Cool and Inexpensive Gift Ideas Collected by Me 2013

Ok, so I have been missing from my blog for a month and a half or so, but this is a post that I wrote right after Christmas.  It is not as inclusive as I had originally intended, but so that it is not time and effort lost, I have posted it rather than hide it in my drafts.  Feel free to add other ideas, if you are so inclined!


Gift 1--We are ornament collectors, and I have always tried to give my children an ornament each Christmas that depicts, in some way, an event or accomplishment or hobby or character trait demonstrated during the year.  Sometimes, they are hard to be found, so I have to create.  This year, I was the recipient of a cool ornament from our PWOC group leadership who lead in a study of Mark Driscoll's book Who Do You Think You Are? in which he listed all of the "benefits" we have as children of God.  The ladies purchased clear ornaments, printed the "benefits" on diverse colors of paper, cut them apart and placed them inside the ornament.  So meaningful to me, but I see the endless possibilities of other interests as well.

Gift 2--This one came from craft fairs and holiday bazaars that I attended this season.  I attend such events, yes, to purchase unique gifts, but also, to get ideas and make my own.  One of our retired military wives has, in the past, hand printed various sayings on cardstock, framed them and then sold them for $6 or so.  They are very simple, and while I am not very artistic, I certainly can use a computer right down to the art to enhance it!  The Dollar Tree sells 5x7 and 8x10 for--you guessed it!--$1.00!  For less than $2, I can create something personal and inexpensive.

Gift 3--Very similiar to gift 2, but a unique idea for a Christmas card.  Going through my mom and dad's collected items this past year yielded vintage cards of all kinds;  some were even from my grandmother's collection.  I have not only Christmas cards, but birthday, thank you, and other sorts of cards.  These framed in frames to fit the card style itself make wonderful gifts.  Two downsides would be 1) I have a hard time parting with them myself when it comes to my families' cards and 2)  I believe that you would have to find these at estate sales or yard sales to keep them inexpensive.

Gift 4--I've mentioned The Dollar Tree already, so there you go.  This year, for an inexpensive gift for right at $10, I purchased a popcorn bowl shaped like the retro movie popcorn containers ($1 each),  a cellophane sleeve for baskets (2 for $1), a classic Christmas movie from Amazon (varies in price, but at the most $8 with free shipping with Amazon Prime), and a variety of hand written recipes for caramel corn and others, popcorn flavor shakers (buy several small ones from a variety of stores and split up the packages), and hot chocolate for a "classic" Christmas basket.  Plastic Coke glasses would be cute additions, and the list of ideas go on!

Gift 5-- Last year since my daughter and son-in-law were in their own home for the first year, I decided to collect items to mark the holidays throughout the year for the purpose of decorating principally and make those one of their gifts as a couple.  Some of the items were reusable while some were consumable. If you gather these as the special days arrive, depending on what you want to spend, you can get quite creative and still remain conservative in price;  after the gifting, it is a year of remembrance of the one who gave it.

Yikes! I am Becoming My Dad!

Whenever I look in a mirror, I see my mom's arms and a few of her facial features in my own!  I hear her voice speaking from my lips--several of those phrases I use to hate to hear from her, I actually find myself repeating!  However from the beginning of my life, if I look myself in the eye in the mirror, I have seen overall the look of my dad!  Recently, I am finding that I am beginning to take on many of the same "thoughts" that made my dad my dad!  For example, I hear myself say "you need to eat plenty of good fruit and vegetables," or what really scares me is that for the past few weeks I have found myself wanting to save empty food containers or old shoe boxes for the purpose of storage!  I didn't grow up in the depression era as my dad did, but I find myself thinking, "oh, I might want to use that later to put scrapbook materials in," or "I could put those small things in the garage in that shoe box."  Stop!  Hold it!  I spent the entire month of March 2013 cleaning out all of those collections boxed up, suitcased (I do realize this is not really a verb) up, and coffee canned up in my dad's house and three storage areas following his death!  All through his life, it had been a joke between us that he was going to leave all of that "stuff" for me (the minimalist compared to him)  to clean up after he was gone!  So with that memory, I will overcome the urge to keep all things!

One thing, however, that I will keep is the attempt to waste less and repurpose more.  Food, for instance!   When I move to a new place, is difficult not to waste at times as I can't find the brands or flavors that I am used to from the prior place of living.  My best example of this is with bread.  I fell in love with Honey Wheat Berry bread by a certain company, and I have tried to duplicate it ever since I arrived in Washington in September.  I have had failed attempts, to say the least.  That fact, coupled with an overly ambitious waitress at Outback a few days ago who greeted us as we sat down with two loaves of their finest dark bread and brought us two more loaves (which we brought home) before we had finished the first two,  put the idea in my head to make my own croutons!  Afterall, Outback has scrumptious croutons on their salads!  I did it!  I googled or pinterested (another made up verb) several recipes and combined the ones I thought would be good and turned two loaves of Outback bread and a half of a loaf of Honey Wheat Berry bread into a airtight container of goodness which can be kept up to a month!  Thanks, dad, for all of that good training!!!

Tip:  if you order pizza in and get the parmesan cheese packets and have left overs, I found that these make a good source of flavoring for homemade croutons.

The Blessings of Christmas 2013

Rather than beat myself up for not keeping my goal of blogging often, let me just concisely excuse myself by the following:  Life Happens!  We have spent our first Thanksgiving away from at least some of our biological family and friends and have adopted or been adopted by another couple of families.  We meshed our holiday traditions together--including those from Boston, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Germany-- and the end result was quite nice.  Since then, my husband surprised me by having our daughter and son-in-law to secretly fly across country from Orlando, Florida, and after giving me a fake reason for going out, drove to our airport, picked them up, re-entered the house to go upstairs and three minutes later had them to knock wildly at our front door!  Have you ever been so surprised that you can't get coherent thoughts to come to the front and usher sensible words out of your mouth?  That was exactly what I felt when I opened that door to see my daughter's sweet, laughing face and Philip's "Grizzly Adams'" look beside her as we swept each other into bear hugs.  We spent from Friday evening to almost a half day of Monday reconnecting and engaging in new adventures!  The Christmas season began with this visit!

Since that weekend, buying and mailing presents for family and friends have been the main focus.  (My tip for myself, in the event we do not get to be at home again next year, is to again start early and bypass any shipping companies other than the postal service, specifically parcel post, unless I am mailing an elephant!)  Roy and I finished it all in time to entertain a military group for lunch, attend a military ball, and fly to Phoenix for 7 days of relaxation and adventure.  The Christmas spirit still pervades our diminished family--Roy, myself and our two furry babies Huck and Finn--as we are currently at this point in our Christmas blessings.

Christmas Day arrives in five days;  we will open a few gifts and turn our sights to the week after the new year when our sweet boy arrives for a week of visiting and major playing with Huck and Finn.  We do and will consider ourselves blessed beyond measure as the 2013 Christmas season ends, and I will turn my eyes to March/April when I once more see my babies in person (hopefully, this time Thanh, Phal and the grandbabies also)!  Life continues to move on, and we are very aware of being in the center of God's Will as we enjoy peace that can only come from the Lord and trust Him to take care of us all.

I Truly am "Off My Rocker"

I pass through a gate on post on average 2 times a day except on Saturday.  I always appreciate the professionalism of the men who greet, scan and protect everyone who enters.  Yesterday, I was on my phone (no phone to ear just using my phone-sync to my car) talking to the Pet Brigade getting Huck and Finn set up for a grooming.  As I approached the gate, I told the girl on the other end of the phone where I was and informed her that I would be quiet for a moment.  I handed my card to the MP, and I noticed--as my groomer just continues to talk, talk, talk-- that he looked at me rather strangely and a little smile lifted the corners of his mouth.  He said, "Ma'am, I would love to accept this, but . . . ."  I looked up to see that my military ID had changed colors from a beige to a metallic blue, and I read the word VISA emblazoned on it.  LOL  There is something about being 59 years old that allows you to laugh and gives permission to the guard and, after I articulated to her what was happening, the groomer to laugh with you!  Bless both of their hearts, I made their day!

Who Makes Pie Crusts Anyway?

Even though I was asking myself the question "Who makes pie crusts?," I was quick to respond with a "Yes" to the invitation to learn to do so.  This bid to be a participant in the "class" was partly due to the fact that I have eaten the hosting Chaplain's wife's food on more than one occasion, and it has always been a delight.  Of course, she is gifted and has used that gift for a portion of her life as a caterer, owning a couple of  food businesses during those years.  I was fortune enough to meet her three years ago at Ft. Jackson, and she was then and still is now using this gift as a ministry on the base or post to which God sends her and her husband.  There was no way that I would miss this opportunity to learn to make pie crusts!

The invitation gave time and place as well as the ingredients to bring, in the event the attendees wanted to take a pie crust home.  Cool idea!  Immediately, I realized that my choice to pack lightly left me with no large mixing bowls and even had I been bringing everything from my kitchen at home, I would never have packed a rolling pin!  So, with that little confession, dear reader, you must realize that I am one of those women who go to the frozen section of the grocery store to get pie crusts.

What a class!  It was a huge amount of information and fun all rolled up in dough.  After having witnessed this process, I found my mind wandering to the two special people in my life who made their pies entirely from scratch--Mrs. Katie Welch (now in Heaven) and Mrs. JoAnn Vincent!  These two ladies rivaled each other in creating the very best coconut cream pies complete with homemade crusts that I have ever eaten in my life!  After long days at high school, I was so blessed to sit at the dining room table along with Mrs. Welch and her daughters Jennifer and Jane, my buddies and adopted sisters, and devour a healthy serving of coconut or chocolate pie as an afternoon snack with a glass of the best sweet tea ever!  Several years later in life, I would go to church dinners and make a run for a piece of coconut pie made by Mrs. JoAnn Vincent because it was common knowledge that if you waited until you had eaten your meal and then return to the dessert table for her pie, you would be sorely disappointed to find none left.  Oh my!  My mouth is salivating as I think of those pies!

I don't know if I will ever be a terrific maker of pie crusts, but this I do know:  there are some skills worth acquiring and keeping alive, and then there are some women who impact our lives in the best of ways, and I am thankful for the opportunity to have sampled some of both.

"Lest We Forget" Day--a Gentle Reminder to the Human Race Collectively

Veteran's Day has always been pretty special to our family because both the Parks and the Swisher sides of our immediate family's heritage is steeped in the military.  My precious Uncle Bob served in World War II and my own dad served in the Korean Conflict.  Roy's father also served in the Korean Conflict and Roy, his sister Elsie, and brother Dennis all came in at the end of the Vietnam Era.  Each year we applaud our Veterans, enjoy the free or discounted food from our favorite restaurants, and take advantage of the tremendous Veteran's Day sales at this store or that.

Poppies Worn in Remembrance

This year, however,  Roy and I had the pleasure of spending our four day Veteran's weekend on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.  Most of our time was spent in Victoria--I will give you a "play by play" later.  All weekend, I saw little transparent plastic boxes filled with poppies and a slot for a monetary donation sitting on counters in most businesses around the Island.  Seeing the dedication of our Canadian neighbors to honoring their fallen and their past and present service men and women, made the meaning of this day be a little sharper to me personally.

"Lest We Forget" Wreath and Canadian Flag

Of course, every church that I have ever attended adds a special recognition of servicemen to the service on the Sunday prior to Veteran's Day on Monday.  Canada is not any different.  We were blessed to
be greeted warmly by many in attendance at the Central Baptist Church in Victoria.  I have never met friendlier people nor people who voiced more appreciation for the sacrifice of the veterans, both past and present, of Canada nor for the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus who died for our sins.  The service was so spiritually moving including the Praise and Worship team who led us in worship, the two-man team who made the announcements fun and not boring, the ceremonial recognition of the Royal Canadian military branches,  and the wonderful sermon of the minister.   Always refreshing to see how other churches function as to organization and program, it is equally interesting to view their celebrations!

We left this beautiful place sometimes referred to as "little London" about 4:00 Sunday afternoon knowing that we as a human race--me, as a member, in particular-- tend(s) to forget those who served in past wars unless it is a personal acquaintance, or we forget those who's lives have been "blown apart" by the ravages of our more current wars unless someone keeps the Wounded Warriors in our line of vision, and it is easy to ignore the problems of suicide, high rates of divorce and the scammers or human parasites that prey on our young military especially unless it raises our righteous indignation or unless "Soldier Care" becomes a personal mission.  So, I am so glad to be reminded at least one time per year, lest I forget that freedom does not come cheap!  Thanks to all of our Veterans who had the stamina to keep plodding on even when the struggles were too great to humanly bear or they died trying!  I promise not to forget!

Refreshing Experience at the Commissary

As a military wife, I visit the Commissary a couple of times a week as I am already on base doing other things four days out of five.  I had not lived close enough to frequent this mainstay of military life for 20+ years, so during the first full month that we were here, I needed an item or two on the first day of the month, and I went in the door and what I saw led me to leave fairly quickly out the other door.  There were people everywhere and no carts in sight!  No one had told me to not go to the commissary on the 1st!  I now know that retirees or some military families who live some miles away and very organized military wives shop one time per month.  It is easy to identify them as they have two or three carts in tow.  Of course, it goes without saying that many families shop on payday which would account for some of the "hundreds" in the commissary that day.  Unfortunately, in addition to it being the first of the month, that day also was the day before the government shut down.  So, I picked the wrong day to go inside on many counts! 

I digress. The reason for my post today has more to do with something wonderful that I have observed.  It never ceases to amaze me how many husbands are there with their small children and/or with the entire family going up and down the aisles actively involved in the shopping experience and, at the end, helping to put the groceries into the SUV or trunk of the family car!  This is refreshing compared to what I have viewed  in the past at the local Kroger or Walmart!  This practice appears to cut across lines of age and rank.  I salute the military husbands and dads that I see being team players on the job and in the family!