coupons

Posted on November 5, 2009 by thearmyrecruiterswife

Hello, my name is Brandy, and I am a coupon addict.

Yes, I am a coupon addict – I love clipping coupons, printing coupons, trading coupons, and searching through the Sunday ads and grocery store circulars for the best possible deals to help me stretch my dollars. I could tell you stories upon stories of deals I’ve gotten – and I could even show you pictures of the really good ones! LOL! I have organizers and a whole system – and yes, I have been known to *freak* out when I can’t find my coupons, especially when I am en route to a sale. Coupons have been a part of my life for quite some time. I remember very clearly when my love for coupons started – we were in Germany and I loved helping my parents grocery shop. Usually, we had a standard list of items we would buy, and I would stand at the front of the commissary next to a little basket they had that was filled with, you guessed it, COUPONS! Most of them were expired – but it was okay – because we were allowed to use them. So, while my mom got all the produce I would go through the basket and take out coupons for things we would buy, things I thought we might buy, and things I wanted my mom to buy! We were in Germany for 5 years and England for 5 years – and throughout that 10 years – I helped my mom and dad out with the grocery shopping by getting coupons out of the expired coupon basket and collecting them throughout the commissary. It’s funny, I remember getting the coupons and always wondered where they came from – but I didn’t put too much thought into it. Now that I am stateside and enjoying couponing here, I finally figured out where those ooupons come from. They come from people that are stateside, who love couponing, and who also love to help out military families.

So, with that little story, if you have coupons, that are expired or current, and would like to help out a military family – you can check out this website and send them to an address listed here: http://www.grocerysavingtips.com/expiredgrocerycoupons.htm

This is a great way to *give* to a military family and take part in the 30-day Giving Challenge!

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NOVEMBER PODCAST SCHEDULE

Posted on November 4, 2009 by thearmyrecruiterswife

Here is the podcast schedule for November:

Thursday, November 12th at 1800 PST/2000CST/2100EST

  • This is a BIG show! This show is in honor of Military Family Month! We will be talking about all sorts of things Military Family related and programs and organizations that are out there and support the families. November is a busy month, not only do we have Veteran’s Day, Month of the Military Family, Thanksgiving, and Black Friday – but it is also the start of ATC season for those in USAREC. I will be talking about the in’s and out’s of ATC and why we have ATC, Christmas parties and what you can do to help make it an awesome one for families, and the 30-day Giving Challenge. I will also touch on President Obama’s recent proclamation in which he declared November as the Month of the Military Family.

Thursday, November 19th at 1800 PST/2000CST/2100EST

  • More on Military Family Month – because sometimes you can’t fit everything into an hour! I’ll also be talking about the 30-day Giving Challenge and how you can use this as a tool to give back to the military community. We will also have a couple of guests from different organizations that support the Military community. We will also talk about ATC a little more (like the awards – what they are and how your spouse gets one) - there’s so much to talk about and by this show some listeners may have already attended an ATC in their area – and I would love to hear about your ATC experiences – past and present.

Thursday, November 26th at 1900PST/2100CST/2200EST

  • THANKSGIVING SPECIAL – Come and meet my crazy family! Yes, I will have my family on air with me talking about what we’re thankful for, reminiscing about our favorite thanksgiving traditions and stories (like the one thanksgiving we spent in the chow hall in Germany), and of course talking about black friday sales at the PX (and maybe some funny stories about those sales too).

 

GUEST CALL-IN NUMBER: (347) 850-1461

We will also have a LIVE CHAT going during each podcast! So drop in and say “hello”!!

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Podcast

Posted on November 4, 2009 by thearmyrecruiterswife

Well, I was on hiatus from podcasting for a while. I had a few technical issues that I have since worked out – this whole podcasting thing was a little more difficult than I thought. So, since I have worked everything out – I am ready to go ahead and give it another try. Yeah!

The plan is to have a podcast each Thursday in November – I’m still unsure about Thanksgiving – but I will probably so one on Thanksgiving – it’ll probably only be 30minutes! The next podcast will be on November 5, 2009 at 1900 PST. I will be using www.BlogTalkRadio.com again – so if you’d like to participate in the show you will need to check their site out prior to the show to see what all you need to do to listen in, chat, and call-in. I plan on keeping it right at 45minutes – I figure that will be enough time to talk about a few topics and *hopefully* have a few callers call in! I’ll be talking about ATC, Christmas Parties, the Giving Challenge, and a few other Army Recruiter Family related items. I hope to hear from you all on Thursday!!

 

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30-day Giving Challenge

Posted on November 2, 2009 by thearmyrecruiterswife

While roaming the blogosphere I stumbled on a blog that just blew me away with it’s message and a challenge – so much so that I am not only participating in the challenge, but am hoping that you will take part in the challenge as well. Of course, in typical ARW style I can’t just do the challenge how the original blogger meant for it to go – I have to add my own ARW touch to it. First I will give you the low-down on the 30-day Giving Challenge and what all it entails, and then I will explain how I plan to approach this challenge.

Alyssa, the blogger from Keeping the Kingdom First, has challenged her readers and other bloggers to a 30-day Giving Challenge. The idea came to her one Sunday in church while listening to her pastor conclude a series on generosity. From there the wheels started turning in her head and the challenge was born. Alyssa is challenging her readers and other bloggers to the following: “grab a journal next month and GIVE in some fashion every day in November. This could be large or small, simple or extravagant.”

By participating in the 30-day challenge – you are basically saying that you will find some way during the 30-day period to “give” each day. It doesn’t have to be money or have to be something huge – it can be something intangible, like your time, talents, or prayers. You also have to document what you do throughout the 30-days. Think of it like keeping a diet journal – by writing down what you’re doing and your thoughts – you are holding yourself accountable to yourself. This will also help improve the likelihood of participating in the full 30-days.

Okay, now it’s time for my take…so, President Obama has declared November as Military Family Month. November is also home to Veteran’s Day. In the spirit of Veteran’s Day and Military Family Month – my 30-day challenge will be focused on the military community. I’m not saying my entire 30-days of giving will be only to military families and servicemembers – but a large portion of it will be. There are so many things, big, medium, and small, that one can do to help out in the military community. There are also tons of organizations that will gladly help you help out the military community.

I am going to commit myself to this 30-day Giving Challenge. My focus will be “giving” to the military community. I am going to create a special page here on my blog just for this challenge and it will remain up and *hopefully* active through the holidays. I challenge you, my readers, to take part in this challenge, and post not only on my site, but on www.kingdomfirstmom.com as well, documenting your 30-days. You can leave comments or e-mail me. I’d love to hear how your 30-days are going.

Side note: If you are an organization that serves military families, soldiers, veterans, and would like to be featured on my blog, please e-mail me so I can put your information out there so people who want to volunteer/give/donate – can. I will also have this as a segment on my podcast this month and would love to have guests and/or callers.

E-mail address: thearmyrecruiterswife@hotmail.com

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a little FRG etiquette lesson

Posted on October 29, 2009 by thearmyrecruiterswife

When I was younger – my sister and I loved watching the old time Little Rascal’s shows, and I remember the one episode where they were talking about “etiquette” and Buckwheat says “I didn’t et no cat”. For some reason, every time I talk about or hear about etiquette I think of little Buckwheats face and the look he had on it when they were talking about etiquette. Poor Buckwheat was just downright shocked and confused!

Etiquette is defined as:

  1. conventional requirements as to social behavior; proprieties of conduct as established in any class or community or for any occasion
  2. a prescribed or accepted code of usage in matters of ceremony, as at a court or in official or other formal observances
  3. the code of ethical behavior regarding professional practice or action among the members of a profession in their dealings with each other: medical etiquette

In the military community, we often think of Military Protocol when thinking about etiquette. Basically, it’s the rules governing how things are done, why they’re done, and so on and so on. The funny thing is – there is an office dedicated to military protocol and books written on it (I have one and it is BORING – there’s hardly any pictures) – but despite all this – there is still the unwritten code regarding etiquette and protocol. The unwritten code of etiquette – it’s the ”this is supposed to be common sense” version of etiquette.

Now, when it comes to FRG’s, there is, believe it or not, there is an unwritten code regarding etiquette. Yes, each FRG, upon it’s formation should formulate a SOP regarding the running of the FRG, but there are things that often escape the writer of the SOP or are just assumed to be common knowledge or common sense, that those issues aren’t brought up or put into the SOP. Things like following the Chain of Concern, for ALL FRG members, is expected but not often followed. Even if it means just CC-ing members of that chain on an e-mail. I’ll admit it – I’ve gotten so wrapped up in a project that I only e-mailed the person I directly needed to communicate with and left the other people in the project out of the loop.

Bottom line is – when participating in ANY FRG project – remember the unwritten rules – like communicating up, down, and within the Chain of Concern, and just using your basic common sense when doing anything FRG related. When you do anything for or on behalf of the FRG, you are representing your FRG, your Company, your Unit/Battalion, and the Army.

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Christmas party obstacle

Posted on October 16, 2009 by thearmyrecruiterswife

Well, I’ve been putting a lot of time and effort in planning our annual Christmas party – everything is really coming together. I found a good caterer and have a menu within our budget, we’re on budget as far as getting each child a gift from Santa, and I’ve got the candy/cupcake buffet designed and everything planned out for it.

The obstacle: Cinderella is all ready for the ball – she just doesn’t know where the ball is going to be. No, really – I don’t have a location yet. It’s kind of funny though – I’m going through this event planning course and the first thing that they say you have to do, after establishing a budget, is to find a location. Location is everything – it dictates the date, the caterer, the program of events, etc. But, it’s the one thing I do not have yet. I have called here, there, and everywhere and we cannot find a place within our budget – and apparently the whole military-Army thing – well, it doesn’t really matter to a lot of businesses in this area. Sad. It’s not that we’re not willing to spend money on a location – we can’t spend that much – and a lot of places either charge $125 an hour or a flat fee of $900, and then there’s all the other fees.

There are a few more feathers in my cap though, we have the battalion headquarters that is a possible place for the party – there’s a big gym and kitchen we can use, and there’s the American Legion post we used last year – they were very gracious and offered up their place for free. So, we’ll see. We have a meeting coming up and will make a final decision then.

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some ATC suggestions

Posted on October 12, 2009 by thearmyrecruiterswife

With ATC season coming up – there are a lot of things I personally have been working on to bring to our spouses during ATC to help make the experience less stressful and more enjoyable. I remember last years ATC and it all seemed so hectic and no one seemed to know what was going on – other than the fact that the recruiters went from class to class – and there wasn’t anything really planned for spouses until the second day and it was a brief class, entitled Recruiting 101, followed by an open session meeting where spouses could ask the Battalion Commander and CSM questions. So, I have been brainstorming for ideas to make this ATC a little better and decided to compile a list and post it here – in hopes that it will help other spouses make their own ATC’s a little more enjoyable.

Idea 1: Hire a Hairdresser/Make-up Artist to come to the SPOUSES! Last year, if I had been a little more prepped on what to expect as far as ATC – I would’ve made an appointment to get my hair done – but since I had no idea of what to expect – I didn’t and I ended up doing it myself. This year, I really want to get my hair done – at least styled – but the problems I’m running into are as follows: 1. the spa only has so many appointments and there are way too many people that need them, 2. the spa is expensive and I’m cheap, 3. the spa doesn’t allow children and my husband will be in class so I have no one to watch my little one, and 4. the area where our ATC is is somewhat secluded so going somewhere away from the resort area isn’t really an option. So, I decided to look into hiring a hairdresser to come to us. We’ll have everything set up in one or two of the rooms, set out some mimosas, and have a little beauty shop party! Not only is it convenient, but it costs less, and children are allowed – so no worrying about having to find childcare while you get your hair and make-up done.

Idea 2: Publish a special newsletter one to two weeks prior to ATC with the itinerary in it. You can e-mail it out to all the spouses and recruiters AND print it out and have it available at the hotel where you are holding your ATC. In it you can have the events, times, locations, AND the numbers for people to call/text if they need more information regarding a certain event. You can put class information for the spouses, such as class title/topic, a brief description, the time and place, and if childcare is provided where they need to go, what they need to provide, and how long it’s available. You can also advertise if you are hiring a hairdresser/make-up artist to come so that spouses know it’s an available option. I also plan to put the names of some of our spouses that are selling make-up and jewelry – just in case someone needs something last minute in case they forgot something.

Idea 3: Have some type of Meet & Greet for spouses at the beginning of ATC. This can be at the company level or the battalion level. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate, but having something like a Meet & Greet can serve two purposes 1. it helps the spouses to meet the other spouses, which is especially helpful for the spouses new to recruiting, and 2. you can put out information, and your newsletter, regarding the events occurring so everyone has an idea of what’s going on.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. I’ll keep adding to my list. If you have some ideas – add them in the comment section and when I update this list – I’ll add your suggestions as well. Of course, I’ll also be talking about everything ATC related during my next podcast too!!

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Halloween, Thanksgiving, ATC, and Christmas – OH MY!!

Posted on October 4, 2009 by thearmyrecruiterswife

You know that feeling you get as you go UP a roller coaster? It’s a combination of fear and excitement where time seems to slow down and speed up at the same time and you know what’s coming but you also don’t want it to come, and all you can do is brace for it and enjoy the ride while wishing it would hurry up and be over at the same time. Yeah, that’s how I feel about the next couple of months. I know it’s going to be exciting but it’s also going to be overwhelming as we have soo much going on – not just on a personal level but with our FRG and company as well. Not to mention my school and starting up a consulting business. But, I think for the purpose of this article – I’m gonna stick to some upcoming FRG events I’m working on that hopefully you will benefit from.

Let me start with October – I am determined to work on our fundraising. I had given myself a goal that our FRG would raise $1000 by December 1st, 2009 (we started fundraising August 1, 2009) to help pay for catering for the annual Christmas party. So far, we have done pretty well, and are only $140 away from meeting that goal. So, I had to step back and reassess my goals and now I am determined we will raise the $140 before October 31st. I have a few things I’m working on, we’ll see how my ideas are received at our next FRG meeting and I’ll report back. As for the rest of October, I don’t have much planned other than raising that money and locking down a caterer for our Christmas party.

Now, on to November. For November I am hoping to organize a “holiday bazaar” of sorts. Most military posts have some type of Christmas or Holiday fair where they usually have local craftsman and merchants selling their wares. So, I figure we should do the same, especially since we have spouses within our company and battalion that have home based businesses. By having this event it serves three purposes, 1) we help our spouses out by supporting their home based businesses, 2) it brings our small little community together, and 3) it makes holiday shopping easy for those that attend. I’d also like to publish a little mini-catalog that highlights all of our spouses and their home-based businesses and the products they sell or services they provide along with their website and contact info. We’re also hoping to have a small pre-Thanksgiving get-together where we can raffle off a Thanksgiving meal basket. We did this with the last unit we were with and it was a HUGE success – we made $200 from tickets and were able to raffle off two baskets one with a ham and the other with a turkey, and all items were donated by FRG members. So, hopefully it’ll be a success here and we can raise a little money and raffle off an awesome basket as well.

Now on to December. I think December is going to be my busiest month. We have our Christmas party, ATC, and the formal. Of course this is just the FRG stuff, I also have a lot of family stuff going on during the month of December and will also probably be putting my school work on hold until after the new year. LOL! As for the Christmas party, I’m working on getting a caterer to lighten the load as much as possible for the families that attend so we don’t have to rely on them to bring something for a potluck, the families can just show up and have a good time. I’m also working on having a holiday-colored candy buffet for the kids – I think it would be really unique and pretty cool. Then there’s ATC, which I’m trying to work in a fundraiser during one of the training days, a way to promote our spouses who have businesses, and also participate in the spouse training. Then there’s the formal, which I need a dress for. I have an idea as to what I want I just don’t know who makes the dress – it’s a dress I saw on a reality show on tv – and I think if I could get it in my size (which is a little smaller than the person who I saw it on) and in petite (because I’m shorter than her) I would sooo buy it and wear it to the formal. We’ll see though.

Once the new year starts we will probably suspend FRG activities for a month and give us all time to recover from the whirlwind that tends to span October to December. In the mean time – I am just slowly preparing – I Christmas shop little by little and wrap and put things in priority mail boxes as I go. I am determined to have everything bought, wrapped and shipped by Thanksgiving – so I can enjoy myself and focus on my family during the holidays.

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PODCAST AAR

Posted on October 4, 2009 by thearmyrecruiterswife

Sooooo…I did my first podcast…and it went ~okay~. Granted, I know I’m not gonna sound like a pro when I first start, but I was hoping to do a little better than I did. I think my biggest thing I need to work on is the “uhhh’s”. I said too many. I know I was nervous, but I need to either say something or nothing, and not go “uhh, uhh” before I start talking. I also need to work on my interview skills, and that also includes a gentle reminder regarding OPSEC to all my future guests. If you are looking to listen to my podcast I had to pull it until I can figure out how to edit some parts out of it because of some OPSEC violations. After all I don’t want to be shut down before I really even begin. But, I had fun doing the podcast. My co-hostess is great, she helps keep me on track and on my timeline, and we’re looking forward to the next podcast on OCTOBER 14th at 6pmPST/8pmCST/9pmEST. We decided to move our podcast up so we’re doing it earlier to accomodate any liteners in the Eastern and Central timezones. Also, it will be schedulded the beginning and middle of each month. I only plan to do two a month at first, once we get through the holidays, we will reassess and see if we need to do more than two a month, but two podcasts a month is a good start. We’re also working on some holiday giveaways. We gave an upcycled ACU bag away during our first podcast – and hopefully we’ll get more items donated to give out to listeners that call in.

So, if any of you were listening to the podcast and have some ideas on how to make it better, or what you did or didn’t like, I’d love to hear from you. I want to make this podcast the best I possibly can.

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wireless issues

Posted on October 4, 2009 by thearmyrecruiterswife

I’m sorry I haven’t written in a few days, especially since I had the podcast and I usually like to write AAR’s on things I do – but I was having some wireless issues. Apparently, if you have a wireless keyboard and mouse doesn’t mean they are always going to work – eventually one will go out – just so happened it was my mouse. It was pretty annoying – the cursor was stuck in the middle of the screen and I couldn’t do anything about it. I never realized the importance of a computer mouse until I couldn’t use it anymore. I changed the battery and tried to get it to re-connect to the little thingie that picks up the signal from the wireless mouse and the wireless keyboard and that didn’t work. It wasn’t until I got so frustrated (I think computer withdrawl was also kicking in) that I started to beat the mouse and kept mashing the re-connect button on the bottom of it, that finally, it started working this morning. So, I am back online – for now. I have my regular keyboard and mouse that plugs into the computer on standby just in case. So, on to the AAR of the podcast and some other things that have been on my mind…

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