Sadly, after a 5 week visit with us, Grandma Betty returned to her home last night.
FG enjoys having GB here and was quite upset at having to say goodbye. Once we got home from the airport, she grabbed a doll GB had given her when she was four and placed it in GB’s bed to keep it warm until GB returns.
Good thing it’s only a short travel day to get to Upstate New York so I’m sure we’ll see Grandma Betty again soon…she deserves to see the North Country when it’s green and warm.
Posted in Favorite Girl | 1 Comment »
At the conference in Lake Placid, we had the opportunity to hear several talented, entertaining and enlightening speakers. The first was P. J. O’Rourke ~ very witty. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to get up in front of 100 + combat veterans with spouses and attempt to keep their attention by speaking on foreign affairs observations. P.J.O’Rourke has a style of speaking which is a lot like the Will Rogers’ style ~ a meandering of topics loosely tied together. He has authored a multitude of books which I plan on reading now that I’ve heard him speak and the tone is set.
The next morning, Father Mark Sargent had us riveted for more than 2.5 hours without a break. Not once did I look at my watch. The topic was Islam and I learned a lot! Hopefully, I’ll retain some of what I learned since I didn’t take notes. Father Sargent is currently the Bishop Representative for Interfaith Matters. His presentation was enlightening and his manner of speaking was so interesting and easy to comprehend. At the end of the conference, everyone I spoke with concurred that he was a fabulous speaker. I think a big part of his ability to relate to the audience is that he’s a former paratrooper from the Canadian Airborne Regiment.
Interestingly, both speakers were in Somalia back in 1993. Mr. O’Rourke covered it as a Foreign Correspondent and Father Sargent spoke about it in terms of how his unit was one first responders in Somalia but due to a lack of knowledge, they made political matters worse not better.
Each time they spoke about Somalia, I would look to the Command Sergeant Major sitting next to me. He was part of a unit in the story we know of as Black Hawk Down. His unit rescued the Rangers. All three men, Father Sargent, P.J. O’Rourke and the Command Sergeant Major had a different experience in a pivotal part of history and now they were all in the same room ~ with me.
A fascinating juxtaposition of living history so many years later ~ if only I’d had my camera handy!
Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged history | Leave a Comment »
I got my first credit card in 1986 while I was still in college and have had the same one ever since ~ until today. It’s traveled the world with me and purchased some wonderful mementos of those travels but unfortunately someone else has decided to do their own traveling on my credit card. I went online and was shocked to see several charges for Jazeera Airways. Bummer.
Not so coincidently, FM had the same thing happen about a month ago. My project now is to compare all our charges over the last two months and see where our credit card use overlaps. No doubt an employee somewhere here in town is moonlighting by stealing credit card numbers and selling them.
Looks like I’ll be paying cash here in town but since I’ve got the time to research it, I’ll be like a dog with a bone until I figure out who and what store/restuarant stole my number. It actually helps that both our cards were compromised since I can narrow it down to those stores which will be few.
Posted in Miscellaneous | 7 Comments »
A short drive from our house is the gorgeous Adirondack region of New York. On Tuesday, we drove to Lake Placid for a conference and enjoyed every minute of our time away. Only difficult part was leaving FG at home for two nights but since she was with Grandma Betty, she was fine and has forgiven me for abandoning her for the second time in one month. Abandoning is her description of choice for the situation.
Lake Placid is so clean and beautiful. We’ll no doubt be going again and again during our time here in New York especially to the ski slopes of Whiteface. We didn’t get a chance to ski this time but we did check it out for next winter.
Lake Placid has been the host of two Winter Olympics. The first was in 1932 and the second was in 1980 when the “Miracle on Ice” occured. That’s when the U.S. hockey team beat the Soviets. The town is quaint but oozes Olympic poshness with state of the art winter sports such as skiing, skating, bobsledding, ski jumps, luge, etc. All available to us laymen.
There are lots and lots of restaurants ~ so many that it was hard to decide where to go for our one free night on the town. We ended up going to dinner at Nicolas with 25 of FM’s colleagues and their spouses. Delicious italian food.
During the conference, we heard three interesting and entertaining speakers. More on that later…
Posted in Travels | 1 Comment »
Harriet the Hamster has burrowed into our hearts and home nicely. We give her attention when she wakes up at night ~even FM. She’s well socialized with humans but the dogs still don’t know what to think of her and they jump away when she, in her crazy exercise ball, comes rolling by them.
So, even though it took a lot of “begging” on FG’s part, I’m glad we got her.
Posted in Travels | 1 Comment »
UPDATE: We turned off all our lights and unplugged appliances for Earth Hour last night. It was a lot of fun sitting around the GAS fireplace with the candles lit enjoying a game of Go Fish with Grandma Betty and FG. The house was so quiet and we imagined what it might be like to live in an Amish home. FG liked it so much she wants to institute Earth Hour once a month. Sounds like a fun tradition to start. Did anyone else give Earth Hour a try?
The earth is going dark for one hour tomorrow ~ at least that’s what the coordinators of Earth Hour would like to happen. On Saturday, from 8pm-9pm, you’re being asked to turn off your lights to save energy. A lot of people will roll their eyes (including my husband) but, if it’s a chance to make the world a little cleaner, I’m more than willing to give it a try. Click here more information about Earth Hour.
FG is thrilled about Earth Hour and has the candles at the ready. She’s been very good about making our house as “green” as possible. She’s even got FM recycling his beer/soda cans (the cash-back is a good incentive for him) and he’s converted to the energy-efficient light bulbs. We already recycle, turn off lights and keep the heat as low as we can tolerate it but there’s so much more we could be doing. Lately, FG has started timing her showers and reminding me to shut off the water when I brush my teeth which I know is a very bad habit. I’m still at the beginning stages of being green but with the help of FG, I’m much more aware. And that’s what Earth Hour is all about ~ awareness.
Has anyone else gone green? I would love to hear your favorite green tips.
Posted in Miscellaneous | 11 Comments »
Despite the 20 degree weather and the snow flurries, it feels like spring has arrived. It hit us yesterday that the ski season is really over for the year and we’ve agreed to get out on the slopes earlier next winter. The start of spring combined with my recent visit to Atlanta has given me the travel itch. I’ve started planning several upcoming weekend getaways ~ there’s lots to see within easy driving distance.
We had a wonderful Easter weekend surrounded by family. FM’s parents, sister, brother in-law, nieces & nephew came in for the weekend. With my mom also here, we had a full house. I especially enjoyed spending time with FM’s sister, J & family who we don’t get to see often since we, and they, have very busy work/school schedules.
Since there was going to be a lot of us attending Easter mass and thinking it would be less crowded, I innocently suggested we go to the Saturday mass. Even though I’ve been going to mass for all these many years, I’ve never been to the Easter Vigil. Oh, my…the mass was two and a half hours. No exaggeration. It started at 8 pm and, at about 9:30, my heart went out to the kids who were behaving so well but you could tell they were tired and bored. Much like I felt. A CCD student of mine was sitting a couple of rows in front of me and he was doing the head-bob, all the while trying to stay awake. It reminded me of those 8 am college classes when students would fall asleep in class and start to drool. 🙂 This mass had a little bit of everything including starting outside around a fire-pit (burr), having lit candles complete with dripping wax, a reading in Latin and a fully submerged baptism.
It was good to experience an Easter Candlelight Vigil once but, from now on, it’s back to Easter Sunday mass. 😉
Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!
Posted in Travels | 7 Comments »
I have to admit it scares me when someone states a historical fact and then says “I saw it in the movie …” And I’m not talking about a documentary. Makes me wonder what else they believe hook, line & sinker.
Don’t get me wrong. I love some of these supposedly historical movies ~ I mean really, Mel Gibson as William Wallace was not tough to watch but I really wish there was a disclaimer at the beginning which read “This movie is not factual ~ listen to your history teacher”
What made me think of all of this is Yahoo’s list of the Top 10 Historically Inaccurate Movies. Click here to check it out. It gave me a chuckle.
Posted in movies | 5 Comments »
We had our “sort of” annual St. Patrick’s Day party this past Saturday and a good time was had by all. St. Patrick’s Day celebrations are a tradition in my family. My mom and dad had a party every year and they were so fun. When my parents lived in Hawaii, their party guest list grew to over 100. And when they lived in Puerto Rico, friends would fly over from the neighboring Virgin Islands just to attend the event.
Our party has yet to become the “event of the year” but we’re trying. We may even be here long enough to earn a party reputation. We co-hosted the party at our house with another couple. It made a huge difference in my pre-party stress. Instead of being in my usual panic mode before guests arrived, I was just sitting around waiting with FM & our friends. I highly recommend the joint party planning.
Our guests were very gracious and brought “hostess” gifts for both of us. I love getting wine as a hostess gift because people usually bring what they themselves like to drink and I enjoy tasting their picks. One guest brought the most thoughtful hostess gift I’ve ever received; it was a delicious coffee cake to enjoy the next morning. And enjoy I did! In fact, I ate a piece of the cake before I went to bed. It was so yummy that I woke up ready to eat the rest. Unfortunately, FG, FM and my mom (who’s here visiting) all enjoyed the coffee cake as much as I did ~ I had to call dibs on the last piece.
I hope everyone enjoyed being Irish for the day!
Posted in Travels | 2 Comments »
Atlanta is one of my favorite cities to visit so when I was invited to attend an Army Family Action Plan (AFAP) conference there this past week, I jumped at the chance. Not only is AFAP one of my favorite programs of the Army, but the location of the conference was ideal for me.
AFAP is an Army program which gives a voice to both Army Soldiers as well their family members. The issues are collected at each installation and are pushed up to the top leaders of the Army. The conference I attended this week was the mid-level AFAP conference. It’s a very professional and team-oriented way to decide on what issues should be prioritzed. The origins of AFAP dates back to 1983 when it was started by Army Spouses. We were in meetings all day (8-4:30) but they allowed us free time during the evenings which was perfect for me since my friend, Dave generously picked me up every night and off we went to dine and shop.
During the conference, I met intelligent and passionate representatives from all across the U.S. Our group of 13 had a variety of ranks from a Private to a Major as well as a couple of spouses. One of my favorite people at the conference was a mom of a Private out of Ft. Hood. I met her about 10 minutes after checking in and asked if she wanted to join me for a late lunch. We hit it off famously and ended up spending a lot of off time together. She’s a real go-getter and shows that the Family Readiness Groups can certainly gain a lot of insight from the inclusion of extended family members. When her son was deployed to Iraq, she started “Operation Pillow” in which she sent 1,200 pillows for his entire Squadron! She was very inspiring and my hope is we’ll keep in touch.
At night, I went into town and enjoyed some of Atlanta’s delicious restaurants. Dave rightly suggested a gem of a restaurant called The Flying Bisquit ~ very yummy especially with their offering of a variety of vegetarian choices.
It looks like I got out of town just in time yesterday. My flight departed at 3:00 pm and later that evening a big storm blew through causing a lot of damage. The damaged area is where I spent most of my evenings. Talk about good timing!
Posted in US Military | 8 Comments »
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