The Christmas/New Years Post

Finally I have had a chance to sit down and update my blog!

Chip and I spent 2 weeks in Kansas City for the holidays. We decided to drive this year instead of flying since it would be a lot cheaper. It took us about 16 hours to drive there. We split it up over 2 days, so it wasn't so bad. We made a few stops along the way to see various points of interest like Graceland and the St. Louis Arch, so that made it more fun.

Here is a slide show of some of the pictures we took. As you can see there are a lot of pictures. We got two new cameras for Christmas this year - a Nikon D60 (love!) and a Canon Powershot - so we needed the practice :) While in KC we went to the Truman Presidential Library and saw an exhibit on WWII photography and went to the casinos a few times. We also spent a good bit of time playing the Wii. We particularly liked doing the Wii Fit so we didn't get fat over the holidays because we did a lot of eating.




I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!

hitting the highlights

Sorry I haven't posted in over a month. I've been out of town and busy...you know how this time of year goes. Where do I even begin? I think I'll just type stuff as it comes to me...

Thanksgiving leftovers
Chip and I went to Dahlonega, GA for Thanksgiving. Dahlonega is a small town north of Atlanta. Chip's aunt lives there as well as her daughter and her family. Chip's parents and his sister Erin met us up there for the holiday as well. We had a good time with his family and did a little sightseeing in another small town called Helen. It is a fun little town that resembles an Alpine Village. A fun place to stop there is Hansel & Gretel's Candy Kitchen. Is the candy good? Not really, but the name of the shop is fun to say.

One of my Thanksgiving traditions is to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I have done so since I was a small child. This year's parade was hands-down my favorite parade EVER! It started like any normal Macy's parade with the scary clowns and the bobble-head pilgrim people, then moved on to the old-timey looking turkey with the blinking eyes. Some more balloons and floats passed and then a float for "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" came on the scene. Apparently it is some show that is on the Cartoon Network. Anyways, the muppet-type characters begin to sing a song and Matt Lauer said to lookout for a muscial surprise. I figured it was another Disney teenie-bopper pop star. All of a sudden I hear the familiar sounds of a classic 80's tune. Could it be?! It is!! It's Rick Astley singing "Never Gonna Give You Up"!! I just got Rick-rolled watching the Macy's Parade!!! AWESOME!!! That stunt put the parade over the top for me. Here is a video of it for your viewing pleasure. If you aren't familiar with Rick Astley or Rick-rolling, go Google it. It would take me too long to explain.

Christmas is coming...and soon!
I can't believe Christmas is only a little over 2 weeks away! Where did November go? This year we decided to drive to Kansas City to visit my parents. Airline tickets are really expensive this year, and with the falling price of gasoline we decided it would be better to drive. KC is an 18 hour drive from Niceville. Ugh! We decided to split it up into a 2-day trip to make it a little more manageable. We plan on stopping in Memphis since it is a good half way point. What else is in Memphis? Graceland!! I'm totally not an Elvis fan, but if I'm in Memphis and I can see Graceland, than I'm going to do it. So that should make the trip a little more fun.

Tims Tams...available at a store near you!
We were at Target today and happened to wander past the food section and saw that there was Tim Tams! I guess Pepperidge Farm is bringing Australia's favorite cookie to the good ole USA. We snatched up a pack of the chocolate cream flavor, which I will happily slam in some hot chocolate tonight. Yay! Go out and grab yourself a pack!

New cell phone = big headache
I got a new cell phone today. It is a touch screen phone kind of like an I-Phone, but Verizon's version of it. I thought it would be really cool to not have a keypad and just have a touch screen, but I'm starting to reconsider. The touchscreen "keys" are really small and it is very easy to punch the wrong key. We'll see if it gets easier the more I use it. Stay tuned.

I think I have a toothache
Recently I have spent quite a bit of time at the dentist. About a month ago I noticed I cracked a tooth, so I called the dentist and went in. The bad news was I needed a crown, the even worse news was I had several cavities. Lucky me! So after 4 office visits, a temporary crown, several fillings, and $700 I am all fixed up. Thank the Lord I have dental insurance, otherwise my bill would have been twice as high. I never had a problem with cavities until the past few years. My teeth have apparently gone down hill, and fast! I guess it is just another reminder that I am getting older. Apparently I have inherited my father's not-so-great teeth which he got from his parents. Of course, Chip has never had a cavity and still continues to be cavity-free. Maybe there's hope for our kids.

Well, I think that is all of the updating I'm going to do. I hope you have enjoyed my random musings and feel like you are all caught up on my life.

A Pres I can vote for

Last night Chip and I went out to eat at a restaurant in Destin called Callahan's. We like it because it is locally owned and serves good, reasonably priced food. They are currently running "early bird" specials for $8.99 - and no, you don't have to eat before 4:30 pm. Being the bargain-lover that I am, Emma knows this well, I ordered from the list of specials. I got enough food for 2 meals, plus soup, and yeast rolls! I was a happy girl.

After Chip and I ate we decided to go to the Fresh Market for dessert. Our first stop was the gourmet chocolate section. We were scouting out some Joseph Schmidt Truffles, thank you to my parents for raising a little chocolate connoisseur (or chocolate snob), when we hear a voice say "you two are in the right place at the right time". All of a sudden a man comes from behind the counter and asks what chocolate we were looking at. We point to a box of Joseph Schmidt truffles - no Hershey's for this girl! He picks up the box and takes off the plastic and tells us to eat one! He just opened a $13 box of 4 truffles and tells us to eat one! Of course we do, and of course it is divine. He introduces himself as Pres and tells us anything else we want to try he will open for us. He then proceeds to give us white chocolate covered pretzels and yogurt & peppermint coated pretzels. He then gets out his favorite - a dark chocolate bar with pieces of applewood smoked bacon in it. It was definitely different, but not necessarily bad. In the end Pres probably gave us $6-7 in free chocolate. Who says you are too old to Trick or Treat?

My parents recently went on a trip to the Southwest US. They went to Albuquerque, NM, Las Vegas, Sedona, AZ, and a few other cities to look for a place to move to when they retire in a few years. They must have had a good time because my father sent me this picture tonight...

My mother is sure letting loose and having some fun. Good for her! Though I'm pretty sure she is yelling at the computer right now :) I'd better get going. I think my mother is calling me on my cell phone...

a post for the sake of a post

I had a few free minutes before dinner was ready so I decided I'd update my blog. This post is pretty much going to be a long string of thoughts, so try to keep up. :)

Chip and I were both sick last week with the stomach flu. It took me down on Monday and Chip on Wednesday. We are finally feeling back to normal and in to eating again. Food was not our friend for several days. We lived off of Gatorade and chicken noodle soup for most of last week.

This past weekend our friends Austin and Ashley were in town from Jacksonville. We always enjoy getting to spend time with them. Saturday night we hung out with A & A, Austin's parents, and Austin's parent's friends Steve and Gail. We played dominoes (chicken foot) and ate pizza...we'll they ate pizza. Pizza was what I ate the night I got sick, so needless to say I wasn't interested in partaking in it so soon (sorry for the TMI). I had never played dominoes before. I never really knew a game was part of it. I just figured you lined up the dominoes to knock them down. After a brief lesson we started the game. It was fun. I wasn't too bad at it, but I certainly wasn't as good as Chip who won the game. Of course! :)

I'm so glad the election is drawing to a close - I don't think I can take anymore! Every time I turn on the TV that is all they are talking about. I've even received 3 phone calls from Barack Obama's campaign. Apparently his campaign bought a bunch of phone numbers of voters in FL and mine was one of them - lucky me! I asked them to remove me from their list. I don't know who I am voting for at this time. I have issues with both candidates. I just want to know the facts - in an unbiased way. I don't trust the news, the newspaper, or either candidate's website. If anyone knows of any good non-partisan websites that list the stances of the candidates please let me know. I originally wasn't even going to bother voting since I can't decide, but the thought of all the "you can't complain about the way things are if you didn't vote" people running through my head prompted me to change my mind. * Chip just told me about a website where you answer several questions about your stance on issues and it matches you up with the candidate whose answers most closely match yours. Click here to go to it. I did it and my closest match was only a dismal 38%. It was still interesting to find out nonetheless. Check it out if you're lacking direction like me.

Work has been very busy lately which is a good and bad thing. At least I have job security this way. A lot of businesses in the area, and nationwide for that matter, are cutting back jobs. One of the largest employers in our area, other than the Air Force base, just laid off a bunch of people. I wish the economy wasn't in the crapper like it is, but if I had to find a bright side in all of this maybe people are learning the valuable lesson of want vs. need.

And with that, I bid you all adieu! I promise I'll try to update my blog more than once a month.

that's our boy!

Today was Dog Daze at the Fort Walton Beach Landing. It was an all day event for dogs which included agility tests, obedience training, booths from local pet-related businesses, and the best thing of all, dachshund races!!

Frank had never participated in a dachshund race before, so I wasn't sure how he would do. Any of you that have met Frank before knows he tends to get easily distracted and scared. A few days ago I started "training" him for the race. Basically I would get him to sit and stay in a particular spot and then I'd walk 10 - 15 feet away and then call him to me. I would also have a squeaky toy with me to keep his attention. We would practice this 4 or 5 times a day. He picked it up pretty well, but again, who knows how he'd do at the actual race with tons of people and a bunch of dogs.

Well today was race day. There were about 25 doxies participating. Frank's competition included: Oscar, Crazy-Eyed Molly, Paco, and Rhemus. I am proud to say my little turbo weiner dog won every one of his heats and came in second place in the final!

Frank won a prize bag that had dog treats, a pair of dachshund socks (for me, not the dog), a sticker from the Florida Dachshund Rescue, and a beaded collar that said "Second Weiner".

Here is a video of the races.

In other news, I wanted to wish a Happy Birthday to my sweet husband. His birthday is tomorrow. As I write this Alabama is beating Georgia pretty badly, FSU won, and Frank won 2nd place in the races - not bad way to start celebrating. Not bad at all!

a trifecta tribute

Yes, I am still around. I have been lazy lately and haven't felt like posting. Well, that and the Olympics were on and I was glued to the tv. Those were some good games! Alas, they are over now and I have found new things to occupy my time...mainly spider solitaire and channel surfing.


Now it's that oh so wonderful time of the year when military families PCS (permanent change of station) to new places. Our friends Mark & Emma are one of the families that are moving. Mark & Emma moved here the same time we did 4 years ago. Chip and Mark worked together at the test range and became friends. We all happened to go to the same church and that is how I met Mark's wife Emma. We all hit it off and have been friends ever since. A few weeks after that we met Austin & Ashley. Answering their call for friends at our Sunday School Christmas party, we all hit it off. That started the super power known as the trifecta, as Emma affectionately dubbed us. Here is a picture of all of us at another Christmas party in 2005.



We spent many a weekend hanging out, going to movies, playing Goofy Golf, and going to movies. Last July Austin & Ashley moved to Jacksonville, but we all remained in contact and still got together every now and again. But now Mark & Emma are moving to Ohio so that kind of diminishes the chances. Of course, there is the phone and the internet, but come on, it doesn't replace actually spending time together.


A few weeks ago Austin & Ashley came into town so we could all hang out one more time before Mark & Emma moved. We went out to eat at the Crab trap in Destin for Ashley's birthday. We also all cheered on Team USA together watching the Olympics. One highlight of the weekend was playing Rock Band on the PS3. Few of us had played that game before, but we had a great time living it up. From me belting out Creedance Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate One"(oh yes I did!), Emma playing the heck out of the cowbell on Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper", or any of the guys playing the guitar or drums, we made quite the band. It was a lot of fun.


Here are a few of the pictures from the weekend.

This last picture cracks me up. Yes, I am well aware that it isn't remotely in focus. After we ate at the Crab Trap we walked out on the beach and took a few pictures. We thought it would be nice to get a picture of us all together. So we asked the first guy that walked by to take our picture. We don't realize until after he takes the picture that he is drunk and doesn't hold down the shutter on the camera to focus the picture before he takes it. He didn't give us warning when he took the picture either. I mentioned to him I wasn't sure if we were all looking and he said "It's too late now" and handed the camera back and staggered away. Thanks!

We'll miss you Mark, Emma & Sarah Beth! Best of luck to you as you move on to Ohio! Enjoy having seasons again - I'm jealous!!

hello mother, hello father

I just got home last night from spending 5 days in Kansas City, MO visiting my parents. I hadn't seen them in 8 months, plus I had never seen KC in the summer. I struck a deal with my parents to pay for half of my ticket for my birthday present. They agreed, and so I went.




My first night there we had a little belated birthday cupcake treat to celebrate. My mother made them and frosted them with real chocolate frosting. They were pretty tasty.


I was watching the news the next day and noticed that it happened to be Missouri's tax free week. Perfect timing! So of course, I did a little shopping since we don't have the best selection in this area. Sales tax there is quite a bit higher than Okaloosa County's 6%. One place the tax rate was 9.5%, so think of the money I saved :) Sure...


Besides shopping, we also played my dad's Wii. We played Mario Cart, Wii Sports (baseball, tennis, bowling, boxing), and Cabela's Big Game Hunter. It was nice to have two people who are worse than me playing Mario Cart. For once I wasn't last...yes!! The highlight of the Wii playing though had to be when my mother and I boxed. Let me tell you, electronically taking out 28 years of frustrations on my mother never felt so good :) Just kidding...well, sort of. She still loves me. I knocked her out. I think we also knocked my father out with laughter. He was dying watching us air punch and throw jabs.



Of course, no trip to my parent's house would be complete without mentioning their dog Charley. Charley recently had knee surgery, but has healed completely. She is one spoiled bichon frise. She lays around and eats treats all day. But at least she does it looking cute, as my mother would say.


One night my dad decided he wanted to take pictures of me and his corvette at the front entrance to the neighborhood. It has a waterfall/fountain feature that he thought would look nice in the background. After we took a few pictures, I thought it would be fun to stick my foot in the fountain to see how warm or cold the water was. I thought my dad told me to get in the fountain and he'd take my picture. I thought that might be fun, so I stepped in. It appeared to be only knee deep, but no, it was about waist deep. So I lose my footing and fall in. Fabulous! Now I'm all wet and really embarrassed. My dad is laughing and so am I. All of a sudden some dude on a bike rides up and asks us if we want him to take our picture. Why not? At this point I can't be humiliated any more.




The next day we went to the Ameristar casino to play the slots. I only had $3 in my wallet so I didn't last long, but I still had fun. My mom and dad had better luck and made their $15 last a while longer. We had some good luck on the "Mr. Cashman" machine. Ultimately they lost it all, but we had fun playing.


One thing I wanted to do while in KC was eat some barbecue. I saw on the Food Network that a famous place to go was Arthur Bryant's. There just happened to one inside the Ameristar. The special of the day was the beef sandwich, so we each got one. They were huge sandwiches. The meat was good and had a nice smoke ring and flavor. There were 3 different sauces to choose from as well. I liked the sweet heat. We all enjoyed our sandwiches and a little taste of "legendary" KC barbecue.


And with that, my five day trip drew to a close. It went by pretty fast. At least I'll get to go back for Christmas in 4 months. I'm glad I got to see my parents. Shame on a certain sister of mine, who lives in KC, and was "too busy" to come see her only sister. She knows who she is. Don't worry, I'm not bitter :)