A dose of Bloggy-love!

I have been following the Blog of Melanie from Massachusetts, aka The Coupon Goddess, for almost a year now... I don't remember exactly how I found it but it took me only Five seconds to discover that every post written absolutely had to be read. Why? Because three seconds in I realized that Melanie not only has a beautiful and fun family, she also supports our troops by sending them care packages! See her in action and some of the Troops in the unit that Melanie currently supports, here!

Immediately after learning that, I discovered that Melanie is also one of those people we've all seen on television or read about in magazines that shops for Free! However, unlike most of those people, who claim to leave their retailer's registers with carts overflowing with stuff they either paid Nothing for, or paid only pennies on the dollar for, Melanie actually does it! Best of all, through her Blog, she demonstrates exactly how we may do it too! 

So what does this have to do with the dose of Bloggy-love I received today? Well, I'll tell you...

While the Internet may very well be this vast Black hole of information so unending that we might never reach it all - Even if we all lived to be a Gazillion years old... The truth is that Blog-land is a pretty small, well-connected, and sweetly intertwined community of people sharing and Learning through similar interests. 

Take my blog for instance. I am first The Captain's Daughter turned proud-but-terrified Army Mom. Which reminds me of a quick story... While we were at Ft. Benning together, dad told me he feels a better title for my blog would have been, From Army Brat to Army Mom. Of course, I told him that title would never work since I was never a brat. To which I heard mom Sputter from where she was walking behind us. Yes, she sputtered! Nine times. But I digress...

As I was saying, my blog is about my Family and it is first for my family. It is also for my dear friends, mostly those that live far away and have an Interest in keeping up with what's going on with us. 

But along with my family and friends, my blog is read by lots of other people and many Fellow bloggers too. People from all over the world, brought over by one of our shared interests. It might be the interest of being a military family, the antiquing we do, or it could be my shopping, cooking and/or baking. Sometimes, it is Mr. B's gardening or just the fact that we are former Californians transplanted in North Carolina that attracts a non-family/friend reader. 

I have even heard from readers that visit my blog because they did a Google-search on the type of counter tops we installed last year. I cannot tell you how many people have contacted me to let me know they were inspired to use it in their own Home after seeing our application of the product. I also get lots of e-mails from people thanking me for being the very first Blogger to feature detailed photos of the Corian Rain Cloud we chose, and of the installation process. In fact, I received just that kind of e-mail again today!

And that brings me to my point... After leaving a comment on Melanie's blog several months ago, she popped over to check out mine. Then, she e-mailed to ask if I would be willing to share with her some of my tips for Decorating sugar cookies. Of course, I immediately did the right thing and referred her to Bridget's blog since everything I taught myself is the result of Inspiration gained there. Then, I offered to send Melanie my tips-sheet, put together after I began to receive the same questions from other people interested in my cookies. 

After that, and much to my delight, Melanie picked up the phone and called me! We chatted a bit about some of her cookie questions, but there was something else that happened too. We connected. I knew pretty quickly that if Melanie was willing to continue corresponding with me, I would definitely be willing to call her my friend! So for several months now we've been trading Blog comments and e-mails. Melanie always asks me about Brandon and I'm always sharing with her my pitiful attempts at duplicating her Couponing successes. 

Recently, Melanie told me that she has decided to sponsor Brandon's Ranger Regiment during their deployment. See what I mean? This blog-land thing is just one big community of Givers! So in a small effort to thank Melanie for sponsoring our Troops, and especially our Ranger, I put together a little box of goodies I thought she would enjoy and sent it to her.

What I found out is that Melanie is very much like me, and my adorable Blogging friend, Monica, (remember this? and this?) in that she also prefers to give rather than receive! Because after Melanie received my Goodie box to her last week, she sent me this...

One look inside the Box and it was confirmed...

Melanie gets me! Scented candles, face and body cleansers, bath salts,

cupcake wrappers, and... LOOK! My favorite - A Fabreeze air freshener!

At the bottom of the box I found this Hallmark tote bag too! How

did Melanie know that Purple is one of my most favorite colors?

Do you see what I see?

Dark Chocolate! And... A Wilton comfort-

grip snowman Cookie cutter! Yup! This and the

wrinkle cream means Melanie really does get me!

There was also another Fabulous scent diffuser in the

box. Which I promptly installed here, in the Powder room 

I know I said it before, but next to the dark Chocolate, right now, this is my

favorite thing... I say, right now because Obviously, I haven't tried the body and

face washes yet. Any way, I bought a bunch of these Fabreeze noticeables when

they were first Introduced with an instant $5-off coupon, (which made it a

sin not to buy!) and I loved them! But this one that The Coupon Goddess

sent me is even better! Why? Well, look at it! It's also a night light!!   

I love the way it Glows! And, the way its soft

light reflects off my glass block Shower wall too!

Thank you for this dose of bloggy-love, Melanie! And,

most of all, thank you for all you do to Support our troops!