Summer is ENDING! Yeah

I don't know about all of you but for me, I see the light at the end of the tunnel...
4 more days and my girls go back to school. They have been underfoot all summer long.. Refused to play sports, refused to play outside, refused to keep their rooms clean. I know that when I was their age all I wanted to do is run around outside.

This is a small base, where I can freely let me kids wander (they know how far they can go) to the park or to ride their bike to McDonald's (2 streets over)... but it has been in house all summer, fighting over what to eat, what channel to watch, she hit me she has my hat she has my pillow she's in my room etc etc etc....

I have tried to get them involved
Me: Hey guys Ana is taking ballet wouldn't it be fun to do ballet with her?
Them: Yeah but I don't want to
Cait: I only want the ballet slippers and the pink skirt
Me: a tutu
Cait: yeah tutu whatever as long as it is pink
Me: you only get that stuff if you take the class
Cait: never mind, why can't you just buy it for me
Me: how about soccer, soccer is coming up you get to run around and kick the ball it will be good exercise
Them:no I don't want to get hot and sweaty
Me: Well what do you want to do this year? Amanda? Do you want to try the swim team again? (in my head though I don't know how we will get to the meets unless someone will let us carpool with them since I don't drive off base)
Amanda: Yeah I guess maybe
Me: Caitlin do you want to do cheerleading again?
Cait: Well I like it and practice is fun but you know I don't like people looking at me
Me: You will do fine you always do and you get used to it
Cait: No, I just don't wanna do it Mom, geez

This is pretty much the dialogue all summer... ughhghgh!!! Why? Why? Why?

If the cat does not stop whining (that's what his meows or hers whoever is meowing) sounds like, I am going to scream! My girls finally went for a bike ride and instead of their whining I have the cats... They are both fixed, and front paws declawed a boy Ninja and a girl Pepper brother and sister. For a while now Pepper has taken a liking to Amanda's little stuffed penguin from the zoo and carries it around in her mouth like a baby, she cleans it and lays with it and carries it around the house. I think she can't find it in the tornado disaster of a room of hers and that is why she is meowing....

Ok what was I saying, oh yes school school school! 4 more days then I am hoping to have time and quiet to read and create... It has been a while since I have played with my Ebug (Cricut Expression).. I want to be able to listen to music while cleaning the house, when I do that now my music somehow ends up being on Sponge Bob Squarepants tv show and I lose my cleaning groove.. awww... so sad...

WishList

Angel

New Life

She picks up her suitcases and walks out. 10 years of being, without fully living closes with that door. A goodbye she says with a single tear. A new found freedom and sense of self engulf her with every step she takes, this is the right decision.

Her plane leaves in an hour a ticket in her hand she sits at the bar and drinks. Always watching that is what she has done her whole life, she has sat and watched. Not anymore the ticket represents letting go, starting new and the destination is the beginning to a new adventure in her life. Never has she traveled so far, unfamiliar territory to start over.

Summer Dessert

Last night for dessert I made a shortcake not with traditional strawberries though..

1 shortcake (I cheated and bought prepackaged--very delicious)

1 tablespoon Raspberries

1 tablespoon blackberries

2 tablespoons non fat whipped cream

Voila a wonderful dessert to eat in the summer....

Delicious Cold Salad

Yesterday for lunch instead of going to a Restaurant and paying $7.95 for a salad for lunch, I stayed at home and created my own delicious cold summer salad.

Ingredients
Romaine & Radicchio Salad
1/4 of an apple chopped
Cucumber 3 slices chopped
1 tbsp pecans
1/4 of a red bell pepper sliced
1 1/2 thick slice of a purple onion cut in half and separate the rings
2 slices of thinly sliced smoked turkey breast sandwich meat cut into strips
2 tbsp of raspberry vinaigrette salad dressing

This salad was so delicious it was nice and cold with added crunch and a hint of sweetness... It's making me hungry thinking of it again..

MILK photo shoot in Ginza

{on the train}

Caitlin had a shoot today in Ginza at a restaurant called My Humble House Tokyo.
It was an absolutely gorgeous restaurant. We arrived at the station in Ginza {Yurakucho} 1 hour early and the modeling rep was 15 minutes late. The shoot was delayed an hour due to 2 models being late and the shoot was for all 4 of the girls at the same time.. Needless to say we had a wait.. But all was well the restaurant was air conditioned and I packed goodies to snack on...
It is completely sweltering in Japan, I think tomorrow we will spend the heat in the pool.. Yeah! Nice cool pool!
Here are some pics of the shoot {I think I got some good shots if I do say so myself}

Blog Candy Winner! (s)

I want to thank everyone for entering in my Blog Candy contest it has been wonderful to see everyones creations and I wish I could send everyone something.. All the work was inspiring.
Well since it was Caitlin's birthday on the 9th of August {she turned 8} so I let her choose the winner. It was a tough call so we have several winners... #1 will receive the Blog Candy that was posted and the 3 runners up will receive a Tussie Mussie filled with goodies....

Please email me your addresses so I can get your goodies shipped off to you.. Thank you everyone for entering it was great fun!

#1 Blog Candy Winner

Posted by Anu from Finland

Tussie Mussie Winners

#2 Dee Dee


Laurie, Sheri & Dee Dee

Wonderful job ladies!

2 Awards.. I am Rockin' and Thinkin'

Ms. Dee Dee over at Scrappin with Dee Dee has nominated me for 2 awards.. Let me just say I AM SO HONORED to be chosen for these AWARDS!!!!!!!!

the Thinking Blogger

also the Rockin Girl Blogger

Thank you so much!

If you haven't been to Dee Dee's Blog go check it out you might find yourself inspired, and or wanting to purchase a Cricut so beware...

I guess now it is my duty to Nominate other Blogs...

Thinking Blogger & Rockin Girl Blogger

HollyDoodleDesigns I look at her blog everyday, she is super talented inspirational and well lots of things are pink or frilly...

Glitter Angel check out her blog to view her work, awesome {I do believe in fairies and things with wings}

Thinking Blogger (she has already been nominated for Rockin Girl Blog or I would nominate her again)
Blended Colors Another blog I must visit everyday, she has so much talent and is so creative she (in my opinion) thinks outside the box


Paper Past times of a Scrapbooking Mimi another blog I have been checking weekly she is a fellow Cricuteer

Information on Atsugi

Atsugi (厚木市, Atsugi-shi?) is a city located in Kanagawa, Prefecture Japan.
As of 2003, the city has an estimated population of 221,226 and a population density of 2,357.73 persons per km². The total area is 93.83 km². The city gained city status on February, 1955.
Within Japan, Atsugi is mainly known as a satellite city for the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area; it is also associated with the United States Navy base at NAF Atsugi, which is actually not in Atsugi, but straddles the border between the nearby cities of Ayase and Yamato.
Information by Wikipedia

English Site for Atsugi Information

Japanese - English
(I am going to type it out to how it sounds to me phonetically)
Ohio Go Zeye (zzz eye) mas Good Morning
Co Knee Chee Wa Good Afternoon
Cone ban wa Good Evening
Gnaw May Wa {your name} des My Name is

Ok now not broken down by me (i might have confused you)
Ohayo / Ohayo gozaimasu Good morning (before 10AM)
Konnichi wa Hello! Good day (after 10AM)
Komban wa Good evening
Oyasumi nasai Good night (before bedtime)
Sayonara Good-bye
Domo / Domo Arigato Thank you
Arigato Gozaimasu Thank you (very polite)
Onegai Shimasu I make a request
(spoken when one wishes to practice with a fellow student or teacher)
Gomen Nasai I'm sorry, excuse me
Do itashimashite Don't mention it. You're welcome
Ogen'ki Desu ka How are you? Are you in good spirits?
Okagesama de Fine, thank you

Milk Modeling Job

Caitlin has a job 10 August in Ginza for Milk Magazine this will be the 2nd time she has done this magazine/catalog.. Yeah

We are waiting to hear back on the Vogue Nippon magazine the shooting is the 18th. After these 2 whether she gets the last or not she is ready to quit she no longer wants to do it. I support her fully.

She will have great pictures and memories to look at later in life. Truthfully though I am thankful it is very very time consuming and hard on the pocket..

Trains usually round trip 20.00
Taxi round trip 15.00
Food: 20-25.00
Magazines?Catalogs when they are published 30-40.00

If we stay at a hotel closer to the location 50.00

all out of our pocket and it is all day like a 12 hour thing with travel time and she is paid roughly $200.00

I can see why she doesn't like it, then we have to wait 3 months to be paid :o)

Dinner & Dessert

I made Dinner tonight like I do most nights but for some reason i grabbed my camera and snapped a picture.. So here is the mundane recipe of our dinner tonight and the pictures, I amuse myself.


Tri Tip Steak
Garlic Powder (can never have too much garlic, yummy)
Pepper
Tony Cacheres Seasoning (My favorite seasoning)
Lea & Perrins Steak Sauce (Marinated overnight in steak sauce)
Seasoned to my taste which makes my steaks look like they have a thin coat of seasoning on it
I broiled the steak at 325F until medium well

Sides:
Green beans w/ cream of mushroom soup
Cheddar Broccoli Rice
Not Pictured Sliced Peaches

Dessert:
Pudding with 2 Oreo cookies and raspberry sauce garnish

Something Nicce & Cold

Instead of using the blender I used our Icee {slushee} maker to finely crush the ice.. Delicious
I just followed the recipe on the Margarita Mix bottle.. :o)

My Girls Playing Dress Up

Caitlin's Birthday is tomorrow and although we don't have a birthday party until after school starts so she can invite her new classmates we will have a cake for her tomorrow.

Caitlin is having a Tea Party for her Birthday and I found an awesome deal on eBay for Prom Dress I bought 10 of them for $6.00 including shipping they are of course big on them but that is half of the fun.I am sure her friends will love dressing up in them.. I am going to take them to the my friend who sews so she can chop some extra length off then hem them up for me so they wont be falling on their faces...

Amanda's birthday is August 31st and she is having a Hollywood Premiere Theme party and I am still trying to figure out invitations.. They will probably use the same dresses.

Global Warming 101? Understood?

Global Warming 101 as seen on Oprah

What is Global Warming?
"The theory of global warming is both controversial and political. But most of us aren't even sure what it is. Here's your chance to get informed!The atmosphere surrounding the Earth contains something called "greenhouse gases." Certain gases that exist naturally in the atmosphere trap heat that would otherwise escape into space. It's like building a blanket over the Earth. And it's a good thing, too, because otherwise the Earth would be 60 degrees colder than it is now.The problem is human beings are thickening that blanket by adding air pollution to the atmosphere. It's estimated that burning oil and other fossil fuels have pumped over 700 billion tons of carbon dioxide pollution into the atmosphere! And that's what experts reason is causing the Earth to warm—a thicker blanket means a warmer planet."
taken from this website

Whether you are a believer or follower of Global Warming I am not here to preach to you.. I am merely talking about something that everyone seems to be talking about but I never thought about. It did not take Oprah, for me to listen.. {Ok that is part of the reason) Also though with all of the natural disasters along with these record heats that many areas of the nation are experiencing something has to be going on.. I mean my goodness it is absolutely boiling hot stifling hot icky sticky hot we have a temp of 80F but 94% humidity.. Oh MY! It is horrible..

I remember my Senior year English Teacher always said "History Repeats Itself" so if we have had an Ice Age, it would seem probable to have an opposite effect of the Ice Age and then a repeat of the Ice Age? Does that make sense? Now, honestly I do not follow politics nor environmental issues I do try and recycle and with gas prices a Hybrid vehicle seems the best bet.. Can you imagine that for your Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren that the beautiful Glaciers, Greenland and things of that nature that they may not be seeing the same things we have seen that they could be gone? It is a mind boggling notion.

I have been on this Earth for 29 years.. and according to science for almost as long as I have been alive the Earth has already changed drastically..

"NASA images reveal that Arctic sea ice has been melting drastically over the last 25 years. One study found almost 400,000 square miles of sea ice is already gone. As rising temperatures melt away glaciers, sea levels around the world are rising. That could spell disaster for the over 100 million people living within three feet of sea level. Some coastline villages like Point Barrow are slowly falling into the rising sea. The loss of all that ice in the Arctic could mean hotter and more deadly summers for the rest of us. If the temperatures continue to rise, some scientists are predicting an epidemic spread of infectious diseases like malaria and cholera. Warmer summers have produced massive amounts of tree-eating bugs, like the spruce bark beetle, which have already destroyed 4 million acres of Alaskan spruce."

"Four changes anyone can do to help the environment:
Use compact fluorescent light bulbs. "Listen to the statistic from the EPA report," Laurie says. "If every American household changed five regular light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs, it would be like taking 8 million cars off the road."
If you bring clothes to the dry cleaners, bring along a garment bag instead of having them wrap your cleaned clothes in plastic.
Unplug appliances when you're not using them, even though you may think they're off. "For example, when you take your phone off, if the charger's still in the wall, it's sucking energy and that's costing us money and costing us emissions," Laurie says. "Everything needs to be pulled out of the wall: your coffee maker, your toaster, your hairdryer."
Buy toilet paper made from post-consumer waste paper—that's recycled paper! "

I wonder if in our housing if we use the correct...energy efficient light bulbs...
I don't do dry cleaning very often, but that is certainly something I can do...
Wow.. I really didn't think about that.. I have so many things plugged into the wall even when it is not in use.. Especially lamps, those of you who know military housing know that the lighting sucks.. Who doesn't put a ceiling light in a living room?
As long as it is recylced 2ply paper I can do that for toilet paper (am i spoiled?)

Whether you believe Global Warming is happening and that we can help in preventing it, it sure is something to think about. I have my thinking cap on now.. I know as a Girl Scout Leader (it will be my first year this year), that there is actually a patch and a booklet for the troop on learning about Global Warming and to earn the badge they have to complete 5 tasks, I do believe this will be one of our badges on the schedule this year..

...Ok I am off of my soap box... the uninformed, misinformed,misunderstood,crazy,sane,urgent,incoherent,coherent,understood

ok now I am off

Nice Matters

I have received my first blog nomination.... by Ms. Sheri over at Blended Colors has nominated me for the Nice Matters award.. That is so nice of her.. :0 )

Sheri is a very nice person and has so much talent, I love her work.. Check out her Etsy Shop

Thanks again Sheri!

Now I have to nominate some people

Caz over at A Stampin Chirpin Corner
DeeDee over at Scrappin with Dee Dee
Samm over at By Samm

All of you inspire me and always have nice things on your blog so I nominate you.

Todays Day of Chores and Trains

Hello Blog Readers... How was your weekend? Mine was scattered with Lightening and Thunder storms, being sick and letting my kids run rampant in my house resulting in a huge mess I still have yet to clean up...

As my pledge to myself to become healthier, while at McDonald's I had the chicken salad with low fat vinaigrette dressing then went swimming for 1 1/2 (at least that is the amount of time I was swimming) we were there for almost 3 hours.. For dinner I had a mandarin chicken salad with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing and did not eat the mandarin oranges and there were thinly sliced almonds in the salad.. yummy.. i ate half and took the rest home (it was huge)..{Those were healthy choices right?}

Today I picked up the house a bit, then I have to go to the Navy College office to straighten some things out for my husband and take my youngest daughter on an hour train ride for an audition for Vogue Nippon Magazine shoot that is happening the 18th of this month..

Coming Soon

Coming Soon to a site near you... I will have Kits available for sale.. How exciting.. I am super excited about this new adventure. I will post more when I have ironed out all of the details.
Thanks a bunch for visiting and for those of you that read my posts..

My Ipod Doctor

My Ipod Doctor, LLC has been published again, but this time in the 225 Baton Rouge Magazine. Check it out. Give us a comment, let us know what you think.

http://www.225batonrouge.com/news/2007/jul/31/what/

Dreams/Traveling

In 4 months I will be the big 3-0.... I always thought and planned that when I turned 30 I would be touring in the streets of Italy, Ireland or Germany...

I left my job to be a stay at home mom to make my home life more cohesive for my DH.. and I have loved it but I miss work also... When I left my job I also left my plans to be traveling on this day in my life..

My birthdays are not anything special, once you turn 18 do you really celebrate your birthdays any longer? My 21st birthday I was married and pregnant so no real celebration there...

Why all of the blabbering on? Now I am back to planning my trip I really want to see different parts of the world. I have missed out on alot of traveling but I am the only one to blame I have been the only one holding myself back. (sorry if all of this is incoherent)

What I am really saying is that I am planning a trip and I am so super excited..I am trying to decide between Ireland & Germany or maybe I could find a tour that incorporates both places?
My plans are for Dec. 08 but I really need to look into what the weather is like during december.

I Won I Won I Won

I can't believe that I actually won something.. The last time I won anything was in 1st grade I won the cake walk and took a chocolate cake home....

Anywho Ms. Sheri picked my "That Will Do Pig" as the winner of her Pay It Forward contest on her blog and I was able to choose anything from her etsy shop...

I am so thrilled to be getting some of her wonderful artwork.. When I receive it I will post it here for all of you to see...

Modeling Jobs & Job Possibilities

To Do List

Peter Pan (2003)

I loved this version of Peter Pan (2003) though I think it has more to do with the fact that Jeremy Sumpter (Peter Pan) looks alot like the first boy I thought I was in love with and about that same age during the movie, so maybe I am a bit prejudiced.. But my girls and I love to pop this movie in on rainy days ...

Quote from the movie obtained from: moviemistakes.com

Peter: Welcome, mother! Discipline, that's what fathers believe in. We must spank the children immediately before they try to kill you again. In fact we should kill them.
[Yells and runs after the Lost Boys who scream and hide. Wendy stands between Peter and the Lost Boys.]
Wendy: Father! I agree that they are perfectly horrid but kill them and they'll think themselves important.
Lost Boys: So important!
Curly: And unique!
Wendy: I suggest something far more dreadful. Medicine! It's the most beastly, disgusting stuff, the sticky, sweet kind.
Lost Boys: Kill us! Please Peter!

Quotes

Alice in Wonderland
'I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!'"

This is her Life

She sits alone at the window waiting. There was a time where all things seemed possible and she felt happy. Now she sits alone waiting, wondering is this the day?

A knock at the door and then everything blurred for her she can’t remember exactly what was said, or how she got here.. Three men in uniform are on her doorstep, one who seems most important is doing the talking but she can’t hear anything, she blinks back a tear. He holds out his hand and leads her to the car, she knows not where it is going.

The white walls, the smell of antiseptic and a constant beep reminds her this is a new reality. She can be happy, she knows it she just needs him by her side. She walks away from the window and holds his hand, it feels cold she rubs his hand between hers to warm them and pulls the blankets around him. I can not lose him, I will not leave him, he is mine, I need him. She whispers in his ear “I love you”. She will not cry she will be strong she will hold on and not let go.

The doctors come and go, the nurses bring her coffee and suggest sleep, she can not leave don’t they know this is her life.

Angel & Crown

From a link on Blended Colors blog led me to HopHopJingleBoo and this graphic that she (Debra) posted.. Now I do not know these wonderfully talented ladies personally but through the life of blogging my world has become open to new experiences and the knowledge that there are sooo many talented people out in the world.. check out both of the blogs..

Pay it Forward Contest

There is a contest on Blended Colors Blog.. she is awesome and talented I love visting her blog and checking out her creativity..

Here are 2 things I made with her PIF graphic..