Friday, November 30, 2007

Soldiers Angels Web Surfing

The Big news is, Rachel Ray and Dunkin Donuts :)

 
 
 
The NC Soldiers Angels VA team and the PGR are teaming up
 
 
 
 
Some soldiers have the Christmas Spirit,thanks to Soldiers Angels :)
 
 
 
 
Awesome Quote of the Day, on Thursday
 
 
 
 
This Angel has the best essay I've seen in awhile, about 'why we do what we do'.
 
 
 
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And lastly, he's not an 'Angel' but he Is a soldier. And, if you want to know what the Receiving end of mail call is like?  Check out this post by JP at  Milblogging.com
 
 
 
 
Priceless! :)
 
Enjoy the 'surf'!
 
 
 

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Your Grinch Name :)

From my friend,Sasha    http://www.myspace.com/sashaispretty

go here

Click here: Grinch Name--Discover your true identity

to find our your Grinch name :)

(Mine is  CRABBYGROUCH CRANKYSHORTS  )

Leave yours in the comments!

 

 

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Wreaths Across America 2007

Hey all, Wreaths Across America is going to be laying wreaths at National Cemetaries again this year, to honor our fallen.

The main website is here

 
and here's a list of all participating locations, by state
 
 
The Wreath Laying will take place on Saturday, Dec. 15 at noon (EST)
 
Please check the listings for the nearest ceremony in your state, and consider attending the ceremony. I did it last year and am looking forward to participating again this year.
 
 

Wednesday Hero

Welcome to this week's installment where all the member bloggers of Wednesday Hero collectively honor many of the real hero's found in this country who's names and bio's have been provided to us for these humble tributes by blogroll creator Indian Chris @ Right Wing and Right Minded.


Many of them are those that have paid the ultimate price for our country protecting it both here and abroad from the many threats we face from our enemies wishing us and them harm, some are not. In either case they are the real American heroes of today and we now both salute and offer our prayers. To join us if you wish to please start by reading the post below.(Introduction courtesy of  Chicago Ray )
 
 

Sgt. Antwan L. Walker

 

Sgt. Antwan L. Walker 22 years old from Tampa, Florida 2nd Forward Support Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division May 18, 2005
 
 
 
 
 Sgt. Antwan Walker was excited about coming home from Iraq to celebrate his 23rd birthday with his family and friends. His mother, Andrea Pringle, was busy planning the party when an Army official unexpectedly came to her house. She said he told her Thursday that her son was killed the previous day by a bomb blast in Ramadi.
 
 
The Department of Defense hasn't publicly confirmed his death. Sgt. Antwan Walker, known as Twan to his friends and family, joined the Army in 2000. Pringle said her son joined to earn money for college.
 
 "Twan had a lot of goals in life," She said. "He was very ambitious and very smart."
 
 
Sgt. Walker had been in Iraq for about a year. He called his family often but didn't want to talk about war. Instead, he talked about starting a real estate career and his three children.
 
"He was such a good dad," his mother said. "All he wanted to do was make a good life for his kids."
 
 
In April 2005, Walker wanted to talk about the fighting. He told his mother five soldiers he was traveling with were killed. His phone calls became more frequent after that. Pringle said she had days when she couldn't eat or sleep because of her worries. But she never forgot to give her son her support. "I always told him I'm proud and be safe".
 
 
 

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

 

 We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

 

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your blog, you can go here.

Operation Santa-Now THREE Ways to Send Christmas Cards to Wounded Warriors

Gazing at the Flag  passed on the word about this one

 

Operation Santa/Marine Moms Bethesda

 

but you've got to hurry, as cards need to be postmarked by Dec.3 !

Operation Santa  is putting together Christmas stockings with gift cards and treats and cards to deliver to the OEF/OIF veterans at

Bethesda

 Walter Reed

 Balboa Naval Hospital 

Brooke Army Medical Center

 

If you want to send  Christmas Cards to be put into the stockings? send them to:

Operation Santa

c/o Marine Moms Bethesda

P O Box 22

Cordova MD 21625

 

Please note: The cards must be glitter and coating free - these come off and can cause secondary infections in the wounds. Don't seal the envelopes - they are screened.

They should be postmarked by December 3.

Contact Jane at jane@marinemoms-bethesda.org for more information about the cards.

 

If you want to help out with the stockings? They can use our donations to purchase stocking stuffers and pay for postage.  Again, check out their post here

 
or you can contact Carrie at wrcostan@comcast.net for any one interested in supporting the efforts or for more information about the stockings.
 
-----------
 
As I said  in my post last Saturday
 
 
 
But now you can use  OPERATION SANTA ABOVE to send cards to our nation's armed forces who were wounded in our country's service.
 
OR you can send them to:
 
VFW POST 8208
PO Box 653
Ruckersville
VA 22968
 
(They are accepting cards to deliver to the patients at Walter Reed and Bethesda Hospitals as well as to other hospitals where there are Patients from this war)

OR

you can send a batch of cards in UNSEALED envelopes (so they can be checked first) to be delivered to the wounded at   Landstuhl Regional Medical Center

That address is:

21st TSC, Medical Transient Detachment
ATTN: Soldiers' Angels
UNIT 23203
APO AE 09263

My thanks to Carol, for reminding me of the address at Soldiers Angels Germany, and you can also send cards to the staff at Landstuhl, as this post says here

 
and if you wish to do more than send a card for the patients? check out this post
 
 
-------------
 
I hope I've given you plenty of ways to send Holiday Cheer to our nation's wounded this Christmas, but time is running out to get this done!
 
 
OPERATION SANTA needs cards postmarked by Dec. 3 
 
 
And the US Postal Services deadlines for Domestic Holiday Mail are:
 

  Domestic Mail Class

Date

First-Class Mail

Dec. 20

Priority Mail

Dec. 20

Express Mail *

Dec. 22

Parcel Post

Dec. 15

* For Express Mail, check with your local post office for the most recent information

 

(But please keep in mind that the VFW post in Ruckersville,VA would need cards sent SOONER than those deadlines, to be able to review and gather the cards together to deliver)

 
And the
 US Postal service deadlines for
 
International Mail Addressed to Europe are

Global Express Guaranteed® (GXG) 4/*

Express Mail® International (EMS)5/*

Priority Mail® International6/*

First-Class Mail® International

Dec 19

Dec 17

Dec 11

Dec 11

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Monday, November 26, 2007

Popcorn and Pancakes (and whiskers on kittens..)

Well, really, I don't have anything to write about 'whiskers on kittens'...but I just had the Raindrops on Roses song from the Sound of Music pop into my head when I was trying to think of a title for this post.

(I wrote this over on my   family blog  and then decided to share it here,also )

Some of y'all may remember my infamous 'pancake story' ?

Click here: The Pancake story

Last night we were finishing putting together the Christmas boxes to send to Dustin, and Mom had suggested that we pack the cookie package with popcorn.  So Tony put a bag of popcorn into the microwave and turned it on, and then we went upstairs to look for the right sized box to pack stuff in.

While we're discussing which box out of the many empty boxes I have been saving might work best, I suddenly say "Is that the smoke detector going off downstairs?" and we run back down into black smoke just Rolling out of the kitchen, and the smoke detector beeping crazily.

Tony grabs the smoldering bag of popcorn out of the microwave and throws it in sink, and then he and I are running around throwing open windows and doors and turning on the kitchen stove fan. I ask him "What did you Set the microwave on???!! Did you use the popcorn button?!" and he says "Yes, I used the popcorn button! I think it said like 3 minutes?" and I'm like "I think you pushed the popcorn button more than Once,then, it's only like a minute forty seconds!!"

and then he turns to me and smiles and says "Well, honey, I guess you're not the only one in the family now that's had a microwave accident!" and we both start cracking up.

He washed up the microwave plate and wiped down the microwave and, after the smoke had cleared a little, popped a second bag of popcorn (on the Right setting:) and then we left the bowl sitting out for the popcorn to cool until we finished packing the boxes this morning.

On the way back from the post office this morning after we had mailed the packages, I thought about the Popcorn accident again, and started laughing until I had tears in my eyes. Tony asked me "What is it?" and I gasped out "You want to know what the best part of the story is?  After all that, we didn't even Use the popcorn to pack the box with after all!!" and collapsed back into laughing my head off, while he started laughing,too.

Just another 'day in the life', here on the 'Dork Family Homestead' :)