Freedom

So, K turned 9 recently (details on her fun party soon). And we are trying to give her little bits of freedom. Last year, I raved about this book. So I am trying to do it (give my children the kind of freedom I had). I mean, my parents used to throw us out of the house with a "see you when the streetlights come on" and that was that. Now my kids have to beg to be allowed to walk around the corner to their friends house without me. Ridiculous.

So yesterday, we arrived at our friends' luau party about 6 (suburban) blocks away (with one busy street on the way). They had a slip & slide and we didn't have suits. I proposed to K that she could walk home and get them. She was psyched. I handed her the house keys, and she set off. I was half convinced she would get home and be afraid to go into the house by herself. But after about 15 minutes, she was back. She ran up, all excited, and said, "mom! I did it!, but 2 things... Is it ok that I drove my bike back? (sure!) and I forgot Big Man's suit, can I go back and get it?" Great! She was so excited, and quickly did it again, and was fine.

We are thinking we will let her go to the library by herself this summer to get out books. We live literally 3 doors from the library. She will have to cross one busy street and a large parking lot, but otherwise very close. She is excited about this idea.

Baby steps people, baby steps.

Spring (undies) Cleaning

So last week I was at Target buying socks for my girls. I have no idea what in heck they do with all their socks, but they got to a point where they didn't have any more and we were about to go on vacation. (nevermind that they ended up leaving their suitcase behind and we had to stop at Walmart and buy them all new clothes...) While I was there, I noticed that Target had cute women's cotton undies on sale - some on clearance. I bought myself 5 packages.

When I got home I went through my underwear drawer and threw out all the yucky pairs of underwear. You know the ones. The undies of last resort. They don't fit right, they may have rips, or they are just old and ratty. I threw them all out. I ran the new ones through the laundry,and voila! I had a whole drawer of underwear that I liked. And that fit. And that I wasn't ashamed to wear.

And it cost me about $20. I STRONGLY encourage you all to do your own Spring (undies) Cleaning! No more through picking through the drawer for the pairs I like. Now I like them all. I know underwear is not something I normally put a lot of thought into, but this is a little thing that could make your morning a bit brighter!

It works for me! For more Works for Me Ideas, visit...www.wearethatfamily.com

What is a Soldier to Do?

Heard an interesting story last week on NPR about soldiers returning from war who feel lost. Often combat soldiers return and feel stressed and confused about their role in the non-combat world. Well, a few returning vets realized that these soldiers have specialized skills that could be used for humanitarian relief at quick notice. The created a group called Team Rubicon, which "bridges the critical time gap between large humanitarian disasters and conventional aid response. We provide vanguard medical care by fielding small, self-sustaining, mobile teams of specially skilled first-responders."

What a FANTASTIC idea! Why not utilize the training and abilities of these soldiers and let them help in times of crisis? Team Rubicon does just that. I think its a great idea. It is just getting off the ground, and is in need of donations.

Listen to the story, and I'll bet you will be equally driven to give.