I am starting an installment...
The "What'd Ya Learn" series will encompass my life's lessons as they come to me. The old saying goes "You learn something new everyday"...and I DO make it a point to seek the fuel to keep this rusty brain of mine running regularly. Don't worry, I won't be on here posting that I learned how to use a new can opener (ok, maybe...it is possible that the simple things in life keep us going, right?). But, ultimately it will be tiny lessons I have learned, or time savers I MUST share, even a trivia question or two. Who knows...you get what I'm talking about though, don'tcha? I had this idea brewing from our upcoming and unreachable move. I really liked Okinawa. It's like no other place I have ever been or will ever go. I made some of my best friends here and said goodbye to mostly all of them already. This sparked my creative juices to remember all the things about this place I'm gonna miss. However, I decided to open it up to all my previous and future stomping grounds. I have learned lots from the places I have been, a lot about myself and a lot about others. Since this is my first post...it will be a little longer than future ones...I'll start with 10!
1. 
My Family will always be my Family...but the true friends I have made along the way, I also consider my Family because they have been my support system through and through.
2. 
Teenage boys aren't all bad...except the ones that hover around my daughter. They know who they are because I tell 'em so! Even if you are a parent to a boy and a girl...
boys are boys!! I teach and will continue to teach my boys that girls are to be treated with good manners and great respect.
3. It
is true...
...a Happy Wife does make for a Happy Life!! ($hit does roll downhill, ya know?...nobody that lives in my house wants to be on the $hitty hill) I'm just sayin'!!
4. 
Vegetables ARE fabulous anyway you cook them.
I ♥ veggies! But if they are all fried, it doesn't have the same effect when you are trying to keep the chubby off. (Man, I like fried okra...and fried tomatoes, and fried onions, and fried zucchini, and fried eggplant.....ho hum!)
5. 
Raising and living with a toddler after you turn thirty feels really different than grooming toddlers in your early twenties. And by different I mean I feel winded and "old" after chasing my
curious, tornado boy. I wonder if that is inapplicable if you have your first child in your thirties...hmmmm.
6. 
When you are a Military Spouse, you quickly learn and expect to be left behind here and there for the "mission" to go on. When they stay home for a LONG time because the mission is where they live, you start to ask..."Don't they have to go TDY to school or something soon?".
(P.S. This is not to be confused with wanting them to deploy...because let me be frank, NOBODY WANTS THAT!!) Our marriage in a military lifestsyle works differently than our Family's and friends' do back home. We strive and thrive on reunions, long kisses good bye, and the anticipation in the middle...it's how we fight the good fight!
7. 
I think blogging was made for people like me. I have a lot to say...
all the time! I think we all should write down what we think and feel. It is not only cleansing for the soul...but the thoughts I have now turn into lasting memories later on for me, my husband, and my kids. I know they will appreciate mommy's "journal" when they want to ponder on their past. So will my grandchildren...
8. 
Early in my adult life, I came to find that lots of people are weird when it comes to sharing good info, or a good restaurant find/recipe, or where they found that cutie summer dress. What's the deal?? I love sharing all my cool and thrifty finds with my friends, neighbors, strangers in the commissary...whomever. I assume people are stingy with their hidden finds because they don't want the masses to jump on the bandwagon and "use up" all the good stuff or follow them, but what's good about it if you can't share it? Isn't following someone's great idea a form a flattery, too? I mean , it makes for good conversation and keeps everyone on an even keel at the same time. I think people get
w-a-a-a-a-a-a-y to wrapped up in "Keeping up with the Joneses ". Don't they realize Jones is one of the most common last names around...get it? We are all The Joneses!! Fall in line and be a sharer....
9. 
One of my kids (I'll be nice and not dime this one out) decided at a
not so early age out of the blue to throw themselves on the floor of a public establishment when I said "No"...I learned that the best way to deal with that is to walk away and pretend that is not your kid. Don't worry, I tried the other obvious solution...stand there for eternity reasoning with my child about why they can't have what I already explained was a No, all the while still screaming and crying like I was beating them. Life lesson #9 is...Walk away! Yeah, I said it!! Then, turn the corner and peer so you can see them but they can't see you and watch them come crawling back to their mummy that they love and now miss terribly. It works!! But you have to be strong enough to walk away...that's the trick. Good thing we weren't waiting for a train or on an elevator that day, that would have been a tough one (for them...HEE HEE)!! :o)
10.
Don't EVER mix Family and business!! I don't care how much you love them or want to help or need the help....DON'T DO IT!! It always ends with someone either annoyed or worse! Plus, it is crippling to both parties involved in the long run. Family is there to support your hard work not assume an active role in it. Spoken from experience and from stories I've heard along my journeys.
Ok, that's all for now! I will pop in every now and then to add my two cents, or to share a recipe, or to give a 'how to' on something I tried. Check back soon....
Love Ya!
to JJ Fad
to The Cardigans. 
SWEET...reminiscing on new OLD jams are always fun!! Love me some one-hit wonders!!
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