Globetrotters "Game"

The Harlem Globetrotters came here this weekend. We got the last 2 tickets the squadron had to offer and best of all...they were free!
We got there 30 minutes before it opened and the line was already wrapped around the gym. Once they opened the doors and got the non-ticket-holders out of the line, it moved very quickly and we were able to find good enough seats inside.
The warm-ups were my favorite part... the game itself was okay, but I liked the tricks like the ball spinning that went on during warm-ups. The game consisted of lots of dunks by "Hi-Rise" and lots of trash talk by the captain, #34 "Big Easy". We left at the beginning of the 4th quarter because we wanted to get out of the parking lot without much trouble and because we had a pretty good feeling that the Globetrotters would win, even though the coach of the Washington Generals had just tampered with the score, putting them in the lead.

A Saturday Survey

Since it's already nearly 9pm and I haven't blogged today, how about a quick Christmassy survey? (And nevermind that I just woke up from a 5 hour nap and would probably be up long enough to write a "real" blog entry anyway)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper, although I should consider gift bags. I don't wrap well. And gift bags would be the "greener" choice.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Despite many warm, happy (sarcasm) memories of choosing and cutting real trees in my childhood, we go the artificial route. No, really, real tree hunting wasn't so bad, and I sure am glad I got to have that experience, it was just freezing and sometimes took too long. But they had delicious apple cider at the end, and delicious apple cider makes anything worthwhile!

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the day after Thanksgiving, but this year we were a little slow.

4. When do you take the tree down? Jan. 6 (Epiphany)--but I complain the whole time that my grandma leaves her tree up until my birthday. This year we may be taking it down a little early, if they ever let us leave. Or should I say, if the island ever lets us leave. I'm a LOST character now, remember?

5. Do you like eggnog? I wait all year for egg nog. I've already single-handedly finished my first carton. It's probably the only reason I've remembered to take my vitamins almost every day this month.

6. Favourite gift received as a child? (This survey came from an American in England's blog. I wonder if I, too, will add the extra "o" in words like colour and neighbourhood...(again, if the island ever lets me go) or maybe she got this from an English person and left it. At any rate, I will leave it because I like the fancy look of it. And now I will answer the question.) It's very hard to pick a favorite. I will pick 2--and maybe I did not know they were my favorite at the time. My doll, Lauren. I didn't go many places without her and (don't tell anybody) but I still like to hug and kiss her when I go home and see her on my bed. I truly believe she is The Best Loved Doll. My other one is also from loooong ago. My toy kitchen! I got a lot of play time out of that thing! I was kind of sad when my mom gave it to her friend who watches kids (even though I was probably in college and didn't play with it anymore) and even more sad when I heard that it had "baked" its last imaginary cupcake.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Not yet. I always loved rearranging (or maybe playing with) the one at my Grandma A.'s house.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My dad. And David, but for different reasons. David has very little impulse control and tends to buy himself the things he wants.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Myself. ;) I like to make sure I have plenty of unwrapping to do. And I rarely buy myself something during this time of the year without wrapping it up and putting it under the tree.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I mail Christmas cards--a "flat" photo greeting and an "update" letter, which was mostly started as a small rebellion against Christmas update letters, but which I have come to really enjoy writing. I think that in the (near) future, in an attempt to "go green" and "save green", I will move a portion of my card recipients to an e-mail only list.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Oh my goodness, I cried and cried when I got a purple bike for Christmas. Purple was my favorite color, but the bike was too big. I came to love that too, though.

12. Favourite Christmas Movie? Every Christmas movie is my favorite. I already mentioned that I LOVE Fa-la-la-la Lifetime and ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas. I'm still waiting for Snowglobe to come on! OF COURSE I love A Christmas Story. I miss TBS and their 24 hour marathon. It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street (old or new), a Muppet Christmas Carol, Alvin & the Chipmunks Christmas and the Charlie Brown Christmas movie, even though now that I'm a grown-up and have a concept of time, I realize that those might not actually count as "movies". They always seemed so much longer...

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Whenever I see something that I want to get someone. Often (as is the case this year) Christmas presents are really "just because" presents that I picked up much earlier in the year and just never made it to the post office.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? When I was student teaching (i.e. working 40+ hours a week for no pay) I recycled many of the gifts my little students gave me. I don't recycle gifts very often, because I am too sentimental. Please stop giving me pretty or fancy or homemade soap. I can't bring myself to use it because I think "Oh, so-and-so gave me that and if I use it, it will get used up". The logic that the person's feelings won't be hurt because they gave me a gift that was meant to be used up completely fails me.

15. Favourite thing to eat at Christmas? (There's that fancy spelling again!) My favorite thing is to eat at Christmas. Tamales...there is a restaurant here that makes them on Fridays, maybe I will pick some up and save for Christmas! Cookies of all shapes, sizes and flavors...my mom's cranberry white chocolate shortbread, Aunt Margie's nut cups, Grandma's recipe for candy cane cookies. Christmas Pasta, which has become our tradition...I'll talk more about it later. My grandma's banana candles, which people make fun of but I think are delicious...so the rule is if you make fun, I get to eat yours too. Pierogi... I used to help my friend Ami & her grandma make these and eat all the potato filling before it got into the pierogi (they say they mention that every year). Now I get a box of frozen ones.

16. Clear lights or coloured on the tree? I love the way a tree with colored lights looks like it's covered with gumdrops. But our tree is pre-lit and has clear lights, and I like that too.

17. Favourite Christmas song? I LOVE Christmas songs! My favorites are: O Holy Night, Little Drummer Boy, Breath of Heaven, O Come All Ye Faithful, White Christmas, I'll Be Home for Christmas, and basically all the rest. Also, on the more "commercial" side, I love: Santa Baby, All I Want for Christmas is You, Run Run Rudolph, Please Come Home for Christmas, and all the rest of those too.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Christmas has always been a traveling day for me--going from house to house, but all within the same county. But since we've been here we stay in one place. This year, I'm staying here...but next year, wherever I'm coming from, I'll be home for Christmas!

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Most certainly! Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. And of course, Rudolph.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither. We have a Santa hat on our tree. I like angels and stars though. And the big ribbons. We need more trees!

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We open on Christmas Eve (this is a carryover from my childhood traditions). We used to open on Christmas Eve because we started running around on Christmas Eve and didn't come back home until late on Christmas Day and that would probably just be mean to make a kid wait until 9pm to open any presents! David was a little unsure at first, but now he's always more anxious to open presents on Christmas Eve than I am. Christmas morning is still excited, because we have to check and see what Santa has brought!

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Crowds at the BX. Things slowing down at the post office.

23. Favourite ornament theme or colour? I love seeing trees all decorated in red, white & silver. And I've almost got enough moose ornaments to do a mini-moose tree. But I do love looking at our little-bit-of-everything tree!

24. Favourite for Christmas dinner? Christmas Pasta, Tamales. We don't do a "traditional" Christmas dinner, and we always forewarn our guests not to expect "Thanksgiving" for Christmas.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Orders! And to know that my deployed neighbor (whose daughter will turn 2 on Christmas day) is staying safe. And some of the items on my Christmas list from a few posts back...

26. Who is most likely to respond to this? I don't know. Someone who's got a lot of Christmas spirit!

I swear, Santa...it's the economy that's been naughty!

Friday's Favorite: 2 kinds of reading

Remember last week, I said that Friday would be a day to share some of my favorite things? Well this week my life got...easier? more entertaining? more efficient?...thanks to Google Reader.

Oh my goodness do I love Google Reader! Maybe you can click on the picture to read more about it, or maybe you can just google Google Reader. I've now said Google so many times in the past few that it sounds weird. Which makes me think of how just a few years ago saying google just once would've sounded kind of weird.
Anyway, here's why I love Google Reader:
Sometimes on the weekends (when I was working and my main free time was on weekends) I would get the idea to check out the blogs in my bookmarks. Well, sometimes people had posted so many times since the last time I checked that I had a bunch to catch up on. Sometimes people hadn't posted at all. Both scenarios were equally irritating. I would try to remember which people updated often and which people didn't. Sometimes I would hear about a contest on someone's blog and totally miss it because that particular blog was maybe lost under a billion other bookmarks. So last weekend I started loading the blogs I visit in Google Reader. And life is good. Now I just go in my e-mail, click "Reader" and see all the new things people have posted since the night (or two hours) before. If somebody didn't post anything, it doesn't bother me, because I didn't click on that link and wait forever for my crummy internet to open the page up for nothing. Looooove it!

In more traditional reading, I've joined the rest of the world and read the Twilight Saga. I'm actually finishing up the 4th book still. I've enjoyed the books, but I haven't devoured them the way I've heard/read about some people doing!
When I was reading the first book, I was really worried that there was something wrong with me, because I just didn't love it the way other people made it seem that I should. I ended up deciding that that was because I already knew too much about the storyline to be too excited about turning each page. Once I got to page 250 or so though, I couldn't put it down. I finished the first book on a Saturday and put my shoes on and grabbed my keys to go to the BX for the 2nd. Of course, the BX didn't have the 2nd! We went to the PX at Camp Foster on Sunday evening, and I finished the 2nd book by Tuesday evening...and went to work on Monday and Tuesday! The 2nd book was my favorite I think. Had to borrow the 3rd book from the school nurse (because neither the BX nor the PX had that one!). The 3rd book was my least favorite... I was frankly just getting quite sick of Bella by this time. First of all, I was irritated by the whole Bella/Edward/Jacob thing by this point, and second of all, I think maybe I was just spending too much time "with" Bella. I can only spend so much time with anyone before I start to get antsy. I kept myself from starting the 4th book right away, because I had a lot of work to do to move out of my classroom, prepare for Thanksgiving, and make 19 days worth of lesson plans. So I just started that last week. I think I don't want to finish it, because I don't want it to be over!

A list!

I said last Thursday that Thursday would be my list-sharing day. Thursday will also be the day we leave Okinawa...we just don't know which Thursday yet. I'm beginning to wonder if we'll ever leave. Maybe this is like the island on LOST. I've also compared this move (and we haven't even gotten anywhere yet!) to a National Lampoon's movie. National Lampoon's PCS...starring me. Directed by the USAF.

Here's a list of all the cities I've lived in, some (like this particular one) a little longer than expected.

East Chicago, IN
Merrillville, IN (It took me a long time to memorize how to spell this. Thank goodness for cheerleaders. Even now when I spell it, this is what goes through my head: "M-E-double-R-I-double-L-V-I-double-L-E-Pirates!"
Kenosha, WI
Waukegan, IL
Racine, WI
Aviano, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, Italy
Dardago, FVG, Italy
Crown Point, IN
Kadena Air Base (Or I guess our city would be considered Chatan?), Okinawa, Japan

Good Eats

On Saturday night, when our plans to go to the basketball game didn't work out, I suggested we go to a new-to-us restaurant so the whole evening wouldn't be a bust.

We went to Ghengis Khan, a Mongolian BBQ place just about 5 minutes away from our house. We tried to go there one other time for lunch, but it doesn't open until 6.

The first thing I noticed was of course the Christmas tree! Then I looked around and saw all of the other things on the walls, shelves & windowsills. It was like eating in an antiques shop! The waitress put David and I at a corner table that was up against a trellis and a windowsill. There was a fake planter on the windowsill and little fairy figurines. On the trellis a clothesline of little baby socks and some doll dresses were hanging up! I'm not exactly sure WHY the place was decorated like that, but it was amusing.

The waitress instructed us to go to the barbecue room where we each filled a bowl with meat & veggies. I chose beef, pork and chicken, then added sprouts, cabbage, tomatoes, green pepper, pineapple and some other green veggie. And a whole lot of garlic. I poured soy sauce & lemon water on mine and we waited in line for one of the 4 barbecue guys. David asked a guy in line behind us if he had been there before. He said "Oh yeah! I usually come here at least once a week." We asked how it worked/how they charge. David (who likes to eat) and I (who is cheap...who am cheap? not sure the grammar on that one) were both pleasantly surprised to hear that it is 1400 Yen (about 14 bucks...more than that now that the exchange rate is so terrible...90 yen to the dollar!) and all-you-can-eat! We both had a 2nd bowl and David had a 2nd serving of rice. I thought it was much better than another style all-you-can-eat place that David likes to go to, "Yaki niku", because there they give you a time-limit. And you have to cook your own food. I wouldn't mind going back to Genghis Khan again before we leave the island.

Last night, the other 2nd grade teachers took me out to dinner at a restaurant called Transit Cafe. It's a mile and a half from my house (I ran there on Monday to make sure I could find it), right on the seawall. We sat outside on the balcony and it was really peaceful & pretty! The waves were coming in and out and the weather was just right...cool enough to sit outside without being cold, but not warm enough to be uncomfortable at all. They also have mojitos there! I didn't have one, but told David that we'd have to go back there for dinner so I could have a DD! Almost everyone in our party of 8 got the Grilled Beef Plate, which was excellent. Five of us topped it off with a brownie sundae, complete with strawberries and cornflakes. The atmosphere there was really nice, a little fancy, but small & cozy too. Of course after almost 3.5 years when I'm so tired of all our normal haunts, just when it's time to leave I'm introduced to these new yummy restaurants!

Today I went to the commissary for the first time since before Thanksgiving. We're having creamy chicken noodle soup tonight and tilapia with spanish rice & beans sometime in the next few days. Also on the menu (or at least in the grocery bag): hamburger helper, some Yakisoba (heat & eat), tuna helper, and sandwiches.

How to lose weight before a PCS

When we came here, we were allowed to bring 2000 pounds with us. We're (thankfully!) allowed a whole lot more on the way out, but I'm still trying to do my part to cut down on the amount we're shipping. (Especially because most of the stuff that's putting us way over 2000 pounds is mine!)

Here's my method for cutting weight:
1. Go through your 5 dresser drawers. The ones that are full of nothing but t-shirts.
2. Don't worry about the t-shirts that are in the overflowing laundry basket right now.
3. Find 56 t-shirts that are too big, too stained, too ugly, too old, or too special to wear.
4. Get on the scale. Make mental note of your weight.
5. Pick up the shirts and get on the scale again.
6. Do math.
7. Get ready to cut your t-shirts. Spend 20 minutes looking for your fabric scissors.
8. Find fabric scissors in the 2nd place you looked. To do this, you must look a little more carefully than the first time.
9. Realize that you'd be better off using your rotary cutter for this project anyway.
10. Cut the designs off of 20 t-shirts.
11. Remember knitting project that you want to finish by tomorrow at 6pm.
12. Decide to put off t-shirt cutting for another day.

I figure if I can get the t-shirts cut, I'll be in pretty good shape! Then I can worry about the interfacing & piecing later. This part is half the battle I think. Pictures later.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Well, now that I finally managed to get the photos in my Christmas decorating post to work, I can do today's blog entry!

This was a pretty busy weekend, which is very unusual around here.
Friday nights are always reserved for Chili's take-out and Survivor. I'm really mad at AFN lately because they keep showing 2 hours of Deal or No Deal, and then Survivor doesn't come on until 9. Why not show Survivor at 7 and then Deal or No Deal from 8-10? Who wants to watch 2 hours of Deal or No Deal?? Not me. It's hard to stay up until 10, so we ended up watching Survivor on the re-broadcast later in the weekend.

Saturday morning, I went to running group. It was freeeeeezing! Maybe I shouldn't leave Okinawa. I've been here too long... temps in the 50s seem freezing! I was hoping that nobody else would show up so I could go run on the treadmill, but 2 girls came. Once we got moving, the cold wasn't so bad. We ran 6 miles and then I came home to putz around a while.
But, at about 9:00, a guy from David's office called. They're leaving on Thursday, they didn't get their orders (same thing we're waiting for!) until this past Tuesday, and had one week to get their stuff packed & shipped and house ready for housing inspection. So, they needed some time on Saturday to paint and clean the house. And they have a 3 year old. So they called and asked if "we" would babysit for a while and I couldn't bring myself to say no. Bobby is a sweet boy, but is full of energy! I asked when they wanted to bring him and the answer was "As soon as possible." I told him I needed some time to get showered etc. and he got here about 10. Bobby brought a soccer ball. He stayed until a little after 1. We kicked the soccer ball inside, played outside on Phoebe's trampoline & "park", read books, baked cookies, did puzzles, and when my bag of tricks was just about empty, started watching a movie. Here are some funny things that happened while Bobby was here:

(as his dad was getting ready to leave)
Bobby: "Daddy, I don't want to go. I want to stay here with Miss Uhbecca."
Bobby's dad: "Really, you want to stay here? Well, I don't know..."
Miss Uhbecca: "That sounds like fun. Can Bobby please stay here and play for a while?"

Miss Uhbecca: "Boy oh boy, it would be nice if Mr. Slone would come home soon, wouldn't it, Bobby?"
Bobby: "Yeah, I want to play with Mr. Slone."
Miss Uhbecca: "He's out golfin'"
Bobby: "Yeah, he went to see the dolphin."

(while baking cookies)
Miss Uhbecca: "We need one egg. How many eggs are in the box?"
Bobby: (counts eggs)
Miss Uhbecca: "Good counting, Bobby! You stir and I'll put the egg in the bowl."
Bobby: (picks up egg, taps it on the side of the bowl and uses his hands to crack it)
Miss Uhbecca: "Hmm...okay. Don't stir for a minute. I'm going to take the egg shells out of the bowl first."

(after eating several cookies)
Miss Uhbecca: "Well, how about we take a break from the cookies for a while? We'll have Mr. Slone bring us lunch when he gets home."
Bobby: "BUUURRRP!"

(when Bobby got picked up to go home)
Miss Uhbecca: "We got him a Happy Meal, but he wasn't really interested in anything but the fruit punch...and the cookies we made."
Bobby's dad: "We're really trying to cut back on the amount of sugar he has."
Miss Uhbecca: "Well, I let him scoop the cookies, so they were pretty small."

Saturday evening, David and I decided to go to a basketball game. There's a team here, the Ryukyu Kings...4 Okinawans and 5 Americans I think. We drove down to Naha to find the game, went too far, got stuck in traffic, found the game, drove around looking for a parking place, and decided to try again another day. David was getting cranky. We ended up being in the car for about an hour and a half. I suggested that we try a new-to-us restaurant so the whole evening wouldn't be considered a bust. The restaurant is about 5 minutes away from the house.

On Sunday we went to a baby shower. That means I spent most of Sunday morning finishing the gift I was knitting for the shower. It was a "Jack & Jill" shower because the girl worked at David's office so most of the people she knows at work are guys. David's co-worker's girlfriend was the hostess and had the room decorated really cute, all blue-and-brown. As could be expected, David was really into the baby shower games. He got to make a baby out of play-doh and was disappointed when he couldn't compete in the tie-your-shoes-with-a-balloon-in-your-shirt race because he was wearing Crocs. Oh man! I JUST remembered that I think I left my little treat bag on the table. And there was a mini pack of Turtles in there! Darn it! Anyway, David started off losing the "don't say baby" game with the clothespins. Then he started to play dirty, trying to trick people, by saying, "What does that say?" etc. We both played dirty in Baby Shower Bingo by listing all of the gifts that we bought the baby in a row. I won a $25 Visa gift card! Great prize! David won the clothespin game and the prize was the Clue board game. I love games, so we were happy about it! I bought a little present for the big sister too and "we" were the only ones who thought to do that. We were also the only ones who gave a handmade card and a handmade gift, but they didn't make a big deal about them! I hate that! I spent a lot of time thinking of a theme for my baby gift...originally it was going to just be "feeding time": a knit bib, little baby plates, sippy cups, baby spoons, and a little booster seat thing, but then I saw the cutest little dinosaur pjs and got those instead of the booster seat and used a bib pattern that had a dinosaur on it. But this mom-to-be didn't make a big deal about the presents, we couldn't even really hear her saying who the gifts were from and no little stories or anything. I think I should be a baby shower coach. I was very entertaining at my bridal shower.

Anyway, we were so stuffed when we got home from the shower and tired even though it was only 5. David was snoozing on the couch close to 8, and I spent the evening reading. We can't handle so much activity in one weekend!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We FINALLY put our tree up today!
I love decorating for Christmas. David was not in the spirit this year, since we should be moving soon and we're not sure when the movers will come to pack us up. We agreed to do "low key", but I was under the impression that "low key" decorating still included a Christmas tree. We usually have four! Finally when I put a pile of wrapped presents where our tree usually goes, David caved in and agreed to get out the big tree.
There was just no way I could NOT put up decorations. Decorations have always been a big part of Christmas for me. My mom always puts out tons of decorations, and they really do get you in the Christmas spirit! I have fond memories of playing with the little Christmas candles and vintage houses at my grandma's house and she always leaves her tree up for my birthday...she promised to leave it up until I get home to see it, even if it's past my birthday this year! So, you see, the need to decorate for Christmas runs in my blood...I got started before Thanksgiving by putting up some little decorations around the house: (I figured that if we would have to take them all down early, I should get to put them up a little early too!)

This picture is actually from last year, we haven't gotten any Christmas cards yet. But I arranged these green & gold decorations just about the same way.

I went to a PartyLite party at my friend's house and didn't feel like I really needed any candles. I did, however, need this sweet Kissing Clauses candle holder! Kissing Clauses and kissing angels have always been a part of my Christmas memories at my mom's house and I didn't have any of my own. But now I do!

My BX nutcrackers. I always gawk over the nutcrackers they get in from Germany at the gift shop here, but since they are usually $125 or more, I'm sticking with the cheapo BX variety. Maybe I'll buy a German nutcracker in Germany sometime. I think it would be easier to justify the $$.

This adorable little Santa is my newest Christmas decor purchase. I love him, don't you? This is Japanese or Okinawan style and I bought it at the gift shop here when I was looking for a present for someone else. I just couldn't help myself. He's so cute! The candle holder was a gift from a student last year.

Actually, these little star tea light holders were purchased at another gift shop where I stopped on my way home from the gift shop where I bought that little Santa. The Thanksgiving cards in the background are from my mom, Aunt Margie & Cyndi They're cute, and I have a huge bag of tea light candles to use up.

We crank up the Christmas music before we begin. (David had to mute the Alabama-Florida game during this time today). While David gets the tree out of the box and puts it all together, I lay out all of the ornaments on the table. Traditions are very important to me, so we must do this the same way every year. All ornaments get laid out and then I take a picture. It's fun to see how our collection has grown. We didn't do this our 1st Christmas here and that makes me sad, because that year we started out with 3 ornaments and 1 of them (a special glass wedding cake one from Aunt Margie) broke. Luckily I have a fairly photographic memory so I'll always remember it anyway. Anyway, we have three ornaments that must go up first, second and third. First on the tree is always the wedding bears from Stacy, Terry & Selena. And I insist that we think of them as we put the ornament up. Next is the Moby & Morgan ornament from my cousin Lisa. And we think of Moby, Morgan AND Lisa. Then the "Our First Christmas" from my old teacher-neighbor Ms. Jones. Then we put up the rest of the ornaments in any order. I always think about who gave the ornament to me or why it is special. I don't think David actually does this, but every once in a while I quiz him and say, "Do you know who gave us this ornament?" Sometimes he does know! So, when all the ornaments are up, the tree looks like this:

Our tree is skinny, and still not full of ornaments, but I love it. I think skinny suits it. Plus it was seven dollars, which I love to brag about. Even though I really do love my tree once all the ornaments are on, I love it the most when it's all lit up and beautiful!

15 minutes of fame

When I checked my e-mail yesterday morning, I had one from my cousin Lisa saying that she saw us on TV! Apparently our "hometown holiday greeting" aired. Last year, it only showed once in the Chicagoland area, but several times in Eastern Kentucky. Keep your eye out and maybe you'll see us too! It was on channel 7 last year. Filming the greeting this year was pretty excruciating. Last year it was more private, there was a little waiting room and then one family at a time went out onto the porch where they filmed your message. They are also very particular about what you say in your message... name, location, who/where your message is going. And you have to look at the camera for 5 seconds before you start your message and 5 seconds after. That's the hardest part for David. The military member has to be in uniform.
This year, the greetings were filmed in the middle of the Tee House restaurant. So everyone who was waiting to do the greeting and everyone who was there eating watched. The family ahead of us took about 16 takes. The woman (in uniform) was sweating profusely under all of the lights. The man kept messing up, forgetting something he was going to say or talking to fast or too softly or not waiting long enough afterward before saying "Was it okay that time?" So then the woman decided to give it a try. But holding the baby was making her too hot so they had to switch places. And she messed up just as much as he did. They had a huge message they were trying to send, like "Little Susie, I hope Santa brings you the puppy you've been wanting" and "Uncle Joe, we'll be wishing we were eating some of your fried turkey", etc. And they were sending the message to families living in 2 different places, so they went through all of this twice! David and I decided to keep it very simple. I'm not actually sure I spoke at all, I might have chosen to just stand there looking beautiful.

Anyway, that's only about 15 seconds of fame. But don't worry, there's more!
Yesterday David called me and said, "Have you been blogging about me playing Rock Band 2?" and I said, "I have so many more important things to blog about than that. But I suppose it's possible that I mentioned it. Why do you ask?" And he said that he got an e-mail from his cousin Craig (also in the AF) saying something along the lines of , "Why are you playing Rock Band 2? Shouldn't you be studying for MSgt?" I just told David that he made a pretty good point. And that was the end of that conversation. At least that's the point at which I stopped listening.
So David came home and said that someone else mentioned Rock Band 2 to him, and that struck him as odd so eventually somehow he managed to figure out what in the world was linking him to Rock Band 2 today...

That was in the December 8 issue of the Air Force Times. On page 31. I can't believe it! 1. I can't believe that David is a published author. 2. I can't believe he would submit such a dweeby looking photo (can you tell that he's giving a thumbs-up?) for publication.
I'm not sure if you can see it in the photo here, but in case you actually care what he had to say about the game, here goes:
Tech. Sgt. Charles Slone, Air Force (That's David's alias. Or, now that he's an author, his pen name!)
Kadena Air Base, Japan
What I'm playing: Rock Band 2
The second installment of what will be a long-running series has added multiple features to attract every type of gamer. While the game stayed true to its predecessor with graphics and game play, they have added a ton of features and a wider variety of music to attract everyone from your kids to your grandfather...I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys music.

He was disappointed that they didn't publish the one he did for another game (Gear of War, maybe?) because he thought that he had written a better review for that one. Anyway... (because you know I can't stand David getting all the glory) I was in the paper once too. I was maybe 4 or 5 or 6 and I had to tell the news reporter how to make a hot dog. You put it in a bun and put ketchup on it and eat it. Of course! That must've been before I was introduced to the Chicago Style dog.

Friday, already?

What is it about not working that makes the week go by so much faster?
I'm copy-catting another idea for Friday's blog... "Friday Favorites" or "Favorite Things".

Today, my favorite thing is Christmas music! I love all Christmas music! I've got my iTunes library loaded up with Christmas songs. It's hard to choose a favorite song, but there is definitely one voice that I must hear every Christmas.

Nat King Cole was one of my grandpa's favorites, so he has a special place in my heart. I think his voice is just beautiful...Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without it.

In honor of my paid vacation/pending resignation

In an effort to blog each day, I'm borrowing a couple of ideas from other bloggers (is it stealing if you don't mention it first? Whatever). The first is from my virtual pal Krista. Krista usually posts a list of some sort on Wednesdays. So I'm going to do it on Thursdays...so I'll know what to post a list about. I've got a few lists saved up, which is a good thing, because Wednesday isn't over yet at Krista's house and she hasn't posted her list.

List of all the jobs I've had-

Teacher- 2nd grade, 1st grade, multi-age 1st/2nd grade @ Kadena Elementary School. Working at KES has been so fantastic! I love my administrators, and school is so laid back. After teaching at Edison and the AmerAsian School (a non-profit organization), seeing the supplies that are available to me was like Christmas morning. Sure we have a limited amount of copies that we're allowed to make each month, but I don't have to buy my own paper clips! And to make the experience truly Okinawan, at Edison I had a few mice in my classroom...at KES I have geckos!
Camp Counselor- CYO Camp Lawrence, Valpo IN- My favorite job of all time. 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006. How could you not have a blast at a job where you wear shorts, play kickball, drink Kool-Aid and take naps?
Camp Counselor- Culver Summer Camps, Culver IN. I returned to Culver to give the cabins a try. Still didn't like it much.
Teacher- 1st grade- AmerAsian School of Okinawa, Ginowan City Okinawa. This was my good-deed job. I worked full time for about $800 a month, depending on the Yen rate. It was a sweet school and...I only had 10 students!
Teacher- 3rd grade- Edison Elementary School, Hammond IN. Aaahhh, my first full year of teaching. It was absolutely crazy. If I can do that, I can do anything. Crazy wild kids. But I loved my grade-level partners!
Senior Counselor- Camp Waziyatah, Somewhere in Maine. Lame job. I ended up quitting...I'd worked at 3 camps by that point and knew what camp should be like. But I did meet some new BFFs there!
Nanny- Aviano, Italy. This was one of those jobs where you love what you do but don't love your boss. Well, I loved one of my bosses. Then she went to Iraq and left me with the one I didn't have so much love for.
Long Term Substitute- 1st grade- The Prairie School, Racine WI. How lucky was I that I did my student teaching with a pregnant teacher and I got to take over the job when she went on maternity leave. For those that don't know, when you student teach you are paying (or your parents are, depending on your tuition arrangements) to work 40+ hours a week. Going from that to $100+ a day as a long-term sub was totally like striking the jackpot! And Prairie is a wonderful school! Great place to work!
Middle School After-School Program- The Prairie School, Racine WI. Remember how I said student teachers make no money? I just stayed at school a little longer than I normally would have each night to make a few extra bucks. Middle Schoolers are awesome!
Division Director- Culver Summer Camps, Culver IN. Didn't really love this job.
After School Babysitter- Kenosha WI. One of the best jobs ever... it came with a Wisconsin family of my very own!
Education Department Office Assistant- Carthage College, Kenosha WI. The perfect job for a teacher's pet.
"Fun-Raiser"-Six Flags Great America, Gurnee IL (I didn't get paid...the cross country team worked a couple of days each season and the money we would have earned went to the team)
Sales girl- Limited Too, Merrillville IN. If you've ever seen my bedroom, you might be surprised to learn that I was the one they wanted to work late on the nights before the District Manager came because I was so darn good at hanging and folding! I also won a Coach wallet for selling the most during the "TooBucks" special promotion.
Babysitter- random families, Northwest IN. I fondly remember the days I used to get paid to babysit... now my confused friends think I'm doing it out of the kindness of my heart.
Piano teacher- my house, Merrillville IN. I had 2 students. I think they can both play Mary Had a Little Lamb and "Mississippi Hot Dog" now.
Office Helper- my dad's office, Hammond IN. Aside from working for no money at Six Flags, this may be the worst job I've ever had. One of my tasks was to sort paper-clips. Bo-ring! And I probably didn't make that much more than I did at Six Flags. And they didn't even let me raid the office supply cabinet like I used to.
Lemonade Stand- grandma's house, Hammond, IN. Free lemonade for the mailman!

Last of the Leftovers

In honor of the last of our Thanksgiving leftovers, which will be finished today, I thought I would share this year's Thanksgiving menu:
Turkey- Steve (the turkey) was really stubborn about getting his temperature taken. You know in the sitcoms when a kid wants to stay home from school so his mom gets the thermometer and he holds it up to a lightbulb or something? Well I think Steve must've had an ice pack with him because he was in the oven for over 4 hours and still wasn't hot enough. We ended up eating it anyway and nobody is ill, so I think that proves my turkey-thermometer-tampering theory.
Fried Turkey (made in our back yard by one of our guests) It was so salty that one bite raised your blood pressure at least 3 notches. But still delicious.
Mashed Potatoes- I finally got a potato masher so they were a little bit better than in years past. I used 8 potatoes and 15 cloves of garlic and about half a bottle of Mrs. Dash and they were still pretty bland. I guess that's the nature of a potato, but I wonder why other people's mashed potatoes taste so much better than mine.
Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Caramelized Apples- Made these last year too and they are good! People are happily surprised to taste the apple-y sweet potatoes, even if they are accustomed to the gooey marshmallow goodness.
Sausage Stuffing- This is easy. You brown some sausage and add it to Stovetop. You can still tell it's Stovetop but it tastes so much better. I think anything tastes better with Italian sausage though.
Corn Souffle'- I love it, and everybody who tries it loves it. How could you not love something that contains a whole stick of butter and a half-pint of sour cream?
Green Bean Casserole- One of the guests was just delighted to see that the good ol' green bean casserole was topped with the little crispy onions rather than...Cheez-Its??? Interesting. I'm still in search of THE Green Bean Casserole recipe. This year, I cut down on the Velveeta my recipe called for (because I sent David to the commissary with the grocery list and he didn't know what Velveeta was. It's Pasteurized Processed Cheese Product, for Pete's sake! I will concede that it is difficult to find in the commissary, so it might have thrown him off if he was expecting to see it near the cheese. Whoever designed the commissary decided that cheese and cheese product should not mix.) Anyway, so I had to use the itty-bitty bit of Velveeta I had in the fridge (and cut off the hard crusty part) so I used probably 1/8th of what the recipe called for and you know what? It almost tasted like real GB Casserole! Apparently it was good, because there were no leftovers! And that is one of my favorite leftovers to eat!
Cranberries- I like to do cranberries with mandarin oranges & pecans in them. Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without the jellied kind with the can ridges, so we had those too.
David was in charge of the ham. I do not do ham because I think it looks like the inside of your knee when you take a bad fall off a bike. It makes me gag and I refuse to make it. David was going to make it but Steve was taking so long that he decided not to (or at least that was his excuse).
David was also in charge of the rolls. David is pretty smart. Why didn't I decide to be in charge of something that I could just rip open the bag and set on the counter? Oh yeah, if I were in charge of the rolls, I would have heated them up before serving. And I probably would've put out some butter too. But I wasn't in charge of rolls. That gives me a pretty good idea why I put myself in charge of all other aspects of the meal.
One of our guests brought homemade mac & cheese. I don't remember mac & cheese ever being a part of our Thanksgiving traditions, but this mac & cheese was so good I think I might have to make it one. It was creamy & delicious.
Dessert-
Pumpkin Cake- This is the food that made me like pumpkin. I've been eating it since 7th grade at the home of one of my best friends. Everyone who tastes it loves it, which is really a shame since I absolutely will not share the recipe. We can't have everyone running around making Pumpkin Cake or mine won't be special.
Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream-broke out the ice cream maker again (and David said we'd never use it!) This was very good, and of course everyone was surprised & impressed that we had homemade ice cream! I didn't tell them that aside from the turkey, this was the easiest thing to make. Mix some stuff in a bowl, pour it in the ice cream maker and turn the dial to "on" for 25 minutes.
The Ultimate Caramel Apple Pie -or shall I say The Ultimate Caramel Apple Pie Disaster? Oh. My. Ga. (Watch Will & Grace?) Um...not real sure what I did wrong here. I think I shall blame the Okinawa weather. (What will I do when I can no longer blame the Okinawa weather for kitchen failures?) My pie is basically sliced apples floating in red wine that has turned not-quite-clear and covered with crust. That's not what the picture looked like. I had to put it in the pasta drainer before throwing it away. Sad, sad, sad. Especially because we bought 16 apples for the pie. It called for 8, but David put the first batch in the freezer to preserve them. Bwahahahahaha. Another reminder of why I should happily delegate all Thanksgiving responsibilities to myself. If it were up to David, we'd have chicken wings and french fries in the fry-daddy. Gotta love him.

All we still have as leftovers are mashed potatoes (which I considered making potato pancakes with, but it's so much easier just to toss them in the microwave for a quick heat n' eat) and mac & cheese. I know what I'm having for lunch today!

Belated NaBloPoMo

So obviously I didn't participate in NaBloPoMo...when you post to your blog everyday of November. But I'm going to give it a shot for December...at least until the computer gets packed up.

The thing is, I'm not really that exciting, so I'm trying to work out some kind of format/schedule for writing about things that I do. As I briefly mentioned in my last post, I'm perfectly content to sit at home and watch Lifetime movies. Although now my tv will be tuned to ABC Family because I LOVE Christmas movies and they have such cute ones. I can't wait til that Snowglobe one comes on again...that was a great one! But that's not what I mean to write about right now.
Right now, I'm going to talk about what's been going on in my right-brain. The craftsy side of the brain.

Not a whole lot.
The 3 knitting projects I've started since October are--
A sweater for David. It's boring. He's boring. He chose the most boring pattern in the universe in the most boring color in the universe. So I knit about 2 inches of it and decided to start something else. Something for me, which is much more motivating.

Of course, I had to order new yarn because there was nothing suitable in the 4 rubbermaids (not the big ones though!) full I already have. And then when my yarn arrived, I realized I didn't have the proper sized needles for my project, so I had to wait for those too. My project is a super-cute short-sleeved chunky sweater that is on the cover of Debbie Bliss magazine. I love it. I want to finish it by Thursday. I'm less than half-way through the back and still have to do the front and the sleeves and sew it all together. Good thing I just said Thursday, not Thursday December 4. Since I didn't specify a date, I suppose any Thursday will do.

The third project I started is a pair of "Snugs". You know the Ugg boots? Snugs, or Snuggs as I like to spell them, are big cozy slippers that look a bit like Uggs. I only started those because they are easy meeting knitting. And, I discovered, also easy field trip knitting because I can knit in the round in a dark theater for 2 hours without messing up.

While I waited for my yarn to arrive, I worked on some Thrummed Mittens that I started a while ago. These things are CRAZY. Let's see if I have a picture...

You know the song My Favorite Things? (If you don't you seriously need to go watch The Sound of Music immediately). I think these may be the "warm woolen mittens" Julie Andrews is singing about. All that fluffy stuff...that's animal hair! And when the mitten gets closed up at the top, all that fluffy stuff will be inside making my fingers all warm and cozy. Apparently it will get all matted together due to the fact that my hands will be pouring out sweat and the fluffy stuff will turn into a kind of fleecy lining.
When I first started thinking about getting the yarn and the "roving"/fluffy stuff for this project, I asked David if he wanted some too. He said no. Then he saw mine and now he wants some. At least they're smaller than a sweater.

Because in my mind I am a super-fast knitter who never wastes time on the internet and loves knitting for others more than knitting for herself, I also have a long list of gifts to knit. I won't talk extensively about them here so that way 1-if anyone who is getting one of the gifts reads this the surprise won't be ruined and 2-if I never actually start or finish the gifts, the would-be recipients will be none the wiser. I learned the importance of that through David's sweater. He keeps asking how it's going. I told him there is some mistake in the pattern and it's going to take me a while to work it out. Like at least as long as it takes me to finish my sweater, my mittens, my Snuggs, and those other smaller and less boring gifts for other people.

As for non-yarny hobbies, I did make a few cards while I was not blogging. I also brought home a little mini-file cabinet that my friend Katie gave me (it's for holding the large index card size things) that I had been using to hold stickers and certificates in my classroom. I decided will be nice for holding finished cards. I punched little tabs using my Stampin' Up! tab punch and labeled them Christmas, birthday, etc. I'm hoping it will be easier to manage than my current card storage system which is comprised of 2 snorkel mask boxes. We only used the stinkin' snorkel masks twice, but at least the boxes have come in handy for quite a while.

So how's that for my 2nd blog post of December?!? I'm 2 for 2!

In the 36 days since I've blogged...

I have:
-passed out Halloween candy
-sat through 16 parent-teacher conferences
-made 10 dozen chocolate chip pumpkin muffins
-read the first 3 books in the Twilight saga
-started 3 knitting projects and finished 0
-decided to teach myself to crochet a blanket, but stopped at a dishcloth
-planned, cooked and eaten a Thanksgiving dinner
-received a "Port Call" date for when we're leaving
-passed my first housing inspection
-done 2 loads of laundry *blush*
-turned in my letter of resignation at work
-packed my classroom into 14 Rubbermaid bins
-bought some Christmas presents
-opened one Christmas present
-put out a few Christmas decorations
-remembered to take my vitamins 3 times
-written 5 days worth of sub plans
-made 5 cards and 0 scrapbook pages
-attempted to blog ate least 3 times to no avail
-been waiting (and still am) for the USAF to tell me what my future holds
-been to the BX way more than the commissary
-watched an embarrassing number of movies on Lifetime and ABC Family
-procrastinated packing, sorting, purging, cleaning... I guess that's what my month+ off work is for!

Countdown to...

Christmas!! Can you believe it? Only 2 months til Christmas!
So, without further ado, here's my Christmas list!


How I Met Your Mother on DVD--we LOVE this show! It's one that I could watch over & over, and it's funny every time!





Since "we" are moving to England, I thought it might behoove us to take along a few travel guides about England, London (it'll be just over an hour away!), and Great Britain in general. This way, not only will we make sure we experience as much as possible, but we can be prepared for our guests as well! Did I mention that at the Harbour Rocks Hotel in Sydney, one of the things I loved was that they had some travel books in the lobby? I would like to provide the same service for our guests ;) This is a lot of pictures, but I figured I'd include them all since there's not one specific one I'm particularly hoping for.




Knitting Books- yes, there are still some that I don't have in my collection!
Ravelry has this fun function that shows you which books you "need for your queue". I have projects on my to-do list from Scarf Style, Color Style, Last-Minute Knitted Gifts & Itty Bitty Nursery.


Aunt Margie sent me a book by "the Yarn Harlot" and it was SO good! She has some others out... I've seen one at the BX but keep resisting because it's good for the Christmas list!




After amassing quite a collection of warm weather running gear since I developed an interest in running in something other than cotton t-shirts (I'm sure my running group thanks Aunt Margie, my dad & David for providing some running gear that helps me be just a little less stinky during our runs), now I'll have to dress for cooler weather during my runs. And rainy weather too! These particular clothes are from Road Runner Sports (and I love the RRS stuff I got for Christmas last year!) but I've also been quite happy with running clothes I've gotten from K-mart/Wal-mart. What I look for in running clothes- "dri-fit" or something similar, size small, room to move (I'm not really into the skin-tight UnderArmour). For a long-sleeve shirt, I'm happy with a half-zip, no zip, crew/v neck, mock neck, etc. I usually run in shorts in cool weather too, but wouldn't mind having a pair or two of tights or "not-quite-tights"--probably the "capri" length would do for me. I'd end up hemming the pants length! My ears get cold, so I like to have a headband.


And, oh my goodness! What a happy day... while I was looking at running clothes, I discovered that Road Runner Sports is now stocking my favorite running socks--the Asics Hera Low-Cut. And they come in purple! Did you hear that, Dad?



I have so much scrapbook stuff to use up before I need any more! The only things that could always be replenished are adhesives--Therm O Web Click N Stick, Glue Dots, Pop Dots, etc. And a new nice-writing fine-point black pen, like a Zig writer or something. Other than the "Click N Stick" I'm not particular about the exact brand.



That said, there is always something I love in the Stampin' Up! catalog! This time around, my super-faves are "Crazy for Cupcakes," "Flight of the Butterfly," and "Close as a Memory".

I have a growing interest in digital scrapbooking. It's fun & you don't have to clean up after yourself! (Or clean a space off your table beforehand!) I've bought a few digital "supplies" and downloaded tons of freebies from ScrapGirls. They have a monthly club and they send out an "e-kit" of digi-scrap goodies. You just have to be careful though, because it looks like they automatically renew unless you inform them not to!




In our "custody agreement" for our video game consoles for next year, David gets the X-Box 360 and I get the Wii. Of course, I've been wanting the Wii Fit, but so far no luck getting that! There's also the Jillian Michaels (the "mean" one from the Biggest Loser) Fitness Ultimatum, which would replace the only game (besides Rock Band) that I would really miss on the X-Box system. Yesterday we saw a commercial for Wii Music and it looked like fun. And Big Brain Academy Wii Degree looks right up my alley.

Well, that ought to be plenty of variety for those that are interested in buying me something. The best thing about having a birthday 3 weeks after Christmas is being "allowed" to make a big Christmas list, because it kind of carries over as a birthday wish list a few weeks later!

I asked David if he had anything he wanted me to add to the list for him, and he says no. The only things he wants either- a) are too expensive to list on a Christmas list (PSP, iPod Touch) or b) he does not intend to wait for Christmas for before buying for himself (a video game that's coming out next week. So of course he has to have it next week). The usual "black t-shirts" aren't even a good Christmas option for David anymore because he's now wearing the new AF uniforms and they don't do black t-shirts. He did mention before that he wanted a NY Giants visor, because he likes wearing a visor when he's golfing and he also mentioned some kind of golf GPS unit...not sure what it's called--SkyCaddy or something? I don't know what it is. He won't be doing much golfing where he's headed, but at least it's an idea. I guess he'll need to stock up on some gloves, hats & scarves! EDITED TO ADD: David announced yesterday that he would like to add "Long Johns" (not the donuts) to his list. Size--L. Color- prefers black or dark blue. White works fine. I guess he doesn't like the long undies with flowers and stars, which are my personal favorite.