How our Christmas went down...

So, it is New Years Eve. We are doing nothing!  LOL  We are hanging around doing nothing at all.  We could have gone to the club for the dinner thing they are having there.  Or perhaps hanger 949 where they are having a concert with Tops in Blue performing.  We are going to watch a movie and drink ourselves into 2006 at home alone.  This is what four years of marriage can do to a couple.  We aren't upset though.  We had an awesome Christmas and I cannot believe it is already over. 

Now before I tell you about our Christmas with Sandy and Sean let me fill you in on a few things.  Our dog Wendy is sensitive.    From what I have read  on the net , she is submissive.  We thought she was defective when we were potty training her.  She would go outside to use the bathroom, however you would say something like 'want a cookie?', and she would squat and piddle.  We of course would tell her she was a 'bad dog' and this would result in more piddle.     She did this at the store when we bought her, but we thought it was because she was still a puppy.  Well, after many months of these stressful encounters, I decided she must have a leak in her pipes, if you know what I mean.  I looked online and discovered it is a behavioral thing.  If I stand and look down at her and say anything she squats and piddles.  She is submitting to me to show respect.  It goes back to a dog pack thing.  So while scolding her was making it worse, the poor pooch didn't even know she was doing anything.   Our problem is under control now, and the fact that we know how to keep her from submitting has made her more comfortable with us all around.  We can play with her and do normal doggie- human things.  However, when people come over it takes a little bit of time for her to get use to them and keep her from submitting to them .   Usually when people enter the house they look down and say, 'awe, hello puppy', and she squats and piddles to show them she is bowing down to them.  (It seems sweet doesn't it? she is always trying to please others).  It took a while for her to get used to Melissa K.  The main thing is to crouch down to their level and pet the under the chin.  This really works!  ( I was so impressed that it does)  And if she does do something that deserves a 'bad girl' we can't look her in the eye.     So, now that you know this I can tell you about Christmas....

Well, I had to work on Fri the 23rd but after work I ran home, picked up Dave and we headed up to the train station.  We got there a few minutes after they arrived and  I am sure they must have been  nervous we would never show up.  LOL  It was really cold I felt so bad.  We took them home  and they met Wendy with a little piddle at the door to greet them.  We sat and caught up a bit, Wendy trying to play the entire time.  Dave tried to keep her distracted with  a treat ball.  Well, she was excited running around and she ended up throwing up on Sean's foot.  It was  really sick and from what Sean said it smelt bad.  LOL  It was so embarrassing!   Luckily Wendy ate  it, almost before we realized what was  happening.  That was also gross beyond words but make the cleanup a little easier.  LOL

So the next day started out reasonably well.  I don't remember when exactly this happen, but Sean was sitting on the love seat with Wendy and Sandy came up and was petting Wendy.  Wendy thought she would be respectful and she peed on Sean.  This was her way of telling them she likes them, however you can see how these messages are sometimes forgotten during the clean up for a person she has peed on .  Really Sean  should consider this a compliment she thinks you are the Top Dawg! 

Well, Wendy did alright the rest of the visit.  She tried to get as much love and attention as she could.  Most of these attempts are annoying and bother some.  There was one morning when Sean was sleeping in and Sandy wanted him to wake up.  SO she sent Wendy in to do the job.  She thought that task was to submit again so she piddled.  This has to do with when the sleep in the cave the Top Dawg sleeps higher than the other dogs. 

So, those are the  'the dog almost ruined Christmas' stories.  Now we can talk about the normal and best parts of Christmas. 

On Christmas Eve we went to the grocery store off base that we love so much.  I guess the store was nicer than China's stores.  We went to Cheese Roll for lunch.  Which was so good.  (Dave and I hadn't eaten there since the time Dave accidentally ordered 100 cheese rolls instead of five.  Woof!!)  After Cheese roll we went home, we had planned on watching Christmas movies and ordering Pizza which is our tradition.   Melissa Koza came over and it was so fun.  We spent the evening in the kitchen baking.  We make the pecan pie (which sandy make the crust for and I will be eternally grateful to her for doing that).   I showed Sandy how to  make the cranberries.  I made banana bread  to give to my coworker for Christmas.  We made Dave's sweet potato casserole.  The most exciting part was making the Pumpkin spice roll.  It was really easy and it was so nice to have Melissa there since she is such  a pro at making pumpkin roll.  After  we finished baking all of Christmas dinner stuff,  we made the breakfast casserole that we were to have the next morning.  It is so good and it is really convenient  since I could bake it the night before and then in the morning I tossed it back in the oven to heat it up  while we were opening gifts. ( I'll post the recipe soon)  After all of that baking we only had time to watch one Christmas movie, the classic National Lampoon Christmas Vacation of course.

Christmas Morning I woke up stuffed the bird and sent her in the oven then went back to bed.  We woke up around ten and opened gifts.  After all  of that  ripping and tearing, ohhing and aahhing we were hungry so we dug into the breakfast bake.  By the time Melissa came over at around two the table was set and the meal was ready to be finished up.  It was so nice to have two girls with me in the kitchen helping.  It was so great!  We got dinner on the table around three but it was nearly late since Koza brought over this amazing spinach and artichoke dip which we could barely tear ourselves away from to  finish cooking and take everything out of the oven.  LOL

Dinner was great!  Desert was good and we had such a great time spending the holiday with family and such a great friend.  I don't think we could ever go back to spending Christmas alone again after having such a great time this year.

The week that followed Christmas we mostly spent  going around checking out the places nearby.  We went to shimoda mall and another mall in hatchinohe.  We were in search of an ipod and a couple of nice digital cameras.  Our search ended in  two camera purchases from the Base Exchange.  We love our new camera and the great news is that it had a neck strap so I wont be responsible for breaking this one.

We really enjoyed having Sandy and Sean here.  We hope they had a good time despite the barf and piddle.  LOL  Well, I don't want to be written until next year(ha its 1109 pm nearly 2006) so you will  have to get any other details from the Haleys.   We hope all of you had a nice Christmas too.  We wish you a wonderful and safe 2006. 

Haleys in a Funny Hat

This is too funny huh? 

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone.  We had a wonderful Christmas eve and Christmas day.  I t is so wonderful to have family to spend the holidays with.  We were spoiled with gifts and food.  Lots of ripping and tearing.  And lots of eating yummy food!  The Pumpkin Spice roll was the BEST!!!  We hope you all have a great Christmas also! 

Its off to shop in Japan tomorrow!! Yippie    

We are getting snow right now supposed to get 6 inches tonight.  Yikes!! 

Melissa's Birthday

Here is a pic of Melissa with her birthday cake.  She came over tonight for dinner.  Thank goodness she isn't sick anymore.  I made pork loin with the recipe Jennifer uses for roasts.  I made it last week with a roast and I am planning on making again next week with roast again.

 It is so easy everyone should try it.  All you do is put your roast in a pan sprinkle a packet of onion soup mix on it then add a jar of medium salsa and a can of coke, cover and roast.  Melissa S and Jennifer  do it in the crock pot I did it in my oven the first time and liked it better than today when i used my crock pot.( only because the carrots weren't really done)  I used a 375 oven the first hour and a half then turned the heat down to 325 for the rest of the time which was another hour and a half.   it is super yummy and be sure to add taters and carrots and onion.  And if you make gravy with the liquid  in the pan it is super awesome.  I have been telling Melissa S she needs to blog these really great recipes she has.  I have waited and waited but I cant wait anymore to share it with everyone else.  I also think Becky should blog her stuffed zucchini recipe.  It is one of my favorite things to make now.

Well, anyways  Happy Birthday Koza!   

Its going to be a Very Merry Christmas

Can you believe all of the gifts under our tree?  There are a ton!  We are so excited!!  

Sean and Sandy arrive this FRIDAY!  

We cannot wait!

SNOW

We got dumped on last night.  About six inches over night and the rumor is that we are due for another 15 inches today and tonight.  I am hoping that is a lie maybe they meant 5 inches.  Dave spent all morning shoveling.  Now he is shoveling a path in  the backyard for Wendy because she sinks in and it is so deep she can barely move.  It is going to be a very long winter.  

I was thinking that last year we got 157 inches the average here  is 120.  I am going to predict that every year that we are here the snowfall will be more than the average.  Then I predict the year after we leave, which will be 2010, they will have a winter with little to no snow at all.  I am just saying it now.  I could be very wrong but I am going to stick with my predication.  I think everyone will be calling me psychic Sylvia brown  soon.  Montel will be calling me to make appearances on his show.  LOL  Please be sure to pick up on the sarcasm in the last two statements. 

Well, we are off to main base to do my final grocery shopping before Christmas and to do a little project up at my work.  we better make it home before she snow hits.  eeeee

SNOW!

yeah so I just blogged yesterday,  but I have more to say. 

Well, I colored my hair last night.  See, I have white hair already.  And i mean WHITE not gray.  SO last fall while we were still in Arizona I colored my hair to try to cover the white hair.  However, it turned out really super blond and it was supposed to be a light brown.  SO lately my roots are dark and my ends are still really light so it has been driving me crazy.  SO i did  a medium brown and it looks better.  I really think I like it actually.   Thank you Melissa K for helping me pick the color out and being the first one to notice.

I stopped at the post office on my way home today.  We got three boxes from the states.  We have so many presents under the tree you can barely walk by without tripping.  Erin sent a box with lots of fun stuff in it.  She included Christmas decorations and a thing of jiffy pop.  I was kinda like whoa jiffy pop.  Then I got really excited I usually don't get jiffy pop.  I don't think i had ever used one.  It popped nice and no scorching and I think i am going to get jiffy from now on.   It was way faster and didn't burn like using microwavable popcorn does.                                                                    

So this is the thing.... In Japan they use the same plug as we do however the hertz are different.  We use 60 HZ while Japan uses 50hz.  Now when I heard this i was like, does it even matter it only a difference of 10.  Well, it does.  Things work, just not very well.  Our stove clock cant keep time (which really stinks while baking, I cant set the timer), alarm clocks from the states wont work and  most importantly the microwave doesn't work well.   So like to do popcorn in the microwave you have to set it for six minutes and then sometimes you have to add minutes.  I usually cheer it on.  This makes me sound like a crazy person but if you stand there and say encouragingly,  'you can do it.  come on"  You can get a full bag of popcorn.  If you don't cheer it on it burns, or it will deflate half way thru and you get nothing.  It is crazy I know but its true.  To reheat a dinner plate used to take three minutes it takes about 12 here.  to warm up water your looking at about 6 to 7 minutes.   SO now you know.  just appreciate your microwave when you use it.  I cant wait until we go back to the states and i don't have to curse our anymore. 

SO it is really snowing tonight.  I went out at eight and shoveled for two hours by the time I got the four inched up there was another inch on the ground.  I am pretty sure i came in just in time I believe I was in the beginning stages of frostbite.  My legs were cold and hot and red and blotchy.  It was the first time I have shoveled.  i know there will probably be a ton more before Dave gets home.  I feel bad that he comes home at two or three in the morning and shovels. 

Wendy is doing okay i guess.  She is  in a lot of discomfort.  When i first brought her home she was shaking really bad.  I hope she feels better tomorrow.  She cant get comfortable and she is confused because I wont let he go outside to pee because there is so much snow and I don't want her to get her stitches wet.  I put a puppy pad down but she is confused and drunk so she missed.  LOL  She'll understand when she gets out of her fog. 

Well that's it for now.   The picture is from last year when we got here.  They were unloading our stuff and as soon as they got it out of the crates it started snowing.  Notice the piles of snow in the picture please.  Last year we got 157 inches of snow.  That's more than 13 feet!  Its going to be a long winter

A HAT

Well, it has been awhile.  I have been in such a funk lately.  The snow is here.  I am so excited.  NOT!!!  I wish there was a better way to express sarcasm through blogs and emails.  I am actually really geeked about Sandy and Sean's visit next WEEK!  I have a lot of crap I need to take care of though and not enough time.  Usually I am a list maker.  Ill make like thirty lists and then I can feel organized but for some reason I keep putting off my lists.  That's probably why I am not sleeping.  I'm freaking tired.  Wendy had been good lately although, just a little bit ago she  got up the balls (I mean bravery you know, she is a girl) to go in our closet and get one of my shoes, and she chewed on them a bit.  She has never done that so i am assuming she was just bored.  I cant see why, its not like I spend every waking moment I'm not at work on the computer or anything.  (again insert sarcasm) I was really mad because  they are pretty shoes but I never wear them so I guess this will end my, 'should I keep  them anyways?' dilemma. 

She'll  get hers though.  We are taking her to get fixed tomorrow.  Dave is so funny when he was getting ready to make the appointment he asked me, "is it spaydered or neutered?"  I almost peed myself laughing.      I hope he was joking.  We are looking forward to her being laid up for a few days we can use a puppy excitement breather.  I feel really bad for  her.  She has no idea whats coming.  I guess it is better though.

 I freak out before I have to go to the dentist.  I kind of wish Dave  could make my appointment secretly and then just ask me wanna go to the store and then take me to the dentist.  I know it would be a little shocking but at least I wouldn't have time to work myself up to  freaking out before hand.  I just recently worked up the courage to go to the dentist to get some sealants done and I was betrayed.   The dentist ( who is in the USAF but speaks broken English which makes me very nervous) was going to drill a few spots before he sealed them.  However, he didn't think it was necessary to numb me.  He said I wouldn't feel anything but to wave if I was feeling some sensitivity.  I was waving both hands and my legs were shaking so badly the whole chair was shaking.  I spent an hour and a half  trying to get through the pain only to cry the second I got out of the office.  I am supposed to call and make another appointment so they can finish but that wont happen.  I am officially scared for life.  My fear of the dentist has been validated.

Well, I'm in the list making mood now.  Blast from the Past is on.  I really like that movie.  I really love the holidays because every night the Navy movie channels play Christmas movies.  I love it I wonder what will be on tonight.  Last night Wendy and I were watching Elf.  I love that movie!.

Hah! 

PS I'm wearing a hat in this pic and I think this pic makes my face look ginormous

we got the tree up!

Hey we got our tree up .   I love having a live tree. It smells so good in the house!  I put it up myself it was tough I thought I was going to pass out because i have a really bad cold.  Tree stands are crap and there should be a better way but I think it is pretty straight for putting it up alone.  TaDa!!

Please don't let your attention focus on the shoes thrown about on the left.  Crap I  should have cropped this photo.

Dave finally gets to write about INDIA Part one

Hi everybody,  I have finally found some time off to write to you all about my trip to INDIA.  I have been so busy since I have been back, they only gave us one day off then it was back to the flight line to work.

Well today is Friday, and our Commander decided that we have worked enough over the past few weeks and gave us the day off.  YEAH!!  I love getting days off.  But to tell you about my trip to INDIA will take a while, there is soo much to tell.  So here it goes, if it doesn't make sense just ask questions, as I am not good at getting all of my thoughts down on the computer, lol.

So where to start.  We left out of Misawa on Sunday evening, and flew down to Tokyo and did whole airport switch with the bus.  its not as confusing as I thought, everything was in English and easy to understand.  So we took a really nice plane from Tokyo to Singapore. It was an air bus 380.  pretty big plane.  But there we were all sitting and enjoying our free movies on the plane, and I say movies, cause nowadays they give you a choice of like 12 movies, a bunch of TV shows, and even video games, but anyway we're enjoying the ride, its late at night and dark on the plane, and all the sudden I hear and feel this thump, and I thought to my self "that was kinda weird" and then I notice that everyone around is sitting up in there seats and looking down into the aisle in front of , so what do I do, of course I look down the aisle too, well to my amazement there was a guy laying down in the aisle passed out cold.  And there is all of these people sitting around poking and prodding at this guy to get him to wake up.  finally someone says to hit the call button to get a flight attendant, so what does everybody, we all hit all call buttons at almost the same time, so for the next minute you can hear nothing but dings going off. and then finally an attendant shows up, then another, then another, and next thing we knew we had all the flight attendants on the plane hovering around this poor guy that has been poked at for the past few minutes. so the attendants didn't really know what to do, so what did they do, well you guessed it the poked and prodded him to get him to wake up. ( just Joking) they actually took over the situation and di a great job.  one of them held his feet up another stabilized his head, and for some reason another ran straight to back of the plane to grab the defibrillator.  she must have been new.  but then after he still wasn't waking up we told the attendants to call for a doctor, well luckily we had brought a military paramedic with us. but it was so surreal hearing a flight attendant call over the intercom saying " if there is a doctor on the plane please identify yourself" it was like being in the movie.  well to cut this little story short, the guy that passed out was one of our back shop workers he fixes fuel problems on the jets,  he passed out because he was dehydrated. but he was alright, except that for the rest of the trip we gave him s#!t for it. it was funny.  Well we got to Singapore with no more problems, except for when we got into the lobby of the airport, no one really knew where we would be spending the night (actually day since it was 0600 and we were leaving at O' dark thirty the next morning.)  so here is a big group of about 30 military members just huddling around trying to figure out what to do.  so finally our Captain decides to call the embassy, to find out where we were staying (the embassy was suppose to set up our Hotel and bus). well the embassy said we had room reservations at the Regent hotel, and the bus should be their.  so we start looking around and we see this guy holding a sign that says "embassy Regent" that's got to be us, we said.  so we talk to the guy and find out that yes it was us.  so we get on the bus and realize that just one bus wont fit all of us and our luggage, so we had to get a van to load the luggage in, then we were all pretty nervous about getting our bags back because half way through the bus ride we didn't see the van any more.  but we were on the bus for about 30 mins or so, and we got to this street and looked around and saw all of these big Hotels.  there was the Hilton, Four seasons, The Hyatt.  and were like I wonder where we are staying.  then we pull up to this beautiful hotel just a huge hotel with cheofers and bell boys and luggage boys.  and I thought to my self, there is no way that we are staying here.  But we did.  and we had a great time there.  I suggest any one that has a chance to go to Singapore to DO IT.  its worth the trip.  Singapore is on of the richest places in the world, and one of the cleanest.  this is because they have so many rules, cant chew gum in public ( so that you don't spit it on the side walk), you cant spit on the side walk(200 dollar fine) cant jaywalk(200 dollar fine), there is rule after rule after rule.  But it works, because everyone follows them and it has got to be the cleanest country in the world.  the side walks are clean and all one color, there is no trash strewing about, all the grass we saw was nicely mowed, there was flower beds everywhere.  just a great country to see.  not to mention the shopping to be done. if you want any high end item they got it.  any electric item they got it and its cheaper there than in the states.  and apparently the beaches are 3even more beautiful, we didn't see them because of the short time we were there.  Oh one last thing about Singapore, I was finally able to get a Moosehead Beer, its been almost a year, oh it tasted so good, I was happy.WEll we left after a busy day and hopped on the plane the next morning to ge to Kolkata India.

I'm sorry but I need to end this blog here for now.  Teresa and I going out to eat and bowling with some friends.   So Iwill continue this soon (hopefully by the end of the weekend) but for now you all can look at the pictures I posted in our photo album under INDIA.  sorry I haven't filled out all the captions yet either, geez I'm lazy! well that's all for now love you all

glad to be back  DAVE