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By Alyssa, May 29, 2010 2:03 pm

I’ve got a couple salads to make for potlucks this weekend and a fun 10K to run on Monday.  Haus has the entire three-day weekend off from work so you know I’ve got a teeny weeny list of things I was hoping he could help me do.  I’ll admit with all of my social planning, it wasn’t until this morning when I put out our flag that I thought about the true meaning behind Memorial Day.  I uncovered some interesting information that I hope to put to practice.

Memorial Day was first observed on 30 May 1868 when General John Logan, the national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, officially proclaimed the day to honor those that died fighting in war for the United States.  Here’s an excerpt from his original order:

“The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.”

General Logan established the day to decorate the graves of those that had fallen and reading that fact made me feel a little guilty.  I’ve never decorated the grave of fallen soldiers on the 30th of May.  To be honest, I didn’t realize until recently that Memorial Day wasn’t originally designated the last Monday of the month. When Congress passed a bill in 1971 assuring federal workers a three day weekend over Memorial Day, the date changed from the 30th of May to the last Monday in May.  I’m sure there was a good reason for changing the day, but I think it may have also caused the remembrance of Memorial day to lose its meaning. President Clinton’s administration must have thought so also because on May 2nd, 2000, the “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution was passed.   It states:

“Accordingly, I hereby direct all executive departments and agencies, in consultation with the White House Program for the National Moment of Remembrance (Program), to promote a “National Moment of Remembrance” to occur at 3 p.m. (local time) on each Memorial Day.”

It goes on to ask Americans everywhere to pause for one minute at 3 p.m. on the 30th of May to remember and reflect on the sacrifices made by those for our Nation.  Wow.  Have I ever really reflected on that sacrifice on May 30th?  I’ve thought about barbeques and enjoying friend’s company and time off from work.  I’m still going to do all of those things this year, but at 3 p.m. tomorrow I want to start a new tradition with my children.  I’ll be leaving flowers at the Veteran’s Monument near us.  I’m proud to live here and I want to teach my kids about our history of sacrifice and freedom.  I hope during this busy weekend with family or friends, you too can take that one minute tomorrow to reflect with me.

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By Alyssa, May 27, 2010 5:48 pm

Cried when I saw this picure of my friends, Erick and Jackie and their girls.  Erick returned home today from his second tour in Iraq.  Welcome home to Erick and job well done to Jackie.  Jackie moved more than three times by herself during his year-long tour.  I’m so happy for them and their sweet girls!  Thanks for your service, Erick!

WELCOME HOME!

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By Alyssa, May 26, 2010 2:52 pm

Welp, I’m a gardener now.  I have a garden.  Don’t mean to brag, but man did I work hard on it!  Remember this area?  And that box I picked up for free on Craigslist?

I painted it, along with a few scrap wood boxes Haus made for me (we enlisted the neighbors to help move the big box into the backyard)…

Then I drilled 1/4″ holes in the bottom for drainage and stapled black weather guard to the bottom of the scrap wood boxes (I heart power tools)…

I put a 1/2″ of peat rock in the bottom of each box and then mixed 1/3 assorted compost, 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss (only place I could find Vermiculite in Denver was the American Clay Works and Supply Company.  $20 for that huge bag.) …

In the last step, I filled all of the boxes about 8-10 inches full of my soil and planted!  Here’s my main square foot garden with cucumbers (in the milk jug “hot caps”), herbs, lettuce, beets, carrots, and marigolds in the corners:

Craigslist box

In the scrap boxes I planted winter and summer squash with a marigold border (on the left), and tomatoes with a basil border (on the right):

I used old milk jugs without caps and bottoms cut off to make hot caps for the tomato and cucumber transplants.  I didn’t think they would survive the current Colorado night temperatures or wind without them.  As soon as summer really hits around here, I’ll phase them out.  Next time I’ll post about my transplant mistakes and tomato cage discovery (Did you notice the cages are upside down?).

Please post tips for me if you have them. I’ve spent $50 on seeds/transplants and $80 on soil and Hubby Haus is kinda hoping to see a return on the investment.  Your gardening secrets would help!  Happy gardening, friends!

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By Alyssa, May 21, 2010 9:16 pm

Sure enough, right after buying almost everything I needed to prepare my garden and our landscaping, I found out Home Depot now offers a year-round 10% discount to military members.  Don’t start jumping and clapping for Home Depot though.  After some research, I found out the only reason they adopted the policy was because Lowes started it.

Here’s the official statement from Lowes dated 10 February 2010:

Lowe’s Companies, Inc. announced today it will expand its support of the military by offering an all day, every day 10 percent discount to all military personnel who are active, reserve, retired or disabled veterans and their family members, with a valid, government-issued military ID card.

All other military veterans will receive the discount on the Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Veterans Day weekends.

I couldn’t find an official statement from the Home Depot, but when I asked tonight buying the last of my garden material, the clerk said that they honored the same policy.  I know Home Depot provides career opportunities to veterans and military spouses so I can’t be too hard on them.  Please comment if you know of any other national businesses that offer year-round savings to military members.  It would be nice to know about these types of things BEFORE I hand over my cash!

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By Alyssa, May 16, 2010 7:43 am

Dishwasher to empty.  Laundry to fold.  Floor to sweep.  Dishes to wash.  Toilets to scrub.  Laundry to wash.

This list runs like a teleprompter in my head.  Being at home with my boys means, well… we’re home and thus the house gets dirtier faster.  In between wrangling my toddlers, I seem to always be cleaning.  I’m in a bible study with a group of other toddler moms and we were discussing how easy it is to become depressed by the situation.  Usually these tasks are just done and our family doesn’t notice that someone is doing them.  Being applauded and appreciated every minute of the day isn’t a common theme associated with staying home with the kids.

I listened to my friends encourage one another while addressing the dull and dreary of stay-at-home mom life and as the conversation lulled, I piped up, “I know that there are times when I am frustrated by the monotony of chores, but I don’t think I’ve ever been at a point where I thought I wasn’t supposed to be doing what I’m doing now.”

I continued, bouncing sweet Zeke on my knee, “I think once you have to rely on someone else to raise your kids completely, to run your household, you are always thankful for the time that you have with them.”

Pausing, I tried to word my thoughts.  How could I explain to these women, without coming off as self-righteous, what it was like to completely miss Bubba’s 18 month to two year stage?  When I deployed, he was 17-months-old, a little younger than Zeke’s age now.  I relied on my little sister and a nanny to raise him during the day and my husband to handle everything in between.

I tried to explain, “I’m transitioning Zeke to one nap right now and you’d think I’d be all over it since Bubba was transitioned at this age.  But I didn’t do that job, my little sister, the one in college without kids?  She did it.  I’ve been calling her asking her exactly what she did so that I can repeat it with Zeke.  I never want to have to have someone explain to me the stages of my child again and that’s why I don’t think I will ever regret helping them through their stages now.”

I stopped as my friends continued to talk and discuss.  It wasn’t until I was driving home that afternoon, I realized why I’d always be thankful with my current job.  It was a hard reality to call my sister for advice or completely depend on others to raise my kids, but lots of moms call for advice and employ caretakers.  I think the kicker for me was that when I deployed there was that chance that I would never come back.  When I left I knew that not returning was a possibility.

As I write this post, my dishes need washed and my laundry needs folded, but I know that I came home safe three years ago to be just the woman strong enough to do those chores.  They may not earn me any medals, but being here for my family, getting that chance to provide for them, that’s joy enough for me.