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....

Bazaar Buys!!

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Dave is still a little upset about how much we spent but I am sure it will wear off soon. I am SO excited about the things we bought this weekend. WE bought these three amazing wood plates. They are really beautiful. I am going to hang them up... I just don't know where yet. We also bought a HOPE CHEST!! I LOVE it so much! My hope chest was messed up during our first move and we got rid of it. BUt this one is really beautiful and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!! The pictures don't show it off very well... but trust me its great.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

My Hair!!

.SO I realized today when I got out of the shower how long my hair has grown in just one year!! When I got all my hair chopped off last year i felt uncomfortable, even though it was more stylish. I just feel like me when my hair is around this length. I guess I shoudl take it for a trim though. Man a year sure did go by fast

my one year anniversary

Not to long ago I passed my one year anniversary of being a homemaker. It was amazing when I realized that for an entire year I have been doing this already. The time has passed very quickly. A few things have changed in the past year...

1. We have MORE money!! I don't know if it is because I plan our meals out and we eat out so much less but we have more money than we ever have!! I guess I spent more money when I was working than I made when I would order out lunch at work or come home too tired to cook so we would eat out for dinner. I suppose it really adds up without even noticing. And it isn't like we haven't kept spending money. I still shop on-line and my scrapbooking habit has picked up a lot since I have time to craft more. But in the past year we have paid for me to go home once, a new sofa and recliner, a new car, trips to Tokyo & Sapporo and a laptop. Along with plenty of other crap we bought- Dave bought me a $300 set of kitchen knives for my birthday this past year and I bought myself a $300 Cricut just to name a couple. So, I don't really know how it works out that we stopped living paycheck to paycheck when we went from two incomes to one but we did!! We love it!!

2. We don't argue over household chores now!! I didn't realize how much we bickered over sharing the household duties until we stopped. It is amazing. Even though I have always done most of the cleaning, I used to make Dave pitch in when I needed help. He hardly complained but I would nag when he did things wrong. I know it is terrible. Just like they say.. If you want something done right do it yourself! Well, now I do and it makes me very happy. I have plenty of time to keep the house as clean as I like it and its all done they way I like it!! I don't let the laundry and dishes pile up like it did when I worked and it makes me very happy. It makes Dave happy too. I occasionally ask him to take the trash out but other than that he is off the hook as far as cleaning goes. He loves it. All he has to do is work come home relax eat and sleep. When I worked I would have to work weekends all the time, and if i did get a weekend day off I would have to clean house. BUT now I have the weekends off!! The house gets pretty cluttered and sometimes I leave Sundays dished for Monday... but I get the weekend off to spend with Dave and that is a huge bonus to this not working thing.

3. I have time to have hobbies!!! It is wonderful! In the year I have not been working I have been able to finish 8 scrapbooks!! Along with the three I made for Christmas gifts that makes 11!!! I also have taken up knitting and made a few scarves for Christmas gifts as well. That is a bonus I should mention I guess. I was able to save $$ this year by making a bunch of Christmas gifts. I made 3 scarves, 3 scrapbooks, a cute apron, and I put together some spiffy gift boxes of stationary sets I bought at the yen store( can you say looks really special for only costing a few bucks?!) . I have also been able to read alot!! Since I quit working I have read 44 books! I also started a quilt which I am still quilting ( by hand) which makes me really happy because I haven't had time to quilt since I moved away from home. Heck I have even done a paint by number!! Hey and since Dave doesn't have to help around the house he has had more time to read and golf and even tie flies!!

4. We have been able to get out and see Japan! Right after I quit we were able to start getting out and seeing things. When I worked we never had days off together it seemed. But since I quit we have been to more shops around misawa, we went to the Snow Lantern and Cherry Blossom Festivals in Hirosaki, we have visited the Big Buddha, The Statue of Liberty, been to Sapporo, took the bullet train together, the salmon festival, been to the ocean a few times to walk along the beach. We have been able to go to the air shows, parades, bazaars. It is really wonderful. When I look back through the time after I quit working we have oodles and oodles of photos. The first year we lived in Japan we hardly have any! It is easier living here when we can get out on the weekends and check stuff out.

5. I get to cook!! This is Dave's biggest bonus to having me stay home now. He get to eat more. I think since I quit the man has gained like 13 pounds which is HUGE for him. He is still really skinny but I know he eats enough. I have really liked being able to cook every night also. It is nice now that I plan out our meals and then have a shopping list of everything I will need. I think it saves us a lot of money. Although the first few months I was shocked at how much I spent at the grocery store. But then again we hardly ever eat out. I have been having a great time trying new recipes out. I love finding one of those little recipe booklets at the checkout and trying recipes from them. Some of our favorite meals come from those little booklets. I have also been able to bake more often which makes Dave so happy he could burst. A month or so after I quit working I made a Banana Cream Pie. I had started making it while Dave was still sleeping and when he woke up and I told him what I was doing the look on his face was unforgettable. I had never seen him so excited. It makes me really happy knowing that I can please Dave like that by baking him something great. He has been begging me to try making this Mississippi Mud Pie that is in one of my cookbooks. And someday soon I will make it for him and I know it will make him thrilled. I probably could have mentioned cooking and baking under the hobbies benefit because I really do enjoy cooking now. When I worked it was like the most horrible chore I had to do ever night after I got finished working all day. But now I really love it!!

I could probably go on and on and on about how great this past year has been but I will spare you. I just wanted to let people know that being a woman "stuck" at home can be so wonderful! It has really improved our marriage and it makes us both extremely happy. I had mentioned to Dave once that I might like to get a job while he was deployed this summer and he got really defensive and said "oh no you won't.. not unless you start after I leave and quit before I get back!" That is when I realized this really works for us, because I prefer this way much more than the past as much as he does.

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 16, 2007

I got lots done today. I washed all the rugs in the house, vacuumed and mopped the floors, cleaned the kitchen counters, and have done load after load of laundry. It feels great in the house now. Plus I received my Bath and Body works order today which was a bunch of those wallflowers and now my whole house smells sweet.

I also went up to main base to get a corned beef brisket. I am really excited about making corned beef and cabbage tomorrow. Dave might end up eating it for breakfast though because he is on swing shift right now. I probably couldn't do it but Dave can eat anything for breakfast. I am so excited. I have never made it before. I will let you know how it turns out.

I am going to post my pictures of Tokyo so check them out.

Entry for March 14, 2007

Things are finally back to normal around here. After doing so much in the past 6 weeks Dave and I are beat. It was really great to have Melissa visit and I think we showed her everything we had planned to which is why we are so tired. I am looking forward to things getting back to its normal boring routine.

We took Melissa to all of our favorite restaurants and showed her lots of stuff around Misawa. Along with our long weekend in Sapporo and all the shopping we did, I think we kept her plenty busy. She and I flew down to Tokyo on Sunday afternoon. We checked into The New Sanno which was a really nice hotel. We spent Monday seeing some of the sights of Tokyo. We rode the subway to see the Imperial Palace. The East Garden was closed but the outer plaza was really neat. Then we walked from there to the Ginza. We only went in a few store though. But we did find TGI Fridays and ate lunch there. (It was a big deal since it has been a full year now since I visited the states.) Tokyo was really awesome and much easier to get around than I had imagined it would be. I cannot wait to go back down with Dave. There is a lot more that I want to see down there and I would like to see the East Garden.