Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs

Today my oldest son had out of school for a teacher workday. We took the opportunity to watch Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. The movie is very cute and definitely worth the time to sit and watch. I thought it taught some good lessons such as "never give up on your dreams" and "being greedy and getting everything you want isn't always best." I don't generally let the boys watch a whole lot of TV but this movie was such a good one and they were being good so I let them watch it twice when they asked to watch it again.

Since When Is My Time Less Important Than Yours?

Today is the first time I have had to have a military provider appointment and man am I disappointed. In the States I used Tricare standard so I could pick and choose my doctors and if I didn't like my care then I could switch without the headache of referrals. Being overseas I do not have that much luxury. I have to be seen at the Military Treatment Facility. I arrived for my 12:45 appointment at 12:25 knowing that I would have to fill out some paperwork since I haven't been seen there. I filled out the papers and was called back to a room promptly. Yay, I am going to be seen like a normal human. WRONG!!!! After sitting in the little room alone for 30 minutes someone finally came and said it would only be a few more minutes. Yeah right a few more minutes. It was almost 15 minutes later when the doctor would finally walk in. I was there for my annual pap and to get my IUD removed. I had originally tried to get an appointment in the OBGYN clinic as that is what I would have done in the States. I was denied and told to go to the Family Practice clinic. Guess what?? They couldn't take care of my IUD removal so now here I wait for who knows how many days to get a referral and then who knows how much longer to get an actual appointment. This is definitely not my ideal heath care system.

The Free Store

Being a part of a military family does have a few perks. Most bases have some kind of help for families in need. Here they have a free store commonly referred to as the Airman's Attic or Community Closet. This is like a free thrift store. Being overseas this is open to all ranks but I believe that in the States it is usually limited to E4 and below. You can go in and find clothes, housewares, books, toys and more. The only rule is that nothing there is for resale. This has been a great resource for us since we have 3 growing boys who always seem to need clothes. The best part about it is that when my boys are done with the clothes or shoes or toys we can bag them up and take them back to help out another family. We also take in stuff that we have bought ourselves to help replenish their stock. I find great joy taking a bag of stuff in to help others. It really helps me in reducing clutter and it definitely helps in my debt plan.

Free $5 Gift Card

Today I got another $5 amazon gift card from Swagbucks!!! Swagbucks is a search engine that you can earn points for searching anything that you can imagine. Once you get enough points you can cash in your points for prizes. They have lots of prizes but I usually choose to get the Amazon.com gift card since I shop on there all the time anyway. This is very helpful at helping my budget.

Usborne Books & More

So I decided to become a consultant for Usborne books and more so that I could get some great learning books for my boys but also to help earn a few dollars extra towards paying off debt. I am still waiting on my kit as mail can be goofy coming from stateside to the APO address. Once I get my kit I will spend time learning all about the company and hopefully it will give me some ideas on how to host home shows. I am hosting my own eshow right now but so far I am the only person who has placed an order. Hopefully just one of my friends will place one so I don't feel like a total loser. If you would like to look at my website you can find it here. If you find something you would like to buy you can do that through the website and it will be sent straight to your house. If you just browse at the selection please take a minute to at least sign up for the monthly drawing for $50 in books. I think this is a great incentive from the company. I cannot wait to get my package in the mail. Even though the books will be for the kids for fun and to learn from I am like a kid in the candy store when I get packages in my mail box.