Thursday Thoughts!

I am getting sooooo excited for LilBlue's arrival and it still seems soooooo far away, I hope I can make it til then! Life this week has just been plain full. Full of GOOD things but full nonetheless and I am looking forward to MiBs return.

Since I had a full calendar this week, I did not get to accompany him on this latest trip. I am sad and I miss him and I am ready for him to be home. We have a graduation this evening so he will get in, change into his Mess Dress and we will take off for that. Then home again to rest up for the weekend which is jammed pack with Christmas parties and then more Christmas parties on top of that! I think we have 6 to stop in at tomorrow! Can you say marathon touch and go? LOL I am going to try to take pictures this weekend of all our partygoing! Last weekend I did not carry a purse to most of the events so I did not have my phone available to snap any shots. The few I did have are from MiBs phone so at least I had something!

That's it, that's all I got that can go public...life is good, we are still livin' the dream and I'm going to get out the door to finish some errands before MiB arrives back home! Be safe and hope you are enjoying and NOT stressing over Christmas. I have said it before and I will say it again, it ain't about what is or is not under that darn tree, breath and take in the true meaning of the season... It truly hurts my heart to know that people are going deeper into debt, spending what they do not have to do something that is so not going to REALLY matter in the coming years.

SO my thoughts today are...

• Love me some homemade soup!
• I am ready for a sunny vacation!
• Is is time to look at the next chapter?
• And, what will retirement look like???

Dropping In...

Tonight we dropped in on two Christmas parties, one waaaay south of town here, which looked like a pretty neat place, though not very well lit and a bit hard to find since it is off the main road and down around the corner. But we did find it and then did some well wishing to the legal folks who were having a fine time and about to enjoy what appeared to be a fine evening. I think it is a place MiB and I might like to return to and try out for ourselves, they seem to have a nice menu with several different options that sound pretty nice!

Then we headed back to the base and hit the second party of the night, made the rounds and visited with some awesome Airmen along the way. The funniest thing we encountered were the USGs. What are USGs you say? Glad you ask, they are the Ugly Sweater Guys! LOL They were a hoot.

 USGs

And I give them HUGE props for coming up with a great silly idea to peg the night's fun meter!I mean these gatherings are what you make of them and the fact that they took the initiative to make it a little more jolly was exceptional! Kudos to you USGs!!!!

Not only did you have the USGs, you have folks VERY dressed for the evening, I mean, we saw what was almost the equivalent to a tuxedo, seriously, there were also some really spiffy suits, some with suspenders and others with vest. The ladies were not being shown up as they had some knock out wear too! Cute dresses, holiday sparkly sweaters and some very nice jackets! It was a also a night for some tie wearing and there were reindeer, snowmen, jazzy Christmas patterns and some traditional ones too. Then you had this, well, I'm not even sure I can come up words to adequately describe it so I will add the other picture here...

 ???

Yep, I think we have one of the elves, and well, I'm not really sure who the other guy is or what I can call him...he leaves me speechless. LOL 

Goodnight! Hope you get to go to a Christmas gathering this year and that you look forward to it and that you have a grand time. I personally think they are a lot of fun and we enjoy going to all these around the Wing. We get to see lots of different gatherings that have had a lot of work put into them and for the most part there are some pretty neat ideas we see too, it's amazing what they come up with. I think most are having a really good time! I wish I had some of their energy, enthusiasm and creativity!

Thursday Thoughts

Booyah! It's BUSY, but I am making sure we are taking the time to remember the season, enjoy each other and keep it all in perspective! You gotta be your own monitor of your calendar otherwise it gets way too overfilled...

Thoughts:

•  Love, love, love pumpkin bread!
• Looking forward to LilBlue's arrival...
• Our lights look fantabulous, just sayin'! 
• Must get some cards mailed next week!

Food for CHRISTmas thought...

I recently ran across THIS blog...I think it is a MOST worthy read.

However, you may need to put on your big girl or boy pants as it might make you bristle. As for me I didn't  have any issues with it, after all, we were and still are some of those people who just don't and never have really BOUGHT into the materialistic side of CHRISTMAS.

In fact our kid is one of those who did not have the Santa experience and so far she has not been in therapy for it and we feel she is going to turn out all right! We told her he was just a fat silly Christmas clown. She also gets three gifts and she knows why.

We try to keep the main focus on the real thing. Just our way, it's not for everyone, we know it and we are okay with those who hold to other beliefs. But I still felt like sharing.

So I did, again, my blog, my thoughts...

Cookie Day!

Today is one of the FUN days! We collect cookies (preferably homemade) all across base for our dorm dwellers. Not only do the base folks give us lots of cookies we also get lots of cookies from the local community as well. In fact there were some really BIG donors that really helped us give to ALL our Airmen in the dorms!  Thanks so very much Barksdale community!!!!

We started with the packaging, a dozen cookies per plate please!

 Double Ks filling the plates!

 MiB filled plates with us, too!

 Lots of DIAMONDS there to help!

After the plates were filled they were taken to the baggers. We had a great group doing this and things went very smoothly. The baggers were busy that is for sure!

My neighbor and Ms MAC busy packing!

After the baggers bagged, then there was counting and sorting. Then came the delivering. That was the real treat. A contingent of myself, MiB, Chappy, KF and a few DIAMONDS and some dorm management personnel. It was a bit chilly here today which was perfect since we wanted to be in the Christmas spirit as we delivered the goods. However, I will tell you by the time we were done my feet WERE COLD. I was glad to get back in the heat to warm up! Anyway, some of the Airmen were in their rooms when we delivered and the cookies brought smiles to their faces. Others will return home to find them in their rooms! It was a fun day, one of those type of days you really feel good about! I like that, I liked today.

 Delivery Crew :)

WELCOME HOME!!!

Truly this is one of the GREAT things we get to do in this job! When troops return from being gone we love to go and say welcome back! Today was one of those days for several of our troops who are now safely back home and just in time for Christmas. Isn't that AWESOME.

One of the coolest things about this particular return is that a young Airman our daughter knew was one of the returnees. It was priceless to welcome him home today, I think he was surprised to see us there and that made it even better! MiB attends these things, I do when my schedule allows, or I know some of the families but again this is one of the more awesome things we participate in and I enjoy seeing all the returnees and the reunions with there families. We have been in their shoes MANY times...

 MiB w/the Papio Airman

Too bad MiB looks like the one who had the 18 hour flight...we are certainly not getting all the Zzzzz's we need, it was a full weekend and late nights since the GSC Conference last week. I hope we make it through the month!!

I loved watching the families in the waiting area as they anticipated the return. The children with their signs, the guys with flowers, the families with their banners, the balloons, it was all fabulous to see. The waiting was hard, but finally the plane was chalked and the offloading commenced.

 Ahhhhh!

 MiB came to retrieve me from the big waiting area to go to the be near the doors where they would enter in the hall. That was pretty neat, it's pouring rain and for the most part these folks were smiling and jovial as they passed through a bunch of leadership welcoming them back and then on down the hall to hand in some paperwork before F I N A L L Y reaching the room where their friends and loved ones awaited.

 Welcome Back!!!

Great to have you back!!!

Another great day in blue! This makes some of those other days that aren't so great in blue better...our Airmen rock!

Weekend Wrap Up!

The holiday season has kicked off! Started on Friday morning w/decorating for the BIG Wing WinterWonderland! Lots of pine cones, trees, branches, snowflakes and tea lights, it looked fab. Why I did not take a picture I do not know! Oh well. Some pictures from the event I do have!

 The newest STAR!

 The Munsy Neighbors

 Kentuckians!

On Saturday we started early on with an afternoon of Civic Leader socializing; then onto not one but two squadron Christmas parties before returning to the 'hood for the local wine tasting. Yeah, I have no pics of that either but the wine MiB and I picked out at World Market LOST! LOL that was classic. It was a pinot grigio tasting, we don't even drink white wine, we picked it out solely based on the picture on the label. I don't recommend that method cause obviously it lost :/ But the label DID have a cool picture of a horse on it!

The tree was really pretty!

 There were these SUPER CUTE little edible penguins!

 MiB helps out one of FLOGS wind blown flamingos get its hat back on!

Sunday we stayed pretty close to homes since it rained and rained and then rained some more. Though MiB did some work on the Christmas lights and we made a town run and stopped at the commissary as well!

 

But amongst the raining, the garage was dry so MiB spent some time in the garage starting on his new project...this I'm sure will make many future blog post...it's going to be a learning adventure and I can't wait to see how it all plays out...so stay tuned for that!

In due time something that will glide on H2O will come forth from our garage...

And amongst all this fun I made over 200 treat bags of various treats for the Airman Cookie Drive tomorrow. Cause ya know I just don't really do cookies...so treats it is, lemon squares, muddie buddies and smore's mix. All yummy stuff that will be devoured by our Airmen in the dorms!

Hope you had a great weekend! We were busy but life is good :)