The Help- a book review

I just finished reading a book called The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I have to give a special thanks to Rick for giving me the book and recommending I read it. I absolutely loved this book. It was compltely and utterly different than anything I am used to reading. Normally I read romance novels, thrillers, and yes I'll admit Vampire stories! haha This was different than all of those types of books, and very refreshing.


This book is set in Jackson, Mississippi right smack dab in the middle of the civil rights movements. It tells the story of three women. One white woman who basically becomes an outcast because she starts crossing the line between whites and blacks. The other two women are black maids who have spent their whole lives waiting on white families. One woman is loving and nurturing and whose love for the white children she raises is what makes her so special. The other black woman is stubborn, feisty, spirited, and constantly gets fired from her jobs for spouting off her mouth. They come together do something frighting, exciting, and unthinkable, that forever changed the town of Jackson, Mississipi.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it!

What is a MEU?

You may have heard already that Landon will be going on a MEU for his deployment. In hopes of not having to explain it too many times, I'm going to tell you what it is and what he will be doing as best I can. There are limits to what I can talk about because of OPSEC (Operational Security) so sorry if there may be some questions I can't answer.

So, back to the question at hand. What is a MEU? Well, MEU stands for Marine Expeditionary Unit. This means that Landon is going to be on a Navy ship, as part of a ground task force, they will serve with the Navy as the nations forward deployed, quick response team, capable of accomplishing numerous missions around the world. The MEU combines air, ground, and logistics which all together makes them a sufficient and powerful force. On many occasions MEU's have been able to bring stability to regions destroyed by natural disasters, or send a message to worldwide agressors that the United States is able to defend itself on extremly short notice.

The MEU consists of about 2100 Sailors and Marines, divided up among three ships. Landon is part of the 15th MEU, stationed out of Camp Pendleton, California. There are three MEU's stationed on the West Coast out of Camp Pendleton, three on the East Coast out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and one out of Okinawa Japan.

So to tell you what Landon's job will be on this deployment, I have to explain that there are four major elements of a MEU, the Command Element, Ground Combat Element, Aviation Element, and Logistics Element. Landon is a logistics officer, but he is with an Infantry Batallion so he is with the Ground Combat Element *, this element includes about 1200 marines and provides the over-land combat power for the MEU. I can't say exactly what it is he does, because to be honest, I don't even really know! Lol. But if you have questions ask, and maybe he will reply....


Now, Landon will be on board the USS Dubuque, one of the oldest ships in the Navy, poor Landon, but it has lots of history so visit the link I added if you are interested.




http://www.dubuque.navy.mil/Site%20Pages/history.aspx


So there it is, sorry if that was a bit boring, I hope it was clear and educational and that it made some sense. Like I said I'll answer any questions I can, so leave me a comment if there is something you want to know.

*If you saw this post earlier, I got this part of the information wrong! As I suspected, Landon caught it and corrected me. Sorry, i'm still learning, haha.

Rave for Ziploc Vacuum Freezer bags!

Ok, like I said, my posts may vary on subjects just because well there's not a whole lot I can talk about regarding Landon and the military especially the deployment. So to keep it interesting I will probably post about all kinds of things. So, last night I was thinking, I'd like to put out a review on a product that I have been using a lot recently and really like. I wanted to let others know about it and have a review from someone that has tried it.

So today my review will be over the Ziploc Vaccuum Freezer Bags


http://www.ziploc.com/Products/Pages/VacuumFreezerSystem.aspx

I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. It's cheap and easy to use. Obviously the Food Saver Vacuum Sealers like this one,


are better and higher quality, but they can also cost around $100-$150, so if you don't want to spend that and you don't plan to vacuum seal a lot of things, the Ziploc bags are perfect!

You need to buy the starter kit first, it comes with the hand pump and 3 ziploc bags and runs about $3-$6.

• I like that it's easy to use, I've never used it with liquids, so I can't say how that works. Mostly I've used it to freeze meat, such as chicken, hamburger meat, etc. All you do is put your meat inside, zip it, pull out the hand pump and place on this circle on the bag and pump till all the air is out. Simple!


• The bags are also microwave safe.


• The bags are reseable, so you can remove part of the contents and then reseal the bag.

I'd definitely give it a try, it's worth the few bucks.

And, I'd love to hear your opinions on the product if you have already used it or if you try it after reading my review!!

You all can stop wondering....

what our future children will look like! Mom, Virlena I know you will appreciate this, haha! Thanks to http://www.morphthings.com/ we can get a sneak peek, drumroll please...............................

hahahaha, just kidding I couldn't resist, here is the real photo

ooooh, ok, so not the most beautiful looking baby! Let's hope we do better! haha Honestly, he/she looks really scared, maybe I should be worried! I guess we can add this to reason number 18957 that we are not ready for a baby! LOL Even the made up ones are afraid of us.

Ok, just kidding mom, I promise this will not deter us from having children someday.

Military Wife Comedy

I came across this the other day and thought it was pretty funny and I wanted to share it.

****Warning: Some adult language is used

http://podcasts.military.com/2010/01/presenting-mollie-gross-military-wife-comedy.html

Sad but funny thing is most of this is true! Enjoy

Welcome!

I'm starting this blog for a couple of reasons. First, to keep our family and friends updated about us. Second to have a venue to talk about whatever I want, be it venting about military life, cooking, or whatever I feel like!

I'll try to keep it as entertaining as possible, but that's not a promise! I dont really find our life all that entertaining, but some might.

We have friends all over the country and I feel that this will help to keep everyone updated as we move and they move. I probably should have started this when Landon first entered the military but it's better late than never I suppose.

Although Landon probably won't be too thrilled about this, and he probably wont admit that he will read this, I wanted to do this for him when he deploys and selfishly for myself too! You see I went through the last deployment at home in Texas, where I will be through this next one too. The one thing I noticed over the deployment was everyone who found out Landon was deployed all had the same questions. Now, as much as I enjoy talking about myself and my wonderful husband, it got to be a bit redundant answering the same questions, over and over and over...well you get the idea. So I suppose that I'm hoping this will help keep people informed about Landon and how he is doing on the deployment and limit the questions I may be asked. Not that I don't appreciate the interest everyone takes in us, or the concern, I do, I promise! This just may be easier on all of us! Hopefully...

I also would like this to be interactive, so if there is anything you would like me to blog about feel free to ask me! I'm open to anything! And please leave comments if you want, they'll probably make my day. I know I'm pretty pathetic, but it's ok! :)

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I have edited to add that just as I thought Landon would have something interesting to say about me starting a blog. This is what he said, "I can't believe you started a blog. But it makes sense, I see it as just the next step in your obsession with the internet! :)" I literally Laughed Out Loud, because for one thing he's absolutely right and secondly because I bet he didn't think I'd tell you all what he said! Hahaha Love you babe!!