It’s been a busy couple of days. Christmas Eve hubby and I spent a few hours at the beach, just trying to relax. Then Christmas day we were at church from 6:30 — 11:30, got home at Noon or so and opened presents. Had a wonderful dinner with daughter’s boyfriend and just generally relaxed and stuffed ourselves on fudge and Biscochitos.

Tuesday I met a friend and we went after Christmas shopping for decorations, lights excetera. I had never done this before, but I will do it again!! I got so much cool stuff. Like 60 inch lighted and animated deer (a doe and a buck) normally $70.00+ a piece for only $18.00. I got the cutest little animated musical, lighted bear building a snowman for $9.99. I also got a giant nutcracker and tons of lights to finish our transition from red, white and blue lights to solid blue, plus some timing stakes and a whole slew of other stuff. It was awesome! I have been wanting those deer since like 94….pathetic huh? Next year the outside of our house is going to look as good as the inside! I can’t wait — only 360 more days…mauahahahahahahaha…..

Then on Wednesday we went out with some friends for a boat dive. Silver_Fangz is sick (AGAIN) so she couldn’t dive, so the two of us hung out and minded the boat will hubby, squirt and K and J went diving. The dove at Molokini, which is a small crescent shaped island off of Maui — it’s an island that is sinking, so it’s great for all kinds of marine life. Then we cruised around the island a couple of times while trying to catch some fish. It was an amazing, relaxing, fantastic way to spend the day. That afternoon and evening, Silver_Fangz had friends over for movies and hanging out.

Yesterday was a kick back and clean up some day. Today is a clean up a lot day! So I have a lot to do, I’d better get to it. Before I go…guess what??? I  .. have… pictures…..!!!

Here’s squirt ready to go under, giving us the Shaka, and Silver_Fangz in the captain’s chair with Maui and Molokini in the background.

This is for WineCountryGirl who asked for a foot picture a few eons ago… here’s two: Squirts and mine.

Here’s Molokini and for Alicia… a picture of your favorite beach from the ocean view — Kam 3!

Question of the day: Favorite part of this Christmas?  

So far we have had a great Christmas. Spent the better part of the morning in church .. had to be there by 6:30 as Hubby was singing in the choir for both masses — 7:30 and 9:30 am. Silver_Fangz read for the first mass and Squirt served for the second mass so we were there for a long time. We left the house at 6:00 AM and got home about 11:45 — whew. But it was the best way to spend the day. The first Mass was kind of solemn, everyone was just waking up… the next mass was joyful, energetic and lively…everyone was glad to be celebrating the birth of our Lord on this day of Remembrance. I only have a short time, but I wanted to wish everyone a great Christmas and joyous New Year!

PS : ThisIsBullDookie: Thanks for the Chicken Poop LOL

Yesterday was the DET Christmas party. These are usually fun to some extent. For the children they are usually quite boring. They have a high def. Vis lab there that they usually show movies on during the parties to keep the older kids from being bored out of their minds. This year however they choose to show Christmas movies like Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and the cartoon version of How the Grinch stole Christmas. This kept the littler kids entertained (which is sad because they usually entertain themselves) and left the older kids to their own devices. Luckily we had let each child bring a friend so they had someone  to stay occupied with.

The party is held in MHPCC (Maui High Performance Computing Center). Basically its a big, bland conference room. The ladies who organized it did a great job making the place look festive.

The best part of the party is the White Elephant gift exchange. You can bring something nice, limit of $10.00, or you can bring a white elephant or joke gift. Last year we got a rubber chicken (that has been making an appearance for at least five years) and  a used VHS of Jimi Hendrix Rainbow Bridge. This year we gave: A rubber chicken, and a DVD copy of Jimi Hendrix, Rainbow Bridge. We had a friend convert the VHS to DVD — made a copy of the cover and voila! The chicken has the year and family name of each person that gets it written on it. We actually got pretty lucky this year. Hubby got for me a set of 4 brass angel candle holders that are beautiful. He had a really cool nutcracker that was decked out in Camo, but it got stolen from him… Darn! Silver_Fangz was pulling for me and ended up with a huge (size 11-13) yellow rubber flippers. LOL — you should have seen her face! Another friend though ended up trading her some foot cream and Christmas Charm bracelet for the flippers for her friend — who wants to do some snorkeling and is a big guy… too funny.

The laughs abounded as huge guys got chests filled with Tinkerbell cosmetics, homemade CD’s with guys songs  written songs,  A container of kitty litter (clean thank goodness), and  package of crackers and wives got things like rubber chickens… it was a lot of fun and we enjoyed it tremendously! I love White Elephant gift exchanges! It’s a fun way to exchange presents, as long as every one has a good sense of humor!

So all in all is was a good party and fun was had by all.

Mele Kalikimaka!!

Friends: Borrow your stuff for a few days and then give it back.
Military Friends: Borrow your stuff, keep it, and it goes PCS with them. 

Friends: Know a few things about you.
Military Friends: Know all about you or have met someone else at  another duty station who does.

Friends: Will leave you behind if that’s what the crowd is doing.
Military Friends: Cry like babies because they HAVE to leave you.

Friends: Call your parents Mr. and Mrs.
Military Friends: Call your parents Mom and Dad.

Friends: Bail you out of jail and tell you what you did was wrong.
Military Friends: Would be sitting in jail next to you saying, “Man,  they made a BIG mistake trying to jump us.”

Friends: Have never seen you cry.
Military Friends: Cry with you.

Friends: Will knock on your front door.
Military Friends: Walk right in and say, “I’m home.”

Friends: Are your friends for a while.
Military Friends: Are your friends for life as you move about this  country or the world.

Friends: Will ignore this.
Military Friends: Will forward this.

These made me think of all my friends I’ve made in various duty stations across the world. So much of this is oh so true. In California I had a good friend and we would walk right in to each other’s houses. I was there so often when her husband came home I’d answer him and call him honey (joking of course). Other friends I’ve known exactly where everything in there kitchen was ’cause I’d helped them unpack it and viceversa. In Germany one friend and I would hang out till all hours of the morning while our spouses where deployed  — nobody understands my life the way a military spouse does…. just no way can they completely “get it”.  So while some of my friends are non military and completely treasured for who they are and the huge impact they make on my life, my military friends have an understanding of who I am made that much deeper by our common experiences.

So this is for all those that have been or currently are a member of the military or a family of a military member. My friends.

I finally made some Biscochitos, but I’m going to need to make some more…. they are already almost half gone and I just made them on Sunday. Did I mention yet that it’s vital that I get to the gym today and everyday for the rest of the Holiday. As a prevention / maintenance thing. I also got my fudge done, and my church windows. I’m going to go out and finish up my shopping in a little while, then I’m taking the girls out when they get home from school. I think this evening we will try to meet hubby in town and see Eragon.

You want to hear something really frustrating?? Too bad. It’s my blog and I’m going to say it anyway….ha!

Friday we picked up a new retainer for Silver_Fangz, the old one apparently tasted good to the dog. The receptionist said it was like their fifth retainer chewed up by dogs in the last two weeks. Ok so here’s the frustrating part…. the replacement costs 160.00. We picked it up Friday afternoon. Sunday evening…it was gone. that’s $80.00 / day. She’s (of course) paying for the next one. She’s either getting a job or working for me at home — and I mean WORKING — not doing chores. She’ll clean windows, weed, scrub walls and bathrooms, go through boxes, and on and on. I was sooooo pissed on Sunday. I’m calm now. Frustrated but calm.

Sunday hubby was at the track and he had me bring down the Silver_Fangz, her bf and other friend and he took them on some “fun runs” where they get to take passengers on track runs. The kids had a blast. This sunday Silver_Fangz and Squirt are supposed to go and get some time in a racing kart. That should be fun. End of January Silver_Fangz will be able to get her permit. Frightening huh? LOL. Just one more thing I’m not sure I’m prepared for.

I’m going to take some pictures of my interiors decorations…they look so good this year! I’m so in the Christmas spirit! I love Christmas! I’ll try to post the pics soon. Until then everyone have a great day!

Ho Ho Ho!

…………….The Grinch.

Oldest daughter has a bunch of friends over having a techno / dance night party thingy.  It’s starting to wind down now. We have decided to let her date 18 yo…on our terms!!! Very supervised, limited places for dates, no homes without adult supervision, and we drive…(since he doesn’t have his license yet, that one is not to difficult). He had given her Christmas present to her early… a white gold locket that says “I love You” on it. He also told her he loved her and would wait as long as neccessary to be able to be with her. He really is nice kid. We are trepidatious, but, I think they are both responsible kids and we have had a ton (read: too many to count) open honest discussions about this subject and many others…. I hope we are not making a huge mistake.

We have been swamped around here. Parties, community service projects, orthodontic appointments, shopping baking and for hubby golfing and racing. Arrrghhh… Some times I get so frustrated when our days are so packed and he books all the remainder of his free time with his other fun activities. That leaves me stuck at home cleaning, cooking and doing the work. Bahhh…. not so good for me. Matter-of-fact the girls and I decided to go see Eragon without him since he couldn’t fit it into his schedule. Unfortunately, he offered to let the girls go to the track day and sit in on some fun runs tomorrow so they bailed on me.

Fine. I’ll stay home and do some laundry and bake. Whoppee. Somebody stop me before I hurt myself.

Maybe I’ll go by myself…. or go see Borat… I’ve heard mixed things about it, but hey I’m up for some experimentation. We’ll see. Regardless… I plan to enjoy my day!
Hope you all have a great Sunday too!

For colds and flus…………

Tuesday night I went to bed, tired and having what I thought was some severe allergy symptoms. To my horror, I progressively got more ill throughout the night, finally waking in the morning with a stuffy, coughing, runny nose, temperature running,headachy cold. I plopped by bottom on the chair, loaded up with some orange juice and took ziacam all day. Yesterday I was just about back to normal with just a little cold symptoms. Today I’m feeling just fine, although I still have some allergy problems — runny nose, sneezing, itchy eyes. But all in all I escaped the illness relatively unscathed. Should have known that I was miserably sick all day on — WEDNESDAY!! Thanks goodness Christmas is not on a Wednesday!

Last night we made some fudge — yum!! Squirt had to take some in for her science class learning day (they had to find the main ingredient and describe how it photosynthesizes — cocoa in this instance). Sounds like a good excuse to have a party right??? Tonight we are making Biscochitos. Tomorrow we’ll make sugar cookies, chocolate slices and dipped pretzels and turtles. Hopefully I get some banana nut bread done too.Some people asked about Biscochitos, they are a mexican christmas cookie and actually are New Mexico’s state cookie (no lie). They are light and not too sweet. Very biscuit like actually…ha ha ha. They have anise and brandy and topped with cinnamon and sugar. The house is all decorated and looks great. Gifts are mailed –except my sister’s which I need to get out today.

So.. Hubby did it. He submitted his retirement request and we started discussing retirement party dates etcs. Eeep. I’m ready, but I’m not, it that makes any sense at all. This time next year we will be celebrating Christmas in New Mexico. Yikes!

Ok, I’m off, have some shopping and cleaning to finish up with — hope everyone has a great day!

Question for the day: What’s your favorite Christmas treat?

For those interested I’ll post the recipe for Biscochitos.

This is a Kween_of_the_Queens writing challenge:

BEST HOLIDAY EVER

Whatever holiday you wish to write about, just make sure it’s a memorable one to you!

Make it long, or make it short, make it REAL! No fiction this time alright? What made it so wonderful? What was special aobut your holiday? 

Christmas is a special time for me. Growing up it was filled with Christmas traditions. There were advent wreaths and calendars, getting and decorating the tree, Christmas Mass, Biscochitos, posole, and a myriad of other family holiday musts. There is something about the twinkle of Christmas tree lights that has always made my heart a little lighter. So for me, there have been many great Christmases. But I truly didn’t have to think about this at all, I knew exactly which one to share.

It was 1986. I was 19 and recently married. Hubby was 26. We had left our homes, (for me my parents house) and were off on our big adventure. We were off to Germany. We arrived in mid October. We were living in temporary housing while a place became available. Temporary housing consisted of an attic apartment on the fourth floor. These used to be the servant quarters. The roofs were slanted and although it was 2 bedroom and 1 bath, it was fairly small. Luckily, it was furnished with the basics since our belongings weren’t there yet. Aside from these frugal living quarters, was our frugal living budget. Hubby was in debt up to his eyeballs when we got married –so I put us on a very strict budget in order to make ends meet. Every portion of our lives was budgeted those first years. In the end we had $7 per two week period a piece for entertainment money. That was $3.50/ week. Since we both smoked at that time and we considered that a luxury not a necessity that came out our entertainment money.

That Christmas was the poorest Christmas I’ve ever had, and the richest. We had a great tree, a local merchant opened his tree farm for the Air Force Squadron and we cut a tree for only 5 marks – about $2.50 back then. I lucked across some white mini lights on sale and bought 2 strands. They were .50 cents a piece. My mom sent us an angel for our tree topper that year, along with our first real ornament – two love birds in a cage with “Our First Christmas” written on it. The rest of the tree was decorated with salt dough ornaments I made myself – painted and lacquered and with popcorn I strung.  I made a wreath on the wall out of our Christmas cards and we hung our stockings on either side.

That year I made my first batch of Biscochitos solo. My recipe makes 5 ½ dozen and I doubled it, but I was shocked to realize a couple days before Christmas that there were none left! Turns out hubby had been taking them for lunch – a dozen at a time!!! (He gained like 10 pounds that Christmas). I had to have Biscochitos for Christmas so I made another double batch and hid some!

The best part of the Christmas however, wasn’t the cooking or the decorating. The house was filled with love and hope. For Christmas we invited all the young airman that were stuck in the dorms over to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day with us. They brought their gifts and their sleeping bags. We broke out the Risk game and started a game which would last until the day AFTER Christmas. We had about 10 people in that small apartment and we had a great Christmas. Everyone was so happy to not be alone, to be around friends and loved ones. We got up and made breakfast in the morning and I remember Hubby having to add extra milk to the eggs because there were more people than we had planned on and not quite enough eggs. We opened gifts, laughed and talked and played Risk and cards and ate Biscochitos and other Christmas goodies for the rest of the day.

That year wasn’t extravagant. I don’t even remember what I got as presents, with the exception of the Angel and the ornament.  What was important that year was the people and the feelings. That was a true Christmas. One that no amount of money could every buy. It was  a Christmas that I will always remember.

Please go by the Kween_of_the_Queens site and read the rest of the wonderful entries!

Whew….. *comes up for air*

To say the last week and half has been hectic would be like saying that there were a few more shoppers at the stores on the day after Christmas. I finally submitted my last paper and slide show last night. I thought I would sleep well but surprisingly found myself wide awake at the unholy hour of 5:38 am. I finally got up at 6:20 when I finally realized I was obviously not going back to sleep. This morning I have to work at packaging cookies for the church cookie walk. Yesterday I took some time out to make some cookies for said cookie walk.

I’m looking forward to some time off, in which I hope to catch up with everyone. Most of all I hope to get our gorgeous tree decorated. We squeezed out some time to buy it on Tuesday, but haven’t had time as a family to decorate it. So while it’s beautiful (an 8+ foot Noble Fir), it’s bare. Silver_Fangz named it “Freddy Joe”. Why she feels the need to name everything I have no idea.

She gets off house arrest (our term, not the real thing) on Sunday. She and the 18 yo pseudo boyfriend are still planning to try to date but they first have to pass our 3 month platonic rule and then we will see. Her and all her friends think we are being unreasonable and harsh. We don’t want to create an unrequited love situation — star crossed lovers and all that. Jeesh.

Why don’t kids come with warning labels. McDonalds has to label their coffee with hot, plastic bags have to say they could cause suffocation, why don’t kids come with a label that warns of stress, gray hair, and sleepless nights??? It would only right. Who do I sue since I didn’t see this coming??

Oh wait, I did know this was coming. I decided having kids would be worth it. Wait, that lady that sued McDonalds asked for HOT coffee and sued and won anyways, so even if I knew I should still be able to get some recompense. Right??
Who’s with me?