Thursday Thoughts!

So what does a girl say on the day after her birthday? Not much...it was a pretty low key affair, I baked a lovely carrot cake in the a.m. had coffee with a new friend, then piddled in the afternoon. Dinner was in, my choice, since it had been nearly two weeks since we have been able to sit down and eat at our own table, I though it was a great idea! Menu was my choice as well, meatloaf, mashed potatoes w/gravy, and corn, YUMMY, comfort food. It was nice to get phone calls, texts and cards throughout the day, but the best part was just sitting at the table enjoying easy conversation and yummy food. The schedule has been really full the last few weeks so those times have been fewer and fewer and with the upcoming holiday season they may become extinct for the time being.

The days are still quite warm here, but I know the calendar shows we are in November. I really like it, however, it is a bit odd. Although I did pull out a denim jacket the other day while I ran out to an evening meeting. I didn't really need it for the outdoor environment, but with the A/C in the building it was nice to have.

I find myself wondering what I do, but then I look at my calender and see I do many things because there are many things listed on it, but some days I wonder what I really do...something I have been pondering amongst the many meetings, volunteer commitments, social engagements, church, graduations, proclamations, "fill in the blank" drives, promotions, tours, launches, retirements, etc.that I attend. I do feel like sometimes my garage door goes up and down more then the stock market as I dash in and out going to and fro and at the end of the day I wonder what did I do today? It is my intent to do those things that be glorifying to my God. So I smile as often as possible, give an encouraging word, hopefully, bring a smile to someone else, lighten a load, lend a hand, offer experience and be a friend to the friendless. I do not aim to be in the midst of the hubbub, I prefer the background, I so do not want to make someone else feel uncomfortable, or unworthy or out of sorts because of my presence, I desire to be approachable, friendly and received with no pretenses. These are not easy things to achieve, these are not extraordinary things that most of us would not want, but I find myself struggling to keep my life in perspective, to not get up in arms over things that are out of my control, to be gracious in my many circumstances, to be positive, to be a good role model. I trust God for my wisdom, strength and my salvation and I find it incredible that others make it in life without Him, I know I could not, I don't even want to try, I thank God that He loves me, day in and day out in spite of my many shortcomings.

My thoughts today are...

• I am thankful for life!
• I am thankful for a new friend.
• I am thankful for getaway trips!
• I am thankful for iced pumpkin spice coffee :)
• I am thankful for the protocol staff who keeps me in line!

November 1st

I am in utter disbelief as November has somehow rolled into my world this year and I can't even begin to believe it's here, but the calender assures me it is. I think the weather has something to do with it. Last night we sat out under the night sky in 77o weather at "four doors down" and enjoyed the fire pit party. We spent the earlier part of the evening helping out down at the South Chapel Harvest Party. What a fun event, of course, seeing the adorable little ones as bees, pumpkins, Spiderman, Batman, Robin, "old married couple", Supergirl, pirates, clowns, was the best part of all, they were sooooo super cute. We enjoyed it, I think those in attendance did too since there was an abundance of free snow cones, popcorn, hot dogs, soda!

I feel like I have lost a few weeks so the quick rap is that we had a blast with our guests two weeks ago. We did long lunches, exteded beach walks, sightseeing, shopping, card playing nightly, ate lots of skittles and hot tamales, and enjoyed a lot of laughs, along with a girls morning of manis and pedis. It was a week that went by all too quickly. I miss them, I miss the closeness of family; being in NE spoiled me since it was just a short 4.5 hour drive, we are so much farther away and I feel the disconnect all too much. In fact I got an email from one of the second sisters this week and it was so sad that we have not chatted since summer. I know life is rolling along on their end just as it is on mine and our worlds have not intersected lately, it makes my heart heavy! I do try to keep up with "the littles" and I talked to them often at Gigi's and this week of course one just breathed into the phone (I was told she grinned while we were talking) and the other excitedly told me he was "tree now"! I miss them...I miss them all! I'm also all too aware that they are walking through some tough stuff as they try to tie up loose ends from Papa's passing, not an easy tasks...

Anyway onto this week, I had the opportunity to "ride along" with MIB to the panhandle this week and enjoy a few days away. What a great getaway!! I savored the few days away, just the two of us with very little commitments to see to, it was awesomeness at its best. I love getting these little taste of our retirement future!

Beach time is still high on our to do list and the agenda most days is head out after work, the weather has been so conducive for this, then home for a quick, light dinner, before a quiet evening and early to bed to do it all over again. Since MIB is in marathon training mode, runs take place in the early morning hours to beat the heat so our bedtime has moved up significantly, evening beach going helps us to wind down and call it an evening very easily. In fact, as soon as I get this post done we are heading out to enjoy the sand and surf today! So that's a wrap...and we are outta here :)

Until next time!

YouWho it's Thursday!

In just under 48 hours the plane will touch down with our guests for a week, we are so excited to finally be having guests. I know, I know, it is HOT here in the summer and no one wanted to come, but the truth is there was a big blue/green/gray/brown/silver ocean to cool you; it was awesome to be at the ocean on those sweltering days. I know we will get some ocean time in next week as well!!

It's been steady this week, just enough things in the day to keep me out of the house for at least a few hours everyday, which made it somewhat challenging preparing for our visitors. But there are no worries, I have most of the cobweb downs and rearranged the dust so it is all good! We have a lot more room in this house and it is not uncommon for me to not even go upstairs for several days at a time. Really, before I went up to clean I cannot even remember the last time I went up there...hmmm, I bet it was when I ran up there to retrieve something off the printer; that is really all I go up there for! That's bad...I hope to start spending some more time up there as that is where I have located all my scrap booking supplies. Anyway, when I did go up there this week to spiff things up I was not thrilled to find several dead bugs...yeah, one dead wasp, two dead flies and several dead earwigs I think that is what they are called and one very alive silverfish, YUCK, I am not one who I would consider afraid of bugs but I still don't like them, especially in my house!

So on Saturday night we will be dining at Cheesecake Factory, yuuuuuummmmy! I cannot believe mySherry has never been. This I found unbelievable and made it my mission to be take her while she is here! Then on to our hotel for a relaxing/restful evening with some pool time I imagine and then Sunday, it is "SEAWORLD, here we come"!

Then we will head back to Cocoa Beach and spend the week beachin' it, shopping, long lunches out, late night conversations and games I am sure it will be mucho funo! Looking forward to it! I am sooooo excited! Of course, we will do some touristy things in the area as well but mainly just hang out and relax.

Thursday Thoughts!

• I love my MIB
• It's raining and I love it!
• I miss my family most this time of year.
• It's hard to be so far away from family...
• I got a $2.49 pumpkin at Aldi this week!!

Ahhh Thursday!

Since it's Thursday, that means tomorrow is F R I D A Y :)

I mean who doesn't like the weekend, right? MiB has been gone this week to "the Hill" and returned today, yeah!!! It was a good visit from the emails I got and I am sure I will hear more about it when we get to sit down and have dinner or lunch or coffee on the beach together this weekend. However, I just returned home and found MiB laid out in the bed...not good, he is feeling crummy, he is nauseous, severely nauseous, along with a headache. He doesn't have a temp to the touch but he says he is having episodes of sweating, then feeling chilled. Lord, please don't let it be the flu, especially the pig kind...while I don't want him to be ill at all, I pray that it is just a gastrointestinal viral bug that bit him and nothing more and it will pass on by quickly, very quickly. In Jesus name, AMEN. And really, I do not think at all it is the swine flu, but everyone seems to think that is what someone has the minute they hear anyone is sick. His symptoms at this point would lead one to believe it is a classic stomach virus.

I have many thoughts swirling around in my head this afternoon...this morning I joined others from the community to pay respect to a fallen soldier from Satellite Beach. It was a humbling, sobering experience. We held out our flags as the breeze made them wave while the black hearse made it's way down South Patrick Drive. They were waving goodbye. While the southbound lanes were closed, northbound lane drivers immediately pulled over and came to a stop when they realized what was happening. Some drivers even exited their vehicles to stand in silence as the family cars along with the Patriot Guard made their way to the funeral home. There was a long procession of vehicles, it was painfully silent as the cars continued to file by.



This makes me sad, he was so young. He paid the ultimate sacrifice for his country. I am so proud to be an AMERICAN, I am proud to be a military wife. I think about the fact that this time last year my own MiB was serving in the same country that this young soldier died in. It seems to get more dangerous by the day, I am thankful, I am grateful for those who continue to fight to keep our country free and to help others seek freedom for their countries as well, we are a great nation and today many were reminded we are a nation at war, a war that is deadly, a war that is costly in human lives. I am sad that many people in our country do not seem to realize we are at war. We live our lives with such careless disregard to this fact, it is not like the other wars we have been in, it is a feeling I find hard to describe.

On a different note here are my Thursday thoughts:

• Tomorrow is F R I D A Y :) TGIF


• I ordered more blueberry coffee :0)


• The youth group pumpkins arrive tonight :p


• I like dried cranberries, walnuts and raisins!


• There is a pink flamingo party this weekend!

Hope you have a fantabulous weekend! I plan to!

A walk down engagement lane...

It was 25 years ago today that I said "YES" when MiB asked me to marry him...I knew he was the one for me and I wanted to keep him so when he asked I was definitely saying yes!!! We picked out the ring together at the local jewelry store and then he went to ask my dad if he could marry me before he would let me have it. That was a memorable evening for us, my dad didn't just give a "sure" or even "yes" it was a nearly 2 hour speech which MiB still vividly recalls to this day :) He often recalls bits and pieces to LilBlue and other young ones we encounter. I would say there are no secrets in our marriage, no magic potions, just a lot of honesty that has gotten us through the years. Our life is not a fairytale no matter what Ms Vada says/thinks but it is often magical because we still work very hard to make it that way. We have, fortunately, been blessed with good Godly examples of marriages. I was the product of the big "D" and wanted no part of that, who would, and in reality I don't think anyone plans for that; however, it is something that happens. I do not think anyone is immune from that possibility and if you do feel that way, IMO you are already at a disadvantage, all marriages are vulnurable, period.

So what has sustained us? Like I said there is no magic potion that I am aware of...but there is a lot of patience, lots of unconditional love, laughter and a love of God, not in that order... We try to honor each other every day, we try to keep it fresh and new, we try to not fall into ruts, (I had my first surfing lesson yesterday, I wouldn't try that for just anyone!), we keep God first and balance all the other demands in our life. We are pulled in many directions with MiB's job, we make the choice to do those things we can do together before we choose those things we do separately, some people think we are joined at the hip, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing :) and we really aren't, we each have some different interests that we keep up with but we do try to make sure we aren't consumed by them. We try to heed that advice given to us from those who have succeeded, such as

• NEVER, ever, ever go to bed mad
• Treat each other as you are still dating
• Do not speak poorly of your mate to anyone

Don't kid yourself, we have had our own set of ups and downs...we have not always kept to the solid advice give but we have tried. We have also done marriage retreats, couples weekends and rented ears...all to make sure we stayed on solid ground. We have worked through some deep issues, we have had "moments", we are human, life is not always a cake walk and far from perfect but we try to continue to grow together in our marriage and we continually give God the glory for our life. It's worked for us and we have thankfully avoided a marriage on the rocks. I pray daily for MiB and I know he does the same for me, we pray together, we worship together, we do life together, we do not live separate lives and live under the same roof, we do it together, ALL of it, the good, the better and the best~

I am so glad I said, YES" all those years ago!

143 MiB :)

Thursday Thoughts...

Another week, another blog entry...maybe I should do more...maybe I should do less. There is so much more I could do...but so much less I get done...

Fall has officially arrived everywhere but here, we are still quite warm; however, they say we will be getting a cold front from the midwest soon. We'll see, but I am not thinking there will be any frost on the pumpkin, mold maybe but not frost!

Our traveling adventures will begin again now that cooler weather is around the corner. In fact, we start off with having company in a couple weeks and will do some local things in O and here around our area with them. Then MiB and I head to the Panama City area for a few days where I am just the tagalong but will enjoy the surroundings! After that we have a few days at home before we head out to California for two weeks. I am really excited to get to go back to Cali where we will spend a week exploring the southern part of the state before heading up to L.A. for our conference. I wanted to go across the border but there are restrictions on MiB preventing us from doing that so we will be skipping it this time. There will be plenty of other things to do so no worries!

This week has been busy, but good, with lots of sand between my toes time so life is good!

Thoughts:

• Pumpkins make me smile!
• Pumpkin coffee is a great treat.
• Pumpkin pie is a favorite of mine.
• Pumpkins just scream F A L L in my book.
• Pumpkins are orange (couldn't resist the obvious)

Until I write again...

IT'S REALLY OVER!!!

That is my personal ORI ending slogan, which is ORI backwards and I could not be more glad...while the ORI is a great thing, it's also a tiring thing and so, again, I am glad It's Really Over! If you keep the BIG picture in mind, ORIs are great, they are beneficial, they tell us what we are doing right and wrong, they show us where we get it and where we need to improve, they show where the process is working and were the process is broken...we had some broken processes, we aren't doing it all right and we need to improve, this is a truth for any organization if they take an in depth look at themselves,;so this should really be no huge surprise and it wasn't to those who look at things with open, honest eyes. However, the what happens next is the real cliffhanger. Will we continue to carry on or will we admit the errors of our way and make changes to "do it right"? Will we blow off what the Inspectors said we need to/should do or will we incorporate their findings into our new routines? Will we become even better or will we just continue to maintain? It's really up to the individual in many respects, but it is also up to our leadership, to continue to follow up on these "findings" and make sure we are all reading on the same sheet of music to move forward to being better! Only time will tell if we "do it right" for the future, but here's hoping we do!

Today the celebratory picnic is going on, then tomorrow is a reward day off, I hope everyone takes advantage of this and spends some time with their families, who probably feel somewhat neglected after the last several weeks of inspection madness. But it is now over, time to regroup and recharge and start on the next chapter of life here on the space coast. It's all good, we passed! We got the best score to date in our command, we are rockin'!

We are also trying to get another rocket in the air and at first the weather was not cooperative, now it's a fuel line leak, so here's looking to tomorrow for our next successful launch! The space business is definitely booming here!

So thoughts of this Thursday...

• Days off are NEVER overrated.
• My MiB is loving this surfing gig!
• Cheesecake is a favorite of mine!
• We are trying out a LifeGroup on Sunday...
• I love to read and have been getting in some pages lately :)

Ciao!