August Meeting

Please join us at our August meeting. We will be discussing our upcoming care package drive. This year we will be sending out care packages earlier than in previous years and it's already time to get started collecting items. Our Marines and soldiers in Afghanistan are in particular need of care packages this year. Many of them are in remote areas far from "chow halls" and established bases. Help us encourage them with support and care packages from home.

Date: Monday, August 10th

Time: 7:00pm

Place: Mamarita's Border Cafe 6602 Slide Road

See our list of needed care pack items here.

4th on Broadway

Lubbock Marine Parents will have a booth again this year at Lubbock's 4th on Broadway Street Festival. If you can, please stop by and see us. We'll be selling our fantastic cookbooks (they make great gifts) and "support our troops" bracelets to fund the shipping of this year's care packages. 4th on Broadway is our biggest fundraiser of the year.

Also be sure and watch our Treasurer Tanya on TV Monday, June 29th. She'll be on noon notebook on Chanel 11.

Packing Party

Please join us for our packing party Saturday, April 12th at 1:00pm at the Elk's Lodge located at the intersection of 34th Street and Milwaukee Ave.

Valentine's Care Packs

Thanks to all of you, we have 86 Valentine carepacks now headed to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I also want to share with you a "thank you" that we recieved from a soldier who got one of our Christmas care packages.

Hello from Iraq!
Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and for sending the care packages for us. We are honored to know that there are so many people back home who support us and are willing to sacrifice their time and effort to make our lives better.
Thanks from all of us at Camp Delta!

Thank You Note

This came from one of our Lubbock Marines who got some of our care packs that you helped us send this Christmas. We sent her a bunch of care packs for female Marines, but we forgot to mention that part to her. :)
She gave us permission to share this with you.

Wow! Thank you tremendously for all the care packages!!!
Everyone here loved all the Starbucks coffee. Sometimes I think that caffeine is all that gets me through my night shift :) (Midnight to noon every day). Oh and all the girls and I enjoyed getting stuff from Mary Kay :) ha ha It was the funniest thing watching some of the guys go through those boxes. They'd usually leave them alone because as soon as they saw tampons they were convinced it was the grossest thing ever(I'm talking about GROWN MARINE MEN, WITH WIVES BACK HOME!!!) None the less it was still hilarious...we all got a kick out of that. :)

We're pretty much counting the days here to leave and even though Christmas is the day after tomorrow we're eager for it to be over so we can go home already. This year long deployment has really made me appreciate the finer things in life. Ha
ha, which reminds me of what your son said about the shower facilities back on base...he is so right. I think the showers here are better because they're cleaned everyday by people from Turkey. :)

For Christmas all the Texas Tech fans and Virgina fans will be filming shout outs that will be filmed for the Gator bowl that's airing sometime in Jan. The shout outs are also going to be played throughout some of the commercials so be on the lookout for us :)

There's a Christmas run going on this morning. I'm thinking of participating in it at 7:15am and they're encouraging wearing Santa hats :) It's like 32 degrees out here but I might just run in a t-shirt and shorts for the fun of it. Bring on the holiday colds !!:)

Oh, and I didn't get any pictures but we just had our Christmas USO tour. It was pretty cool. Lance Armstrong, Miss USA, Kid Rock, Lewis Black, and Robin Williams came to cheer us all up. They were a hilarious group and gave a good show. I think the most memorable part was when I got to shake Robin Williams hand. He smiled big at me, said "Merry Christmas Kitten" and kissed me on the cheek. I don't think there's a nicer guy than him. Pretty cool Christmas memory...I wont forget that one! :)

Thanks again for everything sent. Everyone really appreciated everything, and some of those hygiene items will be going to kids who don't have toothbrushes and such because I have a couple more of those missions to knock out before I'm done with this tour. Let me just tell you EVERYTHING was put to good use. Thanks so much again!
Cpl Julia V

Care Pack Update

Here's an email I got from my son. We sent him quite a few of our care packages to share with his unit and others and he's already started getting them. We also have a big box on the way to his unit (and more to some other units) full of Starbucks coffee and coffee grinders.

Hey,
All the guys love the packages. One guy especially told me that he hasn't gotten any mail out here this time or the last time he was here except for 1 Red Cross message. He really liked the package and said he would write a thank you letter to the Lubbock Marine Parents. Thanks from everyone.
Steven

Attached is a pic with Cpl Corey from Texas with the package he got.

Packing Party

Please join us for our packing party TOMORROW at 1:00pm at the Elk's Lodge on 34th and Milwaukee. We started sorting through everything last night and I'm guessing we should be able to fill at least 200 boxes! Thank you all so much for your generosity!

Care Pack Donations

*This is a sticky post and will remain at the top for several days. Scroll down for new posts.*

Please help make Christmas a little brighter for our troops who are far from home. We are requesting that all items be donated ASAP so that we can start sorting and getting them ready to mail.

Drop off locations for care pack items:
All locations of Bodyworks
Elks Lodge (34th and Milwaukee)
Leathers N Lace Motorcycle Apparel 3806 50th St Ste 210 (across from Memphis Place Mall)
All recruiter's offices (not just the Marine recruiters)
Crestview Elementary School 6020 - 81st Street

Requested Items:
Food items:
Beef jerky
Canned chips (Pringles/Torengos)
Canned ready-to-eat meals (Ravioli, chili, soup, Easy Mac, Dinty Moore, Ramon cup)
Dried fruit
Granola/Breakfast/Protein bars
Gum
Gummy candy, Hard Candy
Individual size canned fruit
Jelly beans
Microwave popcorn
Nuts, Sunflower seeds, Trail mix
Poptarts
Tuna lunch kits
**Pork or pork by-products are NOT allowed to be shipped to Middle East combat locations.


Drink Items:
Coffee, coffee mixes
Gatorade mix (powdered only)
Hot cocoa mix
Lemonade/Koolade/Tang mix
Presweetened beverage mixes (“On the Go” flavor packets that can be added to 16-20 oz. water bottle)
Sweetener/creamer packets for coffee
Tea

Recreational Items:
Batteries (AA – most requested)
Board games/puzzles
DVDs (new or used; original only)
Hand held games
Magazines (current issues)
Music CDs (new or used; original only)
Nerf footballs/Frisbee/Hackey sack
Puzzle books
Stationary/small writing pads


Personal Care Items:
Advil/Tylenol (individual packs)
Baby wipes/Handi-wipes
Chap stick
Disposable instant hand warmers
Liquid hand sanitizers (pocket/travel size)
Medicated foot powder/swabs
Toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash (travel size)
Q-tips (individual packs)
Sunblock
Tissue (individual packs)

~ MOST VALUABLE ITEM ~
♥ Letters and cards of encouragement and support ♥

Thank you for your willingness to help support the troops who are away from home during Christmas time. Your love and support are greatly appreciated.

A monetary donation of $35 will fill and send a stocking! There are 3 ways to make a monetary donation:
- Checks can be made out to Lubbock Marine Parents and mailed to:
Lubbock Marine Parents
PO Box 64192
Lubbock, TX 79464-4192
- Deposited to Lubbock Marine Parents at any American State Bank location
- Paypal donation here at the blog in our sidebar

Thank you North Ridge Tigers!

The North Ridge Tiger student council has collected several bags of socks, a big box FULL of AA batteries and $101 for our care packs! North Ridge students have also written over 150 letters for the soldiers and Marines. Thank you Tigers for your exceptional patriotism and character! You have helped to make Christmas a little brighter for our troops.

Updates

We had a great meeting Tuesday night, so I have lots to update you on.

First I want to let you know about the thank you cards that we are doing for Veterans Day. We are hoping to collect 200 thank you cards for the local VA clinic to hand out during the week prior to Veterans Day. If you want to participate just let me know and I'll get all the details to you. We are also planning to "adopt" a vet family for Christmas. We'll let you know more on that soon too. It is so important that our vets know that we appreciate the sacrifices they have made to keep us free and that they will never be forgotten.

The collections for our Christmas care packs are coming along very well. We hope to have everything collected by November 19th so that we can get it sorted in time for our packing party on December 1st. If you want to see the list of items we are collecting and drop off locations, click here. Also remember that we still have our contest going on.

Our new shipment of cookbooks is here. The first shipment sold out quickly. They make great Christmas gifts and we use the proceeds to pay for shipping all these care packs.

Thanks for all your support!

Christmas Care Pack Drive Kick Off

*This post will remain at the top for a few days. Please scroll down for new posts.*

Christmas Wishes, Angel Lighting Candles

We are officially kicking off our 2008 “Stuff a Stocking” Donations Drive! You can start dropping off items today. We have set a deadline of November 19th so that we can get everything ready to pack up in time to mail off for Christmas. Please help make Christmas a little brighter for our troops who are far from home.

Drop off locations for care pack items:
All locations of Bodyworks
Elks Lodge (34th and Milwaukee)
Leathers N Lace Motorcycle Apparel 3806 50th St Ste 210 (across from Memphis Place Mall)
All recruiter's offices (not just the Marine recruiters)
Crestview Elementary School 6020 - 81st Street

Requested Items:
Food items:
Beef jerky
Canned chips (Pringles/Torengos)
Canned ready-to-eat meals (Ravioli, chili, soup, Easy Mac, Dinty Moore, Ramon cup)
Dried fruit
Granola/Breakfast/Protein bars
Gum
Gummy candy, Hard Candy
Individual size canned fruit
Jelly beans
Microwave popcorn
Nuts, Sunflower seeds, Trail mix
Poptarts
Tuna lunch kits
**Pork or pork by-products are NOT allowed to be shipped to Middle East combat locations.


Drink Items:
Coffee, coffee mixes
Gatorade mix (powdered only)
Hot cocoa mix
Lemonade/Koolade/Tang mix
Presweetened beverage mixes (“On the Go” flavor packets that can be added to 16-20 oz. water bottle)
Sweetener/creamer packets for coffee
Tea

Recreational Items:
Batteries (AA – most requested)
Board games/puzzles
DVDs (new or used; original only)
Hand held games
Magazines (current issues)
Music CDs (new or used; original only)
Nerf footballs/Frisbee/Hackey sack
Puzzle books
Stationary/small writing pads


Personal Care Items:
Advil/Tylenol (individual packs)
Baby wipes/Handi-wipes
Chap stick
Disposable instant hand warmers
Liquid hand sanitizers (pocket/travel size)
Medicated foot powder/swabs
Toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash (travel size)
Q-tips (individual packs)
Sunblock
Tissue (individual packs)

~ MOST VALUABLE ITEM ~
♥ Letters and cards of encouragement and support ♥

Thank you for your willingness to help support the troops who are away from home during Christmas time. Your love and support are greatly appreciated.

A monetary donation of $35 will fill and send a stocking! There are 3 ways to make a monetary donation:
- Checks can be made out to Lubbock Marine Parents
- Deposited to Lubbock Marine Parents at American State Bank
- Paypal donation here at the blog in our sidebar


As an added bonus LMP has added a CONTEST to our donation drive. For every $5 that you donate, your name will be put in the "hat" to win a cookbook and BBQ apron. You can donate through the Paypal link in the sidebar or you can email me and I will give you an address so that you can mail a check. If you stop by and leave a donation to our account at American State Bank, just email me with your name and donation amount. The deadline for the contest is 5:00p.m. November 9th. I will have one of the Marines at the Marine Corps Ball draw the name and I will announce it here on the blog Saturday November 10th. Good luck!

Meeting Tonight

Please join us for our meeting tonight. Family Counseling Services has kindly offered to let us use their meeting room, so we will be meeting at 22 Briercroft Office Park Suite #10 at 8:00p.m. Here are some directions:

Go to 50th and Ave Q and turn South onto Avenue Q like you are headed towards the strip. After you travel a few blocks, turn right onto Briercroft Office Park Road. It is the small street after the Avenue P light. Look for building #22 and we are in Suite #10.

We will be discussing the kick off to our annual Christmas Care pack drive, so we hope to see you all there.

Sending mail to troops gets more costly

By Karen Jowers - Staff writer


The cost of postage stamps may have increased by two cents, or 5 percent, but rates for packages have gone up a lot more in some cases, say those who support the troops.

Before postal rates increased May 14, Mary Kay Salomone spent $10 to send a 25-pound box to Iraq or Afghanistan. Now, it’s $13.90, said the founder of Operation Support Our Troops in North Kingstown, R.I.

“That’s a 39 percent increase. This country is battle-weary. Donations are falling off. I’m not getting 39 percent more in donations,” she said.

For every 100 packages she sends, she’s paying $1,390 — $390 more than before.

“The people this is affecting the most are military families with deployed service members and nonprofits that are sending to deployed service members. I expected a 10 percent to 15 percent rate increase. How much more can you do to the military families?” said Salomone, an Army mother and wife of a retired soldier.

She wants the U.S. Postal Service or Congress to give a break to those mailing support packages to the troops.

“Congress should allow a 25 percent discount to those mailing to APO and FPO addresses of troops in harm’s way, even if it’s just a temporary discount,” she said. “Some of our troops with the Iraqi forces are still asking for basic things like toilet paper, shampoo, hand sanitizer and neck coolers. We throw in things to make their lives easier, like a clean towel.”

Across the board, the average increase in postal rates was about 13 percent, said Jimmy Cochrane, manager of package services for the U.S. Postal Service.

“We never like doing double-digit increases. But escalating fuel costs are the biggest driver — our cost to move the product around the country,” he said.

It is unclear whether the increase in rates has affected the number of packages being sent. Cochrane said business has been flat in terms of package volume, but “there’s a general flatness in the shipping market,” largely because of a slowdown in the economy.

But he said there has been no decrease in military mail, from what they see.

Salomone said volunteers for her organization in San Francisco would now pay about $8 less to send a 25-pound box by parcel post — down to $27.11 from $35. Cost depends on where the package is coming from, where it’s being shipped and the size and shape of the box.

For cost reasons, the San Francisco contingent has been sending items to the troops in the Priority Mail flat-rate box, which now costs $8.95 to send whatever you can stuff in. The cost to mail a flat-rate box increased from $8.10.

Cochrane said the flat-rate box is popular for sending items to troops, and from what he sees during mail processing, “about every other box” going to the troops is flat-rate. He advises those mailing overseas to check out that money-saving option.

For Carolyn Blashek, founder of Operation Gratitude, the increase means having to raise more money. Her group uses the flat-rate boxes. Assuming they send out 100,000 boxes — a low-end estimate, she said — that’s an extra $85,000.

Salomone said her group has had to make some tough decisions.

“We could send half as many boxes, or we could send smaller boxes with fewer items, which is not cost-effective,” she said. “So our focus is more on the troops in the rough parts of Iraq and Afghanistan, where they are living with Iraqi and Afghani soldiers and getting showers every two to three weeks.”
Source

Update on Cookbooks and More

Lubbock Marine Parents has been very busy lately! Mark your calendars for these upcoming events.

The cookbooks are selling like hotcakes! We have sold most of them already so we are thinking of ordering another printing. We want everyone to be able to get one. I have been using mine and the handsfree stand that comes with it is REALLY nice. We will have the remainder of our current printing for sale at Meet the Teacher Night at Crestview Elementary, 6020 81st Street, August 23rd from 5:00 to 6:30pm.

We are planning a fundraiser garage sale for September 1st. Our biggest challenge in shipping our care packs is always paying for shipping, so the money from the garage sale will be used for that. If you are in the area and would like to donate items for the sale, please let me know.

If you live in the Lubbock are and you have a loved one in Iraq, AT&T will be providing video calls on August 21st from 4 different camps. Among those are Al Asad, Camp Taji and Camp Victory. I don't know the 4th, but I will try to find out for you. Please let us know, and we will get you set up for that.

We are planning a Ruidoso, New Mexico scrapbooking retreat for the weekend of October 5th, through October 7th. Please let us know by September 15th is you would like to attend, so we will know what size cabin to reserve.

Our next meeting will be August 30th at 8:00pm at Daybreak Coffee on 19th and Quaker. We will be planning our September kick off for the Christmas care pack drive.

Succesful Meeting

Our meeting last night was a huge success! We had the biggest group that we've had at a meeting so far. We took up the whole patio at Daybreak. Lots of members picked up their cookbooks and magnets and it was great to meet all the new parents and hear about their Marines. We drank lots of coffee and had lots of fun. We were even featured on the 10:00 news last night on KLBK, Channel 13.

We are planning a big kick off for our Christmas carepack drive. We are thinking about something like this organized by a group of Texas Soldiers' Angels. The kick off will be sometime in September and the packing party will be in November. As always, I will let you know all the details once we get them worked out.

More Care Pack Ideas

This post will be on top for a few days, so scroll down for new posts.




Believe it or not, it is almost time for us to begin working on our Christmas Care Pack drive. As I have mentioned before, we send care packs year round, but we have a big drive to collect items to send in the care packs as well as money for shipping every year as Christmas approaches. I have been amazed at how well our community has responded and how many care packs we have been able to send. This will be our 4th year to send Christmas care packs. The first year, there were only three of us and we sent 10 packages entirely out of our own pockets. The next year, we had about 10 parents and with some help from our families, friends and Sunday school classes, we sent out over 50 care packs. Last year, our goal was to send 200 Christmas stockings and we asked our community for help. We were thrilled that so many individuals, businesses, churches and schools responded with goodies to send as well as monetary donations. We were able to send 251 individual care packs along with 3 large unit boxes to make the Marines' and Soldiers' holidays a little brighter. We spent well over $2,000 for shipping. The Elk's Lodge opened up their building so that we would have plenty of space for our packing party and even fed us hamburgers. Lubbock is such a generous community!

Here is a list of needed items from a Hospital Corpsman, also known as a "Devil Doc". When you go about your weekly shopping please think about picking up an item on this list. As always, you are free to drop them off at the recruiter's office, or leave a comment (or email me through my profile) and I will get back to you and come by to pick them up, or give you an address to mail them to if you are out of town.

You can also donate money for shipping through our Paypal account. Click on "make a donation" in our sidebar.

* AXE body wash
* foot odor sprays and air fresheners
for people's barrack's room - (when you live with 6 people and 1 has Athlete's Foot, life becomes a living hell. Air Fresheners and FootSprays become gold!!!)
* luffa sponges
* razors (Gillette Mach 3)
* air fresheners (the stick up kind - not plug ins)
* Scented candles
* Fitness /weight-lifting magazines and books Men's Exercise, Men's Workout, Muscle & Fitness, GQ, Motorcycle & Car Magazines, Men's Health, Men's Fitness,(Current issues please - they have lots of old ones)
* hand sanitizer
* protein bars
* dried fruit (Sunmaid mixed fruit, prunes, apricots, etc)
* mini-DVD-R to record messages home (Not full-sized dvd's)
* Postcards from your state
* Strawberry Oreo Cookies
* Propel Packets to put in our bottled water
* Bath towels and wash cloths
* Rice Krispy treats

Also see our other list of needed items.

Thank you so much for all your help! You really do make a difference!

Care Packs

We had several people ask us about our care packs at the 4th on Broadway. We DO collect items for care packs year round. It is an ongoing effort. We have a huge drive for Christmas and that is when collect the majority of our items and much of our shipping money, but we do send smaller mail outs throughout the year. If you have items to donate, the Marine recruiters are always happy to accept them, or you can email me through my profile and I or one of the other members will pick the items up.

Some of the most needed items for care packs are:
Black Socks - thick, calf length are best.
DVDs (new or used)
CDs (new or used)
AA batteries (still in package)
Beef Jerky
Car or sports magazines
and they always love encouraging cards and letters

As always, $30 will pay for contents and shipping of one box.

You can find the full list of needed items here.

Cool Ties

I think I'm going to try my hand at some of these this Summer. If they work out OK, I'll make some to put in our care packs. It's hot over there and I want to help in way that I can. Our Texas Marines probably have a leg up on dealing with the heat. It was about this hot last Summer here(much cooler this Summer though). Here's the 5 day forecast for Iraq:

Wednesday
105°F (41°C) | 81°F (27°C)

Thursday
110°F (43°C) | 84°F (29°C)

Friday
112°F (44°C) | 86°F (30°C)

Saturday
111°F (44°C) | 87°F (31°C)

Sunday
112°F (44°C) | 87°F (31°C


How to Make a Cool Ties or Bandanas:

There are several ways to make Cool Ties. Cotton fabric will work best, as it has superior wicking properties. Let your imagination be your guide. One method is to take an ordinary bandana and make a Cool Tie by simply folding over the wide edge about an inch or an inch and a half and stitching the "hem" down to create a tube. Complete the bandanas as with the following instructions for the ties:

Materials Needed:
Scissors
Tape measure
Serger/sewing machine
4" strip of fabric 45" long (actual length will depend on personal preference)
Two teaspoons of medium Rainsavers Aqua Crystals


Directions to make this project:

1. Cut one strip of fabric 4" wide from a fabric that is at least 45" wide. If you want to have a bow to tie use a 60" wide fabric.

Fold the fabric strip in half lengthwise (the piece should be 4" by 22 1/2"). Mark the fold. This is the center back of the neck band. Open up the fabric and measure and mark 7" on each side of the center back.

2. Fold the fabric right sides together the width of the strip (the piece should now be 2" by 45".) Using a 5/8" seam, stitch between the marks. (There should be 14" stitched--7" on either side of center back.)

3. The tail ends may be rounded or slanted to give a more finished look. Finish the
edges and ends of the rest of the band by serging or turning and stitching. Press.

4.Turn tube right side out and press. At one end of the tube, stitch to close, then double stitch for strength. At this point you should have one end of the tube open.

5. Carefully pour the polymer granules into the tube (about two teaspoons). Stitch
the tube closed. Reinforce with another row of stitching.


To use the cool neck band, soak in water for a 15-20 minutes (hot water speeds the hydration process). As the polymer granules soak up the water "mush" them around so the polymer spreads out equally along the tube. Tie around your neck for a "Cool Band."



TIPS--

The polymer granules are used in gardening soil for water retention. (Use Rainsavers Medium, 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon)

The cool band can be refrigerated so it is more refreshing on a hot day.

It can be soaked in cold water and used over and over.

If too many polymer granules are used in the tube, the polymer will ooze through the fabric tube. Two teaspoons is all that is needed.

Store in a zip lock bag in the refrigerator, or hang dry. The polymer will rehydrate again using instructions in step 6.

SOURCE

Care Package Update

(From TXMarineMom1987)

Just a quick note to bring ya’ll up to date on our Care Packages. We sent out over 325 packages between December and February, most of which went to the local Marine Reserve Unit who returned in March. They stated how much they enjoyed receiving stuff from Lubbock. It really was a great boost knowing how much their community was behind them. Our local Marine Reserve Unit has three more Marines gone and 3 Moms from our lovely little group also have their children serving in Iraq at this time. Back a month or so ago, we sent these marvelous Marines some Care Packages loaded with goodies and personal fans. We have since received a little note of thanks from one of them that we would like to share with ya’ll. This is from Julia and you can see her picture above.

May 17, 2007

Dear Lubbock Marine Parents,

Thank you so much for the package! We will definitely use everything inside of there. It’s nice for you all to take the time and send us one. It definitely made our day, and thanks for the movie, the guys have been watching it. I haven’t had a chance to yet but I will. Well today has been a good day so far, it rained which is nice because that means less dust in the air. We’re really busy here so we usually just work and go to our can and either watch a movie, go work out, or sleep! It was weird at first not having days off but you get used to it. Right now I work a 12-on/12-off shift 7 days a week. I also work during the night so I never get to see other women and am forced to listen to men complain about women. HAHA! I’ve been keeping up with my Arabic though and I’m working with a translator. I did run into plenty of the Marine Reservists out here one day. That was pretty cool. Well, I have to go to duty now, Thanks again for all the support.

Cpl. Julia

Isn’t she so sweet!?! It’s amazing how much Thanks these Marine and soldiers give to us for sending such simple items when we do this to say Thanks to them. I don’t think I could ever thank any of them anywhere near enough for the jobs they do and sacrifices they make. We love and respect them all and, above all else, are so very, very proud of each and every one!!

Ooh Rah Beanie!

This post comes from TXMarineMom1987. She tried and tried to log in to post today and just couldn't do it, so I am posting this for her.






As many of our readers know, we had a large Christmas Care Package drive. We had a generous donor who gave us a huge box of Beanie Babies. One of those was a Marine Beanie (picture above). When I saw it, I really wanted to take it home and add it to my Marine paraphernalia; however, I ultimately decided that he should go into one of our care packs. Well, one group that received our boxes was my son’s unit stationed in Iraq. And lo and behold, Ooh Rah Beanie wound up in the care package that my son got. My son told me that he and Ooh Rah Beanie have since been on all the convoys together. It really makes me glad that I decided to let this little guardian angel take the journey to watch my Marine’s back.

My son and his unit are due back soon and we are all planning on a great Homecoming for all our Marines……and Ooh Rah Beanie too!!!