Road Side Vendors

I think this will be my last stop to buy fruits and such from the local vendors on the side of the road. This guy has been here as long as I have been driving this road. I picked up a bag of plums for 1000 yen, just over $10, a watermelon for 1500 yen, about $15.60 and then he gave me some free peanuts and some lemons. He always throws in a few items with my purchase. But, than i got home and realized i had no knife to cut the watermelon. Glad i got neighbors! Thanks Jenni!!! I hope fruit is cheaper in North Carolina!

Too Many Tearful Goodbyes!

It always breaks my heart when I have watched my kids say heart wrenching goodbyes. We’ve said a lot of tearful goodbyes over the years living the military lifestyle. Miramar was probably the hardest. Not so much for me, as Ed was already in Okinawa, I was excited to move to Okinawa, many of my friends had already moved, but it was how we had to leave and what I had to watch as I drove away. I had checked out of our government quarters and all of Vicki’s friends were on the sidewalk in front of our house giving Vicki, Ty, and Ryan last hugs goodbye. She had a TON of friends! The entire neighborhood kid population was there, those of you that know enlisted military housing, that can be a LOT of kids!!! I loaded all three kids into the jeep. (Jorden was visiting his Dad) Vicki was bawling her little eyeballs out as I was buckling Thing One & Thing Two into their car seats, they were all in car seats back than! As I started to pull away from the house that had been home for the last three years, all the kids in the neighborhood began following us, running alongside and behind the jeep waving and crying. We were all in tears as we drove away, heading off to visit family in New Mexico and Kelli in Texas. My eyes still tear up when I remember that day as we very slowly drove down Bellatrix Dr with a ton of military brats running alongside us waving and crying. It’s a visual that will never leave me. But I wouldn’t trade any of it for nothing! The tearful goodbyes only mean there are incredible memories shared with the most amazing of people! I actually feel blessed that I have had these tearful goodbyes, otherwise I would have no worthwhile memories to look back on!

I Won't Be Able To Write On Them Anymore!

I will really miss my oki kitchen! It’s been fun to be ghetto these last 6 years. The cabinets are made of some sort of indestructible surface that you can do ANYTHING to. I’ve loved that they have served as my own personal “(non white) white boards”. You can write on them and it comes off super quick with the magic erasers! As Kelli says, “they really are magic”! I have phone numbers written on one cabinet, another one is used for me to write what time things needs to come out of the oven and other cabinets have just been whatever I feel like putting on them, usually the kids artwork and I glue gunned MY star wars action dudes and some of my other favorite things to other cabinets. Now we are moving into a new house, a real house with real cabinets, cabinets I still have to pick out! I’ve been putting it off….i must choose soon and I’m sooo sad that I’m not gonna be able to write on them anymore.

North Carolina Facts

Ed has been telling me all kinds of interesting facts about North Carolina....he is just sure that i am in for a huge culture shock and that i will be foaming at the mouth and twitching...he thinks of me as just a Southern California girl. We are pretty much living in the hicks where we are going to be living. He has informed me he will kill me if he comes home and finds me in overalls! I had a pair once during our marriage that mysteriously disappeared....i will admit i wore them far too often, but i could live in overalls, so i am thinking it won't be too bad in North Carolina. Ed tells me my pig tails, and my bare feet will be just fine where we are going. So, again, i'm wondering why he thinks i won't survive the southern east coast life... I think there are about 1000 people in the town we are building our home in. The average age is 41 and wouldn't you know it? I will be 41 when we move into our house! It is just sounding better all the time! There are also 78 women for every man, so Ed informed me he had 21 other women available for him. AAAhahahahahahaha!!!

Love Story Meets Viva La Vida

I stole this from my friend Melanie, 'cause like she always has the coolest stuff!!! Thanks Mel! You are the best!!!

See It Today

If you have not seen this movie yet, see it today! Taking Chance.

Aren't We In America?

I thought i would share this story since it is Memorial Day weekend....i told this story a few weeks ago when i had to speak and someone told me i needed to blog this anyways....it's from my journal summer of 2007

Some things are just plain hard to explain to your children! This was one of those times! Ty and Ryan have basically been brought up on an island of no worries and strong patriotism. They hear the national anthem every morning when the base raises the flag, they also hear the Japanese national anthem as that flag goes right up alongside Old Glory. Every evening at sunset they stop their play when they hear colors and pause what they are doing while the stars and stripes are lowered. They stand before every movie at the theatre for the national anthem and practice flag protocol with numerous other events they attend. The last time we were all in America on vacation was summer of 2007. We went to our first movie stateside in a long time! The movie began and Ryan, who was almost 6, gets up and walks over to me and says, in his deep authoritive voice, “Mom, (but he says it Mome) they forgot our flag” I almost cried when I had to tell him that they do not do that here. He was visibly upset and his little lip quivered and his voice shook when he asked this simple sentence that broke my heart, “Aren’t we IN America?”

Leaving My Mark!

Ed is finally pretty much done with work...soooo, the last night i was up at Camp Hansen i clobbered his white board with my art work of some of our memories. I hope the helo schedules and other such stuff i erased weren't that important....jk!!! I just erased these little 3 letter thingys that made no sense.....love ya babe!!!

Lookin' Ghetto These Days!

From blogger photos

I have been completly ghetto these days. After i swim at lunch i don't bother to do my hair or anything and just let my pony dry as is. I've got crunchy messy hair these days and it doesn't matter here, but can i get away with this look in NC? I know there is NO way i would have left my house in Cali looking like this! LOL

Taking Up The Bed

Yes, our dog sleeps with us and yes, i am the one on the edge of the bed, but he is just soo sweet, it's okay...

From blogger photos

Wrapped In Love!

From blogger photos

I just love this picture of Vicki and Jasper!

How Do You Move This?

This is one of the hardest parts about moving! How do you move these kinda things?!

From blogger photos

ER Two Nights In A Row

We were in the ER two nights in a row. Thursday night Jasper accidently got Ed in the eye with his nail. We spent about 5 hours in the ER. Friday Ed was still in a lot of pain and by the late afternoon he was in severe pain and his eye was swollen shut. We thought we had best head over right then as it was a Friday night, which is always busy and being the 15th, well there will be many service members in their as the night progresses. So I took him back to the ER around 7:30 pm. It was night but Ed was still wearing sunglasses as any kind of light just sends him almost into spasms with the pain. We get to the ER and this part really cracked me up, Ed was not amused and the Nurse almost had to pick up a pile Chiclets from her own mouth. She had him walk down the bright hall, stand on the line and read the letters from the wall. His eye is swollen shut and due to the spasms he can barely even have the other eye open, let alone in the bright light!!! UHG! Hello?! It was determined he could not see the letters and she took him to a room and as we walked in she turns on the BRIGHT light for us to sit and wait for the Doctor. She had been told countless times that Ed’s eye was VERY sensitive to light. So, I turn off the light as she is walking out. I came up with a song that I sang to Ed while we waited for the Doc. It is with the tune to “I Wear My Sunglasses at Night” here is goes: “I wear my sunglasses at night, ‘cause I got in a fight with a dog who has a lethal paw!” I don’t think Ed was very amused, but he is now asleep with the help of some vicadin and we’ve got some drops for his eyes that will help with the whole light thing. He actually has Iritis and a Corneal Abrasion, so I know he is in some pain. No pictures with this one as I might have lost some Chiclets if I had attempted to take some. Ha!

The Slide

From blogger photos

I bought this slide for Jorden on his first birthday! All four of our kids and countless friends and cousins have played on this indestructible slide! It is now used more for a giant stepping stool to climb the favorite tree by our house. But now it is packed in a crate heading to not sure what number house this will be. I think this is the 11th address it will now reside at. I hope that it lasts for my someday grandkids to play on!

8 Hours Packing = 8 Crates

Wow, 8 hours later our house has been packed away into 8 crates and loaded onto two trucks! The weather ended up holding out for us! There was a typhoon heading towards us. It had already killed 10 people in the Philippines and was cruising up to Okinawa. Was sooo happy to see it continue to lose its gusto as it got closer to our island. We had some rain, but not like what I have seen some people pack out in!!! The Okinawan guys that packed up our house were simply extraordinary!! I swear the guy upstairs had to somehow be related to Samantha! I kept trying to see if he had the magic twitch of the nose! There was a team of about 7 that were in and out of our house after the lone guy upstairs pretty much did half the upstairs! Amazingly enough, so far nothing important was packed away into the crates! I have our passports, my laptop, and the can opener!!! Also to my relief, our cat was spotted after the trucks pulled away! Was a little nervous Tank might have traveled by boat to America and been a sad pile of remains at our next house! Always worry about him every time someone in the hood packs out! Ty and Ryan had fun hiding from each other behind all the boxes before they were carried out to the trucks! As the boxes began to dwindle outta the house I ordered a variety of large pizza’s and picked up a few 12 packs of soda for the guys. We have always done pizza when we have moved in or out of a house, so we included them in our tradition. They were really nice and thanked me several times for dinner. Wow, now I have this empty house and it is just like sooo cool, except for the dining room table. I really need to find it! I kept putting things on the table I didn’t want packed, now I have a huge pile of massive disorganization! LOL! I think I might leave everything in boxes at our new house for awhile, especially the toys!!! I love having nothing to put away!!

A Mountain Of Money!

If you are ever thinking you are poor, just start packing up your house! I kept finding money throughout the house and just kept dropping the coins in my pocket and whenever I was downstairs I just kept putting in my jar. My Girls Night Out jar begin rapidly filling up as I was going thru drawers and stuff. Pretty soon it was overflowing and before long there was a mountain of money on the microwave!

Shake Your Shoes

This is why we have taught our kids to shake their shoes before they put them on! This nice little centipede was in Ty’s shoe! Hate these frickin’ things! Especially the really big ones I find climbing up my stairs! They come in during really rainy, windy days. I used to never know how they got in the house, but then, one time, at band camp, just kidding, really, I was by one of our windows and the wind was howling and it was raining really hard and I watched as this huge centipede came under the window and in the window sill. I watched as the water would swish under the window and then get sucked back out. The centipede would be almost in and then get sucked back out and then almost in, just back and forth. I was too intrigued to do anything but watch! During typhoons I usually put towels in all the window sills to stop the water and so I realized how I got these critters in the washing machine! UHG! They totally creep me out and like you can stomp on them a bunch of times and they just keep wiggling!!! And never stomp on them with flip flops, they don’t die and they just flip over onto your foot! Oh, and they also survive the wash cycle! Try getting one of those outta the washing machine! It sucks and requires lots of screaming and cursing. LOL! I use the Chinese chopsticks, since they are longer than Japanese chopsticks, and it is quite the challenge. Probably humorous to watch as I scream and curse the wiggly creature! Sooo, don’t forget to shake your shoes before you put them back on at my house!

Going...Going...GAAAWWWNNN!

We have sold the jeep! I think it was a steal at $200.00, although others who have ridden with me in it might think otherwise! There was no AC; it was a windows down hair blow in the wind kinda mobile! I named her Christine as she was possessed and those of you who have taken a spin in her will back me up on this! LOL! She was the coolest thing on wheels and we would have taken her back to the States in a heartbeat if we could!! She randomly locked you in the vehicle. As you drove you would hear your locks falling and rising, sometimes it was even to the beat of the tunes i was jamming to! The inside lights didn't work so you never really knew how fast you were going. Unfortunately this was a downfall for Jorden. He snuck out one night and took the jeep to the shoppette to buy a Monster. Why you buy a Monster at 130 am i'll never know other than it is just one of those dumb teenage things...but anyways, Jorden was driving and turning the lights on and off as he didn't know the inside lights didn't work. This caught the attention of the MP's. They pulled him over. He tried to open the door, but the locks kept going up and down. The MP's were not amused and did not know Jorden had no control over this. Jorden eventually was able to get out of the vehicle. The MP didn't know how to read the paperwork in the glove box right and thought the JCI was expired. He didn't know how to read the window sticker either. Ed was off island so when i got the call to go down to the shack i had to wake up the kids and bring them with me since Vicki wasn't 12 yet. They had thought Jorden was drunk because of the whole lock thing but he wasn't and than i confirmed the lock and light thingy. The back door also has a trick for getting it closed. I never did figure it out. Thank goodness Leilani was with me the only time it was opened under my watch! Leilani opened it as i was hollering "DON'T OPEN THE BACK!!" You could park her anywhere, which is a huge plus on the streets of Okinawa! She is four wheel drive which came in handy on getting to some of our dive spots. My favorite part was the little gadget on the dash that told me my position to let me know if i was about to flip over. I loved taking turns and driving on slants to see how far i could get the jeep to tip. The vehicles here are basically indestructible and the jeep is light enough that I knew if I ever did tip it Ed would be able to come tip me back over. Well he would have probably laughed at me for a very long time first.... i never did get her to tip over. So, now i no longer have my fun mobile to zip around in. Just my dependable Silver Bullet!

Never Again

I have decided I am NOT a fan of high kitchen cabinets! That is where stuff just gets shoved back into and forgotten….well, forgotten until it is time to PCS! I remember last house finding shampoo and conditioner way up in the very top kitchen cupboards. Obviously Ed must have helped me put groceries away that day…sooo, I am finding just all these VERY expired cans of food! I do vaguely remember buying the sour krout back in 2004 thinking I would make some Krout meals since we are all German….yeah, that didn’t happen, it’s now 2009 and the sour krout was never made with any other German dishes, well I’m sure I have made German Chocolate cake over the last 6 years! Anyways, I’m ending up with a kitchen trash bag full of dead food and my “save the earth” voice is screaming in my head that I need to empty these cans out for recycling. It is mandatory over here, but I did this back in the States when I didn’t have to, it’s just my whole trying to NOT feel responsible when people are claiming our earth is running out of room for trash and stuff. Sooo, I figure I better empty the smelly stuff into the garbage disposal first, yes, the sour kroute was first. It smelled terrible. I just kept opening can after can. Starting with the smelliest and working my way to the fruits and last the pumpkin pie fillings which were only like a month past expiration and smelled great! Or maybe it was only because my smeller had been traumatized with food from 2004!!! I have decided I will NOT EVER put food in my top shelves EVER again!!

The Dog Ate My Homework, I Mean Shoe!

Okay, I have fallen to an all time low in my ghettoness….Thursday morning Ryan was looking everywhere for his other shoe and could not find it anywhere! Our house is empty, we are all packed out, there isn’t really any place for things to be lost AND our house is tiny!!! I HAD to get to work, Ed was gone as he was giving Braun and her kids a ride to the airport, so I told Ryan he had to miss school since he isn’t allowed to go in slip slops and that is all he has for extra shoes. (I wasn’t going to make him wear his church shoes with his shorts) So, I left for work, Ty left without his little brother and Ryan got to stay home because he had no shoes to wear to school! Thursday evening Ed is at the PX getting ready to buy Ryan some shoes. An hour earlier Ed had been scratched in the eye by our dog Jasper. (total accident, they were just playing) Sooo, anyways, all of a sudden Ed is in massive pain and can’t see and Vicki almost ends up having to drive him home. He couldn’t call me to come get him as we only have one car now. I take Ed to the ER, we get home waaaay after the PX has closes, they close at 9 pm. So, now it is Friday morning and Ryan has no shoes, AGAIN! I am off to work, I tell him to check with Dad at 845 to see if he can take him to the PX to get shoes and take him to school. PX opens at 9 am. Ed is knocked out on Tylenol 3. After work I swing by Ryan’s school to get the last of photos for yearbook as I am taking it to be printed. My friend Tiffany is there. She is subbing Ryan’s class this week as his teacher is in China. She is laughing and asks me if it is true that Ryan has been missing school because the dog ate his shoe. I have to confirm that this is indeed true and he will have closed toe shoes by Monday! Yes, I have officially sunk to an all time low in my motherhood skills and can hold my head high as queen of the Kishaba Trailer Park!!!

Kodomo-no-Hi Children's Day

Kodomo-no-Hi is a holiday celebrated each year on the 5th day of the 5th month. In English it is called Children's Day. The Japanese have several holidays that revolve around children as the people of Okinawa just love their kids! During this time you will see carp streamers flying everywhere! Even at Ty and Ryan's school. A typical koinobori (streamer) will have a multicolored streamer called a fukinagashi on the top this is to represent the rough waters of the Yellow River. Next will be a large black carp called a magoi which represents the Father followed by a red carp, higoi, which is for the Mother, next will be smaller carp of other colors for each child in the family. We have our own that we fly at this time each year. they are very colorful and the wind blows them so they appear to be swimming. The Japanese want their children to grow up to be like carp which have virtuous qualities of perseverance and strength. We asked Ty and Ryan what they wanted to do on this day, Vicki was babysitting. They wanted McDonald's for dinner and to go swim and play at Araha Beach, Pirate Ship Beach, their favorite. We went out in town and ordered dinner at the drive thru and ended up eating it in the car as we drove to the beach. Traffic is always horrendous during this time. The Okinawan's basically celebrate for an entire week, it is called Golden Week. All families are out celebrating their children, so everywhere is crowded, but fun as it is all families basically celebrating life! We had a great time, wonderful way to spend our last Kodomo-no-Hi on Okinawa! There are more pictures under albums with the same blog title in our www.easysite.com/okicrew6 That is the fmaily blog, there will eventually be pixs in my picasa albums. Anyways, go give your kids a giant hug, loud smooch, and share some giggles!

Is Santa Real?

So, we are out in the back yard tonight, it is a perfect night, just cool enough to enjoy hot chocolate, but warm enough to be in shorts and a sweatshirt. We have the fire going, playing one of our favorite “out back having a fire game” Sequence and right as I am taking a picture of Ty he asks, “is Santa real or do you get up early and put everything under the tree?” UHG! He’s 9 Ryan is almost 8, I want to hang in to Santa a little bit longer and so I say “……well I still believe in Santa…” Ty drinks his hot chocolate and continues playing and the conversation is no longer about Christmas, that was close! Just not ready to have all my kids officially outta the Santa phase!

Flight Date

We got our flight date! June 13th! I'm sooo glad the kids get to finish out the year and not miss the fun stuff! I can't breath when i let myself really think about leaving this island! I am just kinda thinking of it as just another trip, not a permament good bye to my little island! I think my break down will come when our furniture gets to America at our new location!

It's That Time

It’s that time. I’ve been putting it off, but it’s down to less than the two month mark before we leave, so I must find a home for the coolest dog ever!!! Well, not everyone would agree with me on that….sooo, if anyone knows anyone who would like a male, Big Head English Bull Dog, please let me know! He came to us with the name of Biscuit. I know, does not quite fit, but that is what he answers to. He is potty trained and kennel trained. He sleeps a LOT and snores rather loud! He is NOT an attack dog. He would never wake up if someone were to break in, he would just continue to snore! He is very friendly; he just looks like he would be vicious, but he has never hurt anyone before. We think he is about 4 years old. He seems to be in good health with no complaints. We would take him with us but our fly dates are after the cut off for the smash faced dogs to fly. If you know of anyone who would like to have my best friend, let me know!!!

Leave The Door Unlocked

Since we are going to Okuma this weekend, I thought I would do an Okuma Flash Back from a few years back……We went up for a fun weekend to camp and hike Hiji Falls with several of our friends. I had reserved a cabin for us and we also brought a tent. We brought our neighbors kids up with us too, Cody & Alex. Ed, Jorden, and Cody slept in the tent and then it was Vicki and Alex in the bunk beds and Ty and Ryan slept with me in the big bed. The cabin next to us was full of military dudes partying the night away. They were very drunk, loud, and just having a fu time. Ed was fine with it until midnight. We were in the family section and the noise is supposed to be stopped by 10 PM. Ed went over there to talk to them. One of the Marines over there ended up being one of Ed’s recruits from Boot Camp. The poor kid ran away. It was funny, we laughed, it quieted down, and Ed fell asleep. I always leave the lights on in the cabins at Okuma. When the lights go off, well the giant spiders from hell come out! Lights on, they stay away. Sooooo, anyway, I fall asleep and wake up to the door opening. I wasn’t paying attention and just assumed Ed had decided to come squish in the bed with me and the boys, they were little, like 4 and 5 back then. I turned to say something to Ed and realized it wasn’t Ed, it was one of the drunk Marines from next door. He was taking off his clothes and attempting to crawl into bed with me and Thing One & Thing Two, we were all in our Hulk jammies. I started laughing and said, “Dude, you’re in the wrong cabin” He mumbles and is now proceeding to pull off his boxers. I am cracking up and say a little louder, but also do not want to wake up the kids, “Dude, seriously, you are in the wrong cabin, go out the door and walk up the next set of stairs." He is staring me all confused. I would sooo love to have known what his brain was registering in his drunken state! Vicki and Alex were sleeping in the bunk beds with sleeping masks on because the lights were on, they always pack those when we go to Okuma because they know the lights will be on all night, Ty and Ry are curled up around me…..hulk jammies….just would have loved to have had a peek into what his visual assessment of the room was in the state he was in. He was sooo confused! I had to actually get out of bed, hand him his clothes while telling him to keep his boxers ON and pull them back up and walk him out the door and down the steps. I pointed him in the right direction and then I went back inside. The Marines had been peeing off their porch earlier that night, so I didn’t want to walk within pee range in case you are wondering why I didn’t walk him to his door. LOL! The next day everytime he saw me he kept giving me the funniest look. I wonder what kind of memory he had of that night? Ed teases me and says I blew my one shot to have done something and not been blamed for it as I could have just said I thought it was Ed. He was tall, thin, same hair cut….soooo, if you ever hear anyone say, “Turn your lights off and leave the door unlocked.” It is in reference to that funny night up at Okuma! Sorry, no pictures for this story!

Unexpected Wave of Nostalgia

It was one of those quick little flashback moments that can catch ya by surprise…..Ed had to work at the High School today. The JROTC was having their annual inspection. Ed had been asked to oversee the inspection. It was raining and he was in his Charlies, so he was driving to the school as the trail I walk to work every day would be a muddy mess for his shiny black choraframes! (Not sure how to spell those shoes) LOL! I caught a ride with him. As we were pulling in front of the school I told him to drop me off at the curb before he went and parked as the parking spot he would be in was closer to the ROTC building than where my classroom was. In that tiny split second when I asked him to stop and let me out I had this unexpected wave of nostalgia, for a blink of an eye, I was back in high school and my Dad was dropping me off at school. My Dad was a Marine, wore the same uniform, and dropped me off at school when I missed the bus or had an orthodontist appointment during school hours. My Dad usually opted to take me on the back of his Harley so my helmet would crush my big 80’s hair, but other than that, it was just a really cool flash back to my teen age years. I just started laughing and told Ed I wasn’t sure if it was a “Bring your Dad to school day” or “Bring your hot husband to work day” He said, “Get Out”! I was laughing all the way to my classroom.

Playing Pickle

We were having fun at Comprehensive Park playing pickle. Ty and Ed can throw faster than i can run!

Sprinkle Thief Caught!

I caught my sprinkles thief! I was regularly finding my sprinkles containers pretty much empty. Now I know where my sprinkles have disappeared too!!! I caught the sprinkle thief red handed, well actually red clothed! He actually looked at me and the bugger actually laughed while filling up the lid and pouring them into his mouth!!! Can't help but love my Red Sprinkle Thief! Ryan keeps us on our toes! And constantly laughing!!! And yes, the picture hanging on the cupboard is of Ryan wearing the chef hat while making his birthday cake at school in Sure Start in 2006!

China Tomorrow!

I leave for China tomorrow and all week I have been having my usual about to leave on a trip nightmares! UHG! Yeah, forget passport, get on wrong plane, get lost, get put in prison, all the normal stuff. I really need to find someone to go on trips with me, maybe I wouldn’t have these nightmares! I’m not afraid to die, it’s just the thought of being tagged for something that I didn’t do, like I don’t do drugs, but what if someone stuffed some into my bags kinda thing. That would just totally suck! I colored my hair darker for this trip and didn’t put in my highlights, so maybe I will blend in a little better. Ed says the only place I can blend in is Germany. LOL! Never been there, but someday…. Wish me luck on my trip to china! I’m excited!!! What to buy? Like isn’t everything made in china?! I mainly want to walk the wall, rent a bike, the pedal kind, and ride around and make my own terra cotta warrior from the clay there. Soooo, we’ll see how it goes!

Which Steel Magnolias Character Are you?

This made me laugh on facebook.


Which Steel Magnolias Character Are You?Shelby Eatenton Latcherie (Julia Roberts' character)


You are Shelby. You are a breath of fresh air! You are the girl next door, America's sweetheart, and you love to laugh! You may make impulsive decisions because you would "rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special." Although you're a southern belle at heart (and your signature color may even be "blush" or "bashful"), you still get caught doing things from time to time that might even "frighten the fish"! You're a risk taker, sometimes at a cost to yourself, so slow down. You may make a decision in haste that you'll someday regret!

Last Minute Project

Why do the kids always seem to forget to tell me that they need to MAKE a project until the night before it is due?!!! UHG! Ty had to do a report on the Bushwacker Snake. No biggie, that was easy. But, at 7 o’clock the night before it is due he tells me he forgot to tell me that he actually needs to make a snake as well! Soooo, the mad dash begins! It’s even MORE frustrating when it is something that we could have made really cool if we had had the time!!! I would have used one of our potted trees and had Ty make a huge snake and would have wound it thru all the branches and stuff, 'cause this is a really big snake! Soooo, instead, I rounded up all the clay in the house, not much as we are moving and I have been getting rid of everything, NOT replenishing once gone! Ty used several colors of clay to begin making his snake and I jetted out to the PX to see if I could find brown spray paint. Found some, got home, Ty was done making his snake. Went to paint it and wow, wouldn’t you know…..the spray thing doesn’t work! UHG! Go back to PX, return defective can, re-buy a different brand. I sprayed it in the trash can in the PX before I left to make sure it worked. It worked and people stared. Whatever! Get back home, we paint snake and leave to dry. First thing in the morning we add black markings to snake and build a quick environment. We break off branches and leaves from my plants, we’re moving, I can kill my plants. Ty has fun with the glue gun. I find some of their creepy critters and we add to his plate of stuff. Whala, the project is done and we are all out the door at 7:05 am. I finish packing my back pack, Ty comes running home as I am leaving. He forgot his project! I guess I can see why he forgot he had to make a snake since he forgot to TAKE the snake before the glue had even dried!!! He gets that from me, so I can’t get toooo mad at him! LOL!

Everything In Japan Is Tiny....Except For The....CONES!

Dilema.....

Okay, so I want to do the Torri Station Spring Triathlon. One problem…..I DON’T HAVE A FRICKIN’ BIKE!!! I don’t want to buy one either, we got rid of all of them since we are moving. The evil side of me says not to worry, the swim is first, I’ll get out of that with a pretty good lead and there will be plenty of bikes to choose from! I know I could get away with just playing dumb saying that I thought the bikes were just like there for everyone and didn’t know I had to actually bring one. Yes, that is sad to admit that I could get away with saying that, but anyways, back to my problem! I need a bike! Sooo, if anyone, on island, has a bike for me to borrow, let me know! It is Saturday March 28th! I don’t care what it looks like, can be a boys bike, girls bike, but if it has training wheels, I’m taking them off for the race but will put back on when I return it! Gracious mi amigas!!!

Ice Castles

Just another fun little blast from the past! Isn’t it the best when you stumble upon something (enjoyable) from your earlier years? Even better when it only costs 5 bucks! I was wandering thru the DVD section at the PX and like, wow, I found the movie Ice Castles! I bought it. It came out in 1978, I was 10, but I didn’t see it until I was 12. It is one of my favorite movies from way back then. It’s one of those movies that made me wish for a split second that my parents had put me on ice skates instead of throwing me in a swimming pool. But, it was only for a split second, I basically lived in a swimming pool back then with all my training, my nickname was poolia. I watched it a few days ago. It was filmed awhile ago, so a little on the corny side and funky styles, but still entertaining and I will keep it on my old movie favorites list. The closing line is still one of my favorites, “We forgot about the roses”. I used to use that line whenever something didn’t quite go right. That will make no sense to you if you haven’t seen the movie! Yes, I have always been and will forever be a dork! The theme song, Looking Thru The Eyes Of Love, is still one of my favorite songs. I couldn’t wait for the sheet music to come out so I could buy it and learn it on the piano! It took awhile, not like today where I just click a few buttons on the computer and it shoots the pages out of my printer! I kept checking the music store, I did a lot of walking! Ha! It finally came in! I still have that original piece of music, might be the only thing I have from back then! You can still see the puncture marks from my cat who was attacking it one day, the notes I added to it, and the edges are pretty torn and it is taped in a few places……but as long as I can read the notes, it’s good. Just a fun moment from the past relived in the present.

After Dinner Run

I’m not sure who is more frustrated with this gradual weight gain I’ve encountered the last couple of years, me or Ed. I think Ed is about ready to tie me to his jeep and run me to the ground! He has offered to PT me, but he is a Marine, runs every day, and does some wicked PT sessions with his Marines. Mondays start with a 6 minute one mile sprint, 100 pull ups, 100 push ups, 300 air squats, and sprint another mile. I think that is the easiest day of the week, so won’t go into the rest of the week with the hills and rifle PT and all that other insane stuff since I already know I can’t get thru Monday. My mile will NEVER be 6 minutes again, only got 10 pull ups, but had to do them in increments, not 10 at once, let alone 100, the pushups, yes can do them in sets of 10, and 300 air squats, WHATEVER! I might not ever be able to walk again if I tried that. So, I told him to just run my route with me so I could see if I could run it faster with him running with me. So, after dinner the other night Ed and I go for a run. I am wondering if my run time will drop running with him. We leave and of course he is mister fast guy. He also just got his new running shoes in the mail. He says they are awesome. Maybe i'll try those next time i buy a new pair.... He is 6 ft 4 and I am 5 ft 3, so even when I am in my best of running performance, he can still out stride me any day! We’ve got our Ipods on, it’s a little after 5, full sun, so probably in the 80’s and the humidity is probably only about 90-92%. So, can’t make excuses for the weather, it wasn’t bad, but, still, it was hot. I am doing fine. He is a distant image of blue and black. He periodically would run back towards me and then turn and again become a distant form of blue and black. We get to the half way mark where I turn around and come home and guess what? The husband decides to take off and take me on a further run! I follow him as we begin going down this long hill. I’m not mad at the moment I’m just not sure where and how far this run is going to be and now that we are going down, down, down, there is going to be some serious uphill jogging coming along down the road! UUHG! He turns as we get close to the bottom and now we are running flat land. Oh, and running like Phoebe from Friends does not make you run faster, well it makes Ed run faster! Whenever he sees me pull a Phoebe he bolts as far ahead of me as possible! LOL I tried to pick up my pace to somewhat catch up with him, but I started to feel like I was going to throw up. I ate spaghetti for dinner. I also had my sauce on it, not the regular just meat sauce the kids use, but my sauce, with the sautéed onions, mushrooms, olives, grated zucchini and carrots! Delicious, but totally gross coming back up! Noodles are like always gross to throw up ‘cause like they get stuck in your throat and you just aren’t sure if you will get it out or have to re-swallow and re-gag up, I am getting grossed out just typing this! Yeah, I totally stayed away from noodles when I was pregnant! So, he is just the distant image of blue and black. I catch up with him on the turn to begin the jog up the hill. I flip thru songs on my iPod hoping to find the right ones to get me up the hill. Ed and I do not have a song, but right now Joan Jett’s I Hate Myself For Loving You is sounding pretty good! LOL He runs the hill! I jog it. He waits for me at the top. We then head back on the home stretch. I haven’t stopped yet and don’t plan on it, just one foot in front of the other in my steady jogging pace. We finally get home. He tells me my time. We get in his jeep to go clock our run. It is a mile longer than my normal run and only took me 10 minutes longer. Not bad with that giant hill! Atleast now I know I can start running that route. I can now run further without stopping! YAY! Ed said that was why he had taken me on that run, so it would prove to me that I was ready to add another mile to my run. He said I had been running the same distance for toooo long and that I need to learn to push myself more. Thanks Hubby!

Happy St Patricks Day!

The green M&M's are at my place!

One Of My NOT Well Thought Out Plans…..

A long time ago……..well it can’t be that long ago since this happened on Okininawa, but it was a few years ago…..i decided to decorate this wall on the stairs. It’s a high wall and had just been bare for so long that it annoyed me. I decided to decorate it. I borrowed a ladder, it wasn’t a stair ladder, so no telling me how stupid I am on how I did this, but I put the ladder on my stairs and used books to like even out the legs on the steps. I know, I could have really gotten hurt, thought I was going to fall and die a couple of times, but I got everything hung up there and I liked the look. I wasn’t sure what to put on the shelf and was actually kinda scared to get that high again. Ed was deployed and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to wobble that much that high again, so left it empty and took back the ladder. The ladder and owner PCS’d and so I never got anything up on the shelf. The dilemma now…..i gotta take down everything up there!!! Yeah, one of those ideas I shouldn’t have followed thru with….Sooooo, if ya read a blog in which I broke my hip or back, well you can assume it had to do with taking these wall items down! LOL!

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!

You Never Let Me Down Mom

I heard a little knock on my door the other night. It was just after midnight. I knew it was Ty or Ryan. I went and opened my door and it was the little guy, Ryan. He asked if he could have a blanket. ( Have no idea where his blankets disappeared to…? ) I gave him my cool fishy fleece one to take back with him. I gave him a hug and told him good night. He looked up at me and said, “Thanks Mom, you never let me down.” I told him I loved him and i crawled back into bed. I was laying there thinking, wow, there is actually one person on this planet that thinks I have never let them down. He’s 7 years old and he thinks I haven’t let him down yet! Wow, that was a pretty cool feeling!

Open Ocean Swim

March 14, 2009
I finally did my first Open Ocean Swim competition! I decided to just do the 750 meter one. The sea was rough, it was condition RED. The event took place up at Camp Schwab, it is a northern grunt base on Okinawa. It was a rainy, windy, cold day! The winds were in the high 20’s and low 30’s, the outside temp was 53 with a wind chill of 42 and the water temp was a nice 67! Yeah, I wore my 3 ml wetsuit! Ha! I swam it in 23 min 40 seconds. I was all over the place with the current, so I really don’t know how far I swam, but it was a lot further than 750 meters! LOL! I swallowed a LOT of sea water, but totally loved it! I came in first place! Yay for me! But then, I couldn’t help but take first since I was the ONLY female on island dumb enough to enter the water and swim on that miserable day!!! The number they wrote on my hand was D-1, which Ed said stood for “DUMB 1” Hahahahahahahaha!!! I couldn’t talk him into joining me. He says the water was too cold, but I really think it is because he knew I would beat him! LOL! In his defense, he really does HATE cold water. It was cold. I never warmed up afterwards, I was still freezing when I crawled into bed that night!



This is me coming in on the last stretch to the finish line. No laughing at my swimming, i'm slow but steady! Ha!

Is It A “FOREVER” Rule?

We have had a ton of rain and I am done with the water coming down! The kids turn the front patio into their play room when it rains and they love to play in the rain and jump in every puddle they can find! I’m okay with all that, but then the mud fights begin. That is the part I DON’T like! Ha! I know it is fun and I have been in plenty of mud fights to know how super fun it is, but then the laundry just totally stacks up when they keep changing and going back out to get muddy all over again! I became mean mommy with this last batch of consecutive rainy days. I limited Thing One & Thing Two to only 2 mud outfits per day. They weren’t happy, but learned to adapt and just stayed outside longer. Ryan asked if it was “forever” rule and I told him YES, a forever ONE!!!!

Freeing Nemo

March 8, 2009
My big salt water tank died a little bit ago. I blogged about the misfortune of all my fish back when that happened. Nemo was the only survivor. He’s been hanging out in the kitchen in the little tank I set up for him while I tried to find him a home. Ed kept wanting to just flush him, but I just can’t do it. Oh, and just so you know, NEVER EVER flush a Puffer fish, no matter how many expensive fish it has eaten, they puff as they swirl and they just don’t go down! Totally gross to pop as well, you need a full raincoat on, but that is another story….. So, today was the day I decided to take him to the sea wall and set him free. I scooped him out and put him in a throw away cup that had a lid. Jorden actually thought I had a hot chocolate in my hand as we drove to the ocean. We have had some wicked weather over the last couple of days and so the waves were crashing, surfers were in the water, and there were big ole crabs running everywhere along the jacks! YUCK! Those things freak me out! They look like giant spiders, and I HATE spiders! I watched that movie Arachnophobia sitting on the middle of my dining room table ‘cause it was the only smooth surface NOT on the floor! So, Ed and Vicki took the “Cup A Nemo” out on the jacks. I told Ed to pour him softly into the ocean. Ed pretended to drink him, Jorden offered some nice farewell words, and then Nemo went flying high before he hit water. I hope he didn’t die on entry!

Is It A “FOREVER” Rule?

We have had a ton of rain and I am done with the water coming down! The kids turn the front patio into their play room when it rains and they love to play in the rain and jump in every puddle they can find! I’m okay with all that, but then the mud fights begin. That is the part I DON’T like! Ha! I know it is fun and I have been in plenty of mud fights to know how super fun it is, but then the laundry just totally stacks up when they keep changing and going back out to get muddy all over again! I became mean mommy with this last batch of consecutive rainy days. I limited Thing One & Thing Two to only 2 mud outfits per day. They weren’t happy, but learned to adapt and just stayed outside longer. Ryan asked if it was “forever” rule and I told him YES, a forever ONE!!!!

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

Sleeves Up? Already? NOOOO!

Sleeves Up? Already?
I looked on the calendar and saw the squiggly face on Sunday and the frowning face for Monday. That means sleeves go up, desert cammies come out, and jungles go to the back of the closet. I don’t understand the whole desert cammie thing on a tropical island though….you think it would be greens 365 days a year here…..But, anyways, it’s a double edge sword…..when the jungles come out, than it is the dreaded matching game, almost always impossible to find a match! It was ugly last year when Ed had out all the jungle ones and was having me try to match them up. I matched them all up, but he said I had done it all wrong, there was some yelling and screaming, which I really don’t think is fair since I am NOT the Marine and I never yell back, but it is just a once a year thing, so I can deal with it. The jungle cammies moved out to the front walk way so I could try matching in regular light, still to no success, he said they still didn’t match. (The frustrating thing is, is that the cammies have been numbered inside, you can still see the numbers written in there with the laundry marker so you can tell which ones match up, but for some reason they just DON’T match anymore!!!) So, he ended up bagging them all up to throw away and headed to the uniform store to buy new ones. Whatever! But, than the uniform store of course doesn’t have any that match, so there were several sets of cammies laying on the floor of the store while Ed was trying to find a matching pair. I just sat back and offered no assistance, I was in my failure zone, and Ty and Ry finally laid down at the end of the aisle to wait. He found a set that would do and later found a few more sets up at Hansen. It’s like 2 different companies make them since the tops and bottoms never quite match up, or maybe they send all the reject ones to Okinawa….the desert cammies match much better, BUT, this means that it is time to roll the sleeves! I HATE THIS!!! It is my job to determine if Ed’s sleeves match when he puts on his blouse. I don’t have a critical eye, so uhg! But, I guess I do a good enough job, because, 13 years later he still has me check his sleeves. That’s the easy part, this is the hard part…..TAKING OFF THE FRICKIN BLOUSE!!! I always tell him to do NO weight lifting during sleeves up time ‘cause I just break WAAAAAAY too many nails trying to pull off his flippin’ blouse! He’s gotten better about NOT cursing me to pieces when I can’t get his blouse off fast enough and his arms are feeling numb! I told him last year that I would NOT pull his sleeves off anymore if he’s gonna say mean things. LOL! So, we’ll see how he does this year. He has promised to be nice…… Sooo, now we have the matching cammies but have to be harassed by rolled sleeves! It will begin Sunday evening……… UUHHHGGG! Just another day in the life of a marine wife…………love the adventure but hate the uniform! But, then again, he looks soooo good in his cammies!!! I guess it is all worth it.

Sleeves Up? Already? No!!!!

I looked on the calendar and saw the squiggly face on Sunday and the frowning face for Monday. That means sleeves go up, desert cammies come out, and jungles go to the back of the closet. I don’t understand the whole desert cammie thing on a tropical island though….you think it would be greens 365 days a year here…..But, anyways, it’s a double edge sword…..when the jungles come out, than it is the dreaded matching game, almost always impossible to find a match! It was ugly last year when Ed had out all the jungle ones and was having me try to match them up. I matched them all up, but he said I had done it all wrong, there was some yelling and screaming, which I really don’t think is fair since I am NOT the Marine and I never yell back, but it is just a once a year thing, so I can deal with it. The jungle cammies moved out to the front walk way so I could try matching in regular light, still to no success, he said they still didn’t match. (The frustrating thing is, is that the cammies have been numbered inside, you can still see the numbers written in there with the laundry marker so you can tell which ones match up, but for some reason they just DON’T match anymore!!!) So, he ended up bagging them all up to throw away and headed to the uniform store to buy new ones. Whatever! But, than the uniform store of course doesn’t have any that match, so there were several sets of cammies laying on the floor of the store while Ed was trying to find a matching pair. I just sat back and offered no assistance, I was in my failure zone, and Ty and Ry finally laid down at the end of the aisle to wait. He found a set that would do and later found a few more sets up at Hansen. It’s like 2 different companies make them since the tops and bottoms never quite match up, or maybe they send all the reject ones to Okinawa….the desert cammies match much better, BUT, this means that it is time to roll the sleeves! I HATE THIS!!! It is my job to determine if Ed’s sleeves match when he puts on his blouse. I don’t have a critical eye, so uhg! But, I guess I do a good enough job, because, 13 years later he still has me check his sleeves. That’s the easy part, this is the hard part…..TAKING OFF THE FRICKIN BLOUSE!!! I always tell him to do NO weight lifting during sleeves up time ‘cause I just break WAAAAAAY too many nails trying to pull off his flippin’ blouse! He’s gotten better about NOT cursing me to pieces when I can’t get his blouse off fast enough and his arms are feeling numb! I told him last year that I would NOT pull his sleeves off anymore if he’s gonna say mean things. LOL! So, we’ll see how he does this year. He has promised to be nice……which is good, because he is still lifting weights! Sooo, now we have the matching cammies but have to be harassed by rolled sleeves! It will begin Sunday evening……… UUHHHGGG! Just another day in the life of a marine wife…………love the adventure but hate the uniform! But, then again, he looks soooo good in his cammies!!! I guess it is all worth it.

750 or 1500

I’m doing this open ocean swim on March 14th. It’s funny to think that I am 40 years old and have NEVER done one of these before! I love to swim, I have always been a fish in water, and like just never did one of these because it was either too cold or I had a nightmare of a shark getting me. I know, I’m a total dork, so, anyways, next Saturday I’m going to go do this up at Camp Schwab. I’m trying to talk Ed into swimming with me, but not having much luck at the moment…..sooo, I’ve been swimming laps at the pool, ‘cause that is just something I like to do, but it has been really on and off lately with my work schedule. I was off today, so took full advantage and went at lunch to just see how easy it would be to swim nonstop for the distance i am thinking about entering. I know that sounds lame, but when I go to the pool, I do a work out, so I am usually sprinting, using the kick board, different strokes, and stuff, so I thought I had better just make sure I can swim this distance without stopping and without any trouble. I figure if it is hard in the pool to go nonstop, I’m gonna just die in the ocean……..so I jump in and begin swimming laps at a nice even pace, counting my strrokes so I can keep an even pace……it took me 18 minutes to swim 750 meters, I know slow, but I just wanted to see how it felt at a slow pace, I’m not entering to try to place in this, just doing another thing on my “do before I die” list. It was a piece of cake in the pool, so I know it will take like way longer fighting the waves and stuff and I’m not going to have the wall every length to do a nice flip turn on to gather speed, sooooo, now the big decision, do I stick with the 750 meter which shouldn’t be all that difficult or challenge myself to the 1500 meter? Decisions decisions…..? Monday I’ll swim 1500 meters and see how it feels……

I Would Have Wanted One Of These!

Do you ever buy toys for your kids because secretly you just think it is sooo cool and you would have loved to have had it when you were a kid? I do. I just recently got Thing One & Thing Two these really cool looking watches, except they aren’t watches. They have this like dome cover made of a strong mesh so you can catch a bug and put inside and carry it around with you! I would have sooo loved to have had that as a kid! Actually I still would wear it if the wrist band was bigger! Wouldn't that be fun to have like a lady bug hang out with you all day? Well, maybe not for the lady bug... It would have made my bee capturing a little easier, but it might have been too obvious….in grade school I used to let bees loose in my classroom. When the bell would ring after lunch recess I would step on bees to stun them and then pick them up by their wings and roll them in the white powder on the field. There was an abundance of these white flowers that grew out there and I would pick them, hide the now white bees in the white flowers and give them to my teacher. The bees would become conscious and after the dizziness wore off they would start flying around the room and we would all go out to the playground for an impromptu recess while the bees were killed or shood outta the classroom. I was never caught and I’m thinking with the bug catcher on my wrist…..yeah, that just wouldn’t have worked….i probably would have had to make sure to just have Lady Bugs or Rolly Polly’s in there………….or maybe never wear it to school…………but I really would have loved to have had one of those as a kid!

Track Try Outs

Vicki has decided to try out for the Kubasaki High School track team. Over here they let the 7th and 8th graders try out for the individual sports, like track, cross country, wrestling and stuff, they can’t do the team sports like basketball, volley ball and such. Vicki decided last summer that she liked running and would go to the gym with her Dad to run on the treadmill. It was hilarious the first time she went. She got on the treadmill next to Dad and began running. Ed said she was running at a good pace and didn’t stop. He finished and moved on to do other stuff while Vicki continued to run. Later he went back to check on her in the cardio room and was surprised to see her still running. He walked over to her to tell her what a good job she was doing. This is when she looked up at her Dad and said, “How do you stop this thing?” Ed just laughed and pointed at the red button that said STOP. Vicki said, “Oh, I thought that was only for emergencies.” We were laughing sooo hard! Vicki totally looks like a Kretschmer, but unfortunately for her she’s got her Mom’s lovely brain. Poor thing!

Kiss of Death! (Almost)

Ed’s throat started feeling scratchy and at first he thought he was coming down with a sore throat or something. It was getting progressively worse and it felt like his throat was swelling shut. He decided it had to be something that he ate. He is allergic to peanuts. His throat will swell closed if he eats those things. We were going over what he had eaten that could have caused it and came up with nothing! I don’t EVER cook with nuts, you’ll rarely find nuts in our house! Suddenly, I knew where he had gotten the peanuts from…………UHG! Me! We had gone out to lunch and I had ordered this yummy stir fry that came with cashews. There were a lot of them and I LOVE cashews! I ate them all! I guess I kissed him tooooooo soon after eating them! Like, sorry Ed!!! Apparently I am capable of giving him the kiss of death. Lovely.

China!

Okay, i paid my money, it's all set! I think this might be my last adventure in Asia. Hopefully i can squeeze in one more....but this just might be my last opportunity to explore a new place, well, which also means, a new country for me to get lost in! If anyone is bored or in need of some excitement, well, feel free to meet me in China between April 5th and 12th! I will be non stop from Yu Garden to The Bund in Shanghai, the Terra Cotta Soldier's Pit, Tian-An-Men Square and i will see how much of the wall i can walk! I am supposed to have a tour guide when i get there....soooo, i shouldn't get tooo lost! There's a bunch of other places i'll zip in and out of. I have a brief on the 18th to line up my complete itinerary. I'm excited!!! I wanted to get to Vietnam, but not sure if i can swing that one. I really want to go WITH someone going to that country, not thinking it will be a good idea to go on my own there. Might get lost in a jungle or something.....The kids are already dreading being left alone with Dad for 8 days! Ty says they are all going to die!!! Ed doesn't consider my idea of vacations as "vacations", so i'm going solo,he's not keen on going to China, but if anyone wants to meet me over there, i already have my accommodations booked!

Fortune Cookies

I found these really cool fortune cookies for Valentine’s Day. They had friendship ones which I gave to some of my friends and then there were these dark chocolate “Love” ones that I bought for Ed and i. They were really yummy and the fortunes were like typical fortunes that you would find for “love”. They were corny, thus hilarious. I was laughing cause like wouldn’t it be cool to like order them with your own sayings in them…..like “you will come across a fat air head whose name starts with a J and you will fall madly in love with her” ~ “clumsy girl who trips and falls is your soul mate” ~ “girl who wears un-matching shoes will be your dream come true” well, those would be the ones I would have had made in my single days and secretly given to an unsuspecting good looking male………….now they would say things like “when wife forgets things, good luck will come soon” ~ “burnt cookies keep fat away” ~ “tall grass brings harmony” ~ “stinky dog provides protection”, stuff like that…….bet if I googled it I could probably find a company that does this……I think I’ll look into this for next Valentine’s Day…..

Snack Drawer Prayer

I bought this old beat up looking kinda funky Chinese piece of furniture. I like different things, don’t think I would do well waking up every day to a matching house….but anyways, it has kinda turned into a vending machine. The bottom four drawers are the kids snack drawers. They each know which drawer is theirs and they are pretty good at not stealing snacks from each other. Trading and bartering go on, but not much stealing, unless Dad opens one up in his sleep walking state……..I usually put their snacks in there to last the week. It is their choice if they want to eat them all in one day or make it last for the week. Ryan often eats his all at once. I came into the dining room one day and there was Ryan, on his knees, in front of his snack drawer. He was praying that snacks would appear in his empty drawer. I knew it was going to be empty when he opened it and kinda worried for a split second if his faith in God would be altered by an empty drawer…………he opened the drawer, found it empty and said, “maybe next time, okay?” I slipped back around the corner before he got up so he wouldn’t see me. So, yes, I try really hard to keep atleast one thing in Ryan’s snack drawer at all times!

Good Bye to The Kitchen Drawer?

The kids keep asking all kinds of questions about our new house. Kinda hard to answer a lot of them being that we don’t even know what town we are going to live in next. Ryan asked if we would still have the neighborhood snack drawer at our next house. I’ll have to think about that one, I hadn’t even really considered it…….I have a bottom drawer in the kitchen that all the neighborhood kids know about. I throw in granola bars, cheese/peanut butter crackers, gum, all that kind of stuff. Kids know they can always come and grab something out of that drawer. I started it back when Ed was in Iraq. It seemed like someone was always asking for something to eat and I was just tired of making endless PB&J sandwiches and stuff, so I started the neighborhood snack drawer. I’m thinking that maybe we will say good bye to that one at our new house. I think I just might be a meanie and send kids home when they are hungry or they can just make their own food but have to clean up the mess…………

Planter Fest

Planter Fest
I had this horrible nightmare the other night! Let me give ya just a brief background on what triggered this awful dream! The bottom of my right foot has hurt for like years, probably decades, who knows, I honestly don’t remember when it started hurting. If I am not passing out, losing an enormous amount of blood, or having a baby I just ignore whatever is bothering me. It has felt like I have had either like a piece of glass in my foot or like I always have a few tiny, sharp pebbles in my shoe. Just annoying, sometimes I almost want to cry, but I don’t, ‘cause that would like just be dumb. Ed convinced me a long time ago that they are planter’s warts. YUCK! I am like totally freaked out by this! I have NEVER had a wart in my life and to like think that these have been on the bottom of my foot all these years is just too much to accept. So, I do what I always do, just block it out and maybe it will go away. A few years later, they have not gone away. I finally make an appointment. Soooooo embarrassing!!! I go in, the Doc looks and says, “they are planters warts, I’ll be back”. (He didn’t sound like the Terminator) He comes back with the nitro gun to start freezing them. Yeah, ouch, it hurts, but the pain is good ‘cause in my mind it is killing the warts! He tells me to come back in two weeks so he can see if he’s killed them. I make my appointment and come back in two weeks. They aren’t dead, almost like they have fought back, they hurt more now than before they were attacked with the freezing rays of nitrogen. He blasts away again, longer this time, but the pain is good, ‘cause like he is killing the enemy with the freezing blasts of nitrogen! I go every two weeks for months, and nothing, they are not going anywhere! UUHHG! Again, soooo embarrassing, not only do I have warts, I have fighter warts that are holding their territory! I’ve had the same Doc blast at these pests all this time, so he decides that I should go see a podiatrist and have them taken care of another way. I’m fine with this as I just want them gone!……That night I have this just super creepy dream. I’m back at the hospital and they have decided to just use a scalpel and cut them out. I’m okay with this as i just want them gone! I’m awake and sitting up watching, I always like to watch when something has to be done, so far, the dream is just a normal dream. The next part is what freaked me out! The Doc makes this circular cut around the first wart and begins to pull on it. As he is pulling it you can see where there are like all these roots that have sprouted into my foot, I know totally gross, but this is the really gross part, he keeps pulling and my foot begins shriveling up. I am screaming at him to stop pulling and put it back but he keeps pulling and my foot shrivels up more and more until it begins to turn inside out. That is when I woke up. Have not gone back about my foot! I have decided that I will just ignore what feels like pebbles in my shoes.

Humid in February?

You can always tell when the humidity is back by Vicki’s hair! I just don't think we have EVER hit 100% humidity in February!!! UUHG!

From Vicki

Consistency Continues!

Consistency Continues!
I’m fixing lunch Sunday after church and I hear from the living room “Oh no” “you’ve got to be kidding me!” “another one?” “Julia, come here, quick, you’ll never believe this!” Ryan was wrestling with Ed and you’ll NEVER guess what happened?! Okay, you don’t know our family very well if ya didn’t know right away! Ryan got his 4th tooth knocked out! The bottom one came out when Ryan’s mouth slammed into Ed’s knee. I looked at Ryan and asked him if he was okay. He looks at me and gives me this big grin and says, “Look Mom, I can make a perfect square window now!” He was all excited that he now had a square in his grin and Ty hollers out “Hey, Ryan, the tooth fairy will come again!” (Ty and Ry combine their money, Ty is the keeper of the dinero and the high influencer of how it is spent) Soo, Ryan has had all four of his teeth knocked out so far! I’m hoping his permanent teeth don’t come in for a long time!!!

Shooting Star Wish

The other day Ryan asked me if I had ever made a wish on a shooting star. I told him I had. He asked how long it took to come true. I asked him why. He said he saw a shooting star a few nights ago, made a wish, and it still hadn’t come true. I told him about how it is just fun to make wishes on shooting stars, but they don’t really come true, it’s just for fun. (I always hate it when I have to crush their little bits of make believe! UHG!) He got all sad and said, “I wanted to be a Vampire!” I asked him if that was what he had wished for. He said he had wished to become a vampire and that he had been checking his teeth for points. So, now the little guy is very disappointed that he will not be turning into a vampire anytime soon. He also told me that if he does turn into a Vampire, that he wouldn’t hurt me, he would protect me.

Snickers is Gone

I checked the hamster. He hadn’t come out for any of his treats or food. I knew he had to be dead. He is a little piggy! He is tiny but eats a ton! Well, maybe not a ton, but it is a lot for something sooo little! I lifted up his little house and sure enough,he was burrowed in and all curled up. He really does look like he died in his sleep! I sure hope so. He was such a cute little guy! I loved holding him. He always hung out in my pockets when i was wearing cargo pants. He just didn't like it when i vacummed when he was tucked in my pocket. He never bit anyone and he went thru a lot between Ty and Ryan and their little friends over the last couple of years. He has ridden in everything from the Millennium Falcon to the Pirate Ships. He’s been carried around in buckets, boxes, treasure chests, you name it, he’s probably done some time in it. He even underwent a bath by Ryan! I think it was only one bath, I made it very clear that hamsters do NOT need a bath! I picked him up and held him one last time. Maybe that sounds gross, but it wasn’t. I put him in a zip lock bag and filled it up with cedar shavings and carried him out to the backyard. I dug a hole somewhere by the spot we buried our pet octopus and covered him up. Yeah, I cried. I’ll need to have Ed help me dig a deeper hole. The ground here is like made of coral and I didn’t get very deep with my kitchen spoon! My gardening tools are forever disappearing! I have spent a fortune at the 100 yen store re-buying my little shovels and stuff ………..I dried my tears and went back to work. I came home and buried him on my lunch break. I think I am just going to go with Jorden’s idea to just clean the cage and let Ty and Ry think he is just always asleep and just tell them I gave him away when it gets closer to pack out time….Ed came home tonight and asked if I had taken care of the hamster. He wasn’t thrilled when I told him I needed him to help me dig a deeper hole. He thinks I should just throw him in the trash. I can’t do it, so I guess I will be the one digging a deeper hole. We got a big down pour today, so the ground should be softer…………

Finally Grown In!

These are my naked toes!


I went to get my toe nails painted! YAY! They are finally all grown in! I lost my two big toe nails and a couple of little toe nails over the summer when I decided to climb Mt Fuji. It took awhile for the big toe nails to finally grow in. I’m thinking maybe the big toes just liked being naked! I always have cute toe nails, I have ugly feet and fat toes, but the nails are always beautiful, sooooo it has been quite frustrating to have naked toes! I did brights with polka dots! Each toe nail is a different color. I did pink, blue, green, yellow, and orange with white polka dots and the French tips. They turned out fabulous!






The other part of the story..........

I took my daughter with me when I went to get toes done. I thought I would surprise her with a pedicure after school. While they are filing our nails, sanding down our feet and doing the foot soak we are looking thru the books with all of our choices of nail art. I happen to like the same one my daughter is choosing. She is NOT happy about our toes matching. We both end up with polka dots, but she has a bow added to her big toes and I have the French tips put on, similar but not the same. My feelings were totally hurt ‘cause I would have loved to have had my Mom’s toe nails match mine! She was done before me and I told her I would see if there was anyone available to do her finger nails while my toes were getting finished. There were not any openings. She has the nerve to say, “I want to go home now” It makes me soooo mad that she thinks it is perfectly acceptable to demand for me to leave before my toes have even finished being painted! She fully expected me to say okay, and leave without getting the painting finished on my nails. I was selfish, and maybe some would regard me as a bad Mom, I don’t know, but I stayed and she waited the additional 10 minutes for the rest of my nails to be finished. I kindly told her that I will not bring her again to get her toe nails done. She is on her own the rest of the time we live here. She was still Miss Attitude and said, “Fine”! Later when we were about half way home she looked over and said thank you.