Did you know that Military divorces have increased 42% since 2001? Even though the day that service men and women return to their families is a happy event, what happens when the reunion is over? It is the goal of The Art of Marriage Ops blog app to help all the men and women who have defended our country strengthen their marriages. You can spread the word about this great app by sharing the app on Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #marriageopps. You can also donate. Text OPS to 80888 and donate $10.00 to help men and women in the military strengthen their relationship by attending an event showcasing The Art of Marriage. This video talks about the hard transition for some military men and women. Below the video you can download five great date ideas for you and your spouse or significant other!

 

WIN IT!

One reader will win a $20 gift card to Applebee’s for their next date night! Enter using the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My local supermarket is a ShopRite.  Every year at this time, they have a “Can Can” sale.  They offer numerous products with great discounts so that you can stock up your pantry.  I was there the other day and the store was packed!  Last year, ShopRite donated 40,000 cans of food to a local food bank in order to commemorate 40 years of Can Can savings.  This year, they are doing it again!

During the 2012 Can Can Sale from January 5 to January 21, ShopRite will donate one can of food (up to 50,000 cans) to local food banks on behalf of every new ShopRite Facebook fan.  All you have to do is “Like” ShopRite on Facebook – the more likes they receive, the more cans of food will go to help the hungry.

If you want to find out more about ShopRite’s Can Can sale and see the great savings they offer, visit their website.  Also, on ShopRite’s “Get Canned” site, you can upload a photo of yourself and do the Can Can Dance!  I uploaded a picture of my daughter and posted it to Facebook. Boy, is she going to be surprised!

Don’t forget to Like ShopRite on Facebook and help food go to local food banks!

The information about ShopRite was provided through MyBlogSpark.  I received an entry into a contest for this post.

My son loves Hot Wheels, but we have never built a track that is longer than one room. This track is 2,000 feet long, is throughout the house and even runs outside and over a hot tub. The family that designed this track hopes to raise money for “Hope for Gabe,” a charitable foundation to help fight Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Enjoy!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Hanes® has launched a new comfort-sharing Facebook App to help bring awareness to the cause. This application called Virtual Comfort, lets users share comfort to those who need it. When you become a fan of Hanes on Facebook, you can personalize and send free Virtual Comfort Packages. The best part? For each package sent, Hanes is donating $1 (up to $25,000) to the National Breast Cancer Foundation Inc. These funds will go toward early cancer detection initiates and will provide mammograms to those in need.

To send a virtual Comfort Package, click on the pink tab on the Hanes Facebook page. I sent a comfort package to my daughter to wish her well on her tests at school tomorrow. I sent her a note and a recipe for chocolate brownies and I added some music. You can also add a virtual t-shirt, video, and photos. It was easy to do and fun!

Help the fight against breast cancer by creating your own virtual Comfort Package today!

I participated in this campaign as a member of One2One Network and am eligible for a prize drawing. All opinions stated in the post are my own.

The old saying goes “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.” That is what Kiva.org is all about. I have been involved with Kiva for three years now. My daughter’s seventh grade history teacher introduced my daughter to the program and I jumped on board. Kiva is unlike any other charitable organization. Instead of giving money to a charity and being unsure of where the money is actually spend, you instead loan money and that money is later repaid and can be loaned again.

So far I have made five loans. I loaned money to Marlen Argelia Rodriguez Mondragon from Honduras.

Young Marlen Rodriguez has a small grocery store in her home. She gets up at 5:00 am to do housework and later opens her business at 6:00 am to attend to her customers. She lives with her mom and has a 2 year old son. She has the responsibility of raising her son alone since her husband had to emigrate to the United States to be able to provide his family with a better quality of life. But as it has not been possible for him to help them, she has worked for more than 4 years in her grocery store. On Saturdays and Sundays she studies at the University. She is studying for a teaching degree. She lives 10 kilometers from the city.

Marlen requested $550 dollars to by supplies for her stores. Approximately 20 people helped fund her loan in March of 2009. She bought her supplies, made a profit from her store and repaid the loan by November of 2009. This loan money was then made available to me again so that I could help another person in need.

I have also loaned money to Sarah’s Tegemeo Group from Tanzania.

Sarah is 23 years old and is a single woman. Sarah owns a small salon, which she started in 2006. Everyday, she works from 8am to 8pm at her business and can earn a monthly profit of about $80 from her sales. She now hopes for a loan to buy more salon items for her business. She will share this loan with her subgroup members Afsa, Farida, Baia, Yunnis and Anitha, who have businesses of a salon, shop, cafe, clothes sales and vegetables sales.

Sarah’s group was loaned $1,200 to buy supplies and their loan is almost totally repaid. This group of women are working together to make their dreams become reality.

While not all loans are fully repaid due to personal circumstances, Kiva makes every effort to work with individuals to ensure the repayment of loans. Those getting the money are grateful that they are able to expand or start a business and improve their living conditions.

You can help too! Simply make a minimum loan of $25 at Kiva.org. It is a gift that keeps on giving!

This post is part of a blogathon sponsored by Uprinting.com to get the word out about Kiva.org. Five posts will be chosen to win a $100 Kiva credit to loan money to those in need.

My children and I have been invited to an exclusive Build-A-Bear Workshop event in New York City on August 1st. We will be able to meet 12 year old Jamia Nash. Jamia appeared in the 2007 film August Rush as Hope and is the lead vocalist on the Academy Award nominated song Raise It Up. Jamia will be singing a new song, Let’s Talk About Love for the event.

[photopress:peace_hugs_bear.jpg,full,pp_image]My kids will also be able to make a bear at the event, and I hope one of them will choose to make the new Peace & Hugs bear ‘cuz he is so cute! PLUS, I will receive a $25 gift card to giveaway to one lucky reader of my blog! Look for the giveaway details next week.

Build-A-Bear has a special website dedicated to Peace, Love and Hugs where you can make a pledge to make a difference in the world and find out more information about how friends can make a world of difference. Visit Build-A-Bear Workshop’s main website to donate $1 to Save the Children and receive a free download of the song Let’s Talk About Love preformed by Jamia or by a couple of other artists (including David Archuleta).

I’ll admit it, my kids are spoiled!  Not that they are misbehaving creatins, they are really good kids.  But, there is one area that we need to work on – WORK!  My kids have far less chores than I did when I was growing up just because they are involved in so many other activities.

In order to remedy this, I have decided not just to add more chores, but to have them be involved in a couple of service projects where they can actually help others and learn the value of work at the same time.

This past week, a number of families from our church decided to deep clean the entire church.  We do not employ a cleaning service at the church, so it is up to the members to help out.  Armed with cleaning supplies, we headed down to the church.  Assignments were handed out, even to the smaller children and we started.

Some of the men were tasked with moving some industrial equipment that was in closets and throwing it in the dumpsters.  They also helped trim trees and chop up dead branches in the back of the church.  The rest of us took our cleaning supplies and started cleaning walls, bathrooms, classrooms and the gym.  We had a number of vacuums cleaners running at the same time as well.

After about four hours of cleaning, we stopped and had a great lunch!  We were all pretty tired, but we had fun at the same time.  My kids did a great job and were really proud of themselves!

Now, we are trying to think of other service projects that help benefit our community.

[photopress:soccer_trophy.jpg,full,pp_image] Soccer season ended recently and that meant two more trophies for our trophy shelf. We must have over 50 trophies between the two kids! There are dance trophies, soccer trophies, basketball trophies and even 5K trophies. My son, who is five, is counting down the days when he will be in Cub Scouts and able to get Pinewood derby trophies!

After the kids are grown (and they probably won’t want to take all those trophies with them), I wonder if there is a trophy recycle place?

Here are products that you can purchase in October that will help support Breast Cancer Research:

Anya Satchel
Hope Charm Key Ring
Fleece Lined Clogs
Rose Soap Petals

Avon has always been involved in the fight against Breast Cancer and they sponsors many walks across the country to benefit research. This year they are offering Fleece Lined Clogs with a raised ribbon motif with rhinestone accents. The Clogs are $15 and $2 from every sale goes to the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade.

[photopress:avon_clogs.gif,full,pp_image]