Painting A Mural

We LOVE going to Beaufort NC!  It is North Carolina's 3rd oldest town....211 years old! Many of the original homes still standing.  We had fun painting a mural that should be up and hanging next time we come to town!

Purple?!!!

Ed wanted to check out the ECU Campus.....kinda to let Vicki get a feel for what colleges are in the area and to see exactly how far away it is for in the Fall to come watch some FOOTBALL GAMES!!!  Football camps were going on for various High Schools, so we had fun watching them scrimmaging and checking out the stadium.  We like the whole Pirate thing.......but why PURPLE?!!!

I Have A Walk....and toes....

I HAVE A WALK.....I didn't know I had a walk....I was signing in at one of the places i don't work at too often when my friend Kyla comes in behind me saying "I thought that was the 'Julia Walk'"  I laughed and said i didn't know i had a walk and asked if it was horrid....Kyla laughed and said it wasn't horrid, just a "Julia Walk".  Now i am self conciouse on my walk....not too long after a friend was asking me where i had gotten my toe nails done.  She said she wanted to go there and get "The Julia Toes"......Sooooo, now i guess i have a walk and toes....scared to say what i might hear next from my friends....but I SURE DO LOVE MY FRIENDS AND THE GIGGLES THEY BRING ME!!!!

Denny's

Just a bit full....

Ed knows i worked at Dennys while in college....it was the only place i could work that worked around my school hours! My shift was 3 am to 11 am, perfect since my classes started at noon and than i had my clinicals in the hospitals from 5 to 10 pm.  Not sure when i slept...but it was the perfect place to work, the food wasn't bad either! We have NOT lived near a Denny's since 2003! Ed was visiting one of his Marines at a hospital about an hour away from here and passed one! We had wondered why there are always these Denny's commercials on TV with no Dennys, now we know why....THERE IS ONE!!! One Saturday morning he got us up and said he was taking us out for breakfast....Denny's it was. Ty and Ryan were really excited about the "ALL YOU CAN EAT PANCAKES!!!" They ended up eating only one plate each, but that plate had FOUR SUPER HUGE PANCAKES!!!!  They practically rolled out of there!  We all had a fabulous breakfast and now we know there is a Denny's not so far away! 

Don't Let Ty See Mr. Gator!

Ed and I love to go kyaking and canoeing! The kids grumble but always end up having a LOT of fun once we arrive to the waters edge. Ty is our worrier. He knows the Bull Sharks can live in fresh water and that all of the water ways around us come from the Atlantic Ocean. He knows other sharks can survive for awhile in fresh water as well. He and Ryan have also read the book, I Survived The Shark Attacks of 1916. Ty also knows that the American Alligator is also present in our waters here. There are signs everywhere telling you they are protected and not to hurt them. Ty has asked many questions about the not hurting the alligators in numerous "what if" scenerios......and last but not least is the Water Moccasin. A lovely snake with deadly toxins.....these snakes are also aggressive and will chase you! Needless to say we are constantly putting Ty's fears to rest. The Alligator fear has not been easy to quelsh with Ty.....the beach was closed for us once because a big 10 foor alligator was sunning herself in the waves and there are pictures or a VERY large and not happy alligator on the docks of the Marina where we leave from on our water adventures. But, we have had him pretty convinced that they stay on certain parts of the water areas, not near where the regular traffic of water lovers play. He still is VERY observant in the waters as we paddle away, but he has relaxed a LOT from the first few times. We were at the New River Marina for Ty and Ryan's end of season baseball parties. We weren't going to be doing anything in the water except swimming if the boys wanted to. Ryan and some of his team mates were on the dock between where we camp and the roped in swimming area. They were all excited about something in the water. Ed and another Dad joked that maybe they were looking at an alligator.....sure enough, they were! AND throwing food to it!!! We told them to stop throwing food! Than we joined them and had fun watching this creature. He was actually quite cute since i was looking at him safely from above on the dock! I left the dock and went over on the grass to the waters edge to get some better pictures of him. He looked at me and began heading my way. He was kinda fast and Ed told me he wasn't going to come save me. Since i was wearing a dress i decided it wouldn't be very pretty for these kids to see me wrestle an alligator with my panties showing! So, i went back to the dock and the gator went back towards the dock. Ed took a nice size stick and threw it at Mr G.! He hit him right in the head! Hurtful! Total meanie!! I told him he better hope Mr, G. doesn't have a good memory since we like to paddle these waters! Later we went inside to eat and have the kids recieve their trophies. The Gator began swimming towards the camp ground we camped at on Mothers Day. Kyakers were coming in and i wondered if they would cross paths.....i also wondered what the girl tubing would do if Mr. G decided to swim next to her....or the Marines in the swimming area, well i think i know what would happen in the swimming area, 4 young slightly buzzed Marines and a 4 1/2 foot gator, i would feel sorry for the Gator. Later we went over to Ty's celebration and he was ready to come back to Ryan's. Unfortunately, Mr. G had come back to the docks. Ty enjoyed watching the alligator and i am glad he saw it, but now i am just not so sure Ed and I are going to be able to convince ANY of our kids to get in the waters with us again!!



He decided to come towards me at the waters edge...





I tried to get him eating something but he tended to dive underwater when he ate....this was as close as i could get





The kids had fun watching him




Yes, Ed and I were not dressed to wrestle an American Alligator!



Something Was Off...?

She really does have clothes on!

I love this picture, it always make me laugh!  We were stationed on Okinawa and it was time to renew everyone's passports.  No biggie, just go down to Combat Camera and wait and wait and wait and wait, like you always do with anything Government run.  It was a HOT, HUMID day on the tropical island and there was no AC in the building we were in.  Vicki had taken off one of her layers and had not put it on before they took her picture.  I wasn't paying too much attention to her as i am usually focused on Thing One & Thing Two.  We got the pictures back to take over for passports.  I quickly glanced over them to make sure nobody had a picture with an expression to horrid to keep for the next 7 years.  Vicki's face looked just fine and when i was looking at the boys pictures i realized something was off with Vicki's picture; i went back to her photo and realized there was definately something OFF!!!!  She looked like she was wearing NOTHING!!!  Zipped back in and they retook it, quickly, with her other layer put on.  

It Must Be A Kretschmer Thing

This lil girl of mine can drive me bonkers at times but i love her to pieces! She let me take her to one of my favorite photo spots around the corner from our house and take some pictures of her. But, right when i began taking pictures she started doing the potty dance and so i didn't get that many in, but i think this one was my favorite.....she had just thrown her hair in a ponytail, threw on a spring dress and her sperries....i love how she looks so cute so easily......it must be a Kretschmer thing....

Oh, That's What That was...

No Photo Due To Graphic Nature of Creature

I need to first go back to the fall of 2002……we lived in the Bellatrix House on USMC Air Station Miramar (Sand Diego, Ca).  I had heard about these horrid bugs referred to as Sewer Roaches, yes the name says it all!  I have ALWAYS been VERY bug conscientious!  I hate them, I loathe them, and I curse their VERY existence!!  Okay, maybe that is a bit dramatic, but I do know that I am VERY happy to have NOT been Noah’s wife, I might not have gotten on the Ark with those creatures, or at least some of them would not be around today…..I do think I would have discreetly thrown some overboard when no one was looking.  I have wondered if there are less bugs on the earth today due to someone on the Ark who just might have done what I would have done……but, anyways……….back to the Sewer Roaches of Miramar.  I had only ever seen glimpses of these giant creatures heading to their crypts in the late evening hours.  They would be wobbling as they walked down the gutters towards the sewer entrances.  They are very ugly and about the size of my remote for the TV.  One horribly, horrific evening I saw one in MY house!!!  Again, I am VERY bug conscientious and I bomb my house regularly so there will NEVER be any bug invaders thinking they can take up residency in my place!!  I totally freaked!  IT was upstairs.  I grabbed Ryan who was 1 and Ty was 2 and went screaming down the stairs to the living room, yes, I was screaming like I was on fire and hyperventilating.  Ed was a Drill Instructor back then, so yeah, he wasn’t home and he had duty so I knew there wasn’t even the possibility that he could come home and kill it!  Vicki and Jorden were there too, they just got themselves downstairs by themselves because they saw me screaming and running with Thing One and Thing Two.  I explained to them what we were up against.  Jorden and I each put on a pair of Ed’s big ole combat boots from the garage and armed with a can of bug spray we proceeded back upstairs with Vicki guarding the little boys downstairs.  We came around the second corner on the stairs and grabbed hands and tip toed up the last set of stairs where we froze scanning the landing looking for movement.  There was none.  We headed towards the bedroom it had been closest to when I fled screaming my bloody head off, nothing there.  We turned around to check another room and YIKES!!!  It was on the landing coming towards us!  I don’t know who shoved who but Jorden and I were both determined to get out of this creatures way and we screamed and ran for the stairs!  I turned back and it was following us!!  More screams, me grabbing Jorden and pulling him back up the stairs and telling him to step on it!  He said I should because I weigh more and have a better chance of killing it!  True, but I told him he had the steel toe boots on so he could kill it if he ballerina twirled on it!  There was also discussion on me paying him 20 bucks and him telling me I could be 20 bucks richer if I were to step on it…as I pulled him back up the stairs with me.  The bug was gone again!!!  We began looking for it and out it pops!  It either was really enjoying its effect on us or it wanted to die.  I than remembered I had the bug spray and right when I was about to spray it Jorden asks if it can fly…..Fly?  I don’t know if it can fly…..should I spray it and hope for the best?  I sprayed it, it didn’t fly….it just now proceeded to follow me while I kept spraying it and screaming and Jorden yelling step on it Mom step on it Mom!!!!  It began to crawl slower and slower and was now pulling its body sideways and still coming at me.  It was a dreadful moment in my life; this hideous creature was still coming towards me and the poisonous toxins I was spraying in its face!  Jorden was yelling, “Kill it NNNNOWWWWWWWW  Mom!!!!”  (Looking back, it totally sounded like how things in the movies sound when it is shouted out in slow motion and all distorted sounding)  I let out an amazing battle cry, charged forward, and stomped on this heinous creature!!!  My battle cry immediately shifted to screaming mommy cry as I heard (and I swear could feel) all the crunching going on as I squished the life out of this beastly creature!!!  Jorden was soooo proud of me, the kids were now safe and I had the unpleasantries of cleaning up the carcass that seemed to be all legs and antennas that were still wiggling.  Yes, I screamed while I was getting it into the dustpan and flushing down the toilet!!  I flushed 3 times to be safe.  We also slept downstairs that night…..well the kids slept, I had dreams of them crawling through the vents and invading our house.  I kept waking up thinking the ceilings were covered with them and they were now dropping on us.  It was a HORRIBLE night!  I actually considered going to a hotel, but was still too petrified to go back upstairs and get the things needed to leave the house with 2 babies!  The next time Ed was home I told him about our gruesome night and he says, “Oh, that must have been what was in my boot……”  I came unglued and said “WHAT?!!!”  He told me the other morning he had gone out to the garage to get a pair of his boots and when he reached in to get his boot bands something crawled up his hand and he flicked it off, put on his boots, laced ‘em up, and left for work!!!  He had been sitting on the bottom stair…..that ghastly creature had made its way upstairs and had been hanging out all day before I saw it!  I was soooo sick to my stomach and told him flicking a giant insect off of you and leaving it in the house with your family is grounds for a divorce.  He laughed and said it was 3 am; he was exhausted and wasn’t even thinking straight.  I let it slide that time, but he better not ever let a creature that dreadful into our house EVER again!!!  hahahahahah 

Legs of the South!

The spiders here REALLY creep me out!!!



Don't care for Mr. Leggy either!!!



It is officially Spring in the South!  We had our first dreadful spider IN the house!  Vicki was the lucky one; it was in her room up by the ceiling.  It looked like a biter and so we called Daddy in to kill the beast!  Yay, he is home this Spring when the creatures begin making their appearances!  He missed out last year being in lovely Afghanistan and so Jorden had to come to our rescue, and unfortunately Jorden and I still debate over who does the killing…..Jorden always has a very good argument on why I should be the one to do the deed……Ed just grumbled and went in there not even needing something to stand on and squished it in the Kleenex pile one of the kids handed him.  Our ceilings are high and me trying to kill them up there, well it is YIKESTERVILLE! I can’t scream because I am afraid it might fall in my mouth and if I miss it, well it might land in my hair, my back, well anywhere on my person would be just plain horrifying, not to mention me not falling from the stepping stool I am balanced on!!!  Next, an ugly centipede made its debut in the kid’s bathroom….   So, I bombed the house with toxins that say will kill everything!  Again, high ceilings, so smoke detectors went off since I couldn’t reach them to take out batteries, alarm service called while I was hanging out in the backyard with our pets.  They laughed and read out loud the history of when they had called last, October, and it was the same excuse this time  when I bombed my house last time.  I bomb in between the visits from the pest control peeps that come out and spray their stuff too.  I hate bugs….I wonder if I was traumatized as a child when we lived in the tropical country of the Philippines….?  Any who, the house is bug free and should continue to stay that way until next spring when winter goes away and everything comes back out….

The Vampire & Wherewolf One Year Later




One Year Ago

 

One year later....and not much has changed....well, Leah, named after Leah, the wolf in the Twilight Series since Jasper was named after my favorite vampire, has only changed in size and wardrobe.  She no longer has cute swimsuits, skirts, hoodies, and jerseys because she has grown so flippin' big!!!  She still gives Jasper a run for his money and chews on his head, tail, legs, you name it she gnaws on it but they are still the bestest of buddies!



Yesterday

 

Pillow Talk

I was folding clothes while these two silly dillies were just going on and on on my pillows.  My camera was sitting on the bed and so i got a quick little video clip and than they heard something and went a running!

Warm Milk

Recent dinner table conversation.....
Ed "I like warm milk"
Ty "I don't"
Me "When did you have warm milk?"
Ty "From the recycle bin"
Whole family "EWWWWWWWWW!!!!!"
Ty "It was in the neighbors recycle bin"
Whole family *shouts of disgust, dry heaves* and loud "EWWWSSSSS!!!"
Ty tells us "I was playing outside last summer and I was thirsty and saw some milk left in a milk carton at my friends house and so I opened it and drank it and gagged and thought I was going to die and that warm milk does NOT taste good and Dad is gross!!"
Whole family, "No Ty, YOU ARE GROSS!!!!  

Ty...... Spring 2011

An impromtu performance on the docks...



Sporting Moms hat & scarf



This boy is always singing and dancing.  Michael Jackson has been one of his idols forever it seems.  He has memorized all of his dance moves and as been working on the "Moon Walk" since he was six!  I can not count how many times he and Ryan have watched "This Is It"  Lately it is Justin Beiber songs.....I am sure we will be buying the "Never Say Never" movie.  It is too cute to see him singing Justin songs with his little dance moves going on.  I sadly promised i would not take pictures or videos if i am watching him.  Ty is dressed almost ALWAYS in a pair of jeans, and he prefers jeans with holes in the knees.  He says it is because his knees are always scraped up from playing (usually tackle football with his friends) and the holes keep the jeans from rubbing on his scabs.  He is obbsessed with action figures, mostly Clone Wars Storm Troopers, but also has Lord of the Rings, Special Force Dudes and such included in his various boxes he carries around from room to room and in the car.  I find them everywhere when i am cleaning the house, usually left behind in some torterous position or still deep under cover and hidden so well from a previous battle that they weren't cleaned up.  He loves his mp3 player and is constantly begging me to add more songs.  He knows the words to all the "cool" songs.  He is always singing in the car and it was hillarious to be singing "Hey Soul Sister" at the top of our lungs on the way home from baseball practice the other night.  He is VERY confident in HIM and thinks it is hillarious to try on anybodys clothes!  He is now into clothes and has specifics now when we go clothing shopping.  I currently have a pair of jeans i need to exchange as he says he no longer wears THOSE kind of jeans.  It made me laugh to think i will actually have to take him shopping for clothes now!  The girls love Ty and he comes home from school regularly distraught over a love note that came his way or being told another girl wrote "I Love Ty" on the bathroom wall.  I hope he never changes and he is always in a pair of holey jeans singing and dancing.....

Loves to perform!

My Little Karate Kids

I love capturing these two when they have no idea i have been watching them!  They are usually tangled up with each other, but this time i actually caught them in a shot where they are not karate chopping each other!  I should have videoed them doing all these slow motion moves on the docks, but here is one of my favorite pictures i captured of these two....spring 2011

C'mon Dogs

Leah and Jasper were non stop fighting over a raw hide. They have tons, but Jasper always insists on going outside with something in his mouth, usually a raw hide..unfortunately he doesn't bring them back in, so they dwindle down to one and they fight, fight, fight over the last one in the house! I have to go outside on raw hide hunts regularly.....after a sweep of the backyard i end up with a pile for them........

CLR-2 Christmas Party

Ed's Christmas Party for work was a total blast for Ty and Ryan. They played Kinnect almost the entire time! They spent most the night throwing punches and kicking their opponent. Dinner was actually delicious and the evening of mandatory fun ended up being enjoyable! Vicki was like, "wow, there are LOTS of prego wives here!" Ed and i laughed, like duh, they all just got back from deployment about 5 months ago! Vicki said Ed is the super star at his work because all the Marines have to come over and sit and talk to him. She refers to his Marines as his "Fan Club" because whenever she goes anywhere with him they appear out of nowhere to say hello or holler at him from wherever they are. She says all you hear anytime you go places with him on base is "Gunny K! Gunny K!" lol Ty even let me take a quick picture of him with Santa, but Ryan said "No way!" and gave me the "slice the throat" gesture!

What Is Wrong With This Picture?

Ty and Ryan have decided that the Christmas Tree is a purfect place for them to stash their gloves when they come inside. I ignored their gloves, storm troopers, army men, and even Darth Maul during the Christmas season

It Was Bound To Happen

Just a bit behind and these next few hundred posts will be out of order as i transfer from my family journal to my blog.....We carefully decorated the tree leaving no decorations or lights at the bottom part of the tree. Unfortunately, our dogs are tall. They must have liked the smell....they managed to take down a ginger bread man and eat him. I was able to salvage a few parts before i gave these silly dogs of ours a lecture on eating Christmas decorations. I'm sure it went in one floppy ear and out the other but they didn't eat any more decorations for the rest of the holiday season!!!

Ed and Our Boys

This will always be one of my favorite songs!  I heard it several years ago when we were on Okinawa and i just kept seeing all these little stories of Ed and our boys.  It is sooo true how boys want to be just like their Daddys!  But for us, instead of strumming guitars it has been learning cadence, cargo pants were cammies....basically a military version of the song....but they have all had a spilled Happy Meal experiance with their Daddy!  The boys have always wanted to wear cammies, go fight the bad guys, and get their black belt, fight their Dad and WIN!!! lol

A Favorite Christmas Song

I'm Not Ghetto!!!

My day started with Tae Bo and weights in the garage, 10 miles on the trail that Jasper TOTALLY loved and than abs back at home on the floor with both dogs competing on who can cover my face with the most kisses! Totally gross, but love my furry kids! That was priceless!  We had Vicki's football game tonight. I had zipped over to the commissary and picked up a few non refrigerated items, one being a box of the new Chocolate Special K cereal. I brought the box with me out of the car and was eating it out of the box sitting in my chair. Ed looks over at me and is telling me he has NEVER seen anyone eat cereal right out of the box...AND that i am TOTALLY ghetto for eating cereal this was! I don't find this ghetto at all!!! During half time i am given this sheet of paper with the snack schedule on it. It shows that i have end of game drinks, TONIGHT!!!  At 3rd quarter i am off for a drink dash for 17 football players!!! Like who does that?!!! I've made these kinds of lists dozens of times! Whoever is making the list should do the first game if they can't get the lists created in time and given to the parents at one of the practices  Hope they liked the low cal orange Gatorade's  since that was the ONLY choice on what was open and ALREADY cold!!! But since Vicki's team won i don't think they cared too much what the after game drink was!!!

Just Too Busy!

I do promise to come back to Blogger World someday, just not today, tomorrow, or who knows how many days after that! We are having fun with our North Carolina adventures but I can only keep up with my journal and photo books these days! Hoping to be able to read all of your blogs sometime in the near future, i am sooo far behind in your guys's lives and i miss you all!!! But, it is summer and summer is full of fun, travels, beach, pool, and kick back evenings on the porch in my rocker with a great book or fabulous company! Soooooo, probably won't be back to my blog until things slow down in the fall or when Ed leaves again in the dead of winter! Yes, he is back from his Afghanistan adventures and only came home with a broken nose and cracked rib! Those dang IED's need to just go away! But, that is another blog for another time! LOL Hope your lives are all as full as ours are and that i can catch up on you guys someday! Love and miss all you blogging friends of mine!!! But..... is there anything better than giant pieces of chocolate cake and jumping in a giant room filled with trampolines.....? Well, other than family and friends of course, oh and the deep blue sea, and roller coasters, and......yes, i guess those will just be future blogs someday.....

Name That Tune

Starting in the middle so it isn't sooo easy to guess!!

Video clip to Ed for our "Name That Tune" game we play accross the ocean...

Free or Kept....?

We have 3 vehicles….Jorden drives the micromachine, well it is actually a Jeep Cherokee Sport, but we affectionately call it the micromachine, it is small and you can park it anywhere! Ed drives his truck and his fat boy. I drive the Commander….I’m not complaining about my wheels, I do like it, so don’t get me wrong…..but when I am driving the Commander I feel like I need to have make up on, hair in place, no windows down, a manicure with nails done, and of course a designer outfit with matching shoes and jewelry! That chick is NOT me!!! BUT, when I drive Ed’s truck I can be ME and I love it!!! I am the girl with the super messy ponytail, flip flops-sometimes not matching- or sperrys, always capris, either denim or cargos, totally casual shirt, designer NOTHING, no manicure although toe nails will always be cute, and fun jewelry, nothing a thief would waste time on! (Well, maybe my necklace Ed brought me back from Iraq that I wear my half of my heart on) I can also take Jasper with me in the truck!!! Needless to say, I would rather be the free chickie than the kept one and I will drive the truck as much as I can before Ed comes home and takes claim of his wheels again!!! AAWWWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Then I will go back to being the misplaced free chickie driving a kept chickies wheels! LOL

Clean Up On Aisle 9

Clean Up On Aisle 9
It happens every time my Marine goes away, no matter what the time frame of his absence is, there is that one day where I crack, just fall apart………….this time it happened on day 147, just 5 days shy of the 6 month mark ………….the day had started fine……..we had a fabulous time at the beach, we all came home the same color as when we left-that is success-enjoyed the rest of the day, went to the movies, yes, that was a disappointment, don’t go see The Back Up Plan, I left before it finished, they made sure to use every single flippin’ word, scene, etc, they could get away with and keep it PG-13. Sooo glad I didn’t take Vicki with me. I decided to do some grocery shopping on the way home. I was also starving!! I had made a lasagna on Tuesday and just had no desire to have it 5 nights in a row!! Anyways, I am walking aimlessly up and down the aisles of the grocery store and there is not one single thing that sounds good!! I picked up an egg sandwich in the Deli, blah, uhg, put it away. The cut up fruit looked sad, made my way over to the freezer section, of course the ice cream I wanted was on the top shelf. This requires me to actually climb up into the freezer and up the first shelf, yes people stared but I didn’t care and than the flavor I wanted wasn’t even up there, so I was just freezing. I kept thinking Jusco or a Family Mart would just be soooo perfect to have nearby, but since I am an ocean away from there I was trying to make do with the Walmart Super Center. UHG! I found nothing and just wanted to cry, but then I figured if I started crying and someone asked me what was wrong and I told them I was hungry they would think I was weird, 1. I am fat and 2. I was at the grocery store!! I was scrolling thru my phone and reading facebook posts and Leilani was there!!! So, I was texting back and forth with my super cool friend thru my melt down and of course she had me laughing and gave a virtual slap and so there ended up being no need for a clean up on aisle 9 from the lady bawling uncontrollably!!!

Two Books To Treasuer

I bought two of the same books, What I Love About You, one went with Ed to Afghanistan and I have one for me. I told Ed that he doesn’t have to finish it this deployment, but I did tell him it would be the most incredible 20 year anniversary present! Sooo, that would give him 6 years to finish it since we celebrated our 14th anniversary February 3rd. It has been fun writing in his book! It has gone everywhere with me! I rotate back and forth during waiting times scrolling thru facebook on my phone or writing in his book. I recommend both during deployments! They both have kept me cracking up but the book has been sooo fun remembering all our silly times and being able to be creative with no limitations since this book will be for his reading eye balls ONLY!!!

Deployment Dinners

Yes, when my Marine is gone breakfast is very common for dinner. It is consumed quickly and nobody minds having this dinner the next morning. Traditional dinners seem to drag on night after night when the dude in cammies is gone. Pot Roast that might carry into the next day with my love home will drag for 5 days with the kids tapping out on day 3 and taking the bowl of cereal option , lasagna can take up residence in the fridge for a week before I throw away those last few servings, and grilling…..well, let’s just say the dogs love me!!! So, yes, we eat breakfast a lot around here when Mr. Hottie is gone.

Up-Grade Time

UHG is all I have to say! I think phones are purposefully made to last for just one year. The notice came in the mail letting me know it was time to get new phones. Like I am still learning how to operate this blackberry, now I have to start all over again!! UHG! But, I did need a new one, the hour glass spun forever and so I would miss tons of calls because by the time the phone rang and hour glass finished spinning the person was already leaving a message. The little ball would randomly freeze to and yield my phone basically unusable until it started working again. Jorden and Vicki were thrilled though!! Jorden’s turns off all the time, literally, and you have to hold the chord when you want it to charge, no joke, and not exactly sure what Vixs problems were, only that she was soooo looking forward to a new phone. The kids and Ed’s request were to have pretty much the same phone, pull out keyboard, camera, and still have internet, facebook, and texting. Easy, done. Me, I didn’t want a ball, no touch screen, a bigger screen, bigger keyboard-wanted each button to have its own letter, AND I wanted it to be the same size!!! Mine fit perfectly into my steering wheel so I could put whatever pix I wanted on my screen and see it while driving! Well, what do you know?!! Got it and it was free, life is good. I’m not a techo gadget queen and don’t need the latest thing out there, just basic phone functions, text-I prefer to text than talk, I know sad, my yahoo, and of course facebook for those moments when I am stuck waiting or extremely long red lights, corner of Western and Marine I can get completely caught up on all my friends stats if I miss it just right! So, after all was said and done, 2 phones, one blackberry, 2 car chargers, 2 covers, 2 wireless ear piece things, and 2 memory cards I walked outta Verizon $180 poorer and hopefully they last for a year!

Patio Furniture Assembled

There were many requests to see what the outcome was on my attempt to put a millions pieces together to assemble my 10 piece patio set……….well after cursing a billion times it finally all came together and two days later we were able to enjoy the backyard much better now that we have a place to sit!!! LOL