 to deposit. Tuesday when I got to work, I found an envelope on my computer keyboard that had “For the troops” written on it; when I opened it there was a $20 bill. A friend on facebook whose daughter recently returned from Afghanistan went to my site and made a $15 donation. Then when I got home and checked the mail, we had a check from the mortgage company, a refund of $200 from our escrow account. Jack and I each got $50 and put the rest toward a bill that was due. You can probably guess where my share went…

So now I’ve got $280 and change in the troop support account, and we’re going to hit Sam’s Club this weekend. I’m going to buy cookie ingredients so I can send some cookies to Ron, Dana, Kenneth, and Jennifer’s cousin Andy, a few bread ingredients so I can raise some more dough for the troops, and a lot of goodies for care packages. I intend to spend no more than $150 at Sam’s, so I will have enough left for postage. I hate when I run out of postage before I run out of “stuff” to send…don’t you? LOL!

My friend Tracey wants to help with a bake sale to raise dough for the troops; she has already checked with Wal-Mart and they said we could set up in their parking lot. I’ve got a banner ordered that is supposed to get here by September 15th, to hang on the front of one of the tables. Tracey’s quite a cook; I expect we’ll have a lot of goodies to sell. Then she and I will have to go shopping for “stuff” for our troops, and have a packing party. It’s nice to finally have somebody from outside the family who wants to help!

Above is the rough draft of the banner I’ve ordered for the bake sale. I made a few minor changes to it, but this gives a basic idea. This will hang on the front of the table when Tracey and I set up shop in the Sprawl-Mart parking lot. I’m going to put an ad in the AC Times and the I-24 Exchange, and maybe hang up a few signs here and there before hand, and hopefully we’ll be able to raise a few bucks for our Warriors! They need our support now more than ever, I think.

Now I’m all out of words, so I’m going to sign off. Catch y’all later! Thanks for reading my ramblings. If I didn’t blog, I’d probably explode or something, then who would clean up that mess? LOL! Take care. Hugs {{{{family, friends, Warriors}}}}

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6788433n

The link above will take you to a news video taken the day our local hometown hero, Cpl. Kristopher “Daniel” Greer, USMC, was injured in Afghanistan by an IED blast. He died of his injuries two days later; the other critically injured Marine who was with him lost both legs. It’s a hard video to watch; it was taken by an embedded news reporter, and they got on film the Marines carrying Daniel and the other injured warrior on stretchers to the MedEvac chopper. I think it is important for this video to be seen by everybody. Too often it seems the war in Afghanistan is relegated to the back burner, not to be thought about. Ignoring it does not and will not make it go away. For the troops on the ground over there and for the loved ones back home who pray for their safe return, it is an all-too-real nightmare. We need to never forget the sacrifices made by our troops and their families, especially those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. God bless them all.

I just realized that August is halfway behind us, and I have been extremely remiss with my blog postings. It has been quite a month, but that’s no excuse.

Cheatham County has lost another of her heroes. Cpl Kristopher Daniel Greer, 25, Marine Reservist and Ashland City Firefighter, lost his life to an IED blast in Afghanistan. He leaves behind his wife and their precious 2-year-old son, along with numerous other family members, his brother firefighters, and a lot of friends. His funeral is Friday, August 20th. PGR is going to be escorting his body from the Nashville airport Wednesday, standing a flag line during visitation on Thursday, and again on Friday for the funeral. Then they will escort the procession to the cemetery for burial, and stand a flag line during the graveside service. I would really love to be able to participate; Jack and I are members of PGR, but don’t get to join many of the missions because of work. I’m going to try to at least be among the citizens lining the route through Ashland City as the procession travels from the airport to the church in Pegram on Wednesday. I’ll see if I can get Jack to put my flag back together so I will have it in hand as they pass, and I will wear my PGR t-shirt. If that’s the most I can do, I will at least have done something to honor our fallen warrior.

Our nephew lost his battle and went to be with the Lord on August 10th. Shawn, Paul, and I went to Illinois for the funeral this past weekend. It was hard saying goodbye, even harder knowing what to say to Sis, his mother. She gave up everything to stay at his bedside for 6 months, through all the ups and downs as he tried to overcome the injuries sustained in that horrendous automobile accident back in February. And I do mean everything. She lost her job, her husband (no great loss there, but a loss none the less), her home, and the greatest loss of all, her youngest son; her “baby,” Nathan Tyler Craig. He may have been 28 years old, but any mother will tell you that their “baby” is forever their “baby,” regardless of age or circumstance. Jack and I have offered her our guest room for as long as she needs it, to give her time to “decompress” and figure out what she’s going to do next. She’s going to have to start all over – I can’t imagine having to do that in one’s mid-50′s.

I’ve got to get busy supporting our Warriors full-tilt once again. I’ve got cards to make and send, letters to write, “stuff” to buy and pack and ship. I’m going to have to set up a bake sale or something soon to get some funds raised to support my care package habit. I’ve still got one order for two loaves of bread that I need to get made; it’s been so crazy hectic around here lately – Jack had to buy (gasp!!) store bought bread over the weekend while the boys and I were in Illinois for the funeral, so I need to bake anyway. The person who ordered the bread wasn’t in any hurry for it, thank goodness; she said “just whenever you are going to be baking bread, I want two loaves of Oatmeal Honey.” Maybe tomorrow after work…

Now I have to get up from here and hit the hay; I’m hoping it doesn’t hit back. I’m still a bit pizzle-sprung from the trip; I stayed home from work today and collapsed on the couch, I was so exhausted. Y’all take care, and thanks for reading my ramblings. Feel free to comment; it’s the only way I know anybody actually reads this stuff.

It happens to us all. You know what I’m talking about…life’s sailing along relatively smoothly, you get complacent and take it for granted that all is right with your world, all things considered. Then out of the blue – WHAM! – your little corner of the world isn’t so smooth sailing at all. This has been one of those months; thank goodness it’s not typical!

Our 28-year-old nephew Nathan has been in ICU since February 13th after a horrendous car accident, and has been on quite a roller-coaster of improvement followed by setback. His Mom (my oldest sister) has been at his side for the majority of his stay in first Carle Hospital in Champaign, IL and now Barnes Jewish Hospital in St Louis, MO. Nafe hit a rough patch earlier this month, and his doctors prepared everyone for the worst – but he’s rallied around and is off the ventilator now. He’s not out of the woods by a long shot, but he’s not currently knocking at death’s door either.

My Dad took a fall at the campground where he’s host, and wound up in the hospital unable to stand or to use his hands. He was moved from the local hospital where they’d taken him, to St. John’s in Springfield, IL, where there’s a neurology department. An MRI showed there was a narrowing of the spinal canal at C4 and C5 vertebrae, down to 4 cm from 12 cm, which the fall he took aggravated and caused pressure on his spinal cord. That is what caused the inability to use his hands and legs. Surgery was scheduled, and was performed on Monday. I wasn’t able to be there, but thankfully family members who are on facebook kept updates posted. The surgery went well; he’s doing good. They’re talking about sending him to a spinal injury rehab facility for a couple of weeks of intense physical therapy focused on the type of injury he has before sending him to a skilled nursing facility.

On the Soldier side of my world, I was able to send out several care packages this month. Some recipients I have heard back from, others I have not and likely will not. We got a thank-you note from one of our Ft. Campbell troops letting us know they got the package we sent and that everybody enjoyed the snacks and goodies; I sent a reply to the note the next day so I wouldn’t forget.  Last night I composed letters to several of our Warriors, which will go in the mail today.

One of our Warriors is on R&R, getting ready to go back to the Kitty Litter Box in a few days. One will be going on R&R soon. I just heard from one a couple of days ago who just got back in Feb., was reassigned to a different base, and is already being deployed again. (I hate that…I’m sure his wife and little ones hate it even more than I do!) Another of our Warriors is in a rough place at the moment, and he and his Soldiers could use a little extra morale boost. I could only send one or two boxes, but one of my friends (and fellow Support Junkie) came to the rescue – she adopted his group and was able to get 22 boxes of goodies together and sent out. God bless you, Patricia! You are a prime example of why Tennessee is nicknamed the Volunteer State, and it has nothing to do with college basketball!

We’ve had some unexpected expenses this month and the budget is really tight. It is going to take a little time to get things caught up, and in the meanwhile I’m going to be mostly sending cards and letters to our Warriors. I guess that’s better than a jab in the eye with a sharp stick, but I still feel like I’m letting our Warriors down. I’m going to have to get over that, I know; it just might take a little time. (I can hear Sis saying “Oh, my heck…just put on your big girl panties and deal with it!” So, Sis, consider it done…LOL!)

Thanks for reading my ramblings. Feel free to comment; any feedback, positive or negative, is always welcome.

Sebastian Junger wrote a book titled “War,” which is basically a journal of time he spent in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley with a platoon of American Soldiers. He and Tim Hetherington made a documentary film titled “Restrepo,” which is the name of the combat outpost the Soldiers that Mr. Junger was embedded with built and named in honor of their medic, Juan “Doc” Restrepo, who was killed in action in July 2007. This is NOT a Hollywood film, with the “characters” played by famous (or infamous) actors – it is a true documentary, actual film footage of the men of Battle Company, filmed as life happened for these Warriors.

Restrepo, being an independent film, is out on limited release. It happens to be in Clarksville, TN at the Governer’s Square 10 theater for a limited run. I bought the book and read it while I was waiting for the movie to be released, and I am glad I did. The book has a bit more detail about certain events than the movie – nothing “big,” necessarily. For example, in the movie there is mention made of an incident involving a cow, but what happened with the cow isn’t explained. The local resident who owned the cow came to the outpost and insisted on being paid for the loss of his cow.  The book explains that there was a cow that got tangled in the concertina wire around OP Restrepo, which the Soldiers of Battle Company then killed, cooked and ate. I won’t tell any more of the story; everybody needs to read the book for themselves, and see the film first chance they get. It’s an awesome film and gives great insight into the lives of our Warriors and what they deal with over there. God bless ‘em all and bring ‘em home safely!!

I’ve gotten to chat with three of our Warriors these past couple of days, and got a nice e-mail from another of them. I had asked him to let me know what he and his guys would like to get, and he attached a spreadsheet listing each Soldier’s wants/needs. Now, that’s what I’m talkin’ about! When I can talk our troops into being specific, I can spend my money to better effect by making sure they are getting stuff they actually want and can use, instead of just taking a shot in the dark and hoping for the best. And now I know who’s getting the 6-lb bag of gummy bears I bought last time we went to Sam’s…LOL!

While we were picking up a few groceries after the movie this afternoon, Jack bought a couple of boxes of those Fruit Chiller Tubes that you put in the freezer to make a yummy frozen treat. Kroger only had two flavors, Grape and Strawberry, so we picked one of each. Those and some freezer pops will be on their way to one of our Warriors soon. I’m hoping to get two boxes put together tomorrow after church so I can get them mailed off Monday. Then I’ll be “out of business” again until payday on the 25th. I do have a bread order, but it’s only $10 worth, and that won’t cover postage for one box.

I got a message from Jennifer’s cousin today; he’s an EOD tech in Afghanistan. I needed to verify his address before I sent him anything, and he was letting me know where to send. First thing I need to do is send a card with an Angel card enclosed; I don’t remember if I ever gave Jennifer one to give to him before he deployed this time. I know I meant to, and I’m sure I thought about it, but that doesn’t mean I actually followed through. Sometimes I can be a bit scatter-brained. LOL! Go figure…Must be the company I keep…

Well, it’s way past my bedtime, and I’m sleepy, so I’m going to get up from here and hit the hay. Y’all take care; thanks for reading my ramblings once again. Hugs {{{{{Family & Friends}}}}}

Here we are, a week into July and I haven’t written anything lately. It’s not that there isn’t anything to write about, more like I’ve been busy with this and that. Jack and I had company for the weekend; my sister Peggy and her husband Todd came down Friday, July 2 and stayed through Monday, July 5. We seldom have company, and only get to see family once or twice a year, so it was a wonderful weekend.

Once they arrived on Friday, we mostly sat out under the sycamore tree in the front yard and visited. Saturday Jack and Todd took their guns and went to the shooting range at the TWRA game reserve, while Peggy and I went to the Livery Stables in Pleasant View to look for bargains. Peggy found several items she couldn’t live without, and I found a wonderful painting that would be perfect over the fireplace. I was going to tell Jack about it, and have him go back to the Livery Stables with me later to get his opinion and see if he’d buy it. Peggy paid for her treasures, though, then took me back to the booth where we’d found the painting and had me help her take it down from the wall. Then she bought it and gave it to Jack & I as a gift.

I had put together two care packages Saturday morning, and put a banner in a large envelope with 15 Guardian Angel cards to send to a Warrior who had posted that all he and his guys wanted was to know that they were not forgotten over in Afghanistan. When we went to the post office, Peggy paid the postage for all three items so I would be able to send more packages.

Sunday was a busy day; Sunday School, church, creek baptism, Nashville fireworks show. We didn’t get home until after midnight, and it was 1:00 a.m. before we got to bed. The fireworks were awesome; both our kids & their families went with us, and except for Ana everybody thoroughly enjoyed the show. Ana was afraid of the noise, and after the first few fireworks went off she was crying and wanting to go home.

I had left my computer on, and when I went to shut it down before going to bed, I saw that one of my Warriors had left a message on IM. I’d just missed him by 15 minutes. He said he had just gotten back from R&R, and was back in Afghanistan safe and sound, and he’d try to catch me later. He’s from Ft. Campbell – there have been a lot of Warriors from Ft. Campbell KIA in the past month and a half, so I can’t help but worry about them. I hate Afghanistan…and that’s all I’ve got to say about that…

Every once in a rare while, I get to chat with one of our troops via Yahoo! Instant Messenger, or GoogleTalk. One of our guys who is in Afghanistan was on for a bit this morning, and since I am getting ready to pack some boxes this week I asked him if there is anything he and his troops want or need. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Y’all are on the list for a care package this week. Is there anything in particular you need or would like to have?

Him: I can’t think of anything we specifically need at the moment.

Me: So, if I throw a bunch of random stuff in a box, you’re good with that?

Him: Mail is such a treat, we’d even be happy to receive an empty box.

Me: Well, since it will cost the same for postage whether the box is empty or it has 20 lbs. of goodies inside, I reckon I’ll just pack it full of random stuff. Sunflower seeds, twizzlers, granola bars, trail mix, cookies, crackers, pretzels, mac & cheese, ramen noodle cups…any favorites?

Him: That all sounds wonderful. Although, think how much simpler it would be to fill out a customs form for an empty box…

I found that particularly hilarious because any “Support Junkie” will tell you that filling out the customs forms is the most aggravating thing in the world. Gotta list all the contents, how many of each item, the weight and the cost, all in a too-small area on the form. So he’s right – a form for an empty box would be a piece of cake…LOL!!

Y’all have a great day; catch ya later.

Saturday afternoon, after Savanna’s 5th birthday party, Jack and I went to Sam’s Club to pick up a few things. As we always do when I’ve got money to spend on our Warriors, he got a cart for household stuff, and I got one for Soldier stuff, then it was off to the races… LOL! With the bake sale proceeds, my longevity pay, and my monthly allowance, I actually had a little over $400 in the Troop Support account, and intended to spend about half of it on “stuff” and save the other half for postage.

Some of you reading this know that I hate shopping. I know, that’s just not normal…women are supposed to love going shopping and spending money. I even know some who like to go shopping and not even buy anything; just look at everything in the store. But if I have funds available for care package items, I LOVE wandering up and down the aisles with my shopping cart and picking things out for our Warriors. I tally everything up as I go, and when I reach the limit I set for myself before we even got to the store, well, I just stop putting stuff in the cart and head for the checkout. This trip I got quite a variety – Slim Jims, Beef Jerky, sunflower seeds, trail mix, several varieties of granola bars, Easy Mac cups, ramen noodle cups, Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee cups, crackers and cookies in individual serving packs, Twizzlers, Oreo cookies, Rice Krispy treats…I can’t even remember what all; I just know I spent a little over $200 including sales tax, and it looked like a mountain of “stuff” when I got it carried into the house.

Last night I got two boxes packed and put them in the mail today for two of our latest adopted troops. You know how people say it’s a small world…well, I’ve discovered that it really IS a small world. One of our latest adopted troops is 744th EOD; their request said “anything that they can eat, read, or play with is welcome.” I’d already decided the first package to them would be filled with a variety of “anything they can eat,” which is exactly what one of the boxes going in the mail today consisted of.  I was talking to  our oldest son Paul one day last week, and he said something about Jennifer’s cousin Andy, who is an EOD tech, having just left for Afghanistan a couple of days earlier. I didn’t put two and two together until he said Andy had not deployed with the rest of his unit; he’d been sick or something and had to catch up with them; they were already boots on ground in A’stan. Well, guess what? Andy is with the 744th EOD…so I indirectly adopted an indirect family member and didn’t even know it… You know that group is going to get a little extra “spoiling”…LOL!!

I sent out an e-mail this morning to everyone at the Board of Ed asking for donations of summer items for care packages. The list included sunscreen, lip balm, eye drops, saline nasal spray, baby wipes, flavor packets for bottled water, squirt guns, water balloons, anything to help cool off our Warriors, protect them from the elements, and help them relax a little bit. Only one person mentioned the e-mail – at lunch time, Kinny told me he has two packs of water balloons he had bought for his grandkids to use at the pool, then thought better of it when he imagined little bits of broken balloons getting jammed in the pool filter. He was wondering what to do with them, so when he got my e-mail request a light bulb went on over his head – send ‘em to the sandbox! So even if nobody else donates anything, there are two packs of water balloons that I didn’t have before. Every little bit helps.

I’ve got enough funds left to pay postage on 8 more large FRB’s, and probably have more “stuff” than will fit into 8 boxes… That’s the way it always goes, though, as every AnySoldier Support Junkie can attest to. So I’ll send what I can, and God will provide for the rest; He always does!

Our Soldier, SPC Dana Atkinson is now Cpl Dana Atkinson – go Dana!! She’s taking two of her Soldiers before the Soldier of the Month board tomorrow (or today, since they are 8 hours ahead of us, so it’s already tomorrow where they are…) so we’re all wishing them the best of luck – Go “Q” and Andy!! Hooah! Sounds like I need to make these troops some more cookies; they’ve obviously been working hard and definitely deserve a treat.

I have clothes in the dryer that I need to put on hangers before they get all frinkled and wrinkled, then it’s time to think about hitting the hay. Thanks for reading my ramblings, and as always, feel free to comment. That’s the only way I know if anybody is reading my blog or not. I don’t suppose it would matter either way, since I’ll keep on writing regardless, but it sure is nice to get a little feedback. Hugs {{{{{{y’all}}}}}}

The “busy week” turned out quite well once all was said and done. I was up late Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights baking bread and cookies for Raise Dough for the Troops, so I was a little tired by the end of each day of the sale. The first day I made $47, the second day I made $62, and the third day I made $102. Out of the zillions of cookies and all the bread I’d baked, and the four chess pies our daughter-in-law Jennifer contributed to the cause, all I brought home at the end of the last day were 8 cookies, 1 loaf of white bread, and 1 chess pie. Subtract the $24 I spent on ingredients for the cookies, and I netted $187 for care packages and postage. It might not be a fortune, but it’s a lot better than the 44 cents I had left in the Support Account.

I met all kinds of folks and answered all kinds of questions during those three days. One elderly lady wanted to know how to fill out a customs form; two young men from her church have deployed to Afghanistan and the church members want to send care packages. She said the form is awfully confusing, and they know it “has to be filled out perfectly or it will get rejected.” So I explained to her that it doesn’t have to be as specific as the instructions lead one to believe, and gave her examples of how I fill out a customs form.

She was talking about how they plan to send food and toiletries both, so I told her not to pack them in the same box. Otherwise when the package gets to the recipient, everything in the box will taste like soap or deodorant or whatever you’ve packed in with the food. The hotter the weather, the worse the flavor transference is. You never know when you send a box over there how long it might sit in the sun on a pallet before it gets where it’s going. She said she was glad to get that information, because sure enough they were planning to put it all in one box.

Another young lady came over to my table and said she had some items for care packages, and was going to be picking up some more. She wanted to know how to get them to me or to the FRG or whoever so they’d get to the troops. If what I heard is truth and not just a hopeful rumor, our guys are coming home sooner than originally expected, so I gave her one of my business cards and told her to give me a call whenever she’s got stuff she wants sent. Even when our Guard members return home, goodness knows I’ve got a rolodex full of other troops who will still be there for several months. Every contribution is a big help.

I met a new friend, TJ Jordi, who was asking for bread-baking tips; he said his bread always “falls.” I haven’t figured that one out yet; I’ve had cakes fall, but never a loaf of bread. Anyway, I’m going to be e-mailing TJ some bread recipes and tips that I’ve learned over the years that make a big difference in how the loaves turn out. He visited my website, and liked it enough that he linked it to his own page. I’ve had a lot more hits on my page in the past couple of days, which I attribute to the links TJ placed on his page.

Gotta get busy now; thanks for reading my ramblings; feel free to share, and to leave comments… To my Warriors, blah blah blah, nag nag nag, STAY SAFE!! Don’t make me have to come over there…

Since my troop support account was down to 44-cents (enough to buy exactly one stamp, but who wants to write a check or swipe a debit card for $0.44?), the yard sale at the National Guard Armory in Ashland City could not have come at a better time. Lori invited me to set up a table to sell bread, and I took Thursday and Friday off from work then I rolled up my sleeves, put on my apron, and proceeded to wreck the kitchen in a major way… LOL!!

Tuesday night I baked 8 loaves of bread, Wednesday night I baked another 8 loaves as well as made 6 dozen banana nugget cookies with chocolate chips. Yesterday morning I hauled it all over to the Armory and got my table set up. The cookies disappeared in no time flat, and I sold 7 loaves of bread throughout the day. The afternoon was pretty much dead; Lori didn’t have the signs up in Ashland City yet. She said today would be a lot busier. Since the cookies went so fast, I concentrated last night on baking cookies. I baked 2 loaves each of cinnamon swirl bread and oatmeal honey bread because those sell the best. Then I baked a double batch of banana nugget cookies with chocolate chips, a double batch with raisins, and a batch of snickerdoodles.  The last sheet of Snickerdoodles came out of the oven about a quarter past 10, and by the time I cleaned up the majority of the mess in the kitchen and bagged the cookies up for the sale, it was nearly 11:00 before I got to bed.

The alarm goes off at 3:45 every weekday morning; that’s my cue to get up, get my workout clothes on, and exercise with my Wii Fit Plus for 30 minutes. (Actually, my routine is 36 minutes.) Anyway, as I was saying, 3:45 came a whole lot earlier this morning than it usually does. You’d be proud of me, though, I hopped right out of bed (okay, maybe it was more like a stumble…), got my sweats and t-shirt on, pony-tailed my hair, and “hit the gym.” I was a little off my game, but I completed the entire workout, hit the shower, and I’m killin’ time until it’s time to head to the Armory with my bags & baskets full of goodies. Wish me luck; yesterday I made $47, but spent $24 at the grocery store on the way home, buying ingredients for the cookies. Hopefully today I will recoup that amount and then some… Gotta get that support account back up to snuff!

I almost forgot, but in June the board employees get their longevity pay. Traditionally, we’ve treated my longevity pay as “found money,” and I put it in my troop account. It’s not a huge amount; by the time taxes and all come out of it, it’s less than $200. But it’s still that much more than I would have had without it, and when added to my $40 allowance, I’ve always managed to pick up a lot of “stuff” for my soldier stash each June. A trip to Sam’s is a good bet… I can’t wait to see what my total take is on the bake sale, which runs through tomorrow.  I’m baking peanut butter cookies tonight, also applesauce w/raisins and likely some more snickerdoodles. Lord, just help me stay awake today, and keep me from falling face first into a batch of cookie dough this evening…

Gotta get off here; time to ponytail my hair, haul all these goodies out to the car, and head for the Armory. Y’all have a most wondermous day, and take care! Hugs {{{{{{{{{{Warriors, Family, and Friends}}}}}}}}}}