Good Bye Space Mobile

I’m sooo stinkin’ mad I could spit nails right now! UHG, double UHG, triple UHG!!! We have this Ford Windstar completely paid for and in perfect condition! The downside is it has been in storage for 6 years while we were in Okinawa. We picked it up in South Carolina in early July this last summer when we got here. I have been corresponding with California DMV since July in trying to get a little sticker for the plate. Unfortunately…….they neeeeeeeed a copy of the title! I was never mailed a title when we paid it off a couple of years ago while we were in Okinawa. Thru all this back and forth correspondence we found out that the bank we had the loan thru was one of those banks that went under a few years back. We really didn’t pay too much attention to that bit of news as we had none of our mass amounts of dinero in any of the banks that were going bankrupt! So, now there is like nooooo way to get a copy of the title in a decent time frame. Correspondence with California DMV takes 8 weeks to THE FRICKIN’ DAY on hearing back from them on any correspondence! We have been going back and forth redundantly now for what feels like forever!! We came to the depressing conclusion that due to the DMV quota people that work in California, they would rather get paid to talk on their own cell phones all day and correspond with their facebook/myspace/twitter/etc friends than actually work for what the tax payers pay them to do! Yes, Quotas are sooooo similar to Politicians! Nothing gets done and they still collect a paycheck! Soooo, instead of continuing to pay insurance for a vehicle we might actually NEVER be able to drive we traded in our Ford Windstar. I almost started crying at the dealership. The guy actually asked if I was going to be okay and if I was going to have some separation anxiety on parting with our vehicle. Ed started laughing and reminded me that I had cursed that vehicle the first time I had seen it. True, I did back in 2001, but there are sooo many fun memories in that space mobile and IT IS PAID FOR!!!! So, Ed found me the perfect replacement mobile. He knows me so well! I like a box, well not like, I LOVE a box!!! I love our Jeep Cherokee, but it doesn’t hold all of us, so Ed found me another box that holds 7, the Jeep Commander! It is white and matches the Micro Machine, just a bigger edition. My dream car is a Hummer, but don’t want to be saddled with those fuel expenses, so this is the next best thing! I jokingly call it our ghetto hummer. Hahahaha! But I do really like it, just hate that NOW we have a car payment!!! I did cry, but I waited until the drive home. Ed drove while I bawled and he reminded me that I had never wanted to drive a van and I reminded him of all the images I had seen in my rear view mirror in my space mobile.

When Ed Does NOT know me!

I repeatedly embarrass my poor husband! I try not to, I really do, but my brain just thinks silly and my body responds to the visuals going thru my head, and whala! I continue to drive my Marine insane! This time it was at the Uniform Shop on Camp Lejeune! I love to climb inside different uniforms and just wait for him to walk by! My lines usually consist of, “Hey Marine, this coat comes with a wife!”



He walks away like he doesn’t know me, buuuuuutttttt, I do see the corners of his mouth just barely turned up suppressing a grin as he shakes his head walking away! Someday I hope he plays into my game and just wraps me up in his arms and says “Wow, this is my lucky day!!” Yeah, like that won’t happen, but now I have Vicki playing with me at the Uniform Shop! Coats now come with potty trained dependants



and it is such a fun place to play hide and go seek!!!





So, if you are ever at the Uniform Shop and items of gear start talking to you, no worries, it’s just me teasing Ed!

Good Bye, Again....

It’s that time again….deployment. Ed is already in Afghanistan. We said our good- byes on January 3rd. Ed left with Advance Party, so there weren’t a bunch of Marines leaving on this farewell. It was a beautiful day, but freezing!!! Well, 21 degrees, cold for me! We went to church in the morning and then we were off to the base. Ed had to be at his pick up place at 2 PM. By 5 PM the bus was rolling out and heading to Cherry Point to catch their plane from the East Coast to the Middle East. Does that mean he is half way to the West Coast? He arrived a week later after spending almost a week in an old part of Russia.

One of Ed's Best Friends Came To Say Good Bye











It was nice, Ed's friend helped carry the packs so i didn't have to pretend like i could carry one!






Ty and Ryan sitting on Ed's packs





He has his tag laced on his boot, he's ready to go



Last Family Picture




Time to load up the packs




Vicki tried sooo hard not to cry....but she fell apart at the final good bye




Last Kiss



The Last Hug





The Last Wave







Driving Away....




He gave me the wave from his heart before he climbed on the bus.....

Snowmen Have Taken Center Stage

It is always a little sad to pack away the Christmas things….but it is always nice to get all that space back and surfaces cleared! Soo, Christmas is put away and my favorite round guys have taken over the house!! My Snowmen have now taken center stage for the cold month of January!!!

The Last Glass.....Sigh....

Sad to say, the season has come to an end. Along with that goes my favorite drink! I buy it the minute it hits the shelf and keep our fridge stocked until the stores are empty! Now I will have to wait another 10 months to have my favorite drink and my yummy Eggnog French Toast with the clear Karo syrup and powdered sugar on top.....sigh......Cheers to another yummy season of Eggnog!

Am I.......... Acclimated?

The last couple of months have been freezing! O-kay, not freezing to my friends in colder climates, but running in the mornings in 19 degree weather is just a little too cold for me, but I have a dog that needs to run, soooo, I bundle up and we do anywhere from 3 to 7 miles. Today when I got out of the jeep it was 30 degrees!!! Bright sun, no clouds, AND I didn’t have to wear these!!!


My beanie, scarf and gloves!!! It was wonderful! We did 5 miles and I even broke a sweat!!

Deployment Blues Begin Right On Schedule!

As wives, we all know the minute our dude in cammies leaves the country things will begin falling apart! It just never fails! I think Carrie said it is rule #47! I think we should bump it up to the top 10! Anyways, took Vicki to her doctors appointment. I took the truck since I need to rotate thru our fleet. I also like the truck, it is soooo loud and powerful and stuff! I feel invincible in it! Actually I am invincible in it! All was driving just fine. We left the doctors, all still fine…..zipped into Food Lion real quick to pick up like 8 things. Went right back out to the truck, got in, turned the key and nothing!!! Not even an utter stutter! Just complete silence! UHG! We said a little prayer tried again and NOTHING!!! I wasn’t worried or anything, we were right in our one stop light town and we have road side for this truck with the warranty it came with. I pulled out the paper and called the number. They wanted the mileage to make sure it was still under warranty. Like, the key does not turn anything on, how do you get an odometer reading! The lady kept saying she needed a reading to send out a tow truck! I finally said, “um, I am certain we are waaaay under the mileage for this warranty as we just bought it this summer and it hasn’t even left the state of NC yet and that I would pay whatever the charge was if for some odd reason we had surpassed the warranty!” That finally appeased her and she did the computer work to get a tow truck to us. I wasn’t quite sure where I was but had to give her an address, so got out of the truck, went into the store, got the address and gave it to her. The wind was soooo cold! And, I hate to waer a coat and never have one! She asked me where I wanted it towed. I told her to Sanders and convinced her that I knew it was under the 10 mile limit they offer. She said a truck would arrive within an hour. Meanwhile Vicki and I were playing with our Facebooks on our phones and Ed happened to be on at that time where he was. He asks if I left anything on, I said no and it was in PARK! Yes, Carrie! I still laugh at that!!! He tells me that if I would have called Sanders they would have towed it for free and I could have bypassed the forever phone call of her trying to figure out how to proceed on her computer without an odometer reading! Vicki and I are freezing because Vicki does NOT want to get out of the truck! OK, not really freezing, it was like 28, but cold to us! Vicki had to go to the bathroom and didn’t want to use a public restroom and wanted to just sit. Sooo, she begins rapping about having to go poo and randomly asking me to try to start the truck again! Each time I turn the key we make the truck noises it is supposed to make, but Mr Truck never chimed in. I’m texting back and forth to Ed who happens to be on FB during all this and my right thumb and pointer won’t stop bleeding, I have this mysterious deep slicing that comes and goes as it pleases and it is really bad right now and Vicki is getting grossed out that there is blood on my phone and doesn’t know how I type with bleeding fingers. I tell her that someday I hope she grows up being able to function thru anything! LOL Vicki is now calling Kelli to go on and on about how horrid her day is because she is on the rag, had to get a ton of blood drawn, and her Mom is bleeding and we are freezing and she is going to miss cheerleading and that she REALLY has to go POO!!!! Yes, it was a VERY entertaining hour and a half while we waited in the dropping temps for our tow truck. We angrily shook our fists at tow trucks that drove by and big trucks that passed us in the parking lot that sounded like tow trucks, but were really just big trucks tricking us into thinking our tow truck had arrived! But, I got to text back and forth to Ed the whole time!!! Tow truck comes and they call saying they can’t see where I am. Lame me says, “I see you, I’ll be right over” totally forgetting the whole reason they are there is because my truck won’t start! UHG! But the guys are really nice, they find us and we climb into the back of their warm cab of their truck that works!!! Turns out, Sanders was just two shops down! UHG! I could have just walked over and had them come get us and been home in like 20 minutes! So, they keep truck, drop Vicki off at cheerleading practice, take me home, and all is well! Turned out the battery was done, well not quite done, but the cold weather had put it into retirement a little early! This one was only $108, what will be next?

Jasper Is Missing Ed

Ed brought Jasper home a few weeks before we left Okinawa to North Carolina. I was heartbroken for having to leave my best friend Bisquit on island because my Big Head English Bull Dog wasn’t allowed to get on an airplane after May 31st, our fly date was June 8th. I had cried buckets of tears but what had gotten me thru leaving my Bisq was that we would be flying “dog free” and starting out without a dog, that is easier when flying half way around the world to a place you have never lived before! Sooo, I was a tiny bit perturbed when Ed came home with an almost one year old Golden Lab! But, I fell in love with him immediately and he has been a part of our family ever since! Ed loved that Jasper was HIS dog! He had hoped the bull dog would be his when he brought him home, but no such luck, Bisq was my shadow, shrink, tripping hazard, and best friend! I was only allowed to name Ed’s new dog, as I have never been able to name ANY of our pets! My favorite vampire is Jasper, that is where his name came from. I hope to someday find the perfect female hound dog and name her Alice! Ed was on leave when he brought Jasper home, so Jasper was with him 24/7! When we arrived in NC, Ed was still on leave and spent LOTS of time with Jasper! Weeellllllll, it was time to go back to work and whala! Who is now feeding, running, taking care of Jasper?! Meeeeee! Needless to say, Jasper is sometimes confused on whose dog he is…..he’s mine when Ed is NOT around, but Ed’s the moment he walks in the door! Ed is now gone for the 4th time since we moved here last summer. Each time he left it was for a little bit longer, this time is the long haul! Jasper sleeps with me every night on Ed’s side of the bed! He sleeps on his pillow and I pull the blankets up to his neck. He periodically pats my head with his paws during the night. He also has nightmares, this isn’t anything new…..i just cuddle up to him and sing while I rub his tummy and they go away after a few whimpers. Ed doesn’t do that, he just tells him to shut up! Hahaha! Jasper was looking extra glum and so I laid down next to him and read from my book Nightlight. It is a parody of Twilight and VERY funny!!! He listened for awhile, but I guess he didn’t get the humor and he left and put himself to bed! I e-mailed Ed and told him. He said that was his dog and anything twilight can make a guy sick! (Yes, Ed HATES Twilight ANYTHING!!!!)

It Didn't Fall Over!

For the first time in like a decade and some change our tree didn't fall over! Every year it has fallen over atleast once! Between little ones, kittens racing up and down it, grown up Tank still wanting to climb the tree, and clumsy Bisquit who thought the tree was his personal back scratcher , the tree has come crashing down every year, until this year! Wow! Jasper's powerful tail almost tipped it a few times, but someone was always close enough to grab it! Maybe we have started something new here.....