Here in the midst of rounding up funds and items for Christmas Care Packages, I adopted another group of soldiers this morning. Yeah, I know…but I just happened to click on a name at AnySoldier when I logged on to check an updated status (I don’t know why I chose that particular name, it just happened) and I couldn’t help myself. They’re on a remote outpost with no access to a PX, and are requesting socks, t-shirts, boxer briefs, basic hygiene gear, dsiposable plates, bowls & eating utensils. I’m a sucker for a troop that is asking for such basic items instead of video games and computers and such. So of course I had to request their address, and I’ve already got one large box ready to drop in the mail tomorrow for them. I’ve recruited a couple more friends to help with their request, so we’ll have them taken care of in no time.

A friend and fellow troop support junkie in East Tennessee made a $100 donation on my ChipIn site for Christmas packages this morning, which is a great help. Thank you, Patricia – you’ve got a heart of gold! I have pointed out before that my most generous donors have been Vietnam Veterans and troops I have previously supported when they were deployed. I need to add “family members of active duty troops” to that list; Patricia’s brother is stationed in Vicenza, Italy with the 173rd Airborne and has been deployed to the sand box in the recent past. I can only assume that since all of these folks have been there, done that, from either standpoint, they understand the necessity of supporting our Warriors more so than the average person who has neither been there, nor done that, nor experienced the worry and fear that goes with having a loved one in a battle zone. God love ‘em all – Bonnie Roach, Dana Courtney, Andy Bailey, Randy Grailer, Alicia Guiliani, Larry Thompson, Mike Apelu, “My Joe” Keller, Patricia Cooper Simpson, Faye Wilson, Lynn Seifert, Sharon Kinnard, Michelle Galipo, Doyle Pritchard – I couldn’t do all I do without ‘em!

I’ve got Paul & Jennifer’s three girls for the night, and it’s time to get them settled onto pallets on the living room floor for some sleep (or for some giggling, wrestling, tattling, and what-not) because I’m a tired old lady and I need my rest. LOL!! Thanks for reading my ramblings. Catch y’all later; maybe by then I will have caught my tail…

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.

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}}}}}}

In order to assure that Christmas packages get to our Warriors on time, it’s critical to get them in the mail before Thanksgiving.  I appreciate any and all help in raising troop morale over the holidays.

Over the last few days, I’ve gotten e-mails from three other troops we’ve previously adopted. One Marine who just arrived in Afghanistan (he was also in Iraq last time), and two Soldiers who will be deploying to Iraq again in the next couple or three months. The Marine sent his address and asked if they could count on our support again, and of course I added him to the Support Rolodex. Since he’s in a position to push mail out to over 200 other Marines, I shared his address with a couple of friends and fellow supporters – the more the merrier. He will be signing up with AnyMarine again, so he shouldn’t lack for supporters, but you never can tell. People do request addresses then fail to follow through, which is a crying shame.

Our Bronze Star winning tanker from Ft. Carson is one who will be deploying to the sandbox again shortly. He wanted to know if we’d support him and his guys again, and if I’d send him “that little newspaper you used to send in my care packages.” Now, that little newspaper is a free paper edited and published by the mayor of Pleasant View, titled “The I-24 Exchange.” We get it in the mail every Saturday, and mostly I check to see what the latest news regarding the Board of Ed is, read the obits and the arrest reports to make sure I’m not in them, and glance at the letters to the editor to see who’s bitching about what lately. Then we leave it laying around somewhere Maggie can find it and shred it to smithereens in place of chewing up the house while we’re gone to work. I refer to it as “All the news that isn’t fit to print.”

I told Ron if they need toilet paper over there, I’ll gladly send the good stuff, no need to resort to newspaper. He said “No, we actually enjoyed reading that paper. It reminded us of home.” Huh…go figure…and I only used it to fill in the empty spaces in the care packages. Well, okay, we’ll have to find something else for Maggie to shred when Ron deploys again. Wonder what Mayor McCarver would think if he knew a group of tankers from Colorado liked his newspaper? Should I tell him? Hmmmm….

We got a nice e-mail from a contact who just received the package we’d sent. He said they got it a couple of days ago, and his Soldiers were still smiling. Among other items, they had requested hot cocoa. So I made up a package with a box of 60 packets of Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa Mix, a large bag of miniature marshmallows, plastic spoons, and styrofoam cups. Oh, and in the empty spaces, an assortment of Willy Wonka candies – Laffy Taffy, Nerds, Everlasting Gobstoppers, Bottle Caps…you know the big bags you can get at Sam’s… Anyway, it got there fairly quickly – I was kind of amazed, and I was glad it brought smiles to Soldiers’ faces. That’s what makes it all worth while.

I’ve got to get up from here and get to bed. I’m getting a bit on the drowsy side, and Jack and the dogs have already hit the hay without me. Bosco isn’t a problem; he sleeps in a laundry basket with a blanket in it, beside the bed. Maggie, on the other hand, is probably on my pillow and ready to grumble at me when I make her move. Wish me luck…LOL! Thanks for reading my ramblings, and feel free to chime in at any time.

I went to Wal-Mart after work and spent some of the money from the last orders of bread on care package stuff. I have a new contact who wants beef jerky, trail mix, spicy ramen noodles, and other snacky things. So I picked up two boxes of Cheez-It crackers, two packs of beef jerky, some Cajun Trail Mix, some banana chips, some powdered energy drink mixes, tuna lunch kits, chicken salad lunch kits, several varieties of spicy ramen noodles, and some tropical mix dried fruit. I’ve probably got enough for two or three boxes; that’s what I usually wind up with. But now I’ll have postage for however many boxes I come up with. That’s pretty darn awesome in my book.

I asked Randy if he needed anything at the moment, and he said he was good for now. So I reckon my new guys will get two boxes. I’ve already sent them a card with a Guardian Angel in it for each of them, plus an extra for the guy who lets them use his microwave. I like being able to “spoil” our warriors a little bit. They don’t ask for much, and expect even less; not to mention all the sacrifices they and their families make while they’re deployed. Gotta love ‘em!

I have a friend on facebook who teaches at Harpeth High School, drives a school bus, and is (unbeknownst to me until Jennifer told me) a musician. He’s going to donate some of his CD’s to put in care packages for our troops. How is that on the awesome scale, huh?? Things are going along great these days; might as well make the most of every opportunity that presents itself! In case he happens to read this – Thanks, Dave Parks! Our Warriors will enjoy your music.

Thanks y’all, for reading my ramblings once again. I’ve got rolls fixing to come out of the oven, and a care package or two to put together, so I’ll catch y’all later. If any of my Warriors are reading this…you know the routine: Blah blah blah, nag nag nag, STAY SAFE!!! Don’t make me have to come over there…

I created a tag to put on each loaf of bread, on the twist tie, that says “Thanks for helping Raise Dough for the Troops. Every loaf sold helps fund care packages for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.”  I used a template for return address labels, 30 to a sheet. They’re printed on card stock, and after I cut them out, I use packing tape to laminate each one. Kind of tedious, but it makes them look really good, and prevents the twist tie from tearing through the tag when I cut a slit in it and slide the tie through.

Jennifer teaches at Harpeth Middle School and said she’d be happy to put a flier up over there. I’d told her to let me see if it was going to get off the ground first.  I think I’m ready to give her a couple of fliers and hope I don’t get overwhelmed right off the bat. I might find myself chained to the oven for a few days…LOL!! It’s a good thing I love to bake bread. And our Warriors are worth whatever it takes to let them know they are appreciated.

One of my Warriors (you know who you are, young’un…) has a request in for two pillows. At lunchtime if it’s not raining cats and dogs (I’d hate to step in a poodle in my new shoes) I’m going to go to Wal-Mart and buy some pillows, and pillow cases to go with, and get those in the mail either this afternoon or tomorrow morning. It’s so nice when one of our Warriors will actually speak up and let me know exactly what they need. As I told this fella, “Ask and ye shall receive – as long as you’re not asking for the world on a silver platter.” LOL!

Gotta get to work. Thanks for reading; feel free to leave a comment! Oh, and any of my Warriors who happen to read this…Blah blah blah, nag nag nag, STAY SAFE!! Don’t make me have to come over there…

A few aisles later, there was a shelf of Himalayan Berry Medley Mix – a 44-oz. container for $2.81. It’s got mixed dried berries, yogurt-covered raisins, and nuts in it. I had to look at the price two or three times to convince myself it actually said two dollars and eighty-one cents, and no matter how I looked at it, that’s exactly what it said…Well, anyone who reads the Soldier requests on AnySoldier.com knows our Warriors like dried fruit, so I put three containers of it in the cart, and Jack said “I’ll get that, too. With the cost of the Atomic Fireballs and this stuff, that will be enough for you to send another package.” So I STILL have $40 in my account, and enough “stuff” to mail at least three packages, which will take care of most of that $40 – Now, how awesome is that?? I love it when things work out like that!

Now, I really have to get up from here – I’ve got bread about to come out of the oven, more to prepare to go in the oven, and four or five loads of laundry that aren’t going to get done by themselves…Not to mention the kitchen is a wreck from all the bread baking. Y’all take care, and once again, I thank you for reading my ramblings. (Jack & Maddog, I know I can count on y’all, at least – y’all are my biggest fans!)

In his profile update, he has listed 8 males and 2 females in his charge. So I doubled that number to send Guardian Angel cards to his group, since usually the contacts only count the number of troops that don’t get mail on a regular basis, and EVERYBODY deserves an Angel of their own. I put four cards in the mail to Sgt. Braswell, each one with five Angels in it. I sent one of my “Chicken Up On You” cards, one of my Bluebird cards (The front has a big blue bird on it, with “Hi, Sgt. Braswell and Troops! I am the blue bird of…” then on the inside it says “Well, I’m not sure what I’m the blue bird of, but you’d better watch your head!”), one of my “Two Important Things” cards, and one of my “Just flying through to say Thank You to an American Hero” cards.

From the update he posted, I got the idea that he and his Soldiers are not feeling the love of a grateful nation, and that’s just not allowed to happen on my watch. I know that the unit they are with has suffered some heavy losses, and that likely has a lot to do with the major drop in morale.  He also mentioned they had not received any mail at all in 10 days, and he didn’t know if it was because nobody was sending anything or if it was because whoever is in charge of their mail decided not to deliver until there was a large amount of mail built up. All I know for sure is this ~ If my cards make even one of them smile, I’ll feel better about this group. God love ‘em, they just want to go home after their year in hell, and in the meantime, they need to know that they have not been forgotten.

There’s a young man halfway around the world I’ve promised some specific items to, so at lunch time I went to Wal-Mart and spent $35, and will get that care package put together and mailed off, hopefully tomorrow. He’s trying to eat healthy and lose some weight, so I selected low-cal and low-fat items, and bought some of those DelMonte Fruit Chillers in tubes. They used to come in cups only, but the tubes pack easier and don’t require a spoon to eat, and it’s the same product.  They’re really good, and I think he’ll enjoy them. I know he has a freezer available, because I’ve sent freezer pops at his request.

My Wal-Mart purchases left a little over $25 in the account, so I can mail 2 boxes, either the small FRB or the large. Of course I’m going to go for the large…I think I’ll send the other one to SSgt Musselman; I’d like to see if he gets it any quicker than the last one I sent, which took two months to get there. Consider it an experiment, if you want. Either way, he and his troops get more goodies. ;~D

Gotta get busy now; thanks for reading my ramblings. Feel free to leave a comment. It’s always nice to have affirmation that somebody is indeed reading this stuff, though I’ll keep on blogging regardless.