Thankfulness Day 12 - Hooray for Coupons!

Today I am going to express my gratitude for coupons. I wasn’t a “couponer” before coming to Italy, however after I was informed of a program that sent military members coupons, I decided it really couldn’t be easier, so I might as well give it a go. I signed up for the program and was matched with 5 people from the states who volunteered to find, clip, and mail coupons to me overseas. Wow! How cool are those people? Well now I carry my coupons with me to every shopping trip and I usually save around $10 a trip with them. (And we make our trip once a week). Being overseas, we are limited by the food they ship over here, but we still manage to save a lot of money with the coupons.

The coffee store on base also has a huge file system where people can go and put the coupons they don’t use and pick up one’s other people have discarded. Sometimes I will sit in the coffee shop and dig for specific coupons I am looking for. Our savings with coupons definitely dropped with my new diet. Coupons for fresh produce doesn’t seem to exist… however we still save on frozen veggies, dairy and meats that my hubby eats, as well as cleaning supplies and soaps, etc. I find that most of the coupons seem to be for the unhealthy foods. Sugar cereals, ice cream, cookie packs, sodas, etc all seem to have an abundance of coupons available. Healthier food options have fewer coupons. Regardless, we still save enough money to make it worth it, and I’m very thankful to have coupons, and to have people stateside who spend their spare time clipping and mailing off their coupons!

If you happen to be a couponer and would like to donate your spare coupons to military members, go here: http://www.couponstotroops.com/ to sign up!

Thankfulness Day 11 - Dehumidifiers!

Mold was a non-existent problem at our last place, here in Italy however, the mold is rampant everywhere. Nearly every spouse I know battles with it in their houses. Italy is a humid place, and someone told me the paint here isn’t permitted to have the chemicals it does in the states and as such it is less hostile for mold growth (but I don’t know if that’s a fact as I haven’t researched this thoroughly). When I spoke with the landlord, his solution was to paint over it. OVER it?? I shudder at the thought of how many layers of mold are underneath these layers of paint…

The mold is terrible for one’s health and we’ve tried all manner of things. We used to spray and scrub it, however many people told us not to bother with the scrubbing, as it will only make it worse the next time it comes back. We’ve sprayed vinegar on it, and that definitely worked, but it always came back within weeks. The interior of the house is not so bad, but anything with an exterior wall flares up with mold. Our son’s room is terrible with it and we felt badly putting him in there so we moved him into our room with us and hardly utilize his room. I read on the military spouse facebook page of other spouses who found stuffed animals molded through, and while it has stuck to the ceilings in our place, we wanted it taken care of.

            Today a painter came and scraped off layers and layers of old paint, and repainted the problem walls. We also purchased dehumidifiers to place in our problem rooms, as we’ve been told they are a huge help. The landlords also said we had to open the entire house for 15 minutes a day (yes, even in the freezing of winter! Every time I open the windows and feel the cold rushing in and the warmth out, I have flashbacks to my childhood and can hear my dad’s voice in the back of my head, scolding me and telling me he’s not paying to heat the whole neighborhood! haha). We must also open the windows during showers and when running the laundry.

            We also got a humidity reader that sits on the wall above the thermometer and lets us know what our humidity is at. I’m bummed we didn’t get this running/installed the day we started the dehumidifiers! We don’t know how bad it was when we first started the dehumidifiers, but when we did get it up a few days later, it said our household humidity was 78%. Eep! The recommended household humidity is between 40-50%. Our house is now consistently in the 50’s, and on occasion we’ve been able to get it as low as 38%. The mold is still present in the locations the painter didn’t get, but it hasn’t increased/spread. So I am thankful that these dehumidifiers seem to be working, and that the house is a healthier place for us to live in!

Thankfulness Day 10 - Automatic Cars

Today I am thankful for Automatic Cars. Do we have one? Yes. Do we drive it? Currently, no. The insurance is through the roof over here, so in order to save some dough, we parked it and got an Italian beater. And while it is more compact (which is good for squeezing down Italian roads!) it is a manual, and I really dislike driving manual. Perhaps it’s because this is my first manual car and it’s the car itself I don’t like… Something new breaks on it every week. From the window to the lights to the stereo to the air or heat… And the struggles to run in higher gears if you have other things, (like the heat) running at the same time. The windshield wipers seem to make the rain on the glass worse, and yes they are brand new… But no, I think it is the manual driving that gets me most. I messed up my knee playing Ultimate Frisbee while in college and pushing the clutch over longer drives becomes a quick pain. And although I’ve been driving it for months, I am ever stalling out, and in all the wrong places! Sometimes it is definitely my fault, other times, I am quite certain I did nothing to cause its untimely lapse in life. This sounds more like a complaining post, and that’s truly not my intention. I am merely attempting to depict why it is that automatic cars are worthy of a post, and for my daily stress levels and myself, I realize automatic cars are a blessing for me. I was appreciative of our little automatic car, prior to owning this manual car, however I am now very thankful someone bothered to invent automatic cars! They are much more suited for people like me. 

Thankfulness Day 9 - Thankful for Gardens

Today my hubby went out and planted our winter garden (yes, a bit late in the season, but better late than never!). We had moderate success with our summer garden which was encouraging, and since we have been on a recent health kick we have had even greater motivation to grow our own food. I am so thankful our landlords not only let us tear up their yard, but are fully supportive and allow us to use their left over tools and supplies. I am also thankful we have the ability to grow our own food! With some of the scary articles I have read concerning genetically modified foods, pesticide use, and the attempts to patent seeds (can you imagine?? The ridiculousness…) brings me to be thankful one can still grow a private garden!

Here are a couple pictures of a bit of our harvest from the past few months:

Garden Zucchini! I mix this with bellpepper into my scrambled eggs every morning.  Sometimes we steam and mash it so our LO can enjoy our harvest with us.

I enjoy cabbage from time to time, but it’s not usually my vegetable of choice. However, our homegrown cabbages were far different than the ones we procure in stores. I was skeptical after my hubby plucked them and they were all manner of sizes and misshapen appearing; compared to the perfect, round, matching globes of cabbage one finds in stores. And when my husband sliced the first cabbage head open, unlike the dry cabbage from stores, watery cabbage juice flowed from the slice and left a puddle on our cutting board.

We fried it up in some coconut oil and let me tell you, it was scrumptious! Most flavorful and delicious cabbage I have ever had! A small amount of salt added and I gobbled an entire head of it for my dinner. When my hubby asked what I would like him to plant for the winter garden, cabbages were my first request. LOTS of cabbages!

Most flavorful cabbage I have ever had! Quite delicious

Thankfulness Day 8 - Just a really great day :)

I am thankful for so many things today, that I'm really not sure which one to pick. I could be thankful for friends, because a sweet friend of mine offered to watch Adam for the evening (I didn't even ask! She jumped at the suggestion of a date night. What a blessing!) I could be thankful for breaks and date nights, because it's been months since we had one and it was great to get some one on one fun with the hubby. We did the standard dinner and a movie date night. I could also be thankful for the fact that the restaurant we chose had a great selection of vegetable side dishes! I was bracing myself for possibly going hungry as my hubby chowed down delicious Italian pasta and meats next to me, however I had a delicious assortment of roasted vegetables, as well as a small veggie soup. It was encouraging to know I can still go out to eat with my hubby and be able to stay within my diet. I am also thankful for gift certificates! We won gift certificates to the movies for our community service acts, so the movie we attended (Ender's Game) didn't cost us a thing. Hooray for inexpensive dates! Today was just one of those really good days, and I'm so thankful it came along. ^_^

Thankfulness Day 7 - Thankful for our Landlords

Today I am thankful for our landlords! They have been exceedingly kind, gracious, and hospitable from the moment we met them. Some people would have reservations about living in a duplex with their landlords above them, but really I love it! They are right there if we have any questions or needs, house related or otherwise, and when Troy can't be around (and let's be honest, in the military that often means, not much) I have no fear for my safety in a strange house in a foreign land when I can hear the bustle of feet and the clang of pans above me. I am never alone for one of them is always home. (likewise we don’t worry about our house when we leave because, they are always here!)

Last night the woman brought me an all vegetable soup (in accordance with my diet of course), all of the veggies of which they grew themselves.

They let us garden on their land and asked our son to call them nono and nona (grandma and grandpa) and they dote on him as if he were their own, knitting him socks and blankets, kidnapping him to show off to the neighbors, and watching after him when I need a break.

They involve us in their Italian lifestyle in every way they can, from teaching us their words to their way of life. The woman has offered to teach me how to cook Italian food. (How many people do you know who get personal one-on-one Italian cooking lessons, for free at one's own home!?) Upon our last lesson she taught me how she makes Minestrone, and shared with me the Italian cooking mishaps of her former American tenants. (Some didn’t sound like mishaps to me, but they laughed and shook their heads, so I made mental notes not to repeat such actions)

When it was time to harvest the wine from their vineyard they showed us how to make wine. They kill their own chickens and turkeys for meat and the woman cans their fruit and veggies as well. They are kind souls and a wealth of knowledge on subjects Italian and beyond.

We have had a few trying moments, like the time after putting the baby to bed, I decided to take a shower. While lathering my hair, I heard a strange voice. I come out of the shower and in my hall I find the landlady. She had let herself in and even though I stood there, dripping in my towel, how could I be mad with someone who had just brought down a hot Italian meal? They can be rather bold, they often stop me to converse when I'm running late for some occasion, and sometimes they forget to wear all their clothes... But I love them and it is such a pleasure to have them here and a part of our lives. I am very thankful for our landlords!

Below are pictures of the day in mid September when we harvested the grapes from the vineyard to make wine. 

They had a large truck load of grapes

 

Some hunk helped them bucket the grapes out of the truck... and you can bet I invited him to dinner that night ;)

 

and into this machine

The machine separated the grapes from the vine

 

The grapes were then pumped into a large vat

 

Sooo many grapes!

Our Little One observed the entire process with us. I hope he's taking notes!

 

Care to help squish the grapes son?

 

Successfully removed all the grapes!

And here are the Landlord's themselves! He's 82 and she is 76 and they still garden and farm daily. Lovely people!

Thankfulness Day 6 - Thankful for PWOC

Today I am most thankful for PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) and the ladies in it! Every week we meet for bible studies and fellowship, and the very large group is composed of fabulous ladies! Even before my cancer, they were a wonderful source of support, friendship, and Christian encouragement and growth, and PWOC is something that I get to look forward to weekly.

Sometimes military life can be difficult. And there can be a lot of drama between spouses, particularly here overseas where spouses aren’t permitted to work in the economy, their men are gone frequently, and there are few English speakers to socialize with beyond the bubble of the base.

There are also some rules in the military about whom one should and should not socialize with. Enlisted versus Officers, the various ranks in each of those categories, and then the stereotypes that come with assigned jobs/careers can all add challenges to relationships. One isn’t supposed to socialize with people too far above or below your position, etc. And despite those rules being for the military members themselves, it most definitely affects the spouses and their relationships as well.

PWOC is rather like an escape from all of that. We’re not there for military purposes, we are there for God. We’re there to grow, fellowship, and learn more from the Word and it does not matter whom you are or whom you are married to. It is also a drama free zone as it is composed of people with a different focus and priorities.

The bible studies and discussions have been amazing and excellent opportunities for growth in both wisdom and spirit. And now with my cancer, the women of PWOC have all truly blessed my family and I in ways we couldn't have expected.

One of my friends organized meals for us so that twice a week one of the ladies will bring us a meal, and let me tell you, those meals have been very helpful! My treatments can be time consuming (at least six hours daily), and my new diet means that I have to prepare diet specific meals for myself aside from my hubby and son (who has recently started eating solids). So that’s three different meals three times a day. No joke, the first week my new diet and treatments were in place, I fed my husband Brats for dinner 4 nights of that week. And just Brats, nothing else. He threw some mustard on them and didn’t complain, but it was easy to see how his diet was going to go downhill the following months.

Don’t get me wrong, my husband can fend for himself fairly decently, but after work he only has five hours of free time, which is stretched between working out (in order to keep up military physical standards), as well as his online college classes (which he couldn’t drop), as well as helping me with some of my treatments much less spending quality time with our LO. The meals have been a huge blessing because that guarantees that he’ll have good food at least twice a week, and it saves us a vast amount of time not having to plan, shop, prep, cook, and clean up.

These women have also been on board with me from the start and have been nothing but supportive and helpful during this journey. They provide me with continued encouragement and growth, verses and prayers, and many of my kind friends have taken my LO for a couple hours so I can attempt to catch up on life amidst this craziness. My family and I have been reaping the benefits of their servant's hearts and we are so very thankful for them!