And you'll finally see the truth That a hero lies in you

To everyone that helped to send the Frito Pie boxes to my son's troop....a big THANK YOU!!! We received a phone call from our son on December 23rd from a very happy soldier and his troop!! They were in the middle of eating all their Frito Pies. Many of them were going on missions on December 25th so they had their Christmas Party early.

Our son's captain was so impressed and couldn't believe what had been done that he wished that he could come down and thank all of us in person. Being that he couldn't do that, he gave our son the next best thing; a Challenge Coin. He said he is going to send that down to us and we will share that honor with all of you who helped us to get all of these boxes to these soldiers so they could have their Christmas Wish.

The first things to go were the Jalapenos! We sent 2 pounds of those and probably should have sent more! Who knew? Although they didn't have an electric can opener and had to open all the chili cans with what looked like a razor blade on a stick, all went well and those that never even knew what a Frito Pie was has now enjoyed this delicious treat!

We can't thank all of you enough for pulling together in truly the matter of a little over 24 hours what ya'll were able to do!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

That's the Way, Uh-Huh, Uh-Huh, I Like It

My son received all the boxes for his troop in Afghanistan! All the fritos, chili, cheese, jalopenos, Ding Dongs, Twinkies, Oatmeal Cookies and we can't forget the 1200 Slim Jims!! We couldn't have done it without a LOT of help. I can't thank everyone enough for helping us to pull this off for them!!

Here is what he sent to me:

We will have an Immense, Scrumptious Christmas Thanks to everyone... Everyone that has never had one of these Delicacy's are anxious to try one.. and All those that Love them cannot wait either... so this will be one of the more historical christmas's in Kandahar, Afghanistan...
ONCE AGAIN THE BROWN FAMILY PULLS THROUGH...
Thanks Again...








Thank all of them for me and The 451st AEW

Brenda and Hank Pfeifer
Shelley and John Troy
Joy and Paul Burwell
Marieann Wise-Miu and George Wise
Jennifer Tough
Molly, Mike and Mackenzie Goode
Angela Kicklighter and Grammy
Sue Dixon
Kim and Greg Kelly and family
Dan Tripper
Charles William
Carolyn and Steve Wong and family
Nick Banfield
Melissa Singleton and family
Amy and George Sowers
Renee Cannon
Katherine Navarra and family
Tom Lockhart
Tania and Charles Johnson and family
Tony Klepper
Oleta Baldridge

--
SrA BROWN

Food! Glorious Food!

Those of you who know me, know that I have three sons in the military. Two are in the Air Force, one is a Marine. I know that there are many other families just like me out there and we are so proud of every single one of them! My Marine is now stateside after serving a tour in Iraq and one of my sons is also stationed here as well. But my second oldest is serving his second tour, this time in Afghanistan, the first one being in Iraq two years ago.

A few weeks before Thanksgiving we spoke to him and during that conversation we found out that their Thanksgiving dinner was going to consist of powdered turkey and canned yams and their Christmas dinner wasn't going to be much better.

Where he is stationed, they don't have microwaves or a decent kitchen that has regular ovens or stoves. They have solar ovens to cook food. So, the food they eat isn't the greatest! But, what him and his troop of 100 soldiers really wanted for their Christmas dinner this year was Frito Pies!

First, we tried contacting Frito Lay. The person we spoke to in customer service wasn't all that welcome to the idea and we got a form letter in return of sorry, we don't do that kind of thing. Now, it was up to us and our deadline was fast approaching to do something to make sure we could get Frito Pies to them in time.

I came up with an idea in that, there were 11 soldiers in my son's unit and if we sent each of those soldiers at least two Priority Flat Rate boxes of Frito Pie fixin's it would only cost around $35 to feed 10 solders. Surely we could find enough people to sponsor two boxes per soldier!

I put out a call to my closest friends, my Soap Team and my daughter's castmates at Stage Right and within 24 hours we had more than enough to not only get them their Frito Pies, but dessert and enough Slim Jims to feed all 100 of them! Plus, one of the cast members brought in enough Beanie Babies to fill two Priority Boxes to send over to Afghanistan to hand out to the children there and will be delivered to the Humanitarian division!




I cannot thank everyone ENOUGH for their help and response in making sure these soldiers get their Frito Pie Christmas Dinner! I will continue to update my blog when they receive their packages and I am sure we will hear from them very soon!

A special thanks goes out to:

Brenda and Hank Pfeifer
Shelley and John Troy
Joy and Paul Burwell
Marieann Wise-Miu and George Wise
Jennifer Tough
Molly, Mike and Mackenzie Goode
Angela Kicklighter and Grammy
Sue Dixon
Kim and Greg Kelly and family
Dan Tripper
Charles William
Carolyn and Steve Wong and family
Nick Banfield
Melissa Singleton and family
Amy and George Sowers
Renee Cannon
Katherine Navarra and family
Tom Lockhart
Tania and Charles Johnson and family
Tony Klepper
Oleta Baldridge

From the bottom of our hearts THANK YOU!

The Brown family

Bop 'til you drop In the hot city,,,,,

Or in this case, shop til you drop! With the holidays coming up, why hit the crowded malls when you can shop in the comfort of your home!! This weekend, the SAFETeam is having their weekend deals sale! Check out the SAFETEAM blog .

At ZoZca, I am having a sale too! This weekend I am offering 15% off your entire order (shipping not included). I will refund you via Paypal.

Not only do I have wonderful, luxurious essential oil soaps, but don't forget the man in your life with our beautiful, handmade, Jun porcelain, handthrown Shaving Mug Sets! Included in the sets is a boar bristle shaving brush and our handmade shaving soap.




Sale ends Sunday, November 15th at midnight.

It's a New Dawn, It's a New Day, It's a New Life and For Me...I'm Feeling Good

Well, it seems to have worked! I know there are some that think I may have been mean and cruel, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do and here are the end results!








She's happy and I'm very happy. For some, it may not be perfect, but you know, I'll take what I can get. I think she did a very good job and I'm proud of her. Now, to get her in a routine so it won't become a disaster zone again!

Wait she's a tweenager! What am I talking about!!!

All You Ever Do is Talk, Talk

It seems that way sometimes doesn't it? We can talk to our kids till we're blue in the face, but maybe pictures can do so much more than words can. Every week (day) it seems that I'm always asking my daughter to clean her room. When she was little she would come to me and say, "Look mom, I made a path!" Now, it's, "Look mom, my floor is clean!" But, there are still glasses or clothes or something still tucked in a corner or under the bed.

I try to tell her it's so much easier if upon first waking to pick up things or if, before she goes to sleep at night to clean up. Then, there wouldn't be much to do.

I've also tried to instill the Flylady method by starting in one corner and working around the room. But, to know avail.

We even redecorated her room and it was clean for about a month and now? Well, as you can by the pictures, it's a disaster area!









She knows these pictures are being seen and at least that has started her cleaning up now. Maybe the thought of friends and strangers seeing what her room has become finally motivated her to do something.

With luck, cleaner pictures to follow.

Motivational comments and ideas welcome.

Who Are You? Who? Who? Who? Who?

If I were a bar of soap? That's what the newest Etsy SAFEteam challenge is? WOW? How can one describe themselves in a bar of soap?

Well, guess what? Those of us on the Soap Artisan's For Etsy have decided to give it a shot! Come check out who we are as a bar of soap?

We need ya'll to vote for us and as a bonus, you'll win too! All of those who leave comments on the SAFEteam's blog post will be entered to win a bar of the "winning" soap!

Oh, and if you want to find more about me? Check out my soap on the page, ZoZca's Phunky Chic!