Not much for today

I keeping with my personal challenge I must write something today. But it has been a very busy day filled with church, clothes shopping for Stephanie (I have to quit feeding her), Xmas shopping for others, then church again this evening to light the Christmas trees.

It is almost 7:30 and we are waiting for the Homemade Macaroni & Cheese to warm in the oven. I have Shredded BBQ pork in the crockpot to go into sandwich buns and spicy coleslaw chilled in the fridge.

See you all tomorrow!

Wanna Bet?

After browsing through the BX yesterday, disappointed, we went to the food court for lunch. Lyle got General Tso's Chicken, his favorite.

While eating he came across a few of the hot dried peppers they use to make the spicy sauce. Chris asked what they were. Lyle told him and said "I bet you 100 Yen you can't eat it" Never one to back down from a bet involving money Chris said "sure" The pictures tell the story better than I ever could:





He got the 100 Yen and his tongue, mouth and stomach are much better today!

Dinner

Okay, last post then I am off to see what kind of "deals" I can get here on Black Friday.

If I didn't post food pictures of Thansgiving, this wouldn't be my blog. So here you go:

Lasagna, Never Fail Butterhorn Rolls, a small salad and a great cheap red wine.

For dessert: Slow Cooker Pumpkin Apple Dessert. This was apple pie filling with a pumpkin cake batter poured over it then cooked for 3 hours in the crock pot. It smelled and looked wonderful, but tasted unsweetened, despite the 1 1/4 cups of brown sugar that went into the pumpkin part. Good thing it was served with Ice Cream.

American Wedding Japanese Style

Last Sunday a couple from our church got married. Since they met in church, they decided to get married in a normal Sunday service. He was in his dress uniform as was his side of the wedding party. She was in a Kimono and so was everyone in her wedding party.

But the best part of this ceremony was watching all of the Japanese filming the whole thing on their cell phones. I sat in the balcony and enjoyed watching the visitors more than I enjoyed the ceremony!

Gas Prices

Okay I missed an entry yesterday so I will make up for it today. I have a couple things on my camera I forgot to write about so you will benefit today.

First of all, let me say that I always knew AAFES was scamming on gas prices. Even in ND the base gas station was the same as town, except we aren't supposed to be paying taxes on base...right? Officials in ND (and here) have always claimed that their pricing policy was "to remain in line with the national average". In Grand Forks we almost always had a warning, because the stations in town would update their pricing a day before the base did.

Here on Okinawa we also had warning, by way of our newspaper, Stars and Stripes. They would publish the new gas prices in Friday's paper and the prices would take effect on Saturday. Since arriving here we watched the prices in the states go up and ours would follow suit. That is until July. Right about the time the gas prices spiked in the US. Then the prices started their free fall. I understand some places now are at less than $1.50. We didn't benefit from falling prices.

This is what our gas has been at for the last 6 months:

AAFES has all kinds of excuses and has answered every customers complaint the same: They locked in a price with the distributor and it wouldn't be renegotiated until mid November. Personally I believe this is a crock and someone, somewhere is building their dream house off of our hard earned money. Of course was could have gone off base but the price there combined with the poor exchange rate made it about a wash.

Today (black friday) is the day they are supposed to drop the price. We will still be paying more than national average but at $2.53 a gallon it is a huge relief from yesterday's price.

To Work or Not to Work...

That is the question I struggle with everyday.

On the one hand I REALLY like making my own schedule, being available for lunch with my husband, and not having to worry about anything other than if the commissary has any soy milk today.

On the other hand, I miss the day to day interaction I got from working, the satisfied feeling of getting something accomplished (other than dishes) and having my own money wasn't too bad either.

Don't get me wrong....Lyle keeps telling me to do what I want, buy what I want, get anything I want. I just got used to having my own "extra" play money on paydays.

On Saturday I went to Market Day to sell my Scrapbooking wares and was set up at a table right next to the Arts & Crafts center's information booth. I mentioned to the woman running the table that working at the craft center would be one of two dream jobs for me (the other: working at the library). She told me that no one likes working there because they only get about 8 hours a week. It was right then that I decided I needed to put in my application!

I logged into the HRO website as soon as I got home and started filling in the application and other necessary forms. I haven't submitted it yet, as I haven't finished rewording my "duties" as store manager for Envision. I plan to send it in after Lyle takes a look at it over Thanksgiving, then it will go in.

I will keep you updated if my current "non-working" status changes.

Our trip to the Aquarium

Not alot of time to write today since I spent most of my day working on my job application, but that is tomorrow's entry.

Enjoy the aquarium!

Rainy Day

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny perfect weather kind of day and we are paying for it today. It has been raining all day long. The best kind of day for curling up on the couch with my crochet project and watching dumb movies on AFN or Lifetime. But that didn't happen.

About mid morning, just after my household stuff was as done as it was going to get, the phone rang. It was the school nurse saying that she had Chris in her office. While horsing around in class he banged his elbow against a desk....Hard enough to make him pass out, fall forward out of his desk, hit hit head on the floor, breaking his glasses in the process. He wanted to stay at school, but the nurse said he had to go home (I think he must have hit his head hard!)

I jumped in my car, went to the school and picked him up. He was fine other than having a red mark on his forehead and flattened (and I meant FLATTENED) glasses in his hand. But the nurse said home so that's where we went. A free day for him, not so much for me.

Unrelated twins

I have to talk about my bff in Germany, Susan. It seems that even tho we are on opposite sides of the globe we still have a special connection. We both have often joked that I want to be her and she wants to be me when we grow up.

A little history about how we met: I had a table set up at a craft event, selling my Creative Memories stuff (what else!). And another friend (Sarah?) brought a new girl by, introduced her to me and me to her. Susan's first words to me were, "You are the one with the beautiful singing voice!" I don't remember my exact reply, but it was something along the lines of "Who told you that!?!". And we laughed.

The next day we talked on the phone and I learned she was still in Temporary lodging, with no computer and would be stuck in lodging for at least another month. I offered up our extra computer (How can anyone go so long without a computer?) and she stopped by to pick it up. We talked for hours about everyday stuff including the schools.

She was complaining to me that some kid stole her son's gym uniform, and I agreed that the child was rotten, how could parents not realize that their kid had someone else's uniform, they all have their names in them, for crying out loud. That night while putting away laundry, Chris brought out "his" gym clothes and said, "these aren't mine"....Yep, you guessed it my son was the thief, and I was the horrible parent that didn't notice.

The next morning I called her to tell her "my funny story", but she wasn't in the mood for funny. Her 2 year old was sick, husband was about to take her to the ER. I offered to take the other kids (she has 4 total). Keep in mind, we had just met and all she really knew about me was my son stole other kids clothes, but she accepted my offer. Later she admitted that she had no idea why she accepted, she NEVER leaves her kids with people, especially people she doesn't even know.

That was how it all started, as we got to know each other, we learned how alike we are- We both love to cook, she had a yen for crafts, we even wore our hair the same (even our hairdresser couldn't tell us apart once).

Now that we are thousands of miles apart, we are still having moments of alikeness (is that a word?). I think of her at least once a day, and think of all the comments she would make to the things I see here. And apparently she does the same. So today's post is dedicated to you, Susan. Pick up that crochet hook, take pictures of your food, and think of me :) I miss you.

Like I needed another hobby

To make my bag of plastic bags I had to open up Pandora's box (AKA my knitting and crochet bin). While looking for my Crocheting for Dummies book I found a scarf I had started a year (or two) ago for Lyle. So after making my bag, I decided to finish his scarf:

Then I tried my hand at dishcloths:

The bottom dishcloth is like one of those hidden 3-D puzzle posters. Can you see the butterfly?

Yesterday I received the yarn I ordered to make an afgan, I have also started a mini Christmas tree skirt for our Okinawa Christmas tree. Today I signed up for an actual knitting class. I will be learning how to cable stitch to make another scarf.

Do you think there is a crafters annonymous? I may need help

Turkey Day

Don't reset your clocks or double check your calendar. I am a week early on this one. But there is a reason. Lyle's squadron was supposed to have their big thanksgiving lunch on Thursday this week. He was supposed to bring a turkey, so I bought a smoked turkey. We do not normally eat turkey, not whole ones anyway. We are more the type to have the occasional Turkey Breast in the crock pot. Every year for Thanksgiving we have Lasanga, that is just our tradition.

But the squadron had a conflict of days and changed the lunch to Friday, but Lyle couldn't make Friday due to his work schedule so I cooked the turkey:

and potatoes (from a box....I wasn't supposed to make sides LOL)

and cheesy vegetable casserole:

I was even able to throw together a pumpkin dessert (Thanks to Jello!):

The kids ate, we ate and I still have a ton of turkey leftover. Tonights dinner: Turkey Tetrazini

When in Japan...

Okinawa has given us the opportunity to expand our food horizons. The variety of snacks, sweets and beverages that are available here makes it impossible to stay with "the same old thing". But even when we try something new it is never around for long so we have learned to savor each experience as if it is our last.

Kit Kats are a great example. I don't know if I mentioned before that Kit Kats are EXTREMELY popular here. It has something to do with a japanese phrase that sounds like Kitta Katta which means Good Job, or Way to go. There are your standard kit kats everywhere, in mini size, regular and large. But Nestle (responsible for Kit Kats here in Asia) has found that offering limited edition Kit Kats boosts sales even more. Since arriving her we have tried Berry, Carmel Machiatto (also a featured McFlurry flavor), Watermelon Salt, and Flan flavored kit kats. But this past weekend we tried a sweet bean kit kat.

It was suprisingly good! As was the Pepsi we bought at the same time. I am not normally a Pepsi person but I couldn't pass up trying Yogurt Pepsi! It wasn't bad...for a Pepsi.

Guess it'll wait

I spent three hours this morning working on the video of the kids drama production. The sound was bad, so I learned how to use the video editing software that came with our camera. I did this through trial and error, because if it came with a book, it went into storage LOL

I was successful too! Lyle watched it, and said I did a great job syncing the music to the video. The problem is the video size. I am not technically advanced enough to know how to make it smaller and at 1.15GB it is too big for any hosting site.

So you will have to wait until I learn more, or give up.

Instead today you get to see a slide show of the pictures that Rita took of my family. She did an awesome job and it only took about 15 minutes!

Follow the Dam Rules

This was originally supposed to be a Sign of The Week, but the lettering was too small for that little box on the right. I especially like rule #4!



While touring the Dam and park, Lyle made a joke about taking a Dam tour, and I said we wouldn't be able to understand the Dam guide. After a minute or two, Stephanie burst out laughing, she's a little slow on the uptake but we love her anyway :)

My Personal Blog Challenge

I have so many things to update the blog with; Kids Drama Video, Knitting, Family photos, our Aquarium trip, and a couple other little things. I have decided to challenge myself to blog once a day to catch up and see if the habit will stick. That is a bennie for you as well since you won't be overloaded with Spring Family News!

Today's blog is nothing special, just a little blurb about what made me smile today.

I had to drive Chris down the island a little bit to Camp Foster. That is the Marine base here on island that is just a short drive away. While stopped at a light I spent a minute looking around and saw someone pulling into a local gas station. All of the Japanese gas stations are full service (and at the moment cheaper than on base, but that is another story) so they have attendants at the pumps. The thing I noticed today is that the gas station attendant stands at the pumps until you pull your car up. Then they give a little bow before rushing over to pump your gas, wash your windows and all that wonderful stuff involved in Full Service. Everyone here bows a little bow at every opportunity: getting your receipt at the register...bow, stop and let someone go up the aisle ahead of you...bow, hand someone your cart of goodies to check out...bow, the construction signs, apologizing for the mess, have a picture of a man bowing. I have even found myself giving a little bow as I make eye contact, and it makes me smile :)

Don't forget to turn in tomorrow to see if I can follow through on my personal blog challenge!

Where does the time go?

I know.... I know.... it has been almost 2 weeks since my last update. I have no real excuse so I won't try to tell you it is because of the kids, or my hubby being gone and coming back or my newest addicition... facebook.com (thanks to all of you!)

A quick recap of the events that stick out in my mind:

Halloween - the kids were out of school since the quarter was wrapping up. We spent a lazy day together then went to help run some booths at the church Harvest Fest. They had enough volunteers, so I was able to just sit and talk for most of the evening. Chris and Stephanie had a blast giving out candy to the winners of the various games, and didn't seem to mind not being dressed up this year. But it wouldn't be Halloween without blood and guts:

Stephanie caught her toe on an wire in the parking lot. No stitches (not even worth a doctor visit) but it definitely gave me the required scare for the holiday!

The rest of the next week went by quietly and quickly. I finished knitting the scarf for Lyle I started over a year ago, then started working on a dishcloth. Friends gave me a huge (HUGE) bag full of plastic bags, so I have another plastic bag in the works.

Lyle came home on Wednesday night. The flight from Narita airport was actually on time for a change so I didn't have long to sit at the airport for him! He brought lots of goodies from the US including a new camera for me, to replace my banged up one. The new one is small enough to fit into my purse with everything else. No more excuses for not getting the perfect picture for you all to see! He also got each of us a CSI Las Vegas shirt, and a few other little souveniers. But most important he brought me TWO boxes of cracked pepper triscuits. They have every other flavor here, but not those (my favorite!)

The kids did a drama performance at church, I am waiting for Lyle to finished editing the music back in so I can put it up for you.

Friday we took a day trip with Stephanie, since Chris was still in school. We went out to see the Kurashiki Dam: