What's Happening

Emergency Fix

2009-05-09T16:43:00.003-04:00

On Jacki's blog (www.jovialjacki.com), she posted about us taking out our nasty disease ridden bushes. Those things were not just difficult to pull out, they were also difficult to put in the trailer. I tried using a regular wood saw, but there was entirely too much drit and other things (I randomly found a BASEBALL in the bush). After trying to work around it, I finally decided on using a hacksaw. It worked much better and was much more rugged, but it turned out the bush had some tricks up its sleeve. Halfway through the project, the bush broke my hacksaw. It is not a particularly nice one, Sears bargin bin special. Even being halfway done, but bush was still wayyy too heavy to put in the trailer so it was time to improvise. I grabbed the new welder and gave it a shot. Up until this point I have only welded much thicker metal so this was new territory, but it needed to be done. Now that it is welded together, I won't be able to replace the blade when it dulls, but the important thing is the project was finished. Here is a pic of the weld:

Welder Project #1

2009-05-09T16:22:00.004-04:00

The first project I tackled with the new welder was fixing my truck exhaust. The exhaust was working fine, but it was not held in the most sturdy or professional way. Here is what was holding it on:
I ground an existing hanger off of my pipe, and welded it to a spare clamp that I had. Lastly, I needed to tack weld the clamp together. The pipe now sit an inch or two higher than it did, which I think looks nice, and it is FIRMLY in place. Very happy the first project went off without a hitch. Having PD around to bounce ideas off of was extremely helpful.

Promoting Marines

2009-03-04T07:13:00.005-05:00

On Sunday, John was the Promoting Officer for one of his old Sergeants, now a Staff Sergeant. John is no longer this Marine's OIC (Officer In Charge), so he was honored and excited to still be asked to be his Promoting Officer. John loves making new SNCOs (Staff Non-Commissioned Officers).

Here are a few pictures John sent over.

More Iraq Pictures

2009-02-10T18:16:00.005-05:00

It's supposed to say "Do not SPIT GUM in the urinals".
Oh, those clever, dirty-minded Marines.

The living quarters

Stogie Night

The Marines each got a beer in honor of the Superbowl!

The Platoon

2009-01-31T08:58:00.001-05:00

Here are John's Communications and Communications Maintenance Marines!

(He's in the back row, 4th from left.)

Radar

2009-01-29T08:10:00.002-05:00

Some people (me included) wanted to know what that big thing is behind the Squadron in the picture I posted yesterday. Here's what John said:

It's the Radar, which is what the Air Defense Control Officers use to control the aircraft that come into our space. They take the planes who are far out or at high altitudes and bring them down close so the ATC can land them.

If we actually had bad guy pilots, they would also use it to identify them and help the good guys fight them.

The Squadron

2009-01-28T19:13:00.003-05:00

Here's a picture of John's Squadron out in Iraq. It's hard to see him, but he's the 4th from the left in the front row.

Cigars in Iraq

2009-01-25T10:54:00.003-05:00

Pictures in Iraq

2009-01-21T13:29:00.001-05:00

John Update

2009-01-19T18:51:00.008-05:00

Wanted to post a little update on what I have heard from John in his first week of the deployment. We haven't had a ton of time to talk, just a minute or two here or there, but here is what I know so far.

His first week has been a bit frustrating, as the unit they are turning over with has not left yet, so he does not have a workspace or computer to use on a daily basis. But they will be going home soon, so he will be a lot happier once he's able to actually do his job.

He lives in a different kind of structure than last deployment. These are what they call SWA (Southwest Asia) Huts. He didn't send me any pictures yet, but I found this one online.

He says it is a lot dustier than the cans (where he lived last time), but not too horrible. He likes the way his room is set up, even though it is a little small.

He has worked out every day that he has been there. On Saturday, he ran 800 repeats with his friend Riley. Today, he worked out 3 times - went for a run, lifted, and then went to a Jiu-Jitsu workout that his friend Mark dragged him to. He's gonna be sore tomorrow!

He said he has taken photos, just hasn't had time to send any of them to me yet. When he does, I will be posting them here!

I'm back!

2008-11-29T18:31:00.002-05:00

It has been slow and painful, but I am making my way back. I broke the 25 mile mark in less than 3 weeks. My ankle has been hurting, but it has been strong enough for me to run and to play football on. I am certain it will not be right until I have surgery, maybe not ever. It has been nice running with Jacki and watching her get faster by the day. I still have a while to go, but with a combination of running, weight lifting, and swimming in Iraq I should be right on track.

Stereo project

2008-11-16T20:27:00.010-05:00

Here is the before:

The old stereo was good, but when I upgraded the speakers, it just did not have the power that I wanted. With PD working at Circuit City, I knew now was the time. I bought a 1,000 watt Kicker amp and a Pioneer CD player. I had a Pioneer deck in High School and loved it (it met an untimely death when I rolled my truck 3 1/2 times and it went up in the flames of 20 gallons of 87 octane). I do not have the sub yet, but it will be here soon.
Gaggle*mess* of wires: check - wire strippers: check - beer: CHECK.

Here is what the back of the new deck looks like wired into the factory bezel.

Here is what the amplifier looks like. I forgot to take pictures after I made the wires look pretty. The power and grounding wires are HUGE (about the size of my pinkie).

Here is another pic of the amp. If you look to the right you will see a pressure release for the cabin. Without these things, when you shut your doors it would blow your windows out. Again, I forgot to make the wires look pretty.

Deck powered off.

Here is what the deck looks like powered on. The interesting things to note here are the USB and 3.5mm (headphone) jack. The USB lets the deck take control of your iPod. It is really nice. The complete package is AMAZING. The clarity is unbelievable and it still sounds amazing at near top volume. I can't WAIT to get my sub. As of now, I was thinking a 12" Kicker CVR. I am sure it will hit like a champ.

Button Project

2008-10-19T17:40:00.006-04:00

The only regret I had from the truck I bought was that I did not get the integrated garage door opener. The confidence to take on the project came from the pointers that PD gave me and the tools he suggested I buy (he works as a car stereo installer), and the classes my Marines have been giving me about small electronics repair. Even though I am considered "the boss" at work, I have never hesitated to learn from the wealth of knowledge my enlisted Marines bring to the table. I have also been spending a lot of time working on projects with my friend Aaron John, which also gave me even more confidence to give this a go.

The picture above shows the button I purchased at Radio Shack (about $2.75) soldered to some car stereo wire I had from another project, and those wires soldered to my garage door opener circuit board. I should have taken pictures of the circuit board, but I was excited to get right into the project. I did make two mistakes initially. 1) the button needed to be de-soldered and re-soldered because I needed to put the button on the outside of my truck interior, and the wiring needed to go on the inside. 2) I had to de-solder and re-solder AGAIN because I did not leave myself enough wire to mount the opener high enough in the truck to get good reception.
The picture above shows the panel I removed from below my steering wheel. I mounted the button on the top left.I used a Erwin unibit to get the correct size hole for the button. The unibit came highly recommended by PD as he has used them numerous times in his car stereo installs. It worked perfectly and the hole was exactly the right size.
Here is the finished product of the button project. My interior is a bit wet because mother nature decided to rain on me the whole time. I am very happy with the look and now have no more regrets about the truck. Next up, stereo upgrade.

Swimming and Biking

2008-09-07T20:59:00.002-04:00

Sorry for taking such a long time to post. I was supposed to go under the knife for my ankle, but that did not end up happening. I ended up getting enrolled in physical therapy. My first appointment is tomorrow. In the time from my diagnosis until now, I have been doing the best I can to stay in shape while keeping the running miles to a minimum. It started with the elliptical machine and the swimming pool. I could barely make it 20 minutes on the elliptical, mainly just because it is so awkward for me. That did not take long and I was up to about an hour, but it is incredibly boring.

The thing that really stuck with me was the pool. Every Tuesday and Thursday for about the last two months I have been hitting the pool. I started out not even being able to swim 50m freestyle without changing strokes. Today I hit a milestone of making a mile (1600m) without changing from the freestyle stroke. I do not think my time was particularly fast (38:38), but I was more excited about the progress I have made. I am sure I can improve on the time, and it is an excellent workout. It surely helps as a change of pace when your body hurts.

The other thing I have done to change things up is to buy a mountain bike. I am sure there will be a couple chuckles as you read this, mainly because most people who know me well, know it is very difficult for me not to curse as I drive past bicyclists. I nearly wrecked my beloved truck a couple months ago because of an obnoxious bicyclist, and they generally get my blood boiling. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Even with Tuesdays and Thursdays in the pool, my ankle still hurt, and running through the pain only managed to get it to move up to my knee. With what I saw as little other choice, I picked up a mountain bike. I like it because it is still very sporty (you have to be very coordinated to ride some of the trails on base), and because I can still get a heck of a workout in. Plus you do not have to wear a one piece spandex; that was a big draw for me.

Jacki has been a great motivator for me. She is there every step of the way. Her optimism and open-mindedness have surprised and inspired me. I hope she is able to keep her momentum going, and I hope the physical training gurus will give me more of a choice in how I conduct my physical training.

New Camera

2008-07-07T21:09:00.003-04:00

After our digital camera bit the dust, Jacki and I decided it was time to venture into the SLR market. We settled on the Sony a200. I have been happy with the pictures, but I still have a lot to learn. There are several features this camera has that my old DigiCam did not have. With my very limited experience, the biggest thing I have noticed is the speed you can take pictures. It automatically focuses much faster, plus the pictures are a lot more clear. The only downside, as you can see from the picture it is very big. I will keep you all posted.

The Departed

2008-07-07T20:52:00.002-04:00

Jacki is now gone from the Jacki and John website. She has decided blogger has driven her crazy and has moved on to wordpress. I am going to try and keep this thing going on my own. With her departure I am going to take a couple of her recommendations to heart. The first was to cut my post lengths down, and the second was to learn to spell. I am now using firefox, so hopefully that will help with the spelling. Let me know via comments if you think the length of posts has gotten out of control.

10 Random things

2008-06-05T20:27:00.002-04:00

I was tagged by Therese (my mother-in-law) to write 10 totally random things about myself that most people do not know. Here we go:

1) Everyone knows I am a huge football fan, plus they know I love to play football. What most people do not know is how I went from being a football player to a runner. I played in the Sandusky league when I was in 5th or 6th grade. I was one of the smaller players, of course, but I was also by far the fastest kid on the team. I made it through the conditioning workouts and before we even got pads they decided starting positions. I made 3rd!!! string running back. I was very disappointed, but at least I got the position I wanted. After the first few workouts in pads, I was moved to left guard. Not because I was scared or couldn't hang onto the ball, but because the son of the coach's best friend transfered. I learned quickly there was no justice in football. That same weekend I went to a race with my mom. I had no intentions of running, I actually had Michael Jordan high tops on. After hours of people trying to goat me into it, my mom commented in front of one of her friends: "Don't feel like you have to keep up with me". My young ego was pushed WAYYY past its limit and I signed up. 5 miles in Jordans and I finished well ahead of my mom. The only person in my age group to beat me was two years older than me. Little would I know that same guy would beat me at all stages of my running career. I didn't feel too bad, Ben Etchill was a Scholarship runner for tOSU. I digress. That weekend I learned the harsh reality that I would never be taken seriously as a football player. Not long after I ran my first 5K and ran a 20:12. I beat half of the Varsity Cross Country team during that race, as a 6th grader, I knew I found my calling.

2) Jacki and I get bored and we sing to each other. No, not love songs or Karaoke, sing conversations. I am fairly certain we are even dorkier than everyone thinks we are.

3) I used to tie a rope to my dirtbike and drag my brother behind me in a sled. This obviously only works when it is snowing. This is one of the crazier things I have ever done or seen done. It is incredibly difficult to ride in the snow, let alone pull someone in it. Still some of the best memories I have. Slightly surprised PD is still alive.

4) Speaking of PD, my golfing career did not start off on the best note. When I was young, I had fun hitting golf balls in the backyard. I did not have many, so I had to run and get them after I hit them. After a while, I decided I would game the game and put PD out where I hit them to, but about 50 yards further than I usually hit. For safety *giggle* I gave him a baseball glove. I really got ahold of one and hit PD square in the face from about 200 yards. He still has the scar. Chicks dig it.

5) I have had a checking account since I was 12 years old. I have never over-drawn. This probably surprises most people since I tend to spend money like it is on FIRE and I keep the balance of my account in my head, rather than my checkbook.

6) I was ONE merit badge away from being an Eagle Scout. Not surprising, as I was a horrible procrastinator when I was young. The surprising part was the merit badge I did not have: PHYSICAL FITNESS. This from our school's first male 12 time letter-winner. The irony alone it almost worth it. It is still a sore subject with many people in my family. It would have been nice, but I am not losing a lot of sleep over it.

7) I have always been a speed demon. This nearly ended me in high school. I rolled my truck 3 1/2 times at 70 miles an hour. The even crazier part is that I broke my cell phone the day before jumping my dirtbike in our creek. I had no way of contacting anyone, so I ran 1 1/2 miles home (in sandals) from a crash where I was not even wearing a seatbelt. I walked away with almost no scratches. My forehead was a little bruised. I did have a large amount of glass in my back. It was extremely painful when the doctors dug that out.

8) I have never quit a job. I had an especially shitty construction job in high school. My boss never praised any of my work and he complained constantly. I spent an entire week breaking stones with a pick-axe. I ran a reciprocating saw for 8 hours in a day with only a half hour break at lunch. I am fairly certain prison inmates are not allowed to be worked that hard.

9) I bought Jacki's engagement ring over a month before I proposed. Anyone who knows me well, knows I have absolutely no poker face and even less patience. I do not do well with waiting at all. Keeping things from Jacki is even more difficult. This is a feat I still cannot believe.

10) I found out I was accepted to the University of Michigan (a dream I had since childhood) during practice for a play I was in (Guys and Dolls). Father Joseph, the priest who ran with us for most of our high school practices and blessed our wrestling team before every competition, interrupted our practice. "I just wanted to let everyone know John Schreiner is going to be a Wolverine." He warned me to stay away from East Quad. Irony is a theme in my life.

Jacki is going to yell at me for making this so long.

Jacki's New Blog!

2008-05-12T21:31:00.004-04:00

I've been wanting to create a new blog using the fantastic Wordpress for quite a while, and finally got around to it this weekend.

Check me out at my new home: http://www.jovialjacki.com.

Let me know what you think of the new layout! I'll also be creating a new blog for John soon, but haven't set that one up quite yet...

26

2008-05-04T16:05:00.003-04:00

Happy 26th birthday to the guy I am so lucky to call my hubby! I love growing old(er) with you! (Even though you will always be younger than me, and constantly remind me of that fact!) :)

xoxo

Nobody's Gonna Break-a My Stride

2008-04-27T10:40:00.003-04:00

John and I went for another run/walk this morning. I'm still walking more than running, but who cares. Something's better than nothing. John had some great advice for me to run further without getting so tired. He told me I was wasting a ton of energy by using short little strides and moving my arms and feet really furiously. (His impression of it is hilarious.) I thought he was crazy at first, how could it be easier to run faster? But then I increased my stride and realized he was right! To a certain point, it is a lot harder to run really slow.

When we got home, we did some sit ups and push ups. It all feels really good.

Movement

2008-04-24T07:11:00.003-04:00

I went for a short run with John this morning. I'm waaay out of shape, and it was painful, but I'm glad John went with me to push me to do it.

A few things have happened recently that makes me realize that I need to add some movement to my life.

My back has been aching, needing to be stretched and cracked multiple times throughout the day. I like to say it's from "carrying the team", but really, there's no reason for it other than being weak.
A trip to the doctor a couple weeks ago reminded me that I'm at risk for eventually developing osteoporosis. Obviously eating + drinking calcium-rich foods and taking calcium supplements helps, but it's also really important to do high-impact activity like running or tennis to build bone strength. Osteoporosis is very common for people with smaller frames like me, since your bones aren't used to carrying around much weight, so they can become weak.
Oh, and yesterday I bought some sweet new running shoes.

John helped to motivate me to wake up 20 minutes early this morning to go out and put the new shoes to use. The weather was a perfect 60 degrees. I'm so out of shape that 3 minutes was all I could handle of straight running. I did a little walking and then finished up running again. In total, it was only about 8 1/2 minutes, but I still had that lovely pukey/dizzy feeling when we arrived back home. I'm living proof that you can't tell what sort of shape someone is in just by looking at them. I'm a fat person living in a skinny person's body, and I really need to change that.

Busy Day, Then Dinner Out!

2008-04-20T10:34:00.004-04:00

Jacki and John
Originally uploaded by jovialjacki

Yesterday was a beautiful day with lots accomplished. Dave and Katie came over around 9:45am. They drove her car so that John and Dave could do the 60k mile maintenance using John's tools. They changed the spark plugs, spark plug wires, air filter, oil filer and oil, and did an automatic transmission fluid flush. Whew! They realized halfway through that they had bought the wrong ATF fluid, so Katie and I got to drive the 30 minutes to the nearest Hyundai dealership to talk them into selling us 9 quarts of it, even though their parts department was closed on Saturdays. They didn't even really know how much it was supposed to cost, so they just charged us $6 each. We're lucky the dealership was so helpful, otherwise they would have been screwed.

Katie and I spent the rest of the day shopping at the new TJ Maxx, making lunch (John grilled the burgers, but we did everything else), playing Wii (Mario vs. Sonic at the Olympics), and just chatting.

When they weren't working on the car, the guys also cut the wood pieces for my closet project. (Dave has a compound mitre saw that made the job go faster than it would with John's regular mitre saw that cuts only 6" boards.)

After all the projects were finally finished at around 7pm, Dave and Katie took us out to dinner to thank John for his help. We found this cute little Italian restaurant in Morehead City. It looked like it was an old house that they turned into a restaurant. A little pricy, and our waitress sucked, but the food was fantastic. I can't wait to eat my leftovers for lunch today. :)

Nail Removal

2008-04-09T19:37:00.001-04:00

Nail Removed from Tire
Originally uploaded by jovialjacki

John noticed a couple days ago that a giant nail had found its way into one of the tires of his truck. We probably drove around on it a bit too much, but we finally got a chance to get a repair kit yesterday, and he fixed it up today after work. Of course he had to pose for a goofy picture after he finished. :)

New Bedroom Furniture

2008-04-09T19:26:00.001-04:00

New bedroom furniture
Originally uploaded by jovialjacki

We bought it over 2 months ago, but I finally got around to taking pictures of the gorgeous new bedroom set we bought! I love the dark wood, and I think it looks especially nice against the light blue color on the walls. My jewelry box and our statue we bought on our honeymoon match the wood color perfectly. And John's new giant 150-cigar humidor also blends right in like it was meant to be a part of the set.

Easter 2008

2008-03-29T20:30:00.001-04:00

Finished Treehouse!
Originally uploaded by jovialjacki

We spent late Friday, Saturday, and early Sunday morning of Easter with Allan, Tanna (unfortunately, not in the picture, since someone had to take it), Will, Emma, Jack, Dennis, and Sharon. Never content to just sit around and relax, they decided to build a really fun treehouse for the kids! I mostly just observed (physical labor is not my thing), but it was such a beautiful day (in the 70's), that I had a great time playing with the kids in the yard and trying to keep them occupied as their excitement for the treehouse's completion mounted.

(And as you can see, even though I didn't have much to do with the construction, I wasn't shy in toasting a glass of wine for its completion!)

"Bunko" and Babysitting

2008-03-29T12:23:00.004-04:00

Last night was supposed to be my first Bunko night. However, only 9 girls showed up (you need 12 to play), so we just sat around and chatted instead. It was still a lot of fun!

John was asked to babysit for Mackinzie and Zac so that their mom, Urlene, could go to the Bunko night (their dad is away for a few weeks on a training mission). Originally, he was planning to just play video games all night while I was out with the girls, but he was nice enough to say yes to babysitting. The kids are almost 4 and 2½ and are of course very energetic! When we were done with our fake Bunko night after 2½ hours, he looked like he was ready to collapse. He said he was doing non-stop kiddie olympics, throwing them around and lifting them over his head. And these kids are very big for their age! He definitely got his workout for the night. OH, and he's making up for missing out on video games last night by playing Oblivion all this morning, so don't feel too bad for him. :)

Ender's Game

2008-03-29T11:49:00.006-04:00

I finished another excellent book today, Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. John read this book as a part of his training at TBS a couple years ago. It was sitting on our shelf, and I thought it looked interesting, so I picked it up.

It is a sci-fi story about a future (the year is not specified) where the human race has been attacked twice by an alien life form (called "buggers"), so we need to build up a strong army to fight and hopefully stop them forever. Ender Wiggin is the main character, a military genius who is raised solely for this purpose, to command the human military. He is sent off to Battle School at the age of 6, knowing he won't see his family for years, if ever again.

This book was sad and tragic in many parts, as you follow the pressures and stresses of this young child, knowing it is up to him alone to save the world. Although it is set far in the future and they are battling an alien life form, it had a lot of applications and similarities to modern day wars. My favorite part was when Ender learned more about why they were fighting this civilization:

"This isn't just a matter of translating from one language to another. They don't have a language at all. We used every means we could think of to communicate with them, but they don't even have the machinery to know we're signaling. And maybe they've been trying to think to us, and they can't understand why we don't respond."

"So the whole war is because we can't talk to each other."

"If the other fellow can't tell you his story, you can never be sure he isn't trying to kill you."

I found this interesting because isn't it true that most wars, arguments, disagreements happen because people can't really understand each other? Fighting aliens is obviously an extreme of this, but at the core it is really a very similar situation.

I look forward to reading more of the books in this series.

St. Patty's Day 2008

2008-03-16T20:57:00.001-04:00

St. Patty's Day 2008
Originally uploaded by jovialjacki

(In case you're wondering, apparently, the Catholic Church changed St. Patrick's Day to March 15 this year, since March 17 falls during Holy Week.)

John and I celebrated St. Patty's Day in a couple ways yesterday, but amazingly enough without any green beer or corned beef/cabbage!

We went to the St. Patty's Day festival on Emerald Isle in the afternoon, then went to a party at my friend Annie's house to celebrate her husband's recent return from Iraq as well as our favorite Irish holiday.

The weather was gorgeous for the festival. Low-70's and nice and sunny. We ate before we went, so we only bought a lemonade (my drink of choice at festivals and any other outdoor activity). John also bought me a cute pair of earrings that were on sale for just $4.25 from one of the fun little hippie shops nearby, called the Dragonfly. (The guy who worked there was playing the bongos while we looked at the merchandise!)

The party at Ann + Jim's was a lot of fun. We hadn't met Jim yet (he was in Iraq for a year, and I've only known Ann for a few months), so it was nice to finally put a face to all the stories I've heard! We played a few games of Wii tennis and bowling as well as Guitar Hero! I'm happy to have finally joined the rest of the world in the GH revolution. It was really fun, and I actually passed the first song I played, despite getting really flustered and messed up in the middle. I recovered like a true rock star. ;)

We're considering buying Rock Band for when my family comes to visit this summer (how fun would the singing be?! and my dad has always had a secret wish to be a drummer). I wish someone I knew had it so we could try it out first.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

2008-03-12T22:15:00.004-04:00

I finished my latest read, A Thousand Splendid Suns, this evening. This was a sad, tragic, enlightenting, and inspirational novel. It follows the story of two girls as they become women in Afghanistan, and their lives intersect. It is really about their lives, but their lives are shaped so much by the country they live in and all of its changes throughout the last 30 years, that it also taught me a lot about the country of Afghanistan. I had trouble following some of the politics (who were the "good guys" and "bad guys" seemed to keep changing, as it does when the perspective of the characters change), but that was ok. I still got so much out of this book.

I can't wait to discuss it in detail with my book club friends next month.

He's Still Wise to Me

2008-03-11T20:10:00.001-04:00

Wisdom Teeth Still in Tact
Originally uploaded by jovialjacki

John had his wisdom teeth removed today. He only had 2, on the top, so it was a pretty quick procedure. They didn't even put him under, just shot his mouth full of novocaine. He said it was almost completely painless, easier than when he has had baby teeth removed in the past. The time from when they called him back to the office and when he returned to the waiting room was less than an hour! Hopefully it heals just as quickly. I hope the cold that he still has lingering doesn't impede the healing process. He has been feeling pretty good today, despite the fact that they didn't give him any good stuff like Vicodin, just 800mg Motrin. Good thing he's tough.

Of course, his good mood might have to do with the fact that he got to use his day off of work to play over 10 hours of non-stop video games. He's completely obsessed with the PS3 game Oblivion, which we've had for a while, but he didn't really get into it until this weekend when he and Jay played together. The game is so detailed and seemingly never ending. I wish I could play with him, but much of it is first-person, which makes jacki get nauseous with motion sickness. Ugg. Instead, I'll just sit here and enjoy reading my latest book. Fine by me! :)

Hot Wing & Cheddar Pizza

2008-03-11T19:27:00.006-04:00

I tried my hand yesterday at creating my own version of the famous hot wing and cheddar pizza from Chet & Matt's that we love so much. I get a craving for it every once in a while, and being 13 hours from the restaurant, I'm left with my own cooking skills to satisfy that craving.

It ended up turning out pretty well. John says it wasn't quite as "saucy" as Chet & Matt's version, but I was afraid it would get too spicy, so I went a little light. The flavor was pretty good, but it could stand a touch more heat, so I'll increase it next time.

Here's how I made it.

Crust:

I always use storebought Pillsbury Pizza Crust. It's really cheap, and actually really good.

Chicken:

Cut up 2 chicken breasts into small pieces.
Put 1/4 cup of flour in a ziploc bag, add chicken, and shake to coat
Heat up some oil in a pan, and add coated chicken.
Cook until chicken is browned
Add some hot sauce to pan to cover chicken and let simmer for 1 minute

Sauce:

I just used the Medium sauce from Buffalo Wild Wings that my parents gave me for Christmas. You could also mix Red Hot + butter in equal parts.

Assemble:

Spread pizza dough in pan to desired thickness
Spread thin layer of hot sauce on top of dough
Add a layer of cheddar cheese
Add a layer of mozzarella cheese
Put chicken on top of cheese

Bake in oven according to the directions on the dough package.

If anyone else tries this recipe or has a similar one that I should try, let me know!

Jay, Alicia, and Cohen

2008-03-10T21:22:00.003-04:00

We had some friends, Jay and Alicia, stay at our house this weekend. Jay is a Marine and they will be moving to the area soon, so they were down here to house hunt. Unfortunately, they didn't find anything (basically just found what they didn't want), but we had a great time hanging out. (And not finding a house just means they will be back to visit soon!) They have an 11-month old baby, Cohen, and another on the way in June! Cohen was born a preemie and is an adorable, tiny little thing, especially compared to our big boy nephew Austin! ;) He's in that stage where he is ohsoclose to walking. He pulls himself up on furniture, then sort of starts to push away, until he realizes he's about to walk and drops down to his butt again. It's so cute.

While they were here, the guys played PS3 and Wii and went for a run while Alicia and I chatted and played with the baby. We also went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse, which was quite good. I had a nice juicy cheeseburger. Yum. We almost never go out to eat when it's just John and I, so I always try to talk him into a restaurant when people are visiting. It doesn't always work, but sometimes I get lucky.

Playing Around...

2008-03-03T19:45:00.003-05:00

I'm playing with some new layouts, so the blog might look a little funky for a while...

Edit: I'm done with the redesign for now. There are a few things I would like to fix, but I just don't have any more time tonight. What do you guys think?

The Library

2008-03-03T18:38:00.003-05:00

I finally got a local library card today! The library here is teeny tiny, but does have a courier that runs books between the libraries in the three neighboring counties, which means I can get just about any book I want within a couple days. I really need to start taking advantage of the FREE books there instead of always buying all the books I read. I like looking at them lined up so neatly on my shelf, but it gets to be pretty costly after a while.

Despite the tiny selection at the local branch, they actually had The Secret Life of Bees available to check out. So now I have it back in my possession to finish up. Hopefully I can get through the rest of it quickly, because I really am enjoying A Thousand Splendid Suns and can't wait to finish that one too. I just hate being in the middle of two books at once. I usually like to devour them one at a time.

Yes, We're Still Alive

2008-03-02T20:31:00.004-05:00

We have pretty much fallen off the face of the blogosphere (I hate that word, but it's fitting), huh? Life got a little too crazy/busy to blog for a while there, and then I felt so out of it that it was hard to jump back in. So...here are a few things that have happened lately:

John babysat for Austin for two full days (while his parents were at work) while we were in Sandusky. He did a great job, even though Aussie was Mr. Cranky Pants due to teething. He'll be a great dad someday. :)
I dyed my hair brown again to get rid of the gross blonde highlights. (The hair stylist totally didn't listen to me, I only wanted a few, not my whole freakin' head. I don't work as a blonde.) But I used temporary brown dye, so the blonde is showing through again. I bought a box of permanent dye, just haven't gotten around to doing it yet.
John started work at a new Squadron last week. Same base, it's just down the road from his old job.
We saw Juno at the base theater ($2/ticket!) last week. It was fantastic, one of my favorite movies ever. It was my first time watching a movie on base. They play the national anthem before the film starts. Interesting!
I was in the middle of The Secret Life of Bees, but I lost the book somewhere between Jillian's house, my parents' house, and my house. So now I need to either find a friend who owns it or borrow it from the library. I was really enjoying it!
I'm now reading A Thousand Splendid Suns for book club. It is great so far - I'm about 7 chapters in.
We went to a cookout at Brian + Steph's house on Thursday. Their 14-month old, Skylar, is such an adorable little thing, and it was fun to watch her giggle as John threw her up in the air.
John bought Devil May Cry 4 for the PS3, and he has been playing it nonstop since. He would never stop except for the times I force him.
John installed a dimmer switch in our living room. We now know that dimmers don't work with those new fangled CFL bulbs. So now we need to get the old school bulbs for that room.
We went to my friend Katie's 30th (or 29+1 if you ask her) birthday party last night. It was a fabulous time with fancy martinis and fondue. And John finally got to meet my book club friends who I spent so much time with during his deployment.

I guess that pretty much catches things up and I can get back to my normal blogging, a few times a week. Maybe. I'll try.

Back home

2008-02-19T07:58:00.002-05:00

The surgery was a complete success, and my sister is doing awesome. We have been so busy lately, I have just had no time to blog. We returned back home finally late yesterday night, so we're trying to get back into the swing of our normal routine. I should have more time to blog soon. Despite the scary turn of events that brought us up to visit family earlier than expected, we still had a great time seeing everyone while we were there. More later!

Surgery Complete

2008-02-07T09:20:00.000-05:00

The surgery was successfully completed yesterday night. They're doing an MRI now to make sure they got it all out. Full updates at our other blog.

Bad News

2008-02-06T08:43:00.001-05:00

We got some terrible news yesterday. My baby sister Caitlin (she's 17) was found to have a sizable tumor in her brain. They believe it is a pilocytic atrocytoma tumor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilocytic_astrocytoma). Luckily, it is only a 1 out of 4 in severity, and it is all encapsulated, so her prognosis is very good. They are doing surgery to remove it at about noon today. John and I left NC at 2:15pm yesterday afternoon and drove through the night (sleeping for 2 1/2 hours in a McDonald's parking lot) and arrived in Ann Arbor a little before 8am this morning. We're just getting ready now to head over to the hospital.

We started a new blog for news and updates on Caitlin, you can check that out here: http://getwellcaitlin.blogspot.com.

Too Busy to Blog

2008-02-03T15:45:00.000-05:00

I have been too busy to blog lately. I wish I could say I was busy spending time with John, but in reality, I've been busy with work. We have a huge project going on, which required me to work 60 hours in the past week (even though I took Tuesday off). Not exactly fun times when your husband has just returned from 7 months away and you really want to spend time together. At least I work from home, so I'm still in his presence, even though I am in front of the computer practically all waking hours. (And thank goodness I get paid hourly now instead of salaried!) So needless to say, I haven't been too eager to spend any extra time on the computer when I finally finish work for the day, so the blog has been neglected. I hope to update it in the next few days with pictures of some more fun stuff around the house, like a new bedroom set and new curtains + rods in the living room.

Having John back home has been wonderful. It really feels to me like he never left. It doesn't feel awkward, or like a honeymoon period. It just feels normal. Exactly what I was hoping for. :)

We're having a very small Super Bowl get-together tonight, so I've gotta sign off for now. I'm making baked ziti - yum!

Busy Busy

2008-02-02T15:49:00.000-05:00

I have been keeping myself pretty busy. Here are pics of my three latest projects:

Cold Air Intake Before:

Cold Air Intake After:

Exhaust:
Rear Speaker Wiring (rear recepticle):

Panduit along the wall:

Front Recepticle (Terminates to Receiver):

The pictures are not very good, but they at least give you an idea of what it all looks like. The Cold Air Intake gives the engine a powerful sound when you get on it, but you can barely tell at the lower RPMs. I noticed about a mile per gallon difference adding the intake. I have not road tested the exhaust yet, but definitely has a nice sound. I will keep you updated on the gas savings. I am also very happy about the look. The rear speakers sound excellent. I think the panduit gives it a very professional look. I would have much preferred to run the wires in in the walls and put the recepticle in the dry wall, but I do not have a crawl space and access was very difficult. It was very expensive to do this way, but I would imagine it is a LOT cheaper than contracting a professional to do the work. The speakers sound GREAT. We watched the newest Harry Potter in Blu-Ray and it was amazing.

Staying Busy

2008-01-30T08:44:00.000-05:00

Greetings All! Thanks for the comments and well-wishes. It is great to be home with Jacki and back to the comforts that go with being home. On my first day home I was able to get a good amount of stuff done. Because of the time difference and the fact I slept most the plane ride, I was not able to sleep. While Jacki slept I was able to be very productive. It was strange, but I could not even manage to sit in front of the TV for more than a few minutes. I also was not able to stay focused on one thing at a time so I was running in about 10 different directions. Jacki had a problem with her second computer monitor, so I fixed that. After that I began to unpack all of my stuff and started by gathering up all my clothes to be washed. During the same time, I also worked on getting my computer refreshed. There were a lot of programs that I did not need and both of my hard drives were nearly full.

After this was all done, Jacki woke up (well at least for a few minutes). In her defense she had only got four hours of sleep, which I have never seen before. Lets just say Jacki is a girl who enjoys her sleep very much, and no matter how brave I happen to be on any given day, I do not ever disturb it. She came out to the living room and we started our Lost Marathon. It did not even last an episode. Even through Lost is a great show, I could not stay seated and Jacki couldn't stay awake. I went upstairs to check my e-mail, and when I came back down, she was out. I switched over from Lost to Call of Duty 4, which is a game Jacki bought for me. It is a pretty neat game. I had a good time even though it is pretty difficult, at least at first. I did a good job keeping it short and only played for about an hour. After that Jacki and I had lunch and I set out on the first of many projects for my truck.

While I was deployed I spread out a bunch of purchases for the truck. They were a locking tailgate to go with my tonneau cover and bedrug, a trail seal to keep in dry in there, a cold air intake, and a new exhaust system. I decided to start with the locking tailgate. It was not an overly complicated task, but it did involve altering my electrical system, so I took my time to make sure I did not do anything that would result in serious damage. Thanks to a heads up from PD it went off without a hitch. It turns out, the wiring diagram provided with the system did not have the correct information for the 2007 Ram. Thankfully their customer service department was excellent and I had my new wire colors after about a 2 minute phone call. I would have liked to get it done faster, but I was done and Jacki and I hit the town after about 3 hours.

When I looked at Jacki's car, I noticed she needed new tires. We took her car to Sears first and they wanted $460 for the tires they had in stock and 385 for tires that would take a week to get. We then went to Walmart, where we were about to get tires about on par with the $460 from Sears for about $350.

After that, we went home. Jacki made General Tso's chicken, and not sleeping the night before finally caught up with me. All in all, a pretty good day.

He's Home!!

2008-01-29T03:47:00.001-05:00

He's Home!!
Originally uploaded by jovialjacki

I think the picture tells it all! John finally returned from Iraq at 3am this morning. Do we look happy or what?!

The Truck Saga Continues...

2008-01-21T20:29:00.000-05:00

Annoyingly enough, John's truck is in the shop again. The stupid thing broke down on me again on Friday afternoon. It was just like last time. I was backing out of the driveway, and the 2WD just stopped working. This time it actually still worked in 4WD, but that obviously is not gonna work. I had it towed to the dealership, and am still waiting on an answer as to what is wrong (pretty sure it's the transfer case again), and how long it will take to fix it. I doubt it will be back before John is, but oh well. Not much I can do, except to keep calling them to try to push them to move faster. I've already made 3 calls and they tell me they should finally have an answer tomorrow morning. Luckily, John has been really understanding and hasn't blamed me at all for any of these vehicle problems. I'm a very gentle driver, and I'm so happy to have such a logical husband who realizes that. :)

Now I'm down to my Neon, which is not exactly in prime condition. It is still slowly leaking auto transmission fluid, but not enough has leaked for it to be a problem yet. I check the levels of that and the oil every time I go anywhere, just to be on the safe side. I think I'll be fine for the next week or so, until my mechanic is home...

Inside Job

2008-01-21T18:59:00.000-05:00

This weekend, I finally finished the cabinet project that John and I started in May 2007. (I enjoy procrastinating. This was one of the things on my honey-do list while John has been gone, so of course I do it just before he gets back.) The inside of the cabinets had some circles of over spray (left) from when we painted the front. I used a paint roller to re-paint the inside of them all white. It took two coats, but they look great now (right).

New Wreath

2008-01-21T18:58:00.001-05:00

New Wreath
Originally uploaded by jovialjacki

I liked having a Christmas wreath on the front door so much, I decided to buy a pretty all-season one. I found this one on sale at Overstock.com. Now I just need to get a wreath holder that doesn't have jingle bells on it...

New Toy!

2008-01-21T18:54:00.001-05:00

New Toy!
Originally uploaded by jovialjacki

I have wanted a nice KitchenAid stand mixer for a long time. I just couldn't bear spending that much on something I wasn't sure I would use enough. However, this Christmas, when baking dozens of cookies, I burned out the motor on the cheap hand mixer I bought a few years ago. I took that as a sign that it was time to take the plunge and spend the dough (pun intended!) for this beauty.

I would have been fine with the cheaper KitchenAid classic, but it only comes in white, and I couldn't spend that much without getting something that would actually be aesthetically pleasing (and match the stainless steel appliances I eventually want). So the Onyx Artisan it is! I promised John I would make him lots of cookies and brownies if he agreed to this purchase, so I have a feeling he will be gaining right back all that weight he lost by running so much during the deployment!

Oh, and super bonus, when I checked out at Lowe's, I found out there was a $30 rebate on it. Woot! The money-saving gods must love me. :)

299 is the most PAINFUL number

2008-01-19T01:52:00.000-05:00

299 is by far the most painful number. Yesterday (Friday) I ran a PFT. In the Marines, you have to fun a physical fitness test (PFT) every 6 months. I have been running a lot out here and recently I have really concentrated on the pullups as well. I figured I might as well run my PFT while I know I am in good shape. Right before I deployed to Iraq, I ran a 294. That breaks down to 20 pullups (max), 100 situps (max), and an 18:54 run. This time I did 20, 100, and an 18:05. It was pretty heartbreaking to see the time knowing I only missed it (a perfect PFT) by 5 seconds. The good news is I improved 5 points and it is the closest I have been to 300 since I was 19 (6 years ago). Regardless, everytime someone looks at your score all they can think is "you really couldn't gut it out for another couple seconds"? The answer in this case is No I could not.

I shall double my efforts.

51

2008-01-18T20:11:00.001-05:00

Me & Dad
Originally uploaded by jovialjacki

Happy birthday, Dad! Have a great one :)

Ninjas in Iraq

2008-01-18T12:46:00.001-05:00

Ninjas in Iraq
Originally uploaded by jovialjacki

John's Marines, being goofballs! (FYI - he's not in this picture.)

Girls' Dinner In

2008-01-13T16:18:00.000-05:00

My friends Katie and Ann (from book club) came over yesterday, and I made dinner. It was really fun, and I realized it was the first time I had anyone over to my house since John's been gone! I've only been going to other people's houses, since most of my friends like about 45 minutes away, and I feel bad making them drive all the way out to my house in the middle of nowhere.

It was a nice excuse for me to get the house clean and in presentable condition. I made Pasta Primavera, Ann brought an amazing angel food cake (that she made from scratch - impressive!),
and Katie brought a delicious bottle of Yellow Tail Shiraz (one of my favorites!).

After dinner, we played some Wii Bowling (I scored 200, great for me!) and Tennis (I stunk up the court). Ann had to leave early, but Katie stayed overnight, so we watched Disturbia (on Blu-Ray from Netflix) and then Dream Girls (on HBO On Demand). Really liked Disturbia (always been a fan of Shia LeBeouf, even from his early days on Even Stevens when my little sister used to watch it), but wasn't a huge fan of Dream Girls (predictable, long, and Beyonce annoys me).

It was great having the girls over and I hope to do it again soon!

Weeks

2008-01-10T22:38:00.000-05:00

We are down to just weeks, no longer months, before John gets home! I'm starting to get really excited, but trying to keep my excitement in check. The more I think about it and anticipate, the looonger each day seems to drag out.

I still have a lot I want to do in regards to cleaning the house, but so far none of it has really happened. I have a feeling the last week or so will be a cleaning and organizing mad dash, because I won't be able to sit still!

These last few weeks somehow seem to be much harder than the whole rest of the deployment. I think it's because I'm finally letting myself think about him actually coming home. I'm remembering how much I miss him and all the things I can't wait to do when he gets here. (Get your mind out of the gutter.)

Most of our plans are just hanging out together, enjoying each other's presence. He wants to play lots of video games while I sit next to him, reading a book. We want to have a Lost marathon, where we start at Season 1, Episode 1, and watch every episode in order. We want to go for walks around the development (after which he will probably run for a few miles, without me of course!). He wants me to make all his favorite meals: tuna noodle casserole, General Tso Chicken, tacos (I could go on for days). I want to finally get to eat dinner with someone on a regular basis. We want to sit on the porch in the cool evenings, while I wear a hoodie and complain about being cold and he smokes a nice cigar. We want to play Wii tennis doubles and try to beat the computer...

And then when John is finally rested enough after his 6½ months of literal non-stop work without a day off, we want to take a road trip up to visit friends and family in Ohio and Michigan.
I can't wait for it all to begin. I just need to somehow get past these last few weeks...

Green Grocery Shopping

2008-01-09T18:27:00.000-05:00

I went grocery shopping today and finally picked up some of those environmentally-friendly reusable grocery bags. They were on sale for 70¢ at the commissary, so I just couldn't pass them up!

They actually make it a lot easier to carry groceries into the house, since I can use the handles to put a couple on my shoulders (like a purse), and then carry a couple more in my hands.

And the best thing is, I won't have to deal with the constant influx paper and plastic bags, which just take up space until they finally annoy me enough to make a trip to the recycle drop-off.

Oh yeah, I guess that part about helping to "save the earth" isn't too bad either.

I'm cured!

2008-01-07T10:56:00.001-05:00

Just had an appointment with my dentist, and great news, my gingivitis is gone! W00t! Thank you Sonicare and SuperFloss. :) Here's to a 2008 of great oral and physical health.

Road Rage

2008-01-06T15:21:00.000-05:00

How many times have you been driving and wished you could give a "message" to the jerk in the car next to you? Or in a rare instance, thank someone for letting you into their lane? Well now you can! I thought this was the funniest thing ever, I came across it on ThinkGeek.com.

It's a battery-powered emoticon display that you can change based on the current road situation, using a remote control. It has 7 emoticon faces, and 3 messages: "thanks", "back off" and "idiot". I have a feeling I know which one would get used the most...

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

2008-01-05T10:18:00.000-05:00

I finished a fantastic book this morning, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. I originally bought this book for my Mom for Christmas, but unfortunately she had already read it. So I kept it for myself and am sending her a new book in the mail.

This book is written from the first-person perspective of a 15 year old boy, Christopher Boone, who has autism. He finds his neighbor's dog killed by a garden fork, and decides to investigate to find out who killed the dog. (He loves animals more than people, because animals don't have mysterious feelings that he can't understand or identify with.) The actual "mystery" isn't what is intriguing about the book, though. It is the way the story is told and how you really get a feel for the way autistic people think.

Christopher has seemingly random things that upset him and make him feel sick (the color yellow, being someplace new without a map on paper or in his head, loud noises, strangers, food that is not on his approved list, food that touches each other on his plate, or people touching him). He also has interesting ways of calming himself down and clearing his head when things do upset him. He loves math, because it is logical and there is always an answer that you can come to if you think about it enough. So if he starts to feel overwhelmed about what is around him, he thinks of things like "doubling 2's" or trying to figure out the highest prime number he can.

There are many different levels that exist on a broad autism spectrum. This character is on the higher side, but I definitely think I know at least one person close to me who has some autistic tendencies and way of thinking. I don't need to call them out here, but I definitely saw things that felt very familiar. I'm glad I read this book, so that it might help me better understand what that person is going through or feeling.

175

2008-01-03T09:00:00.001-05:00

Today marks 175 days since John left! Will he make it home before we hit the 200 mark? I guess you'll have to stay tuned...

I've got much I want to accomplish before he gets home, so hopefully that will help pass the time. The closer it gets, the slower the hours and days seem to take to pass.

Love in the Time of Cholera

2008-01-02T20:10:00.000-05:00

I just finished another book for book club. This month's selection was the challenging Love in the Time of Cholera.

I'm not going to lie, I had a really hard time getting into this book. I think it's lucky I flew home for the holidays, because if not for the airport and plane time, I'm not sure I could have forced myself to keep reading. The style of this book is so unlike any other I've read. There is NO dialogue. There are no chapters or page breaks. Just flipping through the book, it is very daunting, just seeing so much small text staring back at you. It's also hard to put the book down and remember where you were when you pick it back up, because there are no real clear breaks in thought. It felt to me almost like one big run-on thought. But the author is a Nobel Prize Winner, so some people must find this style interesting and/or academically sound.

As for the story itself, it is supposed to be a great love story, but I'm not so sure I see it that way. It felt to me more like a story of obsession and downright creepiness in parts. I don't want to give any of the plot away, but suffice it to say I wasn't a fan of one of the main characters, Florentino Ariza.

I'm proud of myself for finishing this difficult book, but it certainly isn't going anywhere near my favorites list. I already finished February's book club book (Time Traveler's Wife), so now I get to decide which book to read next for me. I received a bunch for Christmas, and I bought a few just before Christmas, so I have lots of options...

Last Year's Resolutions

2007-12-31T19:29:00.000-05:00

On this New Year's Eve, I thought I'd revisit the resolutions I made last year to see how I did...

Grocery shopping only once a week
I have been pretty good with this! Actually, while John has been gone the 2nd half of the year, I went grocery shopping even less than this. Turns out it doesn't take much food to keep just my tummy full!
Start Volunteering
I'm a Key Volunteer for John's squadron. It certainly has had its challenges, but for the most part, I have been happy to help out and be a part of the Key Volunteer Network.
Don't Leave Dirty Dishes Overnight
I really did get a lot better with dishes this year! Then again, it's easy to take care of your own dishes when you don't do much cooking, and it's only dishes from one person's meals.

Not bad! Now I've gotta come up with a list for 2008...

Car Update

2007-12-31T19:10:00.000-05:00

I made it home safe and sound! I checked the transmission fluid level before leaving the airport, and it looked fine to me. But since I'm kinda dumb when it comes to these kinds of things, I stopped by John's friend Adam's house to have him help me take a look and make sure. He agreed that the level is well within safe zone, although it did leak a couple drops while we were looking at it, so it does need get checked out eventually. But not an emergency. However, he also checked the other fluid levels while we were under the hood, and found the oil level extremely low. Not good.

So my plan as of now is to add some more Mobil 1 (just in case I need to drive it), but for the most part just drive the truck in the remaining few weeks before John gets home and resumes his job as my live-in mechanic! :)

Leaking Fluid

2007-12-30T11:19:00.000-05:00

During my trip to visit family for the holidays, I left my car at my friend Amie's house. She dropped me off at the airport when I left, and she dropped my car off at the airport yesterday so I could just drive it home from there. Well, nothing is ever as simple as it is supposed to be.

When she pulled my car away from her driveway where it has been for two weeks, she noticed a red puddle of fluid. She drove it the 5 minutes to the airport, and said that it seemed to be driving fine. However, I did a little internet search and found that it is most likely transmission fluid that is leaking out. NOT a good thing. This car even got a brand new transmission 2 1/2 years ago when the other one overheated and crapped out on me. Another reason my next car won't be a Dodge.

Luckily, Amie is the best friend ever, so she's going to drive back to the airport today to put some ATF in the back seat of my car so I can fill it up before I try to drive it. Hopefully I can make it back home safely (an hour from the airport) to get it checked out. I'm told that as long as the leak isn't too drastic and I stop along the way to check the fluid level, I should be fine. Let's hope!

I knew fun stuff like this would happen in the few weeks before John gets back home. That's life! :)

Michigan Hockey

2007-12-30T11:18:00.001-05:00

Finally got someone else to take one
Originally uploaded by jovialjacki

My parents, Caitlin and I had a blast at the Michigan hockey game last night! It was a tournament at Joe Lewis Arena in Detroit, and they were in the finals against Michigan Tech. Hockey is such a fun and intense sport, even though there was ZERO scoring until literally the last second of play. In fact, it went into double-overtime, and it wasn't until it was sudden death that Michigan finally scored the only goal of the night.

We didn't get home until well after midnight, but it was definitely worth it. Go blue!

15 Mile Club

2007-12-29T14:59:00.001-05:00

15 Mile Club
Originally uploaded by jovialjacki

Here's a picture of John and some guys who regularly run 15 miles together over in Iraq. Notice the Nike+ sensor on his shoe, so he can keep track of how far they've gone and how fast. He loves that thing!

John is in amazing shape, isn't he?! I'm so impressed with how much time he takes to run and work out when all he really wants to do is sleep in the small amount of free time he gets.

I definitely see a 300 PFT in his future!

Christmas Day

2007-12-29T11:11:00.001-05:00

Me & Dad
Originally uploaded by jovialjacki

On Christmas Day, we went to our traditional family movie at the theater, this year seeing National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Usually I miss the movie because John's family has a get-together on Christmas Day, but since he's not home this year, I spent Christmas Day with my family.

Even Austin went to the movie with us! He continues to be an amazing baby, as he didn't fuss at all. He slept most of the movie, and the rest of the time sat there quietly in daddy or grandpa's lap.

The movie had a lot of unbelievable plot points and plot holes, but it was still entertaining. I just tried to enjoy the movie for what it was, and had fun.

Later in the evening, we were starving for dinner, but since it was Christmas Day, we couldn't find any place that was open. Until it finally hit us - the indoor waterparks! They have thousands of people vacationing there, they have to have restaurants open and available to feed those folks! So we picked one of the many in Sandusky, Great Wolf Lodge. My meal (black bear burger) was burnt, but I think that's because I ordered it well instead of medium-well. The rest of our food was all really good, though. Dad got fajitas, Mom got rack of lamb, and Caitlin got Yankee Pot Roast Hobo dinner. I sampled enough of theirs and ate enough bread rolls and salad and drank enough beer to walk away really stuffed. :)

Non-traditional Christmas, but fun nonetheless!

More pictures.

Christmas Eve

2007-12-29T10:56:00.001-05:00

Me & Charlotte
Originally uploaded by jovialjacki

We didn't have any real plans for Christmas Eve, so my Mom's sister Cherie invited us to their house for dinner. (Jillian, Brit & Austin were at another get together for Brit's family.) We don't get to see them very often, so it was really nice to catch up! My cousins Josie & Stefanie have 5 kids between them, and man are they getting big! The picture above is me and Stef's 2nd daughter, Charlotte. She looks so much like her Mom!

My dad had a fun time trying to calm down the oldest kids, who were using him as a jungle gym. He invented "the quiet game" to see who could close their eyes, fold their hands, and not move for the longest. It actually worked - man are they competitive! :)

More pictures

John's Return

2007-12-27T22:03:00.000-05:00

I received news tonight about the return window for John. Woo-hoo!! I'm not going to post any return dates here on the blog (you never know who's reading), but rest assured that I will post when he's back home safe in my arms! It will be here before I know it (at least I hope). :)

S Family Christmas

2007-12-26T09:18:00.001-05:00

PD & Me with John's gifts
Originally uploaded by jovialjacki

On Saturday evening, I went over to the get-together John's dad held at his house. He made a delicious crown roast pork with twice-baked potatoes, green been casserole, and a bunch of other yummy stuff. It was a fun time, and nice to get to meet Dennis' girlfriend Sharon's mom, sister, and daughter. Also in attendance were Grandma S. and Aunt Debbie + Uncle Bill with their sons Brad and Matthew, and of course Dennis, Sharon, PD, and me.

In the picture above, we're holding all of John's presents. All of which he can't wait to get home to!

Click here to see more.

Christmas with My Family

2007-12-25T18:57:00.001-05:00

Oooh I love B-Dubs!
Originally uploaded by jovialjacki

On Saturday morning, we opened presents with my immediate family. We can never manage to wait until Christmas! Everyone got tons of stuff, and it was a really fun time. It was especially fun to see Austin open presents on his very first Christmas.

Click the goofy picture of me for more.

Chet & Matt's

2007-12-25T18:35:00.001-05:00

The fam with Dr. Mom, originally uploaded by jovialjacki.

We had a great time at Chet & Matt's on Friday. No one made a final head count, but I think we ended up having 30 or so people, and they opened the back room up just for us. It was nice to have the whole area to mingle around and chat with everyone. My Mom even brought her cap and gown with her so they all could see how cool she looked on her graduation day.

Click the picture to see more.

R Family Christmas

2007-12-24T12:11:00.000-05:00

Yesterday afternoon, we had a big family get-together that my dad's brother Kyle planned for our side and his wife's side of the family. It was a potluck, and there was so much great food! We ate so much for lunch that we forgot to even eat dinner yesterday. I had my grandma's traditional roast beef sandwich, lots of cheesy potatoes, my sister's awesome taco dip, pasta salad (which I was supposed to make, but my awesome dad made for me while I was at my in-laws the day before), and more than my share of grandma's scotcheroos.

It was nice to catch up with the family members, but there were so many there that I didn't even get a chance to say hi to everyone. I also didn't take nearly enough pictures. But we did get this nice one of our family by the little Christmas tree.

Video for Johnny

2007-12-24T11:20:00.001-05:00

Hey there my Johnny!

I sent this video on a CD, but since it still hasn't arrived, I thought I'd post it here for you and everyone else to see. I love you and miss you so much and can't wait for you to come home soon! (Soon can never come soon enough!)

Go Hope!

2007-12-20T22:57:00.000-05:00

My little sister found out yesterday that she got accepted into her dream school, Hope College! We're so proud of you, Caitlin! You rock. :)

Chet & Matt's on Friday

2007-12-19T10:36:00.000-05:00

Hey Everybody in the Sandusky area...

We are planning a little get-together at Chet & Matt's on Friday at 7pm. Partly to celebrate my Mom's graduation (since the weather didn't allow anyone to make it to the ceremony/party last weekend), and partly just to hang out! So please stop by and we can enjoy the best pizza in town together! Feel free to leave a comment here if you think you'll be able to make it, so we have an idea of how big of a table (or tables) we should get.

Hope to see you there!

Jake Long

2007-12-16T23:07:00.001-05:00

With Jake Long at Graduation, originally uploaded by jovialjacki.

I'll blog about Mom's graduation & party tomorrow (congrats, Mom!), but in the meantime, here's a cool picture we got today with the awesome (and giant!) Jake Long. He also graduated from the University of Michigan today, and was nice enough to take a quick photo with us before the ceremony. (John is jealous, of course! His response when I told him was, "Jake is the MAN!") Oh, and in case you're wondering, I'm wearing 3 ½"heels in the picture, and I STILL look like a teeny tiny little thing.

Family Christmas Dinner #1

2007-12-16T09:39:00.001-05:00

Me and the Dizzle by the Tree, originally uploaded by jovialjacki.

Yesterday evening was the Christmas celebration with John's Mom's side of the family. I was glad to get to hitch a ride with PD down there. It was a fun time, although we really missed John and Sandy. Click the photo to see more pictures of everyone!

Chicken Primavera ala PD

2007-12-15T08:45:00.000-05:00

I had a great time yesterday with my bro-in-law, PD! He picked me up at my parents' house at about 6:00, and we went to Kroger to pick up groceries to make dinner. The meal was one of my absolute favorites, Chicken Primavera ala PD! With pasta, chicken, lots of veggies and spices, you just can't go wrong. It was delicious. I had two huge helpings, and I think PD had four. One of his housemates must be crazy, because he chose to eat a bowl of cereal for dinner instead of our dinner! I hope he's a vegetarian, because that's the only explanation for that weird behavior. :)

Anyway, besides the great meal, it was really fun to just hang out with my bro for a few hours. It was nice to catch up and just chat about whatever.

We're going to a family Christmas party today, so it will be cool to get to hang out some more. His personality is so similar to John's, that we get along very well.

Water for Elephants

2007-12-13T22:03:00.000-05:00

On my flight up to freezing Michigan, I finished up another book, Water for Elephants. This was one of my favorites I've read recently. On the surface, it doesn't really sound like something I would be into, but just found myself really intrigued by the character and had a hard time putting it down.

It is a story set in the 1930's, following a 20-something innocent guy who is about to graduate from Cornell with a veterinary degree, but due to a personal tragedy, leaves his old life behind and jumps on the train of a traveling circus that happens to be passing through his town. They soon find out about his veterinary training and hire him to tend to the circus animals. His time with the circus brings up so many interesting turns of events. Love, torture, murder, and friendships. The story is actually a flashback into the memories of a 90-something year old man in a nursing home. There are a few scenes of him in his old age, and it is interesting to see how things have changed him throughout his life from when he was this naive young man who was just trying to run away from it all.

It's a quick read, and I definitely recommend it!

Now I'm reading Love in the Time of Cholera, and it is definitely much more of a challenge. I think I need to have a dictionary close by!

Family Time

2007-12-12T21:16:00.000-05:00

I'm here in Ann Arbor, safe and sound! My trip went fine. Flight arrived a little later than expected, but it was no big deal. I'm sure my Mom and Caitlin had a great time waiting around at the airport for an hour. ;)

When my dad got home from his business trip late this afternoon, Caitlin insisted on going out to pick up the newly-released Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix. Apparently, Wal-Mart had a special edition of the DVD that wasn't available anywhere else, so that's where we had to go. We'll be having a viewing party tomorrow, for sure!

On the way back home, we stopped for dinner at one of my all-time faves, Steak & Shake! They don't have those near where I live now, so I was happy to go back there for their delicious BLT with a side order of cottage cheese. Doesn't sound that exciting, but I like simple foods. :)

Caitlin and I just finished watching Kid Nation, and now we're on to Pushing Daisies. This is the last episode in the foreseeable future, until the writers strike is over, which is so upsetting. I'm gonna miss The Piemaker and his girl named Chuck!

Going Crazy

2007-12-10T22:37:00.001-05:00

Too busy to blog! I'm so behind on everything I need to do before flying back home. I haven't even started packing yet, and I'm leaving tomorrow after work (flight's on Wednesday, but I'm staying overnight at a friend's near the airport).

I'll have more later, but in the meantime, here's a picture from the Christmas Tea & Cookie Exchange my friend Katie had this weekend. It was super fun, I felt like such a grown-up. :)

Waiting...

2007-12-07T16:41:00.000-05:00

I took the truck in to the dealership today to have them check on why the "Serv 4WD" light is on. I sat in the waiting room for 40 minutes before the guy came back out and said that his computers were down, so he couldn't check on what's wrong. Even mechanics can't function without computers these days. (HUAR!)

I was annoyed that I had to wait so long for nothing to be resolved, but at least I got some reading in. I'm a couple chapters into Water for Elephants. I think I'm going to like it.

The Time Traveler's Wife

2007-12-05T17:18:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading The Time Traveler's Wife. While I liked most of the book and found the execution of time travel interesting and thought provoking, I did have some trouble with the story itself.

I think I expected it to be a sweet love story, but I really found it to be quite tragic. I don't want to give away too much here for those who haven't read it, but the end of the book was disappointing to me. Especially Clare's actions (or inactions). Throughout the book, I felt like I was always told how much they love each other, instead of shown it. I'm not really sure why, but the main characters didn't really seem like soul mates to me, although it was obvious that the author was trying to convey that. It just didn't quite come through for me.

From a science-fiction point of view, I really enjoyed the author's version of time travel and the rules within it. It is a genetic disorder that causes Henry to involuntarily travel through time. I thought it was interesting how he does speak to his other "selves" in the past and future. He often helps himself out of sticky situations, since every time he travels, he finds himself naked at the other end, so he will sometimes call himself on the phone to get him to bring his older or younger self some clothes. (I have a really hard time explaining this, she really does a good job of making sense of it all!)

Overall, I liked it and would recommend it, but I'm not putting it on my "favorites" list. I might just need to re-read it with a different frame of mind.

4 Random Facts

2007-12-04T21:15:00.000-05:00

I've been tagged by Aletha!

Rules
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 4 random and/or weird things about yourself.
3. Tag 4 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here goes nothing....

1. I used to spell my name "Jackie" until I was around 10. I had a sweatshirt that had my name on it in those iron-on transfers. The E fell off, and I decided I liked how that looked better. It's been Jacki ever since!

2. I am annoyingly particular about grammar and spelling. I feel like the biggest idiot if I make a mistake, so I usually re-read my posts about 3 times before hitting publish. And then I read through them another couple times once they're live. (Watch, now I'll have a few typos find their way through on this post and really feel dumb.)

3. Living in the south, I don't miss the snow. At all. I'd be happy to never see it again.

4. If I could change one thing about me, it would be to never get motion sickness. It can be so frustrating. Can't read or watch movies in the car (can't even look out the side window for too long), can't play first person video games (I remember playing Doom back in the day and not being able to figure out why I always felt so queasy), and can't do much in the way of boating. And it only gets worse as I get older.

Originally this was supposed to be 7 things, but I don't feel like it. So I'm cutting it to 4.

Now I'm tagging:
Erika, Heidi, Amie, and My Mom!

SpouseBuzz.. Lame

2007-12-02T15:09:00.000-05:00

I'm back home! The SpouseBuzz Live event turned out to be pretty lame, in my honest opinion. The moderators weren't nearly as funny as they seemed to think they were. Not only that, they gave the microphone to the attendees waaay too much to "share their experiences" of being a military spouse. It's obviously very rare to find someone who can stand up and actually make sense off the cuff. Most people grabbed the microphone and just babbled on for way too long about stuff other people already mentioned. We joked under our breath that they needed some "wrap it up" music like they do at the Oscars.

The good news is that despite the event being less than we hoped for, I had a great time! There were 5 of us that went together: Katie and Ann (who I knew from book club), and Katie's friends Tracie and Kelly (whom I hadn't met before yesterday). We had a great road trip down there, despite the early wake up call.

When the conference was over, we went shopping for a bit at the mall down the road (I didn't buy anything. Yay!) and Carrabba's for dinner. Wow, was that good! After we stuffed ourselves to the gills, we went back to the hotel to just talk and hang out. We had a suite (for only $99!), so it was nice to be able to sit on the couches and chair and just chat.

Hopefully we will be able to hang out again soon!

I Did It!

2007-11-30T15:07:00.000-05:00

One full month of posting every single day. I'm proud of myself. Hopefully not all of my posts were completely boring, although I'm aware that many of them were.

I have a fun weekend ahead. Tomorrow is the Spouse Buzz Live event in Fayetteville, NC. It's a convention/conference/fun get together for military spouses. I'm driving over with some friends from the area, and we are staying overnight in the hotel. Should be a fun girls' weekend!

I'm leaving in a few minutes to go to my friend Katie's house. We're going out to dinner, and then I'm staying at her house tonight, since we're leaving bright and early tomorrow morning (by 6:30).

Have a great weekend, everybody!

More Hi-Lo

2007-11-29T22:48:00.000-05:00

High of the day: Phone conference with my co-workers. I miss getting to see them every day, so catching up for a couple minutes before we get down to business is always fun.

Low of the day: Realizing it's almost 11:00pm and I didn't get around to packing yet for my trip this weekend. Guess I'll just do it tomorrow before I leave.

Almost December

2007-11-28T23:15:00.001-05:00

And I can't wait! This daily posting thing is killing me. But I'm so close to the end of the month that I'm determined to accomplish it.

High of the day: Finding Chapstick Medicated on sale for 99¢ at Rite-Aid. I bought 3 because you can never have too much of that stuff!

Low of the day: The "service 4WD" light appearing on John's truck this afternoon. (Despite being in 2WD.) I think it must be related to the transfer case issue they were supposed to have fixed a few weeks ago. I'm taking it to the dealership tomorrow to have them check it out.

Bad News, Good News

2007-11-27T19:23:00.000-05:00

Bad news: Found out at the dentist last week that I have a lovely case of gingivitis. (How embarrassing.)
Good news: It's reversible.
Bad news: To get my gums healthy again, I need an expensive electric toothbrush, because they really do a better job than a manual toothbrush ever could.
Good news: I got a great deal, and now I've got a cool new gadget!

I shopped around a little and found that Wal-mart (ugg) had the best price on the one I wanted (Sonicare Essence). But while I was out running errands tonight, an accident forced me to go a different way than usual. I realized I was going near a CVS, so I decided to price-check in there too. Yippee, it was 20% off! On a $90 product, that really makes a difference. Not only that, I have a $10 rebate offer from the dentist. So when all is said and done, I will have only paid $62 on a $90 product. Still an awful lot for a toothbrush, but my gums and my overall health will thank me. I can't wait to try it out.

Hmm.

2007-11-26T22:34:00.000-05:00

You know what? It's hard to think of something to blog about when you don't even leave the house all day. It was a very uneventful day with lots of work, very little fun, and hot wings for dinner (yum). Maybe tomorrow I'll actually step outside to do more than pick up the mail, and a story will develop.

Till then, have a great night!

Dexter-rific

2007-11-25T23:18:00.000-05:00

I was just flossing my teeth, about to jump into bed, when I realized I hadn't blogged yet today. I'm so close to the end of NaBloPoMo, I had to run back to the computer!

Now...for a topic...

I hope you all are watching Dexter. I know it's on Showtime, which a lot of people don't subscribe to...but let me tell you, YOU SHOULD. It's a show about a serial killer who kills murderers who "deserve" it. It might sound strange at first, but it's fantastic. I can't come up with one thing I don't like about the series. It has amazing dialogue (exemplifies what dark comedy should be), acting, plot turns, cinematography, etc. I'm such a fangirl for it. The only good thing about the weekend coming to a close is that it means a new episode of Dexter is on its way.

My Thanksgiving

2007-11-24T19:51:00.000-05:00

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I was invited to spend the holiday with a fellow deployed spouse, Jeanne, and her 3 kids. She also invited another deployed spouse, Casey, and her son. By my usual standards, it was a tiny celebration. (People wise, but not food wise!) I loved it. Sometimes those large family celebrations just get to be a little too overwhelming for my introverted self. Obviously I missed John and my family a ton, but since they couldn't be here, this was a nice substitute.

For the dinner, Jeanne asked me to bring a dessert. I decided to bring a pumpkin roll, since they're always one of my favorites at our family get-togethers. It turned out great, so I had to take a quick picture before it was devoured. Everybody loved it, and it was their first pumpkin roll ever, believe it or not!

Really wish I would have doubled the batch, because I'm totally craving more now. Especially looking at the picture.

More Photos

2007-11-23T08:18:00.001-05:00

Iraq, originally uploaded by jovialjacki.

John is sending a few more pictures, so I'm uploading them to my flickr account. Click the picture above to view them.

Downtime in Iraq

2007-11-22T09:56:00.000-05:00

John sent some more pictures today!

John's Platoon

2007-11-21T12:26:00.001-05:00

John's Platoon
Originally uploaded by jovialjacki

John and his Marines, looking good!

I Love the 80's!

2007-11-21T07:55:00.000-05:00

Here are some more pictures that my Mom recently scanned and put online. These were taken for a gymnastics class. They just reek of the 80's! I seriously can't stop giggling at how cheesy they are and how crazy my leotard/tights look (without even mentioning the weirdness of the mulleted perm)!

The worst part is, I definitely remember thinking these shots were SO COOL way back then.

Chips Ahoy!

2007-11-20T21:04:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, I was listening to an episode of Munchcast (one of a million podcasts, ahem, netcasts hosted by the ever popular Leo Laporte). I just recently discovered this show. This episode's topic was all about CHIPS. (The food, not the cheesy TV show.) As I listened, I found myself salivating more and more, and bummed to find no potato chips in the house!

So today, while out running some errands, I had to make a stop in the snack food aisle. I've never tried them before, but these Lay's Kettle Cooked Jalapeño chips were calling my name. I worked really late tonight, so I opened up the bag to hold off my hunger until dinner. YUM. I think half the bag is gone already. Big thumbs up from Jacki!

Book Change

2007-11-19T20:05:00.000-05:00

I know I said before that my next book would be Water For Elephants. Well... I put that one on the back burner for now. The Time Traveler's Wife arrived in the mail this weekend, and I just couldn't resist, since I've heard such great things about it. I'm also intrigued by the TV show "Journeyman", which has a very similar theme. (A man who inexplicably and involuntarily travels through time.)

I'm about 50 pages in, and I have to say that I love it! I was a little confused at the very beginning, but I think that's the point. The characters don't really understand exactly what is going on with the time travel, so neither does the reader.

Anyway, I'm really anxious to continue reading, but so far I haven't had any down time to get to it yet today. And I haven't even made myself dinner or watched any TV yet today (tonight: How I Met Your Mother-the slapbet returns! and Heroes-which is finally getting good again!), so I have a feeling I will probably only get through a few pages while I'm lying in bed, just before my eyes force themselves shut.

Running in Iraq

2007-11-18T12:47:00.000-05:00

John brought the camera along with him on his run today and snapped these two shots. These are two of his favorite hills to book up and down...sounds like pure torture to me, but he loves it!

So...

2007-11-17T19:18:00.001-05:00

Michigan lost. That sucked. But I watched the game with some friends who are Michigan alums, so at least we got to wallow in the misery together. A little better than watching it at home, alone.

And then Notre Dame actually pulled out a win this afternoon. Against Duke, but still. A win. Yay! You never know what college football will bring.

THE Game

2007-11-16T12:30:00.000-05:00

John is filling in on the blog for me today with this post. Even from Iraq, he's gotta talk some smack (Or is that trash? I'll have to check with Kelly Kapoor on that one.) on the eve of the big game... -jacki

There is only one game a year that qualifies as THE game. Mention THE game to anyone in the Ohio or Michigan area and they will know exactly what you mean. Last year the game was elevated to "THE game of the Century" because it was Michigan and OSU meeting as #2 and #1 respectively.

This year was supposed to feature a Michigan team with its best shot at a National Championship since 1997, and an OSU team in a rebuilding year. "Supposed to"has meant VERY little this year in college football.

There is hardly a good place to start, but why don't we just start with the most overrated and overly praised team. I know all of you out there think I mean ND, but you would be wrong. USC started the season ranked #1, and based on what everyone was saying, it was surprising they even let another team take the field with the Trojans. I distinctly remember one of the ESPN guys saying this was the best college football team he has ever seen. I did not do my homework on this one, but like I always say, when someone says something about college football, I remember. Anyways, we have got the 1-win Irish coached by the "greatest offensive mind in college football", and the 3-loss Florida Gators who were complaining about not being the top rated team in the nation at the beginning of the year. Oh and legions of people proclaiming that Tebow is the Heisman frontrunner. Yeah, a 3 LOSS QB frontrunner. WOW! The Ducks just lost to unranked Arizona. I could go on forever like this. Oh, and I also heard there was a highly ranked team who lost to a I-AA school. That was painful.

Regardless of where we were supposed to be, we head into THE game like we usually do. This game decides the Big Ten championship. Most of the time this is the case, hence the nickname the "big two". If you were to take both teams playing their best possible football (which you generally see for THE game), I think hands down Michigan should be the favorite. Mike Hart is the best back in the nation, he has the amazing Jake Long to run behind, we have Mario Manningham, and you can't favor Mario without leaving the excellent Adrian Arrington by himself. Chad Henne, while injured, is still an excellent QB and despite what anyone else says plays well against OSU. His 3 losses suggest otherwise, but 2 of those 3 years Hart was pretty much swallowed and he was forced to do it all through the air with everyone in the stadium knowing what he was going to do.

Our defense has yet to put together a complete game, but they have shown streaks of brilliance. They have also shown they can literally give games away.

Ohio State has been light years ahead of where everyone expected them to be, but at the same time, they had an easier first 8 games then nearly anyone in the country. Kansas and Hawaii are the only two teams who can't knock the Buckeyes for a weak schedule. Regardless, they came out and, with exception of the MSU game, won quite handedly until Illinois. They have a dangerous back, who is also dinged up. They have good receivers, and while not of the Michigan caliber, they have better tight ends. As a unit they can be very dangerous as well. They have a first year starter at quarterback. While I have not nearly bought the hype as much as everyone else, he is working out very well for them. Their defense has holes, much like ours does, but they have played much more consistently. If I even tried to argue anything else, I would be living in the alternate universe Charlie Weis seems to be stuck in.

I think Mike Hart will play, and will be very effective. He will not be the biggest asset to Michigan in terms of yards, or TDs, but he will bring so many men into the box, it will be impossible to defend the run and Manningham and Arrington. The defense will be the big surprise in the game. They won't play flawlessly, but they will play well enough for us to win and win big.

Lloyd goes out in style with a 27-14 win in the big house.

Anyone else feeling froggy enough to put a prediction in the comments?

Twirly

2007-11-15T18:51:00.000-05:00

I bought my Mom a Flickr account for Christmas, and gave it to her a little early (ok, really early - this week). Anyway, she has been uploading a bunch of pictures, including even some really old ones that she has scanned.

Here is one of my absolute favorites. That's Jillian on the left and me on the right (back in the days when I was the tall one), twirling around Great-Grandpa Al's living room in our Christmas dresses. So much fun!

Wednesday

2007-11-14T20:43:00.000-05:00

Not much to blog about today. It was supposed to be 77° here today, but stupid me never went outside until it was dark (about 5:00 - I hate the winter months!), and the temp had already dipped down to chilly.

Oh, and I went to a base-wide Key Volunteer meeting tonight. They even fed us dinner, which is a big bonus. But even with the free chow, I was still the only one from our squadron who showed up, which is getting annoying.

Now I'm going to go watch a bit of TV (probably last night's Nip/Tuck and tonight's Pushing Daisies), read a bit (I've only got 10 pages left of The Beauty Myth...finally), and then fall asleep. I think the next book I read will be Water for Elephants. I bought it a while ago, and have been anxious to get started, but I really like to digest my books one at a time and TBM has been a really slow read for me. Has anyone already read Water for Elephants?