Marrying the Navy

New Address! Bye bye blogspot...

2010-03-22T20:00:00.001-07:00

.... but not bye bye to blogging!

NavyGuy has finally prevailed on me to move away from Blogger. He's been working furiously to relocate MarryingtheNavy to Wordpress instead. (Which is better for his techie-ness, and gives me more options in the blogosphere.)

If you follow me on a feed reader (such as Google Reader), you will need to update your subscription. On Tuesday, go to MarryingtheNavy.com (that URL will take you to the new site no problems), and re-subscribe to the feed. You'll know you've correctly subscribed to the new feed if you do NOT see this post at the new site. Instead, you'll see a welcome post, and all my previous ramblings (oh yes, the archives are moving with me).

If you simply have MarryingtheNavy.com bookmarked, you should be fine. If you are still using MarryingtheNavy.blogspot.com, you will need to bookmark the new site (as Blogger will not transfer you over).

Got all that? Really not as complex as I've made it out to be - basically, just keep checking in at MarryingtheNavy.com, and you'll be with us. Hopefully there won't be too many bugs or glitches with the changeover happening tonight. NavyGuy should have all the technical difficulties under control.

Can't wait to hear what you think about the new blog design and some of the fun new things coming... :)

Progress in the Garage

2010-03-19T17:27:00.001-07:00

NavyGuy and his new shelves. And the mallet. So manly :)

And voila! All of the random garage items that had no home, now neatly organized in one place.

Squeaky Clean

2010-03-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

As a bribe / morale booster, the skipper gave NavyGuy's command Friday and Monday off. Which is excellent, because it means we can institute spring cleaning a few weeks early!

NavyGuy is thrilled.

Nope, that's not the word, but we'll go with it.

I am PUMPED! Friday is garage day. We're going to Lowe's to get shelving, so we can stop storing everything on the extra swivel stools stashed in the garage. NavyGuy doesn't know it yet, but I'm also going to find something to bet him over, and when he inevitably loses the bet, he'll have to mow the lawn (which has gotten way out of hand and makes our house look like it should have broken down cars and empty Blatz cans scattered about the grass).

We're also planning to get a medicine cabinet for the master bathroom (because I'm sick of digging through the Xerox paper box in the office to find bandaids or cold medicine). If there's time, the oven needs a good cleaning.

What spring cleaning task would you love to tackle? (or pay someone to deal with while you sit comfortably with a cool drink...)

Disney Mean Girls

2010-03-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

Alternative Title: Entertainment until I get a chance to post something real...

Was made aware of this yesterday by one of the Navy wives. As I learned after trying to make NavyGuy watch it, it won't nearly as funny if you haven't seen Mean Girls.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-16T21:54:00.001-07:00

And Happy Birthday to Mom. (The birthday wishes are from Tally, and you can't possibly get mad at that little sweetie.)

Deployment Update

2010-03-15T21:41:00.000-07:00

NavyGuy's deployment has been delayed until May-ish.

Rumors started on Saturday, but we got confirmation today.

On the one hand...
- he won't leave for almost two more months
- he'll be around for his and my birthday
- we'll probably get to bring Tally home from the trainer together

On the other...
- everyone was physically, mentally, and emotionally prepared for the separation, and now, we'll have to go through the process all over again
- backing up the leave date means backing up the return date... so now we're bumping into Thanksgiving and possibly Christmas

Bottom line, there's nothing to be done about it - it's not like the Pentagon called for my opinion.

Ah, the needs of the Navy...

Tally Pup Update!!!

2010-03-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

NavyGuy was able to check on Tally on Saturday - she's doing GREAT! He watched her do some work with the trainer, and then got to play with her for a bit. Basically, she's kickin' ass. Tally is doing fabulous for her age, and is still a little peanut (she'll look big in the first photos, but check out the relative size in the last photo). She's eating well, making friends, has clean ears and teeth, and is still our little squeaker pup :)

I'm ready guys! I'm ready! Let me run! I wanna run!

Bringing back a bird.

Finally in the water! Apparently, she still isn't a huge fan, but can you blame her? It's still freezing cold!

Awww... spending some quality play time with her papa.
Here's Tally in the front middle (her pink collar has faded drastically). The yellow lab in front of her... is 13 weeks... Tally is 6 months!

Only a few more months to go until Tally comes home!

Card Inspiration

2010-03-13T08:40:00.000-08:00

I had originally pulled out this magazine insert to use as a make-shift bookmark as I read the latest issue of Seattle magazine. But after looking at it for a few days, I realized it was the start of a cool design for a card!
I didn't have the exact same colors, but I think it's a good example of how you can look at something with a different tilt of your head and use it to inspire some crafty goodness.

I used three flower stamps to create the background pattern, and then used Stampin' Up's blender pens to lightly color in the blue and green flowers. I stamped the blue balloon on the card, then masked it to add the green one behind. I wanted to incorporate the balloon strings in with the sentiment, but I'm not loving how it turned out. Maybe a different stamp? Anyway, crafters - have you found inspiration in an unlikely source?

Cheers and Jeers

2010-03-11T20:52:00.000-08:00

Cheers... to possibly having our wedding featured in a Madison magazine!!! I don't know all the details yet, but our wedding photographer asked if he could pass our name along to Brava Magazine, and now I'm working on filling out a questionnaire from one of their writers. I've been running around the house for the past two days yelling, "I'M GONNA BE ON THE COVER OF A MAGAZINE!" and NavyGuy's been shaking his head and reminding me that a) the writer said nothing about the cover, and b) it's an article about us, not just the bride. We'll see about that...

Jeers... to having to work on Saturday instead of being able to visit Tally pup. I'm sending NavyGuy down without me, but with our camera (we're still negotiating the video camera, as he's terrified of being that parent), because even if I can't see her, I need reassurance that she's okay. And happy. And at the top of her class. And making friends. And brushing her teeth. (I'll be sending a checklist with him.)

Cheers... to payday today. Thank god.

Jeers... to NavyGuy's squadron. They deploy very soon, and yet they're being completely ridiculous in scheduling the guys, and leaving them absolutely no time to get any pre-deployment stuff done, or even, I don't know - see their families AT ALL. NavyGuy was one watch twice this week (which means 7am - 10pm at the squadron, no leaving), had two days of night flights, and there's no sign it'll be letting up. Way to go squadron - good job building morale before a deployment, and taking care of your own. Total bulls#$%.

Cheers... to getting my craft mojo back. It had flittered away for a bit, but with the arrival of the latest Creating Keepsakes magazine, and an invite to scrap next week with some of the Navy wives, I'm feeling artsy-fartsy-mojo-licious.

And all of you...?

My family is trying to kill me.

2010-03-11T09:42:00.000-08:00

Phone conversation with Mom this morning:

Mom: Hey - am I waking you up?

NavyGirl: Nah, I've been up for a bit. What's going on?

Mom: I have an idea.

NavyGirl: Shit.

Mom: Young lady!

NavyGirl: Your idea?

Mom: So, you know how we didn't get a chance to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge when we visited Sister last summer...

NavyGirl: Yes...

Mom: Well, we're going to visit Sister this summer and RUN across the bridge! Won't that be great!

NavyGirl: Are you drunk? Are you drunk at school at 11:30 on a Thursday morning? Did you hit your head on something?

Mom: No! C'mon! We can do it! It's only like two miles. I'm giving you 'til August to get in shape and do this. It'll be like our version of The Amazing Race!

NavyGirl: Yeah, we've talked about this. We'd be kicked off Amazing Race in the first episode for refusing to bungee jump or eat monkey brains or you know, work hard in some way.

Mom: Well, I sort of already committed us to this...

NavyGirl: What do you mean, you "committed" us to this... did you... oh no, you didn't.

Mom: I did.

NavyGirl: YOU ALREADY TOLD SISTER ABOUT THIS?!?!?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

So, I guess I have until August to get my last will and testament in order. Cuz come this summer, my Sister and Mother are going to Bataan Death RUN me across the Golden Gate bridge.

De - wait for it- nial

2010-03-09T21:39:00.000-08:00

NavyGuy deploys soon. Real soon. I can't give specifics about dates due to security issues (see a great introduction to Operational Security here), but it's within spitting distance.

And I'm waaaaaaaaaaay in denial. Like, "it ain't just a river in Egypt" kind of denial. Yes, I can look at a calendar and I can understand that D-Day (Deployment Day) is coming, but I'm in a weird sort of casual-oh-it'll-be-fine-its-no-big-whoop-worrying-about-getting-the-garbage-taken-out-instead-of-the-fact-that-my-husband-will-be-gone-for-six-months kind of place. I don't know if this is my coping mechanism for the moment, and when it truly sets in that he's leaving soon, I'll have a total melt-down or what. But I'm definitely not feeling what I expected.

We still have a not teeny-tiny list of things to do, and yet, I'm sitting watching Gilmore Girls reruns. And thinking of going to bed early.

It sure is nice vacationing in Denial - wish you were here!

The Latest From Your Friendly Neighborhood Starbucks

2010-03-09T20:38:00.000-08:00

Tuesday was a big launch for Starbucks, with a new drink, lots of new merchandise, and a renewed focus on coffee (even a new way to brew coffee!). It's a lot to take in and as your unofficial Sbux guide, I thought I should highlight a few things so you're not completely bowled over the next time you wander into a sea of green aprons...

*Dark Cherry Mocha
The new drink, which is essentially a mocha (espresso, chocolate syrup, steamed milk), except it includes an additional cherry flavored syrup. I was terrified to try it as I don't like cherries and feared it would taste like cough syrup. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The cherry flavor is subtle (and you could always ask for fewer pumps of the syrup if you're really leery). It comes topped with whip cream and chocolate curls as well.

*Fun New Stuff
Tons of new mugs, tumblers, and cups in fun spring patterns and colors.

The spring themed cherry blossom gift card is a personal favorite (makes me harken back to our cherry blossom themed wedding!), but you'll have to check it out for yourself in a store because I can't find a photo yet online. UPDATE: Click here to see what the card looks like.

*New Coffee
The featured coffee at the moment is Peru Chanchamayo (rhymes with "on the bayou). I'm a fan because the acidity of the coffee is really low (so it's less bitter than others). In fact, NavyGuy and I busted open our bag this morning (the renegade Starbucks in the Safeway in Anacortes had it on the stands already on Sunday night... they never follow the rules and tick me off every time I'm in there... but I'm not above taking advantage of their rule-breaking).

*Bold Picks Coffee
Starbucks is highlighting a different coffee each week for the next eight weeks. They're obviously trying to get people to try different varieties, so every Starbucks should be brewing the standard Pike Place coffee as well as the Bold Pick of the Week. This week it's Organic Yukon Blend. If you're a plain 'ole coffee drinker and you frequent Starbucks, there's actually a deal to be had here - if you buy at least one 12oz cup of each bold coffee (so one cup each week for the next eight weeks), you can get a free pound of any of the Bold coffees. Just ask for a coffee passport at your Starbucks and be sure to get the coffee stamps each time you try one of the Bold Picks. Obviously, if you're strictly a white mocha kinda person, this isn't a deal for you, but, if you're a brewed coffee drinker who often goes to Starbucks, this is a great way to get free coffee (assuming you're going into Starbucks at least once a week to begin with).

The last bit of news is that Starbucks introduced a "pour-over" brewing method. The idea is that you should always be able to get a freshly brewed cup of coffee no matter when you walk into a Starbucks. So, let's say, you're at my Bucks - all we brew on a daily basis is regular Pike Place. We're not a very busy store, and it's silly for us to be brewing more than one kind of coffee every 25 minutes (which is how often Starbucks makes a new pot of brew coffee). So, using the pour-over method, we have ground Decaf Pike Place ready to go, and if you come in wanting a Decaf cup 'o joe, we'll make you your own individual cup of coffee. The ground coffee goes in a small filter, and then we pour the hot water over the grounds and the coffee brews (drips) right into your own cup. (Essentially, the baristas have become human coffee pots, because we're doing by hand, what a normal coffee pot does, automatically.) We'll see how it works out. Right now people are way confused and think we're making them instant coffee (it's not), or charging them more (we're not).

Whew! This post ended up being a heck of a lot longer than I expected. As always, I'm not trying to convince any of you to buy Starbucks. I just know that before I worked there, Starbucks intimidated me. I never knew what to order, I didn't know the lingo, I didn't know what I might like, and I'd usually just end up getting a hot chocolate. So hopefully these little updates shed some light on the 'Bux, and help those of you who may also share my weird fears.

Also - feel free to ask any other questions you may have about Starbucks! Either post them in the comments, or ask anonymously on Formspring.

Reader Question, Answered

2010-03-08T20:00:00.000-08:00

Keep your questions coming here!

BeeHive asked:

Do you ever miss Pensacola?

Great question! The answer is yes, and no. There are tons of things I definitely don't miss, including (but not limited to), sweet tea, Southern accents, the oppressive heat and humidity, bugs, fear of hurricanes, and more sweet tea.

Yet, I've realized there are several things that I do miss about Pensacola:

1) That it was a big city. Pensacola had tons of restaurants, stores, bars, and other important city components. Even though the geography of the city could make traveling from one part to another a bit of a challenge, it was still all there. And Anacortes just can't compete there.

2) That it had a fairly substantial sized airport. Traveling home (or anywhere) was vastly simpler when we lived in Pensacola. Drive twenty minutes to the airport, and hop a flight. Now, it's a two hour drive to the aiport in Seattle. Additionally, the Pensacola airport had lots of flights to Wisconsin, which was great for us.

3) That it was relatively closer to home than where we are now. Traveling from Wisconsin to Northern Florida is totally do-able. NavyGuy and I drove it in two days. Flights were a simple jump to Atlanta, then a short connecting flight to Milwaukee. Pensacola is also in the Central Time Zone, so it was easy to keep in touch with friends and family back home - no irritating math to try and figure out if I'm going to wake someone up or interrupt someone's workday. Northwest Washington to the Midwest is a different ball of wax - basically, you have to allot an entire day just for the trip, which cramps my jet-setting style.

4) That it had beaches. Lots of beaches. If you're going to get technical, Washington has beaches. But if I have to wear a wet suit and winter coat to go swimming, it ain't really a beach.

5) That Pensacola meant I could see lots of NavyGuy. Let me explain. When NavyGuy and I were in Pensacola together, he was still in flight school, so he'd go several days without having to do much of anything. Maybe show up for muster at 8am and then back home for the rest of the day. One or two flights a week. So, I got used to having him around. And I'll always associate Pensacola with us. It's where we started our Navy journey, and despite all the struggles, sweat (literally), and sweet tea - I'll always miss Pensacola just a little bit.

Where have you previously lived that you can now look back on fondly?

Deployment Prep: Driving Lessons

2010-03-06T21:06:00.000-08:00

NavyGuy is teaching me to drive stick-shift.

Let's discuss why this is complete and utter nonsense:

1) I don't like driving to begin with. As a teenager, I wasn't clamoring to get my license like all my friends. I didn't count down the days until I turned sixteen. I didn't beg for my own car. I don't actually enjoy the act of driving. I find it tedious. Obviously I do it, but if I could simply blink and go from point A to point B, eliminating all that starting and turning and braking and whatnot, I'd be giddy. (Or if beaming me from one place to another instantaneously isn't in the cards, then a chauffeur would be nice.)

2) So when I do have to drive, I like to be as comfortable as possible. With a refreshment in the cup holder next to me. A good song on the radio. Perhaps a snack. The ability to dislocate my shoulder and randomly reach into the seat behind me to reach my coat, or errant box of Cheerios that I want to snack on.

Stick-shift takes driving to an exponentially more complicated level and eliminates any of the possible comfortableness of driving. You can't eat! You can't drink! You can't change the CD! You need both hands, and both FEET to drive a stick shift. One hand on the wheel, one hand on the shifter thingy (I'm still learning the lingo), one foot on the gas, one foot on the clutch, one foot on the brake... it's humanly impossible! You have to watch like six different gauges on the dashboard, which means au revoir to being able to look at your lipstick in the rearview mirror, let alone being able to look at the road. You have to be in peak physical condition to balance the tricky "let the clutch out and push the accelerator down" at the same time (I'm sorry - if I wanted to do leg presses and work my quads, I'd go to the gym... not drive a car!).

It's too much work. NavyGuy and I have had two lessons so far, and I hate it. Don't get me wrong- NavyGuy was a shockingly good teacher. (Shockingly good - like, I didn't want to kill him at all. And we're still married). I just have no interest in stick shift driving. It feels like I have no control over the car. It jumps into gear and takes way too much work to slow down. And don't get me STARTED on trying to deal with all the hills around here; every freaking stop sign is on a hill. NavyGuy is constantly telling me "more gas, more gas" as I'm trying to get into first gear, and it took me two hours to discover that you can brake when you're in second, and it's just too much work. Give me my nice automatic, please.

Who's with me!! Why, if we've advanced to the point of automatic cars, are there still manual transmission vehicles? (NavyGuy, I'm not actually looking for an answer here, k?) Am I the only 27 year old who is just now learning to stick it?

Oh, P.S. - we're doing this because NavyGuy has a stick shift car, and he wants me to drive it while he's deployed... cuz apparently you can't just leave the car in the garage for six months. (You should have seen how red his face got at that suggestion! Like a tomato!)

Got Questions?

2010-03-05T12:12:00.000-08:00

BeeHive asked me a great question yesterday (which I'm working on answering), but it inspired me to finally jump on the FormSpring bandwagon. If you haven't seen this floating around the blogworld yet, it's basically a website that lets you create a profile, and then people can ask you questions anonymously. Vain? Sure. A good way to waste time? Obviously.

So...itching to delve even deeper into the insanity that is MarryingtheNavy? Click here and ask away. Crafts, wedding, cooking, Navy life, teaching, books, movies, Starbucks, or anything else you're curious about. You can submit your question anonymously, so no need to be shy! Please remember that I am a person though, and rude or inappropriate questions probably won't be answered (but probably will be shared and heckled on the blog).

Seriously - this is why so little gets done around here...

2010-03-04T19:40:00.000-08:00

My Thursday morning...

7:00am - Alarm goes off.
7:09am - Snooze.
7:18am - Snooze.
7:27am - Snooze.
7:36am - Finally get up.
7:37am - Watch a little Today Show.
7:52am - Turn it off when Ann Curry is allowed to speak.
8:00am - Remember that I wanted to make a card for the Poppy Seed Challenge.
8:02am - Rummage through already-made cards and see if anything can be used as a starting point.
8:10am - Realize I'm woefully short on birthday cards.
8:11am - Peruse stamps to see what birthday stamps I have.
8:15am - Remember original purpose for being in the craft room before 9am in my pajamas.
8:16am - Refocus.
8:17am - Work on Poppy Seed card.
8:38am - Set up area to take photograph of card.
8:39am - Search through the house for NavyGuy's good camera.
8:42am - Realize he probably has it in his car, or has just hidden it from me because I tend to forget to put the memory card back in it, and then when he wants to use the camera, he has to retrieve the memory card from my laptop...
8:43am - Finally take a photo of my card using my camera
8:45am - Upload card to computer.
8:46am - Futz with lighting in the photo.
8:50am - Decide that in the photograph, the yellow on my card looks orange, and therefore, I have to make a new card so there's no doubt I have yellow on my card.
9:15am - Finally finish making second card for the challenge.
9:16am - Do another hunt for the good camera just in case I missed it during my first sweep of the house.
9:20am - Admit camera defeat.
9:21am - Reconfigure set-up for photograph so there's no lighting issues this go-round.
9:23am - Upload card to computer.
9:26am - Edit photo and decide lighting is satsifactory.
9:27am - Write blog post for photo.
9:36am - Debate whether blog post makes me sound like a crazy person.
9:38am - Realize that's a moot point.
9:40am - Publish blog post.

There you have it. Almost three hours. And that was a three hours that actually produced some sort of tangible results!

Poppy Seed Challenge

2010-03-04T09:02:00.000-08:00

Guess what happens when you spend much of your free time diddling online?

You stumble upon crazy things! Crazy like a craft blogger whom I've been following for some time... who I only this week discovered also lives in Anacortes!!!!

I KNOW!

Oh, that's right. Many (most) of you are not paper crafting nutties and this is probably where you're going, oh great, no good story today, just a dumb artsy fartsy post... wonder if Dooce has anything new up...

But stick with me! Lisa Johnson, of Poppy Paperie, made a random reference to the "nice weather in Anacortes" a few days back and I though, huh, that's funny. I wonder what other state has a city named Anacortes. Cuz there's no way that this fabulous crafter, who DESIGNS stamps for a major rubber stamp company, lives in the same Anacortes that I do. Well Google me this and Google me that - lo and behold - Lisa lives in MY ANACORTES! (Wow, all of a sudden the town in which I cried when I first arrived has become MY town.) CRAZY! I mean, as if she wasn't cool enough already with her amazing cards, now I find out she has been stamping and crafting in the same zip code as me! (Whoa, I am not worthy.)

Disclaimer: I am not stalking this woman. I mean she does have a photo up on her blog, so should I happen to see her and recognize her at Safeway, I would in no way go up to her screaming, "OH MY GOD you're the Poppy crafty lady with the awesome designs who lives in MY TOWN!"

Anyway, this story had a point. Oh - so Lisa Johnson, of Poppy Paperie, has started some challenges on her blog. Obviously, being "neighbors" and all, I wanted to participate. The idea behind the challenges is that she gives you a few "seeds" of inspiration. The first week was to use crystals, a flower stamp, and a hint of yellow on a card.Here's my humble attempt (finished just under the wire, as they're due to be posted by 10am PST!):

I couldn't decide which flower stamp to use, but then I remembered this cherry blossom. I had originally purchased it from JoAnn's intending to use it for wedding invitations, but after a few practice runs, I realized it was a wee bit too complicated to use on 125 invitations (my invite helpers were troopers but asking them to color in 125 large cherry blossom branches may have ended the friendships). I still love this stamp though, and as we've basically officially entered spring here in Anacortes, with the dogwood/cherry blossom trees in full bloom, I was inspired.

Here's a close up shot of the stamped image. I used blender pens to lightly watercolor the flowers and branch. (Sorry for the sketchy photo quality - NavyGuy has absconded with the good camera. Grrr.) The hint of yellow required is the card base, and I was sadly out of crystals, so I substituted small crystal-like pearls to add a little bling to the flowers. So there's my first Poppy Seed Challenge. Hopefully Lisa doesn't read this and a) take out a restraining order, b) put her children into a witness protection program, or worst of all, c) disqualify my card for lacking appropriate crystals!

Thanks non-crafters for sticking this out - I'll try to post something NOT involving paper later on in the day. :)

Tuesday

2010-03-02T21:26:00.001-08:00

First off, whoa people. Whoa. It's just a pig. Can the pig-lovers and bacon-eaters find a way to get along? P.S. I love when posts about tea-cup pigs get more comments than an entire week's worth of posts about my actual life. I should really stick to the inane more often. :)

Moving on, I had my first day back at Starbucks. I'd been gone two weeks. Not two months, not two years. And yet, I felt useless. Oh I wasn't rusty making the drinks, and I could still run the cash register, but I wasn't on top of things. My boss had done some rearranging of our supplies, so every time I tried to restock something, I had to root around for a while or just give up and ask her where we kept it now. And there's new paperwork for our cleaning tasks. And next week Starbucks is launching a whole new way to brew coffee (a topic for a later discussion), which all the other baristas have known about for two weeks. And I'm just finding out today. I'd left at the top of my field - the employee everyone else came to with questions, and who everyone counted on - and now, not.

How much more of a transition is it going to be when / if I get back in the classroom full-time? I left teaching at the top of my field. I was teaching an advanced placement class. I was well-respected by my students, my department, my administrators. People came to me for advice, wanted my opinion on lesson plans and classroom management. I, and excuse my blatant lack of humility, was a really freaking awesome teacher. I knew how to change the toner in the copy machine for God's sake - do you know how high that will rank you in teacher world!?!?

And now I've been gone for almost two years. I keep working to get myself back in the classroom, but truthfully, it's absolutely terrifying. For as much as schools haven't changed in two years (hell, two hundred years), I feel vastly behind. I love hearing stories from HistoryGirlie about what's going on at the school I used to be a part of, but it also makes me panic. She talks about technology I'm barely familiar with, being used as an integral part of instruction (using a flip camera to teach geography? say whu?). She tells tales of enlightened discussions and debates over grading and best practices and assessments, and the concepts that are becoming common place in many classrooms. And I don't have insights to add to those discussions anymore. Nor do I even know what the "right answer" is for when a future principal interviews me for a job and asks me my views on grading or best practices or assessments.

Am I going off my nutty here? Who else is currently "not working in their field" (the oh-so-clever euphemism we use to hide the unpleasant truth that we're currently stocking shelves / waiting tables / making coffee or doing anything but what we majored in in college)? Are you worried about the knowledge gap between what you knew then, and what you're expected to know to hold the same job now? Is this just a worry of mine because I'm an anal-retentive (yes, hyphenated) perfectionist who can't bear the thought of completing a job to less than stellar reviews? (Or this is just a worry because I stood around all day searching for the extra coffee filters and using my mind for little else but random worries?)

Debate of the Day

2010-03-01T22:03:00.001-08:00

Cute or not?These teacup pigs were featured on last night's episode of How I Met Your Mother. I cooed, NavyGuy gagged. Which led to a serious debate. And many cries of "I want a teacup pig!"

Even now as I type this...

NavyGuy: You are NOT putting up a post about those god damn pigs!

NavyWife: Oh hell yes I am! I have to prove they're cute!

So? Vote early and often.

Monday

2010-03-01T19:13:00.000-08:00

*Met with a new babysitting client today. Apparently, I seemed trustworthy so she and her husband went out for lunch and left me to read a book on their couch while the 15 month old napped. Little one slept soundly for two hours, and I went home a few dollars richer.

*NavyGuy's pox arm is still not right. He checked with the Doc today and Doc thinks perhaps the shot "didn't take." And the conspiracy deepens...

*Tomorrow I go back to Starbucks after a glorious two week vacation. My barista life continues. For how long I don't know - I'm still waiting to get my permanent teaching license so I can go back to subbing, but it's in the hands of the bureaucrats at the moment, so who knows how long it will take. The Starbucks income is dwindling as of late (not only because of my frequent vacationing), but also because now that the holiday season is over, Target has drastically cut back on hours for its employees. So my 30 hours weeks are down to 18, maybe 20 hours if I'm lucky. Which means I'm half excited to go back to work tomorrow to make some moola, half bummed that I have to don the khakis and green apron again.

*The bad news continues - we couldn't go see Tally pup this past weekend. The trainer was hosting an event and didn't think he'd have time to show us around and show off what Tally had learned so far. I almost burst into tears over the whole thing - I miss that dog so much! How is that possible? She's a dog. And I've known her for all of five months. But the house is so quiet without her, and everyday I come up with some new completely ~~irrational~~ legitimate concern. Is Tally adjusting to the new food alright? What if she's not sleeping well at night? What if they aren't cleaning her ears? Lab ears can get very waxy, and what if Tally's ears are getting too waxy? And then she can't hear the lessons they're trying to teach her, and they think she's untrainable, but really, she just can't hear well? NavyGuy is starting to wonder if ten years of an unruly dog would have been less painful than three months of me, without the dog...

What up with all of you? Any news to report? Stories to share? Complaints to lodge?

A Pox on Your Arm

2010-02-28T19:00:00.000-08:00

Thursday night, our conversation before bed...

NavyGuy: I got my smallpox vaccine today.

NavyWife: Oh yeah, in which arm?

NG: My left - see right here (pointing).

NW: (Reaching to touch it) Does it hurt?

NG: No! Don't touch it.

NW: Jeez big baby, I wasn't going to jab my fingernail into it.

NG: No, it's that there's live virus on it.

NW: Huh?

NG: They stick a needle with live cow pox virus into your arm several times, and that's how the vaccination works. It's like any other vaccine, you know, so there's a little bit of the virus on my arm. Hence the bandaid.

NW: WHAT! Agh! Pox on my hand! Pox on my hand!

NG: Oh dear God.

NW: So wait, does that mean you're gonna have small pox on your arm?

NG: Well, a scar from it.

NW: OH MY GOD! I'm gonna get the pox!!! You let me touch your pox arm! You're like a human smallpox blanket! Shouldn't you be quarantined?!? My GOD!

NG: This is why I don't tell you things.

I'll spare you the rest of the conversation, but it went on with me making irrational claims and predictions for some time. (For instance, I may have suggested that all NavyGuy needed was a vaccine against dysentery and he'd be set to travel the Oregon Trail for life!)

But now, three days later, his small pox arm doesn't look right. There's no pox scar. And there should be. So now I'm a little worried that the U.S. government is testing some crazy drugs on naive junior lieutenants in the Navy. I shared my theory with NavyGuy, that perhaps much like how the U.S. Public Health System tested syphilis on unsuspecting African-Americans in Tuskegee, Alabama, now the government is using the guise of smallpox vaccinations to test god-knows-what on Navy officers who just get told, "show up here, at this time, for a medical thing."

Now NavyGuy says I'm not allowed to answer the phone if a FBI agent calls to do NavyGuy's background check for his security clearance. Which must mean I'm on to something...

Well that was a lot of thinking...

2010-02-27T14:00:00.000-08:00

I spent this morning in Bellingham, taking Washington state content tests in order to get a teaching license.

And in other news, I'll probably be working at Starbucks for a good long while...

No, well, maybe, but those tests were tough. I took the history test and the general social studies test, so that I can get certifications in each and ostensibly be more marketable as an educator. But I'm really not confident that I passed either test. Each was 110 multiple choice questions; the social studies one actually had repeat questions from the history exam - so I either got a whole bunch right twice, or a whole bunch wrong twice. Some of the questions seemed legitimate, but too many of them were poorly worded, or had such vague answer choices that arguments could be made for almost any of the answers.

But the bigger question is, what do the tests really tell the state of Washington about my potential in a classroom? No one can argue that we don't want our teachers to have some content knowledge in the subject they're teaching - I mean, duh, you need to know something about what you're teaching in order to create appropriate lessons, activities, and assessments for students. But the tests I took today don't measure any of those skills. Whether or not I can rattle off the main causes of the Russian Revolution has little correlation to whether I can adequately describe those causes in language appropriate to a 15 year old. Or help that 15 year compare the causes of Russian Revolution with the causes of the French Revolution. Or (even more tricky) persuade a 15 year old that the Russian Revolution is a) something he needs to learn or b) something that has any importance, relevance, or usefulness nearly 100 years after the fact.

Perhaps I'm just bitter at the possibility that my college degree in history and four years of teaching history, may count for nothing compared to 220 random social studies questions administered on a random February morning.

Photos from Wisconsin - Part 3

2010-02-26T09:30:00.000-08:00

Heavens to betsy! I'm beat from my late night skating excursion. (But how good did they all skate?!?!? Personally, I think Rachael Flatt got screwed somehow - 7th place? - but I love that the Canadian skater got the bronze, and Kim Yu Na was awesome... and actually showed emotion after she finished! Unlike that poor Japanese girl who took the silver and as NavyGuy would say, "You have dishonored the fatherland!!")

Anyway, let's just look at a few more cute baby photos, shall we?

NavyGuy and I spent a few days in St. Paul during our Midwest tour, visiting high school friends, college friends, and friends from my days of blue plastic glasses. (Yep, that's how I rolled in the 4th grade.) TWP and her hubby and daughter FG were kind enough to put us up for the duration.

In return, I spoiled FG...

Lots of play time

New monkey pajamas from Old Navy

The random purple ball she became obsessed with at Old Navy (which kept her entertained long enough for her mom to find a couple maternity tops)

And chocolate pudding. Cuz FG gets whatever FG wants when Auntie M comes to town :)

A Glimpse Into My Friendship with HistoryGirlie

2010-02-25T20:00:00.000-08:00

I found photos of HistoryGirlie and I!

Here were are doing the commentary on a History Channel documentary. We feel our insights are best shared when wearing authentic clothing from the time period. For our first special on the anniversary of women getting the right to vote, we opted for patriotic regalia from 1920. She made me wear the hat.
Oh, so many hours spent at the copy machine in the break room at school. HG always wears her best heels to work.
We didn't know each other as little girls, but I picture us as fast friends, who would have spent many an hour reading books, doing needlepoint, and retying our hair bows just so (or trying to tight-roll our jeans just so).
HG and I chaperoned Prom at the high school several years in a row. It was quite the scandal when we arrived in nearly identical dresses - with matching umbrellas! I swore I told her I was going to be working my parasol...
A casual afternoon at the bookstore. You NEVER go to the bookstore without your gloves. It's unheard of. And our Catholic mothers would have had us excommunicated. They were already horrified when they saw the great heights we'd achieved with our hairstyles.
A photo of our future. Scrunchy sunken apple faces and sensible clothing. Possibly living in some sort of craft commune on the East Coast, so we can take advantage of all the nearby historical sites for our afternoon outings.

Miss ya HG! We have to remember to take some actual photos of us the next time I'm home :)

Best Part of the Games

2010-02-25T11:05:00.000-08:00

It's finally here!!! The women's figure skating is on tonight, which is awesome. The ladies did their short programs on Tuesday night, and tonight's free skate is going to be even better. I've watched the recaps, slow-mo replays, analysis, Kristi Yamaguchi's predictions, and pretty much everything NBC has shoved down my throat since Tuesday. My thoughts?

1. The female commentator for the skating events irritates the crap nuggets out of me. The two guys (Scott Hamilton and the other one who's name I've forgotten) are awesome. They tell it like it is, but also root for people and act like normal humans. The female y>akker though is a WENCH! Everything she says is negative or pessimistic. Listen to her tonight - a skater can have the best performance of her life, no falls, no mistakes, and this chickee-poo will snootily remark, "well, the skating was good, but I'm just not sure her essence was up to par." Seriously?!?! Half the stuff she adds doesn't even make sense! Argh.

2. The South Korea girl (Kim Yu Na) is supposedly unbeatable, and while I would be happy if she won (cuz she seems fun in her interviews, and oh yeah, she's pretty good at the skating stuff), it would also be fun to see an underdog give her a run for her money. At least have everyone do really well so Kim has to actually pull an amazing performance and not just stay upright for four minutes.3. Joannie Rochette (Canada) is currently in third place, and is the sentimental favorite. Her mother passed away Saturday of a heart attack, and the 24 year old opted to go ahead with her performance because that's what her mother would have wanted. I saw an interview with Dan Janssen yesterday (who competed in the Olympics hours after learning his sister had died), and he was amazed at how well she performed. Rochette would have been a big story merely for being from the home country, but her courage, determination, and humanity make her even more exciting to watch (if you didn't tear up watching her finish her performance on Tuesday, when she finally allowed herself to break down, you should see a cardiologist to figure out how blood is pumping through your body without the benefit of A HEART!).4. Apparently, we are to focus on the edges of the skates and the amount of turning once a skater lands her jump. Kristi Yamaguchi brought her skates on the Today Show this morning and attempted to explain the nuances to Meredith Viera (who really keeps getting sassier and sassier, no?). Anyway, according to Kristi, watch to make sure the girls land on the outer edge of their skate; that's what all the jumps have in common. Also, they can't rotate more than 1/4 of a turn when they're landing, or they lose points. I think. Basically, I'll still be watching to see if they land upright, and then let Scotty Ham tell me what's really going on. (Thought - why can't Kristi do the commentating instead of cranky wench?)

5. Found this awesome 2010 Olympic Figure Skating Drinking Game. Might be the only way I can get NavyGuy to participate in my Olympic madness.

Seriously, I'm so excited. Because we live on the stupid West Coast though, the TV coverage of the skating doesn't start until 8pm. Which I don't understand. The events are happening literally two hours north of us (presumably in the same time zone). Yet my mom, in the Central Time zone, will get to start watching her evening Olympic coverage at 7pm. So are the events actually starting at 5pm my time? I don't get it. All I know is that I have to stay up until midnight to see the finish, so I'm preparing to nap this afternoon and hog the tv all night (I have no clue what NavyGuy plans to do but he's been warned that the tv will not be available... and that his snarky comments about skaters or random exclamations of "It's Johnny Weird!" will not be tolerated).

Are you as excited as I am? Or are you anxious to return to regularly scheduled programming? (Whoa - Jim and Pam have their baby on The Office next week!!!)

Photos from Wisconsin - Part 2

2010-02-24T21:53:00.000-08:00

For 27 years I have tried to get my mother to take photographs. Aside from a 24 hour window surrounding my wedding in which she agreed to leave her camera-phobia at home, she has always refused all paparazzi attempts, using physical means if necessary. However, all NavyGuy has to do is hold a camera and ask nicely once. Mom'll plaster a grin on her face without so much as a single complaint. God damn him and his magical powers.

HistoryGirlie's daughter Kitty. Not typically so solemn, she was playing shy when NavyGuy and I arrived at their house to get ready for a Valentine's Day dinner. (Kitty finally started opening up later in the evening, pointing at NavyGuy and saying "Guy!" "Guy!" to which all of us were eternally amused.) I'll have to get some better photos from HistoryGirlie, because I swear Kitty normally looks more like a happy-go-lucky-toddler. (P.S. She's totally drinking from an UNCOVERED big girl cup now! Such a sophisticated lady.)

I realized that HistoryGirlie and I have almost no photos together (probably because our favorite activity - sitting in her basement talking and watching Grey's Anatomy - isn't conducive to photo shoots). I'm doing some searching though - stay tuned.

Photos from Wisconsin - Part 1

2010-02-24T21:43:00.000-08:00

MOH's baby, Lily, at a family dinner our first night home. She's 8 months now, and still a little peanut size-wise (excluding her 90th percentile noggin').

Lily's obsessed with pulling herself up on things, a skill she mastered since I'd last seen her two weeks prior. Her older "cousin," Shea-Lynn, checks up on her at day care every day once Shea arrives afterschool, so they're old buds.

I hadn't been drinking. That's just my "dear-god-take-the-photo-before-the-baby-blinks-or-cries-again" look.

Awwww. I'll spare you all the instructions, hints, directions, rules, and admonitions MOH and I were blasting NavyGuy with while he tried to peacefully give Lily her bottle.

Technology Coup

2010-02-24T20:59:00.000-08:00

Guest Post from NavyGuy...

Well, folks, seeing as our dear NavyGirl is taken with a deathly illness, I'm writing one of my sporadic guest posts. When NavyGirl gets sick, her resolve weakens, and this is when I spring my "New Technology" traps on her. This time, there were two!

First off, I got her using the PS3 as a media client. She can now watch all of our saved DVD's on the TV, including the first 4 seasons of our new favorite comedy, How I Met Your Mother. But I digress. The reason for this post was to primarily talk about a new avenue through which you can read this blog.

For Christmas, I got a Kindle, which is awesome, I love it, but it allows you to subscribe to blogs and then have them automatically delivered wirelessly to the Kindle. The nice thing is, the blog author gets a bit of money for each subscription. The only issue was getting NavyGirl to set up. After weeks of pestering and pleading, I took advantage of her momentary weakness from illness to ninja her blog into Kindle. After shouting for her to bring her checkbook down (she had no idea why) and rummaging around her wallet to get the info I needed to set up the account, marryingthenavy.com is now available to all you lucky Kindle readers out there.

So, the lesson to take away from this is: don't allow your husband to set up new electronic things while you're sick, I guess.

God I hate being sick!

2010-02-23T21:00:00.000-08:00

Seriously, that's all I have to say. I can't even form other coherent thoughts to share with you.

NavyGuy had a cold for two days while we were traveling, and I thought I was in the clear. But then on Thursday I woke up with a sore throat, by Friday it had traveled to my nose and head, and now it's taken over my entire upper half. Coughing and schnerking and generally feeling miserable. I'm not terribly grown-up even when I'm feeling 100%, so imagine how pleasant I am when I'm less than tip-top shape... (NavyGuy has to physically restrain himself once I start the dramatic thrashing and moaning and chants of "I'mmmmm dyyyyyyyiiiiiiiing...").

My entire head feels like it could tip slightly one way or another and fall completely off my neck. Each day I've tried a different cocktail of cold medicines, chased with buckets of orange juice. Apparently, moving out West has depleted my once hearty immune system, and I'm cursed to suffer week-long colds. Ugh. Blarghy.

And worst of all is the remaining Catholic guilt in my body that's exploding with the worry that I've gotten others sick while I was home. Like my opera singing Sister-in-Law who depends on her health. Or my two-year old goddaughter who (if she's ill) will most certainly wring the remaining life out of her exhausted mother.

Anyone else suffering from any maladies or ailments?

Home Again Home Again, Jiggity Jig

2010-02-22T22:00:00.000-08:00

Is there anything more comfortable than your own bed after an extended vacation? (Typing from said location, I'll simply say, ahhhhhhhh)

NavyGuy and I arrived back in Washington Monday night, many pounds heavier from all the wonderful eating, revived by all our family and friends, and one of us nursing a vicious cold (apparently my immune system has lost its previously powerful Midwest winter strength and made me susceptible to anything and everything). NavyGuy has to go back to work right away tomorrow morning, but I'm looking forward to slowly easing back into regular life. Aside from tackling the vacation laundry, I have little on the schedule. Rest, catching up on my Google Reader (151 unread posts!), and savoring the comfortableness of home.

Starbucks Shenanigans

2010-02-21T07:53:00.000-08:00

I warned you that the blogging would be light while we're home in Wisconsin... and I'm nothing if not good on my word. Today is our last full day in the cheese state, so hopefully this week, things will be back to normal around here, with lots of my postings and rantings.

To finish up our air travel here, I promised a Starbucks story. We all know I've become a bit of a coffee snob. I like my tall, non-fat, no whip mocha from Starbucks, and other mochas just don't cut it. They don't have the same dark chocolate flavor that I've come to crave, and frankly, I can't observe non-Bux baristas and know if they're making my drink up to standards (whereas I now torture Sbux employees by hovering near the handoff counter to make certain that they add the milk to the espresso shots within the required 10 seconds - so the shots don't burn and taste bitter). Anyway, NavyGuy and I had arrived at the Minneapolis airport after our first leg of the trip from Seattle. It was 5:30am central time, which meant it felt like 3:30 in the morning to me. And I hadn't slept. And I was cranky.

We exit the airplane, and immediately see a 'Bux. Our next flight boards in about thirty minutes, and is conveniently in a different far-away terminal. So what would you do in this instance?

Let's pretend this is a Choose Your Own Adventure Book - I loved those as a kid. So you've come to the bottom of the page, and you have two options:

Option A: Get your mocha from the Starbucks directly in front of you. It could be a stressful rush to your next flight, but you'd be assured of your caffeine.

Option B: Go directly to the next terminal where your flight is, and then search for a 'Bux. This option guarantees you'll be on time for boarding, but there's a slight risk the other terminal may be Sbux-less.

As you can probably guess from the title, NavyGuy encouraged Option B, while I pleaded (to no avail) for Option A.

We chose the wrong option, and like an adventure book, came to the last page in the story very quickly. The entire walk over to our next terminal I whined, moaned, threatened NavyGuy with certain death, and generally played the obnoxious wife, should we arrive at our next gate without nary a Starbucks in sight. And of course, our terminal had none. There was a Caribou Coffee, but by this point, I had gotten worked up enough that nothing - NOTHING - short of my Starbucks mocha was going to satisfy me. And it wouldn't have been such an issue had we NOT PASSED RIGHT BY ONE AND HAD SOMEONE LISTENED TO HIS WIFE WHO'S ALWAYS RIGHT!!!!!

NavyGuy offered to go get me anything in the current terminal, but by now I had joined the Hall of Fame of passive aggressive women and was playing the martyr as if I were up for an Oscar. The "no, I'm fine" game, wherein I'm anything but fine. Finally he gave up and let me sit there stewing in my crankiness.

With about twenty minutes until boarding, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Glaringly, I grabbed my purse, stared down NavyGuy, and said, "I'm going for coffee." He looked bewildered but knew better than to try and reason with me at this point.

I started off, having decided on secret Option C - find a different 'Sbux somewhere and get my mocha! Well, by the time I power-walked through half the Minneapolis airport and found a random 'Bux, I was sweating so profusely I had to settle for an iced mocha, and do a walk-sprint back to the gate so we could board the plane. NavyGuy thought I had run all the way back to the original store, and merely shook his head at my ~~pigheadedness~~ determination as we boarded our flight to Milwaukee.

All's well that end's well, but an important lesson was learned that early morning in Minnesota - do not tangle or cross a sleep-deprived NavyWife... and go to the first Starbucks you come across!

Getting there is half the battle...

2010-02-16T20:02:00.000-08:00

Our journey to Wisconsin this past weekend was one long list of debacles. I'll say that in the end, everything worked out fine, but along the way...

~ I didn't have a seat when we tried to check in for our red-eye flight, so we had to wait for the gate agent to assign me one

~ NavyGuy set off the security alarms several times because he failed to remove his belt, and he became ThatGuy slowing up the entire security line

~ the gate agent decided not to show up until twenty minutes before the flight

~ and the computers wouldn't work at the gate, so the cranky passengers without seat assignments had to wait even longer

The whole situation was full of heightened drama because it was midnight, and everyone was exhausted and dreading a night flight. I got assigned a seat several rows behind NavyGuy, and was counting on sitting next to him (as he was going to serve as my makeshift pillow so I could sleep during the red-eye). Well, that plan fell through with the overbooked flight mess. So we boarded, NavyGuy strolled to his exit row seat (with ample leg room), while I headed back twelve rows and squeezed between two giant guys into my deadly middle seat. Well, a girl has to take matters into her own hands...

I loudly announced to my seatmates, "Hey! My husband has an exit row seat several rows up - either of you want to switch and get the extra leg room?!?!" Yes, I will throw NavyGuy under the bus for my own comfort on a long flight.

The aisle guy jumped at my offer and scurried up to tell NavyGuy he'd been boosted. By the time NavyGuy got back to my row, I was doing that cowering girl thing in my seat, like, aren't I cute, don't hate me, you love me, remember? He was cranky, and truth be told, I couldn't sleep for most of the flight, so the whole debacle was moot anyway.

Coming up - NavyWife is always right about Starbucks, and arriving in the wonderful cold of Wisconsin...

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

May your day be filled with lots and LOTS of chocolate :)

A kitty cat valentine (which NavyGuy thought looked like a mouse, so I had to label it for the recipient)
And a little puppy dog!

Inbound Hot!

2010-02-12T20:04:00.000-08:00

And we're off! Wisconsin here we come. 10 days of running around like fools trying to see anyone and everyone that we love. NavyGuy and I are on the red-eye out of Seattle tonight, and are due into Wisconsin early Saturday morning. Who knows when I'll be able to post again amidst all the running around like fools, but I'll do my best.

Can't wait to see many of you!!!

Deployment Prep: The Big Meeting

2010-02-11T16:44:00.000-08:00

NavyGuy's squadron had a big meeting for all of the sailors, chiefs, aircrew, and officers, and everyone's spouses and/or families were welcome as well. Oh, sorry, NavyGuy would want to correct me and say it was not a meeting, it was a "brief." The word brief in Navy aviation can mean many things and can be used as several parts of speech.

"I have to go plan for the brief." (Noun, meaning, I have to go prepare to give a big speech.)

"I brief at 1600." (Verb, meaning, I will be the one doing the talking during the big speech... at 4pm.)

"The brief was brief." (Adjective, but completely untrue statement. Briefs are never brief in the Navy. But the boys do wear briefs... okay, tangent is running a little amuck.)

Okay, so the pre-deployment brief ended up clocking in at just over two hours, plus a twenty minute pizza break. I took copious notes, which I'll share below, as well as my snarky opinions on each of the speakers and agencies that presented:

1. Chaplain - Emotional Cycle of Deployment
Oh good, let's start with the awkward stuff. Actually, the chaplain was concise and gave useful information that basically amounted to - "you are not going crazy, you are going to act weird for the next month until your spouse leaves, and then it's going to be hard while they're gone. Oh, and it's going to be hard when they finally do come back cuz you'll have just gotten used to living your life without their daily presence. Call the church to talk about anything - we're a confidential service so we can't tell your spouses' commanding officer that your family is stressed about finances." He showed a great emotional cycle graphic (I'll talk more about this in a later post), and offered a deep question for us to tackle: how will you grow your relationship during the deployment?

2. Fleet and Family Support Center - Paperwork and Resources
The representative from this base group was also an excellent speaker. She highlighted a lot of the paperwork that we'll have to address before deployment (everything from wills and power of attorneys, to budgets and military ID cards). She also highlighted several useful websites, and stressed the end-all-be-all word of deployment: communication.

3. MWR (Morale, Wellness, and Recreation) - Keep Busy
MWR is the activities and events office - everything from base bowling leagues to cheap tickets to DisneyWorld. Their rep missed the meeting, but the office is closely associated with the Fleet and Family Support Center, so that lady talked for them. Basically, her message was: this group is great at helping you keep busy, become a fan of them on Facebook because their own website is down at the moment, and keep busy. Did you get that? Keep busy. Cuz that will make everything okay...

4. Education Services Facilitator - women's brains are like spaghetti...
I have no clue what this guy was supposed to be. I think he's part of the Fleet and Family office, and is some sort of unlicensed psychologist, but I think he thought he was auditioning for Second City, because his whole 15 minute schpiel resembled a really uncomfortable stand-up comedy routine. He was ostensibly focusing on couples communication, but somehow he used an analogy that women's brains are like spaghetti (in that every various topic in life touches another, and therefore we jump from subject to subject confusing the hell out of men), whereas men's brains are like storage containers (in that various topics in life are separated into individual boxes, and they only deal with one box at a time). Baloney Sausage! Let's just start with the fact that spaghetti is a terrible food to use as the metaphor - it only involves noodles and sauce! That's not a cacophony of different things touching - that's two things! And I'm sorry, but NavyGuy is just as random during conversations as I am, jumping from topic to topic as ideas pop into his head. The whole spaghetti vs. storage thing lost my interest, and luckily the speaker wrapped things up fairly quickly (while also explaining his lack of using a microphone by saying it was too complicated... sure - he can handle my emotional well-being, but a microphone with one button is just too much...)

5. Family Readiness Group (FRG) - Sassy Wife Zings the Navy
The FRG is sort of a spouses' group for the enlisted and officer spouses (who do not traditionally interact much). The speaker for this portion of the brief was an officer wife who felt perfectly comfortable telling it like it is. But not in a good way. She started off the presentation poorly by announcing that the Navy is the enemy, our husbands are the enemy, and basically some days "we all hate you." AWKWARD! Of course some days I hate the Navy, but that's not something you tend to want to scream in front of 200 people... who are IN THE NAVY! It's one thing to be honest, but it's another to be condescending and sarcastic in front of people who don't really know you. Anyway, she wasn't even really prepared - she only had a few packets printed up, so most of us didn't get any of the handouts, and truthfully, I have no clue what the FRG can really do for me.

6. Legal Department - she said NCIS!
What a doozy. Obviously, talking about wills and legal matters is never going to be riveting for a group of non-lawyers, but the woman sent by the legal office on base had absolutely no public-speaking skills, couldn't keep a coherent thought in her head for two seconds, focused on the most inappropriate aspects of their job (spending ten minutes talking about divorce one month before a deployment is not inspiring...), and merely managed to confuse many of us who thought we understood the process for getting a Power of Attorney. The only fun moment was when she said "NCIS" and the Navy wife I was sitting next to turned to me and was all, why couldn't they have gotten DiNozzo do give the brief? Word.

At this point we took a break for pizza, and many of the younger enlisted guys snuck out the back. I think the legal brief was the last straw for them.

7. Naval Hospital - Pregnancy Rocks
The hospital rep basically reminded us of the important phone numbers and hours of the hospital and urgent care on base. Then she went on to list like 4000 free programs, benefits, and giveaways that pregnant ladies can get... I wonder if I can crash the "Budgeting for Baby" class to get the free tote bag... maybe I could claim I'm not very far along, not showing yet? (Or just eat a huge lunch and call myself 5 months...)

8. Navy Marine Corps Relief Society - ????
I must have blanked out during this guy. My notes literally say "Red Cross card" and "Thrift Shop 10-2, Tues, Wed." Hmmmm.... maybe NavyGuy was listening during this part...

9. Lt. LoveBug - General Overview of what the guys do
LoveBug, one of the other guys in the admin office that NavyGuy works in, got up to give a basic overview of what the deployment is like for those deploying. We got a five minute blast of where they're going, what they'll spend their day doing, how much they fly, and the calendar of dates when they'll be leaving... which is subject to change at any point in time (up to and including six seconds before they board the planes). I have to clarify with NavyGuy what information I'm allowed to share with the world at this point, so I'm going to err on the side of caution and leave this topic vague.

To wrap things up, the Command Master Chief (head of the enlisted guys), and the XO (executive officer... second in command for the squadron), each got up, said nice things about the spouses, encouraged communication, and thanked us all for coming. I helped NavyGuy clean up pizza boxes, we dropped some things off at the squadron, and then stopped for ice cream at the McDonald's on base.

I'm not sure if this pre-deployment brief is common for other squadrons or areas of the Navy - any other spouses out there who have gone through a similar meeting?

Almost Meeting Time!

2010-02-11T13:48:00.000-08:00

Tidy every room in the house? Check.

Make cranberry bliss bars? Check.

Force NavyGuy to vacuum? Check.

Make mini cookies? Check.

Make chocolate covered strawberries? Check.

Hide all remaining junk in closets and under the bed? Check.

Display fancy flower arrangement to impress fellow Navy wives with my style, grace, and flower-arranging abilities at our meeting tonight?

BlaZOW. Check.

Even the stupid customers can teach you something...

2010-02-10T10:09:00.000-08:00

Did you know why people sometimes drink their hot coffee drinks with a straw? To keep the coffee from staining their teeth!

I know! I always thought they were dumb-asses who were just out to burn the back of their mouth instead of the front. I mean, how ridonkulous does it look to stick a giant green straw in your tall-sized mocha? But, thanks to my most moronic customer to date, I actually learned something.

Wait, I haven't told you about Ms. AnnoyingWench? Ms-I-bring-my-tiny-dog-that-looks-like-a-hairless-cat-into-Target-because-I-have-no-real-friends-who-will-shop-with-me? Ms-Over-nourished-and-under-showered-jerky-jerk? Ms-lets-see-if-I-can-blame-all-of-my-problems-and-issues-on-the-innocent-Starbucks-employee-today?

Yeah, so Ms. AnnoyingWench strolls in, with her scary hairless dog in the seat part of the cart, and her chip firmly attached to her shoulder. First up, she wants to know if we have any more tumblers. Well, there's lots on the shelves there, or gosh, see all those baskets right in front of you? With the cups inside? Those'd be tumblers too.

Well, then she was upset that all the Starbucks tumblers cost more than $10. (Ma'am, you're buying snobby coffee cups... if you want to spend $3.99 for a tumbler, head to Walmart.) She finally picks out one she wants. Then, Ms. AnnoyingWench proceeds to tell me her coffee order, which she prefaces by saying she's on a diet (good idea Ma'am). She orders a white mocha (one of the highest calorie drinks on the menu), made with half-n-half milk (more fat), with real caramel sauce mixed in (definitely encouraged on all diets), and then topped with more real caramel. But no whipped cream. Cuz, ya know, she's "on a diet." (I had to physically freeze my eyeballs in place to keep them from rolling back into my skull permanently.)

So, my boss is on the espresso bar, so she makes her drink for her (after Ms. AnnoyingWench yelled at me four times to rinse out her new tumbler, and "no, I don't want the stupid paper inside the cup, I don't care if it has the washing and usage instructions"...). So, we serve her her drink, she heads to the condiment bar to futz with it, and I think the hell is over. Ha!

Ms. AnnoyingWench starts pitching a high holy fit because she purchased a tumbler that has a lid without space for a straw. And she "never ever EVER drinks her coffee without a straw because you know, it STAINS your teeth"... (and I'm standing there trying not to think about the fact that stained teeth are the least of her worries). So what does she do? She violently slides the tumbler back across the counter at me and wants to exchange it for a different one. Which of course is more expensive than the original one she picked out, so I have to re-ring the whole transaction, my boss has to remake the "diet" drink, and she continues to stand there glaring at me, and bitching about how anyone would make a tumbler without a straw hole, and what kind of operation are you running here that you can't even do a return in three seconds or less, and...

At this point I had literally stepped out of my body and was simply going through the motions, lest I lose my shiznit and throw her goddamn tumbler at her ugly hairless dog. Ms. AnnoyingWench had now cost us an extra drink, a $15 tumbler (cuz we couldn't sell the original one she'd bought now that there had been a drink in it), and most of my sanity. Oh, and did I mention that the original ruined tumbler was our last Valentine's one? Wench.

When she FINALLY left the area, I gave my boss one look and walked into the back storage room to breath and blow for a second. My boss applauded my stunningly calm performance... and luckily, I've never seen Ms. AnnoyingWench at work since.

But the best part? Besides the fact that Ms. AnnoyingWench finally explained to me why some people use a straw to drink their hot coffee? My boss called her boss, and sent me home at the end of my shift with the ruined Valentine's Day tumbler!!!! (Washed, sanitized, bleached, and exorcised, of course.) And justice is done :)

Guest Bathroom After...

2010-02-09T15:01:00.000-08:00

You can refresh your memory of the before photos here, and then check out the new and improved version below!

First up is the new shower curtain (the axis around which the rest of the bathroom revolves). I opted for a clearance Kohls number in pear green. According to HGTV, you should always leave your shower curtain halfway open, to make the bathroom feel larger. :)

A matching hand towel (mixed with one of our basic white towels to shake things up). The framed "art" above is three retro Seattle postcards.

More Kohls finds. The three square blocks have been up for a while (and worked extremely well to showcase Christmas knick-knacks), but I haven't completely finished decorating.

Mom provided the cute brown basket in the corner, which works well to hold the other new hand towel. I still need to add some art work on that wall by the door, but I'm torn. Should I go with a photograph? Stick with the Seattle/Washington theme? Make something with paper in the green color scheme? For now, it's going to remain blank.

The only thing not pictured is the new bath mat on the floor by the shower. (It's light brown.) Overall, I'm quite pleased with the results. And think - I got it done with NavyGuy gone for just two weeks! Imagine what I can accomplish throughout the whole house with NavyGuy gone for at least six months... :)

Deployment Prep: Learn How to Change a Tire

2010-02-09T09:07:00.000-08:00

NavyGuy will be deploying in March. Tonight, we have an extensive pre-deployment meeting with the entire squadron (officers, enlisted sailors, spouses, families), where we'll get tons of information. I expect it to be long, informative, overwhelming, half-boring, half-terrifying. As part of his job working in the administration department of the squadron, NavyGuy has been in charge of organizing and executing this huge meeting; he's a wee bit stressed. But because he's in charge, I got a sneak peek at the booklet we're going to get tonight, and it does have a lot of useful information...

...such as, "teach your spouse how to change a tire."

(Because the process will result in one of you killing the other, and then the whole deployment issue will be moot?)We got the "opportunity" to check this off the pre-deployment list unexpectedly on Sunday night, when someone drove over a bolt. (Not my fault.) NavyGuy was a shockingly good teacher, and now I could TOTALLY change a tire if the situation arose. And if the car was on concrete. And it was daytime. And the weather was nice. And there was adequate lighting. And I had a ponytail holder. And if someone strong came along to lift the tires, and break the tension on the lugnuts. Hmmm...

Pre-Deployment Advice #1: Get AAA.

Wow... those lugnuts are really on there good and tight...

Maybe a new angle... oooo... not a good look...

Oscar Watch

2010-02-08T21:00:00.000-08:00

NavyGuy and I typically aim to see all of the Best Picture nominees before the Academy Awards. Even as movie ~~freaks~~ fans, we consider this a challenging task. And the now the bar has been raised, because instead of five movies, there's 10 Best Picture nominees to see!!

Here's where we are so far - the movies in bold are ones we've both seen:

1. Avatar
2. The Blind Side
3. District 9 (available on DVD)
4. An Education
5. The Hurt Locker (available on DVD)
6. Inglorious Basterds (available on DVD)
7. Precious
8. A Serious Man (out on DVD on Feb. 9)
9. Up (available on DVD)
10. Up in the Air

Halfway there. Technically speaking, NavyGuy has seen Inglorious Basterds already, so I just need to watch it some day while he's at work (we own it), and then we'll be batting 60%. I think we can do it. The Oscars are on March 7th, so we've got just less than a month. We have several factors going in our favor (one film we can rent, two of the three left are still in wide distribution), but it's going to be a challenge. However, I'm way determined. We will see all 10 movies. Bring it Academy. Bring. It. On.

Has anyone seen any of the ones we haven't? Are we going to be irked at wasting money, or happy with our use of two hours?

Weekend Update

2010-02-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

*NavyGuy's back from Red Flag! He returned on Friday night, so we went out to dinner, and then he promptly crashed. Two weeks of night flights and the Vegas lights had taken their toll, and poor NavyGuy was worn out.

*With Tally pup off at training, we could spend Saturday out and about (without having to rush home to let puppy out). Thus, we planned to go to Lynnwood and do some shopping at the big mall, catch a movie, have dinner, and generally relax. Well, we made it as far as the highway when NavyGuy got a call that he had to head down to Oak Harbor and take care of some admin business for the squadron, since all of the higher ups were still in Vegas. 90 minutes after we'd planned to leave, we finally hit the road and made it down to the big city. All in all it was a fun Saturday - some scrapbook store time, a movie, dinner at Macaroni Grill, and some quality time with my NavyGuy :)

*SuperBowl Sunday! NavyGuy and I headed over to a friend's house for a low-key super bowl afternoon. I brought chocolate chip cookies (which I made with slight supervision by NavyGuy... I neglected to soften the butter initially, so then I wanted to microwave the metal bowl it was in to make the mixture a little easier to stir... that's when he got all nervous and felt compelled to babysit my cookie project), and we snacked on wings, taco dip, cookies, and beer. Not even a little bit healthy, but oh-so-footbally. Hooray for the Saints (and Betty White's awesome commercial). Our trip home was more eventful than expected though... we got a bolt in the rear passenger tire. So, I got a tire-changing lesson in the garage at 8:00 at night...

(photos and NavyGuy's commentary to come...)

What's on tap for this week? Tuesday night is a massive pre-deployment meeting for the entire squadron, Thursday is our wives' club meeting (at our house!), and Friday night we jet back to Wisconsin for a week of visiting friends and family! Lots of excitement to come...

Not to make the rest of you feel bad on a Monday...

2010-02-07T20:52:00.000-08:00

... but Sister definitely spent her Super Bowl Sunday running a half-marathon.

And finishing.

In two hours, twelve minutes.

(I know, we'd all hate her if we didn't love her so much.)

Here she is minutes before the race, when disaster - her iPod (with her specially designed running mix) stopped working! AGH!!!!

(This is Sister's I will kill look... I was occasionally on the receiving end of it when we were younger and it still haunts my nightmares...)

Luckily, her hubby managed to fix it before race time, so she was off and running (pun INTENDED)...
Congrats!!!

Guest Bathroom Before...

2010-02-04T22:17:00.001-08:00

Wanna know the secret? I don't have the after part done yet.

Oops.

My thinking is, if I put the before pics up on the blog, enough of you will bother me/guilt me into getting the project done quickly, instead of leaving all the supplies in the Kohls' bag on the bathroom floor... for another four days... at least.

So, that's where we're at right now. An old shower curtain that (while cool in its day) has seen better. Lots of potential, but it's all too white and blah.

Stay tuned!

Birthday Medallion

2010-02-03T21:36:00.000-08:00

This stamp from Stampin' Up has been one of the most popular, universally loved stamps they've come out with in some time. It's a huge background stamp called "Medallion" and it's so versatile. Here I paired it with a birthday sentiment in purple; one of my best friends from high school should be opening it tomorrow on her birthday. :)

It's totally going to become one of my go-to stamps for all occasions...

My baby's growing up!

2010-02-02T16:14:00.000-08:00

Saturday was a big day for Tally (and a sad one for her mama). It was her first day of school.

(She refused to wear her backpack in her first day of school photo on the front porch, but I'll photo-shop it in eventually.)

Many of you are likely wondering what in the world I'm taking about. Well, Tally pup has gone off to boarding school, or summer camp if you will. She's currently three hours away at an obedience and hunt training school. Even though it means Tally will be away from us for three months or so, NavyGuy sold me on the idea with lots of sound logic and reasoning (I hate when he does that - irritates me to no end.).

Tally is at the prestigious Ivy League academy known as the Long Hollow Retrievers Dog Training, where she'll learn to become a talented bird hunting dog, and a well-behaved, people-pleasing, even more adorable puppy. (I didn't read the specifics of the brochure.) And of course, per life with the Navy, it fell to me alone to drive her the 3.5 hours away (the trainer is in Ellensburg, WA, east of Seattle).

So Saturday we set out early, me in the driver's seat, Tally buckled into the passenger seat. She has become such a good little traveler; while I navigated and listened to my book on CD, she curled up and rode like a champ.

We stopped for lunch at Burger King, and Tally had her first french fry. (It was a road trip afterall - what kind of road trip have you ever taken that didn't include french fries?)

(Ooooo. I don't know what that is, but I am intrigued...)

She scarfed it down (and hopefully that small bribe will be what she remembers about her mama... instead of the fact that I was the one who ditched her at school for three months).

We arrived at the school right on time, and the trainer, Ryan, was outside to meet us. He seemed like a very solid kindergarten teacher, and he showed me Tally's bunk (as it were). She gets her own fenced-in area, and because she's still a puppy, she'll get extra play time. I panicked slightly when I saw another black lab that Ryan said was also Tally's age... the other dog was twice as big! Tiny Tally is gonna get eaten! Even Ryan took one look at Tally in the car, and was, "oh, she's a little squirt... what a cutie!" Both true statements, but he better keep a watchful eye on his littlest student... (Yes, I'm a nervous helicopter puppy parent already - I've made my peace with it and it's high time the rest of you did as well.)

So now I'm temporarily husband-less and puppy-less. No cute little face waiting for me at the door when I come home. No puppy sitting on my feet at night keeping them warm. Sad face. It's very tough to think rationally and know that we're doing what's best for Tally pup (and the rest of us) in getting her trained and well-behaved... when I just want to snuggle with her! (Consider this post your personal invitation to my pity party, no RSVP necessary. Gifts are not required, but are always encouraged.)

The only solace at the moment is that NavyGuy comes home this weekend, and we can go visit Tally every couple of weeks. Is this weekend too soon? I don't want to embarrass her in front of her new friends at school. Maybe I should just send a care package...

My final say for the day...

2010-02-01T19:00:00.000-08:00

Whew! A very productive blogging day if I do say so myself. There are a few more stories from the weekend that need their telling, but I've made a significant dent in the list. I'll leave you with a few random snippets...

*I have to go back to work tonight. In fact, I'm probably steaming milk or cleaning dishes while you read this. It should go without saying that I'm not happy about this fact. I've been off since last week Thursday and it's been blissful. The only coffee I've been in contact with has been sipped out of my own cup while standing on the customer side of the counter.

*Tally pup doesn't have worms. The vet called NavyGuy today and little girl is a-ok. Guess the $80 in tests and medicine was totally worth it.

*There will be bathroom re-do photos coming soon. I got bored already with NavyGuy gone and me home alone, so I decided to redecorate the upstairs guest bath (not a good precedent to set I know, but such is life). It's going to look super awesome, just wait!

*I'm hosting my first spouses' club meeting next week. Very nerve-wracking. Luckily I can put NavyGuy to work helping me get the house ready, but I still need to create an evite, come up with some food ideas, and decide on an outfit that screams, "casual, sophisticated, and effortlessly gorgeous, yet won't show sweat stains or any possible food spills."

*Is it wrong that I'm already really excited to go back to Wisconsin in a few weeks?

Book Review: The Art of Racing in the Rain

2010-02-01T18:00:00.000-08:00

The Art of Racing in the Rain
by Garth Stein

The Least You Need to Know... told through the perspective of a thinking, tv watching, waiting for reincarnation as a human, dog.

Reminds me of... Marley and Me; Timbuktu by Paul Auster.

Pros... I read this one in a little more than twelve hours. It's arranged in short chapters than lend itself to, "oh, I'll just read one more," and the story sucks you in quickly. Being a dog person, I loved the conceit that the narrator is Enzo the dog. Enzo tells the tale with great insight, and hilarious bits (and the dog himself is very likeable), even though much of the story is quite sad and depressing. A satisfying, if unbelievable, ending.

Cons... Somewhat predictable plot lines. Even though I found myself wanting things to resolve in the way they did, it was very unrealistic and felt like a bit of a throwaway when everything wraps up very neatly at the end.

Quotable... Enzo: "I've always felt almost human. I've always known that there's something about me that's different than other dogs. Sure, I'm stuffed into a dog's body, but that's just the shell. It's what's inside that's important. The soul. And my soul is very human."

Bottom Line... It's a dog book, so it should be no surprise that you'll need a box of tissues by the end; that said, read it.

Goddaughter Update

2010-02-01T16:15:00.000-08:00

Little Miss M is two now, and up to more trouble than ever (according to her mom, she went nuts for Lady Gaga on the Grammys last night... lord help us all). Her mom (TWP) sent some recent photos, that I know many of you will appreciate...

A girl after my own heart... well done M

A rare outside playground day between the months of October and April in Minnesota...

Rockin' out, Boston style...

What I can only assume is the typical end result of a meal for Miss M.

Miss M is a rabid Wonder Pets fan, so of course her fairy godmother promised her a Ming Ming cape for her birthday in December... what was going to be a home-made gift turned into a last minute Amazon.com gift... but I think Miss M loved it nonetheless!

Mama TWP and Miss M at her Wonder Pets themed birthday party in December. So grown up! (P.S. Love the hair cut TWP!)

A Special Valentine for the Parents of Toddlers...

2010-02-01T15:00:00.000-08:00

Enjoy.
Paper: white cardstock, purple cardstock, brown shimmer text paper
Accessories: ribbon (JoAnns dollar bin); flower (unknown)
Sentiment: printed from computer (quote is unattributed)

Dinners, Sans Hubby

2010-02-01T13:30:00.000-08:00

While NavyGuy's off playing war games (and losing us money), I'm enjoying my chance to eat some meals that he wouldn't necessarily deem suitable for human consumption. Like a box of frozen chicken empanada appetizers. (Judge me not.)

Last night's menu was my own recipe: Frito Taco Nachos. What? What's that you say? Your stomach is growling and your mouth is watering at just the name? But of course. Just wait for the ingredients! (Many of you will probably recognize this as a walking taco, but hear me out.)

You pile Fritos Scoops on a plate. I recommend the "scoops" variety for reasons forthcoming. Then cook up some hamburger and season it with a taco seasoning packet. Then, pile the hamburger on top of the Fritos, and add cheese, lettuce, salsa, tomatoes, or any other taco accessories you enjoy. Grab a stack of napkins and dig in! The scoops make nice little boats for all the taco-y goodness. If you're a real fan of nachos, you could melt nacho cheese and layer that on as well, but I prefer to focus on the meat aspect.

While I find this perfectly acceptable as a dinner, NavyGuy would likely have balked. Other meals I enjoy for dinner that he may question...?

- a bag of popcorn

- two or three bowls of cereal

- any breakfast food (with chocolate chips added for fun)

- taco dip and chips

- couscous

- bagels with peanut butter

and last but not least, cheerios and ice cream. (Separately of course. Don't be ridiculous.)

Time to 'fess up - what weird meal do you love that you can't possibly convince your significant other to consume?

Red Flag... (aka, NavyGuy in Vegas)

2010-02-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

NavyGuy has spent the past week in Las Vegas, with his squadron, completing Red Flag training exercises. Here's your brief (and simplified) military/history lesson for the day.

Red Flag is advanced, aerial combat training exercises that are held at Nellis Air Force Base, outside of Las Vegas. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military recognized that it was not adequately training its pilots and flight officers for actual combat missions. An Air Force study discovered that a pilot's odds for survival dramatically increased after participation in 10 combat missions. The Pentagon decided it needed to provide more combat mission experience for pilots, in a controlled and safe environment.

Thus, Red Flag was born. Pilots, flight officers, air crew, and others spend two weeks completing flying missions in the desert outside Sin City. There is a "good guys" Blue Team, comprised of the visiting squadrons, and a "bad guys" Red Team, made up of Air Force and Navy pilots trained to provide realistic threats (in other words, trained to be the enemy). It is a huge, complicated event. Upwards of 50 different aircraft can be participating at one time - all in an attempt to simulate real combat conditions.

So, that's the general gist of what NavyGuy has been in Las Vegas for. Of course I can't just leave it at that - I have to add my own impressions of what Red Flag entails...

~ Okay, let's begin with the fact that my (and your) tax dollars are paying to put him up in his own room at the Embassy Suites for two weeks. Yes, he's serving his country, sacrificing, etc., so it's a small price to pay that he should be comfortable. But really? Couldn't he have shared the room with one other guy?

~ Red Flag is somewhat of a bonding experience for the squadron. Most squadrons participate pre-deployment, so it's a chance for all the guys (and gals) to get to know one another better, and gain each others trust in the airplanes. Weekdays (and nights) are filled with mission planning, flights, briefs, debriefs, and occasionally sleeping. Hence the weekends are filled with fun and frivolity (and more sleep). They are on the Vegas strip after all. NavyGuy has been to many of the major casinos, seen the fountain at the Bellagio, eaten at some great restaurants, visited Hoover Dam, and proven once and for all that he's a terrible gambler.

~ Along those same lines, Red Flag is often when people who are new to the squadron get their official call sign. After what I'm sure must have been "spirited" debate amongst the squadron, NavyGuy will forevermore be known as Ginger. Because of the red hair. And possibly because of a stretchy red dress that he wore at one of the social events soon after the group arrived in Vegas. Allegedly there are many photos of the ensemble... I'm glad the call sign is something I can explain to children and the elderly without embarrassment or shame, but I have to admit it's a little predictable. So I think we'll still call him NavyGuy around here. (Sorry HistoryGirlie, we can't petition to have his call sign changed to Maverick. I already asked.)

~ NavyGuy has this week left, and should be home sometime over the weekend. So far he's been doing primarily night flights, which means he goes into the squadron around lunchtime, and gets back to his fancy hotel room between 2 and 3am. I think he has one more night flight tonight, and then switches to days for the remainder of the exercises.

Perhaps we'll get NavyGuy's perspective on the whole thing when he returns. From the wife side of things, it's annoying having him gone for more time, so soon before he's going to deploy. He's perpetually tired while he's there, and in my case, I wasn't able to fly down and visit him at all. But you can't argue with the Navy, and increasing his odds of being effective, successful, and safe when he is flying missions with real enemies is worth the annoyance.

If you want to know more about Red Flag, there is a good video series on YouTube. Each part is about 10 minutes long (they resemble History Channel type documentaries, but I'm not 100% sure on the source). I haven't watched all of them yet, but they will definitely give you a good look at Red Flag, plus the perspective of many of the participants.

Red Flag Video, Part 1
Red Flag Video, Part 2
Red Flag Video, Part 3
Red Flag Video, Part 4
Red Flag Video, Part 5

...And oh good grief... puppy woes

2010-02-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

Why is it when one parent is away, that's when the kids get sick?

I got back from the Wisconsin escapade and picked Tally pup up from the kennel. Apparently, everyone loved her, she has a wonderful disposition, she made a new best friend in the few days she was there, and blah blah blah. BUT, the owner informed me that she may have seen worms in Tally's poop that morning. (Oh, sorry - should there have been a "graphic content" warning at the start of this post? Don't worry - there's no poop photos.) Continuing... oh good grief, I thought. I have no clue what I'm supposed to do to deal with this, and the dog has to go to the trainer on Saturday, and great, this is JUST what I wanted to have to monkey with on my first full day back.

Jeez.

So, anyway, I take pup home. I call NavyGuy and we decide that the two of us searching "puppy worms" on the internet probably wasn't the best solution. After a quick call to the vet, I came away learning way too much about dog bowel movements, but apparently, a) worms are fairly common, b) we didn't do anything wrong (whew), and c) it could be treated with no harm to Tally, even if it turned out she didn't have worms.

Well, complicating matters, I was supposed to be taking one of the other Navy wives to the airport in Bellingham that afternoon (this is all happening Thursday of last week), and the vet's office was only open from 2:30-5pm, and they don't take appointments, you just have to show up and wait your turn, and oh good grief.

So, I pick up the Navy wife early, get her up to the airport, and get back to Anacortes in time to throw Tally back in the car (and back in her cute little seat belt!) for a trip to the vet. Fresh poop in hand, we clamor into the office and take our seats to wait it out (well, I sit while Tally desperately tries to sniff and greet every other person in the place). Some time later, we go in to the exam room, pup gets a quick shot to kill one possible strain of worms, and I leave with two unmarked pills to shove down her throat the following day to kill another possible strain. Yeah - so now I have to figure out how to give a dog pills. I can't even swallow pills for god's sake, how am I going to get them down her throat?!?!? Oh good grief. That's tomorrow's problem, I thought.

So we spend the rest of the night relaxing at home. I force Tally outside to use the bathroom every hour, and the neighbors and passers-by are treated to a nice sight of me in my raincoat (because of course, it's raining) wandering around the backyard with a flashlight examining everything that Tally eliminates, searching for signs of worms or who knows what. (Say it with me now... oh good grief.)

The next morning we face the pills. Trusty internet sources suggest hiding it in some people food. Of course I haven't been to the grocery store since I'd returned so we have few options. The only viable scenario involves a hunk of cheddar cheese that's been in the fridge since Christmas. There's nothing green on it, and it still smells like food, so I smush the first pill in a bit of it, and settle on the kitchen floor preparing to do battle (another great visual that you'll all have to imagine for yourself). All the internet sources recommended shoving the pill-food-ball as far back in the dog's throat as possible, then slamming their mouth shut, and massaging the throat to push the pill down. Um yeah.

Luckily, Tally will literally eat anything (hold this thought for later), so I just shoved the cheese at her, she gulped it into her mouth (why bother wasting time with the whole chewing thing) and down the gullet it went. Bless her little heart she swallowed pill number two even faster. And now she thinks cheese is awesome.

Well, after all this shenanigans I decided she needed a treat (and I needed a ten minute break), so I got out her rawhide bone for her to chew on. Under my supervision, she gnawed for a bit, and then I took it away from her. I noticed though, that she still seemed to be chewing on something in her mouth. Fearing she'd gotten a little hunk off without my knowledge, I fished around to see what she was gumming.

Oh good grief. Out fell parts of a tooth. PARTS. At first I couldn't even figure out what it was. I'm 94% sure now that it was just a puppy tooth (which are prone to fall out anyway), but all I got out of her were parts of it... meaning she must have eaten the other part of her tooth! Yes, people, our dog will eat anything. Even her own body parts. Just to make me lose my mind.

Oh good grief.

(Who, me? I'm an angel...)

Love Grows

2010-02-01T10:15:00.000-08:00

Inspired by a Starbucks mug and a card I saw online, this is my go to design for Valentine's Day 2010.

And I finally found a white pen that will actually show up on dark paper!!!! (insert Hallelujah chorus)It's the Uniball Signo White Gel Pen, and I am totally buying them in bulk now. I first spotted them at Archiver's, but have since seen them at other specialty scrapbooking stores (and would maybe guess you could find them at Office Max or Staples? Don't hold me to that, but if anyone spots them elsewhere, please share with the group). Anyhoo, the pen rocks - the ink is solid white, shows up on all dark paper, and flows very smoothly. The brown paper I used for this particular card even has a slight shimmer to it, and the ink popped off the page without a single smudge.

Okay, pen gushing over. The card was made very simply with just little punched out hearts, and the white pen. I outlined all the hearts, drew in the stems, leaves, and sentiment, and that was that! I used a thin glue pen to attach all the small hearts, but you could also throw them through a Xyron sticker maker machine and achieve the same solid hold.

How's that for getting the most out of my three dollar latte!

Escape to Wisconsin: The Finale

2010-02-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

By Wednesday morning, I was full of yummy Wisconsin food, my nose hairs had finally started to freeze when I walked outside (there was an unusual warm spell until the last day of my visit... a whopping 38 degrees a few days!), and I'd managed to see everyone on my "must-see-list."

I headed down to the airport, got frisked by the TSA (apparently my Wisconsin t-shirt and backpack looked suspicious), and have an uneventful flight back to Washington.

Would I do the whole thing again? If it isn't clear by now, then I don't know what recap you've been reading. The trip was AWESOME! I have never had a vacation where everything actually worked out as planned. All the surprises went off without a hitch. None of my flights were delayed or became major debacles. The weather cooperated (mostly). And I think everyone enjoyed my visit :)

Mom, did I miss anything important in the recaps? HG, anything you feel the need to add? Am I forgiven for shocking all of you? :)

Escape to Wisconsin: Did I Come for the Company, or the Food?

2010-02-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

"There is no love sincerer than the love of food."
~George Bernard Shaw

NavyGuy's family has a long running joke that all we ever do when we vacation, celebrate holidays, or get in a group of more than three, is eat. I would argue it's less a joke and more a rule. One I wholeheartedly and without question follow. So it should really come as no surprise (tee hee hee), that much of my trip back to Wisconsin was spent eating. There are many delicacies that I can't get out here, so I have to fit in as many Wisconsin dishes as possible whenever I'm home. Here's a glimpse at my diet for the five days I was home...

-a fabulous Friday night perch plate, complete with beer battered perch, french fries, and rye bread. Wisconsin. Friday. Fish. Say no more.

-Culver's hot dog, french fries, chocolate custard, cookies and cream custard, and chocolate oreo volcano custard. Yes, Culver's must have figured out my surprise visit and planned two of my absolute favorite flavors of the day. That makes up for the fact that they changed their previously delightful hot dog! I know! Scandal! They used to have a wonderful hot dog on a normal bun, and now they've switched to a random weird roll in place of the bun, and they cut the hot dog in half! In HALF! I choked it down, but the magic is gone. (Apparently my mother knew about this travesty ahead of time, but felt she should keep the info from me lest I launch some sort of protest outside the restaurant and get us both arrested for disturbing the peace. Whatever, the police and judge would have totally been on my side once they heard the circumstances. In HALF!)

-Fond du Lac Chinatown Kitchen Sweet and Sour Chicken. Oh lordy. I don't actually eat the sweet and sour sauce (leading NavyGuy to claim I'm simply ordering Chinese chicken nuggets), but the fried rice, egg roll, and deliciously fried chicken pieces are enough to make me melt into a food coma. All the Chinese restaurants out here stink; the fried rice isn't greasy enough, the egg rolls have too much cabbage (or whatever that stringy stuff is), and don't get me started on the subpar sweet and sour chicken.

-French toast, hashbrowns, sausage, and bacon brunch at MOH's house on Sunday morning (have you noticed that there pretty much hasn't been a single vegetable on the list so far... hehe, oops). She invited the fam over for some quality baby Lily time, and offered to feed us as well!

-Grilled pork chops, homemade bread, carrots, and twice-baked potatoes (ha! veggies!) at Uncle J's and Auntie T's house Sunday night. Uncle J missed his calling and should have opened a restaurant years ago, because the man can cook like no other. I don't even like pork chops, but Uncle J sprinkled some magic on them or something cuz I cleaned my plate! (And scarfed down a brownie and two chocolate covered strawberries for dessert - ooo, fruit!)

-Monday night was fettucini alfredo a'la HistoryGirlie. I had scooted back up to her neck of the woods to hang out for the night, and got the royal dinner treatment (including garlic bread and beans... which little Kitty proceeded to mush into her hands, face, and hair). Dessert was the mini-chocolate chip cookies that come in that fun plastic tub from Pick'n'Save (a Midwest grocery store). HG and I gave Kitty a bath (okay, I sat on the counter and told random stories while HG did the real work), watched Elmo, and finished our gossip session.

-Q'doba chicken burrito (plus chips). And a side of salsa. So technically we have Q'doba out here, but it's a 70 minute drive away, whereas the one in Fondy is three minutes from Mom's house. Also the reason why I went to Target twice while home - because it's less than five minutes away.

Are you horrified? Or impressed? You should know that I gained more than two pounds (but less than four) while on my Wisconsin food binge, which I consider a successful vacation. Aside from the Culver's hot dog incident, the only other food disappointment was discovering that Panchero's on the east side of Appleton had closed. Discovering this after Mom and I had driven across town and I had gotten my mouth all watery and excited for tacos. And then discovering that NavyGuy knew it was closed and kept the information from me!!! What is it with people not telling me about changes? It's like they think I can't handle change...

Post-A-Thon is On!

2010-02-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

There's just so much to report! I can't take it anymore. A meager one post a day just isn't going to cut it.

So today is my first post-a-thon! You can expect a new post every couple of hours. Hopefully none of you were planning on actually being productive at work today :)

There's a catch though - I need some support from you people... in the form of comments of course!

And we're off!

Escape to Wisconsin: Fun with HistoryGirlie and Kitty

2010-01-30T21:26:00.000-08:00

By now I'd surprised pretty much my whole family, but there was one honorary family member that still needed a shock...

Mom called HistoryGirlie (my former teacher colleague/sister from a different womb/wedding day lady-in-waiting/future History Channel commentator) on Friday afternoon. We needed a way to surprise her with my visit, but we couldn't risk just driving up to her house (45 minutes north) and finding out she wasn't home or goodness knows what. So, Mom sold HG on the idea that she was going to Appleton to shop, and wanted to see HistoryGirlie and her daughter Kitty because Mom missed them and wanted to see HG's baby bump and so on and so forth. Luckily, HG a) wasn't busy Saturday morning, and b) is easy prey for Catholic mother guilt, and immediately agreed to meet Mom at Archiver's Scrapbooking store.

The whole conversation took place with me sitting on the couch next to Mom, stifling giggles and trying to figure out what must have been going through HG's head. Her hubby said after the fact that he thought something must have been up, but HG swore up and down that she really just thought Mom wanted a shopping buddy since her own daughters had selfishly moved thousands of miles away :)

Saturday morning we set out for Appleton. After a quick stop for Mom's gas station coffee (keep this tidbit in the back of your brain for later), we made it to Appleton in record time and discovered that Archiver's wasn't open until after we'd planned to meet HG! Mom quickly called HistoryGirlie and moved the meeting place to Atlanta Bread (a yummy breakfast and sandwich place nearby). Since HG is currently in a "delicate condition" (random tangent - when did we lose those cutesy phrases for being pregnant... they're so much more fun to say than to call someone "knocked up" - end tangent)... anyhoo, since HG is with child, I figured it might be a little evil to give her a full-on surprise, so we decided to stage me at a table in the restaurant with my back to the door, and Mom would meet HG and Kitty at the entrance and lead them over... giving HG a chance to recognize my jacket and/or back, and start to put the whole thing together.

If I didn't already have several viable book ideas, I'd add "How to Surprise People" to the list... cuz I rock at it! HG was bowled over - and Kitty (her two year old doll of a daughter) came right up and hugged me!!! She remembered me! So exciting :) HG, Kitty, Mom, and I caught up at the restaurant, then attacked Archiver's for a bit. HistoryGirlie had a term paper to write and a house to clean, so we made plans to hang out more after school on Monday night.

(I told you - doll!! Kitty at the dinner table on Monday night.)

While HistoryGirlie went home to be productive, Mom and I opted to hit up a few more stores, then tour College Avenue (the main drag in Appleton) to see what changes they had dared make in my absence. (I don't do change. At all. Ask anyone.) The real problems didn't arise until we got to the Kimberly side of the Fox Cities...

Escape to Wisconsin: SURPRISE!

2010-01-29T20:43:00.001-08:00

If you've never surprised someone before, you've simply got to try it. It's exhilarating. Plan a surprise party, or just show up somewhere unannounced - trust me, it's a legal high you'll want to experience again and again.

Our timeline left us at 10:40, Friday morning, en route to Mom's classroom. I was armed with my Culver's fries, a stealth plan, and nerves of steel. If all had gone to plan, Mom would be in her classroom, obliviously ~~surfing the internet and snacking~~ grading papers and planning inspiring lessons, none the wiser that her eldest daughter was creeping through the halls (torturing middle schoolers with the scent of french fry grease), ready to give her mother a heart attack. My own heart was racing as I turned the corner towards her room; if she had chosen today to call in "sick" I was never going to forgive her.

I peeked around the doorjam and looked into her room as silent as a mouse. Perfect. Hard at work at her desk, completely engrossed in spelling sheets or some such nonsense.

"Anyone up for Culver's for lunch?" I held up my bag 'o fries and flashed my killer smile.

I had contemplated taking a photo of Mom's face the moment I walked in, but a) she hates pictures, b) she'd probably be confused enough to see her daughter randomly standing in her doorway that the flashbulb might put her over the edge, and c) did I mention she hates pictures? Anyway, there's no real way to describe her face. I swear it flashed from "who is that?" to "is that my daughter?" to "oh god, what happened to NavyGuy!!?!?" to "wait, she wouldn't come here to tell me he fell out of his airplane" to "OH MY GOD!"

There were screams, tears, hugs, and a few loving smacks at my arm resulting from her indignation that I would fly into town unannounced. I swear she was a little disappointed that I'd denied her the motherly joy of counting down the days until she'd see her progeny (and her singular joy at watching flight tracker and seeing my little plane jump across the country). But she got over it. And when she found out I was staying until Wednesday, she got all weepy again :)

Mom was not the only one to get a shock though. Once I'd surprised her and seen how much fun it is (it's great for your self-esteem when every person you see screams your name and exclaims how happy they are to see you), I decided the fun must continue! The remainder of Friday was spent surprising the rest of the family...

-Mom and I ran over to the bank where Auntie T works, under the pretense of needing to drop something off for her. I walked into her office like I owned the place and we had round two of shock and awe.

-Next up was Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa bolted out of his chair, and Grandma popped right up and recognized me! (She's battling Alzheimer's so I wasn't sure she'd be having a good enough day to know what was going on.) And they force fed me peanut M&Ms. Gotta love grandparents.

-Dinner was a surprise visit to Cousin MOH's Friday night waitressing job. MOH had no clue I was coming, but her husband was there with their daughter Lily (who I hadn't met until this point), as well as Auntie T, Uncle J, Grandma, Grandpa, and Mom. MOH had her back to me as I snuck in, so I tapped her on the shoulder and said, "um when you have a minute can I have a refill on my water please?" Poor girl almost dropped her tray. More hugs, more tears, and once baby Lily awoke from her nap and got her first look at me, I got a giant grin! Melt my heart... :)

(You would not believe how hard it is to get a good photo of a six month old. No kidding - this was the best photo of the whole weekend. Trust me, her smile's adorable.)

-The surprises kept on comin'. Auntie E and Uncle D were out to dinner at a nearby restaurant, so I popped in on them. Then Mom and I headed out to their kids who were home watching a movie - another successful surprise!

By this point on Friday night, I was ready to drop. All this surprising was exhilarating, but exhausting! I needed to rest up because I had one more big surprise to pull the next morning...

Escape to Wisconsin: Travel Itinerary

2010-01-29T12:26:00.000-08:00

Thursday, 7:00pm - Board airporter shuttle for a two hour trip down to SeaTac airport.

9:10pm - Arrive at airport and get checked in for flight.

9:20pm - Survive TSA security checkpoint with minimal irritation.

9:30pm - Settle in for a three hour wait for my flight (the 7pm shuttle is the latest option, so I had no choice but to get to the airport way early).

12:06am - Board. Remember that I booked late and got left with a middle seat. Bah. (Luckily I'm a pro and can sleep anywhere, anytime.)

(We're into Friday now...)

3:30am - Land in Minneapolis. Switch to central time zone... so it's now 5:30am.

5:45am - Walk 1/2 a mile through the airport to get to my terminal for the connecting flight. Stop for a tea from the Sbux.

6:15am - See Mom has commented on my blog and wants me to come home and shovel... oh if only she knew!

6:17am - Debate calling her and breaking the surprise early. Restrain myself.

6:30am - Board my second flight. More sleeping.

8:30am - Land in Milwaukee, WI! Collect my luggage, find the rental car counter, chat up Joe the rental car dude, get suckered into insurance for the car (whoops), and head out for Fondy.

9:46am - Again, debate calling Mom and spilling the beans. Reason that I can make it one more hour, I'm so close, don't do it! I throw my cell phone in the backseat where I can't reach it to prevent a last minute will-power break.

10:30am - Pull into Culver's in Fondy. Walk out with hot, fresh french fries.

10:40am - Head over to Mom's school...

Escape to Wisconsin: The Mission Commences

2010-01-28T20:19:00.000-08:00

We left our story on Thursday afternoon. I had found a kennel for Tally pup. Scratch that - kennel is a misnomer. Perhaps bed and breakfast is a better phrase.

Because Tally is young, little, and not yet spayed, I was really concerned with making sure she stayed at a place where she'd be kept separate from other dogs, and not put in a position to have to defend her honor against some frisky boy puppy! The Canine Cozy Care Resort is a smaller, family run boarding facility, where each pooch has their own room (NavyGuy put the kibbash on upgrading Tally to the luxury suite with a window, and tv playing G-rated doggie movies). The dogs get many hours of playtime and love, and NavyGuy and I both could rest easy that our little peanut would be well taken care of.

The "resort" is 45 minutes south of us though, and I'd need to drop Tally off in the afternoon on Thursday before NavyGuy got home from work. I was reluctant to make her ride in a crate in the back of our car, so I nabbed a puppy "car seat" harness of sorts to keep her safely in the passenger seat and not on my lap while I was trying to drive. It took a few test drives around the neighborhood (and a steady supply of Cheerios), but she got the hang of the process.

Doesn't she look adorable/ridiculous in her little harness? She's still not a huge fan of it, but she's made her peace. Oh by the by, have you ever tried packing for a five day puppy vacation? I thought it was tough to get myself packed! She needed food, treats, toys, everything labeled with her name - I suppose it's good practice for future travel with kids, but good grief. Damn dog is more high maintenance than I am!

Anyway, I got her down to the resort on Thursday afternoon, stopped at Best Buy to pick up a last-minute something or other that NavyGuy had ordered and desperately needed for his trip, and got back to the house around dinner time. Finished my packing, grabbed a quick bite to eat with NavyGuy, and then it was off to meet the airport shuttle around 7pm. My journey home was only beginning...

Escape to Wisconsin: The Plan is Hatched

2010-01-27T21:16:00.000-08:00

So... as soon as we confirmed that NavyGuy would be spending the last week of January training with his squadron in Las Vegas (more on this later), I knew there was no way I would be moping around the house by myself the whole time. I could have gone down to Vegas to visit him, but why go to beautiful Vegas in January when I could go to beautiful Wisconsin in January?!?!?

The plan began to take shape. How fun would it be for me to sneak into Fond du Lac (under cover of darkness via a red-eye flight), run through a Culver's drive-thru to snab some french fries, and then show up at my mom's classroom all, "yeah, I just got bored and really wanted some custard and some cold weather, so I came home for the weekend!" Answer - wicked fun. As soon as I told NavyGuy my plot, he agreed that it could work, and that it would be a pretty awesome surprise for everyone.

I had to do some reconnaissance though before the mission could take place. First up, I put Sister in charge of chatting up Mom and making sure that she didn't have any major plans for the weekend in question (she didn't - she'd planned to get her taxes done... which clearly is way less fun than having her favorite daughter visit). Next I needed a babysitter for Tally pup, since both NavyGuy and I would be gone, and much as Mom may have liked a visit from her grandpuppy, there was no way I going to try to travel alone with the Tally. Third, I contacted an ally at Mom's school (one of her teaching partners) to nail down the bell schedule, where Mom would be at what time, etc. etc. Lastly, I had to not tell anyone! SO HARD!!! (But so worth it.)

So by last Thursday, we were ready to rock'n'roll...

Why So Quiet?

2010-01-25T09:30:00.000-08:00

Because I'm home in Fond du Lac!

Lots more details to come, but the short story is that last week Thursday night, I took a red-eye back to Wisconsin, rented a car, and surprised the snot out of my family and friends. I'll return to Washington on Wednesday, and I promise I'll give a full recap then, but in the meantime, I'm having too much fun visiting, shivering, and eating my weight in Culver's custard!

Hope everyone else had as fabulous a weekend as I did!

A Weather Rant

2010-01-19T21:40:00.000-08:00

I have lost all patience with this nonsense.

Yesterday, I got home from work and decided to take Tally for a walk. We had a nice stroll through the neighborhood and even ventured up into the woods for some off-roading. Doesn't that sound like a nice picture? An adorable puppy dog and a woman in a short sleeve t-shirt and jeans taking in the late morning air... I'll wait. Go ahead and reread that sentence. Um, yeah.

I went for a walk yesterday - January 20th - in a short-sleeve t-shirt. SHORT SLEEVES! SHORT SLEEVES!!! No mittens, no hat, no scarf, no boots, no freezing boogers in my nose. No frost-bitten fingers, no blustery wind, no snow, no ice, no jacket. No material covering my forearms!

That was the last straw. I want seasons back. Where the hell is winter? I am sick to death of spring weather in January. I know I know - most of you readers have been mired in frigid temps and snowy winter for months, so how dare I complain about our 50 degree days. But seriously - this is ridiculous. January should not feel the same as April, June, and October! I've worn the same clothing for the past year. There's no switching out summer clothes for winter clothes; you just add or take off a raincoat depending on the hour of the day. There's no rush of excitement when the temps reach 40 and it's starting to feel like winter may be reaching it's end. There's no scorching, humid summer day when your butt is sweating and your makeup is melting off your face, and you find an air-conditioned place that provides a solace like no other. There's no joy in the first crisp fall day when you get to pull out your favorite sweater and have some soul-warming oatmeal for breakfast.

I haven't decided on a course of action yet... but something must be done...

Cheers and Jeers

2010-01-19T21:23:00.000-08:00

Jeers... to having to do bathroom checks at work now. Apparently, in order to "save money," the talking heads at Target came up with the brilliant plan to have the Starbucks girls do the mid-day bathroom cleaning. So now along with "steamed milk" and "poured coffee," I'll be able to add "scrubbed toilets" to my resume! (Sense the sarcasm... let it roll around in your ears for a minute.)

Jeers... to missing Stamp Club because NavyGuy had a night flight. Tally had already spent most of the day by herself, so I had to come home and be with her instead of getting my craft on. Grrr.

(Tiny) Jeers... to Tally. For acting like an actual dog, not the perfect puppy we've been honeymooning with for the last three months. After being cooped up all day, it's not surprising that she's been driving me nutty all night long with the jumping, and the nipping, and the stepping on my laptop, and the frantic tearing around the house like a toddler on a sugar high on Christmas. (Of course now that I've typed this, she's decided to curl up on my lap and look adorable. Damn puppy dog eyes. They'll get'cha every time.)

Cheers... to having Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for breakfast. That's all I got for cheers. It was really more of a jeerful day. Bah.

Flight Suit Up!

2010-01-18T22:20:00.000-08:00

Out with the olive...

... and in with the sand. NavyGuy's squadron starts wearing tan-colored flight suits tomorrow. It's what they'll wear when they deploy, so apparently they have to start practicing now...? Maybe they need to break them in? Or figure out which accessories go best with the new color?

Weekend Update

2010-01-18T10:34:00.000-08:00

Not a whole heck of a lot to report to be frank.

Friday - 8 hours at the 'Bucks.

Saturday - 8 hours at the 'Bucks.

Sunday - 8 hours at the 'Bucks.

I know - tres exciting. Aside from all the coffee-ing, NavyGuy and I went out to dinner with another couple on Sunday night (yummo bloomin' onion at Outback!), and that's about it.

Please tell me someone else had a more interesting weekend than us...?

Wild for You

2010-01-16T21:13:00.000-08:00

A simple layout, but nice and colorful. Both the lion and the sentiment were stamped in black; then I used markers to color the lion image.

Book Review: Freakonomics

2010-01-13T21:27:00.000-08:00

Freakonomics; A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
by Steven D. Levitt and Steven J. Dubner

The Least You Need to Know... the book that made economics about more than just math, interest rates, and the stock market.

Reminds me of... Blink, The Tipping Point, and The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

General Thesis... If morality represents how people would like the world to work, then economics shows how it actually does work.

Pros... Easy to read, engaging, and almost totally devoid of tables, graphs, or yucky math type stuff. Presents eye-opening (and controversial) arguments like "Roe v. Wade was the biggest cause of the crime decline in the 1990s" or "what parents do matters less when it comes to raising their children than who parents essentially are."

Cons... No unifying theme; authors occasionally raise questions without ever providing answers which, when the questions were interesting, was frustrating.

Bottom Line... This is a super well known book (you should at least recognize the term "freakonomics") that you would be wise to have on your radar. If you'd like to get some of their insights and ideas in smaller doses, there's a Freakonomics blog you can check out.

2010-01-12T22:44:00.001-08:00

Tally pup helped me clean out the large storage closet in the basement last night. She was crazy helpful... she gnawed at packing peanuts, continually stepped on items I tried to pull out, and eventually opted for the "I'll just stand in the closet and watch until someone lures me out with a treat..."

Christmas Cards

2010-01-12T22:30:00.001-08:00

I can't take credit for this idea, but I'm certainly going to pass it on.

NavyGuy was a bit horrified to find out I had cut up all the holiday cards (yes, those are all bits of cards we actually got), but I think the plan is brilliant. What would we do with all of them otherwise? This way, their essence is preserved. (And I won't be on Hoarders in 20 years with seventy five boxes of holiday cards that I just couldn't bear to part with...)

The idea came from this post by Ali Edwards (a scrapbooking celebrity of sorts). Each of my card cut-outs is a 2 in by 2 in square, with the corners rounded. Some of the photo cards I cropped longer in order to not exclude people. I think both pages turned out really neat; I especially like how they're symmetrical, but also really colorful and unique. It's fun to see the photo cards of course, but also the different styles of cards people sent.

The journaling strips were typed on the computer and printed on white cardstock.

What do you with your cards once the Christmas season is over? (Friends of mine in real life... can you find your card snippet?)

Definitely the last Star Wars post for quite some time...

2010-01-11T19:55:00.000-08:00

We've had a three-night marathon of the Star Wars flicks. As a reward for me sitting through all six hours of death star-wookiee-stormtrooper-Jabba-droid-geekery, NavyGuy came up with this guest post highlighting WHY these movies are so amazing...

The Top 10 Reasons Guys of our Generation Love the Original Star Wars Trilogy...

10. Ton-Tons: they'll keep you warm in the frigid Hoth night.

9. John Williams is a musical genius.

8. No hokey CGI animation. Instead, we get hokey latex creatures, but at least they're actually made of matter.

7. As if flying down a trench around the equator of the Death Star wasn't good enough, they fly INTO the damn thing in "Return of the Jedi."

6. Yoda (the little green guy to you non-believers) starts an entire manner of speaking by putting parts of speech in odd places in the sentence.

5. Imagine all the things an adolescent boy could do with the "Force."

4. TIE fighters, star destroyers, X-Wings, Calamari cruisers, and the Millennium Falcon. They all make noise in a vacuum somehow, but it's still cool.

3. Vader is his dad, c'mon. You can't tell me the first time you saw "Empire Strikes Back," you saw that coming at all.

2. Carrie Fischer in a steel bikini.

1. Light sabers. 'Nuff said.

Tally Makes Herself Comfy

2010-01-10T21:10:00.000-08:00

Like writing an essay about the advantages and disadvantages of case studies in research wasn't difficult enough...

But Mom, I'd rather sit with you than anywhere else... especially when you're trying to play with that big black thingy that I like to step on...

Saturday Night Movie Night

2010-01-09T21:56:00.001-08:00

I do not - and will not ever - understand my husband's obsession and unconditional love for Star Wars. I've seen the film several times now, and I just cannot understand the appeal. The whole "force" thing is kinda cool, and yeah okay, light sabers - woot - and I suppose Harrison Ford helps, but really? Is it because I didn't see it as a young child and therefore don't have the unexplainable, nostalgic, sentimental connection to it (like I do to say, Goonies, Harry and the Hendersons, Flight of the Navigator, and The Little Mermaid)? Clearly, it's a popular movie with tons of followers, but I just can't get psyched about it. Don't get me wrong - I don't hate it. I just don't get the fanatical love that boys of a certain age seem to have for it.

Exhibit A: How I Met Your Mother, Ted and his new girlfriend discuss Star Wars

Exhibit B: HIMYM, after Ted's girlfriend has seen Star Wars for the first time

Am I alone here? I think I may really have something going though with my theory of "cult movies you didn't seen a zillion times as a child don't hold up well 20 years down the road"... (I'll give you another personal example - didn't see The Never-Ending Story until college... what's all the fuss about? It's WEIRD!) C'mon, who's with me? Which of you will admit to having no inclination to bust out your VHS copy of Return of the Jedi just cuz of reading this post? Are there any cult films that peeps our age are nutty about that you have no love for?

P.S. I wrote this thing on Saturday night movie night... as we were watching Star Wars. Cuz that's how we roll on a Saturday night.

Bits and Pieces

2010-01-08T20:29:00.000-08:00

*The espresso machine (fancy name = Verissimo) went beserko all over itself at work today. My co-worker Jennifer was in the process of making a drink when the Verissimo started making the most god-awful grinding sound. We opened the contraption to take a look, and the beast gave a loud pop and a spark! She and I nearly had simultaneous heart attacks, and then read the message screen on the machine: piston error. Lucky for me, this all went down about eight minutes before my shift ended, so it became completely not my problem. Ah the joys of just being a minimum wage worker bee... (no, I did feel bad that I had to leave them with a Starbucks incapable of making any beverage with espresso shots... but not bad enough that I was going to stay and fight the Verissimo!)

*There was also the memorable customer who walked up to the counter, looked at the menu boards (which say Starbucks), looked at my apron (which says Starbucks), and looked at the entire coffee area (which SCREAMS Starbucks), and promptly asked in a forlorn voice, "Oh, is this Starbucks coffee?". I wanted to say no, but I was afraid that might make her stay. (Unfortunately, she stayed even after I said yes and then proceeded to bitch about Starbucks coffee during the entire transaction.)

*NavyGuy got his H1N1 vaccine yesterday, and apparently the hospital on base was also handing out anthrax vaccines like candy, so he got himself hooked up. I can't decide whether to be relieved that he's theoretically safe from an anthrax attack, or disturbed that he needs a vaccine to prevent him from a potential anthrax attack.

*Also, just in case you didn't have enough doubts about the United States Navy, let me paint you a picture... Yesterday, NavyGuy was sitting in his jet waiting to take off on a flight. Apparently, some valve on the plane wasn't working. So the mechanics were called in to trouble shoot. And their solution? Bang on the valve with a broom stick. Yup. A broom stick. Isn't it nice to know your tax dollars are being spent wisely?

*I will be completely unreachable between the hours of 11am and 1pm tomorrow. UNreachable. The world can end around me, and I will still be relaxing at the spa getting a massage. No, seriously, not a metaphor - I have a massage tomorrow! NavyGuy's parents got me a spa gift certificate for my birthday last year and I'm finally getting around to using it. And it's gonna be legendary.

*Tally pup also has a big day tomorrow. In anticipation of NavyGuy hopefully getting some time off before he deploys, we want to find a place to board Tally, so we can relax and know she's in good hands while we're gone. I found a "canine resort" that seems awesome, but they require a meeting with potential doggies ahead of time, as well as a temperament test. So Tally has to be on her best behavior tomorrow and win over the resort folk - wish her luck.

What's up with you guys? :)

Trio of Love Cards

2010-01-07T14:17:00.000-08:00

My next big card sending holiday is Valentine's Day, and the goal is to have most of the cards made by the end of January... so I can actually get them in the mail and to my friends and loved ones by February 14th!

Here's the first trio of cards I came up with. The first one was inspired by a Becky Higgins' sketch.

I "love" how this one turned out. I punched random circles of coordinating patterned paper, used my Cricut to cut out the letters for the main sentiment, and used a black sharpie to write the rest of the greeting.

The connecting threads between all three cards are the colors (pink, white, black, and grey), a simple layout, and the black doodling around the outside of each card as well as some of the other elements.

The third card gets its interest from the mix of capital and lowercase letters in the sentiment.

Study Says Women with Mate Get Heavier

2010-01-06T09:58:00.000-08:00

And I finally have justification for blaming NavyGuy for my increased volume since May 23, 2009...

From The New York Times

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

Published: January 4, 2010

It is widely known that women tend to gain weight after giving birth, but now a large study has found evidence that even among childless women, those who live with a mate put on more pounds than those who live without one...

Click here for the rest of the story.

I've heard this information before, with complaints from recently married women, and I can testify that I'm now one of them, irritated that my newlywed bliss is being weighed down (literally) by some extra poundage.

But why? The article doesn't give much in the way of analysis or explanation for their findings. The article points out that, "there is no reason to believe that having a partner causes metabolic changes," so it must be some kind of behavioral change. Why does living with a boy make us girls gain a few pounds? Do we subconsciously (or consciously) let ourselves go a little once we get that ring on our finger? Do our eating habits change? Do we exercise less and spend more time snuggling on the couch watching marathons of House? Or is there some other phenomenon going on?

What do we think ladies (and gentlemen)? Do you agree with the premise that women tend to gain weight once they're happily coupled/co-habitating/married? Got any theories as to why this seems to happen?

2010 Book Challenge Updates

2010-01-05T20:05:00.000-08:00

HistoryGirlie asked: can we reread books that we love, or are we going with ones that are a first time around only?

An important guideline that I failed to establish from the get go. For myself, I'm going to declare that any books I reread won't count... but it's really up to everyone to decide for themselves.

*******

Next bit of business - I finished my first book for the year!

(Cue the Hallelujah chorus)

Patricia B. McConnell is an animal behaviorist, author, professor, ethologist, radio personality, columnist, (and Madison, Wisconsin resident!) who has written tons of books and articles on dogs, their relationships with humans, and well, dogs. NavyGuy and I got one of her books before Christmas and it was a nice easy read to get the year rolling. Tales of Two Species; Essays on Loving and Living with Dogs bounces from what dogs can mentally understand to the psychology of training methods to why our dogs probably think we're crazy much of the time :)

McConnell really does a great job of making the more complex science-y stuff approachable, and inserting lots of fun stories and anecdotes. I like her general attitudes towards training and living with dogs, in that she advocates moderation and common sense, not any of the extreme training philosophies that are popular these days (she doesn't cite him by name, but she definitely has issues with Cesar Milan's ideas that dogs are just like wolves and should be dominated by "pack leaders," their owners). The short essays are nice little bits of info to swallow and my interest has been piqued enough to read some of her other books.

Keep on reading everyone! And let everyone know once you've gotten book number one under your belt!

2010 Projects

2010-01-04T15:29:00.000-08:00

The term resolutions is so "first-decade-of-the-twenty-first-century," you know? ;)

And really, all of these projects on my list are just that - projects. They won't be completed in one day, they won't all be fully finished by the end of the year, many of them are ongoing activities that I'd simply like to focus on more. In no particular order, here are the Projects for 2010:

1. Record wedding memories. Ideally I'd get the physical scrapbooks done and the blogging, but realistically, I'd like to at least get all the blog recaps written while the memories are still (relatively) fresh. That way, I can work my way through the scrapbooking at an enjoyable pace, knowing that the bulk of the journaling is done and preserved here for whenever I finally get around to the glue and stickers.

2. Ignore the rules and just scrapbook. I'm done trying to make pages in perfect chronological order; if I feel like making the page about this year's Thanksgiving (even though Thanksgiving 2008 isn't done), so be it. If I feel like putting random pictures from June 2009 on one page and calling that month's events done, so be it. I miss the fun of scrapbooking and I want it back! (So be it.)

3. Secure Washington state teaching license. Apparently, the state will only give you two temporary licenses before they force you to pony up and pay for the state tests required for a permanent license. Blargh. Unfortunately, I can't sub anymore until I take the tests and get my official teaching license. So, I signed up, forked over the requisite test fees, and now I just have to review some world history and econ, and hopefully I'll have this one checked off the list soon.

4. Finish the grad class I've been avoiding and move on in the program. Statistics sucks. Sorry all you math folks, but it's boring, tedious, and I've been putzing through the course for almost a year. Yes, embarrassing to admit but true. It's gotten so bad that the university has come a callin' a couple times to find out if I'm still enrolled... or even alive (um, as long as I keep sending you people checks do you really care that I've been opting to do pretty much anything besides read a statistics textbook?) Anyway, all of the other courses I need to complete are actually directly related to education and sound interesting, so I need to just finish this damn statistics requirement and put it behind me.

5. The 2010 Book Challenge. (Duh.)

That's it. No major proclamations of getting healthy, cutting out pizza rolls or ice cream, exercising five times a week, losing 10 pounds, or completing a marathon (though I'm sure this is on Sister's list and you go girl!). As much as I value setting goals and having things to work for, I just refuse to set myself up for failure this year. NavyGuy will be deployed for six months. I'll be living by myself, raising a crazy dog, and keeping everything together one day at a time. I have no way to predict how those six months are going to go. I'd rather be pleasantly surprised at the end of 2010, as opposed to disappointed because I wanted to be perfect when NavyGuy returned and instead I gained five pounds of (chocolate/wine/pizza roll) weight.

What resolutions/goals/projects for 2010 are you willing to announce to the blogosphere?

2010 Book Challenge

2010-01-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

I've made my decision on the book challenge.
Bring. It. ON!

Yup, I'm going for it. Well, I have been going for it since Friday, but I've been too busy reading to blog about it :) Despite NavyGuy's protestations, and demands that he create the rules for the challenge (and thus name himself "Book Challenge Commissioner"), I am instituting the following guidelines for myself for the year:
1. Read (and finish) 50 books by 11:59pm, December 31st, 2010.

2. Any category of books is acceptable - fiction, nonfiction, mystery, young adult lit - except picture books.

3. Books on CD are also acceptable. (If you can read in the car without getting ill, more power too you.)

4. I do not need to "pre-list" which books I'm going to read. That's dull. And doesn't allow for the kind of flexibility I require.

5. Crossover books (aka, books I have to read for some other purpose... i.e. grad program) count.

That's it. Basically, try to read 50 books in the year 2010. Ideally, the challenge will a) encourage me to read more, b) encourage me to turn off the tv, c) allow me to actually get through more of the unread books I have on my bookshelves, d) give me bragging rights over NavyGuy (always a plus). (If only I could get Pizza Hut sponsorship and score a free pizza "Book-It" style for every five books I read, then I'd really be motivated!)

So anyway, I'm off and ~~running~~ reading. Right now I'm reading two books.* They're both dog books that NavyGuy and I have received as gifts in the past month.
Now it's your turn - who's accepting the challenge with me? Obviously, you can choose whatever goal number you want, and amend any of the guidelines as necessary, but let me know what you're shooting for!

You'll notice a new link list in the right sidebar ("What Should I Read Next?") where I'm going to keep a compilation of book possibilities. Each title will link to the book's Amazon page so you can check out the title and see if it's something that might interest you. Some are ones I already own and have been meaning to read, some are ones friends have suggested, and some are just random titles that grab me. Always feel free to comment or email with suggestions and I'll do my best to keep the list updated... so no one can use the excuse that they can't find anything good to read! And as soon as I get my first book of the year done, you all will be the first to know :)

*I've quickly discovered that reading several books at once is going to be key to my success. The reasoning is twofold: 1) if I have several books going at once, I can leave them strategically throughout the house and therefore always have a book within reach (one upstairs, one downstairs, one in the car for during breaks at work, one in the bathroom... oh don't judge, you know you do it too!). The second reason is that a major downfall to my reading is I tend to get bogged down in a book; if it's not grabbing my attention right away, then I dawdle my way through it - and I ain't got time to play that game this year if I'm gonna reach the magic number. So, if one book is slowing me down, then I can take breaks with some of the other options I have going.

De-Christmasfication

2010-01-03T20:11:00.000-08:00

We spent much of the day removing all the traces of holiday from the house. I put NavyGuy in charge of the tree, (which I do every year because I hate taking off all the ornaments), and every year I swear I'll never let him near it again because he inevitably screws something up. (Sorry, hun, I love you... but you do.)

This year he broke an ornament (luckily it was one of his own so we avoided bloodshed), and put all of the ornaments into the new ornament storage boxes that I found at Storables.

Which could be confusing because aside from the clumsiness, it sounds like he did everything correctly. Except many of our ornaments already have their own boxes - you know, those nicely labeled Hallmark boxes - which I keep year after year... can you guess where I'm going?

Yup, those boxes are all sitting empty in a rubbermaid container because I failed to supervise NavyGuy closely enough and did not notice that he hadn't put the ornaments in their Hallmark boxes until after he had emptied the entire tree. Had I been more motivated, I would have taken all the ornaments out and re-done the system; instead, the mistake will be corrected come Christmas 2010.

Sigh.

The outside lights still need to come down, and there's a few miscellaneous items that I missed in the first sweep of the house, but for the most part, Christmas is over. Kind of depressing, what with the house looking all empty and boring again. But, it's a chance to bring back all the fun home accessories that have been stored away!

Who else dreads taking down their holiday decorations? Any secrets to making the process less hell-ish?

First Movie of 2010: Avatar

2010-01-02T22:32:00.000-08:00

Oh James Cameron... must you make your movies 2 1/2 hours long? Why? Why do you insist on torturing me like that? You know I can't go 160 minutes without having something to drink, and therefore, I can't make it through your movies in the theater without performing advanced yoga moves while trying to escape my middle-of-the-row (with less leg room and aisle space than an airplane) seat and make it to the bathroom during what I hope will be the most boring, non-crucial-plot-point of the second act...

At least this movie was set in a forest. Albeit a crazy otherworldly forest with super tall blue people running around. The last time I saw a Cameron movie in the theater it was 1997... and there was a sinking boat. And just a couple drops of RUSHING WATER.

You pull this crap one more time James, and I'm gonna force six gallons of Mountain Dew down your throat, then tie you up next to a babbling brook, just down river from a ROARING WATERFALL.

... Hello 2010!

2010-01-01T23:24:00.000-08:00

And my first step into this new decade is a little technology update.

That's right - after ignoring NavyGuy's sound advice for over a year, I finally joined the real blogosphere and got myself a "yournamehere(dot)com" all my own.

MarryingtheNavy.com is my new home. Don't worry - if you have the blogspot address in your bookmarks or favorites, you don't have to change anything; the original blog URL will just redirect you here.

There's not much significance to the change, it just seemed about time. Time to secure my url, just in case I eventually want to expand my brand and take over the universe. Gotta keep my options open :)

Other than that, NavyGuy and I spent our New Year's Eve watching movies and sippin' a little bubbly. Who knew science fiction movies could be so entertaining when washed down with champagne? :) How did you ring in the new year?

Books Read in 2010

2009-12-31T23:59:00.001-08:00

20. Pretty in Plaid (Jen Lancaster)
19. Olive Kitteridge (Elizabeth Strout)
18. The Hour I First Believed (Wally Lamb)
17. A Member of the Family (Cesar Millan)
16. Vision in White (Nora Roberts)
15. One Nation Under Dog (Michael Schaffer)
14. The Condition (Jennifer Haigh)
13. Blink (Malcolm Gladwell)
12. Standing By (Alison Buckholtz)
11. Population 485 (Michael Perry)
10. Belong to Me (Marisa de los Santos)
9. The Sleeping Beauty Proposal (Sarah Strohmeyer)
8. Still Alice (Lisa Genova)
7. Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen)
6. Summer Sisters (Judy Blume)
5. Coraline (Neil Gaiman)
4. Home (Julie Andrews)
3. The Quilter's Kitchen (Jennifer Chiaverini)
2. Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell)
1. Storm Front (Jim Butcher)

Movies Seen in 2009

2009-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

42. District Nine (B+)
41. Funny People (C-)
40. Four Christmases (C-)
39. Sherlock Holmes (B)
38. Transformers 2 (D)
37. Star Trek (B)
36. New Moon (A)
35. 28 Weeks Later (B)
34. Gran Torino (B)
33. The Invention of Lying (B)
32. The Soloist (B)
31. Julie and Julia (B+)
30. Revolutionary Road (B+)
29. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (A+)
28. The Business of Being Born (A-)
27. The International (B-)
26. Public Enemies (A-)
25. He's Just Not That Into You (B+)
24. The Women (C-)
23. Up (A+)
22. Milk (B)
21. Taken (B+)
20. Bride Wars (A-)
19. State of Play (A)
18. Sunshine Cleaning (B+)
17. Goodfellas (A-)
16. Rachel Getting Married (B)
15. Australia (C+)
14. I Love You, Man (A)
13. Role Models (B)
12. Changeling (C)
11. Confessions of a Shopaholic (B)
10. Watchmen (D)
9. There Will Be Blood (C-)
8. Beverly Hills Chihauhau (F)
7. Iron Man (A-)
6. The Duchess (C)
5. Frost/Nixon (A-)
4. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (B-)
3. Marley and Me (A)
2. Tropic Thunder (A-)
1. Into the Wild (B)

Goodbye 2009...

2009-12-31T19:48:00.000-08:00

New promises...
New house...

and a new puppy...

2009 has certainly been a whirlwind...

I suspect I've finally cracked...

2009-12-30T09:58:00.000-08:00

I'm contemplating a challenge for 2010.

In my daily blog perusal, I stumbled upon a blogger encouraging a book challenge. To read 100 books in 2010.

100.

One hundred!!!

I had been pretty impressed with my 2009 list of twenty books, but apparently I had set the bar too low. So for the past couple of days, I've been mulling over this idea of reading 100 books in one year. Was it completely insane? Would it kill my love of reading? Would it simply kill me?

I certainly have 100 books that I'd be interested in reading. (Finding things I want to read has never ever been a concern.) However, I started doing a little math. 100 books in 52 weeks basically means two books a week. Yikes. That's a lot of reading. Even if I cut back significantly on my television watching, and find a way to read while showering, that's still going to be pushing it a bit. NavyGuy will be deployed for six months of the year, and I anticipate a lot of quality reading time while he's gone, but there's something to be said for quality over quantity...

So, now I'm thinking maybe 50 would be a more reasonable goal. Still a challenge - a book a week - but potentially doable. What do we think? Have I finally gone off the deep end, or is this an admirable challenge? Anyone willing to accept the challenge with me (setting whatever book goal you think would be appropriate for yourself)? Any major flaws in my plan that I've overlooked?

Christmas Jingle Scrapbook Album

2009-12-28T21:36:00.000-08:00

I don't have pictures of my finished version, but I have to show off the fabulous mini album that we created a few weeks ago...

(Photo from Andrea Walford, Sunny Stampin')

The album was designed by Andrea Walford, a Stampin' Up demonstrator, but she offered the template to other demonstrators... so my stamping lady taught the album as a fun Christmas class :)

Here's another photo of the album (from Michelle), that shows how the album starts to open up...

And there's the full expanded album! It's awesome. There's space for photos and journaling, and it's just so much fun to open and close it! :) I swear, my version looks just like it. We used a scrapbook kit available from Stampin' Up, so it came with all the coordinating papers, stickers, and add-ons. I haven't ordered any of their kits before, but now I'm pretty interested in some of the other ones.

I haven't decided yet what kind of photos to put in my album. Should I focus on just one year, like Christmas 2008? Or maybe an album showcasing my holiday decorations? Or various photos of Christmases over the years, with cute photos of Sister and I in matching pj's from the early years?

Christmas Morn

2009-12-27T21:22:00.000-08:00

A photo diary of our Christmas morning...

Tally's first Christmas Card from Grandma

NavyGuy's Mom and Dad ready for some present opening

Anti-bacterial wipes... the serious stocking stuffer...

Wisconsin pride!

The book haul...

Another present for the pup

NavyGuy's big gift - a Kindle (cuz he can't pack six months' worth of books when he deploys)

Won't. Last. Until. April. Without. New. Episodes!!!!! This t-shirt from Sister-in-Law will have to sustain me.

More gifts for Tally

Sister-in-Law's big gift - a TiVo... which she's been salivating over for way too long

Tally consumed this bone in 20 minutes. Oops. Perhaps we should have been watching more closely... (don't worry - she's fine. Iron stomach on that one.)

Who knows... I probably have a cookie in my mouth.

No... my new stamp pad holder is not a toy for puppies!

What did your holiday look like?

Reemergence

2009-12-26T18:34:00.000-08:00

I'm slowly recovering from the holidays. Between the non-stop shifts at Starbucks, the multiple food comas resulting from each holiday meal, and the overall hustle and bustle of the season, my body isn't bouncing back as quickly as it used to.

Blogging is still going to be sporadic for the next few days, as I received a plethora of new books under the Christmas tree, and all I'm in the mood for is reading on the couch, with Tally pup on my lap, the fire roaring, and a tupperware container of Christmas cookies within reach. But have no fear - lots of holiday recaps, and other shenanigans to come soon!

Holiday Decorating: Part 3 The Home Tour

2009-12-22T08:08:00.001-08:00

After finally completing the Christmas decorating process, I'm ready to show off the house. NavyGuy and I staged a little home tour, complete with Tally cameos and my general ridiculousness when on film...

Best of Everything 2009

2009-12-20T12:00:00.000-08:00

Like I said here, I looooove best and worst lists.

NavyGuy gets credit for stumbling upon this gem - it's Time Magazines' Top 10 of Everything 2009. There are 50 lists! Jackpot! Seriously, it's enough reading material to get you through the whole rest of the workweek.

Some of my favorites so far? Top 10 Buzzwords, Top 10 Fleeting Celebrities, Top 10 Movie Performances, Top 10 T-Shirt Worthy Slogans, and Top 10 Underreported Stories.

Hooray for the end of the year!

Holiday Baking

2009-12-19T20:45:00.000-08:00

She's finally been takin' out for her first spin...

Yes, it's official. After being terrified to turn it on for six months, I used the glorious pink KitchenAid stand mixer for the first time today to make several different kinds of holiday cookies. It's kind of intimidating, no? Okay, maybe I'm the only one, but it's like super expensive and heavy as all get out, so I was always a wee bit nervous that I was going to break it or something. So I just let it sit on my counter and shine in all it's pretty pinkness.

Well her cushy days of just being counter candy are over! Baby works like a charm! In fact I spent so much time baking this morning, that Tally finally got bored of wandering around my feet and decided to curl up in a safe place (just in case things went haywire in the kitchen).

The results of all my hard work today? A couple batches of Fudge Crinkles, a family recipe called Sweet Treats, and possibly my new favorite: Fake-Out Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars...

I'll admit, they aren't quite the same as the real ones (the blondie base is thicker than the ones you'll get at Starbucks), but the flavor and taste is super similar, and I think, quite delicious. My mom found the recipe here, and even though they take some time and effort, they're way worth it. (Mine obviously don't look as pretty as those in the recipe photo, but give me a break - this was the first corner piece that's always a pain in the booty to get out of the pan!).

More recipes to come - I have Monday off of work, so I'm going to try to get some fudge made, and NavyGuy will absolutely die if he doesn't have his Peanut Butter Chocolate Wheat Thins.

What Christmas cookies are your favorites? Does anyone have all their baking done?

Calendars

2009-12-17T15:00:00.000-08:00

I love this time of year for all the obvious reasons (joy, peace, Christmas tidings, goodwill, holiday carols, an abundance of sweets, days off of school, after-Christmas sales...)

But this is also the season of "best of" and "worst of" lists - LOVE THEM - and getting new calendars. Yes, plural. Calendars. Love LOVE them. I usually end up with three or four different ones because I can never decide on just one.

Here are just a few calendars that could rock your walls all year long...

2010 Typography Calendar

The Art of...

A Year at the Fair

CamilleBellet

Baby Zoo Animals

Calendar of Silly Holidays

Avie Designs Calendar

What type of calendar do you tend to go with? A traditional hanging wall version? Day by day desk? Perpetual calendar? Or have you given up the paper calendar totally in lieu of your BlackBerry? (NavyGuy...)

A Little of This and a Little of That...

2009-12-16T18:43:00.000-08:00

*All Christmas packages are in the mail. I got up at 5am today, finished wrapping everything, and was in line at the post office by 9. And it wasn't even horrific. I got the good postal worker man (who hooked me up with a sweet sweet media rate for a few of the packages), and was out of the building in under 15 minutes.

*When making quiche, the milk and eggs must be whisked together thoroughly. Failure to do so will result in a husband being sent to pick up burritos for dinner.

*NavyGuy starts his holiday leave today. On the plus side, this means he's home to play with the dog everyday and work on a honey-do list. On the less plus side, this means he's home all day. I predict many Nova and Good Eats marathons broken up by bouts of computer gaming and general lounging.

*Monday night was another squadron holiday party. This time both officers and enlisted sailors were invited. It was at the O'Club, and it was... interesting. Some people were in cocktail dresses; some people were in jeans and "fancy" t-shirts. The party was essentially, "come, pay for overpriced drinks, eat a so-so buffet of lukewarm food, and try to act interested when they announce the raffle prizes for all the enlisted guys..." I muddled through the evening in a Chardonnay-induced haze and managed to snake an extra piece of chocolate cake. They did have nice party favors - sturdy wine glasses etched with the squadron logo (keep in mind "nice"is a relative term).

*Still to be done before family arrives on Monday: clean house, finish holiday decorating, finalize Christmas Eve and Christmas Day menus, bake cookies, wrap more gifts... hmmm... that list doesn't sound quite long enough... I must be forgetting something...

Warning:

2009-12-14T22:28:00.000-08:00

Do not mix five hours of Christmas shopping with 20 espresso shots.

That was NavyGuy's and my Saturday. We thought powering through and getting everything done as fast as possible would be the least painful means of completing our holiday gift shopping.

Wrong. Oh so very very wrong.

And everything still needs to be wrapped.

And shipped to Wisconsin.

Before Christmas.

In 10 days...

(Is 9:00am too early for a vodka cranberry juice? I'm leaning towards no. Plus I probably still need to hydrate after "EspressoGate 2009.")

Christmas Cards '09

2009-12-12T17:15:00.000-08:00

or... "How I nearly lost my mind and sent e-cards this year."

Oh the saga. The process from card inception to dropping in the mailbox was fraught with headaches:

~ the design process began with thoughts of making a holiday photo card through one of the photo websites. Damn if those babies aren't pricey! At least the decent looking ones. So after I putzed with various layouts and photos and designs for over a week, I finally realized it wasn't worth the money and I could just make a photo holiday card myself.

~ so then, I designed my own photo card and made about 15 different prototypes before I finalized the design

~ and then the real debacles began... I ran out of white cardstock (trip #1 to Michaels); the cards didn't fit in the envelopes (trip #2); the envelopes were too see-through (trip #3); the new envelopes were too shiny to write on (trip #1 to Office Max for address labels); the address labels didn't print correctly (no trips, just a lot of cursing); I ran out of stamps (trip #1 to the Post Office). I think there were other shenanigans along the way but clearly I've blocked them.

Oh, I suppose you want to see the final product?

Here's the front. One of my favorite wedding photos cuz we look so genuinely happy. I used a corner punch to make those bubble patterns and then just slide the photo into the four corners. That way if anyone wants to take the picture out and save it, they don't need to keep the whole Christmas card itself. The white paper is backed with either green or red paper to make a small border (one of the debacles along the way resulted in me needing to trim the top and bottom of the card to make it fit in the envelopes).

And here's the back. (The card is just one solid piece, not a flip open thing.) The greeting was printed on white cardstock through our printer and the red design is a stamp. That's it. After all the headaches and debacles, the cards turned out fairly simple, but I like them.

P.S. I'm starting next year's cards in January.

Debate: Top 3 Christmas Movies

2009-12-10T21:37:00.000-08:00

Alright folks, I'm bushed. It's been a long day, and despite several cups of coffee, a Mountain Dew, and a handful of Excedrin Migraine (oh calm down, I only actually took the prescribed two pills), my headache is still raging.

So, I'm putting this post in your hands. Let's start a debate over the best holiday flicks. You only get to suggest 3 (THREE) in the comments section, and be sure to give a little bit of an argument. The more creative the better!

To get you started, I'll suggest the following:

1) It's a Wonderful Life - hello, the gold standard. If you don't well up at the end when everyone gives money to George and they're all singing Auld Lang Syne, you should see a cardiologist soon... cuz you be heartless, fool!

2) Mickey's Christmas Carol - a great version of the classic story, but possibly my favorite part are the short cartoons beforehand... Goofy learning to ski, Pluto and the Chipmunks hiding in the Christmas tree, and Donald and the three nephews having the snowball war.
3) A Very Brady Christmas - people, people - all the kids come home, Alice is in the kitchen, and Florence Henderson sings while Mike is trapped in a mine (or something). AWESOME! A dark horse nominee, yes, but a worthy contender.

So, have I ruffled any feathers by ignoring your favorite Christmas movie? Speak up people! It's time to give a shout-out to the movie that you have to watch every single December or else it's just not Christmas!

Leftovers 1, NavyGirl 0.

2009-12-08T23:38:00.000-08:00

I gave up yesterday.

After staring at the tupperware containers in my fridge one last time, I admitted defeat.

All our Thanksgiving leftovers have finally been trashed. Nothing was growing mold on it or looking unfit for consumption, but the jig was up. The Thanksgiving leftovers won. Neither NavyGuy nor I are big fans of eating leftovers to begin with, so after too many days of trying to muster excitement for turkey, sweet potatoes, carrots, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, the end has finally come.

Do I feel guilty throwing away such large quantities of food? Of course.

Do I feel guilty enough to attempt one of the four million "Thanksgiving Leftover" recipes bouncing around the internet and November's Real Simple magazine? Nope.

But now I am kind of jonesing for some mashed potatoes...

Weekend Update

2009-12-07T19:17:00.000-08:00

~Friday night was NavyGuy's squadron Holiday party for all of the officers and their spouses. The XO (executive officer... second highest guy in the squadron) hosted, and I was pretty nervous. I didn't want to embarrass NavyGuy or ruin his reputation right off the bat.

The night ended up being fairly tame and manageable - a buffet of tasty food and sitting around chatting with the few wives that I am starting to get to know. My only real slip up was letting it be known that NavyGuy has used my scrapbooking tools to make his flight charts... I'll definitely feel bad if his call sign ends up being "Scrappy" because of my big mouth.

~Saturday, NavyGuy and I were all kinds of holiday productive. We bought our new (fake) Christmas tree, which I then set up and decorated beeeeeautifully (pics to come). We also got some shopping done, set up the Willow Tree Nativity set (which NavyGuy thinks is creepy cuz the figurines have no faces and he's threatened to have our future children draw smiles in with sharpies...), and I finally decided on a design for our Christmas cards. They still aren't done, but at least some of the paper has been cut...

~Sunday I had to work. Blah. Then I made Chocolate Peanut Butter Wheat Thins* for a Christmas Cookie Exchange party with "the wives." Well, I remade the wheat thin cookies, cuz the first attempt was a disaster - I bought unsweetened chocolate and didn't realize until I tasted one of the finished treats. Not good. Not good at all. Luckily, the second attempt was a success, and the wives enjoyed the treats. It was nice to sit and chat with a smaller group (and eat lots of sweets), plus I came home with extra cookies for NavyGuy and several new recipes to try out before Christmas.

How was your weekend? What holiday projects did you accomplish? Any fun Christmas parties you're looking forward to? Suggestions for possible call signs for NavyGuy that would be less embarrassing than something craft-related?

*Recipe: Slather peanut butter between two wheat thin crackers. Dip in melted baker's chocolate. Refrigerate. Enjoy.

Black Friday

2009-12-06T22:27:00.000-08:00

Have you ever worked retail on the day after Thanksgiving?

I would not recommend it.

People are crazy. Ca-raaaay-zeee.

Like these two, going to Target at 5am to buy dvds and three dollar toasters...

Teehee... I mean, what smart bargain shoppers! :) This is actually Sister and Brother-in-Law in line at MY STARBUCKS at 6:30am on Black Friday. Mom, Sis, and BIL hit the Target sales and then got in line for coffees just in time to be my customers. And, check out that awesome blackboard sign above Sister's head... uh huh... that's right - my most beautiful Starbucks sign ever.

And here I am in my green apron. Slinging syrups.

Such a proud moment.

Truthfully, the Starbucks portion of my day was kind of fun. I was working with three other great girls, and the guests were pleasant once they got to us. I mean, we were their source of food and caffeine! And we didn't have to tell them that we were out of 32 inch plasma screen televisions. So all of the customers were jolly and things went swimmingly.

Then, I had to work the sales floor. Blah. Boring. All I did was straighten shelves for three hours. Oh, and re-shelve dvds that people had intended to buy, changed their mind about, and then subtly left in the seasonal department behind a Christmas tree display. Plus I swear - every customer in the store who had an indecipherable accent decided to ask me... something... usually I couldn't figure out what they were requesting so I just said we were out of everything. Oops.

Anyway, I survived my first retail Black Friday, but let's pray to god that I'll be spending next Black Friday on the opposite side of the check-out counter :)