Live And Learn

Every day, I learn something new. 

Since I've been active in the Army, I've learned even more. 

I have learned that being away from home really isn't all that hard. Home is where ever you have a place to lay your head. 

Cutting your hair really isn't all that traumatic. It's just hair, and chances are, you're going to like it better. 

Skipping chow is the worst idea ever. At all time...no matter how much you want to sleep in. 

Being able to cook your own food is a true luxury. 

It pays to be organized.  It means you get to sleep a little bit later. 

Working out is always a good idea. 

People don't stay in touch. Even if they say they will...they probably won't.

Sleeping in is overrated. 

Letters make you smile more than anything else. 

You will find support in the strangest places. 

Forgive. But never forget. 

Be resilient. It's worth it. 

Don't take anything personally. 

Allow yourself to be surprised. 

I've decided that it's best to just live and learn...Life is better that way. 

Photo Dump...(Aka: not creative enough to make these items work together)

Hey guys! How's it going today? I'd be better if I hadn't slept this whole day away. Whoops!  Today's post is basically a bit of a photo dump. I have a whole bunch of pictures and no idea how to create a nice little copacetic post about them so. Here is goes! 

On the way home from work yesterday, I spotted this ridiculous column of smoke. Holy fire on the mountain (again!), Batman...This one is at Camp Williams.  I haven't been listening to the radio to know if it's contained or what is going on, but the whole valley is filled with smoke and the smell of fire. Way too scary. 

Did I ever tell you I got my ears pierced a second time? Well I did and on Tuesday I got to change the earrings in the second hole. I got all excited a took a picture. So here it is!

You can ignore my less-than-stylish hair-do. Or make fun, whatever. 

The next few photos are to announce that I am now on Instagram! I got an account when I first got an iPhone but I majorly neglected it, so I just quit that account and created a whole new one. You can follow me @camocolored. I decided to keep all my names the same. I am a bear of small brain and I forget everything so I try to keep things simple. 

So there's my profile picture! It looks like my ring is on my right hand because I used my front camera...dumb. It's on the left.

Last night, I made sloppy joes for dinner and I couldn't resit taking a photo of them. Isn't that what Instagram is for? Taking picture of your food? Might as well be, because that is most of my photofeed.

Last night I hit the gym with a big goal in mind. I need to be able to run 2 miles in under 20 minutes to pass the Army Fitness Test and I want to freaking destroy it, not just pass it...well I didn't achieve that goal, but I did force myself to run until I hit two miles, which I never do. I always quit after one or sometimes 1.5 when I feel ambitious.

And here is your proof. And yes, those are both instagramed. So go and follow me! I like to have people to share with! 

Also, don't forget to go and follow me on Twitter (Katie Nay @ camocolored) I'm still getting used to it, but I'm really liking it and figuring out how to use it. It's a lot more fun than I expected it to me. (I always thought the only point of it was to tell people when you were taking a poop. I'm being proven wrong.)

And that's all I've got for you today! Yay for actually blogging on my day off. 

Happy Thursday!

Change

First of all! I got my anniversary present last night! My ring! I have been feeling so naked without it and I am sooo happy to have it back where it belongs. The thing about wearing a ring, is that I don't love it because it's beautiful and I love it more than any piece of jewlery I've ever owned... (okay I do, but there is more to it.) I wear it because when I look down at it, I get to think about J and how I belong to him and no one else. It makes me feel good and even though I know it anyway, I love to have the ring to remind me. I mean come on, look at it...He picked it out himself without any help from me!

And now onto a completely different topic.

I'm gearing up for a yard sale and a complete room remodel. That means that I have gotten into all the crap on the top shelf of my closet and torn it all down and it looks like this.

Don't judge me for my orange walls...it's my favorite color.

I have found a few little treasure though that I am really excited to use in my new and improved room.

I found this cool little mirror and these plastic shelf things that I'm sure I can put to use and this clothes pin apron that my great grandma embroidered.



And I'm sure that I am just scratching the surface of cool stuff I'm going to find burried in my room.

I have also found a lot of stuff that I want/have to sell in our yard sale. Yesterday, some friends we play music with had a yard sale at their house and my sister took some of her old clothes and toys over there to sell. She make $35+ Which is pretty good when you're selling most stuff for a quarter.

It's funny, though, how I'll find something and I'll want to keep it because it reminds me of something. Like when I was younger I had the planets hanging from my ceiling with a whole bunch of glow-in-the-dark stars. I found them in a bag that I put them all in when I redid my room in highschool. My grandma bought me the solar system kit from the planeterium when I was in fifth or sixth grade and I stuck constellastions (yes, I did actual constellations...I was a nerd) up on my ceiling and putting them in a bag to sell to someone else is a lot harder than I would have thought. All I can think about is how excited I was when I got it and the big hug I gave my grandma.  If I remember correctly it was expensive. And it has pluto in it. I hated pluto, so whatever., but still, it's cool because it's not a planet anymore.

Basically, I'm discovering that getting rid of my old crap will not be as cut-and-dry as I would hope...But oh well I guess, when you grow up, things just have to change.  And usually, it's going to be for the better.

My dangerous new toy

When my grandma (basically my favorite person in the universe. I can't believe I haven't really mentioned her in this thing!) died, she left a few sewing machines behind that were given to my mom do with what she pleased. My mom, being the psychic that she is, knew that I'd eventually want to be a wonderful seamstress/quilter/all around awesome sewer so she kept this beauty safe for me until I discovered exactly how much I loved sewing.

That's my very own!

And of course, along with a sewing machine, you need several other little materials. We uncovered me a magnetic pin-cushion, and an old miniature ironing board that was my great-grandma's.  

Looks pretty old, doesn't it?

So of course, I promptly took a page out of my mothers proverbial book and Christmas wrapped the board with fabric and pinned it up so it would stay put.

And ended up with that awesome finished product to iron my little heart out.

After doing some practicing and trying to decide what the heck I'm going to make, I started into making a little bow. It was a little bit of a disaster...

Don't worry, the second one turned out great! I don't know what I'll do with it, but I'm sew (hehe just being a little punny) excited to start sewing up everything made of fabric that I can find...And I just might be up all night trying new things and becoming a professional sewer before my very own eyes....

P.S-- I'm considering starting another blog or doing a weely post or something in which I try a new little DIY/sewing project every day for however long I have ideas for. Yea or Nay? 

Perspective

Perspective : (noun) the interrelation in which a subject or its parts are mentally viewed.

(as defined by Merriam-Webster)

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about perspective. I have thought about it in regards to myself and my relationship.

The way you see a certain situation can make the biggest difference.  That seems like such a *duh* type of thing, but it's surprising to me how hard it can be to take off my figurative glasses and put on someone elses for a minute or two.  I think that it's hard to do because each person has had different experiences in their life that have caused them to see things the way they do.

I think that in a relationship, you have to at least try to trade glasses.  When you have an argument , you have to take a step back and gain some perspective from more than just your angle, becasue chances are, there's more than one way to look at whatever situation you might be in. 

Hmmm...Example? Probably necessary, I can get confusing when I go all philosophical.
My birthday.

In my eyes, a birthday is kind of a big deal. You make some sort of gesture that is going out of your way to be nice to someone because it's their birthday. I see it that way becaseu birthdays in my family are always a big deal. It's not just another day. It's your day.

In J's family, birthdays are not a very big deal. They might have family dinner and cake and icecream but they aren't much for presents and it's just not all that big a deal to do anything particularly special.

So when J just sent me a text that day that said "Happy Birthday (and a few other lovey-dovey things)" and then I didn't hear from him until I sent him a text at 11:00 pm that warned him that I was expecting at least a phone call before the nice was over I was upset. He wasn't even planning on calling me (maybe he was and he got busy or whatever but he was still texting me...I don't know whatever...)  but I honestly couldn't be mad at him. From his point of view, there was nothing more to be done after he acknowledged that it was my birthday.  Too often, you look at something that a person does for/to you (or doesn't do for that matter) as such a crime when to them, it probably wasn't all that big of a deal. Personally, I think that a lack of multiple perspecitves is where problems root from.

That being said, I don't think that being able to have a different perspective is only important when concerning interelations with others. It's also important for a person as an individual to pick up the object in front of them and take a close look from another angle. Recently, I have been working very hard to gain a different perspective (personally, I don't like to say "gain perspective"  without a "different" in there. Because you already have one perspective. Yours.) I have been so down in the dumps lately and have just felt worthless. I have a very negative body image, I feel bad for myself, I think that I'm defective because everything seems to just go wrong for me...

But starting a few weeks ago, I just told myself that it was time to take a step back and try to find a new way to look at this. And I am so glad that I did. Perspective. Give a new one a try. It'll change your life.

What I Learned At Work Today

I have been neglecting this  little dealy so here I go!

Lately, I've been working really hard to get healthy (okay, so I've been fantacizing about how I would get healthy and not really doing what needs to be done...) so I have been learning some stuff about healthy eating habits, cooking, and more fitness stuff.

I've had an extremely negative body image lately and I feel like getting healthy would help that to go away.

So this is what I've learned about healthy eating and fitness:

1. Bake things instead of frying. It takes out the oils and is typically just as good as if it had been fried.  I think that I'm going to try these baked cheese sticks for a snack instead of picking up the kind from Arby's. It will not only save money, but it will be heathlier.

2. Cook! When you don't eat out, you will eat healthier. That's just the facts.

3. Don't ban certain foods. Instead wean away from them to where you don't crave them. When you ban food, it automatically makes it more desiralble.

4. Eat more fruits and veggies. In general, they are better for you. They have nutrients that you need and are the foundation of a healthy diet.

5. Try more protien instead of carbs. It give you energy for longer.

(#s 3-5 found here)

FITNESS

1. Work out 6 days a week with one rest day.

2. Focus your work out on certain muscle groups, don't just wander the gym and expect something to jump out at you.

3. Set goals. They make it easier to get up and go and you feel accomplished when you reach them.

4. Don't give up. When you give up, you have to start all over.

5. Fight to be healthy, not to be skinny.

I'm going to try really hard to pound these lovely facts that I learned today into my skull so that I can actually life a healthy lifestyle. :)

I shoulda been a farmer...or at least a fence builder

So, my garden is complete. I have been working my butt off out there for days under the hot sun and it is now planted and I'm so excited to watch it grow...(hopefully!) 

My garden has been a figment of my imagination for quite some time now. At work the other day, I drew plans for about 79 different gardens I knew I would never have (however, I did discover that I have quite a knack for drawing 3D plans.) Ieally, I would have made three different raised beds and it would have been so adorable and it was going to yield beautiful fruits and vegetables that I would be very proud of. Currently, my garden is nothing that I planned, but I couldn't be happier.

I made cute little signs out of random wood and some old nails I knew no one would ever use and strung together a bunch of wire fence pieces that I found. I love that I can just take what I have and make it work. (case and point, hoe/machete...)

Today I drove two fence posts with a driver that weighs 20 lbs. Let me tell you, if you have some pent up anger or some type of issue in your life and you need a physical outlet, driving a fence post will make you feel real good.

I planted the herbs in the adorable washtubs. Don't they look pretty?

And of course, it's necessary to make a sign that says "Herbs" just in case you forget...

Here is my lovely finished product. Looks pretty good to me! Now lets say a little prayer that it doesn't get eaten by snails... 

Cheaper Than Therapy

I have been needing something to keep my mind off of all my troubles. I chose to begin this gigantic project of turning nothing into something. After all, they say gardening is cheaper than therapy and will do the same things for ya. So far, I have not been disappointed. I have been working my butt off since I got home from work yesterday only stopping to drink water and then a quick gym break.

I started with that mess of weeds and ivy and bugs...ugh lots of bugs. 

After working for a few hours with a hoe, a shovel and a rake, I finally got the whole thing turned over and ended up finishing up around 9:00. It was dark when I got all done so it's hard to see all my hard work, but it looks a lot better. Lucky for me, my mom came out and decided that our "lawn" needed to be mowed. Now I have a nice little space to work that isn't totally overgrown with...every weed known to man.

I plan to build a fence to keep the chickens and the dog out, and I want to use paving stones around the outside edges to make it all cute. I have my work cut of for me, but so far, it's looking great and I'm feeling so good about it. Even if it yields nothing but weeds, at least I learned something from it and I get to take all my...pain and anger out on the weeds with the hoe...I love that hoe. 

After working a little bit more this morning, I've got this lovely mess that is well on it's way to looking like a garden. I can't wait for it to be all finished and to see my hard work pay off. 

If you have a garden and happen to know the best tricks in the world to make it successful, I have a feeling I'm going to need all the help I can get! Your advice is greatly appreciated. :)


[EDIT]

After a quick little break to go help my mom out, I was back in the garden hard at work. (unfortunately I got a little waylaid when I found one of my little sister's chickens had been caught by my dog.   :( I felt so bad but I buried it and we had a nice little birdy funeral...sad day) Notice how sparkly I look...I hadn't really gotten into the meat of the work yet, just picked out more weeds and stuff that was still sitting in there. It had cooled off nicely and I had to throw on a flannel shirt so basically I felt like a farmer and it was awesome.


After turning over the soil again and again basically just being a human rototiller, I decided that I couldn't deal with all that ugly ivy. Of course the only solution was to rip it all out. Sadly I didn't have the necessary tools, so I just hack at it with the hoe...it got the job done but I could have used a machete...


That isn't even half of the ivy that I ripped off the fence, that's just a break time picture...it was ridiculous.

When I finally finished tearing off all the ivy, I decided that I wanted to plant my herbs in these wash tubs on the other side of the back yard. They already had soil in them and I figured I'd just mix it in with the garden dirt...I didn't think about the fact that the soil made it 10X heavier, I dragged it all the way across the yard, dumped out the soil and then was able to pick it up. I felt a little dumb. But look how cute they are!
After that, my dad came out and suggested I dig out the part right up next to the fence. So I did. It went pretty quick because now I'm basically an old pro.

This is the finished product after I dug up the back part, added two bags of manure, and added one bag of pete moss. When I was all finished cleaning up all the ivy and stuff, it was dark, so I couldn't get a good picture, but my garden just needs a fence and it will be all ready to plant. 

That is how I look now. Exhausted and ready to sleep a death-like sleep tonight. And definitely a little less sparkly...

Life is tough...

Right now, J and I are going through what you might call...a rough patch. On Monday, he broke up with me.

I say, "he broke up with me" and not "we broke up" because I had zero input and wasn't able to get a word in edgewise.  He simply explained to me that he couldn't handle a relationship anymore. He said that he was too stressed out for all of "this". I don't think going into detail is necessary, but for right now, we're not engaged. We're not even together at all.

Since Monday, though, a lot of things have changed.  He asked for his ring back so I took that along with several other things I had of his to his house the next day and I cried on his mom's couch for a few hours. We talked about what we thought was going through his head, what I could do to help him realize what he did was wrong (not the breaking up with me part. If he doesn't want to be with me, it's not like I can force him, but he didn't do it right...not that, to me, there is any right way, but you get the gist...),  and how I could help him relieve his stress, and how no one thinks that our break up is for good.


On Monday, if you had asked me if I thought we might be able to work something out, I would have said "No way, Jose." I felt like his mind was made up. I spent the entire evening literally screaming at the top of my lungs and crying my eyes out...so it basically felt like the end of the world. On Tuesday though, everything changed.

I got home from his mom's house and I decided I needed to keep myself busy. It was my day off so I didn't have to work. I cleaned my room and did some laundry and some dishes and tried not to throw away things that reminded me of J. I did a pretty good job. I made plans to have dinner with his sister and tried really hard to not...feel like shit I guess is the only way to put this.

As I was cleaning, he gave me a call and he was clearly upset.  He had just gotten off the phone with his mom and was starting to feel like he had made a big mistake (I'm all like...DUH!).  I told him that he had to calm down and go to work. The fact that he had about seven minutes left of his lunch and had to go soon made me very hesitant to start anything. So I told him a few things that I knew would make him feel better and explained that I was going to be okay and we hung up the phone. I felt...so much better.


Later, when I was driving home from his sister's house we had a nice long talk about nothing specific and decided that when he got back from his month long training, we would reevaluate our situation and talk through things together and decide what we wanted to do...


So here I sit, waiting out these 23 days and praying that he still wants to be with me...
I mean come on, look how cute we are together.

Memorial Day

What I Learned At Work Today [Week 4]

Today at work, I sought information on the upcoming holiday. Memorial day is not a day that I have typically given much thought to. It was nice in school to have the three day weekend after long weeks of no breaks but other than that, memorial day didn't mean much to me at all.

Seems how I am getting ready to send the love of my life off to war, I thought maybe I could learn a little bit about it and really think about all of the liberties that we as citizens of the United States have because of the Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, and Sailors that have given their lives.

I don't know anyone that died fighting a war, and I sincerely hope that I never do. But what I do have, are people very close to me that volunteered to put themselves in harms way because they believe in something bigger than them.

So, what I learned today, was that Memorial Day has been one that was celebrated since just after the civil war. It was first referred to as Decoration Day and was a day dedicated to decorating the graves of those who had died in the war.

Memorial Day was made an offical Federal holiday in 1971. The last Monday in May was chosen because the flowers would be in bloom. New York state was the first state observe this holiday.

In the year 1915, Monica Michael wrote this poem in respone to "In Flanders Fiels" that made red poppies the flower that represented this day that we give thanks to those who died for their country. For our country.

We cherish too, the Poppy red

that grows on fiels where valor led,

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never dies.

That was completely new to me. I had no idea that red poppies had anything to do with memorial day.

Memorial day has become a day where you don't only decorate the graves of fallen soldiers but any of the people in your life that have passed away. I think this is not a bad thing at all. It is a good thing to remember those that are no longer with you.  Make tomorrow a day about more than your boat or fishing trip or...whatever. It was created for a reason.

What Memorial Day means to me
From this point forward, Memorial Day will be more than a BBQ or a camping trip. It won't be a day off of work or time and a half pay. It will be a day that I take to remember those who died for my right to have a blog and to say whatever the hell I wish to say. It will be a day that I not only appreciate my wonderful fiance for his service to his country but  maybe even feel a little bad about the fact that I get a little upset when he can't call me, or he's too tired to talk on the phone all night, or when I'm being negative and he just doesn't want to deal with it. 
It's a day to remember how I have the priveledge to live so freely in the United States (no matter how much money we owe China I can still say whatever I want). It's like...Thanksgiving, but without the food and a more specific thing to be thankful for... 
What a cool day that very few people participate in.

[Info and photograph were found at purpletrail.com I take no credit for the facts or picture only my own opinions]

What I Learend At Work Today [Week 3]

I learned a lot of things today.

I did some cross stitching and I read some blogs of other people who are in my similar situation. They are married to, or are in realtionships with men in the military. Each one of them seem to have different struggles. Sometimes it's that they are raising a child alone. Sometimes they are surviving a deployment. Other times, they are just dealing with the every day struggles of loving a man in the military.

Well, I think that I learned something from these ladies, is that this is not as good as it gets. I read all their stories of how much fun they have in exciting new places and I see how wonderful  (and have felt how wonderful) it is when you see your man for the first time in so long. I learned that I need to try and see the bright side of my situation. I'm not alone in this and I have a whole lot to look forward to. I need to be more excited about it and less anxious.

I also read something that was...kind of strange. I saw something on Pinterest that was about "Fitspiration" I had never heard that word before Beauty Redefined told me about it. Basically, it's all those picutres you see on FB, Twitter (I don't tweet, but that's what the article was saying...so I guess I believe it.) and Pinterest that have a photograph of a very fit person with something "motivational" next to it such as "No matter how slow you are going, you are still lapping everyone on the couch".  They likend it to "thinspo" (the stuff that promotes eating disorders) and made is sound bad...This article was basically saying that we shouldn't be encouraging these types of Pins, tweets, etc. because they promote negative body image towards oneself. It makes you think that one body type is better than the other or even one type is "correct" when put next to another.

Personally, I like those motivational pictures. I don't really pin a whole lot of them. I have a few but they aren't exactly like the ones that are being described, but I feel like this article only saw one thing in these pictures:  The "perfect" bodies of the women. It's like they ignored the fact that the things that the little quotes say are not negative things most of the time. They are just trying to say, Hey, get up off the couch and do something active. It's good for you. The people that take that as "my body is not acceptable" should take a second look. Becase it's not about having a body that is right or the best, it's about feeling good about the way you look. And If you aren't happy about it, do something about it.

But of course, that is only my opinion...What do you think about "fitspiration"? Is it motivational, or does it make you feel bad about yourself?

I learned something else today, but it's really boring. I heard something on the radio this morning about it being the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 this year and I realized I couldn't remember what it was about. Well, in case you were wondering, I found out that the war of 1812 began becasue Great Britain didn't want Napolean's France to trade with anyone so they started trying to regulate the trade from other countries including the US. The US having only just gained independence and not wanting to be threatened by the "Mother Country" began to defend themselves. They fought many battles that eventually ended with the Treaty of Ghent (Modern Belgium) that settled their issues and ended the war. Unfortunately, news of the Treaty didn't travel fast and another battle began against Andrew Jacksons' soldiers. They won their battle and it boosted U.S. Morale and was really a good thing for the US. So Cool. 200th anniversary of a pivitol war that no one knows anything about!  To learn more, I got my info from History.com. It's

And that! Is what I learned at work today.

What I Learned At Work Today [Week 2]

so this was supposed to happen on Wednesday, but I got a little carried away pinning things for my wedding...Oops. So this got a little waylaid. But never fear, I shall tell you what I learned at work today!
So, on Monday, I had to go pick up a perscription after work. I had to hurry to the pharmacy before my doctor's office closed. I made it in the nick of time and put in my perscription and had to wait for over an hour to get it filled so I went home to do some chores and figured I'd go pick it up later. Well, the phramacy called and the perscription was ready. Awesome.
So I jumped in the car, turned the key, and my car would not start! Now, my car is pretty old. I've said before that I drive a 76 Ford Maverick. But up until Monday (my BIRTHDAY!) I have never had a problem. My cute little Franc has always been pretty reliable. Unfortunately, my dad can't figure out what's wrong.  That meant that I got to drive the van to work today. The van isn't a bad vehicle, but when your dad has been driving it for the past year and the steering wheel has this awesome grimey man-film on it and the seat belt got my white dress all dirty...So the first thing I learned today (okay so it was yesterday now...), was....

 That I was crazy when I decided I wanted that car in the first place! Don't get me wrong. I loooved that old guy since the day I got him. But I really should have considered the fact that I was going to have to sell him off later to get something else...Now I'm stuck dropping off my dad every day and driving the dumb old van. : P at least I have something to drive though, right?

Hmmm....well it's still early, (my shift doesn't even start for another 30 minutes...I'm always really early) so I might need to cruise pinterest and yahoo for a minute to learn some more things to share with you today.

Later on...

Wow. Pinterest has a lot of things dealing with fitness and motivation to get fit and quick little "Get a bikini body after working out for 20 mins every day" dealies. And I most definitely learned that I need to go to the gym...You know that if you are reading the 10 exercise work out that takes 20 minutes and you feel kinda tired just thinking about it, you have been away from the gym far too long...

Also, I discovered Sandwich Art (what the hell?) Sure, It was cool when my mom used the flower cookie cutter to make my PB&J more interesting but really? These things are like...crazy intricate and it looks VERY time consuming. You can see it here on one of my pinterest boards. Holy moly moms are getting creative these days. If I ever start making cartoon characters out of sandwiches, stop me before it's too late...

Well, I have another post to write before this day is over. So. Until next week!

What I Learned At Work Today [WEEK 1]

Welcome to my Weekly post, "What I Learned At Work Today"! (I was supposed to post this yesterday, but I ran out of time at work!  This will be a Sunday post after this!) If it looks like that photograph was taken on the floor of the the handicap stall in the bathroom, it wasn't... (okay, it was...) We're not allowed to have cell phones on the call floor in any way shape or form, including camera-form, so I had to do something! Don't worry, I threw that paper away.  I decided that due to the fact that we are fairly slow on Sundays and I tend to learn very interesting things while I'm at work, I would share with the blog-world.  Sometimes the things I learn are from Pinterest, sometimes they are from blogs (okay...via Pinterest most of the time...) and sometimes, I'm just awesome and I learn things for myself from my experiences or from the things that hear while on calls all day. Not all of my "What I Learned At Work Today" posts will be long and they won't all explain what this is, but I thought you might like a little bit of background behind the idea. I will do my best to credit everyone that I learn things from if it's possible!

Today, I leared a couple of things.  First I learned that...

Saving money starts in the kitchen!

     Because I'm about to become a Military Spouse, I know that I'm going to have to be good at handling our money. (Heaven knows J won't be the one doing that! He can't resist a good looking jacket...) It's not unlikely that if we're stationed somewhere that doesn't have a big city around for 50+ miles, I won't be able to find a job, so we're going to be living off of BAH (if we're off base) and his Lcpl. income... Having read a lot of Military Spouse blogs (and a lot of mommy blogs and couponing blogs and blogs where their money is kinda tight) I have noticed that the place everyone starts is the kitchen.

    Food is something that we use up, then just have to buy more. It's like...laundry. It never ends. You simply have to do it every week or else it piles up and then...you have to go out naked. Not a good situation. Well if you don't do something about food, you starve!  And we cannot have that!  So, what do we do? We learn ways to make our dollar go further when it comes to what we put in our bellies. So far, this is what I've got.

1. Couponing is very smart. You can read more about what I already know about couponing in my post, Couponing: Simplified.
2. Freeze stuff. I learned all about what you can freeze and how to freeze it here at Simple Organized Living. The cool thing about these types of sites is that other people comment with the things that they freeze and how to freeze them. This is cool because that way, you can buy in bulk when things are at rock-bottom prices and freeze it...if it's feezable that is. Which is where the list comes in!
3. Meal Plan!  This didn't really come from anywhere specific. A lot of people say it's a good idea.  It saves moneys because you can shop with a very specific list and you won't end up spending money on things that you don't need.
4. Don't buy prepared meals (TV dinners, boxed dinners, etc.) They are more expensive and there are a lot of things that you can cook yourself that will taste even better than the prepared meal.
5. Get a really extensive recipe book or create a recipe repetoire online. Having the tools to cook at home make it so you don' tjust decide to go out which will end up costing you a lot more money than monthly grocery shopping!

If I didn't credit someone, I decided that on my own. If I did, click the link. You can learn something today too!

Next, I learned that...

Computer animation is the Coke Zero of movies

You must be thinking...Whaaa?? Well, I have two sister that are diabetic and I drank diet soda most of my childhood (we're soda drinkers...I have a coke, like, every morning...don't judge, I'm tryna quit.) That means that when I started drinking regular Coke, it was like I had see the light...I realized what I had been missing all these years and it brought joy to my life knowing there was real sugar in my pop. Anyway...Later in my life, they came out with Coke Zero. I thought, "Hey, maybe I'll start drinking that. Zero Calories, Zero sugar, still tatest good...That's awesome." Well after one sip I was disgusted. It was sooo close to tasting just like Coke, but it didn't. It wasn't even like it was an off-brand like Shasta or something, it was just...still not that good old, coke in a red can taste. Needless to day, I didn't make the switch.

Anyway...Today, I was eating my Wendy's salad in the break room and a movie was on. I think it was Tin Tin? Honestly, I'm not really sure. But I couldn't really tell if it was animated or live-action. I had to ask the kid sitting on the couch. Now, computer animation is pretty cool. I love Pixar movies. Up! is truly a modern classic...But isn't the whole point of animation that it's not supposed to look real?  It was frustrating because it was so close to looking live-action, but it wasn't.  Do you understand the connection? Good :)