Kathryn M:

I am just sending the one box for October.

HI everyone - guess I lied! I managed to sneak a little room in the budget to get an "extra" box in the mail today. It has snack foods, a half dozen microwave meals, a number of the card swap cards, and those eating utensils that we talked about earlier (1 pkg forks, 1 pkg spoons, 1 pkg of paper plates).

As far as microwave meals - I have found a nice one. I comes from Zantarins. Walmart sells them for about $1.50. I bought some Blackened chicken with rice and sausage jambalya (which I just realized I can't send because of the pork - oh well - I will eat those myself!) Hormel completes are not too bad either but a little pricier unless you can find them on sale or use a coupon. I saw some Healthy Choice shelf stable meals too - but I have not tried them out yet.

 Hi, Kathryn,

I just have to hi- jack this and ask if you were at russell Stovers in Montrose - we got the same deal there in late sept.  We still have the boxes, waiting for cooler weather.  (Unfortunately, we got enough so we can taste test as well.)  Have you shipped yours?  We are at Yuma AZ and it has been 90-100 here - I am sure the chocolate would have melted if not for air conditioning.

 Oops - Sorry I just saw this post today.  I have not sent my chocolate yet either!  It has been cool here though.

I got my candy from Abeline KS when I went to visit my mom.  I have not been up to Montrose for ages - probably before my son was born actually - so I don't even know what is there anymore. Guess I should make it a point to get out there again sometime! It is still that hot in Arizona? Wow!  

Anyway, let me know if you are shipping your chocolate to Nicolette and I can always find someone else to send it too. Otherwise mine will go out sometime after the 1st of November to her.

OMG. i am from Yuma, Az originally. i miss Yuma very much, started crying when i read you were in Yuma. If you know any Marine that is looking for a supporter send his/her info my way. I know for a fact it's HOT there esp. during the summer months. 

Just and update...I sent Nicoltte two boxes this morning with two boxes of hot oatmeal cereal, thirteen packs of soup, two packs of twizzlers, two packs of sunflower seeds, two boxes of tea, twelve packages of popcorn, two packages of cookies, four boxes of Crystal Light individual drink mixes, two bottles of shampoo, two conditioner, two bottles of men's body wash, large bottle woman's body wash, two packages of razors, one hand cream, one pack of baby wipes, two manicure sets, and ten loads of laundry soap.

Kathy,

You are surely helping to relieve my mind about Nicolette being taken care of while I get some packages out to some of our contacts in more austere settings.  We know they won't do without while we get a few more packages out.  Thanks for your big contribution.  The pics look like they are in good spirits now.

Gran

Oh, and Kathryn M. and all the others too.

Gran

You're welcome Gran, I just got home from the store. I found three huge bags of candy bars on sale. Next payday I'll send them along with some more stuff I picked up.

Have a nice day,

Kathy

I am packing up a box today to be mailed later in the week when I get to the PO.

It has 7 microwave meals, 1 box of easy mac packets (6 servings), 1 corned beef tin, a small amount of candy and salty snacks to fill up the holes. I put in one of those rubbermaid food containers/ with lid  to make the easy mac in. I am also sending a dozen greeting cards (mostly birthday & a few blank ones) that I found  on clearance for 25 cents each and a fall theme magnetic notepad that I also found for 25 cents. On yeah, and I am going to try and squeeze in a few blank Christmas cards too - not sure how many will fit.

I am also starting a second box - I have another 20  birthday and general greeting cards going in that. It will have more food and snacks after I hit up the grocery this weekend. This second box will not go out till next week though. I will try to do salty snacks and dried fruit and nuts mostly since kathy1955 indicated she had lots of candy. I will probably get a few magazines in that box too.

(I bought a bunch of fun size candys too on clearance - they do not have halloween specific packaging and are fresh enough that I will probably mail them after the Holidays. There are skittles, mike & ikes, hot tamales, tootsie pops.)

 Okay - I did get both boxes to the post office this morning.

Lots of food/snacks and the greeting cards - only got a dozen christmas cards in the box but I did send a couple of sheets of christmas stickers and 3 pieces of flat wrapping paper. (The snacks I got  for the second box were things like beef sticks, crackers, nuts, a couple of canned goods like ravioli, and I sent a little coffee I had even though it was not on her list).

Hi Everyone...Tomorrow I'm mailing two more boxes, I had 16 tall thermos's that I decided to wait until cooler weather to send, I filled each thermos with hot chocolate packets,candy, and a tea bag. I also snet 5 packs of popcorn, 10 packets of laundry detergent, extra tea bags, five cans of tuna, one hand can opener, roll of stickers, 57 Christmas cards, gum, and I filled every empty space there was with candy and suckers.

I adopted Nicolette as a penpal and I'm so excited to announce that our local high school adopted her and her unit.  I brought her up to my son's 5th grade English teacher and asked if she would allow them to write them all letters.  I asked the principal to ask for monetary donations for the unit.  (I forgot to mention the unit is from Ft Polk, Leesville, La, which is about 1.5 hrs away from my home)  They allowed the donations to come in and the letters were written. 

The school called me to pick up the check to make the purchases for what we called Operation Cajun Christmas.  I just finished packing up everything.  I'm so excited for them and can't wait to hear from them.   As we say here in Cajun Country....They should expect lots of lagniappe.  The school worked hard and I haven't had so much fun as I did shopping for them today.  I picked up some candy, personal hygiene stuff, and lots of special stuff from back home.

 Nicolette, if you see this post....Sister, be expecting about 10-11 boxes from your fellow Cajuns.  I believe yall will enjoy the goodies we got together for yall.  You can now have a Cajun Christmas from back home, it's the best we could do!!

Have a blessed Thanksgiving and may you all be safe.  Prayers for all our ladies and gentlemen in uniform to return safely home alive and well.

 God bless you all abundantly,

Amanda

 Cool about the school adopting her -  I bet she will like that.  I kicked out one box last Sat (11/22) with some more food items - microwave meals and some snack stuff. I can not do anything else for December myself so now I don't feel too bad about not sending again till January.

Thanks Amanda for organizing that fundraising drive for her unit.

i would love to adopt her as a penpal. If she won't mind I would love to send her a letter/card to her and her unit.

Update on the packages..we sent them lots of goodies and they were shipped out last Wednesday, as promised.  There were 11 boxes total.  I didn't think all that stuff would fit in those flat rate boxes, but they did.  I think my background of playing Tetris whaen I was a teenager really helped in packing the boxes....LOL

I really do hope that they are blessed by the kids' effort.  My sister-in-law was making fun of me when we went shopping.  She said all the stuff you're buying for them makes me want to join the military...you're spoiling them.  I told her that she can't join anyway because she's pregnant,  8 wks to be exact..LOL  She laughed and my Pastor told her that whatever she wants we'll give her.  She knows that she's spoiled because I only have 1 brother. 

We had a blast shopping for them and I was so excited to get home, pack it up and ship it out.  I only pray that they are just as excited when they get it.

 Be blessed!

Amanda, Louisiana