Valentine's Day Care Package

Sooooo, I'm over a month late in posting this, but I figured I'd go ahead and post it anyhow. . . .

This is a breakdown of the package Munchkin and I sent to the hubby for Valentine's Day. It ended up taking me longer to get everything finished and then actually get to the Post Office, so I was really concerned that it was going to arrive late. We were shocked when it actually arrived at the end of the week (on the 11th!) since I'd only mailed it out on the Monday before. I was definitely praising God for that blessing!!

So, not only did it arrive on time for Valentine's Day, but we also got to 'be there' via Skype to watch my hubby open it--so much fun!!! I'd had a blast getting everything together and giggling over things that I thought would make him smile. . .it was a huge plus actually getting to see it happen. =)

Many of my ideas came from Pinterest (anyone who has NOT been on that site needs to check it out STAT! It is addicting though. . .so many good ideas on it--though I should warn you that there are also some rather inappropriate images that get pinned on there occasionally as well. =( Ugh.), and I will be including the links to the tutorials for those under their respective pictures.

Okay, now on to the contents of the box. . . .

Love Bugs! Aren't they cute? I even made a 'Baby Lovebug' so the Munchkin could be included! =) This is one of the Pinterest crafts, to see the tutorial, click here.

The only thing I had to prevent them from getting crushed in the box was this index card box.

I made little blank cards out of white cardstock to have something to put in the little mailbox I was sending (pictures below), then I stamped on them with my cute, Valentine's Day stamps.

On the other side I wrote romantic quotes. ;-)

Then I used these cute, itty-bitty clothes pins that I got from Michael's to keep them 'sealed' after I folded them.

I searched high and low for this mailbox!!! Most stores only had the cardboard ones. . .I was rather particular about getting an aluminum one. . .couldn't have it getting crushed now could I? :-p

These sealed the personal mini-love notes that I put in the mailbox (they are actually little clothes pins not quite as small as the ones with hearts above, but still quite small though you can't really tell that from the photo). These were inspired by something quite similar on Pinterest, but they are too simple to require a tutorial, so I never even clicked on the picture, ha ha.

This was a LOT of fun, but also a lot of work, lol. Not that I don't have at least 52 things that I love about my hubby, I was just trying to make each one completely different from the rest and not be redundant with similar things. This was a Pinterest inspired project. There are many variations of it, here a links to a couple of them: the one I followed  and another good one.

A glimpse of one of the things I love about my hubby! ;-)

And another. ;-p Ha ha!

Pictures and videos I wanted to send to him along with a playlist of love songs I'd chosen just for him (and another playlist just of other random songs I thought he might enjoy). I had originally meant to video Munchkin and myself with a 'special Valentine's Day message', but we ran out of time, so I didn't. :-/

Lyrics from Josh Turner's "The Longer the Waiting (the Sweeter the Kiss)".

I figured, "Hey, he's red!" Ha ha!

Amigurumi Hearts--Munchkin is still talking about these whenever he sees me crocheting anything. . .he has had an obsession with hearts ever since I made these! These were another Pinterest find, you can see the tutorial here.

What is Valentine's Day without candles? The can was a random idea that I had one day for making a tea light holder. . .I used a nail and punched holes out to form hearts: two large and two (?) small. It took FOREVER. Note to self: next time, glue it to the floor and use a nail gun.

I HAD to send Hugs and Kisses. :-D

Maybe I should have sent a toothbrush and toothpaste with the box. . . .

The steamy love letter. Mwahahahah! Okay, seriously, I still blush every time I think about this.
*ETA: By "steamy" I don't mean inappropriate. . .just more 'lovey-dovey' than what I normally write in my regular letters.*

The contents of this box will remain known only to my hubby and me. :-p

I had no idea you could 'wrap' a box on the inside until I saw the amazingly creative care packages that other military S.O.s had made while searching for ideas on what to do. It was a lot of fun to do and I think my hubby really enjoyed seeing something other than the inside of a brown box for once, ha ha.

I didn't want the thumb drive to get lost and wanted to make sure my hubby saw it, so I taped it to one of the flaps. :-p

So, there you have it. We don't normally do much of anything for Valentine's Day, but I decided I was going to make this year special. My hubby surprised me by e-mailing my printer a list of "100 Reasons Why I Love You" (the day BEFORE my package to him arrived--proof that our hearts and brains are still connected even so far apart!!) so it would be printed and waiting for me to find (I LOVE it when he does that with random notes and stuff!). He was so sweet--it made me get all choked up more than once. I'm going to treasure that list forever and always!!! I'm so blessed to have such a thoughtful husband!

Even though we couldn't spend this past Valentine's Day together, it was still pretty amazing I think! I'm not sure how we are going to 'out-do' it next year. . . . I'll have to start coming up with ideas soon, ha ha.

How did you celebrate Valentine's Day this year or in years past?

Bluebird in My Chimney

So, Saturday morning had a somewhat 'different' kind of beginning than most days. . . . After the Munchkin woke up and I'd brought him out of his room, I walked back into the living room and heard a strange scratching/scuttling sound in the corner near the woodstove. At first I thought maybe it was something outside because it had stopped by the time I really started to hone in on it.

When it started up again I realized it was actually coming from the stove pipe between the woodstove and the ceiling. My first thought was that it was either a bird or a squirrel or something, then I started wondering how I was going to get it out before it died from ash/soot inhalation or exhaustion (I have NO idea how long it had been in there by that point, though I'm assuming not for long).

I called my mom and asked if she could drive the 22 minutes to my house and help me dissect the stove pipe and rescue whatever poor creature was trapped in there, she said she would head out as soon as she could get ready.

Since I couldn't do anything else at that point I went about the normal morning routine: take Sasha out and feed him (the cats had already been fed), fix the Munchkin some breakfast, wash my face, etc. About 15-20 minutes after I'd called my mom she called me back to ask me what kind of screws were on the stove pipe to make sure we'd have the right tools for the job. =p By that time I hadn't heard the 'whatever-it-is' in about 5 minutes or so. I started wondering if it had made it up and out of the chimney--or down into the actual woodstove area. So, very slowly I started opening the door of the stove and much to my surprise--there perched on one of the bricks against the side wall of the stove close to the front was a female Bluebird!

I closed the door quickly as I was afraid she would escape and then be stuck flying around the house until I could manage to catch her somehow--if the cats didn't get to her first. I tried to think of what I could use to catch her with and the only thing I could come up with that was anything like a net was my lingerie wash bag thingy (ha ha!). I put Penny in the bathroom so she couldn't 'assist' me in catching the poor bird. Boomer was behind the couch, so he wasn't much of a threat (oh wait, I haven't introduced you guys to Boomer yet, have I? I'll try to do that soon. . . .). Then I went to the laundry room and got the make-shift 'net' and after distracting Munchkin with his breakfast and an episode of the Backyardigans, I went back to the woodstove.

At first I just held the net in front of the woodstove (like that was going to work!! Ha ha), then I realized that method wasn't likely to work, and by that time the bird had hopped to the back and was trying to find a way back into the chimney--which I wasn't about to let happen!! I lightly tossed the net over her and was actually surprised when it did indeed land on her. . .though when I went to pick her up she scooted out from under the side. I don't really know what happened next, all I know is that one second I thought she was going to escape for sure and the next second she was in my hand--perfectly cradled so that she couldn't struggle and injure herself, and I didn't have to hold her very tightly to restrain her. Praise God!!

She actually didn't put up much of a fight--which surprised me. Maybe she thought I was a predator that was going to eat her and she was waiting for me to loosen my grip on her so she could make her escape (kind of like 'playing possum', you know?).

Anyhow, I took her outside and gently let her go after taking a couple of quick pictures with my cell phone. She immediately flew away and seemed to be okay. Hopefully she learned her lesson and won't think of checking out chimney pipes as potential nesting sites anymore!!!

 

 *Edited to Add: I just realized this is a male bluebird. . .I think I've been away from the Mainland too long--I never would have made such an obvious mistake identifying the gender of a bluebird back a few years ago. What was I thinking? I guess the layer of soot over his blue feathers that made him look more gray may have been part of it, but STILL!*

Outlaw Platoon Book Review

Writing this review has been more daunting than I initially thought it would be--not because the book was terrible or anything like that--simply because the book affected me in so many ways that I have been worried that my words will not do justice to the incredible story that it holds on it’s pages of the men who served in the platoon that came to be known as the Outlaws.

Outlaw Platoon is an incredible true story of a how a group of men from the Army’s 10^th Mountain Division—some of whom had been previously tested in battle, along with others who were completely green—forged bonds of friendship and love that transcended their vast differences and enabled them to become a united fighting force that the enemy came to recognize and loath. The author, Sean Parnell, was the platoon’s LT (Lieutenant) in 2006 when the events detailed in this book took place. As he states in the Author’s Note, his goal in writing the book is not to bring glory to any of his own actions during their time in Afghanistan, but is to bring recognition to his men—a task that he performed very well in the retelling of their story. To quote the book’s dust jacket, “Over 80 percent were wounded in action, putting their casualty rate among the highest since Gettysburg, and not all of them made it home.” The story of these men needs to be told—we must never forget the sacrifices that our troops make in service to our country—and the debt of gratitude that we owe them.

Almost immediately upon beginning to read I was swept into the action—and before I had even made it out of the Prologue I had already found myself on the brink of tears. Parnell doesn’t gloss over any of the details of what they experienced during Outlaw Platoon’s time in Afghanistan—this is a very REAL and vivid account of what he and his men experienced during their 16 month tour (though the book does not actually cover the full 16 months). *A brief word of warning—if you have a weak stomach, this may not be a suitable book for you to read as it is pretty graphic in nature. Also as may be expected (due to the nature of the book), strong language is used heavily throughout it.*

For the most part the book is generally non-stop action, and the pace of the book made it hard to put down and easy to lose track of time while reading it.

Parnell’s descriptions of his men and the people they encountered throughout the book really made them come to life for me—and quickly drew me into their lives. So, much so that whenever there was an injury—or worse—I felt as though I myself had borne witness to it as it occurred and experienced overwhelming feelings of concern, grief, and loss.

The story contained within the pages of this book is a powerful one to say the least—and provides valuable insight into how combat affects different men in different ways. Being the wife of a combat veteran I really appreciated this insight. . .it’s just one of those things that isn’t really talked about (except veteran to veteran)—and with good reason. . .as civilians we are not really able to relate to what happens in a combat situation (having never been through anything of a similar nature in MOST cases)—though we may be able to empathize to a certain level it will never be quite the same—and trying to engage a soldier in conversation in this area without it being volunteered is a pretty big no-no. That being said, I am grateful that Parnell dared to share his story and the story of his men so that they would not be forgotten—and so the world would know what the men of Outlaw Platoon did and endured along with the atrocities they witnessed and how it forged the bond between them and made them stronger.

Sadly, the book ended somewhat abruptly and left me wishing it had been longer as I felt unready for my journey with the men as the reader and ‘observer’ to be over. I had grown so attached to them during the time I was reading the book that I literally felt bereft when it ended.

I read Mark Bowden’s Black Hawk Down years ago, and while it was an incredible telling of the events that transpired that deadly Sunday in Somalia, it doesn’t have the same distinction as Outlaw Platoon does in having been written from the perspective and memory of the (then) LT who was there through it all and did himself experienced the events he has written about.

Overall, I HIGHLY recommend this book—especially to my fellow military wives. Being able to get a glimpse of what our men who go ‘outside the wire’ go through (though every situation will of course be different) is—in my humble opinion—an invaluable tool to being able to understand them better and help them through whatever residual effects there may be.

Please remember to always treat returning combat vets with the consideration and respect that they have earned. Their time spent becoming a combat vet was not an easy one and will always be a part of who they are. . .somewhere below the surface.

I would like to leave you with a couple of quotes from the end of The Return of the King (both are spoken by Frodo. . .the long one is from the movie version, the short one is from the book). I think that though they come from the mouth of a fictional character these are likely the same thoughts that our combat veterans face upon their return home—as evidenced by Parnell’s honest account in Outlaw Platoon of both his emotions and the emotions he witnessed in his men during their time together in Afghanistan.

“How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand—there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend. . .some hurts that go too deep, that have taken hold.”

“I am wounded. . .wounded; it will never really heal.”

Ten Day YOU Challenge--Day 10

Whew, I made it to the final day!! Woo-hoo!

Day 10--One Picture (of Yourself):

This was me when I was 19 (that seems so long ago now!). . .I'm thinking of growing my hair out to that length again (I miss braiding it!!!), but with side-swept bangs. Not sure if that combination would even look half-way decent, but that's what I'm *currently* thinking of doing, lol.

Ten Day YOU Challenge--Day 9

Wow--almost to the end!!

Day 9--Two Songs:

I have a whole playlist of songs that God has used to encourage me during the 'storms' of my life, but I will stick with two of my favorites for this post. . . .

1. Praise You in This Storm by Casting Crowns

2. No Matter What by Kerrie Roberts

Ten Day YOU Challenge--Day 8

Day 8--Three Films:

 1. The Last of the Mohicans--my all time favorite. 

2. Shooter--another one of my favorites.

3. Heartland--not a movie (it's a Canadian TV show about a girl who is something of a 'horse whisperer'), but definitely a favorite.

Ten Day YOU Challenge--Day 7

Day 7--Four Books:

1. The Bible. God's words written down for us--for which I am eternally grateful!

2. My Wolf, My Friend by Barbara Corcoran. Published in the '50s or 60's, I came across this book randomly at a yardsale when I was a little girl and it has been one of my absolute favorites ever since the first time I read it.

3. The Hobbit--another one of my all-time favorites.

4. Faith Deployed by Jocelyn Green--AMAZING devotional for military wives!!! It has been a HUGE source of encouragement since my hubby deployed. There is a second one out now as well called Faith Deployed...Again--which I have, but won't start until I have finished the first one.

Shoot--do I really have to stop at just four books? There are soooooo many I could talk about given the chance! Why wasn't this one the one matched with 10?

Ten Day YOU Challenge--Day 6

Day 6--Five Foods:

1. Bread: I. Love. It.

2. Beef Stew: one of my favorite comfort foods (with bread of course. . .and LOTS of it, ha ha).

3. Potatoes.

4. Chili (my Dad's recipe--it's a little different than the average Chili recipe. . .I'll post it on here sometime if anyone is interested).

5. Chinese Chicken and Broccoli (I missed this like crazy in Hawaii--there are plenty of Chinese restaurants over there, it's just that it is made a completely different way there or something as it is NOTHING like mainland Chicken and Broccoli!).

Ten Day YOU Challenge--Day 5

Day 5--Six Places:

1. Wherever my hubby is because that is home.

2. Hawaii--because it's where we got married.

3. Montana--I've always dreamed of going there one day.

4. Vermont--haven't been there yet, but it's such a pretty state.

5.  The British Isles--so much history and part of my heritage.

6. Afghanistan

Ten Day YOU Challege--Day 4

Day 4--Seven Wants:

1. For this deployment to end. =p

2. That this deployment would be a time of personal growth for my hubby and me as Christians--both as individuals as well as a couple.

3. For Munchkin to start listening more (ah, the Terrible Two's, ha ha).

4. To finish my online course well and learn a lot from it.

5. To read more.

6. To live faaaaaaaaaaaarrrrr away from anything and essentially be 'off the grid'. . .in a snowy climate and near mountains.

7. To be able to hug and be hugged by my hubby whenever I want.

 

Ten Day YOU Challenge--Day 3

Hello again! I think I'm setting some sort of a record for posts in one week for me (at least for the past year and a half probably, ha ha!). I hope you are enjoying hearing from me more frequently--though I can't promise that I will be able to keep this up long term, ha ha!


Anyhow, on to. . .

Day 3--Eight Fears:

1. That I'm failing as a mom. . .since I didn't babysit growing up I'm still 'learning as I go', sometimes I worry that I'm not doing a good enough job.

2. That I'll somehow manage to mangle our finances while my hubby is away. I think in some aspects that fear is somewhat helpful. . .it helps prevent me from making stupid financial decisions and makes me think twice (or well, maybe more like five or six times =p) about anything before I buy it, ha ha. ;)

3. That my horse is truly what he has been termed by some--a rogue--and may never be trainable. =(

4. That my hubby is going to get bored with my somewhat repetitive daily letters since my life doesn't vary much day to day, ha ha. =p

5. That my acne is never going to go away (seriously, what happened to it being just a teenage problem? Bleh).

6. Caterpillars. I'm serious. I know it's irrational--I can't even explain why I'm afraid of them. . .I used to play with them when I was a little kid (I LOVED Wooly Bears!!!)--I was still fine with them even after having a traumatic experience involving a Catalpa caterpillar when I was about 4 that still freaks me out to think about and getting stung once when I was probably 7 or 8. I'm not entirely sure when I developed this fear, I just know that sometime around the time I entered into the double-digits age-wise anytime I saw a caterpillar anywhere near me my heart would start beating faster--and each time I had to go in the chicken coop after the web-worms had left their nests I about died from the thought of one falling off of the overhead wire onto me (hey, it was a very real possibility--I've seen them falling from there!). I may or may not still have that same reaction at the thought of a caterpillar falling on me. The few times I have actually found a caterpillar on my clothes after walking through underbrush or sitting on the ground in the summertime for awhile have been the closest I have ever been to having a panic attack I think. Over a caterpillar. Like I said it's irrational. . . .

7. That I'll never be truly good at something. . .just mediocre in a few things.

8. The same things any wife of a deployed soldier fears--I just can't put them into words.

Ten Day YOU Challenge--Day 2

Nine Loves:

 

1. My Heavenly Father

2. My Amazing Hubby

3. My Crazy Munchkin

4. Animals

5. Photography

6. Snow

7. Reading

8. Doing things with my hands (e.g., puzzles, crocheting, sewing, cross-stitching, etc. I have a hard time sitting still without doing something with my hands. . .growing up if we were watching a movie I wasn't actually watching it--I would be listening to it and glancing up occasionally while working on a puzzle.)

9. Solitude (but with my hubby and son!)

Ten Day YOU Challenge--Day 1

So, I saw this on a friend's blog and thought it looked like fun. We'll see if I can stick with it to the end. =)

Ten Secrets:

Okay, so I don't really know if I have ten secrets and the secrets that I may/may not have aren't going to be published on this blog for all the world to see. . .sorry. That is why they are SECRETS. =p Soooo, with that being said I'll just change it to:


Ten Random Facts About Me:

1. I absolutely love wolves. When I was younger I wanted to grow up and be a biologist that studied wolves so I could help protect their species. I had pictures of wolves tacked up around my room that I'd saved from old calendars. . .I'll admit that I actually have a wolf calendar now as my "Countdown Calendar". =)

2. My favorite genre of music is instrumental movie scores. My favorite composers being Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, Howard Shore, and occasionally James Horner (though he has a tendency to re-use themes from other movies in new movies, and it bothers me that he can't come up with entirely new music each time. . .don't believe me? There's a bit of Zorro, Willow, and possibly Troy [if I remember correctly--it's been a while since I listened to it all the way through] in the Avatar score--and that is just one example).

3. My husband and I were pen-pals for a year and a half before we ever met for the first time (my mom met him before I ever did!!), but that is a story for another post. . . .

4. I absolutely hate having water in my ears and generally have to use a q-tip to get it out after I shower every night (I blame my dad for passing this quirk on to me, ha ha).

5. I have a mixed heritage. . .I am 1/2 British (my dad is from England), and then a big mix of German, Scottish, Scotch-Irish, Dutch, and a tiny bit of Native American (not sure what tribe. . .seems like my far-back family was too prejudiced to think of recording those things. . .we don't even know what her name was--she was apparently just referred to as the "Squaw". Makes me sad). My Grandfather's family were apparently German Jews who immigrated from Germany before/around WWI (I don't remember for sure when it was). . .they weren't practicing Jews I guess, because no one in my family knew anything about it until after my grandma passed away and we found a document stating that my grandfather's family were Jewish.

6. When I was 13 my dad, sister, and I went on a one month trip to England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales--visiting family along the way. It was an incredible experience and I dream of going back again one day to so many of the places we visited--but this time with my husband and Munchkin(s) so they can share the experience with me.

7. I play the violin/fiddle. . .though not very well and it's been years since I was able to play it regularly. I wish I had brought it with me because I keep wanting to play it, but sadly it is in storage in Hawaii. I didn't have room to bring it with me when we moved. =(I am worried that it is going to be ruined in storage somehow by the time I get back to Hawaii.

8. I got bucked off a horse that I was thinking about buying the day before I discovered I was pregnant with Peanut Butter Cup. . .my hubby was videoing the whole time (you'd have thought he would have been too concerned to keep filming, but apparently not, ha ha =p)--and oh, how he loves to watch that video clip (and re-watch! Not to mention he showed it to anyone who came to our house for the next couple of months after that, ha ha). He likes to watch it in slow motion and then he watches it in slow motion going backwards. 

9. My hair used to be long enough for me to sit on. Then I started cutting it off in 10-inch increments to donate to Locks of Love (once each year until it got too short to cut off 10 inches and leave me with a length of hair that I was comfortable with).

10. Speaking of hair. . .I was born with jet black hair and my aunt nicknamed me "the little Indian baby" because of it. A short while later my hair turned red (yes, you read that right it turned red--it didn't fall out and then grow back in red), by the time I was 2 years old I had super light blonde hair (not quite white blonde, but close to it). It stayed that way for years and then slowly started getting darker until it reached it's current (and seemingly final) color that is something between a golden and a honey blonde.

So there you have it! Ten Random Facts About Me. =)

Introducing Sasha

Handsome (albeit somewhat dirty, ha ha) boy.

 So, I know what those of you that have been following my blog for the past couple of years may be thinking. . ."What--ANOTHER dog?!"

Big stretch!

Well, in our defense, it's been really HARD finding the right dog.

Apparently someone else likes to eat snow too. =p

 Though I'm still not 100% sure that Sasha is that dog, I'm giving him a chance to become that dog (he needs training and a LOT of patience).

I LOVE the background in these next couple of shots!

 We got him from a German Shepherd Rescue--yep, you read that right: he's a White German Shepherd Dog--back in early December.

The snow on his nose makes me smile. =)

 He came from a home in Tennessee that couldn't keep him anymore. We were told that he is a little over 1 1/2 years old (so he's still got a puppy mentality in a lot of aspects).

He was having a blast in the snow.

 He is a little too curious/hyper about the cats at the moment so I can't let him free roam the house now that the cats are out and about. That is one 'issue' we are going to have to work on. . .it's just hard to do it without my hubby here to help.

Ready to spring again. =)

 Oh, and he jumps the fence (and then runs for the hills, ha ha)--hence the reason why he is tied out in the yard. I am going to get an invisible fence for him so we don't have to have him tied whenever he is outside.

I was happy he liked the snow as much as the rest of us do--at least in that aspect he fits right in!

He had really bad separation anxiety when we first got him and would destroy stuff if left alone for (literally) even a minute. We got a crate and crate trained him so he wouldn't be alone unsupervised if we had to leave the house or if he had to be in a different room for a while. At first he didn't like the crate (I can't say I blame him since it was entirely new to him) but now he chooses to go in there quite often. It really has become his 'den/safe spot'.  =)

I thought this one's perspective was kind of funny.

So, even though he can be really frustrating a lot of times, he seems to fit in somehow and I think with some training coupled with a lot of dedication and patience, he just might be the right dog.