Lunch :)

After we hit up the local farmer's markets we had to have lunch utilizing some of our bounty.

YUM, YUM, YUM, that's all there is to ay about that!

LUNCH

Have a great day! We are off to a patriotic concert and a promotion party! It's a great Saturday in the BLUE!

Thursday Thoughts

HOT, hot, HOT that's what we got here in LA! Plenty of hotness, triple digits this entire week, I am not a fan of heat as with heat comes humidity and with humidity comes bad hair days for Mrs Blue! Heat is NOT my friend!

However, with summer brings the farmer's market and while I have not made it to the big one downtown I did score some great melons at the supermarket. Price was awesome at .98c a piece! I took some in my lunch today :)

 My melons, I cut two, one was way better then the other, but both edible!

It's ALS graduation tonight, I have a BIG to do list so I need to motor, have a stellar day. Say a prayer for USAFA and surrounding area as the wild fires are still a HUGE concern. We still have many, many good friends there!

ALL ranks day

I know I have mentioned Airman's Attic before, I usually talk more about it F2F rather then the blog. If you have forgotten it is the place that our younger Airmen can come and choose things for FREE. Yes, that's right FREE. Like 5 food items from our food pantry, FREE. Yes, we do have a food pantry and sadly it is very needed. We also stock baby food and cleaning supplies. Our Attic is hard to describe but if you have ever had the opportunity to visit a thrift shop you can make a similar comparison to the Attic. Only we also have uniforms including blues, ABUs and PT gear. Did I mention it's all FREE. Yep!

So once a month we have ALL ranks days. It is the last full week of the month. We are swamped and it's crazy but it's a good crazy and super great for all those who come. We have LTs, Chiefs, Cols, and everything in between, and of course we can't forget to mention our retirees. We get ALL ranks during this week, hence the name. There are rules; some things no matter that it's ALL ranks are still reserved specifically for our younger Airmen. Some bases do not do the ALL ranks, it is definitely a perk and we see it as win-win. It's good that so many utilize this benefit. It is also a little sad, for some are not there just to help stretch the dollar, they are there out of a real need. And speaking of needs, it definitely meets needs, it is very humbling to be involved with the Attic, the blessing stories are unparalleled!

The Attic just so you know receives no funding from the USAF, it is an ALL volunteer organization. Donations and dedicated volunteers are what keep the doors open. Fortunately here one of the private orgs have taken on the oversight of the Attic or it would go by the wayside. The AFI no longer mandates that this program exist which until I came here I did not know. I thought Attics and Loan Lockers were part of the AFRC programming. It's been a learning experience to find out that they are not and again the private org oversight definitely brings a unique spin to the dynamics od keeping the doors open. But again, lots of folks are pulling together and making it happen and the result is one of THE BEST facilities I have ever seen. HUGE kudos go to our local AFSA chapter as we would not have the awesome food pantry nor some of the other necessary operating items if it were not for their helping support of the Attic

Back to ALL ranks day...I got a little sidetracked there, sorry. We were busy today, which is always the case on all ranks days, goodness, really we are pretty much busy every day we are open! But yesterday MiB stopped by as he tries to do as his schedule allows. Because as I tell him and he had some to find out it is amazing what you can find out about the morale and lives of your Airman when you meet them in such a setting as the Attic.

Anyway, he found some shoes...yes, MiB got shoes at the Attic today, now if Ms Shirl would have had her way he would have had more then one pair. But here's the kicker, we were getting ready to go to an event Saturday night and I said you really need to take the time so we can go find you some new black shoes. He said he knew and this wasn't the first time I had mentioned the need for new black shoes. So it was priceless that he stopped in, it was all ranks and he found new black shoes! I love the Attic :) He was impressed and surprised to makes such a great find as I don't think he has ever truly looked at our merchandise.

 

 MiB trying on black shoes; Ms Shirl trying to get him a back up pair!

 Seriously, we get good stuff. Our donations include MANY name brands like Aeropostle, Hollister, Izod, Coach, Kuerig, Tommy, MissMe, Levi's, Yankee Candle, Ann Taylor, Coldwater Creek, , Dooney and Burke, Nike, Abercrombie, American Eagle, Pampered Chef, White House Black Market, Columbia and I could go on and on. The donations we receive for the most part on any given day are gently used with lots of life left in them. It's amazing!

Sad Thursday Thoughts

It is yet again that I write Thursday Thoughts with a heavy heart as we have had another loss in our base community. As hard as losses are it is even harder when it is the life on one so young. There are no words that can be spoken in a time such as this. these parents are devastated, a true tragedy.

My thoughts are silent and still, please pray for the family of one so very young that is no longer with us as they seek to find peace in the midst of this terrible loss.

Weekend Wrap Up and Happy Father's Day :)

Took in a couple movies this weekend...which was nice! Been a little on the busy side so to be able to go sit in a movie theater and only have the phone ring once in each movie was awesome. I think MiB enjoyed yesterday's movie more but I thought today's was good!

In amongst the movie were a few other enjoyable events and then of course I would be remiss if I did not make mention of FATHER'S DAY! I have a wonderful, good father and I am married to an awesome, great father, I have the best of all worlds. It's an amazing adventure to parent, I am glad we have had this adventure, we have a terrific daughter :)

I am hoping for an early bedtime this evening. I have already prepared the requested meals of the day, we are now having some much needed downtime and I will make the requested sweet treat in just a bit. But right now I am relishing the chillaxin as we await the start of the BIG GAME! It's been a good day. As we are get ready to watch the THUNDER, and no we are not having bad weather, we are cheering for the OKC Thunder in the NBA finals. We have such a connection to OKC from LilBlue being born there to friends that are more like family living there and of course Uncle G still being there. We love our OKIE friends and we always enjoy every minute we get to spend in the Sooner state!

Go THUUUUUNDER.

One of THOSE busy kinda days!

Let's recap the evening we had last night before we move on to today!

So last night we were honored to be able to celebrate the wedding of a dear friend...and sadly it was also a farewell; we will certainly miss her as she moves to FL to start a new adventure with Mr Bill! I know she has many, many happy days ahead! Congrats to both Miss H and Mr Bill :)

 

 

 Cutting the humongous cake! It had strawberry filling in some layers!

 They really did eat some cake!

Watching the staff taking apart that cake was quite a show; it leaned, they pried and lifted and it was a lot of work getting it apart but they did!

Now on to today, the very busy will it ever end day! Really it was just floating from one event to the other and it did end! It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of running and a few wardrobe changes!

 New OG

 New 96th and the triplets! OH MY :)

Neighbors retirement :(

 Diamond B at the LRS CoC

Unfortunately by the time we were at the last event this evening I had forgotten to snap a picture...it was the going away of GI moCjaM. Farewells are the most bittersweet, and this was no exception, but they are not going far so it was not so hard!

Night all it's been a busy, busy day!

FLY 'EM PROUD Thoughts!

It's FLAG DAY!

Should you like more info go here!

Thursday Thoughts are all red, white and blue!

FiniFlight

How fun it was to be able to go the FiniFlight of GI moCjaM. Have been to these before but never this close and knew the guy so well and he's a pretty darn good guy :)

 The rainbow of showers!

 Getting closer...

Waiting for him to deplane

 Hosing him down!

With the family :)

We will miss you! There is a little bit of silver lining in this one since they will still be here just no longer with the wing!

Baked Kale Chips...YES, indeed

They may not be for everyone, but I liked 'em! 

I first saw them on another board I read and then I pinned them and finally I tried them.

I sort of followed the recipe but then I added to it my own twist in the second batch.
 

 

 My .84c batch of kale!

I washed up the kale, then ripped it up into bite size pieces.

I then followed the recipe I had found for the first batch...oiled it up a little with olive oil, used ground black pepper and sea salt then popped it in a slow oven. Turned them a few times during the cooking or more like rescattered them around to make sure they weren't sticking or getting too done on one side.

 All done and very yummy.

On my second batch I added balsamic vinegar and they were very tasty, I mixed the two batched together and they were totally awesome tasting. MiB enjoyed a few and so did his folks. Not something I want/need all the time but definitely a tasty alternative and yes they were crunchy, some more then others but there was a crunch to them! You can google it and come up with all kinds of other ideas and tips if you want to make these yourself!

Until next time :)

And she's F O U R !

Hard to believe she is FOUR today!

Happy Birthday myLittle Echo! Love you :)

FlashBack

Some things never change...or they change very little. That was the case this weekend. You see, back in the day MiB and his family were stationed here. This weekend MiBs parents are here and we took them all around BAFB and well, things have not really changed. We took them by where their house used to be, we even found the old work center. Also drove them by the elementary school that MiB went to and has some very vivid memories from.

Tried a new restaurant, since we had family in town...won't need to go again. Sad, seems to be the case for many of our food outings here. I don't mind; I prefer eating at home, I really do! But I enjoy a meal out once in a while, but I like a GOOD meal! We did had awesome grilled steaks, baked sweet potatoes, baked beans and wonderful good rolls and salad this evening, right here at home :) No doubt about it a great meal! I am excited about a new Chinese place I have heard about and we will be trying soon! I will keep you posted!

Our weekend has been fun, reminiscing and reliving the "ole days" here. We have been eating again way too much, ugh! Strawberry shortcake tonight! I know, I need to just say NO!

Bowls of Fun!!

Last night we had a really fun time at the EMPTY BOWLS event. Soup was yummers. My fav was the potato leek, I think that is what MiB liked best as well. I also enjoyed the meatball, I did not try the shrimp bisque, I wanted to, I just couldn't get past the smell. There was also a sausage gumbo that I did not try, looked spicy! I did not have a roll, but have it on good authority they were superb! I can tell you that what appeared to be blueberry cheesecake was NOT :( and that the carrot cake was average . There was also a raspberry or strawberry layer cake that was okay. Yes, that is three desserts I tried...enough said.

 

Ms M with her dessert!

The silent auction was fun, we bid on several things, came home with none. However, we did win one of the fish bowl raffle tickets. We were going to do the wine pull, but in light of the fact that my BiL just beefed up our supply for us by stopping at Aldi  before he came this last visit we are really set on wine for many days to come :) It would have been fun, for $10 you pulled a wrapped bottle and you may get a bottle valued at $6-$80.

Wine pulled and ended up with $75/bottle of wine!!

A fun thing they let us do was to pick out an empty bowl to bring home...I really liked the ones I found! The little red one came with the raffle that we won!

Our bowls!

As they were doing the fish bowl raffle I was not feeling like we had a chance and the ones I had my eye on were already gone so when the Subway one was getting ready to be given away MiB says "this is ours" and it was! LOL He is a Subway fan for sure and it's definitely better then some of the other places he chooses for lunch so I know he will enjoy that gift card! Can't wait to try the marinade, roasted garlic chardonnay! Sounds wonderful.

Raffle winner!!!!

Thursday Thoughts

Yep, more company's a comin', EXERCISE, EXERCISE, EXERCISE, Empty Bowls tonight ...it's been a week!

 Looking forward to this tonight :)

It's been very warm too but we did get a bit of rain :) Much needed!!! Unfortunately it appears to be shaping up as a HOT one on the horizon if the last few weeks are any indication of what's to come.

I gotta run, lots to do before the sunsets tonight! Have a great Thursday!

Thoughts:

• Ms H is going to be missed :(
• I want some good Chinese food!
• Ready to do some farmer marketing!
• Love hittin' the pool in the afternoon.
• Insurance paperwork is REALLY killing me!

Later :)

Ima gettin' my grout fixed...maybe!!!

I'm totally hyped to report that our flagpoles are re-fixed...I hope they hold this time. I wish I had a before picture but I don't! You can trust me on this, the holders were NOT put up well. I am really not sure they are this time either, but at least they are up again! They sure aren't pretty either with the pole all messed up, but again they are up again! We've been without our flag for well over a month!

While the flag fixer fellow was here he also wanted a look at the "caulking" needed in my master bathroom...I had a feeling he meant grout but I didn't say anything. I just took him up and let him see for himself. I also made sure he saw the hall bath as it has the same issue. Ohhhhhh, he told me he didn't have the right stuff to fix that with him. Yep, I thought as much. So, looks like the grout has to be ordered. 

Since I have been living with a sandy beach (grout disintegrating) in my bathroom since we moved in I guess a few more weeks won't hurt. I am taking a before shot on this though! It's a little unbelievable that the former occupants didn't report this for repair IMO. Then even more unreal that the "make ready" team who had several weeks before we moved over didn't have this repaired before we moved in. Then we reported it when we cleared our former house, still nothing happened. Finally MiB put in an electronic maintenance request a couple weeks ago and we are getting somewhere. Not fast but we are getting somewhere! Progress is good!

Hall Bath

 Grout is coming out.

Master Bath

 It is much worse in the master.

If you know anything about Barksdale you might be thinking but those homes are old, I mean historical, and you have to expect some deterioration, it's only natural for their age. But of course, however, I DO NOT live in the historical homes area, no siree, I live on the east side! That's where the new stuff is as many say. Yes, it's true I am in a newer home. Still it is my opinion that old or new we must do diligence in maintaining what we have and that means repairing and fixing as needed. It is also my opinion that they skimped on building these homes and they are now in that stage of realizing they should have put more money on the front side so you wouldn't have to put so much money on the backside.What I do know is we pay rent and for the amount we are paying we should not have a sandy floor in our bathroom...nor a crackly tub, but that's a different day. 

Suffice to say that the same reason the grout is cracking is the same reason I have a crackly tub. The builder did not use proper flooring materials. I suspect that if they ever decide to pull up the tile they will not find cement backerboard, which should be there. No I suspect the tile was laid right down on the sub-flooring. Which is not a good plan, hence the cracking of the grout...backerboard should have been affixed to the floor with a thin layer of thinset and then the tile should be laid on top of that. Yeah, my dad was a builder and a I did learn a thing or two along the way :) I also know what fascia boards are too; I know you are totally impressed now!

Enough, I gots to finish cleaning my house, girl's are coming over tonight,it's Moscato Monday!

Happy 26 :)

Twenty six years ago on this date I said "I do" to the MiB...

 

 1 June 1986

And it was just fine with me that we stayed home this evening for some MUCH needed downtime, ate leftovers and enjoyed quiet time together (well, except for my snoring, sorry!) I enjoyed it as much if not more then some of our other special days, truly I did! It's the "just being with you" part that made the time special, not the location or event...I think that's the way it should be and I'm thankful we have that kind of relationship.

143 MiB :) 

I still heart you!