10 Minutes of Yoga a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

By Christine Cioppa

They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Now new research shows that regularly performing mind-body relaxation techniques (e.g., yoga, meditation, prayer) may also keep your physician away.

The study, published by PLOS, shows that patients who received mind-body training to build resilience and counter stress, were 43 percent less likely to need health care services.


Seasonal Work May Be Limited This Year

Analysts expect holiday sales to be solid. But retailers, they say, won’t be hiring many extra employees to manage the flow of customers.

Every fall Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., a global outplacement consultancy, releases a holiday hiring outlook. This year the firm expects retailers to hire only the same amount of staff as last year, roughly 755,000 nationwide from October to December.

For comparison, the largest holiday hiring boom came in 1999 when retailers hired an extra 850,000 to manage the gift shopping crowds.


Your Mortgage is Fixed, Your Property Taxes are Not – Make Escrow Part of Your House Buying Budget

By Amanda Rebmann

You’ve closed on your new home using the VA mortgage.  Congratulations!  The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is an affordable product for military families.  Since the rate is fixed, your payment is always going to be the same, right?

Not quite. 

While it’s true that your principal and interest (P&I) payment will remain the same, the amount your lender collects for your taxes and insurance may increase or decrease on a yearly basis. And that can change the amount of your monthly payment.


End of Pregnancy Blues

The end of pregnancy is wrought with exhaustion and constant urination.

Insomnia coupled with intense sweating.

Cramps and pain and waddles.

It’s not a miracle; it’s a nightmare.

I crave things I’ve run out of room to eat.  I’m cranky and irritable.  I just want a nap and a marathon of some cheesy reality series and cheesier snacks.

But my children don’t care or humor me in the least, and neither does the Navy.

My husband isn’t home to help anymore.  And this baby is coming soon.  Very soon.

But not soon enough.


Hurricanes are Coming, Are you Ready?

Tropical Storm Joaquin has become a hurricane and is barreling towards the east coast today. Eleven  states, stretching from Appalachia to New England are under flood watch.

And in those states there are likely thousands of military families, who PCS'd there this summer and have never had to prepare for a hurricane. If this includes you, you should start preparing, now.


Are you a Working Military Spouse? The Government Might Subsidize your Off-Post Day Care Costs

By Mandy Rebmann

A couple of months after closing on our new house, my husband had a troubled look on his face. He was working on the monthly budget. 

“So, how soon can you go back to work,” he asked.

I knew it was coming. I had already been working on getting a job with my old company, which I was lucky enough to do.  Hello paycheck. Goodbye stay-at-home mommy, “free” child care.


Bullet, Jet, Liberty and Jeep – Names Gaining Popularity Among the Ranks of Military Children

Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta.

Most military members and their families can say the military phonetic alphabet just as easily as they can sing the alphabet.

But Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta aren’t just part of the service member’s vocabulary.

They are also names given to service member’s children.

Charlie, meaning “free man,” has been among one of the top 1,000 names for baby girls since 2005, and much longer for baby boys, according to the Social Security Administration

Charlie, though, isn’t exclusively a military name.


Pets Live Military Lives Too!

My dog-loving, allergy-ridden, feline-fearing husband bought our children a cat.

He had found a friendly kitten when he took the girls to a store where the Humane Society was having an event.  I was at a meeting, and he couldn’t get me on the phone, so with tear-stricken children, he left without her.

We were back by the same store the following weekend, and I told him, “Wouldn’t it be funny if she was still there?”


Are you Sleeping Enough? Here’s a Cheat Sheet

What time did your 12-year-old go to bed last night? How about your kindergartner? How about you?

We’re willing to bet, it wasn’t early enough.

While many schools across the country are posting flyers for after school activities, rehearsal schedules, test dates and reminders for money due, one school in Illinois is making a plea: put your kids to bed.


10 Ways to Help A Grieving Spouse

During my husband’s worst deployment, in the midst of the surge in Iraq in 2007, I dreamed over and over that he had died. I had visions of what I would do if that happened, how I would react and how I would grieve.

Later, when he was deployed as a commander of nearly 1,000 soldiers in 2010, I had visions of a different kind: What would I do if one of our soldiers was killed, and I was called upon to help the spouse?

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