Thanksgiving 2008

Being a military spouse has its moments - some good, some bad. I actually don't mind the idea of moving every so many years - I think it's kind of fun to see different places, meet different people, and experience different environs. I don't mind the TDYs (Temporary Duty Assignments) and I don't even mind the occasional deployment. But there are moments and times when it is very hard to be a military spouse. The constant worry, the frequent unknowns, and the loneliness that can accompany all of the above makes life a little harder some days.Here at the end of Erick's first deployment, it has become increasingly difficult - especially with the holidays. Now, before you begin to despair over my sad sad life, DON'T!! Yes, it's been tougher these past few days, but I've had plenty to keep me from falling into despair. I have been looking forward, these past few weeks, to a visit from the Brown family and I'm very happy to say, we had a great time!Elliot, was of course, as cute as could be. He is much more mobile than he was the last time I saw him, and the puppies noticed that as well. They still loved Elliot - he just freaked them out a few times with his power crawling, face grabbing, and high squealing. We spent the first day at Ikea (the greatest store on the face of the earth) and went to one of my favorite Thai restaurants for dinner. Elliot loved him some curly strips of zucchini that came with our appetizers.The next day was FREEZING cold, but we braved the elements and spent the day at the Smithsonian. The American History museum was re-opening after a two year renovation, so we went there first. It was packed full of people and folks dressed as figures throughout history -- way fun. We got Star Spangled Banner pins, but did not get to see the actual banner because the line for that was pretty long. Then we set off for the Natural History Museum to entertain Elliot with the fish and animal displays there. That night, it got even colder and the wind had picked up considerably. We walked from the Smithsonian to the Old Ebbit Grill by the White House to meet Marco and just about froze to death doing so. The food, however, was delicious, and Elliot had a good time with some noodles, green beans, and spoons. He also had an affinity for the waitress' name badge.  Sunday was devoted to sight seeing with Marco since he was in his convention for most of the trip. After stopping in at the Spanish branch for sacrament, we spent the day touring GWU Hospital, a street with a couple of homeless shelters, (sorry guys - my bad!) Union Station, then saw the Supreme Court, US Capitol and the Library of Congress. We reached the Library of Congress at 4:30 but even though they were to stay open until 5:OO - they had locked the doors so we were unable to see that great place.

All too soon, their visit was over, but I had yet another visitor to look forward to.  My older sister had flown in from TX and the next week was spent with my family. We had a great time playing games and eating food.   We spent the evening in our usual way - playing games and enjoying each others company....and eating far too much pie.  

The next day my sisters and I had our portraits done -- a treat since we are RARELY all three together.                 

And then we drove to DC and saw Cirque du Soleil. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen -- it was a lot of fun and quite engaging. A lady three seats down from us actually had her chair hoisted in the air by "magic".   All in all it made for a very exciting and eventful week. 

This is the season for giving thanks and so I would be remiss not to express my gratitude towards those who have truly been a blessing in my life.  I am thankful for my wonderful family and friends who help me get through these holidays without my husband.  I am thankful for the love that my husband has for me and I am of course, thankful for the gospel which gives me daily strength and comfort.    

For Lisa Marie...

Lisa kindly reminded me that I have been neglecting my blogspot for some time. I have, indeed, been busy - busy fighting off the common cold. Everyone around me has fallen prey to the sniffling, sneezing, coughing, stuffy head, fever bit and I have been valiantly fighting off the bug with large amounts of Vitamin C, exercise, and healthy eating. Despite my efforts, I was feeling sluggish last week and finally on Tuesday, I succumbed to what I believed would be a nasty nasty bout of the cold.

I had heard tell from several wonderful folks about a new fangled medicine called Zicam. So, curious - and desperate to be well enough to be a good hostess for Demaree, Marco and Elliot...and ya know, not be sick for Thanksgiving - I decided to try this out for myself.

Walking into the commissary with tissues stuffed into every place that was leaking - coughing and hacking my way to the "drugs", I found this Zicam on the bottom shelf and saw that it was priced at $10.00 per box. I looked up at my usual Tylenol Cold and Flu priced at $3.50 and thought "This stuff better be worth the money." On the box it claims to "Reduce the duration and severity of cold symptoms." Skeptical, I bought it - feeling that if it didn't work, I would shake my finger at everyone who ever told me that it was the best thing since sliced bread.

The best thing since sliced bread!

Well folks, I'm here to tell you that it is the best thing since sliced bread. Usually with cold medicines I feel groggy, like my head is floating about two miles from my body, kind of thing. I also have an issue with pill swallowing...I hate it. With Zicam - I have not had any side effects (that is I haven't noticed any) and best of all - it's not something you have to swallow!! I opted for the gel swabs and while it looks like something that should be coming out of your nose, it really is not bad at all -- you just swab the front part of your nostrils and voila - that's it - done -- and here it is Wednesday, and I feel 99% better than I did yesterday. It's AMAZING!!!!

Pumpkin Picking with the Family

When I was a little girl, my grandparents used to take me and my sisters out to Browns Orchard in Loganville, PA to pick pumpkins. It was one of the things I looked forward to most in the Fall - picking that perfect pumpkin and then going for a nice glass of fresh apple cider. In Texas we didn't do the pumpkin thing. In fact, it was rare if I even got a pumpkin in Texas, so when I found out we were moving back to the NE, I looked forward to revisiting my childhood a bit and joining my family again on our annual pumpkin picking adventures.

Now the location has changed and we have a few new welcome additions to our little harvesting pack, but the good times remain the same. The old farmhouse across from my grandparents house is now the scene of our new escapade. They pile us pumpkin hunters on a hayride and transport us from the barn to the fields where we can enjoy a variety of pleasures from pumpkin picking to corn mazing. Since Erick joined our little band, he has instituted a new tradition - picking the ugliest pumpkin in the patch. In Erick's first year, he brought home a pumpkin completely covered in warts. The second, a grey pumpkin....that we were able to take home for free because it was apparently "rotten".

In Erick's absence, my family and I were determined to keep this little tradition alive. Even my little three year old cousin, Laura, joined in the hunt for an "ugly" pumpkin. Sadly, this year no such pumpkin was to be found. I finally settled on a green spotted pumpkin that was a little deformed on one side. I am convinced, though, that had Erick been with us - he would've found a pumpkin to rival the hideous entities of years past.

Erick is disappointed that I was not able to find such a pumpkin, but I think is proud that his little tradition was still carried out in his absence. In all reality I think he should be happy that he alone has the distinction of finding the ugliest pumpkins...and he seems to top himself every year - so the fact that an entire group of us failed to find what Erick considers "the perfect pumpkin" stands as a testimony of Erick's talent and should make him proud that none could rival his knack for finding that one pumpkin in the patch that no one else would take home.

Death-defying crazy ninja mouse

It's Fall, the most beautiful time of year in my opinion. The leaves are changing creating a landscape full of red and gold hues everywhere you look. But it also means that little nasty creatures come crawling in from their dirty little holes outside into my nice, warm home inside. It's funny, we didn't have a rodent problem when our street was populated....now that we're a ghost town it's an annual event. Last week I found mouse droppings near my dry goods so I knew it was time to put out the traps again. The traps I bought last year were pretty nifty - they are marketed as "clean, reusable traps" in that they don't squish the mouse flat, it's more like a giant opaque clip....as seen below:

All last week I had the traps set around where I found the droppings (on top of my fridge of all places...yuck!). Every morning I would wake to find new droppings and no mouse....so I would go through my cleaning ritual (BLEACH BLEACH BLEACH!!!) and set them again. After a few days of this, I called my friend Sophia who has a husband at home (husbands are great things to have in times like these) and they brought me over the old school "jaws of life" traps. Nick suggested I put peanut butter on the traps to lure the mouse to its untimely end - so I pulled out my favorite peanut butter and loaded all the traps.

The next morning I entered the kitchen apprehensively expecting to see a tiny corpse crushed in one of the traps....but no - it couldn't be - the mouse had actually eaten the peanut butter off one of the "jaws of life traps" and left MORE poop! For three consecutive mornings each of the traps, one by one, were getting cleared of their peanut butter bait without actually catching the mouse. I began to theorize that this mouse had seen a few of his friends, maybe even his parents, get whacked by traps and had thereby, learned the tricks of the trade....that, or he was a crazy ninja mouse.

Or he could be doing this

This morning, though, I saw the last trap...my "clean" trap" closed and a little leg sticking out of the side. I felt a mixture of triumph and guilt....mice may be disgusting, dirty and disease ridden, but they are kind of cute in their own little way. I put my thick yellow kitchen gloves on and grabbed the empty bag of dog food from the trash and prepared to remove the newly deceased from off the top of my fridge. As I lifted my trembling arm to the trap, the "dead" mouse lifted its head and sniffed the air....I screamed like the little pansy girl that I am and scampered up the stairs. I have not re-entered my kitchen - the mouse, as far as I know is still in the trap. I am now at work fearing that I will come home to an empty trap, save the leg that remains trapped in the "jaws" of this so called "clean trap" leaving me to deal with a three-legged, peanut-butter loving, rodent hell bent on revenge.

Inspirations from the Bathroom

Okay, so this is probably not the best way to start off our blog - but recently we were discussing great ideas at work and I always seem to receive mine in the bathroom (usually in the shower). So, when a co-worker of mine ran from the bathroom in excitement because of an idea that came to her on the toilet, I decided that we must be closer to God in the bathroom.

Not my bathroom - but wouldn't you be inspired?

I did not however, decide to start this blog in the bathroom. There was no burst of sheer genius that drove me to it, there was no brilliance of mind - in fact, it was quite unoriginal. I decided to create a blog merely because everyone else was doing it, so why not jump on the blogspot bandwagon?

Currently, (as if you didn't know) Erick and I live in Washington, DC - well at least I do. Erick is presently residing in Afghanistan. Needless to say, he won't be posting any blogs on here for a little while. We have two Beagles, Han and Luke. Erick refused to let me rename them because he is a crazed Star Wars fan and since I would not allow him to name our future children Lando or Beru - Han and Luke remained Han and Luke. Luke is a bit overweight and on the cowardly side. Han is a pansy until you make him mad...and a little sickly because of his allergies. They are the little rays of sunshine in my life right now - we go on runs together, we snuggle together, they greet me when I come home from work and they wake me every morning with a few sloppy kisses.

Han and Luke

Erick is an officer in the United States Air Force and as already discussed, likes him some Star Wars. He also has a love of musical theatre which is just fabulous because it proves my mother wrong that I would "never find a straight man who loves Broadway." I was convinced that there were plenty of straight men out there who enjoyed a great showstopper and after marrying Erick, I have found that even more straight men know what it means to "Defy Gravity" and "Put on a Happy Face." These straight, Broadway lovin' men are all either Mormon or in the Air Force...or both....what's the correlation? - who knows?

Another guy who likes Broadway