Patriotic Toes

Mine and Vicki's toes were in desperate need of a pedicure. We decided to go today before Hurricane Arthur hit. I managed to survive. My feet are super ticklish so it is kinda torturous for me but my feet needed this done big time! I managed not to kick the guy and now I have cute toes! Vicki and I left with nautical patriotic toes! While we were getting out toes done our area went into a State of Emergency, things were shutting down and so Vicki's recruiter came into the nail salon to get the rest of the signatuures he needed from me. The paperwork The Dude in Cammies had sent from Wyoming with his signiture for Vix to go into the Army underage had come in and so the Recruiter wanted to get all the paperwork in before the 4th of July long weekend holiday and before they closed down the recruiting office since they were closing early to get everyone home to have time to secure their homes before Arthur hit later tonight. Now that was one LONG sentance!!! So, paperwork got submitted and our toes turned out pretty darn cute!!!

Fortunes....True or False

Vicki and I shared a 2 item at Panda Express tonight before we went to the movies to see A Winter’s Tale and these were our Fortunes…..we laughed.  Hers was obviously true and mine wasn’t.

Peace On Earth

Vicki and I were listening to Hilary Duffs Christmas CD while i was making breakfast for dinner.  This is one of our favorite Christmas CD's and goes way back to our early Okinawa years......back when the kids watched her show Lizzy McGuire or however you spell it...i think that is write.....we had enough of her stuff around the house! But when her song 
What Christmas Should Be began playing we couldn't help but start dancing around the kitchen! ".....How about peace on earth, it can't be bought or sold. How about peace this Christmas and someones hand to hold. How about love in our hearts and hope for you and me. How about peace on earth. That's what Christmas should be......"
Yep, life is good at Ft Kretschmer, especially when we are having breakfast for dinner and singing Christmas songs with Duff!!!

Where's Waldo?

Vicki and i had fun taking pictures in the cotton fields today.  You can tell it is late Fall as there are pluffs of cotton everywhere in our neck of the woods. Cotton is a big crop where we live and it is sooo pretty! Vicki had ducked down in the field and asked if i could see her.  I couldn't resist making this photo collage of her from the pictures i had on my phone! 

Jump Start Lovers

It happened......we finally had our deployment vehicle breakdown! Lucky for me it happened in our driveway! I went to drive the jeep and it didn't start.  I had just driven it the day before, but probably not long enough to keep the battery alive. Cayce came over and helped us.  I was going to try jump starting it with a You Tube video, but neighbors are awesome in not letting you do things like that.  He hooked everything up and we weren't getting anything better than a click click click. So, we gave up on that and i called my road side assistance.  Our rescuer arrived 30 minutes later.  It was active duty Marine who does this on his days off. It was Veterans Day, so he was off and happy to help a military wife in a rut with a deployed husband far away. He was really nice and let me know that the battery was completely shot and needed to be replaced.  He hooked the jeep up to my car and with his added machinery my car jump started the jeep back to life! But as soon as i took my foot off the pedal it would die.  It would not hold the charge.  UGH! He offered to take it off so i could drive it to a store and get a new battery but i would have to put it on myself or he could follow me most the way to make sure i made it somewhat close to my destination before he had to turn off to his next call.  I managed to get Vicki and i to the Auto Parts store in Richlands without the jeep dying on us. This was no easy task as i could NOT take my foot off the gas pedal even at a stop sign or light! Getting across the freeway was the hardest but we made it! Vicki ran in the store to see if they had one and if they could put it in before i took my foot off the gas!!! They had one and said they would put it in! Yay! $101.00 later the jeep is running again! On a side note the guys working there were, in Vicki's words, 'HOT'! They were really nice too!  

Pancakes With Sprinkles

Vicki wrote this on her Facebook wall today.....Moms love moments like these.....

I literally have the best mom in the world. When I'm sick she will do anything to try and make me feel better. This morning she told me "I made the pancakes you like with the sprinkles in them" before she left to work. 

Pumpkin Pie in August

Vicki and i were in the mood for Pumpkin Pie. Sooo, i checked my cabinets and whala!  Had everything and so i made a very yummy one from scratch! It was a perfect late summer treat! YUM!

No School Today

I didn't have to work today so Vicki and i spent a nice chunk of the day at New River Marina. It was gorgeous out! We stopped at Sonic and got our favorite drinks and than just sat in the sun listening to the waves lap up on the shore while enjoying the warmth of the sun on us. It was a perfect day to not have to be sitting in a classroom!

Wedding Photo Booth Fun

Just having a little fun in the photo booth at the wedding reception....

 

I See Me!

Vicki fell asleep at one of the boys early morning baseball games, i took a picture of her.  After downloading it on my computer i zoomed into her glasses and found me! 

Mermaid's

I wonder sometimes if Vicki was born with my love for the water or if it was just brainwashed into her since she was born in Sunny Southern California and spent most of her life in San Diego and the Tropical Island of Okinawa with beautiful beaches minutes a way....This in turn makes me wonder if I was born with My Mother's love for the water or if it was just brainwashed into me since I was born in San Diego and spent my early years minutes away from warm water beaches in Sunny Southern California and the Tropical Republic of the Philippines...?  Or, maybe we are just decendents of a special breed of Mermaids.....



I can float for hours, literally!  I just close my eyes and fall asleep while ocean critters take up residence in my hair!



Strawberry Picking 2011

I love going to the farms and picking my fruits and vegatables fresh! The kids grumble but i have them take turns going with me....this time it was Vicki's turn.....I picked most of the really yummy strawberries while Vixster complained and found a few as she wondered absantmindly up and down the rows and rows of delicious strawberries.....

It was a beautiful day and everything was sooo GREEN!!

She just sauntered up and down the rows...

Miss Grumbles!!!

My first of many yummy bowls of fresh strawberries!

Mr. Hottie Was Your Dad!

It was a beautiful Saturday and we were on our way to Havelock. I was picking up the Kirwan version of Thing One and Thing Two and meeting Debbie with her gang at the movies on Cherry Point to see Tooth Fairy. We were at the light of Western and Freedom Way waiting to turn left heading towards Lejeune, Emerald Isle, Havelock. Jorden was sitting up front with me and we were laughing at all the trucks in front of us and beside us. They were all young Marines, you could easily tell by the typical Marine stickers on the car and than they were all quite red neck with their other stickers, confederate flags amongst others all on that southern Dixie theme. Anyways, light turns green and we begin to move forward and make the left turn and now we are alongside one of the trucks we had been laughing at. There is this cute young blonde Marine sitting in the passenger seat and he looks over and waves. I laugh and wave back and soon he is blowing kisses and I am just totally cracking up, like I am old enough to be his Mother!!! I’m driving my Commander, it has all the typical stickers that scream “Marine Wife”!! On the back I have the classic His Boots Hers Flops Perfect Pair and ½ My Heart Is In Afghanistan, and of course the dead give away of my decal on my front windshield. I floor it and get waaaay ahead of them and then forget about them while Vicki is still going on and on about how hot he was and that he is her future husband. LOL Before I know it, they have pulled up next to me and he is taking off a necklace and wanting to hand it to me thru the windows. I’m laughing thinking that it has been like FOREVER since I’ve played this game! I tell Vicki to roll down her window and let him give her his necklace. The exchange happens, Vicki is in heaven and she takes a picture of Mr. Hottie as well. We wave good bye and go different ways a little further down the road. I was laughing at how Vicki was just going on and on about this young Marine and I laughed and told her that she just met her Dad at the age I met him and that is how I will always see him, this young, blonde, wild, crazy, HOT MARINE!!!! Vicki was like, really? And I said, yes, like really!! That was your Dad almost 15 years ago.

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?

It Was A Julia Entrance!

It was a rainy day and we were heading into the Piggly Wiggly to pick up a few groceries. I was getting the cart when all of a sudden Vicki just bams into me and grabs my shoulders. She's kinda giggling and shrieking, i am thinking she is doing some sort of silly dance move and tell her to chill out before we both go down! It turns out she had slid when coming into the store. (We had just picked her up from an outing that she had to wear a dress to, so she was in heels.) Ed was behind her and said she looked like a deer on ice with her ankles going out while the knees came in. She managed to slide into me and had actually grabbed me to keep her from going completely down! The shrieking and giggling was fear and embaressment, we were not the only ones there. Ed said it was a Julia entrance.

Jyu (10) Minutes Of Fun!

Vicki needed a pair of spikes for her first track meet. They don’t sell them on base, so out to town we went. She had some odd directions that went something like this….”go over in Chatan, somewhere by the Dragon, by Araha, and you park under the building. I went her way for awhile. We were driving up and down streets that are basically as wide as me. Not finding it. We turn around and I tell her I am going my way. Whala, we find it after going around the first corner. We park under the building and climb the stairs. Now the hard part, finding spikes, her Japanese size is a 24.5. The hard part was trying to determine what size spikes we wanted. I can do this in English, but not so well in Japanese. With the help of a really nice sales lady, who knew a tiny bit of English, we got the right size spikes. They cost 13,282 yen, so that is basically $132.82 + 11 cents on each dollar as the exchange rate that day was 89 yen to the dollar. Some expensive shoes! The lady said she would trade out the spikes for us and put the ones Vicki needed for her sprints in for us. Yay! She said it would take jyu (10) minutes. Vicki and I had fun killing time in the sports store while we waited for her spikes to get changed out. We played catch, looked at clothes, played some golf, found an odd picture of Michael Phellps looking kinda like a hobit, and Vicki found a boyfriend. It was a jam packed 10 minutes of fun!

Girls Sea Wall

This is what Vicki and i do on the sea wall, make music videos! NOT, obviously! LOL Jorden was using just my little camera and vicki and i were sharing her ipod singing. The advantages of being on a little island with a bunch of Okinawans, nobody knows who you are! The Okinawan's sitting on the wall were cracking up watching us and Ed went way down the wall and took a nap on a jack. Yeah, i don't know the words, but we were just having fun, like only girls no how to do! We were getting sprayed by the waves. Just a great way to spend an afternoon in March!
Ed took off down the jacks when Vicki and i started singing and dancing. He dies whenever i break into my moves, which i do all the time, just last night in the video aisle, how do you not start moving when Thriller comes on?! LOL

Living in Oblivion

The island girls after their performance.

Living in Oblivion