Hellos and Good Byes

Being a military spouse isn't an easy job. We're the ones that go through the constant heartache of losing friends to a PCS (military move) year after year. I used to let myself get upset about this thing that I couldn't control- those damn military moves taking my best buds away! I'd throw myself a little pity party as I hated "losing friends to a PCS" and the worst part was being the one that was left behind. I got tired of the constant heartache and that's when I decided one day to look at it from a different angle. God has given me a fantastic opportunity to show new people the wonderful places that I've discovered- the little places to have lunch with a girlfriend (or my kids), the places where to buy those hard to find items, a yummy place for a cup of coffee or tea, where you can get yourself a cool scarf, the places to take your family to set up a great back drop for a family photo, etc. Look at all of the wonderful things you've shared with your "old friends" that you can now show to "new friends". And when YOU leave, all of those wonderful things will continue to be passed on. It's like you're leaving behind a legacy. Look at it as never really saying good bye but as always saying" Hello".

common sense or nonsense?

I hope that my story will make you laugh, when I discovered this I was beside myself first with disgust then laughter.

I enjoy internet shopping, who doesn't these days right? I like to look around at various websites to see what great pottery deals/finds are out there waiting to be discovered. But never in my life did I ever expect to be grossed out and laughing myself silly at the same time. I won't put the website on here because to point out stupidity to the masses is just plain mean (and it could hurt their business and I wouldn't want that) but I will tell you what I found...I found a Chamber Pot listed and being sold as a Soup Tureen! I almost spewed tea at my computer monitor! I had a good hard laugh at the thought of some silly person not knowing the difference between a chamber pot and a soup tureen buying this thing and serving soup out of it at a dinner party!

"manly" thank you cards?

The thing I don't get is why my husband and son are having such a cow of a few little flowers on a thank you card. All I'm asking is to have a manly thank you card- says the husband, LOL! Manly? What's this "manly" thing? Does that mean less flowers? Or is it no flowers? I made the cards in shades of blue with little flowers, but apparently they guys want it with NO flowers :-( I'm a flower lover, I'm surrounded by them how can I not put flowers on anything? So all I did was to hunt up a thank you stamp and use the same design that I did for the graduation cards and turned those into thank you cards. There- are those manly enough? Yes they were- now for me to move on to something else...Men!

Secret Toast and Jam

What is it about toast out here in the UK? I've always loved toast- toast and jam, toast and apple-butter, toast and cinnamon sugar- all that. But the folks out here take it one level higher. While I was out looking to buy a replacement coffee maker I was in a store that had 28 different toasters on display ranging from £7.50 to £149.95 I couldn't believe it! It was the same for electric water/tea kettles again it was amazing- there were 30 of those and ranging in price from £10.00 to £249.99...it's an electric water heater people what is the attraction? I was cracking up with the prices and the selection. I've seen this very thing at 3 different stores now...rows of electric tea kettles and toasters as far as the eye could see. And with all of that, only 1 coffee maker on display and it was £80- eeek! At the 2nd and 3rd shops they weren't coffee makers in the normal sense (I'll explain more further on).

While in the states I remember having a selection of a whopping 3 electric water bubblers (that's what I call them). I bought the one with the features I liked- no heating element to be seen inside, auto shut off, side view water level, pouring filter and a base the kettle sat on. I had my nifty water bubbler put into storage before moving out here. Soon after moving here I bought myself one that works on 220 voltage that had all of the features that my other one had.

Now I've been looking to replace my beloved Kitchen Aid coffee pot for one that's made to work with the voltage system out here. Our house has a built in transformer (yes it's a rather nice feature if I do say so myself) so I can use both British and American appliances. But my poor coffee pot was suffering, it's been having a hard time with the 50/60 hertz thing and brewing a pot of coffee was taking 4 times longer than it should- so I decided to send it back to the states for storage and I will seek a new coffee pot out here.

Searching for a coffee pot out here has been a little more difficult than I thought it would be, LOL! I know that they drink coffee out here, but everywhere I go I see these little coffee machines that use those small round coffee pouches and make 1 cup of coffee at a time. That's not what I'm looking for. I want a real honest to goodness coffee maker, one that brews between 10 to 12 cups of coffee at a time and it flows into a glass carafe. So today... my darling husband with all his wisdom will be at the mother base and he's looking at coffee makers for me. That's right, I've got my non-coffee drinking husband looking to buy me a coffee maker- man oh man, either I'm desperate or very trusting, actually I think it's a combination of both! we shall see what he comes home with.

So I'm spending the morning drinking PG Tips tea, having toast and my favorite jam -Smuckers (seedless) Blackberry Jam :-) Hopefully in combination with my headache medication it'll help me work past the migraine headache that I woke up with.

Of all the things I've lost...

I miss my mind the most. If you haven't guessed, I'm going through another love/hate relationship with my computer. Why oh why does this thing happen to me every year...I've lost some pictures (again), LOL! I know that they're here somewhere, it's that I've got to calm down enough to actually figure out where they went or I'll be tempted to use a baseball bat on this computer and beat it out of it! Why does this sort of thing happen to me? I mean really! Grrr! So I throw my hand up in the air and surrender- the computer wins! I will go and retake my photo's of my scrapbook nook and just chalk it up to another win for my computer- damn thing has more wins than I do, LOL!

Remembering 9/11

As I work around my housetoday, I'm feeling this rush of emotion coming over me. Part of me is glad that I'm here in the UK today as the TV is not saturated with replays of news coverage from the 9/11 tragedy. I still can not bring myself to watch the jets crashing into the Twin Towers without bursting into tears. My heart aches for all those who lost someone that day. To know that terrorism was done on US soil is frightening.

Something to make you laugh

My friend Liz sends me the best stuff! This video link had me laughing pretty darn hard! Check it out it! Sheep Light

Lets talk about Cosmetics

It's something that most but not all women wear. I have to give a good chuckle when I think about of how many billions of dollars are spent on cosmetics each year. We women are vane creatures and there's nothing wrong with that, but move over ladies because we are not alone! I'm not talking about teenagers, their stuff has been around since I was 16, LOL! There are special skin care and hair care lines out specifically marketed for Men not to mention that there are at least 3 different hair coloring products being marketed for Men.

Look around you the next time you are out shopping for cosmetics or haircare products and see if there are any men shopping for skin lotions or shampoo that won't dry their hair out. I was recently at a Clinique cosmetics counter getting some essential items for myself ;-) and there was a man being waited up- getting a full skin care line for himself. I applaud any man who takes an active roll in trying to make his skin look the best it can. Why should it only be us women who don't want dry skin in the winter or sun-burnt skin in the summer? Do my men (husband and son) use skin care products...lets look at it this way, I lead by example and they follow ;-)

Quote of the day

Whoever gossips to you will gossip about you.
Spanish Proverb

Did you know...

That it's National Pig Day? Click on the pink link to find out more.

Hannah made this darling little Pig in Honor of this special day- I didn't know which picture to post so I added them all! Oh in case you are wondering...this little pig is one of the many cute creations from the book Stray Sock Sewing.

Random Acts of Kindness

I love this time of year, it really brings home the things I deem as important. My faith in God, my family and practicing charity throughout the year.

I never throw away anything usable, I always always always donate it to charity. There are many charitable organizations around if you let your fingers do the walking through the yellow pages.

Just when I thought that I have gone through everything, I've found that I have MORE to give. As my husband and I are putting ornaments on the tree, I'm looking through all of the boxes of ornaments...thinking at times out loud but mostly to myself- "we can donate that". The ornaments displayed on our Christmas tree are mostly from places we have been, so the Disney Character ornaments can go, as a matter of fact the kids won't even let us put them on the tree any more. So I'm making a substantial donation of Christmas ornaments and decorations to our local women's shelter. I'm sure that the children will be delighted to see their favorite Disney characters on their Christmas tree.

The other things we participate in is Angel Tree gifts- we started that with our children. It's an awesome way to show your kids acts of kindness when they are small- it stays with them. Every year since Andrew has been 6 years old, he's come home with an Angel Tree gift tag -that boy of ours has a heart of gold! He personally picks out a gift and he spends his own money on it too!

Both of our children are involved in Food Drives. The local school district has a food drive this time of year... which reminds me, I need to pick up a few 6 packs of green beans and corn for the kids to take to school tomorrow. I love how my children become involved in programs like this- it makes me proud! It saddens me to think that there are children in our own local community that have nothing to eat.

Clothing and Coats Drives- Andrew is involved in this through the AFJROTC, last year he brought in the most clothes (with help from his mom of course). The coat drive did very well this year, past years found the program struggling. Since the end of the last clothing drive we've been saving all of the clothes that the kids have been grown out of, I like to think of it like this...I'm recycling these clothes to give them a chance to have new users. Shoes are often something that is overlooked. If they're in good usable condition, I clean them up, put new shoe laces in them and donate them.

So I've been going through my own closet and I'm looking at shoes and purses...ones that I haven't used in a while are being donated. There's no need for me to hang on to this stuff if I'm not using it. I just sent a package to my Mom who is on a tight fixed income, I made her day when she discovered that I sent her a Dooney & Bourke handbag. My thought is, if I'm not using it why not let my mom have the pleasure of using it. I have a another handbag that I'm going to send to her, I plan on doing that closer to Valentines Day.

Here's my thought of the day/week/month...

Think of the things that you have in your home that you're not using and what joy it could bring to someone else.

Start something new...Practice Random Acts of Kindness. It seems as if I'm always making up a goody box of some sort and sending it off to a friend. You can do this too!

Are you ready?

What does that actually mean? Exactly "what" are we to be ready for? Could be...
are you ready for Thanksgiving and all of the relatives?
are you ready for Chirstmas?
are you ready for the next snow storm?

A new sheriff

So here we are making history- Obama is going to be our first African-American president in the United States. I suppose that Americans could see 2 men in the White House but not a man and a woman. Here's something to think about...What else is to come in our future ? A gay couple being in the White House?

I'm rolling my eyes

Today's quote has to do with my husband...you see, he bought something that has me rolling my eyes and laughing out loud! Of all the Cd's he could buy from Amazon, my husband chose to purchase...The Monkees greatest hits. I can hear the laughter now. Our children now think that their dad is insane.

If you want to laugh...

You will have to go check out Susan's latest rant on health care, the election, socialism and schools. I laughed so hard milk shot out my nose! The link to her blog is in my blogs of note section- Beware, this will make you pee yourself!

I've seen it all!

Part of what I like about paper crafting is that it's one of those things that you can take with you and work on just about anywhere. Now here's an item that has left me shaking my head...an electric big shot? Come On! What's next, the electric Quikutz or Cuttlebug? I start to feel rather tied down when I use my Cricut because I have to be near an electrical outlet. Add another tool that needs electricity and the portability factor goes right out the window! The jury is out on this one...I'll wait to see what others have to say about it. I can tell ya right now, this is not something that I'd even consider buying.

things to make you laugh...

So I take this quiz over at fineliving.com about entertaining. I got 9 out of 10 questions right. Now the one that I didn't get...was the one about extra seating. Never in my life would I have answered turning trash cans over and using them as extra seating- but apparently this was the correct answer. Turned over trash cans for extra seating and fine living, hmmm makes me scratch my head and wonder, LOL!

foreseeing the future...

With the Democratic National Convention now over I can only imagine the who-ha that is about to start with the Republican National Convention. Our teenage son (whom we predict will have a career in politics) has been glued to the Television and has listened to everything Obama and McCain has said. Andrew was over joyed by Obama's choice of VP. Andrew has done his home work on this election- I think my 16 year old son would be a HUGE asset to the Obama campaign in getting his message across to young first time voters.

My friend Cindy has a son who is into politics just like our Andrew. We're going to get these boys together to talk about this campaign, this should be great! (insert parent laughter here) We (Cindy and I) had a good chuckle at lunch yesterday. Our sons are so similar, both being glued to the TV with this campaign, talking about foreign and domestic policies, and the similarities between the two go deeper than their like of politics. They have similar likes and dislikes in school too. Even though they are a few years apart in age, I think that both of our sons have a future in politics, be it as political advisers, political annalists or as members of congress or even in the senate. Both wanting a better America.

I'm always telling my children that they can be anything that they want to be when they grow up. Andrew has always had such a strong sense of what is right and wrong. I could see this in him from such an early age. Hannah is much like that too, but a little more carefree and not so uptight, LOL! I can see Hannah going to MIT, Harvard or even Boston University and having an engineering degree. Andrew, I now see him going to UC Berkeley, having a political science degree, LOL!

Olympics- have you been watching?

I've been watching the Olympics every night with my children. It's amazing to watch these athletes from every country in the world who are the best of the best in their sport. We ooh and aah, cheer on our favorites and applaud for the winner. We're cheering for Michael Phelps and hope to see him win a 7th Gold medal in swimming- wouldn't that really be something?!!!

Gymnastics last night all I can say is WOW! Way to Go Nastia Liukin! WooHoo!!! We were on the edge of our seats last night watching the athletes perform their routines. Here's the Summer Games medal stats- USA is in the lead (for now) with 44 medals with China hot on our tails!

Wildlife

We live in an area of urban development, and every day we're reminded that this used to be grassland with animals of all types. From the rattlesnake on our neighbors front porch, to the deer in our front yard to this picture or a mother deer and her fawn in my neighbors backyard right -behind our fenced in backyard. I first saw them up by the neighbors jacuzzi and ran to get my camera. So there I am on our back deck in my pink nightgown taking pictures of this doe and her fawn. She got tired of nibbling on the sod and went over and starting eating the leaves off of the little trees- eek! The fawn was running circles around her and I mean that in the literal sense. The little thing was springing and jumping all over the places and running circles around it's mother, it was really neat to see that kind of interaction with wild animals in real life rather than on TV. And to think that I got to watch it in my jammies on my deck with a cup of coffee in my hands- not a bad way to start ones day that's for sure! Oh and here you see the baby eating the tender new blades of grass newly spouted from seed, somehow I don't think that my neighbors will see the cuteness of this scene when they see the damage the deer have done- oops! They're already had birds nesting inside of their grill, and they didn't seem to happy about that.