Little House Books

I finally finished reading the Little House series! I started it in January and it took me 9 months to get through the 9 books! I really enjoyed them and I am glad I read them. I tried reading them when I was younger but couldn't get into them. It feels good to finish a series. I have been reading a bunch of series. The Little House books, Love Comes Softly books, Stephanie Plum books, and the Princess Diaries books. I am eager to get the Love Comes Softly books read this winter. I have read all of the Princess Diary books that the library carry. I am caught up on the Stephanie Plum books. I have decided not to buy any new books for the rest of our time here. I still have plenty of books to read and I am sure I won't be able to read as much once the baby arrives. The bookshelf is full right now and I am determined to clear it out by the time we move. I can do it.

We have a typhoon coming towards us soon. It is going to hit Tokyo tomorrow and we are supposed to be ready for high winds. I am guessing this weekend will be rainy and crappy. Oh well. I am planning to roast a chicken on Sunday and that always make the house feel cozy no matter what the weather outside is like. Dave's Birthday is Saturday so I will bake him a cake and he has gift to open from my mom and from me so we should have a nice weekend.

Entry for August 31, 2007

I am finally back to doing normal stuff. In the past weeks I have been hot and uncomfortable and lazy feeling. I was having trouble sleeping and then couldn't get stuff done during the day because I was so tired.... then I was not in the mood for cooking. It was a vicious cycle. But FINALLY I am back in the swing of things.I have been on top of my cleaning and cooking!! I still have trouble with not wanting chicken dishes... I think its strange. I didn't have morning sickness in my first trimester but I could hardly choke down anything chicken. I used to cook mostly chicken dishes and now I have to force myself to eat it at least one a week. It makes me nervous knowing that I would rather eat pork and beef since chicken is so much healthier. But the idea of eating it makes me want to gag at times. I will like chicken again after I have the baby right??? But I am getting things done and sleeping a little better at night. I have totally reorganized my scrapbooking cabinet which was a huge task, and this past week I even finished two Christmas sewing projects. I feel a lot getting things done I hate feeling lazy.
My pants don't fit. But I only ordered long pants since I am having a winter baby and will be pregnant all fall and winter. So I have to fashion my capris with a hair tie. It works fine except I hardly have any shirts that are long enough to cover my unzipped pants. So today I went to the BX and bought a couple of maternity tops to wear for the rest of the summer. At least they are long enough to covered my pant rigging. I go next Friday for my next ultrasound. We will get to find out if we are having a boy or girl at that appointment. I am excited and hope next week goes by as fast as this week did. I really love feeling the baby move. Its really awesome. I can't wait to feel the baby more often. My mom sent me a package with some clothes she bought at my step-sister's yard sale. I can hardly wait to see what kind of fun baby stuff she got for the baby. Eeeee this baby stuff is really exciting I must say! I am lucky to not suffer from sickness and other bothers that most women complain about. I am just so looking forward to starting our family.
That's all I have to offer as an update for now. OH! Dave starts his online college classes on Monday to finish up his Associates Degree. I think he is excited. Tonight he is going out to drive the SADD Van from 11pm-2am. I am sure he will have an interesting night of driving drunks home.

Isn't he great??

Last night I finally got that quilt back out and was going to stretch it so I can start quilting it. Dave said he would help.. ( Its funny because there are a lot of crafty things that are really interesting to him. Like that Cricut machine I bought, when I pull it out somehow he always ends up in the room telling me he can cut one for me so I can do something else, which i think is just his way of asking if he can play with it. I don't blame him, it is really fun to use.) I think the idea of 'stretching' a quilt probably has baffled him. SO I said great I could use the help because it is tricky using tables that are too small and are different heights!! SO i got the safety pins out and split them up and gave him a bowl of them and he looked really confused.... Then we started taping down the backing and then we laid out the batting and then we put the quilt top down. Then I told him we were going to start pinning the three layers together and to make sure he got the pin through all of the layers so it stays tight when I quilt it. I could tell by his face that he was worried. He spent like a full minute working on the first pin. He kept saying I don't know if it went through. He kept talking about how it was tricky. Then I mentioned that my aunt has all of her safety pins bent so they go in and come up easier. He quickly told me he would be willing to bend them all for me and i could pin the quilt alone. And I could tell by his face that he was trying to get out of pinning the quilt. But I told him that's OK. SO he stuck it out and pinned with me. ISN'T THAT SO NICE OF HIM???? He took a little longer than I did but I know he was just trying to make sure he did everyone right. He was really eager to pull up the tape and look at the back to see if he went all the way through on all of them, and he did!

I just think it is really great to have a husband that helps me out like that. I am so glad that we get along and aren't out boozing every weekend like most people on this base. In fact we never go boozing. I think it is just asking for trouble. I can't understand how these couples can go out all the time like they do. For one its expensive. We have some friends that are always fighting about money but they go out to the bars every weekend!! And they act like they don't get to spend enough time with each other but they booze it up Fri and Sat and then spend the day time recovering from the heavy drinking. They don't trust each other, can't share money.... I just don't understand how they don't get it! That maybe instead of partying all the time they should have some one on one time sober, getting to know each other, and figuring out ways to spend time together in more constructive ways.

I am actually grateful that Dave and I were too young to drink when we were married. We spent the first three years of our marriage not drinking. Plus we were poor... trying to buy stuff for our house and scraping by on a IGA cashier and A1C 's income. On the weekends we hung out with our friends at our house, playing games or watching movies. And when they were busy we would stay home and play games and watch movies alone. Boy, I must say that I think Yahtzee is one of the best things to build a strong friendship. If you can stay home on the weekend and play games and be happy and entertained than you know you are in good shape. But the point is, that drinking wasn't part of our idea of fun for so long that once we could drink, we hardly ever did, or currently do. WE occasionally have a six pack in the fridge and like in Tokyo we had drinks with dinner, but it isn't the only way we have fun, and we don't over do it.

Well, I don't know exactly how stretching the quilt led me to that rant... But I better go get working on that quilt! Have a great day and a wonderful holiday weekend!!

Entry for April 11, 2007

I haven't blogged in awhile... the days get away from me.

Dave has started his class in TX and so far he is doing really well. He has to do a bunch of speeches in the next week and a half so he is working really hard to get ready for them. Dave is pretty shy when it comes to public speaking but he said the speech he gave yesterday earned him a smiley face grade so he was happy. I know he had a really great time visiting home last week. I think he was sorta wore out by the time he got to Texas but that's OK. It had been too long since he had visited MI. He is really excited about hopefully making it home for a longer visit sometime this summer. I am more than eager to get home since it has been over a year now since I have seen my family. Dave seems to have no problem being away from family but it drives me batty. I miss everyone so much and I hate missing out on everything that goes on in my tight knit family back home.

I have been keeping myself busy since he left. I rearranged the spare bedroom so the new hope chest would fit nicely. It is so nice in there now. I have a couple of scrapbooking projects that I have been meaning to pick up, but for some reason it hasn't happened yet. I have been putting together gifts for my girl cousins and it took me awhile to gather everything then box them up then get them ready for shipping. But I finally have everything ready. I mailed one box on Tuesday.. and i have two boxed to mail tomorrow.

Well, I think that's it for now. I am eager to get back to the book I am reading. Farmer Boy.. Its part of the Little House on the Prairie series.. So far it is great. I hope everyone has a great hump day.

P.S. The picture I posted for this blog is of my Grandma. ( my Mom's Mom) Doesn't she look fun? She passed a few years ago. I miss her even though I don't have a lot of memories of her. She had early onset Alzheimer's. It was rough to watch her forget her family. I was still sort of young when she started forgetting things. But last time I was home I went through my Grandpa's pictures and copied a bunch of photos of her.

This Bird has grown on me

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I was just driving home this morning and I took the road that goes around the flightline, and as I was passing the runway I saw a common site, but today for some reason it made me think. At the End of Runway where the jets get their last look over before they take off, there were a bunch of F-16s lined up. Today they were taking off toward the mountians and the mountians are really clear and beautiful, and there are these 8 jets lined up, and the site was just really awesome. As the first two Japanese Jets took off the rumble of thier engines shook the car and while this happens alot, today with the mountians and everything just made me realize that living on an 'airport' isnt too terrible, because when you watch those things take off it is amazing everytime. While I curse the F-16 because it leaves my husband's hand constantly dirty and his clothes so filthy they have me scrubbing the ring from my wash tub, the truth is I love them. WHen we were first married I didn't know what the heck a fighter jet was. But when I got to Arizona and Dave took me out to the runway at night and we sat there watching them take off with full afterburner I was hooked then. They are SO powerful yet they are small. If you have ever seen a 16 take off you know what I mean. ( even though I got buzzed by a japanese 16 a few days ago while I was driving and my heart stopped and I couldn't breath right again for like over an hour . It was terrible and I nearly peed my pants... I didn't think they were so great that day!!)

Now for the first time in 5 years Dave won't be on the flightline and I am so thankful. But I know how much he loves that jet and I bet the day he goes back to the flightline he will be like a little kid waiting for santa to come. Working on this jet has taken Dave all over in the past 5 years. Las vegas, Hawaii, Alaska, Okinawa, India, Japan, Phoenix. Today though I dropped Dave off for his last TDY for the rest of our time here in Japan. It is so exciting to know we have an easy 2 years ahead of us. He won't be working 12+ hour days anymore!! And he will get lunch breaks!!! And he won't come home dirty!!! And he won't be deployed for the remainder of our time in Japan!!! Yippie. I just have to get along ok without him for the next 20 days....

Whew!

This past week was a little crazy. Dave was supposed to start his new job last Monday and when he went to out process from the AMU they told him they can't let him go because they have manning issues! Isn't that stinky?! So he has to continue to work the flight line until he goes to instructor class. But Dave promises me that when he gets back he will for sure be going to the training flight.

We are planning a trip to Tokyo at the end of April. We are going to stay at The New Sanno which I am really excited about since it is such a nice hotel and it is cheap... plus everyone there speaks English! I am really geeked about going back to Tokyo. There is lots more stuff to see down there and it will be fun to have Dave with me this time.

We went to play racquetball yesterday. Holy Moly!! I actually did OK but I think Dave was taking it easy on me. He kept saying that he wasn't hitting the ball very hard... but I am sort of afraid of the ball and I don't have a backhand so the fact that I won 2 of the 3 games should mean something. My right arm feels like a limp noodle today. Hopefully we are just going to relax today. I think we are planning to take Wendy to the Dog park this afternoon after Church. Hopefully it will be nice out. Its nice right now but the clouds don't look too nice.

I have to get the house back to normal tomorrow. Whenever Dave has a 3 day weekend the house gets really cluttered. It drives me crazy. I hope i have time to read this week. I started Running With Scissors. SO far it is really funny. I haven't watched the movie yet, I am going to wait until I finish the book.

Thats it for now. Take Care everyone!!

Entry for March 01, 2007

Geez the time sure does fly by quick!! Melissa's visit will be over in a little more than a week!! I tell you six weeks sounds like a long time but it is gone before you even know it. We have been keeping busy trying to show Melissa around Misawa and around Aomori Prefecture. Next week Dave took a couple days off so we are planning to take her to see the big Buddha park in Aomori. Her and I are leaving for Tokyo on Sun the 11th. We are going to spend 2 days down there just to see the Imperial palace gardens and a few other things like the Ginza.

Lots has happened.... We bought a laptop which is very exciting for us. We have been meaning to for a long time since Dave is TDY so often and we travel so much. Dave also got a new position at work. He got an instructor position, so he will be teaching Crew Chiefs some of the courses they go thru annually to refresh their skills. I am really excited about this. He wont be on the flight line...which means he wont have dirty hands and greasy clothes... and he will work set hours and have weekends off and holidays off too. I am looking forward to him being home at the same time every night and even maybe having him home for lunch sometimes. Eeeeeee.

I don't know what this means for our leave though. We have been planning to visit home in November but I am not sure how they will work leave in the MTF. We will see... But I really think this will be great for us.

Everyone has been so quiet lately... I hope everyone is still alive out there.

Entry for February 15, 2007

Boy have we been busy!! Seems like the days aren't long enough. We went to a fancy smancy French Valentine's dinner last night. The food was very seafoodie but it was ok and we didn't die from the huge shrimp with its head still on in our salads..... I will never look at shrimp the same again!!

We are leaving tomorrow morning for a weekend in Sapporo. We are riding the train for 6 hours to get there. We have to go through a underwater tunnel for awhile of the trip which makes me very uneasy! Dave and I are going to watch a movie or two to pass the time so hopefully I wont be thinking about being under the ocean in a tunnel on a train. whew...gag.

We sent Wendy to the Kennel this afternoon and I am feeling pretty guilty. I hope she does OK so that I feel better about leaving her for the summer while I am in Michigan.

Well, I better go finish packing. Everyone have a great long weekend!!

Going to Tokyo today!

Ok ok ok... So Dave came home last night. I am so glad he is back.. . He is sick with a bad cough but this morning he sounded lots better like it is all breaking up so hopefully he will be all better soon. He is all unpacked and I got all of his laundry done last night. Then I got my over night bag packed. I am all set and ready to go. Dave is at work now but is going to come home and drive me to the airport at noon or so. Then I am flying to Tokyo. I should arrive at the airport an hour or so before Melissa lands. Plenty of time I am sure. Then we are going to stay the night at The Holiday Inn right there by the airport and on Thursday morning we are going to take the train up to Misawa. whew! I am sure everything will work out great.. I am just SO glad Dave made it home. I am pretty sure Japan is going to blow Melissa's mind... I don't know what she expects but I am pretty sure it won't be anything like what she thinks it will. Did that make sense? Well, you know what I mean.

Well, Happy Wednesday !! I'll let you know how it goes in Tokyo when I get back!!

Our 5th Anniversary

Yesterday was our anniversary. I spent the day feeling kind of crappy. But I had to clean the house because it was really trashed. I only got the kitchen and living room cleaned up before Dave came home early from work. It is nice to have him home but I cannot get anything done when he is here! And we couldn't even leave the house because Dave needed to wait for the guy he hit last week to call so they could get everything straightened out. SO we sat around watching The Sopranos. We finished the third season. Then we went to dinner at the steakhouse on base. It is a really nice restaurant. I had salmon and Dave got a steak. It was really good. We didn't get each other gifts. But Dave did buy 2 Waterford Crystal champagne flutes. They are really pretty. I had told him I wanted to get them for our anniversary. We got two of their Christmas collection, the two turtle doves. They are really pretty.
Jeesh that sounds like one run on sentence doesn't it. Guess I am not that excited today. I still have lots of cleaning to do. Booooo

Booooo

Man what a strange and frustrating couple of days. We woke up on Monday to 3 or 4 inches of snow. I thought it was really nice until.... Dave came home from work and told me about a little accident he was in in our NEW CAR!! He was pulling into a parking spot and he slid on ice and ran into another car. Our previously beautiful new car that we just got TWO WEEKS ago has a bunch of scratches on the front passenger side. I am so upset and there is a big dent. I am so SO sad. Dave said the other guys vehicle was really bad and guess who gets to pay for the damages!!!! US. Isn't that so SUCKY!!!! Seems every time things start going well something shitty has to happen. So I am really looking forward to getting the estimate from the guy Dave hit. Then we also get to pay for our car to be fixed!! FUN We haven't even made our first car payment yet!!!

Today I went to my spouse meeting. It was rather upsetting. Lots of info about upcoming stuff. Unsettling really. I came home and drank two martinis just to calm down. I spent the hour and a half meeting feeling like I could barf. I don't think they needed to tell us the stuff they did. I think I will no longer attend the spouse meetings. I am much better off not knowing thank you very much.

Our Story

 

. Awhile ago one of my friends posted her and her husband's 'story'. I thought it was a really great idea. SO because we are only a couple weeks away from our 5th wedding anniversary I thought I would post ours!

Dave and I met in High School. I didn't really know him until junior year. We had assigned seating in Ms. Skupin's math class and we sat next to each other. I thought he was really nice especially since he let me copy his homework sometimes. Dave told me once we started dating that he wanted to ask me to Snowcoming that year but I had a boyfriend at the time.

Senior year we had Chemistry II together. We didn't talk much though. We did occasionally chat on the bus to Vo-Tech though. By the end of the year we started talking more and more. I had already been broken up from my old boyfriend at that point. The last couple weeks of senior year we were flirting a lot and my feelings for him had changed. We decided to sign up to walk together at graduation. Then I really started thinking about him a lot. He had told me that his parents were out of town and he was having a few people over and that Gus and I should stop by. SO we did. It was fun. We didn't drink with them but we watched movies and had a fun night.

All of our friends knew we liked each other and were just waiting for him to ask me out. He had told our friend Josh he was going to ask me out to the movies but he kept chickening out. Finally my friend Gus told him he better do it quick before we drove her bonkers. SO he finally did!

He asked me to the movies and we set our date for the last day of school. It was Friday the 25th of May. He picked me up in the Rabbit that evening and we went to see Pearl Harbor. When we got out of the movie it was raining and his Rabbit's sunroof leaked. It wasn't terrible, but everytime he turned a corner water streamed down him shirt. It was really funny. Dave dropped me off at my house. I told him he didn't need to walk me to the door because it was raining really hard. He later told me he thought I had a terrible time beacause of the drive home. But I had fun!

We spend the weeks after that dating and falling in love. We really enjoyed spending time together and it was so comfortable. We just really enjoy each other's company. Dave would come over in the evening after I got out of work and we would watch tv and talk about everything.

Dave left for Boot Camp on July 2nd. It was really hard to say goodbye to him. I knew we loved eachother but I didnt know how he would feel about me after being apart for so long. I remember the first time he called from boot camp. He had been gone for a week or so I think. I was just getting home and the phone was ringing. When I realized it was him I was shocked. I didn't expect him to call. We didnt talk long cause he wanted to call him mom and check in with her then he would call me back if he had enough time. When I hung up with him and got ready to wait for the call back I lost it. I starting sobbing. Just cause I missed him and I was so glad to hear from him.

We wrote eachother and he was able to call a couple times in the 6 weeks he was in Basic. I bought a plane ticket to San Antonio to be there for his graduation. His mom and I went with the wife of Dave's friend who was graduating with Dave. It was nice. We had a great weekend. Dave and I didn't get any alone time to talk much but we had a few minutes and we talked about how serous we were and how much we loved each other.

Dave went to tech school in Wichita Falls and we talked every night on the phone. I mean EVERY night for HOURS. We talked about so many things and we got to know each other really well. We decided I would fly down to visit him for Thanksgiving.

I did and we had a really great weekend. It had been over three months since we had seen each other. We ate Thanksgiving dinner at Denny's It was really great and we have a lot of great memories from that weekend. Most importantly that weekend Dave asked me to marry him. I sorta figured it was coming but, it was really wonderful.

We didn't really know when we would get married. WE weren't sure Dave would be able to come home that Christmas until two weeks before. When we got word he was coming home we decided to get married. My mom didn't want us to get married at the court house though. I am really glad we ended up having a church wedding. It was really amazing how things came together. We planned the entire wedding in two weeks. Dave and I paid for almost all of it ourselves. We were married on a Thursday and we told our aunts and uncles about the wedding on Christmas! ( two days notice.. Nice eh?) It turned out to be a really wonderful day. A few days after we were married Dave and I went to Toronto for a 4 day honeymoon. It was really great. Ahhhhh.... Memories!!

Entry for December 06, 2006

So many exciting things going on. 

• We go pick up our new car today.  I am really geeked. 
  
• Melissa is coming to visit in January!! eeeeee
  
• I am half done with the quilt top I started last winter!  I think it looks really nice so far
  
• I started Visions of Sugar Plums by Janet Evanovich.. Its  a hoot so far
  
• Our tree is up and the house is pretty and I have all of my Christmas shopping done.

That's really it but it feels like a lot of good things.  I am really excited about Melissa's visit.  We were starting to think maybe no one was going to come to Japan to visit us. ( I know Sandy and Sean came to visit but they didn't have to go very far)  I really hope i can get this quilt finished before Melissa comes to visit.  Her favorite color happens to be purple and it would look really pretty at the end of her bed.... Well we don't actually have a bed for her to sleep in yet, but you know what I mean.  We will probably go shopping for a fold-away bed very soon.  Dave will be leaving on the 2nd or 3rdof January for his Vegas TDY so he will be back just before Melissa flies in.  I am sure the three weeks he is gone I will get the quilt finished. 

I have started scrapbooking 2006.  I am to July 4th so far.  I have been going really slow and taking my time.  LOL I only do a two page layout every few days.  The book is turning out really swell so far.  I like it a lot!! 

Well, think that's it. I just really wanted to post a picture of the half of a quilt top I have finished.  What do you think?? 

Hey its Monday already!!

Well,  it is the beginning of another week.  I didn't post our menu last week because I just threw a bunch of stuff together.  It just seems I am not in the mood to try new recipes lately.  So we are going to enjoy our favorites.  This is what I have planned...

Monday- Leftovers like always

Tuesday-Ham and Cheese Omelet Bake( nothing wrong with breakfast for dinner)

Wednesday- Chili

Thursday- Chicken Fried Rice

Friday- Pizza Skillet hot Dsh

Saturday- Dinner out

Sunday- Spinach and Beef Enchiladas

I am going to clean the house up a little this afternoon.  I have a few loads of laundry to do.  I am really enjoying the change in weather here.  It has been snowing and the few inches we got Saturday night are still on the ground.   It is really pretty outside.  We took Wendy for walk last night, it was really fun to bundle up and watch her enjoy the snow. 

I started a new book called Mr. Ives Christmas.  I am not very far into it yet though. 

Well, I have stuff to do.  Take care!

So glad its Friday

Boy o boy am I glad its finally Friday.  We had a pretty eventful week. First with the sink problem on Tuesday then on Wednesday we had more trouble.  I was running a load of laundry and the washer drain was clogged!!  I couldn't believe our terrible luck.  Dave went into the Kitchen and it was flooded!!  There was over an inch of water on the kitchen floor.  We called housing and while they were on their way  Dave and I pulled up 5 buckets of water off the floor.  Two guys came and snaked the drain and it was fixed.  But I still had to mop the floor again!!!!  Hey but the good news is that we pulled out the appliances in the kitchen to clean up the water underneath them and they are all clean now. If anything else happens I am going to really be upset. 

Dave has today off.  Not sure what we are going to do today.  He wants to go to a gun store with his friend so I will probably just do some shopping for scrapbooking supplies I need for my next book.   Maybe later after he gets back I will take some Christmas gifts to Pack n Wrap to get boxed up for shipping.  I have ALL of our Christmas shopping done and everything wrapped!!  I am so excited. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

You win some you lose some I guess

It is Tuesday night and what a day I've had!! 

Everything started fine.  I woke up got my daily dose of Roseanne and Dr. Phil, then I headed to the grocery store.  First I went to the BX to buy Dave' some pajama pants.  I buy him pajama pants every year for Christmas and he is down to one pair now so I wanted to make sure I got him a nice new pair.  THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANY!!  I couldn't believe it!  I guess all of the men in Misawa sleep naked or something.  I was really disappointed.   I will have to look online to find a pair. 

So, I went to the commissary only needing a few things this week.  I was rolling down the pop/ snack food aisle not wanting to buy anything..... and what do I see??  VERNORS!!  Oh my goodness. I was so excited.  Dave and I talk about how much we miss Vernor's all the time!!  They finally got it in here.  There was a man in the aisle and he was startled when I let out a loud 'oh my gosh'  Then I realized I probably look liked a crazy person.  I told him that they finally have Vernors and asked him if he had ever tried it.  He laughed at me a little.  I don't care how crazy I looked I was so excited.  

On my way home I stopped at the Post Office and I got a package!!  I ordered a ton of pictures the other day and they came super quick! There were 312 prints I purchased.  I am looking to start scrapbooking 2006 after the new year.  I was so happy they arrived so fast.

When I got home I put away groceries and I cleaned a few things out of the fridge.  I filled the sink with a little water to wash a few things and when I ran a trickle of water in the other sink to rinse with I noticed it was starting to gather.  I haven't noticed it running slow so I figured there must be something in the disposal.  I flipped the switch and holy moly the other sink's plug flew out and water started flying out of the drain.  I have never seen anything like that before in my life!!  I was a little confused and after letting the water 'drain' I noticed some pretty funny stuff coming up in the sinks.  I ended up getting a decent amount of chunky water in both sinks just sitting there, so I figured I better just leave it for Dave to fix when he woke up.  Well, Dave was so excited about the Vernors he hardly minded plunging the sink for 30 minutes.  Nothing good was happening and now there was that pond scum looking water gathering in the dishwasher too!!  Now I figured things were pretty serous.  I called Housing and they sent someone out.  Dave had to leave for work before they arrived and I was so nervous.  Dave gave me a long lecture about the disposal.  I guess rice isn't good???  And he said I shouldn't put sweet and sour Pork or Chicken strips down there anymore.   Like I knew that!!!  The only understanding I have about disposals is what I learned on the Flintstones.  (remember they had that pig looking thing under their sink.. He ate everything.) 

When the guy arrived from housing he went at the sink with the two plunger method ..... No luck.  Then he got a shop vac and some other thing that sprayed water down the drain.  Now by this point he said it wasn't the pipes under the sink he said it was something further down the line....... Just a build up over time... So I am thinking this Isn't my fault after all.   SO after awhile he gave up and went back to the shop for  the 'bigger guns' and another guy to help him.  Now I didn't even try to watch what was going on, because I knew I could smell something a little too funky for my enjoyment, so i just stayed in the living room.

After about 45 minutes they announced success and packed their stuff.  Before they left they gave me a lecture about rice also.  Theirs was a lot nicer than Dave's.  So the floor is a mess and the sinks look like a magic cleaner infomercial before picture.( Like when they start to clean something that is so nasty you think yeah but nothing is ever that gross! Well this is!)  It is really nasty.  I have soft scrub with bleach working on the sink and I just finished mopping the floor with bleach water.  I emptied the dishwasher and am running it empty then I will rewash the dishes that were in there when the water started coming up.  Guess this will keep me from leaving clean dishes in the dishwasher from now on.

Not a terrible day I guess.... I think I'll go have a Vernors!!!

It's the Weekend Already!!!

Jeez, I cannot believe it is already Saturday!  This week I have been waking up early and I guess the change has made time go by super fast!!!!  I know I got a lot of things done this week but I cannot figure out how I got to sat already.   We don't have anything planned this weekend.  Dave  might go gun shopping with his friend today.  IF he does, I think I will catch up on some reading. ha ha

I've had such a great week now that I am awake during the day!!  I was sleeping on Dave's schedule which really stunk.  I would stay up until 3 or 4 in the morning waiting for him to get home from work then wake up at noon or 1.  It was really terrible especially since it is dark by 5 now.  He was working really late last week and we weren't getting up until 2 or 3 in the afternoon and by the time we finished breakfast the sun was nearly gone.  I was feeling behind and a bit gloomy.  SO this week I decided to wake my behind up earlier so I can get a day's worth of sunlight.  It feels really great. Plus, I am up in time to watch Rachel Ray which starts my day of on a high note!!  I really love her show.  After Rachel Ray they air two episodes of Roseanne.  That makes me happy also.  I watch while I am dusting and picking up the house. 

We got word from my Mom about our storage unit.  Dave's tools were taken along with his golf clubs,  his bow and a few other things.  Poor Dave.  He is really bummed about his tools and his clubs.  They didn't steal any of my stuff, I didn't have anything interesting in there.  I feel really bad for Dave.  He will enjoy shopping for another tool set when we move back to the states. 

  

Yuck what a bad day

Well, it wasn't terribly terrible, but you know when your day starts out really crappy and the rest of the day your just in a bad mood?  My sister called and woke us up this morning at 7 am to tell us that our storage unit in Michigan was broken into!!  We had a lot of our things shipped to Michigan and put into storage when we moved to Japan.  I guess the cops didn't think much was missing. Looked like they went through our storage tubs.  I mostly had extra kitchen stuff in the tubs.... but we did have some really important stuff in there I hope they didn't break!!  All of Dave's childhood ornaments, my Christmas village, my Great Grandma's record player and records( which I have blogged about how important those memories are to me, but I guess its the memories that are important not the actual player. But I want to be able to play the record for my kids one day and tell them about her you know??)  The thing I am guessing is gone is Dave's big 373 piece Craftsman tool set that was setting right by the door.  I suppose his bow is gone too.  He had a box with some really delicate toys from his grandfather which would be broken if the thieves didn't take the utmost care going through the box.  I am guessing that if you were out to steal stuff from others you wouldn't waste time taking great care not to break things though. So probably should be prepared for a lot of broken stuff eh.

So after that I tried to go back to sleep.  When I woke back up we went about our day.  Nothing terrible happen just stupid stuff annoyed the crap out of me.  You know when your just in a bad mood???  Looking forward to a new day tomorrow!! 



Saturday is the Salmon Festival.  We already bought one ticket so Dave can catch a salmon with his bare hands!!  I'll be sure to take lots of pictures!! 

We had a really great day yesterday.  We drove to Aomori to see the Big Buddha.  The drive there was so beautiful.  All of the fall colors were amazing.  We had a really great time at the park.  It was so peaceful and beautiful.  I posted a photo album, check it out.

Today is Dave's Birthday!

Dave just got home from work.  It is nearly 2am and we just had birthday cake!!!  We will probably be going to bed soon but technically it is his birthday.  He opened his gifts after we had cake.  My mom gave him a hat, Cabella's tee-shirt, millionaire candy, grill wipes, grill mitts, and a grilling apron.  He was having a ball opening her gift.  I gave him a bunch of movies we love but didn't have; Clerks, Chasing Amy, Mallrats, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bill Strike Back, and Dazed and Confused.  I am really proud of myself for not spilling the beans and surprising him for once.  We are both looking forward to having a movie night real soon.

We found out today that our trip home in October isn't going to happen.  We are really upset.  The next time we will be able to take leave would be April or May.  I don't think we really want to come home in April though so who knows we might not make a trip home until after Dave's deployment. 

Well, The Office is on, so I gotta end this.  Take care everyone!!!

whats new with us.....

So, it has been awhile! 

Dave left for Alaska on the 15th.  His tickets were pretty dumb and it took him 32 hours to get to Alaska! Talk about out of the way.  He flew from Tokyo to LA to San Fran to Seattle to Alaska!!!!!! He has called a few times he said he is a little disappointed that he has been there for nearly a week and hadn't been able to go fishing yet.  I think he was going to go today though.  He is working swings over there and all of his fishing buddies are working days, so he doesn't have anyone to fish with.  This weekend though I think they will get plenty of fishing  in.  We have no clue when he will get back. He flew commercial but doesn't have return tickets!!  Hopefully this TDY is no more than three weeks. 

I decided to get started scrapbooking the day he left.  I hadn't scraped anything past our wedding.  I got started on Saturday after he left and finished on Tuesday!!!  I was able to get 2002 , 2003 , and 2004 completely done! I also got 12 pages for 2005 done!  It was really easy since I had all of my pictures sorted and ready.  Plus, I got a bunch of really cool stuff from Close To My Heart.  I also did a 30 page 9x9 book for my Chicago trip!!!  Isn't that crazy!!  The '02  and '03 pages are going to go in the same book which will be 40 pages.  And 2004 ended up 40 pages.  I guess I was really motivated!  I would have liked to finish all of 2005 but I am completely out of adhesive, but I ordered some more stuff and hopefully it will get here soon. 

I have been knitting since I finished scrapbooking.  Hopefully I can get a few Christmas gifts done.

Well, I think that's it for now.