Spiritual Sunday

This is a verse that seems to keep popping up and crossing my path, and I keep trying to remind myself of it when I'm feeling down.

Jeremiah 29:11 (New International Version)

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Savory Saturday

This is a favorite of Jason's and Ashwee's, and if you love peanut butter, then this is the pie for you!

Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Pie
24 Nutter Butter Peanut Butter cookies, crushed
5 tbsp. butter – melted

Mix together and press into pie pan.

Filling:
1 – 8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup peanut butter
½ cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
6 oz. Cool-Whip (will need 12 oz. total)

Mix together and spread in crust, top with remaining 6 oz. Cool-Whip. Place in freezer for 2-4 hours. Remove ½ hour before serving. Drizzle with chocolate syrup.

Friday Funnies

Real life Mario Kart!!!  I wanna play!

(notice he is throwing out the banana peel, lol!)

Thankful Thursday

I always try to be thankful, so I think Thankful Thursdays is a good reminder of our blessings, big or small.  This Thursday, I am going to choose to post about the manufacturer that built our house, sending it's contractors up from Georgia to fix our house! 

They have been here the past two days fixing all the little things that were not completed or were messed up during building or moving and setting up.  Being a little OCD, these little fixes were really grinding on my nerves, but the stubborness in me wasn't going to pay to fix them when we just paid good money for a NEW house, that shouldn't have anything wrong with it.  So, I am thankful today that they are here making everything right!

Wishful Wednesday

Sigh.  How I would love to be vacationing here with my sweetie right now.  Warm breezes, cool water, sunkissed skin, and relaxation..I think that's just what the doctor ordered.  Too bad it's not easier to obtain!

Tinkering Tuesday

My sister, Ashley, and I have decided to do some theme blogging if you haven't noticed:)  Tuesdays are for posting about hobbies, crafts, projects, and things you enjoy doing and making.  Sooo, I figured since my most favorite-ist hobby is photography, that I would share a few shots from my latest shoot as my Tinkering Tuesday post!

This was the shoot I did for Rachel and Jimi right before they left NC, I just got done editing and so here's a peek at the finished product!  They were so much fun and we got so many good shots!

Monday Memories

Ok, Ash, since you are wanting me to do these weekly blogs with you, and on such short notice, this is what I could come up with for today... 

Mondays will be for posting about memories (stories or pictures).  So, since this was last second, I will do a picture this week.

I believe this was maybe 2nd grade?  Weren't the 80's absolutely awesome!?

Don't laugh too hard...I know you all have similar pictures somewhere!

I've Got Some Catching Up To Do!

 Where to start?!

This month has been such a blur!  I've been sick with the flu and bronchitis for the past week and a half, the week before that, we were at home for a short, but much needed visit. 

And the week before that, we had house guests for the week.  Our friends, Jimi and Rachel stayed with us while their house was packed and they started the process for PCSing (which means they got restationed in California).  It was a bittersweet week, we got to spend lots of time with them, but it was the last week we will probably see them for at least a year.  They are the type of friends who would drop anything to help you.  When we had our accident, Rachel was the first one at the hospital even though she was feeling under the weather, and Jimi was out of the country.  Those kind of friends.  We miss them terribly already!  Finding friends here is hard, as I've said many a time.  Most everyone is interested in drinking, partying, and hitting up the pool halls and dance clubs.  Not our scene anymore.  I guess we're growing up!  Rachel and Jimi are so similar to us..their idea of a good night is dinner and a movie, or PS3/Wii nights with take out!  I talked to her last night, trying to get used to our 3 hour time difference now, and they are getting settled in their new house on base in Pendleton.  She was telling me how they can see the ocean from their windows!  We are excited to try to plan a trip out there next spring!  We sent them on their way to toasty California, with a farewell snow!  And a good one at that!  Here's a few pictures from that snow:

Rachel and Me:

Jimi and Jason:

Kojak loves snow days!

 Jason and Jimi's snowman with the mohawk:

Our house:)

View of our road from the driveway:

The snow was so pretty, and everything was covered, but I think now, I have a little bit of spring fever!  We have so much we want to do outside to get ready for pool season!  

I have a recheck on my back tomorrow.  Nobody I've seen yet has wanted to do anything but throw drugs at me.  I don't want to depend on narcotics to get me through the day.  I'd like to try physical therapy or something like that.  Jason did PT and he is 90% better, even though they said he won't ever regain the feeling in his big toe.  Still minor in the grand scheme of things, but aggravating.  My back has been catching a lot this week, and it HURTS.  It will stop you dead in your tracks, and it's embarrassing at times, especially when you're in public and you all of the sudden have to hunch over.  So, hopefully tomorrow, I will get somewhere with this doc.  I also have to have a recheck on my lungs.

Jason just started a new class this week.  We can't wait to get through this one and start his 3 week break.  He will be taking leave this time, and we will be celebrating our 6 year anniversary on March 5!  No real plans on what we're doing yet, but I think we will spend some extra time at home with family this time!

So, this update hasn't been totally intriguing, but like I said, I've been quarantined for a week and a half.  Hopefully the warmer weather this week will bring better health, and fresh air, and we can enjoy some outdoor time!  Hope everyone has a fabulous week!

Christmas 2010

A Special Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on what we are thankful for each year.  This year I am thankful for something that in years past, hasn't been as surreal to me.  My life.  Now, you may say, you should always be thankful for life, but this year it's a little different, because we could have died last week, and there's nothing like a near death experience to put things in perspective.  We were driving Thursday night to the gas station and to rent a movie, it was a little after dark, and we were going between 45 and 50.  All of the sudden, last second, a van pulled across in front of us, like he never saw us, to turn into a drive way on our side.  With no reaction time (there aren't even skid marks at the scene), we hit him head on.  If you look at the pictures below, Jason tried to turn and take the brunt of the hit on his side (my knight in shining armor!).  We were both taken by ambulance to the ER and were released late that night with a lot of bruises and feeling pretty banged up.  But a head on collision at 50 mph could have been so much worse..thank heavens for seat belts and air bags.  The seatbelt bruised me pretty bad on my hip and chest, but kept me from going through the window!  The airbags burned Jason's arm, and my face is a little sore, but we didn't bust our heads on the dash or window.  My knees are both busted up, and I'm limping, and Jason's hand is swollen from it hitting the whindshield and shattering it when the airbag deployed, his collarbone was bruised, and both of us are hurting pretty badly in our backs and necks, and the doc thinks there is a possiblilty of Jason having a pinched nerve in his back or hip.  With all that said, we believe there was an angel riding with us that night, protecting us from worse harm.

And as always, I am so very thankful for my family who dropped everything last week to make the 3 1/2 hour trip to take care of us after the wreck, who prayed us through the ordeal, and who are continuing to take care of us this week at home, despite everything else going on trying to get ready for Thanksgiving!  I truly feel like I have the best family in the world, and I love you all with all my heart!

And going back to Jason...he really is the man I dreamed of.  He protects me at all costs, and despite his injuries, has handled everything this week from the police report to the insurance to the house and dog.  Our police report was wrong, and had to be fixed, because I wasn't even listed on it, and then the insurance has been a mess, because come to find out, the idiot that turned in front of us (who was obviously at fault), doesn't have insurance, or get this...a valid license!  So, needless to say, it's been nothing but stressful and draining, but Jason's handling things like a pro.  I love you so much, honey, and thank our Heavenly Father for blessing me with you!

And last, but not least, I am thankful for friends that rallied around us...friends who sat with us at the hospital until our family could get there, friends near and far, who were praying for us to be ok.  I love you guys!  You are truly the best friends a girl could ask for!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.  Hug and kiss your loved ones, you are not promised another day!  Tell them you love them, because you don't know when it may be the last time you see or talk to them!  Please, don't take it for granted. 

A USMC Gunnery Sergeant & Sergeant In Their Natural Habitat

Just Dance 2 is awesomely fun!  Our friends, Jimi and Rachel came over last night for a "dance party".  The camera conveniently went missing when it was mine and Rachel's turn;o)  Let me tell you, if you want some fun exercise, this is it!  Enjoy!  We certainly did!

**Oh...and pause the music player at the bottom of my page!**

A Few Things I've Learned (and been reminded of) the Past Few Days

- NEVER, I mean NEVER go to Onslow Hospital ER.  They are absolutely the slowest ER I have ever been to.  We waited almost 5 hours in the waiting room, and were never seen.  We finally decided to take our chances on base at 11:30 last night.  I only had to wait 30 minutes there.  (The reason for the trip was me, I was hit suddenly with excruciating pain in my lower abdomen/pelvis area yesterday evening out of nowhere.  I was doubled over and in tears, nothing like I've ever felt before.  Still sore today, but they were able to rule out most of the serious, threatening things it could have been.  I don't like not having an answer, but peace of mind over it not being certain things is enough to satisfy me for now.)

-A morphine/zofran cocktail via IV is enough to totally knock you out.  Almost 17 hours later and I am still drowsy.  This was my first time having morphine.  Weird feeling for sure.

- Naval Hospital employees are not as professional as civilian hospitals.  I guess it's the whole military mentality thing. 

- Our dog can refrain from messing in the house (right after eating dinner, mind you) for 8 hours.  That's how long he got left last night during this whole ordeal.  I was proud of the little bugger.

- My husband is a wonderful man.  I already knew this, but when I am sick, he really shines, even more than other times, if that is possible.  He takes charge, and takes care of me.  He runs around and does everything I need, babies me, and geniunely does whatever he can to make me feel better or at least comfortable, everything that I am used to coming from home with a mom who did all those things.  I know you're proud too, Momma :)

- Batteries for Hemi engines are more than twice the price of regular car batteries.  Wish I woulda known that when we bought the Jeep!

- Buying a house is a long and drawn out process.  I am so impatient.  Closing is finally set for Monday at 10:00am. 

- I look more natural as a light colored brunette.  My new color is called Acorn.  Will post pictures soon.

- Family is the most important thing (next to a relationship with God) in this life.  A good family, like ours, is the biggest blessing.  I just feel so fortunate to have my family.  I love y'all so much!  You all mean so much more than I know how to express...

Getting Creative

My sweetie pie surprised me with the prettiest little marbled rose buds the other day, not thinking that all my vases are packed!  So, I had to get resourceful.  Not as pretty as a vase, but functional.  Yes, a reusable plastic water bottle.  Hey..you use what ya got!

Just Feel Like Rambling

The cool air lately is so refreshing!  The majority of the week here is calling for mid-60's.  Love it! 

The house is almost done!  We have only about a week and half until everything is done and we can close!  I can't wait to decorate the new place!  It already feels so homey, I can just imagine how it will be when we get all of our stuff in there!  Plus, we didn't have any flooding or leaks at the new place with all this rain, so that's reassuring!

We spent the day in Morehead City yesterday, shopping, and just spending time together.  It was nice.  We don't get to do that much during one of Jason's classes, so I try to enjoy what time I get with him.  He only has 9 more days of this class and then he gets two weeks off.  We are both really excited about this.  Not only to spend time together, but to move and get our house set up together:) 

Last night, we met up with our friends out there, and ate at this little hole-in-the wall place called Everyday Italian.  The stromboli was to DIE for...almost as good as Mama Mia's back home!  While sitting there, Jason and I had a flashback that brought tears to my eyes.  An elderly gentleman (who was probably a local), was getting up to leave, when he said to the waitress "I'm glad you got to see me".  Jason and I looked at each other and just chuckled.  It warmed my heart.  You see, that was one of my grandaddy's catch phrases, and I haven't ever heard anyone say that since he passed away almost 3 years ago.  I always miss him, but last night I REALLY missed him.

After dinner, we got coffees and hot chocolates from Dunkin Donuts and took off down to the beach.  We could see the fireworks from the Seafood Festival, which was really pretty.  We walked on the beach for a little while before it just got too cold to stay out there.  That excited me that it was COLD!

Jason has duty again today/tonight, so I have plans to go get a pumpkin donut from Dunkin Donuts (they were out last night) this afternoon, and enjoy a chick flick.  Probably get some laundry done and try to clean house a little for our first inspection of the rental house tomorrow.  And I have to change out the air filters.  Fun.

They are calling for passing showers today.  I am so sick of rain.  Maybe it will miss us.

My friend Tiffany will be here in 4 days from Florida.  It will be great to see her, and she will keep me busy and help the time pass more quickly while Jason is working almost all weekend next week.  We are planning on going down to Mike's Farm.  After dinner, we are going to take a pumpkin patch hayride to go get pumpkins.  Then we will probably go to the little local fair that is going to be in town next week.  It is one of our little traditions to go to this fair and ride the pirate ship even though it scares us both to death!

I can't wait to use my new side by side fridge/freezer.  You have no idea how excited I am to use these!  I will actually be able to see what we have in the freezer!

We plan on buying a storage building with our rental deposit refund instead of waiting for the homebuyer's tax credit. That way Jason will still have a workshop and we will have a place to put our out of season decorations and our mower.  I want one of those cute ones with a window so I can put a window flower box on it, and of course, it will have a barn star on it somewhere;o)

With our first time homebuyer's tax credit, I'm getting a new washer and dryer!  Ours are about 10 years old, and the washer is now making a squeaking noise during the spin cycle.  So loudly, that you can hear it downstairs with the tv on.  I'm just praying they will make it a few more months.

As far as the phone/cable/internet issue, we finally found out that Century Link is going out there with phone/internet, and they will bundle it with a satellite package.  I am relieved to know this, and most everything is falling into place nicely. 

You remember I was talking about Jimi and Rachel and their car situation with all the flooding.  They weren't as fortunate as we were with the car.  When they took it in to the shop, they found out that it will have to have a complete engine rebuild.  But, thankfully, insurance should cover it!

I will be watching the Panthers game today at 1:00.  We are not having a good season.  Pretty disappointing, but I'm still holding out hope that they will turn it around.  Maybe today will be the day (wishful thinking!).

Ok, time to get busy.  I can't use Blogger to stall anymore.  Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

We Didn't Float Away!

The tropical storm that has been racking the Eastern coast has finally cleared out. It left us with cooler temperatures, but that's the only good thing it brought! We had our friends from Morehead City over the other night, and their car broke down while here. Jason let them take his car home, and he got his car fixed, so we met halfway between our houses to switch cars back out. This was a bad idea to try doing this last night, on the worst night of the storm, considering it had been raining for 4 days straight. By the end of it last night, we had gotten 19.19 inches total!!! Roads were closing everywhere, and we found ourselves stuck on the other side of town, unable to get home due to the closing of Hwy. 24. We couldn't even go back through base, they shut it down, in some spots the water had risen to the bottom of stop signs! We finally decided to wind our way back to Emerald Isle and hit a highway there that takes us back to another main highway that would lead us home...about an hour and a half trip. The first road was 58. It was dark, curvy, and unfamiliar. We thought we were ok, as we weren't running into much standing water, when all of the sudden we came up on water rushing across the highway and into a large ditch, creating a pool of water, and a waterfall-like effect. Jason did wonderfully at keeping us from dying. The water took us across the road, and onto the shoulder of the oncoming lane. He got us stopped right before we slid off the road and into the watery ditch. We would have really been in trouble then. And then, the car died. We were praying it would start back, and that we hadn't just completely messed up the engine. After about 6 or 7 tries, it finally turned over, and we got back on the road. It took about 20 minutes for the car to finally get rid of all the water it sucked up, but thank heavens it did! We had several close calls on that road, but none as bad as that one. We truly believe we had been sent an angel to ride with us last night. The outcome could have been so much worse in so many ways. We finally made it to Hwy. 17 and it was alot more easy-going from there on. Our friends, Rachel and Jimi, weren't so lucky. Their car did the same thing, but it never started running normally again. The road they were on got closed, and no tow truck could get to them. The water was rushing across the road there so badly, they couldn't go home until 4 am. They have to put the car in the shop today. To give you a little idea of what we had to face last night, I took a few (not so good) pictures from my phone. This is before it got dark, and before it got even worse and they closed the roads.

We are just thankful that it's over, and that it wasn't any worse.  The house didn't flood, and we haven't found any leaks yet.  It was so much worse for so many others.  We saw emergency crews out by the dozens last night, and I know alot of people had to leave their homes due to flooding.  I just hope we won't have anything like this again for a long time!  Too bad I couldn't get any good pictures of the sound in Swansboro, the water there had completely covered the docks and had risen to the base of the houses.  It was scary!  We were told that in a nearby town, a car had been swept off the road by the waters and into a ditch, where the four people drowned.  This was no joke, and I am so thankful today that we are safe.  We need to keep those families in our prayers that weren't as fortunate.