Surely, surely we will have this figured out before our son comes home. We can hope. I took three envelopes to be mailed, and since their scales were broken (the clerk did not believe me) I got in the nice, short line, and listened as the clerk regaled the last victim (customer in line) for having a non-bendable envelope. They charge more for those. Oh, yeah. My three were super stiff, as I had return envelopes inside for my son to use. And the postage I had guessed at (one 44 and two 17-s) was three cents short on two of them. So, I handed over the six cents. I swear the post office makes stuff up.
The clerk gave me two custom forms, but they are out of the "large" size box best for sending things to the troops. I ordered some online, so hopefully, they will be delivered soon.
What to send deployed son?? He is not a sweet lover...other than dark chocolate. And where does one find dark chocolate that can hold up to a deployment in a hot climate? Walmart only had milk chocolate. The peanutbutter and strawberry M&Ms are new---it was tempting, as I wonder if my son has learned to barter. I am sending some fun novels for the troops. I don't see my son having time, but hopefully, he will find the camp library to donate them to...as some of the troops are avid readers. And if I send the wrong size, color, or style underware...I hope he can give them to someone who needs them. They are new. And washed.
I gotta find some fellow deployed moms to get some ideas. I should have been taking names at the goodbye ceremony. School supplies are so cheap right now. This would be an excellent time to buy simple ink pens to send to the troops, as the children enjoy them, and I have read military blogs online that say the kids help themselves to the troops ink pens. My son would probably wonder why his silly mom sent pens he does not like using. I saw a blog begging for women products---my son would doubt my sanity if I sent them lady pads.
4:44pm. okay. I did my first box. The post office was out of the large, so I used a small one to send James novels he will probably add to the library there, and underware he does not like, but it is washed, and clean, and because I used the small box, I got charged $14.95. Isn't that lovely?? Am I stupid or what? If I had brought tape, and thought faster on my feet, I would have grabbed one of the mediums, stuffed it in a medium, and only had to pay $10. I kid you not. Oh, I am mad. This good girl is gonna go bad. What a racket. What a stinkin' racket my post office is. I swear they make up rates. I had filled out the form as best I could. He offered confirmation. I would hate for James to have to sign for it. What if he was not available?? What if he was sleeping? Good grief.
I am learning. Medium box or Large. forget the small. Sorry, James. It take mom a while to figure stuff out. Who knew, the smaller boxes cost MORE to mail?!
And I got to wait in line for this privilege. One clerk. The other was on break. At least there was some AC.
Wish they had orientation classes for moms of soldiers.
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Here's what our son requests. Beef jerky (for when he's out on missions and doesn't want an MRE), corn nuts, those drink mixes for single bottles of water (great item), I clip magazine articles to make him laugh and remind him that home is still there, calling cards (depending on his situation), pictures (he likes pictures of when he was a kid for some reason) of whole family, chex mix (can get in the box for safer travel), sweets don't travel well to the sand box but granola bars do okay. Oh, socks and wipes!!
My Vietnam Vet hubby still talks about the bi-weekly care package his mother sent while he was in Pleiku. Of course back then it was beanie weinies and vienna sausages. Doubt he would appreciate any of those.
I've heard that alot of soldiers like the small beanie type stuffed animals as they like to give those to the kids also.
My sister "adopted" a soldier in Afghanistan. She regularly would send him books and crossword puzzles.
Good Luck to you and your soldier. You'll figure it all out together and he'll remember decades from now how nice it was to receive those care packages from home.
thank you for the good ideas! James can always use the socks and wipes, especially.
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