Army Wife 101 Real Talk: Likes/Dislikes About The Commissary
----> Please follow the link above and watch the video. Especially if you are a military member or spouse.
OMG! I agree with so many things in this video. 1) I do self checkout all the time at other stores and I NEVER have the problems I do at the commissary. 2) Just a little FYI, you can mute the crazy computer lady but that doesn’t stop her from effing up your order 10 times. 3) I have never seen a store out of so many things. All the time there are big empty spots and when I ask, they tell me the truck hasn’t come in yet this week. Well, you get a truck every week. Who is doing your ordering? 4) I buy a lot of produce… A LOT! I also try and buy at the commissary because they are so much cheaper than everywhere else. The problem is, their stuff is bad! I sometimes have to dig through the items in the display AT THE STORE because stuff is moldy, bruised, discolored, etc. Then, if I do manage to get it home, sometimes it is only at the house a day or two before I have to throw it out. 5) I also would say it is important to check the dates on everything you buy. I have purchased milk that goes bad a week after getting it home, things well past the expiration dates, items that I know I saw on the clearance shelf this time last year……..6) I know that “technically” they are tax free, but at least here, they charge a building and maintenance fee THAT IS THE SAME AMOUNT AS TAXES WOULD BE! Then you still have to tip your bagger and the kid that walks you out to your car. Sometimes I walk out and think that if I had just gone to the grocery store by my house, I probably wouldn’t have spent any more than I did here. 7) They do not have very many store brand options, so while the name brand stuff can be significantly cheaper than at your local store, you may not be saving money if you are willing to purchase off brand items elsewhere.
Don’t get me wrong, I do think it is nice to have a commissary, and there are a few items that do cost a lot less. I just feel that sometimes, we are given the bottom of the barrel stuff that other stores wouldn’t take. Or that are flawed. I also think that there is a real issue with how the stores are being run and managed. Ordering, produce and inventory turnover are a store by store responsibility. Yet, it seems to happen a lot of places. Perhaps someone who isn’t just a vet but someone with actual grocery management experience should be brought in…….. Just the rantings of a fellow army wife. Sorry I got a little crazy. lol
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Tolerance, it isn't just for pagans anymore.....
*sigh* Sometimes it frustrates me that Christians treat tolerance like a dirty word. Umm... have you read a bible lately? That Jesus guy? His main message was loving ALL people. Someone asked him what the most important rules were and you know what he said? Love God most and 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is NO commandment greater than these. Hear that? NONE of those other rules are as important as treating those around you with love and respect. Not one. That is Mark 12:28-34 for anyone who cares to call me on my quotation. NIV is the way to be.
If you personally believe that what someone is doing is sinful that is fine. But we are not in any position to excuse or not excuse behavior. Only God is. You show them how to live a Christian life by leading a shining example not by damning their choices.
I read a review today of Modern Family that said "it is interesting to note that Cam and Mitchell are presented as a normal couple living an acceptable lifestyle" Then went on to talk about what a shame it was that our culture normalized what was once shunned behavior. Regardless of whether or not you morally agree with it, Homosexuality has been around since the beginning of time. It was often times (and in some cultures, still is) perfectly acceptable and normal. Also, these are neighbors and police officers and teachers that we see every day. My kids go to school with other children that have same sex parents. For us to say it isn't normal is ignorant. I see adulterers ALL the time and I see Christians turn their head and say it is none of their business. I think that if it really turns out that God doesn't love them after all, then he will handle that on Judgement day. Everything else until then I equate to a dad having to tell one sibling to stop tattling and being so bossy. All it does is get you in trouble too.
You know it was only 50 years ago that a black and white couple was against the law and considered morally unclean. Or 200 years ago when church was for men only, bc they had the mental capacity for understanding God's word. Or that a few hundred years ago, the thought of a lay person being able to handle the powerful message of the gospel was outrageous. Not to mention that for several hundred years the bible was edited, revised, books taken out, books put in... I think God gave us the capacity to love and be tolerant and he also gave us the power to evolve! Why is it that so often I find Christians who refuse to be progressive and move into a path of more tolerance and love?
If you personally believe that what someone is doing is sinful that is fine. But we are not in any position to excuse or not excuse behavior. Only God is. You show them how to live a Christian life by leading a shining example not by damning their choices.
I read a review today of Modern Family that said "it is interesting to note that Cam and Mitchell are presented as a normal couple living an acceptable lifestyle" Then went on to talk about what a shame it was that our culture normalized what was once shunned behavior. Regardless of whether or not you morally agree with it, Homosexuality has been around since the beginning of time. It was often times (and in some cultures, still is) perfectly acceptable and normal. Also, these are neighbors and police officers and teachers that we see every day. My kids go to school with other children that have same sex parents. For us to say it isn't normal is ignorant. I see adulterers ALL the time and I see Christians turn their head and say it is none of their business. I think that if it really turns out that God doesn't love them after all, then he will handle that on Judgement day. Everything else until then I equate to a dad having to tell one sibling to stop tattling and being so bossy. All it does is get you in trouble too.
You know it was only 50 years ago that a black and white couple was against the law and considered morally unclean. Or 200 years ago when church was for men only, bc they had the mental capacity for understanding God's word. Or that a few hundred years ago, the thought of a lay person being able to handle the powerful message of the gospel was outrageous. Not to mention that for several hundred years the bible was edited, revised, books taken out, books put in... I think God gave us the capacity to love and be tolerant and he also gave us the power to evolve! Why is it that so often I find Christians who refuse to be progressive and move into a path of more tolerance and love?
The thoughts that run through my head....
...while cleaning my kids' playroom today before the maintanence guy showed up.
Me- walking through the room
*Uh Oh, what's this? What kind of party was going on at this dollhouse last night???
*Prince Eric and Gaston are kicking it in the living room. Never really saw them as besties, -huh-
*Magic Carpet is passed out in the bath tub. Poor guy, that's always rough.
*Beast is face down in the front yard. There's always 'that' guy
*OH! OH! Belle is totally taking advantage though, because she has locked herself in the attic with Jafar. (Man, she has a SERIOUS bad boy complex!)
..........ahem........looks around to make sure no one was there..........sheepishly goes back to picking things up.............
I need to get out of the house more. I have resorted to the Lifestyles of the Rich and Plastic, brought to you by Disney. Now being featured at a toybox near you!
Going upstairs to do homework now. Move along, nothing to see here!
Me- walking through the room
*Uh Oh, what's this? What kind of party was going on at this dollhouse last night???
*Prince Eric and Gaston are kicking it in the living room. Never really saw them as besties, -huh-
*Magic Carpet is passed out in the bath tub. Poor guy, that's always rough.
*Beast is face down in the front yard. There's always 'that' guy
*OH! OH! Belle is totally taking advantage though, because she has locked herself in the attic with Jafar. (Man, she has a SERIOUS bad boy complex!)
..........ahem........looks around to make sure no one was there..........sheepishly goes back to picking things up.............
I need to get out of the house more. I have resorted to the Lifestyles of the Rich and Plastic, brought to you by Disney. Now being featured at a toybox near you!
Going upstairs to do homework now. Move along, nothing to see here!
Monday, August 22, 2011
military retirements and health care
I do appreciate that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is considering grandfathering in soldiers when they decide to butcher the retirement plan for the military. They want to "protect the current soldiers and keep the faith of the military families". He was quoted as saying that as long as they took into consideration the soldiers that were in, there was no reason not to go ahead and consider future changes. What I do not appreciate is that they are talking about doing away with retirement benefits after 20 years and making the payout kick in only after the legal retirement age. They are talking about decreasing the amount you get for retirement and they are talking about having it be just be a contribution only retirement plan. This all said, then, also adding that most soldiers do not even stay in for 20 years and so do not get retirement anyway.
They are also talking about significantly increasing the premiums for Tricare(military) healthcare because of the rising costs attributed to taking care of the soldiers and their familes. Not taking into consideration that we are at one of our highest numbers in a ong time and are downsizing our forces as we speak due to the withdrawl from Iraq. Also not taking into consideration that instead of increasing premiums for soldiers & their families, they should just making smarter decisions. If you only allow same day "sick" appointments and everyone else has to go to the emergency room, you are flushing thousands of dollars away. If the on base clinic is only open 4 1/2 days a week & the doctors still take extended lunches & vacations, so we have to go to a minor emergency or emergency room, you are throwing money away. I recently have had to make 4 appts with my doctor because I was told they can only talk about 1 issue at a time. They are too busy to take any longer with a patient. Direct quote from the nurse. 4 appts take a LOT longer than just hearing me out the 1st time. I believe all issues are tied together & should be addressed as 1 issue. It is not the families fault that these military health care professionals are paid salary so they don't feel they have to work. Or that we have to often times go a more complicated or expensive route to get the care we need.
Why are we singling out military families? Education of our children? Foriegn aide to ravaged countries? Why are the biggest budget hits to the very places we need to be protecting? Hilary Clinton says that her husband made the hard choices and gave us a balanced budget and that sometimes you have to make unpopular decisions. I say that women and children first wasnt meant to be the quoted for the line to slaughter. Last I checked, and yes I checked, the Clintons made $20,400,000 in 2007. Their salary had increased every year from 2000 to that year also, so I can only imagine what it was in 2010. I know that they have big important jobs and I don't take away from that. What I do take issue with is the fact that to keep her in office and to keep these and all other government head's salary we are doing tax increases and premium increases and taking away from the retirement of people who I feel do a VERY important job as well.
I do not care if you consider yourself Republican or Democrat, military families and soldiers should not have to pay the deficit our politicians have gotten us into. Children should not have programs cut from their schools because the powers that be decided that as part of their retirement package, they should get the use of a private jet. We should not have to pull our relief workers from Africa because the President decided that the government paid vacation should be at a 9 million dollar ocean front estate in Hawaii for 9 days. If I don't have money to pay the bills, I don't go on lavish vacations. If I can't balance my budget I don't go buy a new car or hire a housekeeper. Why? Because these are "extras" They are fluff things that I don't need. I don't tell my kids that they can't eat lunch anymore because I can't pay for groceries (got to afford the new Benz), I don't tell the water company to suck it because momma needs a tummy tuck. If our country is broke, then it is broke. I think that there are better areas to make cuts and redistribution of funds. What do you think?
I do appreciate that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is considering grandfathering in soldiers when they decide to butcher the retirement plan for the military. They want to "protect the current soldiers and keep the faith of the military families". He was quoted as saying that as long as they took into consideration the soldiers that were in, there was no reason not to go ahead and consider future changes. What I do not appreciate is that they are talking about doing away with retirement benefits after 20 years and making the payout kick in only after the legal retirement age. They are talking about decreasing the amount you get for retirement and they are talking about having it be just be a contribution only retirement plan. This all said, then, also adding that most soldiers do not even stay in for 20 years and so do not get retirement anyway.
They are also talking about significantly increasing the premiums for Tricare(military) healthcare because of the rising costs attributed to taking care of the soldiers and their familes. Not taking into consideration that we are at one of our highest numbers in a ong time and are downsizing our forces as we speak due to the withdrawl from Iraq. Also not taking into consideration that instead of increasing premiums for soldiers & their families, they should just making smarter decisions. If you only allow same day "sick" appointments and everyone else has to go to the emergency room, you are flushing thousands of dollars away. If the on base clinic is only open 4 1/2 days a week & the doctors still take extended lunches & vacations, so we have to go to a minor emergency or emergency room, you are throwing money away. I recently have had to make 4 appts with my doctor because I was told they can only talk about 1 issue at a time. They are too busy to take any longer with a patient. Direct quote from the nurse. 4 appts take a LOT longer than just hearing me out the 1st time. I believe all issues are tied together & should be addressed as 1 issue. It is not the families fault that these military health care professionals are paid salary so they don't feel they have to work. Or that we have to often times go a more complicated or expensive route to get the care we need.
Why are we singling out military families? Education of our children? Foriegn aide to ravaged countries? Why are the biggest budget hits to the very places we need to be protecting? Hilary Clinton says that her husband made the hard choices and gave us a balanced budget and that sometimes you have to make unpopular decisions. I say that women and children first wasnt meant to be the quoted for the line to slaughter. Last I checked, and yes I checked, the Clintons made $20,400,000 in 2007. Their salary had increased every year from 2000 to that year also, so I can only imagine what it was in 2010. I know that they have big important jobs and I don't take away from that. What I do take issue with is the fact that to keep her in office and to keep these and all other government head's salary we are doing tax increases and premium increases and taking away from the retirement of people who I feel do a VERY important job as well.
I do not care if you consider yourself Republican or Democrat, military families and soldiers should not have to pay the deficit our politicians have gotten us into. Children should not have programs cut from their schools because the powers that be decided that as part of their retirement package, they should get the use of a private jet. We should not have to pull our relief workers from Africa because the President decided that the government paid vacation should be at a 9 million dollar ocean front estate in Hawaii for 9 days. If I don't have money to pay the bills, I don't go on lavish vacations. If I can't balance my budget I don't go buy a new car or hire a housekeeper. Why? Because these are "extras" They are fluff things that I don't need. I don't tell my kids that they can't eat lunch anymore because I can't pay for groceries (got to afford the new Benz), I don't tell the water company to suck it because momma needs a tummy tuck. If our country is broke, then it is broke. I think that there are better areas to make cuts and redistribution of funds. What do you think?
They are also talking about significantly increasing the premiums for Tricare(military) healthcare because of the rising costs attributed to taking care of the soldiers and their familes. Not taking into consideration that we are at one of our highest numbers in a ong time and are downsizing our forces as we speak due to the withdrawl from Iraq. Also not taking into consideration that instead of increasing premiums for soldiers & their families, they should just making smarter decisions. If you only allow same day "sick" appointments and everyone else has to go to the emergency room, you are flushing thousands of dollars away. If the on base clinic is only open 4 1/2 days a week & the doctors still take extended lunches & vacations, so we have to go to a minor emergency or emergency room, you are throwing money away. I recently have had to make 4 appts with my doctor because I was told they can only talk about 1 issue at a time. They are too busy to take any longer with a patient. Direct quote from the nurse. 4 appts take a LOT longer than just hearing me out the 1st time. I believe all issues are tied together & should be addressed as 1 issue. It is not the families fault that these military health care professionals are paid salary so they don't feel they have to work. Or that we have to often times go a more complicated or expensive route to get the care we need.
Why are we singling out military families? Education of our children? Foriegn aide to ravaged countries? Why are the biggest budget hits to the very places we need to be protecting? Hilary Clinton says that her husband made the hard choices and gave us a balanced budget and that sometimes you have to make unpopular decisions. I say that women and children first wasnt meant to be the quoted for the line to slaughter. Last I checked, and yes I checked, the Clintons made $20,400,000 in 2007. Their salary had increased every year from 2000 to that year also, so I can only imagine what it was in 2010. I know that they have big important jobs and I don't take away from that. What I do take issue with is the fact that to keep her in office and to keep these and all other government head's salary we are doing tax increases and premium increases and taking away from the retirement of people who I feel do a VERY important job as well.
I do not care if you consider yourself Republican or Democrat, military families and soldiers should not have to pay the deficit our politicians have gotten us into. Children should not have programs cut from their schools because the powers that be decided that as part of their retirement package, they should get the use of a private jet. We should not have to pull our relief workers from Africa because the President decided that the government paid vacation should be at a 9 million dollar ocean front estate in Hawaii for 9 days. If I don't have money to pay the bills, I don't go on lavish vacations. If I can't balance my budget I don't go buy a new car or hire a housekeeper. Why? Because these are "extras" They are fluff things that I don't need. I don't tell my kids that they can't eat lunch anymore because I can't pay for groceries (got to afford the new Benz), I don't tell the water company to suck it because momma needs a tummy tuck. If our country is broke, then it is broke. I think that there are better areas to make cuts and redistribution of funds. What do you think?
I do appreciate that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is considering grandfathering in soldiers when they decide to butcher the retirement plan for the military. They want to "protect the current soldiers and keep the faith of the military families". He was quoted as saying that as long as they took into consideration the soldiers that were in, there was no reason not to go ahead and consider future changes. What I do not appreciate is that they are talking about doing away with retirement benefits after 20 years and making the payout kick in only after the legal retirement age. They are talking about decreasing the amount you get for retirement and they are talking about having it be just be a contribution only retirement plan. This all said, then, also adding that most soldiers do not even stay in for 20 years and so do not get retirement anyway.
They are also talking about significantly increasing the premiums for Tricare(military) healthcare because of the rising costs attributed to taking care of the soldiers and their familes. Not taking into consideration that we are at one of our highest numbers in a ong time and are downsizing our forces as we speak due to the withdrawl from Iraq. Also not taking into consideration that instead of increasing premiums for soldiers & their families, they should just making smarter decisions. If you only allow same day "sick" appointments and everyone else has to go to the emergency room, you are flushing thousands of dollars away. If the on base clinic is only open 4 1/2 days a week & the doctors still take extended lunches & vacations, so we have to go to a minor emergency or emergency room, you are throwing money away. I recently have had to make 4 appts with my doctor because I was told they can only talk about 1 issue at a time. They are too busy to take any longer with a patient. Direct quote from the nurse. 4 appts take a LOT longer than just hearing me out the 1st time. I believe all issues are tied together & should be addressed as 1 issue. It is not the families fault that these military health care professionals are paid salary so they don't feel they have to work. Or that we have to often times go a more complicated or expensive route to get the care we need.
Why are we singling out military families? Education of our children? Foriegn aide to ravaged countries? Why are the biggest budget hits to the very places we need to be protecting? Hilary Clinton says that her husband made the hard choices and gave us a balanced budget and that sometimes you have to make unpopular decisions. I say that women and children first wasnt meant to be the quoted for the line to slaughter. Last I checked, and yes I checked, the Clintons made $20,400,000 in 2007. Their salary had increased every year from 2000 to that year also, so I can only imagine what it was in 2010. I know that they have big important jobs and I don't take away from that. What I do take issue with is the fact that to keep her in office and to keep these and all other government head's salary we are doing tax increases and premium increases and taking away from the retirement of people who I feel do a VERY important job as well.
I do not care if you consider yourself Republican or Democrat, military families and soldiers should not have to pay the deficit our politicians have gotten us into. Children should not have programs cut from their schools because the powers that be decided that as part of their retirement package, they should get the use of a private jet. We should not have to pull our relief workers from Africa because the President decided that the government paid vacation should be at a 9 million dollar ocean front estate in Hawaii for 9 days. If I don't have money to pay the bills, I don't go on lavish vacations. If I can't balance my budget I don't go buy a new car or hire a housekeeper. Why? Because these are "extras" They are fluff things that I don't need. I don't tell my kids that they can't eat lunch anymore because I can't pay for groceries (got to afford the new Benz), I don't tell the water company to suck it because momma needs a tummy tuck. If our country is broke, then it is broke. I think that there are better areas to make cuts and redistribution of funds. What do you think?
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Sometimes it is the little things
Doing a 30 day photo challenge on Facebook. It got me thinking. Thinking about my favorite memories, my favorite people, my favorite moments. This video is of my oldest daughter a few years ago. Sometimes it is the little everyday moments that stick with you. The funny quirky most amazing things that happen on a tuesday night....
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