Sagey Thoughts

"Your Hands" by JJ Heller.

2010-04-07T08:43:00.001-07:00

I have been fighting some undiagnosed illness since mid-January. Today I went to see the infectious disease doctor. Low and behold I have mono. I was told I had mono in high school but this doctor says there is no way that is true. My Epstein Barr numbers clearly indicate that this is a first time occurrence and not a re-activation. Crazy! I wonder what I had in high school... Anyway, so life has been quiet for me. Lots of napping. :-)

Today I found this video from KLOVE and it is just so beautiful I had to share.

Snowmaggedon 2010

2010-02-08T12:56:00.000-08:00

33" Inches over the weekend.
10-20"+ predicted for tomorrow night...
No school until February 16th!

Thankful Thursday

2010-01-07T12:16:00.000-08:00

I am thankful for my marriage and husband.

Oh sure we don't live a glamorous life and sometimes life gets pretty mundane and other times totally bizarre, but through the thick and thin we stand by each other. We choose each other over anyone else on this earth. I am extremely grateful for that.

You all know, I can get annoyed with my husband (and he can get annoyed with me) but one thing I have always known is that God gave him to me. I try my best (and my best is far from perfect) to cherish that gift. I can see almost every step of my life leading straight to him and knowing almost instantly that he was the one for me.

KLove is doing the Love Dare until Valentine's Day, I have been intrigued by this dare since we saw the movie Fireproof (which was excellent by the way) but of course my marriage was/is not in the turmoil of those characters. But the Love Dare is for anyone. I probably won't post about this again, but I am challenging myself to this Dare so I can better cherish the gift God has given me. Will you challenge yourself too?

Amazon Kindle

2010-01-05T12:48:00.000-08:00

So for Christmas my dear husband got me a Kindle. I had initially poo pooed such a thing but then I saw the Barnes & Noble Nook and I got all hyped up on the fact that they said you could share books with your friends. I admit, I was coveting.

I then noticed that the Nook wasn't shipping for weeks after Christmas and then one day at ES's fencing class there was a mom with a Kindle. She spent a lot of time talking to me about it and how FANTASTIC Amazon has been. She also said that she and her husband could share books. Hmmm... wasn't that Nook's claim to fame? So I decided I should actually research digital readers! I know, novel concept (pun not intended)!

After researching the Kindle, the Sony and the Nook I decided the Kindle was the way to go. Apparently most of the book publishers were not actually going to allow B&N to share books on the Nook and if they did you could only share it once and for TWO weeks. Oh as if Blunoz or any of my other friends had time to read a book in less than two weeks! As long as the Kindles are linked to the same Amazon account, you can pass books back and forth, so yea I can't share with my friends but I can share with my husband (if and when he gets one of his own). The other thing I liked about the Kindle was that is actually has international capabilities. Now I don't plan to travel internationally but Blunoz is going to deploy in the next few years (no this is not imminent) and maybe I will get lucky and be able to go join him at an exotic port call, or maybe someday I will be nice and get him his own Kindle. :-) The funniest thing I read was that B&N released the information about the Nook so far in advance that Amazon was able to upgrade all the Kindle software to compete before the Nook was even released! The mom at fencing said all her software was upgraded automatically and without problems.

My MIL knew I was getting a Kindle for Christmas so she cut out an article she read in the newspaper comparing the Kindle to the Nook. Once again Kindle was on top. The one new thing this article told me was that it takes 3 seconds for the Nook to turn a page and 1 second for the Kindle. I think that would drive me CRAZY, but what do I know? :-) The other thing that article says is that yes, B&N lists more free books but the books they are listing Amazon also has as free but the quality is so low on them, Amazon doesn't count them as books (but they are available to download for free).

Once I got my Kindle I stumbled upon the Amazon Best Sellers in Kindle list and there is an RSS feed to it, so I added it to my Google Reader. I have downloaded some fantastic FREE books from this list! Such as Conspiracy in Kiev and Midnight in Madrid, neither of which are free now, but they were when I got them! :-)

So there you have it, my Christmas Present from Blunoz in a nut shell. :-) Thank you my dear husband. I LOVE it!

Half Full or Empty?

2010-01-04T09:48:00.000-08:00

Awhile back a friend got stuck listening to a woman complain for an entire swim lesson. She had no way to escape.

We have all met them, those people that never have anything positive to say. Those people that focus on all the wrong going on in their lives. We have even been that person sometimes, I know I have my moments. But we often come upon those people that are ALWAYS that way. People that seem as if they are not happy unless they have something to complain about. It can be a huge downer, but it started me thinking about the glass is half full theory. I like to try to always find the fullness in my glass (but of course have moments when I can't seem to see it). When faced with a perpetual complainer, is it possible to sit there and listen to someone complain about all the things going wrong in their lives and focus on all the things going right in our own?

On a similar note, I think I can see too much the half full glass. Are people like me annoying as well? I have another friend that had a valid complaint that she was tired of having a wrist in a splint. I said "well, at least it hasn't been amputated". She thanked me for putting it into perspective for her, but it still doesn't get her wrist out of a splint. :-)

We may be equally annoying but I am going to continue to focus on the positive aspects of life. Life has way too much to offer to focus on the things we don't like about it. God has blessed me in so many ways and these are the things I choose to focus on. Of course life is going to have its valleys (the bad) and mountains (the great), but don't the valleys make us appreciate the mountains all the more?

Happy New Year! May you always see the half full glass in front of you!

Wild Olive Follow Up

2009-11-30T07:56:00.001-08:00

Last spring I had been coveting the Wild Olive T-shirts and finally succumbed and bought two when MckMama was doing a fundraiser with the Unfolding T-Shirt. I have to tell you, I LOVE THEM. They have held up great and always start my day off right when I wear them. I am currently wearing my Such Things t-shirt layered over a long sleeve t-shirt. Now that winter is coming (here) I am excited to see that they have new long sleeve t-shirts. Again, I am coveting. This is bad, the Bible tells me not to covet. Dang you Wild Olive! :-)

Can We Have Some Discipline Please?

2009-11-17T09:12:00.001-08:00

To the Mom at the Bus Stop:

Yes my son hit your son on the playground last month, but this was after your son hit mine multiple times and would not stop, even after being asked to. My son was punished, was yours? Did you even ask him if he hit first? Hmm, going to guess not since from our phone conversation I got the impression you did not believe me. I am kicking myself for not taking a picture of the multiple red spots on my son's back.

Today, I now understand you think my child is evil, but really he is a sweet little boy who only wants to protect himself and have fun at the PUBLIC playgroun.

Today your daughter picked up a stick and was swinging it at my son, so he made fists and put them up in front of his face to protect himself. He never once made actions to indicate he was going to punch your daughter (you know, the one with swinging the STICK).

It was unnecessary for you to keep telling your son to tell his friends not to make fists at his sister, over and over again, when no one was making fists!

Yes, my son was kicking mulch, he was clearing a spot on the ground and NO ONE was around him. Your daughter ran up to him as he was kicking, so dirt went towards her. She then ran back to you to have my son stop kicking dirt at her. He was NOT kicking dirt at her, he was kicking dirt, she got in the way. It was not appropriate for her to come over to me to have him stop and to indicate she wanted me to have him stop by screaming at the top of her lungs "STOOOOPPPPPP!!!!". She is old enough to speak with respect to an adult. She is also old enough to ascertain she should NOT run towards someone who is kicking dirt. She is also old enough to learn she doesn't always get her way, but I suspect this is something you are not teaching her.

My child is NOT perfect. But he is not the brutal bully you make him out to be on a daily bases. Spend some time watching your own children and stop blaming EVERYTHING that goes wrong on my child.

Fullfillment of the Feasts!

2009-09-29T05:02:00.000-07:00

Last spring I did a Beth Moore Bible Study called Stepping Up: A journey through the Psalms of Ascent with the ladies at my church. I have been wanting to write about this for some time and I have finally have!

Now, I need to preface this blog post by saying I am NOT a Bible Scholar. My faith is God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit is just that, FAITH. I have never needed proof that the trinity exists, I just know that it does and Jesus is my Savior. One person described this as a child like faith, I am not sure that is the right description but I definitely do not know the Bible backwards and forwards, I take some truths to just be self evident. I see God working in my life all the time.

But as I did this study I was struck at how amazing it all is. First came the Old Testament, and here God spoke to his people and actually told them his Son, the Messiah would come someday and how he would come. I know there are many specific prophecies throughout the Old Testament that Jesus fulfilled, proving that he is in fact the Messiah but I have never looked for them as proof for myself.

But at age 36, I think it is about time I made myself a more solid foundation of faith. Here I am going to see if I can pick out a few passages from the Old Testament and the fulfillment of them through Jesus in the New Testament. Too me it is just amazing and wonderous!

Christ predicted to be born in Bethlehem, a small town in Judea.
Micah 5:2
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

though you are small among the clans of Judah,

out of you will come for me

one who will be ruler over Israel,

whose origins are from of old,

from ancient times.Or from days of eternity

">

Luke 2:4-7
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Christ to be born to a virgin:
Isaiah 7:13-14
13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Luke 1:26-35
26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

The Messiah would be Pierced:
Zechariah 12:10“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spiritOr the Spirit

"> of grace and supplication. They will look onOr to

"> me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.

John 19:33-34 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I could go on and on about how the Old Testament speaks of Jesus, the Messiah, coming. There are so many passages of the Old Testament that are fulfilled by the New Testament. But what I found most interesting in the Stepping Up study was the way Jesus' death and resurrection followed all the Feasts of the Jewish Calendar. Jesus has and will fulfill all the feasts.

Passover:
Exodus 12: 3-6
3: Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household...6: Take care of them until the 14th day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the house where they eat the lambs...

Why did they take the blood and paint it on their doorframes? So that the Angel of Death passing through Egypt striking down every first born of Egypt would pass over the homes of the Israelites.

1 Corinthians 5:7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Jesus was being crucified at the same time as the lambs were being slaughtered in preparation for Passover!

The Feast of Unleavened Bread
Leviticus 23:6 On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord’s Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast.

Yeast/Leaven is a symbol of sin used throughout the Bible. This Feast of Unleavened Bread leads us to the sinless life of Jesus. He then takes our sin from us through his sacrifice on the cross.

1 Corinthians 5:8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

The Feast of First Fruits:
Leviticus 23:9-14 9 The Lord said to Moses, 10 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. 11 He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. 12 On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb a year old without defect, 13 together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil—an offering made to the Lord by fire, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. 14 You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.
1 Corinthians 15-20-21 20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.

Jesus was resurrected on the day of the Feast of the First Fruits.

Weeks of Pentecost
Leviticus 23:15-16 15 “ ‘From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. 16 Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord.

Acts 2:1-4 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

The Pentecost after the crucifixion, was the actual day that the Church was started, the day the Holy Spirit came down.

There are still three more feasts that have not been fulfilled by Jesus.

Trumpets:
Leviticus 23:23 The Lord said to Moses, 24 “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts.

The New Testament prophesies the Rapture of the Church. Each reference has is signaled by the sound of trumpets!

1 Thessalonians 4:13-1813 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.
1 Corinthians 15:50-52 50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

The Day of Atonement:

Leviticus 23:26-28 26 The Lord said to Moses, 27 “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves,Or and fast; also in verses 29 and 32

">a and present an offering made to the Lord by fire. 28 Do no work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the Lord your God.

Romans 11:25-32

25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

“The deliverer will come from Zion;

he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.

27 And this isOr will be

"> my covenant with them

when I take away their sins.”Isaiah 59:20, 21; 27:9; Jer. 31:33, 34

">b

28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may nowSome manuscripts do not have now.

"> receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. 32 For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

Those of Jewish descent who deny Jesus, the Son of God, will be given another chance to repent and believe. They will once again look upon the One that they have pierced and BELIEVE! How awesome is that?

Feast of the Tabernacles/Booths:
This is the last Feast that God described to the Israelites.
Leviticus 23:33-36 33 The Lord said to Moses, 34 “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Lord’s Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. 35 The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. 36 For seven days present offerings made to the Lord by fire, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made to the Lord by fire. It is the closing assembly; do no regular work.

I believe that the Lord our God is going to return and we are all going to live together, to dwell in God. We are going to Tabernacle together. Thus fulfilling ALL the Traditional Jewish Feasts!

Now as I said, I am not a Bible Scholar and I would encourage you to explore this on your own and/or ask me some questions if you so desire. I am just so amazed by God and all he does for us and all he HAS DONE that I wanted to share.

Thankful Thursday

2009-09-16T17:59:00.000-07:00

As some of you may have ascertained, ES can be a peculiar child. We don't have your typical household of running around to soccer, baseball, football or any other big team sport. Any sport I have attempted with ES has been met with a resounding NO! I force him to swim. Somedays it is a fight to get him there but I feel like he needs to MOVE and not just sit around and read or play video games and he always seems to enjoy himself once he gets there.

Tonight we attempted something new. Fencing! We first watched fencing during the 2008 summer Olympics. One day, I caught ES with a stick jabbing at a bush and I commented that he looked like a real fencer. Since then he has been asking to fence for and they do offer it at the local recreation center. The kicker was that he had to be 8. Well, now he is 8 and I was sure he was going to change his mind, but he didn't. I signed him up and he started tonight. I actually saw my child LAUGH and put on stinky clothes willingly (he won't bowl because of the shoes)!

Blunos, ES, Myself, and YB before fencing began.

I am sure part of the fun it is that Coach Geoff of Have Blade Will Travel truelly enjoys what he does. He even had the parents laughing in their seats.

Don't let him poke you ES! :-)

The Have Blade website says that:
"Fencing has often been referred to as physical chess because of the high mental discipline that it requires. It is a great alternative sport to those that may not feel like they fit in with the mainstream sports.".

I am thankful we seem to have found something ES will enjoy that does not involve a controller or a book. :-) Only time will tell if we found a perfect fit, but for today I am thankful I got to see ES laugh and enjoy himself off the couch. :-)

Ok, so it technically isn't Thursday, I tried to schedule the post for tomorrow and it didn't work and I don't feel like messing around with it, so here it is. :-)

Some Advice

2009-09-10T20:36:00.000-07:00

Don't do sit-ups for the first time in MONTHS when your allergies are starting to kick into a higher gear.

Sneezing = PAIN!!!!!!

Make it go away, please! Pretty please, I asked nicely?!

Strictly Ballroom

2009-09-04T18:34:00.000-07:00

Way back when, I wrote a post about my favorite movies.

My two best friends from college are visiting this weekend and they went downstairs to check out the movie selection to watch a "chick flick" while the boys watch a manly movie (after all the kiddos are asleep of course). P came up laughing holding Strictly Ballroom! Oh my gosh, I had forgotten about that one!

One of my dear friends from High School dragged me to see this movie at the Loring Theater (also found here) in Hingham (my hometown), thinking it was Swing Kids. I kept telling her I thought she had the wrong movie and when it started we both looked at each other wide eyed and said "what is this"? But after watching the entire thing we were in love! So I of course had to subject P to the torture while we were in college. How J missed out on this torture, I do not know. But we took care of that tonight!

If you are in the mood for a seriously cheesy movie, this is the one for you!

Now of course we are watching The Wedding Singer. :-)

My Vacation - A Reading List

2009-08-24T05:27:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite things to do on a vacation up at "The Lake" is to read. The boys are happily occupied with other people and there are no requirements for me to clean, make dinner, etc. I just read and sit in the sun and take a dip in the pool or lake once in awhile. So here is a summary of what I read this week.

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson

I actually have been "reading" this one all summer. It has been stashed away in my pool bag so I was getting through it bit by bit at our short stints at the community pool. In a nutshell, Greg Mortenson saw a need for schools in the rural of most rural parts of Pakistan. He struggled and struggled but found a way to meet that need. He strongly believes that the best way to fight terrorism is through education. One of the Taliban's greatest recruiting tools is the large schools they set up in countries such as Pakistan. To give another option for education to the Pakistani people is to fight terrorism. This is a well written and intriguing book. I was ready to donate all my cash to the CAI, if only had some extra!

Finger Licken Fifteen by Janet Evonovich

I have read this entire series of Stephanie Plum series. She is a bounty hunter in New Jersey who can't seem to do anything right. She always looses a car to some kind of fire, there are relationship issues and a whole host of wacky characters. If you are looking for a funny mystery series, I recommend this one.

Carrot Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke

Another light hearted mystery series. Hannah is a cookie bakery owner but in every book she happens upon a dead body and helps solve the murder. The books all include recipes of food mentioned during the story. I have yet to try one but I have been intrigued to do so. :-)

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

I really enjoyed his first book, the Kite Runner and I equally enjoyed this book as well. It was different from the first but equally well written. There were many moments when I cried. It gives you a real heart for the people of Afghanistan and the turbulence they have been experiencing over the past 30+ years.

The Shack by William Paul Young

This is not a book I would have picked up on my own. Blunoz's mom sent it to him and I still was not interested in it. But I have a new position on our church's council and I received an email saying I needed to read it by the next meeting. So I went out and picked up another copy. The premise of this book is intriguing. A man experiences a parent's worst nightmare but in the end meets God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in a very personal way. I am not sure what to write about this book. I do agree with the overall ending theme of the book that God is not responsible for the bad things in our lives but he always uses them for some sort of good, though we might not ever know what the good is. At some points I thought of the old poem of Footprints in the Sand as we often have a hard time seeing that God is with us, but He is alwaysALWAYS with us.

Me, Myself and Bob: A True Story about Dreams, God and Talking Vegetables by Phil Vischer

Do you know who Phil Vischer is? He is the creator of Veggie Tales! I love Veggie Tales and I remember when we were living in San Diego that Veggie Tales went bankrupt but then the videos kept coming. Well, now I know why. But I digress... I highly, highly recommend this book. Phil is FUNNY! Phil is Honest! Phil had a dream to be the "Christian Walt Disney" and God apparently had other ideas. If you are looking for God in your life, I recommend this one over The Shack (ok, so I prefer happy uplifting stories). Phil you need to write more adult books (though keep writing the kid stuff too)!

So there you have it, my vacation in a nutshell.

Thankful Thursday

2009-08-06T08:15:00.000-07:00

Today I am thankful for the gorgeous weather that God provided for us on Saturday for Blunoz's Wetting Down and all of our wonderful friends and family.

I was having heart palpitations all week over the thought of 75+ people in my house but the Lord provided a beautiful day. At the end of the night I was sure that someone who had RSVPed had not actually shown up. So we went through the list and, yes indeed, everyone who said they were coming came! I swear there was only about 40 people here. :-)

As scary as the thought of 75 people in my house was, we were truly honored that everyone wanted to come share in this accomplishment with us. When throwing a party, the rule of thumb is that about 1/4th of the people you invite are not going to be able to make it. In the case of this party, I think maybe only 1/16th or 1/20th of the people we invited were unable to come.

It is hard to believe that Blunoz has reached the rank of Commander. When we met, he was a Liuetenant, junior grade (an O-2) and now he is a Commander (an O-5). I wonder where the years have gone and I wonder what the years ahead of us will hold. But I know that no matter what the Lord has in store for us, we will be surrounded by people that love and support us. Thank you our friends and family (even to those who were only merely here in spirit)!

So I guess, in a nutshell, I am thankful for where we have been and where we will go!

Thankful Thursday (A Day Late)

2009-07-30T06:01:00.000-07:00

Hmm, I missed Thankful Thursday last week! How rude of me and even though I wrote this yesterday, I am a day late in posting! :-)

Blunoz is pinning on Commander this weekend so the in-laws have flown in for the big event (ans my mom arrived yesterday) and we spent Wednesday getting the house ready for a HUGE Wetting Down party (umm around 70 people to be exact).

So what am I thankful for?

I am thankful for my in-laws. Yes, you heard me right. My in-laws. I was feeling pretty nauseous over the entire thing but since their arrival I have been feeling better. My MIL is actually an event planner, so while that does add some stress because she thinks of things I would have never thought of, it is good to know someone is taking care of those little details.

I am not only grateful for the help they are providing (I was sitting here listening to my FIL vacuum the main stairway) but I am also thankful for the role they play in our lives and our children's lives. I love that they are so involved in our lives and visit often. With Blunoz's schedule, it is not easy (next to impossible) for us to go visit them. This is their second trip out here since we arrived back in NoVa and a third is planned for October (they live in Oregon, so it is a long trip for them). I always had such a close relationship with my grandparents, I am glad that my boys will have the same thing.
And yes, I knew when my mom arrivds she would also be very helpful (can we say "dusted house") and I will be thankful that she is here as well. I know that YB is looking forward to a good game of Garbage with Grammy!

New Computer

2009-07-26T18:52:00.000-07:00

My wonderful husband met me at the allergist on Friday and took the boys and my fried computer to Best Buy while I endured round two of my allergy testing at yet another allergist. This was at least my 4th round of testing since I graduated college, but I digress...

So Blunoz and the boys went off to Best Buy to visit the Geek Squad. There they discovered that my mother board was fried. UGH! Thankfully the Geeks were able to recover my hard drive and transfer it to an external hard drive.
While the boys played Webkinz on the display computers, Blunoz perused the computers and decided on two, a Toshiba and a Dell. I had three criteria, built in webcam so we can skype with our friends around the world; a screen that was 15" or greater and lots of hard drive space for pictures. After I sat through my itchy shots I went over to meet them. The decision... The TOSHIBA. The price was slightly less than the dell and it has some kind of feature that makes CD labels for you (still need to figure that one out).

Toshiba - Satellite Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology - Black Onyx

I am still getting used to Window's Vista and the different layout of the keyboard. But I am excited to have the number pad again. That was one thing I missed when I switched from a desk top to a laptop.

The best news is that as Blunoz was wandering around the store in his uniform a store associate told him that they have a military discount, 10% off! Wahoo!

So I am back up and running!

Spilt Coffee

2009-07-23T04:53:00.000-07:00

Coffee and laptops apparently don't mix.

Yesterday as I was looking at the Wegman's Catering site in preperation for Blunoz's promotion next weekend and I choked as I was having some coffee. Next thing I know, I have the blue screen of death.

The computer had been vacuumed out with a wet/dry vac and has been laying upside down on some rice since yesterday. Fingers crossed that I will be back on my own computer soon (I am typing this on Blunoz's computer now). Otherwise we may be using the pay raise to buy me a new computer!

Air1

2009-07-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

I used to listen to Air1 in Hawaii. They are KLove's harder counterpart. Yes, sometimes I am a rocker girl.

I discovered something new on YouTube today.
Air1 Live performances!!!

As much as I enjoy listening to WGTS here in the DC area (no KLove frequency), I have the same complaint Blunoz had about KLove. They play the same songs OVER and OVER again. I guess I just liked the songs on KLove better and Blunoz likes the songs on WGTS better. :-) I sure do miss hearing Jars of Clay though.

The Secret is Wine...

2009-07-18T06:09:00.001-07:00

So I have been on again off again with this whole weight loss thing. Really not having the motivation/desire. But two weeks ago I obtained that desire and ended the week with points left over and a 0 lb. weight loss. BUMMER... so what was the problem...

Here is what I decided. I put my nightly glass of wine back into the routine. When Blunoz was at SCC, deployment and geobacheloring it, I had a huge successful weight loss. But every night I had a glass of wine and a small snack after I put the boys to bed. This is something I had not been doing on a regular bases with Blunoz home.

So this week I put that back in on a nightly bases. Results... 1.5 lbs down. Hmm, is the Secret really wine? Are there any studies out there saying that is the key, or maybe that is why the French are really skinny.

Okay so I had to google "wine weight loss" and wow, there was actually an article in a 2006 Prevention Magazine saying I may be right. Hmmm... I guess I need to go buy more wine. :-)

On a side note about WW Online, one thing I always thought it was lacking was a place to record your measurements and watch those go down. Today as I was entering me weight, I saw that they have added that in. So today I measured, I sure hope to watch my waist measurement go down. :-)

Thankful Thursday

2009-07-16T07:39:00.001-07:00

Wow, is it Thursday already? Where has the week gone?

Today I stop to think about what I am thankful for...

a child who loves to read (out loud to his brother and quietly to himself).

safe travels for Blunoz as he went half way around the world and back in about 54 hours.

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

2009-07-09T12:10:00.001-07:00

I have noticed a trend with some of the blogs I read..."Thankful Thursday". This is something I should get into, taking a moment to think about the wonderful things of life.

So today, even though the North Koreans did some cyber sabotage and damaged Verizon FIOS and my internet has been sporadic at best. I am still thankful for the internet and the phone. More specifically, Webkinz.

I have been sitting here for quite awhile (I don't want to think about how long) watching and listening to my boys play with one of their best friends (also seen here, and here and many other places). The thing is, he is now in San Diego and we are in Northern Virginia. There has been lots of giggling, laughing, singing (and yes some whining) as they have been playing games such as Dogbeard Battles (Battleship), Bowling and Webkinz Supermodels while on the phone.

Thank you to unlimited long distance, Webkinz and the Internet for allowing my boys to stay connected with their friends, even when we live thousands of miles from each other!

Catching up and Exercising with the Wii

2009-06-18T06:55:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been almost a month since I blogged. My life is just sooo exciting! :-)

First off I had poison ivy and the doctor put my on steroids that just totally knocked me for a loop. Those things are NOT mood enhancers. No, no they are not! It took some great self restraint to not completely lose my mind, I had to keep telling myself it was the drugs. Its the drugs I tell you Apparently I did a pretty good job at it since Blunoz did not notice a change in me, but boy did I feel horrible.

YB also has some mysterious thing going on with his wrist. His gymnastics coach noticed that he was not flexing his hand backwards. He flexes forward but when he crawls he bends his finger instead of his wrist. We have been to the pediatrician, the sports medicine doctor (2xs) and we are now waiting for the referral to the hand surgeon to go through TriCare. The sports medicine doctor does not think it is seriouss, but I would at least like to know what is going on.

So once again I am trying to get motivated. I need to lose some weight. I know, I know, I keep saying that and yet it doesn't happen. Life keeps throwing me curve balls that totally gets me off track. Have I mentioned I am an emotional eater? :-)

So here it is, almost officially summer as ES has one more day of school after today and Blunoz has a promotion ceremony in little over a month. I need to get back on track. I have kept up my exercising which means I have not gained any weight over the past month but then again, I haven't lost any either.

So I sat down to write this blog to give you my opinion on three different Wii Exercise programs. Everyone knows about Wii Fit, and this is Kevin's preferred use of the Wii for exercising. I do not like it as much since you have to stop and switch the exercises at the end of each little session. I have since invested in My Fitness Coach and now EA Sports Active. I picked up EA Sports Active at Costco on Tuesday (way cheaper than Amazon, they had it for $51) so I have only used it twice.

I love My Fitness Coach. Maybe because I am so used to doing Leslie Sansone video and I like exercise videos. Maya is the trainer and she kicks my butt whenever I use it, a good butt kicking of course. I like that I can choose what I want to work on that day, yoga, cardio, or toning by zone of the body and I can choose how long I want to work out. I also like that she asked how you are keeping up. The downfall of that is that it takes her about 10 seconds to "find the beat" after you answer. So even though I say I have 45 minutes, it takes a little longer but it is still more fluid than Wii Fit.

So far I really like EA Sports Active. I love that it uses the resistance band so you can continue to hold onto the controllers as you strength train so it knows when you are lifting your arms. I love that it puts the nunchuck in a leg holster so it really does know when you are moving the leg. They have a 30 Day Challenge on there that is supposedly done by Oprah's Bob Greene. I have done two days of it thus far and I think I have ran/walked atleast 4 miles in those two days and done way too many lunges. :-) My thighs and butt are burning! They also have a calorie counter going and it is pretty accurate to what my heart rate monitor tells me. With My Fitness Coach I am always way over their target calories burned even though I try to keep in the zone they recommend. EA Sports Active also is much more cartooney, much like Wii Fit. So the graphics aren't jumping around. I would say it is a good combination of Wii Ft and My Fitness Coach. It hasn't used the balance board yet, but it says it has the capability to do so. I will keep you all posted.

Now it is time to get productive and do some laundry and cleaning. It is a very glamourous life I lead, but someone has to lead it. :-)

My first baby is 8! :-)

2009-05-25T04:45:00.001-07:00

Another year has come and gone in the life of ES. Last year I gave you a little background on his birthday and I sit here perplexed about what to write this year. :-)

In all honesty, we are very blessed with ES. 99.9% of the time he is a very good boy. Does what you ask; plays with his brother nicely; is calm and in control. Which of course makes those 0.1% outbreaks that much harder. But this post is not about ES being a bad kid, because he is not (but of course he has his moments).

ES is SMART. SMART and SMARTer! He devours knowledge and loves to talk about what he has read/learned about. According to him, his teacher says he is reading at a 5th or 6th grade level.

He thinks of the little details... A few Sundays ago in Sunday School his teacher was having the class act out a skit involving a chariot when ES pointed out to her that they did not have a horse for the chariot...so he graciously offered to play the part of the horse. Obviously the chariot did not have an engine. :-)

He has an imagination. He and YB are always making up games with their stuffed animals, army men, playmobile and/or legos.

He is kind, gracious and helpful to others. Just yesterday he set aside a spacial chair for our friend who recently had knee surgery and he made sure she had a foot rest. One of his favorite Sunday activitis is to help set up/clean up church.

He is coming out of his shell in little bits. This year he even tried out for a speaking part in the musical at school. I was disappointed for him for not receiving a speaking part because if you know ES; that was a huge deal for him to even want to do something like that, but maybe next year when he comes out even a little more and can be a bit dynamic.

ES is a blessing and we thank God for him everyday. He was born into a hard life of a Navy Brat, making his first of 5 cross country moves at a mere three weeks of age, but he adapts well and rolls with the punches.

Thanks for being you ES, even if sometimes you make me crazy. :-) Happy 8th Birthday!!!

Bike Helmets: Do you know the laws?

2009-05-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

There is this blog that I sometimes read and have recently been horrified as she has posted pictures of her small children careening down the street on bikes without helmets. I was under the impression there was a helmet law. Well today she came out and basically said "don't tell me how to raise my kids"... which in general she is right. But like I said, I thought there was a law. So I googled... umm... where she is, there is no law! Check and see if your state has one, chances are it doesn't!
http://www.iihs.org/laws/mapbicyclehelmets.aspx
Who started this evil bike helmet law anyway?

My kids will still wear their helmets just because we already started down that line and we do move so much you never know what the next state is going to require. I also know people that have suffered some serious head trauma riding their scooters without helmets. So my kids will wear their helmets. :-)

Where did these people get their Driver's Licenses?

2009-05-19T17:54:00.000-07:00

Today was a day of crazy drivers... well maybe crazy isn't the right word... anyway... is it a full moon? ES is equally nutty!

As I have explained in the past that I drive ES to school in the morning. Quite often as I creep forward in the line inside the school parking lot, I see kids bopping around in the car that are clearly not buckled in. Well as I sat ready to turn into the school, a car turned left in front of me with a child already bopping around in the car. I think in the parking lot it is unsafe to be bucked, I know we are all going about 1 mph but that is a moment when you get a multiple car pile up. So when I saw this kid unbuckled out on the main road I had to ask myself, "What are you parents thinking?"

So there I was, sitting at a stop sign in front of a store with a woman crossing the road in front of me. I catch something in my peripheral vision and it is a car driving up on my left side (wrong side of the road) trying to go around me just as the lady steps onto the curb and it safe for me to go. To prove the stupidity of this man, I start driving forward and oh the dirty looks I got and continued to get as I pulled into a parking space. Really dude, you were the one in the wrong, I was stopped at a STOP SIGN! Not sitting there for my health. Hazards were not on, just the brake lights.

So now I am driving down the main road in my town with the windows rolled down as we approach a stop light with a right turning lane. I am in the right lane in a two lane road. The car in the left lane decides to cut the dude in front of me off under the pretense they are going to get into the turning lane and make a right turn, and um, no they did not continue to the right turn lane and make a right turn. The dude in front of me, thus missed getting through the green light. So we continue along in our three car line and come up to another turning lane. The dude in front of me signals and moves into the turning lane, I signal and move into the turning lane and then... yes the car that just cut the dude in front of me off decides he also wants to go into the shopping plaza and starts to cut the dude in front of me off again. That could have been a three car pile up, good thing some of us were attentive to what was going on around us!

Yes, one more for the day... this one is minor but it makes you wonder what people are thinking... I was sitting at a stop sign waiting to turn left onto a busy road when a car came up next to me to turn right and pulled so far forward I could not see the traffic coming from the right. So I am sitting there looking to left at the BIG EMPTY SPACE WITH NO CARS IN SIGHT... wonder why this lady is not turning and getting out of my way so I can see the other direction of traffic. She sits some more, and I finally decide I have to be brave and creep out to see beyond the nose of her car. I think she was still sitting there when I safely made my left hand turn.

I used to think Hawaii had the worst drivers but after today I have to wonder... :-) Ok, I thought about it, Hawaii still wins!

So was that spew worth the wait? I haven't blogged in weeks, and this is what I come up with? Life just strikes me sometimes!

Happy Birthday

2009-04-21T17:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my Bestest Dearest Friend!

Today my BDF caught up with me in age. I will tell her she is old and she will tell me that I am still older (ooh a week)! :-)

Through the years, through the miles, she remains my BDF and today I want to wish her a VERY VERY HAPPY Birthday!

I love you P! Thanks for putting up with me all these years, even when we hung different political signs in our dorm room windows during the Presidential Election. ;-) A girl could not ask for a better friend, and I am so grateful that God intervened in his mysterious ways and got us together!

He Has Risen!

2009-04-12T13:29:00.000-07:00

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believes stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

John 3:16-18

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

John 28:5-7

Thank You!

2009-04-06T13:06:00.000-07:00

Thank you to my dear friend Caffienated Cowgirl... though she is on blog hiatus, she did take the time to surprise me.

I just went to the mailbox and found a package with her return address on it... what did I find inside this package? A little early birthday treat...
Yogurette!

I have been trying to get CC on Facebook for sometime and jokingly told her that if she were on Facebook I could post how lucky I am to have her as a friend, but I can do that here too! :-)

Thank you for thinking of me my dear friend and it is going to take some great restraint not to eat them all at once! But now I must go hide them from Blunoz. :-)

Amazing - Honoring Veterans

2009-04-04T19:49:00.001-07:00

My MIL just sent me this today...
A retired submarine veteran honors all veterans nightly with the lowering of the American Flag in his front yard.

Take a few minutes and see what one man is doing to bring Americans together!

They're Cooommmiinnngggg....

2009-04-02T16:28:00.000-07:00

The British are coming... the British are coming... well, okay, no they aren't but it is almost Patriots' Day, a little known state holiday in Massachusetts (and apparently Maine and Wisconsin) and the day the Boston Marathon is run... but that is not the point of this post.

Who is coming you ask? MY IN-LAWS are coming! Yes, Blunoz's Dad and Step-Mom descend upon us next week for the boys' spring vacation! We haven't seen them since early September when we breezed into town for Uncle D's wedding and our drive across country. It was sure nice of the Navy to transfer Kevin at the perfect time for that!

So, we have been in discussions of what are we going to do while they are here. Currently on the list of things to see is The Pentagon, Monticello and Luray Caverns. I am sure we will also have to hit a Smithsonian or two and see the Cherry Blossoms. Of course some of this is contingent of Blunoz being able to take the leave he put in for. But we will have fun with or without him. But if anyone has some advice about some cool little known site to see in the Northern Virginia/DC/Charlottsville area, please let me know!

Yes, you hear right! We will have fun, I, Sagey, will have fun with my in-laws with our without my dear husband! :-) How great is that. I am also not stressed about cleaning or making a good impression. They know me, and they still love me (and I can be hard to love)! How many of you can say that about your in-laws? Oh sure, I will probably run around vacuuming and I will most certainly scrub and sterlize the bathrooms, but who cares that there are legos EVERYWHERE? Ahh, life is good!

Grandma feeding the deer in Oregon, September 2009 (picture by ES).
Papa and YB just before Uncle D's wedding (picture by ES).
Yes YB changed his clothes for the wedding! :-)

It's a Decision

2009-03-24T16:27:00.000-07:00

So I picked up the latest Good Housekeeping Magazine with Michael J. Fox on the cover. I have always been a fan of MJF but I picked up the magazine because of the quote on the front. "Happiness is a Decision"!

Though I read the entire article I could not find that exact quote, but the gist of the article was that happiness is a decision. You can decide to be miserable or you can decide to be happy. MJF and his lovely wife, Tracy, have decided to be happy. I knew I liked them for a reason. :-)

My last post expressed my frustration with moving and adapting to new places. I don't enjoy it. It always comes with some solitude. I admittedly am not a person who needs a lot of friends. I have my few very close ones scattered about the WORLD, but sometimes you do need to interact with someone above the age of 10 on a face to face bases.

But you know what, life is pretty good. OK life is better than pretty good! I am a glass is half full kind of gal, 99.9% of the time. I had a bought of it being half empty there, but it is full again. The sun is out and the boys are happy. Yes, Blunoz is working a lot, but he is alive. He isn't deployed. Well, OK, so deployment can sometimes be easier because we aren't expecing him home for dinner and finding out at 5:30 that he isn't going to make it. ;-)

So when life is throwing you lemons, please make lemonade. Read that article about MJF and see how even during trying times, life is fun and happy! Let's not pity ourselves, but see the joy in life that God has given us!

Let us ALL decide to be HAPPY!

Wild Olive

2009-03-11T13:40:00.000-07:00

So, is anyone looking for a birthday present idea for me? I read about this military wife over at Pioneer Woman. PW said that Stefanie was a military wife who had her own t-shirt business... I was intrigued! I am always curious about what other military wives do since it is so hard to move jobs as frequently as we move. This has been particularly on my mind as I anticipate YB heading off to elementary school in the near future!

Anyway... I followed the link to Wild Olive and was happily surprised to find they are CHRISTIAN t-shirts! So cool!!!

I think my favorites are Consider it Joy and Transform Your Mind, but I do like them all!

I need to get back on WW so I can look great in one of these awesome t-shirts! :-)

Oh where...

2009-02-28T05:07:00.001-08:00

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate moving? Yea, I probably have.

One of the things I hate the most is the loneliness. I think on this move it has manifested itself even more. I know the first six months are always hard on me, so I have a month to go. Though you would think that the loneliness would be less this trip since we came back an area we had just moved from, but it is still there, but it is more of a logistical/seasonal problem.

When we were in Hawaii the friends for the boys and me were just across the street. No need to set up play dates, just run across the street. We lived in Navy Housing and our boys are not wanderers by nature so they pretty much had free reign to run back and forth. Rules were they had to tell me if they were going somewhere besides across the street. I think once they walked their friend's dog. :-)

So here it is winter. The boys have a crazy school schedule... it is hard to arrange play dates for them and for myself. Playing outside to meet the neighbors is really not an option and I already told you all about SP, across the street.

I always end up feeling jealous of Blunoz and how he gets to go to work and meet people and have adult conversations during the day. This week I got "out of the house" once to take YB to gymnastics and met Divrchk there. She is my one adult conversation this week. Even Blunoz hasn't been home very much or very talkative.

Oh where or where is spring?! I am so looking forward to its arrival. Maybe all of this is really just Seasonal Disorder...

Spring come soon!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 ...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM SUNDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH MONDAY MORNING... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN XXXXXXXXX HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WATCH FOR SNOW...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM SUNDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH MONDAY MORNING. LOW PRESSURE ALONG THE GULF COAST WILL MOVE EAST TONIGHT...EMERGING IN THE WESTERN ATLANTIC NEAR GEORGIA AND SOUTH CAROLINA BY SUNDAY MORNING. THE LOW WILL THEN STRENGTHEN AS IT MOVES NORTH ALONG THE COAST SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT. SOME COLD AIR WILL BE IN PLACE DUE TO PRECIPITATION TONIGHT. THE STORM WILL REINFORCE THAT COLD AIR. PLENTY OF MOISTURE WILL BE IN PLACE TOO. THEREFORE...THERE WILL BE THE POSSIBILITY OF 5 OR MORE INCHES OF SNOW. A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT SNOW...SLEET...OR ICE ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL. CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS.

The Power of Ketchup!

2009-02-19T19:05:00.000-08:00

What is it with Ketchup? I often think that YB got my taste buds but then I see what he does with ketchup and say "nope, no way, he didn't get that from me!"

YB is a super picky eater (like me) and lately he has been expanding his repertoire of what he eats by dipping it in ketchup. Yup ketchup. Everything is going into the ketchup.

Tonight I made a Salsa Chicken that had melted cheese on top of it. Usually the boys don't like melted cheese on their food (yes WEIRD) so I made a piece without cheese on it and put the bag of cheese on the table for them. Each of them wanted a little pile of shredded cheese on their plate. YB of course was not eating his chicken and asked for ketchup.

Ok, does anyone see where this is going? First the tortilla chips went into the ketchup..."Mmmm, yummy", me thinks not. Then he declares, "I am going to try the cheese with ketchup!". UGH! This combination also got the two thumbs up. At this point, I excused myself from the table. :-)
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In case you are wondering, I am also on the No High Fructose Corn Syrup Bandwagon and this is the ketchup we are now using.

Advice I Never Took

2009-02-10T05:17:00.000-08:00

I have children who are very picky eaters. I know shocking... they are in fact related to me. :-)

But YB has always boggled my mind. The boy won't eat pasta, not any kind of pasta. What kid doesn't eat pasta?! One of ES's favorite meals is home made macaroni and cheese and YB won't eat it. It is one of those things I serve a hot dog with so he eats the hot dog but not the mac&cheese.

Have you ever heard people say "if you want your kid to eat something, have them help make it"? I always scoffed at that advice. Maybe because I have the patience of a gnat and did not want my children helping me cook dinner, but I have never had them help me.

ES is deep into Cub Scouts and one of the requirements for completing his Wolf Badge is to help make a meal, set the table and clean up from the meal. Last night Blunoz was on a later bus and we were hemming and hawing about eating out or staying home. ES said he wanted Macaroni and Cheese so I decided, what the heck and asked if he wanted to help me make it. He did, and of course YB wanted to help too.

They were both great helpers and did not get in my way at all. Dinner might have actually gotten on the table sooner since I did not have to do everything myself. Yes, this was an eye opener to me. I may be getting them to help me out more in the kitchen.

While we were stirring the cheese sauce I asked YB if he was going to try what he made and he said yes. So when we sat down at the table I put some mac and cheese on his plate like I aways do. This was the first night he didn't scream that it even dared to touch his plate. He gobbled up his hot dog and wanted more hot dog, so I reminded him that he was going to try his macaroni and cheese. He actually tried it. Are you all ready for his reaction? Did he hate it? Did he like it? Did he love it? He said it was "yummy!" and ate more. He probably only ate about a tablespoon of it, but certainly more than he ever has in the past.

So yes, having your kids help you make dinner encourages them to try new things because they do want to taste what they made! Who knew?! :-)

Obstacles

2009-02-09T05:36:00.000-08:00

Hello again! Wow, life really threw us a loop and a half. Sometimes I feel like I am meant to be overweight, something always seems to kick my motivation right out the door. Since January 20th I have been sick. It started with a soar throat, moved to a low grade fever and then on to normal cold symptoms. Well the cold symptoms went away but the low grade fever hung on and on. I had a third doctors appointment scheduled last Thursday since i doubted they could tell me it was a cold when I had no cold symptoms. I had just gotten out of the shower and dressed Thursday morning when the phone rang. It was the school nurse at ES's school. ES was running a 102 fever and could I please come and get him.

So ES was horribly sick for two days. His fever spiked at 104 and he was vomiting (on the bright side it stopped me from concentrating on my own illness). ES will not swallow any kind of medication (yes, we have tried everything and anything). He had practiced swallowing bread balls as his doctor in Hawaii had recommended so I knew he could do it. I had cut a Tylenol in half for him but he just spit those out. He finally came up with the brilliant idea of cutting it into 4th. The first quarter I gave him he spit out but then swallowed the other 3 successfully! Wahoo, within an hour his temperature was down to 101.

Saturday morning we both woke up fever free! It was a miracle.

So today, I sit here trying to find the motivation to get up and exercise. Get back on that WW track. The good news is that I still managed to lose some weight during all that time of being sick. But the bad news is Blunoz wants to go to the Submarine Birthday Ball on April 11 and I would really like to be in a size 12 by then. You would think that would be motivation... :-)

Ok, I am off to exercise. Wish me luck!

Too Smart for Me

2009-01-31T18:17:00.000-08:00

So, I often joke that ES is smarter than me. But in all seriousness, he might very well be! Granted part of the problem is his interests vary from mine, he is most definitely Blunoz's son. They have long detailed conversations about things that bore me to death!

In Blunoz's post about the Pinewood Derby he was horrified that ES picked out complimentary colors for his car. I am sure he blames this on me, that is something I know about. But it was not me! I never taught him that! Of course knowing ES, his favorite colors are orange and yellow so he probably just wanted a yellow car and picked the purple because it is the complimentary color to yellow.

Then the other day, I picked up ES at school and we started talking about what he did in music that day. He seems to really like playing the percussion instruments such as the xylophone. He said they played an instrument similar to the xylophone but it was called something else that he couldn't remember, I think he was talking about the Marimba, but I am not sure. Anyway, I commented that I noticed he really liked playing percussion instruments and that lead me into talking about wood winds and brass, etc... you know what I got from the backseat? "I know... I know... I know...".... Okay, sorry kid! I won't try to teach you anything ever again! :-)

I am so glad to be back in Loudoun County where ES is getting a great education. Even at private school in Hawaii he was lacking in the extra stuff. He had PE 2xs a week and music once a week for the first half of the year and then they switched to art for the second half and of course library once a week. Here he is getting PE 3xs a week, art once, music twice and of course library.

2009-01-30T06:27:00.001-08:00

It has been a rough couple of weeks here. We returned from a fun trip down to Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg to celebrate YB's 5th birthday with friends from Hawaii to the news of Blunoz's Aunt and Uncle passing away. On top of that tragic news that is still incomprehensible to me, we all got sick. The two boys have been stuffed up with some coughing, Blunoz was stuffed up and that turned into a sinus infection and I have had multiple symptoms, the most persistent being a low grade fever for over a week now. On a happy note as soon as Blunoz started on his antibiotics you could see his mood improving greatly. I dream of antibiotics and have been to see the doctor twice to be told I have a cold. Really, I don't go to the doctor for just a cold. The low grade fever is really knocking me for a loop, I have been having trouble staying awake during the day and have lacked all sorts of motivation. I asked about mono and the PA I saw looked at me like I had ten heads. Since there is nothing they would do for mono besides prescribe rest, I didn't pursue it further.

We received our first official snow since returning from Hawaii and the boys got 2+ days off from school. I felt bad that I didn't even get them out to play in the snow, their first snow in 2 years. But I just didn't have the energy to be out there with them. Supposedly we are getting more snow Monday night so hopefully I will feel better by then and get them out to build a snow fort or something.

The bird feeder was half full at the beginning of the day and all the birds emptied it!

Our front steps covered in snow before I shoveled.

Yes, I still have some Christmas Decorations to take down. :-)

I love the look of these bird feeders. A little touch of whimsy out my window.

I will try to get more rest this weekend while Blunoz is home from work and can look after the boys for me. I think last night was the first night I slept through in a week since YB has had me up most nights. The other night I could see him over on Blunoz's side of the bed trying to wake up his Daddy to no avail. Well at least he tried. :-)

Happy 5th Birthday YB

2009-01-20T06:11:00.000-08:00

I feel sad... today is YB's birthday and we are all sad and/or sick. Not much celebrating is going on here. I am just thankful for the two days of fun we at at Great Wolf Lodge over the weekend before we learned of a tragic family loss.

As down as we all are, I did not want to let the day go by without saying Happy Birthday YB! Five years ago today we were at the Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego having our scheduled c-section. Blunoz had been back from deployment for a mere month. Though Blunoz was not around for much of my pregnancy with YB, YB was instantly a Daddy's boy. A genetic bond I suppose, versus recognizing the familiarity of his voice from hearing it in for 9 months in the womb.

My mother had come out to San Diego to look after ES while we were at the hospital but we thought it was important that Blunoz be home at night to put ES to bed. While Blunoz was hanging out in the hospital room with YB and I, YB would sleep and sleep. As soon as his Daddy left he would be wide awake. I just figured that this was some sort of phenomenon related to the hospital. No such luck. We got home and YB quickly got on a good sleeping schedule but Blunoz was called back to the boat for an underway. Suffice it to say, I did not get a lot of sleep. (Thanks Mom for staying and helping out for longer than you had planned!) This continued for many months. YB would sleep well at night, Blunoz would go back to sea and YB would not sleep. Isn't it amazing what a little baby can pick up on? Thankfully the sea stint was near its end and that summer we moved to Virginia.

YB continued with his Daddy's boy mentality. If he would get hurt right before Blunoz was due home from work he would take me as a consolation but as soon as Blunoz walked through the door it was Daddy he wanted. Maybe he was just trying to tell me it was time to go make dinner. :-)

Of course as life normally does. Things do change. He isn't so much a Daddy's Boy as he used to be. Probably something to do with 10+ months of geo-bacherloring/deployment that ensued two plus years ago and growing up of course. I am proud of YB for adapting so well to what life has thrown at him. My mom and I were really worried about how YB would handle things when Blunoz left for 3 months of school, never having any idea that Daddy would be gone as long as he was.

Today we celebrate the blessing God gave us 5 years ago. A blessing I know we will never take for granted! It is hard to be sad when you have a face like this in your life!

Go hug your kids today and thank God for the joys and blessing they bring to your life!

Happy Birthday YB!!!!
We love you!!!

Not Fair!

2009-01-14T05:04:00.000-08:00

I hate the drop off line at ES's school!!!! When we were purchasing this house, I had thought we were far enough from the school that ES would take the bus to school. I was sadly mistaken! We are approximately 0.7 miles from the school. This is not a bad walk but at 7:30 in the morning with YB in tow, it is not a quick walk, so we opt to drive. Especially when it is COLD outside (we did just move from Hawaii, so give us a break here).

The line moves like molasses! Even when we were in Hawaii and the ENTIRE school was being dropped off, it moved a lot faster than the line here. At ES's Hawaii school they had a group of older kids that stood there an opened the doors for the kids and helped get them out of the car quickly. Here is it all up to the kid in the car to open the door, get his/her backpack out and shut the door. Sometimes they are NOT quick and efficient resulting in a long line. We usually wait over 10 minutes in line.

The entrance to ES's school is a 4 way intersection, the one directly across is a dead end road. So most cars have to turn left or right into the school. We turn right. Most parents alternate cars turning left or right and this sometimes irritates me just in the fact that the line of cars turning left is usually shorter so you KNOW they have not been waiting in line as long as you. But then you get the one or two random cars that need to drive straight across. You watch them pull up so you know they just hopped into their car and voila they are there, no line to wait in. Everyone gives them a turn just as if they had been waiting in line for over 10 minutes too. How is this fair? I have to drag my kids out the door early just to ensure that ES is not tardy, but these people don't have to. Where is the justice in that?! :-)

Ahh, I miss the old house here where we backed up to the school and I just booted ES off the deck to run in the back door of the school. :-)

Thank you for listening to my lament. Oh woe is me! What a hard life I lead. ;-)

Where is Blunoz?

2009-01-11T17:38:00.000-08:00

If you are wondering why posting on Blunoz' blog has been lite, it is because he has been busy playing Zelda on the DS. :-)

As you all know ES lost his 3rd tooth last weekend. His previous two losses occurred after the adult tooth had already started growing in, so this is his first REAL gaping hole as nothing is visible yet! But rest assured we went to the dentist for the regular cleaning/check and we got to see all the big teeth under the gum line. The other good news was that we have at least another two years before we have to start shelling out for stage 1 orthodontics.

The weather here has also been mild as a Virginia Winter should be, but it has been annoying in that we have had a lot of precipitation and we hover just above freezing.

But this does not stop the birds from coming out...

Or the squirrels of course! :-)

For those of you wondering, WW went REALLY well last week. I managed to lose 3lbs and not feel like I was depriving myself. It is all in the choices! Unfortunately due to a social obligation Saturday night, I managed to gain back a pound. I did my best to eat right but our hosts were from a foreign country and I did not want to be rude and refuse too much food. But I know I can get back on track and lose that pound again and hopefully another one! :-)

New Year Public Service Announcement

2009-01-08T12:03:00.000-08:00

So Caffienated Cowgirl just made me aware that not everyone knows about this little shopping trick. If you are shopping online, you need to google/search engine (does anyone use Yahoo anymore?) the name of the store you are shopping at and the word discount or coupon. My MIL taught me this trick quite a few years ago.

For example CC was shopping at Oriental Trading Company getting ready for Little Man's birthday party. She told me she was trying to spend another $10 so she could save the $16 in shipping fees as they had free shipping on orders of $59. I googled "Oriental Trading Company Coupon" and found a coupon for free shipping on orders of $49. In essence not only did I save her from buying more useless stuff but I also saved her the shipping costs. That comes to $26 savings in my book. :-)

Now not all the coupons that pop up on your search are going to work, but keep trying the different codes until you find one that does. Even if a store is not offering free shipping, I can often find a discount that matches or exceeds the shipping costs.

I also frequent the Want Not site that is always alerting me to good sales, coupons and/or discounts.

I hope I save you all tons of money in the new year! :-)

Gonna Try Again...

2009-01-06T05:05:00.001-08:00

I have been struggling with my weight for some time now. To think, I thought I was fat when I was in High School is now beyond me. Compared to what I am now, I was a skinny minny, but compared to the girls I went to school with, I was on the heavier side. But now I know about BMI and ideal weights for height and age. I know BMI is not an exact calculator but it is a good indicator if you need to lose some weight. Believe me, I need to lose some weight! I need to lose about 40lbs, though I will be thrilled with 20-30. So Sunday I signed up for Weight Watchers AGAIN. Again you say? Yup, again. I actually have really good luck following their plan, the trick for me is to KEEP following it until I get to where I want to be. I tend to get distracted by having babies or moving. :-) Well, there are no more babies in our future and thankfully there are no moves on the horizon either (I have at least a year, knock on wood). I believe I am in the right mind set to do this, so I am going to do it.

I am going to write about it periodically to keep some accountability with myself. This is not a body image issue for me, this is really a health issue for me. I want to be around for a long time for my husband and my kids. I want to live a long vivacious life and not worry about trying to get around or about having heart attacks. I know that as an "apple" shape I have a higher risk of heart disease, so now is the time to take care of it. Though I believe it is never too late to try to help yourself.

Two things I know from past experience that really help with my own weight loss is drinking more water and exercise. The drinking more water may be that I am just cutting out my biggest vice, REGULAR Coke. Hmm, I love Coca Cola... Exercise speaks for itself. :-) What do I do for exercise? Walking videos. I know, crazy. I love Leslie Sansone and I also like the Stott Pilates Walking Videos. My two favorites are:
Leslie Sansone - Walk Away the Pounds For those of you just starting out you can start with the 1 mile walk, it will only take you 20 minutes. As you are able to complete that video then you can add in the weights or bump it up to the 2 miles (30 minutes) and then up to 3 miles (45 minutes). It doesn't take very much. She keeps you on pace, no one is around to see you huffing and puffing, or even out of sinc. It is a no fail! As Leslie says "You can't do it wrong, just keep moving!"
Stott Pilates: The Secret To Weight Loss vol 1 This walk has a few different moves than Leslie's to add some variety to your work out routine and if you have the time you can do some SIMPLE pilates at the end.

So here is to sticking to the plan and learning to eat healthier. Here is to a longer, more energetic life!

Country Quotes to Live By

2009-01-04T22:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I am not that into the country look but for some reason I get the catalog from The Country House and I always flip through it. They have lots of cute signs with sayings on it. I love the saying so I thought I would share some.

Enjoy the little things in life... for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things!
God doesn't give us what we can handle; God helps us handle what we are given.
It is what it is.
All because two people fell in love.
Be nice or leave.
Life isn't about waiting for the storms to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.
Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.
Life life in such a way that if anyone should speak badly of you no one would believe it.
Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect. It means you decide to see beyond the imperfections.
Laundry today or naked tomorrow.
It's never too late to live happily every after.

And most importantly:

Home of the Free because of the Brave.

They also have a needlepoint that says:

God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?
-Thomas Jefferson

Interesting question, even in this day (or maybe more so).

Wildlife Habitat being Recreated

2009-01-04T10:00:00.000-08:00

We are working on recreating our Backyard Wildlife Habitat.

The previous owners left some nice trees, bushes and a bird house for shelter.

Another requirement is food.
I think we have had great success! We have attracted cardinals, turtle doves, finches and some others that I have not identified and of course a squirrel or two which I believe are YB's favorite.

Man Time

2009-01-03T10:00:00.000-08:00

One thing Blunoz likes to do with the boys is Geocache. Yes, he likes me to go along too, but I don't like the ones just stashed around our neighborhood I would much rather one that took us someplace new, like a waterfall or scenic overlook. I also think by not tagging along I give the boys some much deserved "MAN TIME". Yesterday I snuck out behind Blunoz and ES as Blunoz knocked the one closest to home off of his list...

GG and Papa

2009-01-02T13:10:00.000-08:00

I am very lucky, my grandparents came for Christmas! They celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary this past summer and are both in their mid-90s. I was sad that we were in Hawaii and were unable to make it to the family celebration of such a momentous occasion, but I am glad we are back on the East Coast so we can see more of them.

I wanted to share some pictures of them and YB taking a walk out to the dock behind our neighbors house.

Still arm in arm after all these years!

I have so many great memories (way too many to list) of both sets of my grandparents growing up. It thrills me that my children have the opportunity to create some memories with at least one set of my grandparents! As they all know, at our house we have an open door policy to any grandparents or great-grandparents that want to visit us (that goes for Aunts and Uncles too)! I want my kids to have the great memories that Blunoz and I have of spending time with our own grandparents and I am grateful for the ones they already have.

On a side note, here are a couple of nature shots I took that day too.

Be warned, there will be more nature to come in the days ahead.

Happy 2009

2009-01-01T05:58:00.000-08:00

Do you get contemplative at the new year. Wonder where life is going to take you and look back on where it has taken you? The woulda coulda should of mentality?

I have never been one for regrets, and this year is no exception. I can honestly say I believe that life has taken me where I am supposed to be and I am happy for it. Oh sure it was a crazy year, but isn't ever year crazy when we stop and think about it (hey I am married to a guy in the Navy after all). But I don't focus on the craziness I focus on the joyful moments. I believe those crazy moments take us to the joyful moments and the ones that don't, teach us something. Focus on the positive is my mantra!

A few things I wish for this new year are to:

Live in once place
Cherish the moments we have together as a family (immediate and extended)
Create lasting memories
Lose the weight I have been wishing to lose for 5 years

What are your wishes for the new year?

Wildlife Habitat

2008-12-16T05:35:00.001-08:00

As winter settles in, I am constantly surprised at the wildlife we see in our backyard. We bought a house in a community that is a Wildlife Community Habitat, certified by the National Wildlife Federation. We have a lot of trails, wetlands, woodlands and parks to explore in our neighborhood. The HOA building is even a Nature Center. They have turtles, snakes, frogs, rabbits and other wildlife for the kids to go check out (OK I guess they aren't wild if they are kept in cages and aquariums). So though we are in the midst of suburbia, we are in a community that cares about the habitat and wildlife. You can even go as far as having your backyard designated as a Backyard Habitat. The previous owners had done this and we have a cute sign in our backyard, but I am still trying to figure out what I need to do to maintain that. I am sure that will be a good project for the spring.

Anyway, the other day as Blunoz was off at the Brunswick Model Railroad Museum for some MAN time with the boys, I was trying to be productive and went upstairs to change the sheets on ES's bed. I glanced out the window to the pond in the backyard and could not figure out what that "thing" sticking out of the pond was. Oh wait, that is a LARGE bird. I ran and grabbed the camera...

A Great Blue Heron was in my backyard!

As I was snapping pictures of the Great Blue Heron, I noticed this guy twittering around in our crepe myrtle trees off the side of our deck.

All I saw in Hawaii in my neighborhood was Mongooses...

I Believe...

2008-11-24T06:57:00.000-08:00

I don't know why, but this has been weighing on my heart the past couple of weeks. I feel the need to share.

I believe in Jesus. It is that simple.

I think a lot of the time I take for granted what a great life I have, but I had an epiphany, if you will. I have a great life because I believe in Jesus;, my husband believes in Jesus; and my parents believe(d) in Jesus.

I know what it means to be held in the arms of Jesus. We are all held there, but acknowledging Him, makes it so much better. Bad things are going to happen and He will carry us through and/or be there to catch us when we fall. But He is also going to bless our lives so much.

I am thankful for...
My inspirational/loving parents.
My fantabulous husband.
My wonderful/insane boys.
Fantastic friends.
The beautiful roof over my head.

Others can say it so much better than I. Watch/listen to the videos I posted that were speaking to me in the shower this morning, which is what prompted me to write this post, to share what I believe. I believe in Jesus! :-) Or as I have said before, Faith Works!

Thank You!

2008-11-11T04:39:00.000-08:00

Nine Thousand Poppies at the Word War I Museum in Kansas City.
Each one represents 1,000 Soldiers killed during that war.

Let us never forget!

Thank you to the men and women who have served us and protected our freedoms in each and every war.

Cool Site

2008-11-07T12:26:00.001-08:00

I have been furiously trying to clean/pick-up/organize our just moved into house before Blunoz' friends from college arrive for a house hunting trip. They are also Navy and they will be moving to the DC area from Newport, RI. So I thought it was funny to receive this cool site from my MIL today. I don't know where she finds these cool sites, but today she shared "How to Clean Stuff". They even tell you how to clean your Wii Balance Board. BTW, anyone in my family reading this and trying to think of a Christmas present for me, I do have the Wii Balance Board Silicone Cover on my wish list. :-)

But on a bright note, one side of our sink has been slow to drain and I knew that baking soda and vinegar was supposed to help unclog a drain but I got the "how to" from them and now my sink is draining much more efficiently! Thank you my dear MIL (though I probably could have just called you and you would have just told me the answer to that one)! :-)

Ok, back to some more picking up before we have to go and get YB from preschool.

Reject Paint

2008-11-06T18:45:00.000-08:00

June Cleaver reminded me of a recent trip to Home Depot with ES. Our house is very beige, and I am not beige, so I want to paint the boys rooms to start. So ES and I were standing at the paint chips for at least a half hour "discussing" different color options. Let's just say we had two VERY different ideas of colors for his room. He wanted NEON orange, I wanted a nice blue that would actually match his quilt. Finally in exasperation I said, we will take these paint chips home with us and hang them on the wall to see what we think of them.

We met back up with Blunoz and YB and headed to the key center where Blunoz was having some locks keyed to match our main house key. I left the boys and wandered off and found the reject paint section. Hmm... this blue is nice. So I grabbed it and took it over to ES just waiting for the NOOOOO to come out of his mouth. Instead I received his dog panting impersonation. This means he loves it. Really? Dog panting continues... You want THIS color (this BLUE that is VERY similar to the ones I was just showing you and you said "No No and No" to)? OK, there you have it. Paint selected and for the bargain price of $5!

Now to get around to actually painting. :-)

I Voted...

2008-11-04T09:11:00.001-08:00

Did you?

If not, I don't want to hear any whining about who gets elected. :-) Go vote now!

The Dilema

2008-10-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I could sit here and blog about our move from Hawaii and the drive across country but most of you read Blunoz' blog so that would just be redundant. Suffice it to say, I never want to make an overseas move again! :-) I think I am getting too old for this moving around stuff.

So we are happily settling into our new home and loving being back in NoVa. We were all excited to hear that there was another 2nd grade boy on the street. ES eagerly awaited for him to come home from school on our first day in the house. I was quite impressed that ES wanted me to take him over to the boy's house to introduce himself. They did not end up playing that day, but did play later and all seemed well. When ES was enrolled in school we were exited to see that they were in the same class, a familiar face.

Well, ES no longer likes this boy, lets call him SP (I will explain later). When we are walking home and SP is walking home as well, ES runs ahead to avoid him. He even ignores SP's calls of "ES ES ES"!

Grammy is visiting and picked up ES at school yesterday and was able to get out of him that SP hit him in school during an assembly and has called him names such as "Scardy Pants" (thus we will call him SP... maybe he is the Scardy Pants". :-) I asked ES if he told SP to stop hitting him and he of course said no. Hello! Of course SP is not going to stop. I told ES next time tell SP to stop it or he is going to tell the teacher. ES was surprised that I said to only give SP one chance. I told him the number of chances was up to him but he needed to be sure to tell SP or anyone to stop doing something that he did not like. SP also apparently gets into trouble a lot at school. ES is quite the straight and narrow goody two shoes at school so I am sure he does not appreciate SP's shenanigans!

Well, now here is the problem. SP lives across the street? What is the correct thing to do here? Obviously I want to convince ES to be polite to SP but I also don't want SP to take advantage of ES and I don't want ES to be forced to play with someone he does not like, just because they live on the same street. How do you handle this relationship without creating a soap opera on the street?

Any advice?

Love Your Passengers... Buckle Up!

2008-08-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to put a link to my friend's blog. He is a fantastic photograher and works for a The Spectrum Newspaper in St. George, UT.

Make sure everyone Buckles Up Please!!!

Run

2008-08-16T09:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, awhile back I let you in on the fact that I used to be a NKOTB fan. Well today I was reminded of another artist I used to listen to in the late 80s.

Regardless of your political views, that is pretty funny. The guy who made the video has some imagination!

Now if you are wondering who Rick Astley is, here is a side by side of Obama and Astley.

And here are a couple of other good song. :-)

So have I now officially lost all my readers? ;-)

What I need according to Google

2008-08-14T17:51:00.000-07:00

I just saw this over on One Crazy Adventure. All you do is Google your name with "needs" after it. I thought it was pretty amusing.

I need help drinking.
I need to wake up or start getting some extra will power.
I need a meal.
I need to find a home where I can spend my golden years and be a cherished member of a family.
I need a break
I need help so please help me!
I need prayer.
I need a dentist picture.
I need a miracle.
I need a clever name.

I think that about sums up my life. :-)

Prepping for the Move

2008-07-23T21:47:00.000-07:00

We have been busy prepping for our move. The house looks like a bomb went off (though when doesn't it) but I am moving things here or there trying to set aside what we need to keep with us for the month we will be here without our stuff. I came up with the bright idea of putting what we didn't want packed into the master bedroom closet (and overflow into the bathroom if need be). But this means I need to move the stuff out that we want packed. So where do you put that stuff. Well, I decided on the guestroom closet so that means I need to clean out the guestroom closet. The guest room closet is mostly storage of misc. things so all that stuff has bee going into the storage room or down to the front room. The space I created in the storage room was by taking out our suitcases and moving those into the master bedroom closet. Ahh what a circle of things moving here and there! :-)

Blunoz has been busying with the paperwork side of things. Scheduling the move, giving Forest City (housing management company) our notice, signing up for Aloha furniture, getting information on shipping the cars and dealing with the mortgage stuff for the new house. Hopefully I can get him to help with the closet rotation and the garage this weekend so we aren't all stressed the weekend before the movers come (they come on August 6).

Major things left to do:

Sort out what we are keeping
Make at least one more trip to Goodwill
Empty out the garage fridge
Clean the garage
Clean the grill
Empty out the potted plants

I think I would rather go to the pool!

6 Random Things

2008-07-13T10:43:00.000-07:00

I think I was memed though no Comment was left on my blog letting me know. :-)

Six Random things about myself... right...

1. I will start with the beer theme since that seems to be the trend. Not a huge fan of beer per se, but I do love a good Sam Adams. But my favorite is a Lindemans Framboise Lambic. I was introduced to this in college by E (different than the one that just came to visit) at a restaurant called Holmes and Watson. I believe that wonderful restaurant with their onion chips is closed, but it will always hold fond memories for me. I am looking forward to going back to Virginia where I can get this beer at Wegmans.

2. Unlike my husband who likes a list, I am easily distracted. I can start a task but if it takes me into another room, I will probably work on something there and leave the other thing half finished. My mother is a tasker and I always found this trait about myself odd/less efficient. But I recently heard from my Grandmother (my mom's mom) that she is the same way. Wonder where my mom got her focus from... aren't genetics interesting?

3. I have tons of allergies. Growing up I was not athletic. I couldn't even run a mile in junior high without getting winded. I asked my mom multiple times to take me to an allergist but with the little knowledge she had of allergist she deemed it not necessary. I finally went after college when I had my own insurance. Everyone there was amazed that I had never been in. The covered my back with little pricks to test my allergic reaction to everything. My back blew up like a balloon, ok maybe not that bad. But I scored high on EVERYTHING except food and pine and birch trees. I then had to go do a lung capacity test and I couldn't even register the machine. Gee I wonder why I couldn't run that mile. :-) So I am still not athletic but my lung capacity is better (I can actually register the machine now).

4. Where does the name Sagey come from? I went to an all women's college, Russell Sage College in Troy, NY. An experience I would not change for the world. I am not a liberal, but I am a liberated woman. I value the experience of being pushed to accomplish anything regardless of my gender. Don't worry, there were plenty of men around. Renssellaer Polytechnic Institute was just up the hill and there was a bus that circled the two campuses all day. I also laugh that if I had not gone there I would have never met Blunoz. Yes he went to the University of San Diego, not RPI. But our mutual friend (Broeknpoet) went to RPI and he introduced us. See how that works? :-) (On a side note, Brokenpoet says to tell you that I am not fond of throwing knives).

When I was at Sage, the RPI girls would refer to a Sage Girl as a Dumb Sagey and that always cracked me up. Just because we weren't engineer geeks, doesn't mean we were dumb. So when I had to come up with an XBox name on the fly, that is what I came up with.

5. Blunoz says to tell you that I hate folding laundry. It isn't so much the folding part, it is more of the putting away part. I don't know why this task annoys me. But I could leave laundry in the basket for weeks, months even. I say I want a house with a counter for folding laundry, but in reality, I know it would just sit there and no one would ever put it away. So maybe that isn't such a good idea. :-) Right now folding it on our bed is working for me because then I can't go to bed without putting it away. It took some discipline on my part to not just put it on the floor. But now I am usually pretty good about getting it put away. But I admit there are some nights it just goes back into the basket on the floor next to the bed and then SITS there.

6. I don't need a lot of friends. Just a few close ones does me well. Being a Navy Spouse can sometimes be hard when you have this type of personality. It is hard to move to a new area and make new friends. Obviously a girl needs friends where she is, but I have been blessed with some wonderful friends that stick by me over the miles and the years (you all know who you are).

I am going to break rule number 4 and 5. Most of my blogger friends have already done this so I will leave them alone (yes Loping Squid and Caffienated Cowgirl you can thank me later).

1. link to the person who tagged you.
2. post the rules on your blog.
3. write six random things about yourself.
4. tag six people at the end of your post.
5. let each person know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog
6. let the tagger know when your entry is up

Our Last Hawaii Visitors

2008-07-12T23:41:00.000-07:00

For the past two weeks, my bestest dearest friend P and her family came to visit! It had been over a year since I had last seen them and probably 2+ since Blunoz had seen them. P and are truly blessed since our husbands, whom we met later in life, are also good friends. We had a very good visit. Blunoz was able take a couple of days off to do some touristy stuff and they planned their vacation over a long weekend, so he had more time off. Even though we are far from home, we are blessed that though this is Sea Duty for Blunoz, he is stuck in the shipyard doing a decom (great for the family, though I know he would rather be out serving his country more aggressively).

Here are some shots of our visit with them.

The Mac Nut Farm

P&E with the Chief and E, N and A get some fresh coconut!

The Pali Highway Overlook

YB, N and ES and YB with Windy Hair.

Paradise Cove Luau

YB shows off his Flower Bracelet

E Tries some Poi and then has something to wash it down!

Sea Life Park - It isn't Sea World, but they do a good job.

The Top of Diamond Head

Little A ... Little A, N and YB

P&E

They were so patient with us. As many of you know we are in the midst of the waiting game for the next assignment. Usually being two months out from transferring and not knowing where you are going would not be a big deal; annoying of course, but not crucial. But living in Hawaii and having the prospect of moving back CONUS (Continental United States) things take longer. On this side, you need to pack out your stuff at least a month in advance and get what is called ALOHA furniture from housing. They supply beds for everyone, a couch and a dining room table. At least we wouldn't be sitting/sleeping on the floor. If we don't pack out early enough we could be sitting/sleeping on the floor on the other end while we wait for our furniture. So I personally am STRESSED. It would be on thing if it were just Blunoz and I, but we have two small children to take into consideration as well. I am sure my stress is not helping Blunoz either. I ask him multiple times a day if he has orders... I really need to stop that! So LCDR Detailer, I apologize if Blunoz is annoying you. He is doing it for me. :-) But I digress, I was talking about P&E. They sat here through all our discussions and looked at houses on line with us. We appreciate their support so much! We are really looking forward to moving back to the East Coast. As great as Hawaii would appear to be, it isn't home. I am an east coast girl at heart. Though I am Bostonian at heart, Virginia is a nice compromise. We will no longer be a half day plane trip away from my friends and family.

We have enjoyed Hawaii, and we have sure packed in a lot. We knew we would probably only be here a year so we wanted to be sure to see as much as we could. We were blessed with a great CO and a non-sea going vessel so we were able to pull a lot off. We know it is not the norm for the Navy Life so we enjoyed it while we could! Going off to the DC, it will be back to the long work hours for Blunoz.

Sometimes we need to be reminded that Faith Does Work!

2008-07-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

I shared with you on Father's Day how my father impacted my own life. But I have also known he has impacted many others through his faith and strength. Now my trials an tribulations by no means match what my father went through with his illness. But one thing my parents/father taught me is that God has a plan and we need to live each day to its fullest. We experience a lot of craziness with the Navy and other factors in our lives, but in the end we can always see that God had/has his hand in it and we were always grateful we listened.

My mom just sent this reminder from a dear friend of my parents, Dr. David Fisher. He was the Senior Minister at Park Street Church for a few years and that is how my parents met him and his wonderful wife Gloria. He is now the pastor at Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims in Brooklyn, NY. I thought I would share it with you all a sermon he preached on June 8th, since I know sometimes it is hard to stop and listen. But have Faith.

“Faith Works”
Genesis 12:1-9; Matthew 9:9-13
Rev. Dr. David C. Fisher
June 8, 2008
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

I want to tell you a true story. I know it’s true because a man with whom I went to school
told me the story and he was there.

In the dark days of the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa, Bishop Desmond Tutu
held a protest worship service in his cathedral in Cape Town. As the worshippers
gathered, armed policemen met them in the courtyard of the cathedral. The intent to
intimidate was obvious.

It didn’t work. The cathedral was packed when the service began. Shortly after worship
started, the policemen came into the service and lined the walls around the sanctuary.
Bishop Tutu interrupted the service. With that famous broad smile, he extended his
arms in a gesture of hospitality. He welcomed the policemen to the service and said, “I
invite you to come over to the winning side.”

Beyond his obvious courage, Bishop Tutu exhibited remarkable faith in light of every
appearance that day. The cause of freedom seemed small and overmatched by state
power and its violent oppression. Yet Tutu could see a moral vision utterly lacking in his
opponents.

Bishop Tutu’s faith bears witness to an ancient truth held fast by the people of God from
the beginning. Do not be fooled by appearances. Behind all human powers lies another
power. God is at work in the world. Therefore, do not put faith in the powers that be
whether kings, armies and governments, or human systems.

That ancient truth is articulated in many ways. The leaders of the American Civil Rights
Movement often said, “No lie can live forever, and no truth can forever be denied.” Dr.
King often quoted an old African-American philosopher, “The arm of God’s providence is
long, but it bends toward justice.”

The great Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Peace Prize back when
the Soviet Empire seemed invulnerable. Solzhenitsyn directed his acceptance speech to
the writers of the world. He suggested that the powers that be were frightened of words
because words bear truth, and truth unseats the powerful. “One little word,”
Solzhenitsyn said, “is more powerful than an Empire.”

The great women and men of the Bible and Christian history live by that divine wisdom.
People of faith live out of hope that God will prevail in spite of all appearances to the
contrary. That hope for the future informs the present and empowers the people of
God.

The story I told is true not only because it happened. It bears a deeper truth. Behind
such stories of faith is another story that makes our stories and the stories of the Bible
true. God’s story is woven in and out of the story of the Bible and the history of the
people of God. The stories of the Bible bear primal truth, God’s truth, which transforms
the lives of those who attend to them.

Our morning texts are two such stories. They are true stories, not just because they
happened, but because they bear another truth that points at our lives and offers to
rewrite the line of our lives.

Abraham and Sara were living ordinary lives – at least by Near Eastern standards.
Abraham was running his father’s business and becoming a success in Haran, a city in
present day Iraq.

But their story is preceded by an exceedingly sad story. It seems humans made a mess of
God’s good earth and their own lives. The narrator of Genesis sums it up simply, “the
earth was filled with violence.”

Abruptly and without warning, God changed the subject. God had an alternative plan for
humanity. God addressed the man Abraham. “Go to the land I will show you,” the Lord
said. The command was accompanied by an extravagant promise. “I will bless you and
your descendants,” said God. “I desire everything good for you. My shalom is yours.”
“But,” God went on, “my shalom, this promise, isn’t about you. Your mission is to bless
the rest of the nations of the world. I desire the entire creation to be covered with my
shalom. I want you to assist me in the repair of my broken world.”

“Now, go. I will be with you, and my power will accompany you.”

The remarkable feature of the story is Abraham and Sara’s response. Without argument,
without discussion or planning, they began packing their bags for the move south.
“Abraham believed God,” the narrator adds, and God counted that as righteousness.
Abraham understood the basic principle of the moral universe: God is the Lord, and
we’re not.

Early in the biblical narrative, Genesis 12, faith enters the story to transform it and its
characters. Abraham and Sara’s faith is simple and complex at the same time. They
entrusted themselves to God. Faith is always trust. They threw themselves and their
futures into the arms of God. They obeyed God. Faith is not faith without obedience.
God is the Lord, and we’re not. They lived in hope. They expected God’s shalom to
enrich their lives despite appearance to the contrary. They built a home in Canaan, the
Promised Land, and acted as if it was their land. No matter that the title deed belonged
to others.

Faith is always hope in God’s promised future. Hope, in turn, makes God’s future bend
back into the present where we experience bits and pieces of what will one day be
complete. Faith brings the future into the present giving us new eyes, new hearts, and
new lives – all by the power of God.

We know something about hope. A gardener plants a tomato seed in the hope that it
will germinate, sprout, grow, and one day produce delicious tomatoes. Any gardener
trusts that the power inherent in that seed, vine, and blossom will do its work and its
promise will be fulfilled. That hope motivates gardeners to cultivate, weed, feed, and
nurture the plant – in hope.

Before a child is born, we dream of what he or she will become. We organize our lives
around that hope. We devote ourselves and our resources to our dream. We know what
can be and what will be. We trust the life in that child to do what it will do.

The Gospel Lesson is remarkably like the story of Abraham and Sara. Matthew was living
an ordinary life. He was a successful businessman. He had a contract from the Roman
Government to collect taxes. Tax collectors could charge what that could get away with,
pay the contractual amount to the Romans, and keep the rest. They were usually wealthy
men.

Matthew, the tax collector, enters the story abruptly. Matthew, the gospel writer, gives
us none of the details we’d like. He isn’t at all interested in the psychological factors
that might have motivated Matthew. He isn’t interested in any prior relationship
between Jesus and Matthew.

We readers, however, do know the rest of the story. Jesus has been preaching about the
extravagant promise of God now in play in time and space. The ancient promise of God’s
shalom on earth has taken on a new flesh and blood power. Jesus is establishing God’s
reign – he called it the Kingdom of God – in the lives of all who believe him. He’s been
inviting any and all to follow him into God’s kingdom – a place where God reigns and
where God’s rule prevails. The extravagant promise was, in fact, the beginning of a new
creation here and now in the lives of women and men and children; the creation of a
new community governed by the norms and values of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus walked by Matthew’s office and said, “Come, follow me.” Matthew didn’t know what
he was getting into. He especially didn’t know how following Jesus would complicate his
life. It is, after all, quite inconvenient to live an ethical life organized around loving God
and one another.

What Matthew did know was that Jesus’ voice was the voice of the Lord. God was
summoning him to a new life. Immediately, Matthew threw himself into the arms of
God. He entrusted his life to Jesus and the Kingdom of God. He obeyed the summons to
follow Jesus into that Kingdom. He began to live in hope that God’s preferred future was
truer than any human vision of the present. He believed God.

The point of the story and all the stories of the Bible is simple: Faith works. In the Bible,
faith is never passive or idle. Faith stirs people up to love and to do good works. Faith
does something.

Faith is not a set of abstract ideas about God nor a system of belief. Faith is a verb. To
believe is to do something about the God who makes extravagant promises to folks like
us. Faith trusts; faith obeys; faith hopes.

Nothing could be more practical than faith. Faith leaves nothing in a life untouched.
Faith works.

Let me tell you another true story. This story is also true on more than one level. Dick
was a member of the search committee that brought me to Park Street Church in
Boston. Dick was an effective leader in the church and one of the great men I’ve
known.

Dick was bright. He had three degrees from M.I.T. Dick was successful. He was the
youngest Senior Vice President in the history of the Boston Company, an asset
management firm. More important, Dick was a good man. If I accomplished anything at
Park Street, Dick deserves much of the credit.

Dick was struck down with a non-malignant brain tumor in his 40’s. He had surgery,
recovered, and then the tumor returned. He discovered he had a condition that
produced non-malignant tumors all over his body. He had two more brain surgeries. The
third one cost him the use of his legs.

He never gave up, and he never stopped being who he was. I’ll never forget a vacation
to the Cayman Islands Gloria and I took with Dick and his wife. It was after the surgery
that disabled his legs. Dick wanted to go snorkeling so I carried him out into the water
on my back. He snorkeled for an hour or so and tired.

For some reason he decided he wanted to get out of the water using his walker. It was
more difficult than he or we imagined. Two of us got behind him and helped his legs
work. One of us kept him steady on the walker.

When he finally reached the shore and caught his breath, he said, “That was great.”

Once he asked me, “Do you know what makes me different from you?” I could think of
lots of ways but said, “No. What?” He replied. “For me, every day is a gift from God and I
live it like it could be my last.”

It took nearly 20 years for the disease to kill him. We lived in Minneapolis by then and
when it was clear he was close to death, I called him to say good-bye. His voice was weak,
and he didn’t waste it on small talk. He said, “We sure got a lot done – and we had lots of
fun.” I stumbled for words, and we said good bye.

Dick threw himself into the arms of God long ago. He lived out of hope that God’s
future would bend back into his own life. He decided to follow Jesus. That faith changed
everything. Faith shaped his life, and faith sustained him through many difficult days of
his life. Faith works.

Amen.

PS: If you are ever in the Brooklyn, NY area on a Sunday, I highly recommend that you go visit the Fishers. I wish his sermons were podcasted. :-)

Why we need to love our children...

2008-06-19T11:26:00.000-07:00

Last week I was having a bizarre conversation with DH's mom about teen pregnancy and schools making condoms available to students. It stemmed from me complaining about having to pay to send our kids to private school for a couple of more years while we are here in Hawaii. Our kids our in private school for a few reasons, the greatest being is that academically the Hawaii public schools are on the most part way below par. DH's mom thinks it is a great idea because of things like condoms in the health room in public schools. She thinks it is inappropriate for schools to make contraceptives available to students without getting the student's parents' permission.

While the thought does horrify me that parents would not be notified, I also believe something needs to be done to help curb the numbers of teen pregnancies. Obviously not all parents are as involved with their kids as we are and are not making it a priority to teach their kids about the consequences. I know a few people who could have benefited from having condoms made available to them in high school. But I also know that is not the complete answer to curbing/ending teen pregnancy. It is about the education and the parent involvement. Not all parents are going to be upset if their child gets pregnant or gets someone pregnant. I for one, would be greatly upset and my boys will know that! :-)

Anyway, the point of this post is that DH just sent me a link to this article. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1815845,00.html?cnn=yes
A little town near my old stomping grounds, has a boom in teenage pregnancy. A bunch of "directionless" girls made a pact to all get pregnant and raise their kids together. The school is contemplating making contraceptives available to the students, but obviously that would not have helped these girls. If someone WANTS to get pregnant they are not going to go pick up contraceptives in the Health Room.

I think Amanda Ireland hit the nail on the head when she said "'They're so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally,' Ireland says. 'I try to explain it's hard to feel loved when an infant is screaming to be fed at 3 a.m.'"

And let us not forget the nonsense with Jamie Lynn Spears... there is nothing like glamorizing teen pregnancy to make us believe it is cool.

So my plea to all parents is this... LOVE YOUR CHILDREN UNCONDITIONALLY. Help them find the love/acceptance they desire at home, not in a little baby. No matter what craziness is going in your own life, love your kids!

Thank You Dad and Mom!

2008-06-15T20:52:00.000-07:00

This was one of the hardest Father's Day I have ever had. My father passed away almost 10 years ago. Since ES was born, Father's Day has been about what a wonderful father Blunoz is to our children. ES and YB are truly blessed to have such a wonderful father.

But I also had a wonderful father. Today the sermon at church focused on how to be a great father and the pastor used examples of some great father's such as Tim Russert and Tiger Woods and his father. The end of the sermon focused on Tiger winning the US Open in 2006 soon after his father passed away and his emotions of not having his father there to hug. Now I haven't won a US Open but I can definitely relate. Missing your father hits at the oddest moments (and of course some not so odd). Today was one of those days for me.

Today I waned to thank my father and my mother for being such wonderful parents. My parents have loved me unconditionally all these years and supported me in every endeavor I have undertaken. None so great as winning the US Open, but I know they are still proud of me.

As a child, it always used to crack me up at how "fair" my parents were. If my brother got a 10 speed bike at age 12, my sister got one at age 12 and then I got one at age 12. If they spent $X on my brother for his birthday, then they spend $X on my sister and on me. My grandmother was the same (to the point where we would find pennies in our gifts). But as an adult, I can now so appreciate how equally they treated us. I am sure at times my siblings and I felt our parents loved one of us more than the other, but that was so not true. Yes, our parents loves us each differently, but they never loved one of us more than another.

Thank you Mom and Dad for loving us each so unconditionally and so thoroughly. You hard work and love has not gone unnoticed.

Mom, I hope you didn't have to get any tissues! But remember you are loved more than you will ever know (even when you drive me bonkers :-) )!!!

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day Blunoz!

Thanks for always being a dad who is willing to play and be goofy with our boys. Their hearts and minds will always be filled with wonderful memories of their childhoods, and I am sure that relationship will continue into adulthood!

Happy Birthday Dear ES!

2008-05-25T04:19:00.000-07:00

Today I am the mom of a 7 year old.

True to ES' personality, he was stubborn and did not want to experience the change of location. He was due on the 16th of May, after waiting a week the doctor decided to induce me so we went into the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula (CHOMP) on May 24th and started the Petosen and had my water broken around 11am that day.

ES still did not want to come out. By 6am (PST) ES was still not coming out, hadn't even progressed anywhere. Dr. Keith said well you can keep laboring for another 6 hours or we can do a C-Section. I opted for the C-Section. Turned out that the c-section was the right way to go. ES's head was OFF the charts, there is no way he would have fit through my hips.

As I sit here remembering the official day that I became a mother, I wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR ES!!!!

See his head was (is) so big we couldn't even keep the little hospital beanie on it! :-)

ES you are loved so much and we are so blessed that God gave us you! Happy Birthday to you!!

On another happy note, the same day God blessed us with ES he also blessed Blunoz' cousin (and our dear friends to boot) with E.

Happy Birthday E!!!

Blunoz tried to kill me...

2008-05-17T01:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight was our usual Family Movie night but we opted for Diego's Taco Shop instead of our usual Boston's Pizza (and yes it tastes like good ol' Boston Pizza with a hint of NY pizza, YUMMY).

I love a good Carne Asada Burrito as long as it is done right. I was introduced to them in Monterey at Charro's (was that the name of the place we used to go to after diving). So they have always set the standard for me. One thing I cannot forget to mention is that I am a born and raised New Englander. Growing up Mexican to me was Chili's. I have since learned that Chili's is Tex Mex, NOT Mexican. Yea, whatever honey. :-)

Anyway, so Blunoz went off and brought home burritos for us and quesadillas for the boys. He was smart enough to also bring home some rolled tacos in case I did not like my burrito (do you see the foreshadowing here?).

So the burrito is actually pretty good, aside for a couple of tough pieces of meat. But then suddenly (about half way through) my mouth was on FIRE! FLAMING FIRE! I begged YB for some of his chocolate milk and he denied me! Oh man! I think Blunoz was trying to kill me... or was it a conspiracy with YB... Blunoz hit me with the fire and YB denied me the extinguisher...

On a side note, we watched the move R.V. with Robin Williams after the boys went to bed. I know it has horrible reviews but it was actually HILARIOUS. Go in with low expectations as I did, and you might be pleasantly surprised.

Reliving the Glory Days

2008-05-16T11:20:00.000-07:00

Today, I got to pretend I was 13 again... okay maybe those weren't the glory days. But it sure gave me a giggle this morning.

And they have aged well, I think Jordan might be cuter than he was 20 years ago! ;-)

And here is their new one.

Are you all running scared now to know I was a NKOTB fan? I can't believe I got rid of those CDs...

American Idol

2008-05-13T23:05:00.000-07:00

This is why David Cook needs to win American Idol.

A man who can do that to Lionel Richie deserves a big break in Hollywood!

More Beautiful Pictures

2008-05-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

We are eagerly waiting to find out what the Navy has in store for us next, but while we are here we are still enjoying Hawaii. Here are just some shots from the past month that I thought I would share with you all.

MAUI!

My boys at the Iao Needle

Coastline Shots

Back on Oahu

The Valley of The Temples

The Macadamia Nut Farm on Kam Highway headed towards the North Shore from the Windward Side.

Flowers at the Waimea Valley Audubon Center

A Basking Sea Turtle at Turtle Beach on the North Shore

Makapu'u Ridge

The Admiral's Barge Tour of Pearl Harbor

The USS Utah

The Mighty Mo's Anchor

Memorial Flowers at the Arizona

My handsome husband. :-)

Tuna Noodle Casserole

2008-04-30T16:23:00.000-07:00

Now my dear husband LOVES Tuna Noodle Casserole and surprisingly ES loves it too. With our new obsession looking for MSG and Splenda I actually sat and read the contents of ALL of the Cream of Whatever Soups at the Commissary as my recipe for Tuna Noodle Casserole calls for Cream of Chicken Soup, and all of them had MSG. So I thought to myself, well I guess we are NEVER having that meal again. Then a few days later I found a recipe in Better Homes and Gardens. They had an entire article about traditional casseroles and a new modern twist to it. Low and behold NO Cream of Whatever Soup!! So I had to give the tradition version a whirl.

It was last nights dinner and I have to say the taste was SPOT on, but unfortunately it was a little dry. I suspect that this is due to the fact that I probably reduced the sauce a tad too much as I was running around being a crazy unorganized cook! :-) So next time I make this, as soon as I see the sauce has thickened oh so slightly I will stop cooking it.

Here is the recipe and my modifications will be in parentheses.

Prep: 25 Minutes Bake: 30 Minutes Oven: 375

Ingredients:
3 cups medium noodles (elbow)
1 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter (light butter)
1/4 all purpose flour
2-3 TBSP Dijon Style Mustard
2 1/4 cups milk
12 oz chunk tuna drained (Costco brand tuna has the best taste!)
1/2 cup bottled roasted red sweet peppers, chopped (ours were moldy so those were omitted)
Potato chips, optional (I cubed up slice of bread and mixed in 1TBSP melted butter)

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. In large saucepan cook noodles according to package directions. Drain; return noodles to pan.

2. For sauce, in medium saucepan cook celery and onion in hot butter until tender. Stir in flour, mustard and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Add milk all at once; cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly, whisking to remove any lumps.

3. Gently fold sauce,tuna, and peppers into noodles. transfer to lightly greased 1 1/2-quart baking dish. Top with chips. Bake uncovered, 30 to 35 minutes, until heated trough. Let stand 5 minutes.

Serves 4 (mine made at least 6 servings).

Nutrition Information according to BH&G's ingredients:
419 calories
16 g fat (10 g saturated fat)
110 mg cholesterol
720 mg sodium
36 g carbohydrates
2g fiber

Quote of the Night

2008-04-28T23:41:00.000-07:00

My mom has been visiting for the past two weeks. As some of you know, I am not a huge fan of cooking dinner and I am really not a salad eater so there is usually not salad on my table (let's be real, Blunoz is the only one that would eat AND enjoy it). I always come up with some other vegetable that the boys MAY eat.

Anyway... Since I don't really enjoy cooking, Rachel Ray has become a staple of my life. So tonight we had Rachel Ray's BBQ Spice Chicken and Salsa Salad. I had prepped the entire meal, including chopping up the veggies for the Salsa Salad when Mom came into the kitchen and asked if I wanted her to make a salad. My response was "I already did." Can you guess her response?

"You DID?!" (I wish I could convey the tone of shock and disbelief here). I am surprised she didn't just drop to the floor in shock!

Yup... this about sums up my life. :-)

Anyway, if you checked out the recipe you will note RR serves it with Pumpkin Polenta. I have yet to find the ingredients for that one (guess the commissary only carries pumpkin in the fall). So we eat it with Hawaiian Sweet Bread, YUMMO! ;-)

Favorite Movies

2008-04-12T22:36:00.000-07:00

When I stop to think of what my all time favorite movies are, Drew Barrymore movies keep popping into my head.

The Wedding Singer

Never Been Kissed

Ever After

Music and Lyrics

Don't watch this next video if you haven't seen the movie, HUGE spoiler! :-)

Fever Pitch
and yes, even Home Fries.

And of course we can't forget E.T. :-)

But I would be amiss if I did not mention two of my other favorites that do not include Drew Barrymore.

The Cutting Edge and The Princess Bride

Now that I have shared my weird obsession with you all, I hope you have had a good laugh. :-)

Just wanted to share.

2008-04-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

While watching a FoodTV special awhile aback, I think it was a biography of chefs or something, Duff Goldman of Ace of Cakes was on. He had a statement about his childhood that I just loved.

"While it was a challenging time, I don't want to say it was character building but it just makes you stronger and able for you to be able to deal with a lot more challenging situations... There is so much that can happen when you are a kid and you can gather strength from it or use it as a crutch. And I chose to use it to be stronger."

Choose to be stronger. 'nough Said. :-)

I am Legal

2008-04-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

I am now officially legal to make right hand turns from the left lane in the state of Hawaii.

My Virginia Driver's License was about to expire and after much procrastination I undertook the process of getting a new Hawaii Driver's License.

1. Go get the Driver's Manual from some place like Longs or Borders Books.
2. Read/Study the book
3. Go take the written exam and pay your money and get a new license.

Well, step 3 deemed more difficult than necessary. I looked online to see where I could go get a license and was lead to believe that I could go to the facility at the Pearl Ridge Mall. So I dropped YB off at school, came home, exercised, showered and got ready. I went over to the Pearl Ridge Mall, filled out my application and waited. Once it was my turn I was informed that they do not do out of state license transfers as they do not administer the written test. I could go downtown or go to a town out west. I opted for Kapolei. I had a couple of hours before I had to go get YB so I headed out there.

Well, my fancy wancy Acura MDX Navigation system does not work in Hawaii so I had to wing it, and yes I got lost. I finally found the building, went in and stood in line and by the time the guy had entered all my information into the computer it was time for me to head out to get YB. Thankfully they guy told me that I could come back within 24 hours and finish the process.

YB and I headed out this morning. When we arrived there were 4 people already taking the 30 question multiple choice test. When I finished my test and double checked it, there were 3 of the original 4 left in there taking their test. When I left with my beautiful new license those 3 were still in there taking the test. I sure hope it was a different test, but I don't think so.

My biggest complaint with this system is that they do not tell you if you got any wrong or not and if you did get something wrong, what it is so you could make sure you know the correct rule. Or maybe I just got them all right!

One thing that was confirmed for me is that you are NOT supposed to cross a solid white line, except in unusual circumstances and with great caution. I cannot tell you how many people get on the highway here and automatically cross that solid white line. I also have to say that I was a tad dismayed to see that not anywhere in the driver's manual did I find anything specifically telling me that I could NOT make a left from a right hand lane or vice versa! :-)

If anyone is interested in my copy of the Driver's Manual, let me know.

I am now off to go make lefts from the right lanes and rights from the left lane. :-)

Clorox Green Works

2008-04-10T00:40:00.001-07:00

Ok, I am not a tree hugger, but I am not that into chemicals either. So I have been quite intrigued since I first saw an ad for Clorox Green Works. I finally bit the bullet and picked some up at Costco (I know, try in bulk, I am crazy) with the coupon in their latest mailer.

I picked up the Clorox Green All-Purpose cleaner. I might be addicted! First of all it smells incredible! Fresh and lemony! Second it cleaned REALLY well and left a nice shiny counter top.

Now, I realize it isn't antibacterial, but in all honesty is that really needed? I want my kids to have healthy immune systems, be able to resist infection (what doesn't kill them, makes them stronger!). Now I am not saying that we never use antibacterial because I do wipe down the space where I work to prepare dinner and use antibacterial hand soap in the kitchen. But we have regular soap in the bathrooms.

Ok, so I digress. Anyway, the point of this post was to praise Clorox Green Works for making a cleaner I love. I mostly love the scent but it did a great job cleaning the counters and I am sure I will be going through that large jug of cleaner I picked up soon! Of course where the chicken drips, I will be sure to clean up with something anti-bacterial. Or maybe I can just spray with that Clorox Anywhere spray... ;-)

DH... maybe we should buy some stock in Clorox... I might be an addict (like my Kimberly Clark addiction that has paid off well)!

I am going to pick up the Natural Bathroom Cleaner next time I go to the commissary and see what that does... has anyone else tried these products?

Protocol

2008-04-09T11:37:00.001-07:00

So I learned something new yesterday. Well, actually I learned lots of new things yesterday but one thing that I thought I should share was a couple of etiquette issues.

1. If your DH is in his Mess Dress uniform (you know, that tuxedo one) you should be in a floor length gown! Yes, this was a shocker to me. I just went and bought a dress for the ball on the 19th and it is NOT floor length. Panic attack! Well, not really but I was in a bit of a tizzy over it. At this point in DH's career I am supposed to be stepping up into a leadership role with the other spouses and setting a good example to the younger folk. Yes, I see you all Rolling on the Floor laughing at this thought. :-) It scares me too. ;-) So I talked to a more senior submarine wife and she assured me that she is NOT wearing a floor length gown and not to worry too much. This is after all, Hawaii. But for those of you not in Hawaii... well you decide. Contemplating this new information, it actually made sense to me.

In Summary: Mess Dress = Floor length gown
SDBs or Chokers = cocktail dress. Complement what your significant other is wearing.

I have a crazy week ahead of me before the ball. But another wife did tell me about a great store at the outlets that has beautiful gowns super cheap. So if I can, I will head up there and see what they have and hopefully be able to return my more expensive cocktail dress. :-) But if I don't make it up there, oh well!

2. BMW... Did you ever sit down to a formal meal and wonder which bread plate is yours? Just remember BMW... from left to right looking at your place setting you will find your BREAD plate, your MEAL, and your WATER.

I hope everyone has a wonderful time at their respective Sub Balls!

This is why I am cranky!

2008-04-09T11:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, so i have been super tired lately. I have been waking up in the middle of the night and having a very hard time going back to sleep and the lack of sleep is really starting to get to me.

So last night I went to bed early with great intentions of having a very good night's sleep. So I dozed off just as DH came up to brush his teeth and then next thing I know I am listening to him open and close the drawers in his bureau. He gets his clothes out the night before with the intent of not disturbing me in the morning. So then he starts conversing me with topics that are not calming and soothing. Okay, up for another half an hour. :-)

Midnight: ES is standing next to me tapping me to wake up because he has had a bad dream. I get ES back in bed and come back to find DH has sprawled on my side of the bed. Got to shove him back over... yea he slept through ES coming in. Ok, back to sleep I go again...

3am: Ring, Ring, Ring... THE PHONE?! DH is acting CO this week and unfortunately I took our bedroom phone downstairs yesterday and forgot to bring it up so I go dashing for the guestroom phone (yes DH is still sleeping). Unfortunately I get to the phone too late but with the caller ID I know it wasn't the boat. It was Private Name/Private Number. They didn't leave a message... who called us at 3am. I am guessing it is some ding bat on the east coast who forgot we live in HAWAII! Yes, DH woke up when I came back to the room with the phone but of course went quickly back to sleep. After waiting a few more minutes to see if the phone company is just slow processing the voice mail, I eventually fall back to sleep. Turns out it was someone from the east coast who forgot we were 6 hours behind. So my first question is, if it is work related and you think it is after 9am, why are you calling my DH at home? Shouldn't he be at work?! UGH

5am (ish): DH is up and I am thinking... hmmm he is up early for a Wednesday morning. The PT Nazi starts PT later than regular command PT on Monday and Friday. Well, he comes back to bed so I have to ask what he is doing. "Getting some eye drops". WHAT?! Eye drops in the middle of the night? Ok, back to sleep.

6am: DH's alarm goes off... and goes off again 5 minutes later. :-)

6:4o: My alarm goes off... the DJ's are droning on and on about something... I fall back to sleep.

6:50: They finally play music that brings me to my senses. Dash out of bed and get the ball rolling to get ES off to school on time.

So, this is why I am cranky. Hopefully tonight will be better. :-)

Waimea Valley Audubon Center

2008-03-16T00:11:00.000-07:00

I am going to beat my husband to it. He is off at a Dining In for his Squadron so I will post a few pics of what we did today. All I can say is there are moments when I love living in "Paradise".

We went out to the Waimiea Valley Audubon Center this morning/afternoon to hike up to the fall. It is by no means a hike, more of a stroll along a nicely graded paved path. And at the end is this wonderful waterfall. If the conditions are right and the lifeguards are there, you can go for a swim.ES and I had a great time swimming in the pool at the bottom of the fall. You can see us off to the left of the fall, I am wearing my pink Red Sox hat and ES is in a blue life jacket. Everyone 12 and under has to wear a life jacket and there are adult ones too if you don't feel like a strong enough swimmer to go out in the 30 feet deep water.

We sure had a great time!

Here are some sites from along the way...

2008-03-15T11:50:00.000-07:00

I had the strangest feeling yesterday morning...

I woke up and my DH is was sleeping next to me! Shift work is over!!! Yippee... now can I go get a pedicure? :-)

Garanimals are Back

2008-03-13T00:17:00.000-07:00

I know that being a military wife I have often wished that they made Garanimals for my husband. He has gotten so used to just throwing on his uniform, it seems he sometimes forgets how to match things. :-)

Well they are back, but not in DH's size. Wal-Mart is now carrying Garanimals for Kids. But... do I really want my kids wearing ALL one color? If you are seriously matching the animals to each other in order to coordinate than you will find your children wearing ALL one color. The bright yellow shorts are supposed to be matched with the bright yellow shirt and the navy blue shorts are to be matched with the navy blue shirts. Really do they think kids can't figure out that the same colors go together? Aren't we supposed to be teaching them how to coordinate, not look like a big blueberry?

So, in summary, I am a rebel. I bought a tiger to go with a monkey!

Costco Helping the Environment

2008-03-06T20:08:00.000-08:00

So I finally sat down and looked at my Costco Email and it was about their Best Kept Money Saving Secrets. The one that stands out to me is the Costco.com Trade In and Recycle Program. They will actually give you cash for your old electronics. They even send you a prepaid shipping label!

Go check it out, once DH is off the Mid-Watch I am going to have to have him do something with that old XBOX in the garage and the games that no one plays! :-)

What I Learned...

2008-03-05T12:45:00.000-08:00

As many of you know from reading Blunoz's blog, I have been sick. Well our Little One (YB) is now also sick and has conjunctivitis. Since that is highly contagious, we went to see the doctor yesterday. So here are a couple of things I learned from the doctor:

Decongestants are proven not to work for children under the age of 6. The American Pediatric Association has been trying to get legislation passed so that the pharmaceutical companies cannot label decongestants for children under the age of 6. It was a huge accomplishment just to get them labeled for over 2.
If your child has a fever but is acting normal, you don't need give him anything for it.

Another thing I learned today was in regards to car accidents. A few weeks ago I was in a minor car incident where another mom and I backed into each other in the preschool parking lot. She rudely filed a claim without sharing her insurance information with me, I had provided mine but expected a call from her telling me if they wanted to involve the insurance company, so I was quite surprised to receive a phone call from my insurance company telling me that a claim had been filed. Seriously, the damage was so minor to each of the bumpers and we were both backing up. What was the point? Well, the insurance company has said it was 50/50 liability. Okay, so what exactly does that mean?

This means that I will be receiving a check for 50% of my damages that I can use to fix my car or I can use it for something else and she will receive a check for 50% of her damages. So lady, thanks for the free money! I also learned that just because you drive a BMW doesn't mean that you are not at fault when it comes to an accident (and I do not drive a BMW). :-) Apparently the other mom is still contesting the results that our adjusters came to in a meeting with each other and with their managers (yes we both have the same insurance). All my adjuster can deduce is that she feels she is not at fault because she was in a BMW. Yea, well, I was in an ACURA with a back0up camera that your were not displayed it so it isn't my fault either! :-)

I am going to have a tough time not laughing when I see her at school!

Boredom

2008-03-02T23:11:00.001-08:00

I am bored! It is 9pm on Sunday night and DH is standing the mid-watch. He leaves the house around 8:30 at night for the 1+ hour of turn over time. He works all night and comes home around 8am and grunts at us before he goes to bed for the day. He wakes up around 4 in a bleary eyed state, eats dinner with us, helps put the boys to bed and off he goes.

So now there is no adult to talk to at night or all day.

To top things off I am sick and now the Little One (YB) is sick. Ahh the fun!

Seriously?

2008-02-26T14:00:00.000-08:00

How can people be so dumb? Once upon a time a girl (let's call her Jane) got pregnant and told her boyfriend. He denied it was his and ran off with another girl that was pregnant (2 months behind Jane). Jane had to go to court and have paternity tested, yada yada yada. Eventually the ex-boyfriend (let's call him Dick) signed off all rights to Jane's child. Jane's child was eventually adopted by her husband.

Well, Jane and her husband have now divorced and somehow Dick is back in the picture. I am not sure who contacted who but it seems as if Jane has forgiven all past transgressions. This I don't understand because she holds so many other grudges/chips on her shoulder.

Anyway... so it turns out that Dick is now twice divorced (or in the process of his second divorce and less than 30 years old) and has three other kids (the oldest being the child that is two months younger than Jane's child). Jane is now moving across country to live with Dick. I am not sure how long they have been talking but from what I understand it has only been a couple of months.

So... am I the only one out there that can't believe this story? Seriously, how does Jane NOT see the warning signs? I just don't get it. I guess it is just a need to have a man in your life, no matter how bad the man is. It makes me sad. It is like watching a train about to run off the track (for the 2nd or 3rd time) and you have to wonder how anyone would ever recover from this train wreck that I am sure is going to happen. Just add water... instant family!

Pray for Dick and Jane and all the children involved!

I hope this story ends with...

See Jane Run.
Run Jane Run!