It's been a week, missed you!

It's been a whole week since I've posted. I feel like it's been much longer. Life marched on, we came, we went, we got through another week. I am meeting this week with a not so full schedule and MiB traveling. It's been awhile since he's been away. In fact its been a long while come to think of it. Oh well, he won't be gone long and I will be laying low and staying close to the home front. I have many little chores I would love to get done but seem to never find the chunks of time to do them. This week while he is away I plan to find some of those chunks of time. I may spend a day in my PJs as well, been too long since I've done that and I'm ready for a PJ day along with a good book!

Hot is what it's been here, like really, really hot. We were in Dallas over the weekend and it was sweltering. I was glad for good AC. I was also thrilled to get to shop at ALDI. Got stocked up on some of our favs along with a few panty staples. Always enjoy going and really loved the $1.49 filet Mignon that we snagged and had for dinner last night. Ohmygoodness they were good, not to mention the sweet corn on the cob, baked taters which we used plain Greek yogurt on and garlic bread. We had caprese for a starter and this time I soaked the tomatoes in the balsamic, next time I will also soak the cheese, it was sooooo good! We were way to full afterwards! UGH but it was some really good eating. Best part is we have two more filets for next weekend when MiB returns!

This evening is the Uniform Depot which my neighbor spearheaded and I have pledged to be her helper during the event. It's such a great deal for our military families. All the schools here require uniforms. That's not a bad thing but it can be costly. The Uniform Depot is going to help A LOT of families and save them A LOT of money so it's win-win!!! 

I gotta run, lots of get done, MiB flies our EARLY tomorrow and I have a big to do list before he goes. Ima be really productive while he is away, really I am!

Food :0)

Italian and Chinese, I love them both! Dinner the last two nights respectively...

 

 We have enjoyed the fresh farmer's market tomatoes for several weeks now! I love this combo, not necessarily together every time but they are great anytime!

 Veggie fried brown rice and pork egg rolls.

They are so much work to make but they are oh so good. MiB was saying how much he would like egg rolls so I caved and got all the necessary ingredients to make them. It took a trip to two off base stores since the commissary did not have egg roll wrappers. First time that has happened in 26 years. They did have the frozen spring roll wrappers but I prefer the fresh egg roll wrappers that are traditionally found in the produce department. They were good, really good! I also double batched our favorite sweet and sour sauce for dipping. YUM. Tomorrow or the next day we will have the leftovers with Chinese corn chowder.

Going to bed now, it's been another busy day and neighborly night as we delivered two more plates of welcome brownies! We are filling up out here, woohoo! Night!

Engaged...

Last night we got several calls from LillBlue...no voice messages were left, then there was a text...

We were at the pool and my phone was in the car. When we were leaving I did not call her back but texted her and said we will be available in about 5 minutes was she? She texted back YES so we called when we got back to the house. Since we are still very perceptive parents I had a feeling I knew what the phone call was about, but I waited to hear it from her.  She was over the moon excited and totally giddy :)

To get the full story we must back up to Easter in MO earlier this year. Or maybe even 2007 or was it 2006 that we FIRST heard about this Bud? Yes, way back then. But let's just take it back to Easter for now. We took a long weekend and went up and she came down with the Bud. The Bud spoke with MiB...he asked for permission to marry LilBlue. Talk about whoa, MiB thought he was ready to answer that question, but then when the time was upon him his brain went foggy and thousands upon thousands of thoughts were rolling around in his head. And getting the words out as he wished was very difficult. Anyway, after an extremely deep somewhat long conversation that was even emotional at times he granted said permission. Next stop was checking in with Uncle G, yes, the Bud made a good decision by checking in with Uncle G. After all, he has and always will claim her for his own, it seemed only right. He got a good lecture, uh, I mean talking too, or er, uh, great discussion and then was threatened with his life given permission on that end too!

 Chatting with Uncle G

No worries, wedding is not too soon so to speak. He was just asking and there is no wedding planned to take place until after graduation NEXT spring. That's a relief. Because we really want LilBlue to finish school before going off and getting married! Ahhhh, but there will be a ring...sometime this summer he says to MiB. Okay, so we now know, we just don't know. He has the goodtogo but when he will act on that goodtogo is unknown! The reality is we know it's just a matter of time...breathe in, breathe out, that's what I keep telling myself; after all, she IS 21 years old. I was already married by the time I was 21. That's really irrelevant, she is mine and 21 is too young to be getting married!

So in May when we were in the BIG O for her surgery, we went to see the narrowed down ring choices. Both are beautiful and I think she will be thrilled with either one. So to recap again, we know, we just don't know; we are in a holding pattern until he pops THE question and gives her the ring...

That time came last night. That's why we got several calls with no messages and finally THE text :) When we did talk with them, she was just a tad bit excited! She's going to be a Mrs. and she is certainly thrilled about that, she loves the Bud :)

Wedding is most likely going to be next summer some time. Let's just pray for a mild day rather then a melt your face off day especially if she wants it to be outside! I know she has already started planning...she's been "pinning" under a Mr&Mrs category for quite awhile now but in the last 24 hours she gone pincrazy! LOL

Tonight they had dinner at at the Bud's house where there was a little engaging celebration. Let the countdown begin!

Celebration Cake! Looks yummy!

MANY CoNgRaTs to them both and may God bless them richly with many happy years to come. It's extremely easy to get married, but staying married is the part you have to work VERY hard at every day. To working hard together! We love you both and truly want the best for you!

Multicultural Day

What fun! We have not been at a base that does one BIG event for this, but I like it. It was full of neat sights, sounds and tastes! Loved the entertainment, demonstrations as well. We are truly a melting pot in the military and I'm glad we take the time to honor the treasure of heritage within our ranks. These folks have stories and tales and such to share and are so willing and proud, it's neat to get to be a part of that.

 Polynesian Dancing...so reminded us of Hawaii

 The Jewish area...thinking of ThreeDoorsDown!

The Native American area made us think of LilBlue!

MiB plays the ukulele! He was so excited!

The last change of command of the season was today. We are ready to get back to business! The wing is fully staffed and ready to go full throttle. Go DEUCE! Hope you have a great weekend, that is my plan :)

Thursday Thoughts

I had another melon... unfortunately, it was not as good as the first one. I am sooooo disappointed, but it is not going to waste, no siree, it certainly is not!

Red, red melon!

It was a pretty melon, even if it did not taste that great!

So today was another day of things, many things and we did them all, came home and then welcomed a couple new families to the neighborhood. One of our new families is NAVY. Fun, now we have NAVY, ARMY, Air Force and MARINES. It we could just get a Coastie in here we would be purple. It's fun to interact with our sister service folks. The little boy numbers in the neighborhood just rose by 9 in just a matter of weeks. That's incredible.The other family we did not yet officially welcome, I have to bake more cookies and brownies. This will be our third welcome this week!. It's certainly PCS season!

Thoughts:

• It's HOT, really HOT!
• I'm melting from this heat!
• Long days this week, ready for the weekend!
• Did I mention it's HOT?

A year...

It has been a year since our arrival here. Doesn't seem we have been here that long on most days, other days, well, let's just not think along those lines!

When that first year is up you can no longer say you're still new...there is some comfort in saying, "we've been here less then a year" Well, that is no longer an option, we are over the year hump starting tomorrow! It kinda makes me nervous not to have that little crutch!

We will sit together and reflect on our year here this weekend. It's always good to evaluate where you're at, where you've been and where you're going. We will need to make sure we are still on track so to speak. Take a look at what we have done (which isn't so much) and what we need to do (which is a lot). You have to re-evaluate. We have to look at where are we still needing to plug in and where we can now unplug. Look into the things that need a power surge or need a new breaker. Some things still need a complete re-wire, we know that, but that is huge and you try everything else first. Other things just need a new switch, a rewired plug or just a fuse change. So many things are going well, and seriously, if it ain't broke don't fix it applies to many things However, it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease applies and there aren't always just squeaky wheels some are going flat or completely broken. It takes fresh eyes to see this and we have had those for a year and now we have a few other sets of eyes taking it all in and the re-works have begun.

Really we do this whole evaluating what we are doing often but we will take a super hard look this weekend. It's not easy to take honest looks at what you are doing and then stop or start doing things differently, I mean who likes change? Not many, but honestly for me, change is usually the safer option...seriously! Warped I know, but it's the nature of the life in blue and I guess I have come to take it as normal. I'm excited to see what happens next!

So anyway, it's been a pretty good year. There were many happy events! We have celebrated new life, promotions, awards. We have had to say our share of goodbyes due to PCS, retirement, career changes as well. We have also mourned...too much...We have made new friends, good friends. Of course we have enjoyed our community connections too. Love Ms BC and JLA! Another good bye to one of the BEST as she married and went south to a new life adventure. It's really been a neat year. I do look forward to seeing what's next...

Uh, OUCH...

Well, you know it was bound to happen, what you didn't know is how bad it would or would not be...injuries, they happen, they happen to MiB, frequently. Okay, maybe not frequently, but more often then to others or at least it seems that way.

So he was SUPing and lost his balance. He lunged forward and used his hands to catch himself and one of the said hands went in a manner it shouldn't. Since I wasn't there I really don't know exactly what happened but the way I wrote it is the way I understand it from what I was told... I may have to stand corrected if MiB checks in and reads this later and says, "that's not what I said" :) We'll see!

 The said hand...

Both hands for your comparison viewing pleasure!

Other then the hand injury it's been a pretty uneventful weekend, which is A OKAY with me! We did a little pool time today, I made a much needed commissary run this a.m. and we will be firing up the grill for dinner later, life IS good :)

Happy, happy boy!

MiB got a package that made his day! See a few weeks ago it was International Surf Day and he joined the Surfriders in honor of that day. He has been checking the front porch daily for his membership package swag. That day finally arrived and he is in heaven...

With some of the swag...

All smiles with the GoPro camera!

Other then play with all the goodies in the package today we went and hung out at the pool, which was quite enjoyable! That was only after MiB did a little SUPing and made an airport run.

Playing a little wallyball with the neighbors+1 kids

While at the pool Munsey neighbors showed up, we chatted, read and caught up! Nice to see them again and their boys had fun with MiB in the pool...Marco-----Polo!

We headed home for a late lunch then decided to take in a movie...People Like Us. Based on a true story, moved a little slow, but an enjoyable afternoon nonetheless. Since I needed a few things from the grocery we headed to base and realized we had missed the commissary by almost an hour. Geez, I really think 5 P.M. is too early to close but that is the weekend schedule. So now I will be making sure I get out the door first thing in the A.M. to get that chore out of the way. No worries, I didn't have to have anything this evening. We returned home to enjoy a simple dinner...frozen pizza doctored up a bit with onions on one and onion and home grown tomato on the other. DELICIOUS!!! I'm telling you, we are living the good life and it is so much fun.

Dinner :)

Ciao!

Oops, it's Friday!

I missed Thursday completely! I really mean I missed Thursday Thoughts. I fully had my Thursday, it was a full day. I was at the Attic as well as taking care of several errands and then attending an A&FRC session last night. Yes, it was a busy day!

Soooooo happy Friday, (I'm not going to make mention of it being Friday the 13th...) enjoy it. It's been amazingly rainy here this week, and I am not complaining one bit, I liked wearing jeans and real shoes yesterday. The humidity has still been off the charts but the temps milder and being inside AC makes me need my jeans and sweater.

It's been a good week, I have had some chunks of time at home which have been A.W.E.S.O.M.E. Looks like I might get more of that in the coming days as MiB will be traveling a bit. Then it's off to the beach with LilBlue and the BUD for some much needed downtime. I'm ready NOW :) Mostly to see LilBlue again but the beach will be great as well. Looking at things to do and have found a list too long to accomplish while we are there already! LilBlue said remember we are supposed to be on vacation...check! That's my cue NOT to over schedule "things"!

 I finally had watermelon...oh my, YES, it was wonderful, like I love, love, loved it! Super sweet and so yummy! I had no help eating over the last three days. I am ready to snag another one! Love all the wonderful produce available right now!

This week MiB was in the company of the Ruskies. Yeah, the Russians were here. Sounds like he and they had a wonderful visit to the USA and our base!

Hanging with the Russians!

 After he got home and overly proud of that Russian pin...

I gotta run it's another full day. Living life here in the AR-LA-TEX! Hope you are too wherever you are!

Going back to the BIG O

Seems too soon to be sending her back. Didn't she JUST get here???? UGH

Since we were having a gathering this evening, I did not make the airport run, the twins did. Of course, we did not snap pictures before she left the house. Thankfully, they did take a few at the airport as they were dropping her off.

 With Uncle G

MiB w/LilBlue

  Smiling...didn't know about the delay yet!

When she left the house it was all good as far as what the online status of her flight was...ontime! However, shortly after making it through TSA there was a weather delay announced due to storms in the Dallas area, specifically lightening. That went on for quite a while, her 4:25 departure turned into a 6:30 one but she did finally make it to Dallas. Then more delays due to weather. Her original Dallas flight was 6:45 but we knew before she left here that her connecting flight was also delayed so no worries on missing it. The Dallas delay was a concern for me as we did not want her stuck there overnight and we just kept praying something would break loose. Her flight got off the ground out of Dallas just after 10:00 p.m. And finally after 9 hours and some change she finally landed in the the BIG O shortly after midnight!  Since the BUD had to be a work she had to arrange an alternate ride home...thanks to BUD's family for that!

What a great week we all had, looking forward to next month when we will eek out another visit at an as of yet undecided location. Thoughts and plans are still forming, but I think water and most likely sand will be involved :) Can't wait. Course don't want to wish the days away until then so we will all work hard and make the most of the days until then, most importantly for LilBlue as she tackles Spanish IV.

Gathering tonight was as always F*U*N. We celebrated birthdays and promotions. I wish we would have documented better but I was on and off the phone with LilBlue throughout the evening keeping up on the travel saga she was living and really fell down on the job. In fact I felt a horrible hostess as I kept stepping away to speak with her or text back and forth. I know our guest understood but I still felt a little schmucky.

For some reason feet and flip flops were discussed and all those present wearing them decided a picture was in order...that was all but one :)

FlipFlop Central!

And ohbytheway the margarona's were a HUGE hit. Let me tell you I was not sure they would be with this crowd but they were. EVERYONE had one and liked it. I have some thoughts on tweaking it for next time but for this time I did it like this. Which is a little bit different then the recipe I was given, I went with light Corona and used Fresca instead of 7-Up. Next time I will make my own limeade using splenda to cut the calories even more.

Margarona's

12 oz light Corona

12 oz Fresca

12 oz can frozen limeade concentrate

12 oz tequila 

Splash of triple sec

Mix and serve over crushed ice. Simple and refreshing!

Let freedom ring but no swimming after hours!

With LilBlue here and Uncle G we wanted to do something fun but not spend our day in the heat and sun. There were a lot of options but we chose to do our 4th our own way and had a really good day! Last night we actually went to see the fireworks at Harrah's and they were good. Some folks must not realize they should turn out their car lights when you park to watch such a things, silly people!

This a.m. we hit the movies to watch SpiderMan. Seriously, I wasn't sure it was the right movie choice, I mean how many ways can you tell this story...it's been done over and over. But I did think it was pretty good and we had a good time.

 Stylin with our 3D glasses!

Then we lunched at the new Chinese find we made! It was delish. Imperial Cathay, while not the Chinese we are used to is still a nice place to lunch and very reasonable in their prices. We especially enjoy the spring rolls!

Then we headed to the track. Yes, we went to watch the ponies run. It was fun and LilBlue enjoyed it cause she likes anything horses still! Some of us won a little, some of the others spent what some of us won, just sayin!

 We were a sight, trying to figure out who we wanted to wager on!

Placing our wagers!

Watching the ponies!!!!

Studying the track sheets and deciding who will will put our money on!

We made our wagers before each race and had to study up to see who we would go with. Pretty funny we all had our own methods of madness to make our choices.

 Our take home money...

So, I did pick winners in nearly every race, seriously, I did. I did not look at stats, I picked the names I liked, Jiggidy Jo, Regions Reign, those are winner names so I picked them and they won. I can't even remember some of the other winners but they had good names! Making the WPS wager is the only way to go in my book and you know Ima expert now on this whole betting thing! Ha just call me BookieBetty :)

After dinner we took a little 2 mile walk around the neighborhood. There was very little activity, which was good, we like it nice and quiet. Only saw one fireworks violator, two abandon cars and a few burned out street lights. We are making progress! Then because we are who we are we decided to take a little drive across the road, it was pretty quiet in that area too. However, as we were heading back to our neighborhood we happened by the pool and that's when it got interesting. It was well after 10:00 p.m. and the pool closes at 8:00 p.m. So when we saw a lady standing outside it just didn't seem right, we circled back (keep in mind that LilBlue had already said there were people in there but we told her no it's closed). Sure enough there were people five young men in the pool, swimming...the lady was a wife to one and was trying to get them to get out before they got in trouble. MiB quickly helped her to encourage them to get out as they were going to indeed be in trouble if they did not. His words are not blog appropriate but you can imagine I'm sure, it was certainly an interesting incident and the pool was quickly cleared. 

Happy 4th of July!

Weed Wacker!

My MiB is multi talented, I know, I know, I am such a lucky girl! I try to get my physical exercise in daily. Somedays it happens, somedays it doesn't. Somedays I walk, somedays I run, somedays I do the INSANITY videos, once in a great while I go to the "real gym", here that doesn't happen so much, it's just so far to drive and then to come home and clean up and get on with my day, it's way easier to get my physical exercise in out here in my neighborhood or my own house. Sometimes I really think I want a treadmill...but then I think just lace up your runners and head out the front door! And let's be honest somedays I don't get anything physical done and then I feel crummy and guilty.

Anyway, on one of the many paths I can choose from there is a bridge that has some overgrown foliage. I complained, I mean I mentioned it to MiB a few days back and today he took care of that for me. It's nice to have a responsive mate :)

 

 My personal shrub trimmer :)

Some of the overgrowth has bees in it!

THANK YOU MiB!!! It's the little things like this that you do that really rock my world...

T-24 and counting...

LilBlue will be here in less then 24 hours. How excited am I to get to see her?

E X C I T E D

 OUR GIRL!!

While she will only get to stay a couple of days we will take what we can get. She starts back to summer classes on Monday so getting her for these few days is awesome! I am trying to get some house straightening done, little grocery shopping in and just in general wrapping up things so I have not so much going on while she is here. So far, so good! Since it was a last minute trip, thank you AA frequent flier miles, we are still on the hook for some things we had already committed to prior to knowing she would be here. But it's all good, we will just drag her along! Our family motto isn't Adapt and Overcome for nothing!