Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody
55 years old from Fort Belvoir, Virginia

Call it breaking the brass ceiling. Ann E. Dunwoody, after 33 years in the Army, ascended Friday to a peak never before reached by a woman in the U.S. military: four-star general.

At an emotional promotion ceremony, Dunwoody looked back on her years in uniform, said it was a credit to the Army?and a great surprise to her?that she would make history in a male-dominated military.

“Thirty-three years after I took the oath as a second lieutenant, I have to tell you this is not exactly how I envisioned my life unfolding,” she told a standing-room-only auditorium. “Even as a young kid, all I ever wanted to do was teach physical education and raise a family.

“It was clear to me that my Army experience was just going to be a two-year detour en route to my fitness profession,” she added. “So when asked, `Ann, did you ever think you were going to be a general officer, to say nothing about a four-star?’ I say, `Not in my wildest dreams.’

“There is no one more surprised than I?except, of course, my husband. You know what they say, `Behind every successful woman there is an astonished man.’”

You can read the rest of Gen. Dunwoody’s story here.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

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We have a very busy weekend ahead of us.  Our original plan was to finally finish putting the basement together.  We still have a ton of crap in the garage that needs to come in, pictures need to be hung, totes need to be gone through and put away, wall plates need to be put up, etc.  However, Bill got invited to a gold outing, so he’ll be doing that all day Saturday!  My parents are coming down too, so my dad will be going with him golfing.  My mom and I will be stuck with the kids, so I don’t think we will be doing any shopping.  However, I think I may try and go into the attic and pull out the kids winter clothes.  It is October, so it needs to be done.  My only fear is that the minute I put their summer clothes away, it will get warm again.  I’m just not sure what we will do with the rest of the time.

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As Christmas nears, we are starting to figure out what we should get for our newly remodeled basement.  We think Santa may bring Will a train table for down there, since Madison has a nice wooden train and track, and we really have no place for the kids to play with it.  That being said, daddy would love to get a pool table for down there.  We actually know exactly where we would put it. Once the main things is that the pool table felt would definitely have to match the rest of the basement. I think I would go with a basic blue like Border Billards has.  Having played in many pool halls, I have learned that it is defintely important to have good quality felt on your table, since there is definitely a lot of wear and tear (literally) involved.  When the felt starts wearing out, it definitely effects your game.  Of course, if I do let Bill get a pool table there will definitely be some extra that will have to bought like pool cues, pool cue chalk, pool table covers, pool balls, etc.

Any other suggestions for the basement?  I personally would love a dart board too, but I really don’t want to put holes in my new walls!

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I know I have a few readers from Canada, so when I saw this contest I was excited (even though I was bummed that I can’t enter because I am in the US!).  Would you like to Win a trip with iCoke.ca?  The trip in question is for 4 to Atlanta, Georgia.  You can also win gift certificates to Best Buy and Cineplex Odeon!  This contest is to celebrate John Pemberton (that’s the guy who invented Coca-Cola!).  So what’s the catch?  You need 500 iCoke coins to enter.  Now, if you are drinking Coke anyway, this isn’t a problem because for a limited time, you are able to get 1,000 Coins from PINs found on specially-marked 591mL bottles of Coca-Cola® products. PINs to get coins can also be found under the cap of all specially marked 591mL and 2L Coca-Cola® and Coke Zero^TM products. Each PIN is worth 500 iCoke Coins.  If you don’t win the trip, they even have a contest on the site that you can design your own Coke bottle (I know what I am doing for the rest of the day!).  If your bottle gets voted on the most, you could be the featured bottle on the site for the week!  Either way, start buying Coke products and get yourself entered into this contest!

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I swear that my kids never quit eating.  Now, by looking at Madison, you would never guess that.  By looking at Will, you probably would.  As a mom, it is hard to decide what to give your kids as a snack.  I know that I don’t want them eating chips.  Right now, my kids are cereal snack freaks.  They can easily finishing off a big box of cereal in less than a week due to eating it for breakfast and then snacking on it the rest of the day.  I try and pick nonsugary cereals as much as I can (though when daddy goes grocery shopping, he lets Madison pick a box of her own choice which usually is a tad more sugary than I would like). Madison loves vegetable too, so you would think this would be easy.  However, the normal things you would find in a veggie tray is off limits for Will (per his doctor).  I can’t feed Madison something I can’t give Will.  So, in my house, our snacks tend to include cereal, fruit cups, and goldfish crackers.  What kind of snacks do you buy for your kids?

“This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as an entry for a contest sponsored by Brothers-All-Natural.”

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