Anniversary Giveaway

This contest is now closed. I will be announcing the winner shortly. Thanks to all those who participated!

Two years ago today, my husband left to join the Navy. Sorta. Except he wasn't my husband then, and he didn't get to boot camp until the 13th because they kept them at San Diego for something or the other. So technically the anniversary is on September 13th, but I count it from the day he went out the door and came back almost a stranger.

And to honor this bittersweet anniversary, I'm going to have a giveaway. The randomly selected winner will receive $200 in coupons and a personalized surprise, but entires are going to go a bit differently this time:

1. E-mail me requesting information on the Coupons for Troops program.
   Please try to participate...you can send a $100 worth of coupons to troops overseas for close to a dollar. Everything costs so much overseas, and what may be expired and useless coupons to you could make a huge difference in these families' lives. It's the least we could all do for the big sacrifice that they're making.
   
2. Post about this giveaway on your blog and leave the permalink in a comment.
3. Subscribe to My Precious Pennies, or let me know if you've already subscribed.
4. Take my button & post it on your blog.
   

I will draw one random winner sometime on Thursday 09/18/08. And to give you even more motivation in participating in the Coupons for Troops program, if you can e-mail me some proof that you've sent an envelope off, I'll reward your efforts with a small gift. This is for a limited time only - the limited time being until I get overwhelmed or I run out of things to gift with =P.

Yes, I'm quite aware that it's September 11th. I can't put into words what the day means, and I won't insult it with a try. Seven years have passed, but it still seems like it was yesterday to me. I don't know when I'll feel comfortable talking about it, but it's definately not today and I won't taint the day with my fumbling words about it.

And no, we never planned for my husband to leave that day. He had signed on months beforehand, and it just turned out they told him he was leaving for San Diego on that day. I have no idea what he did there for 2 days. I was still in denial at that stage. Actually, I was in so much of a denial that I left the country. Well...sort of. My parents were going on a trip, and I joined them. But it makes for a much better read if I said I was in such a state of denial that I had to leave the country =P.

If you can't tell by now, I was never a big fan of the decision. I'm not sure I'm a fan of it now. But it really doesn't matter what I think, because to me it's just a job that he picked. I would support him even if he decided to join the circus as a flying monkey tamer. I'm sure there's plenty of us that don't like our spouse's boss or company, but fully support them. Besides, what's the big deal...? It's just a job.

I know full well that I'm belittling it all, but ever since marrying the Navy my husband, it's been one of my best/only cooping mechanisms. They're not called deployments people, they're business trips. And he's really just a government worker, like how the postman is a government worker! I'm the type of person that freaks out over everything and then some. I have the rare ability to take the worst case scenario and make it a million times worse in the span of 5 minutes. Yesterday he called and said "I have some bad news. I'll tell you when I get home in 5 minutes". By the time he got home, I was prepared to hear "I'm leaving in a week" or "We moving to Europe next month" or "A bazooka blew up the car and we need a million dollars tomorrow". Instead, the bad news was "I'm coming home an hour late for the rest of the week". See? I'm a freak. The only way for me to survive is to start off with something that's "low" on the freak-out scale. Like "business trips". Or "government worker".

It's only been 2 years, so we are far from finished with our adventures. We've been through nothing compared to some of the "old-timers" out there. We haven't been through a real business trip yet. I haven't had to explain to my daughter why daddy isn't here for her birthday or her dance recital yet. And we haven't been moved out of the country yet. I know that they're all hurdles that we have to pass eventually, but one thing that I've definately learned living this life is you have to take things one step at a time. If I spent my days worrying about how to move overseas, or when my husband won't be home for months at a time...I'd just stop functioning as a person. I'd be little more than a vegetable. So...I'll worry about it when it comes, and not a single second before.

One thing I know though is I will be utterly depressed if we had to move overseas because the last time I checked CVS & Walgreens were USA-only stores. Short of the commissary I'd lose all of my couponing fun - and my couponing fun would depend solely on the good grace of others to send them. I can only image how ecstatic I would be to get coupons from "back home". So all you coupon-loving people out there, just put yourself in their shoes...imagine you're the family living overseas with insane food prices to deal with...imagine how deliriously happy you would be for that $1/2 coupon. Now stop imagining, and start sending some coupons overseas to make some families really happy.

Yes, I know this was a lengthy post - perhaps the lengthiest yet on My Precious Pennies. If you've gotten this far, you have my humble thanks and my promise that I'll try my best to keep them shorter from now on. I know I ramble. I'm only human, and I'm working on it.