After 2 years of waiting....

It's finally here!!
The laser tv!!! It's on sale if you can afford the $7000 they are asking for it, cause so far it only comes in a 65" and there is talk of a 73" version in the make.
We've been waiting on this for 2 years hoping to get our hands on one. Maybe this year or the next they might have smaller versions.
We are excited and disappointed at the same time. We put off buying a flat panel in hopes to get a laser tv, but when they never hit the stores we were bummed. When the AQOUS sale fell in our laps, well how could we refuse.
Now the laser decides to come out!! Better late then never, but it won't be for a little while till we can get one.

check it out... LASER TV

Cute Poem

Not sure who the author is, but I like the message.

I was shocked, confused, bewildered,
As I entered Heaven's door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.
But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash.
There stood the kid from seventh grade,
Who swiped my lunch money! twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor,
Who never said anything nice.
Herb, who I always thought,
Was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.
I nudged Jesus, 'What's the deal?
I would love to hear Your take.
How'd all these sinners get up here?
God must've made a mistake.
'And why's everyone so quiet,
So somber - give me a clue.'
'Hush, child,' He said, 'they're all in shock.
No one thought they'd be seeing you.'
JUDGE NOT

Remember...Just going to church doesn't make you a Christian
any more than standing in your garage makes you a car .

Every saint has a PAST...
Every sinner has a FUTURE!

A tasty Christmas salad

I've been having some trouble with the video uploads sorry so late.

It was Toenail's birthday (December) and we thought that would be a great time to spring the delectable Candlestick salad. We told him he was making dinner with the help of my brother-in-law, Josh and a favorite classic recipe, found in none other than, "The Friend" children's magazine. It went a little like this....

I can't seem to load the first part so here is the link

PART 1

And here is part 2

Dear Dyson

i'm sad to say your usefulness has diminished. Though not completely useless, you just can't hang with the carpetless environment, even on bare floor mode. I try to use you when i can, but sadly you must now play second string to Broom Vac.
Broom vac may not be as powerful as you, but is mighty handy and convienient on my hard floors.
Let's just say you don't have to work as hard.

Xtina reloaded

with meds.
So, with the urging of the school nurse at Dondan's school, I thought it would be a good idea to get flu shots. Supposedly it's going around and really bad in the local area yadda yadda.
The kids and I get flul shots on Saturday, I start feeling sick Sunday Morning. yay. what could it be? hmmmm. THE FLU?!
On top of that my sinus' are going nuts, apparently it's bad here for allergies cause according to the doctor, "stuff is always blowing through the island".
oooookkkaaaaaaayyyyyy....
I've been suckin' down NyQuil and sinus meds for the past 3 days, now they load me down with, Robo plus codeine, claritin, Motrin, flonase AND afrin. I thought afrin and flonase did the same thing but, hey i'm not the doctor. She says I have an upper respiratory infection, oh well at least i'll sleep like a baby, thanx to the codeine.
Dondan comes home from school on Monday feels crummy and has a slight fever, I give him some meds and keep him out of school on Tuesday and BAM! He's bouncing back good as new!

Ever wanted to know...

what it was like back in the day during the Civil rights movement?
The feelings, the mindset and the experience as a whole?
Well, if you didn't get to experience first hand and perhaps you can not travel back in time, here is a way to get a first hand look into the past.
I came across a program on AFN (American Forces Network) it was Andrew Young presents: How we got over, it talked all about the civil rights movement and how the University of Georgia with the help of several partners had put together a digital library. There is an extensive archive of news film reels stored at the university of Georgia donated by several different news stations from that time period.
A group of students and professors put together a project to make this information available to the public. I think it's pretty cool, you can see all the unedited news reels and to get the first hand accounts of the happenings. The good things that happened and the bad violence as well. The truth of it is rather harsh. The blatant hatred and ignorance just boils me, but it was the reality of the times. It sad to think that there are still people today with that same racist mentality.
Making this kind of resource available may help to bring about more awareness and understanding in our society, perhaps a more colorblind nation.
Lots of good info!
I really like the interview with Andrew Young in 1971 when he says that in the United States we have to move to a position where a person can be elected based on merit and not on race or national origin. Reporter Whipkey asks Young if he thinks an African American could be elected president of the United States. Young asserts that he believes it will happen "in our lifetime."

http://crdl.usg.edu/voci/go/crdl/home

Enjoy!

Island life

Here we are in Okinawa, Japan!
The time difference to pacific time is 17 hours ahead. I am talking to you from the future...oooooooo.....aaaaaaahhhhhhh.....
We have made several friends here, one couple i knew from Florida around 7 years ago and another person i actually met on WOW and joined the Marine Corps because of me. So it's been quite interesting around here.
There are many things to learn about and adjust to.
Driving for one is a big change. For example, you drive on the left side of the road and when the light turns green, you don't go, you hesitate. They call it the 3 car rule, but sometimes it's five. Let me explain. You have to wait for 3-5 cars to run the red light before you can go. If you go on green and hit a car running the red light... it's your fault. Also, Americans are considered "professional drivers" which means if you get in an accident with a Japanese driver, it's automatically your fault. Even if your car is parked and they run into you, your fault.
On Kadena, if you are caught speeding....
1st offense - 30 days license suspended
2nd offense - 60 days license suspended
3rd offense - 90 days license suspended
4th offense - lose license 1 yr.
They don't play here, it's very strict. Oh and drifting.... you can't even WATCH a drift event.
Also, if you get in any type of trouble, the Japanese government can intervene and arrest you for an indefinite amount of time. Even your teenagers can be tried as adults for any reason.
If you get a ticket off base... you don't want to get a ticket off base. If you get in trouble off base, they can incarcerate you for 30 days right off the bat, before doing anything with you. There are dependents in jail now for various reasons.
SO, other than that, it's awesome!
There are several schools here on the island. The middle school Mike is going to just opened this year. Dondan's school has very little students, the first and second graders share a class.

Another interesting fact... there is a viper on this island called the "Habu", it is very deadly and is only native to this island. You can only be bitten once. They have an anti-venom, but it only works once, if you are bitten again, you die. So when people are bitten, they move off the island.

okay, that's all for the moment. We have our house and bought a car, pictures to follow eventually.

Happy Birthday

yes, yes, it's my birthday today, BUT...

There must have been some magic in that old silk hat they found....

For when they placed it on his head he began to dance around....

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY"

One for the road....

One last prank to try and even the score Mo-6 Me-2. Not quite even but, hey, she had a head start and i was lazy the last few years. I'm not really keeping score that's just a rough estimate.

Sooooo, i was really debating about this one cause it was SUPER, SUPER cold and SUPER, SUPER windy. It was fun... but ... not really.

Gas to drive to friend's house - $1.51 per gallon

Four bags of cottonballs - Four dollars

Water for cottonballs - Free

Pulling a prank and finding out it went further than expected - priceless

You can sort of see a smiley face on the windshield on the driver side.

Not so grand, but a joke none-the-less.

it's been a year...

and Toenail is returning today.

This week has been a little crazy. Sunday Both Dondan and Nona had some sort of stomach thing they caught from the neighbor.
Saturday...
Nona was sleeping on the couch, i'm sitting at my desk and just got off the phone with Marissa and Toenail, it's around 11:30ish, i turn to my left there stands, Nona making no sound and shaking.
then i notice, she's covered in vomit, all up in her hair and down her naked body. WTH?!
i go to put her in the bath and see the couch on the way, it's covered in puke. "MIKE!!" "get out the steam cleaner". Now she's crying cause i'm washing her hair. UUGGGGHHH.
i put her to bed and she continues to puke a little bit about every hour or so, there can't be much left. She starts to settle in more and sleeps. Now it's 4 a.m. Dondan wakes, "mommy my body hurts". "Okay Dondan go to the bathroom", expecting to hear vomiting... it's coming out the other end. for a long time. he washes up. walks to bed. (let me just say both Nona and Dondan sleep in my bed, every night) "are you okay Dondan?"
Dondan, "BLLAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHFFFFFFFF". all over my pillow and bed. i am going to puke myself. i leave the room. we all sleep on the couch. it's a crappy Sunday, again, only this time, it's pukey too.

Monday we had a hard time getting it in gear.

Yesterday, WOW, i got so much done! We delivered the fish to school. Dondan had his horn removed, for the second time. didn't want it to get out of control.




(YES, Marissa i have to have pictures... just for you... i KNOW how you love them...lol...)

i had my final ENT appointment. Got some sewing done. got an oil change. went to a family night at the school that Dondan HAD to go to. he wanted to shop at the secret santa shop, plus it was a free dinner and i didn't have to cook.
SOOOOOO, it was really packed. the boys were in the santa shop and i walked around with nona. i stopped in to the shop (a classroom) and nona was next to me, i lean in call to Mike, leaned back out and Nona was GONE! GONE! i tried not to freak out as my heart is racing, i don't see her any which way. i ask the lady that was sitting outside the shop on the floor and she just looked at me so clueless and didn't answer me. i couldn't wait for a response i yell to Mike, "nona's gone, look that way" as i run the other way. i can't find her, i am freaking out, trying to keep it together, Joann comes up to talk, all i can say is, "nonas gone, gotta find her". She calls her husband, who's an MP to send a unit to the school. I give a description. Joann informs the teachers and other volunteers. the kids spread out and are so helpful. My heart sinks deeper as i realize earlier she was trying to go outside and the possibility of her being out there alone in the dark parking lot as people are coming and going. I rush to the front doors. Joann says, "can she open the heavy doors?" i think no she can't, just as the image of her pushing the handicap button earlier, goes through my mind. I run outside and scream her name, i am frantic, i start praying and pushing back tears. trying not to hyperventilate. Joann keeps calling me back inside, finally i listen. As soon as i come back in, within minutes. she's found, in the art room corridor. a little girl spotted her and Dondan ran up to get her. She looks at Dondan and says, "brother". they bring her to me and i snatch her up and hug her so tight. AAAAGGGGHHHHHH. so CRAZY!

still a little shaken, i think to myself, how crazy for this to happen and Toenail returns home tomorrow!

So hear we are, waiting for his plane to come in and to start life all over again.
wonder how Nona will take it, she's only spent 5 months out of the 27 months she's been alive with her Dad. he was home for 2 weeks on mid-tour, but that was just enough time for her to realize he actually exists. that he was more than an image on the computer monitor. it was confusing, she kept looking back at the computer in the office and her dad in the living room. she's a little older now and i'm curious to see her reaction. so many things will change, i am so used to doing everything myself, dealing with everything myself, man, this may be harder on me. then again... change is good, right?