Beautiful days with temperatures almost reaching 70.

Walks, bike rides, and ball games.

Kids eat free for a special night out.

These are all Finer Things.

When you are married to the military you often hear the following two questions.

Where have you been?
and
Where are you from?

Most military spouses can recite with ease the names of their last 5, 10 or 15 duty stations. For me it’s: Panama, Virginia, Florida, Virginia, Cuba, West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland. I can rattle off the names almost as quickly as I can my ABC’s. It has become who I am.

Then they ask where I am from. I slow down, pause, start to smile and say Orlando. For 20 years Orlando was my hometown. The place I grew up, started school, finished college, had a few babies, and home to most of my family. I am not a Florida transplant, I was born there, grew up there and consider it my home. For the past 17 years we have visited, vacationed, and spent almost all of our free time going home.

When I think of Orlando I think of…
The fresh oranges picked right from your backyard.

The sunshine and swimming.

The Mouse.

The beautiful lakes.

Boating (even on land).

The wildlife.

The relax factor.

But the single BEST thing about my hometown is definitely FAMILY!

What is the single best thing about your hometown? From now until February 28th you can enter your town in the Single Best Town Contest sponsored by Kraft and Disney. What makes your town special, or even the best hometown in America? Even though I haven’t lived in Orlando for over ten years I still think it is one of the best places in America to live. How does your hometown stack up against sunny Orlando?

I must admit my husband is a pretty cool guy, he is always up for my ideas no matter how crazy. So when I asked if we could hop on the train to D.C. so I could get pictures of the White House in the snow, he said yes without batting an eye. Well, I exaggerate a little, he did give me that, “are you for real” look but he hopped on the train with me nonetheless.

D.C. was a mess, the mall was completely covered snow and you had to walk on top of the snow to get from one side to the other. I was surprised at how few people were there, but given the weather and the snow I can’t imagine many tourists would brave the conditions. We walked by the the Capital, the Washington Monument, and stopped at a few museums on the way, and finally made it to the White House.

It was just as pretty as I had imagined and it was fun to take pictures even if we had to stand outside the fence.

Welcome to the Blizzard of 2010, or the REAL eat from the pantry challenge. With terrible roads and three feet of snow, we are stuck in our house for the next few days. It is still snowing as I type this post, but I am hopeful it will stop tonight. Thank goodness we have power, unlike many other families, and food in our pantry as the grocery store shelves are bare! I am getting a little creative with meals and hope to share some of my blizzard food later this week.

As promised here are a few snow pictures. I didn’t actually go outside to take them because I didn’t want my lens to get ruined, so I stood in the doorway and shot a few from out the window. Sorry they aren’t the best quality. I am sure the snow will be here a few more days so I can post some more shots soon!

Someone bring me a shovel and some sunshine….

Cora and Kit ~ 10 months

I am excited about my first months progress on the de-cluttering challenge. I have two large boxes in my basement that are ready to leave the house! I just need to count the items in order to add them to my tally. My totals are a little low this month because I haven’t officially pitched the two boxes.

Things that actually left my house this month.

• 13 bottles that are not BPA free. (trash)
• 1 case of baby formula (expired/ trash)
• 1 case of baby formula (Crisis pregnancy center)
• 4 cans baby formula (Crisis pregnancy center)
• 2 iPhones (sold on Ebay)
• 2 bags of shredded documents

January total: 23

I didn’t come close to the two items a day goal, but if I can get the big boxes in my basement to Goodwill in February I think I can catch up.

I also spent New Year’s Day shredding all my files and paperwork I didn’t need anymore. Did you know that you can use your shredded paper as garden mulch? It is the ultimate way to recycle!

What left your house this month? Visit Amy’s Finer Things for more 730/365 Challenge.

I love my thrift stores, but if I am going to buy new I always visit Old Navy. Their clothes have help up well for my children and I have often found items for less than I would pay at the thrift store. My sister is the queen of the $0.99 Old Navy bargain.

For those of you who shop through Ebates, from now until February 4th you can earn 20% cash back on every purchase at Old Navy. If you aren’t familiar with Ebates, it is a free online shopping portal that gives you cash back for your purchases. It is an easy way to earn money if you shop online, especially for those of us who don’t use reward credit cards.

Old Navy has some cute clothes on clearance right now, and if you include the 20% cash back you are getting a real bargain! There is also a code for 15% off and free shipping when you spend $50.00- using ONSAVEBIG. Thanks For the Mommas for the free shipping code!

The internet is buzzing with what people are wearing to Blissdom. I am not a clothes person, and recently I admitted that in the winter I often wear the same pair of jeans all week in order to minimize my laundry.

Here I am at 7:05 this morning.

Sorry for the grainy picture…. It was 7 am….

Cords, t-shirt, sweater and my favorite accessory – Cora. When it comes to fashion, I rely on my friends to tell me that I should get rid of that skirt from my college days, and loan me clothes whenever I need to go somewhere outside of church or the grocery store.

One thing I do know is pajama pants. I LOVE my pj’s. This year Blissdom is once again hosting a pajama party and I have a chance to showcase one of my favorite fashions.

Decisions, decisions, which pair to I take to Blissdom? Blue plaid, red penguin, purple velour, pink polka dots, pink plaid, pink with big polka dots? I love them all, and I can’t decide.

Check out Mom’s Travel Tales and find out what everyone is wearing to Blissdom this year.

I am so excited that so many of my readers linked up and commented on the Help for Haiti post. Thank you all so much for your generosity and commitment to serving others in whatever way you are able.

It was brought to my attention that you can donate your Swag Bucks to the Haiti Disaster Relief Effort. What an awesome way for those who can’t really afford to give, to be able to give!

According to the Swag Bucks website:

Please consider donating some of your Swag Bucks to our Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. All Swag Bucks we collect will go directly toward a donations to three major relief organizations:

• American Red Cross
• Doctors Without Borders
• Yele.org (Wyclef Jean’s relief effort)

Below is the breakdown of how the Swagbucks are donated.

1,000,000 SB = $100,000.00
750,000 SB = $73,750.00
500,000 SB = $47,500.00
250,000 SB = $23,250.00
150,000 SB = $13,750.00
100,000 SB = $9,000.00
75,000 SB = $6,375.00
50,000 SB = $4,050.00
25,000 SB = $1,925.00
20,000 SB = $1,500.00

I am excited to be able to donate some of my Swagbucks to the disaster relief effort. I hope you consider doing the same.

I am sure by now you have all seen the devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti. In the past I have always felt helpless, I don’t have the ability to travel or the medical training to provide care. But today, after receiving an email from one of my friends, I realized there is something I can do, and that is pray and give.

Not only can I pray and give, I can encourage and challenge my readers to do the same. I realize not everyone, especially in this economy, has money laying around to give away. But perhaps you have a few dollars? I know many of us are participating in the 730/365 challenge, maybe you could sell a few items on Ebay or Craig’s List and donate that money. Maybe there is something you could give up, just for the rest of the month in order to help these people who are in desperate need of food, shelter, medical care, and clothing.

My friend Crystal from Money Saving Mom is hosting a linky for people to link up with their posts detailing how they are helping the victims of Haiti’s earthquake. For each link she is donating money to Compassion International. Spurred on by her generosity I have a challenge for my readers as well.

For each person who leaves a comment telling me what they have done to help the relief effort, whether it is donating money, time, praying, etc… I will donate $1 to the Earthquake Disaster Relief Fund organized by my church. And for each person that links up with their blog post detailing their relief efforts I will donate an additional dollar, up to a maximum of $500.

If you are looking for organizations that are accepting donations check out:

Sovereign Grace Ministries
Compassion International
Numana
American Red Cross

Every dollar makes a difference.