It's Wednesday

Last evening at the theater was not as productive as we had hoped. Things did get done, but some had to be redone, which really cuts into productivity. We had a new worker arrive -- her name is Kathleen and she seems really nice. She is also expecting, so we won't be asking her to do any heavy work. Last night, Mike had her sorting screws...not the most fun, but definitely helpful.

We are taking tonight off as Tom will be going to the airport to see of some of his folks. He may let me come along for the ride, so I plan to make a dinner that we can either eat when Tom gets home or have later.

Have a great middle day of the week...

"I Hate Hamlet" ***updated WITH PHOTOS***

Tom and I spent the weekend at the Little Theater building the set for "I Hate Hamlet." Tom is the set designer/technical director. I think they call it 'Production Manager' at this theater. Anyway, he had a goal for the weekend and we worked towards it pretty steadily. We had two other helpers on Saturday, a repeater on Sunday, and lots of people stopped by to 'see how it was going.' I will post some pictures later.

I love watching the process as a set goes up. There are several challenges with this set, not the least of which is space. It is called 'Little' Theater for a reason! The play requires several components in the set, to include a staircase with a landing, a fireplace, three doors, a chandelier, a sofa and a feeling of grandeur to the room. One of the challenges has been a window seat Tom wants to include in the set. He wants all the windows and the doors to have arches. The window seat requires two feet of depth, so he had to figure a way to bend the wood into an arch. We thought luan was thin enough, but we were wrong. It almost arched enough, but then the wood cracked. Tom worked the solution in his head and solved the problem quite nicely--he scored the back of the wood at one-inch intervals, much like one cuts fabric or tape that must go aroung curves. It worked beautifully!

So the set has begun to take form. Some walls are up, the staircases have been built but not yet set, one door has been built, the window seat is started. Lots more to do. We go back tonight after Tom gets home from work. I doubt he will eat first, though, so dinner is in a crock pot.

***Updated**

The photos show the flats that were brought in from the storage trailers lying on the stage. The next photos shows the beginnings of the set being built. More to come!

Better day

Blue skies and sunshine! Woohoo!

I finished my course of antibiotics on Tuesday. Still have a mild sore throat, congestion and cough...hmm...called in and got an appointment for this afternoon. Won't be giving blood today as scheduled, though.

I went with Tom to the theater last night. It was the first scheduled time for volunteers to gather and help with the set-building. There was one other helper, thank goodness! Most of the work consisted of lifting and loading -- something I am not particularly skilled with! I did hold the flashlight and move some of the lighter items and attempting to assist with the heavier items. We worked for two hours, pulling flats and platforms. Towards the end of the two hours, a couple came in to introduce themselves and let us know they would be helping when things got further along in the process. The woman, Kerry, is the artist that Katie (the director) has mentioned. She said she has no set-painting experience, so hopes someone else will be in charge and she can be a helper. Sadly, I was feeling the same way...but we will work together and hope things work out for the best. Kerry has a friend who may be interested in pitching in, too. The more the merrier! We'll be headed back tonight and over the weekend and hopefully be ready for painting by next week.

What are you going to be doing this weekend?

Still more yuckiness

The skies are still gray although it is no longer wet outside. If the temperatures go up enough, I should be able to go out and give some attention to the gardens. Until then, I am going to focus on some ACES stuff I have been putting off -- the Newsletter and taking an inventory of the Christmas stuff before returning the boxes to the storage closet.

We talked to TJ yesterday. He has not yet received his peanut butter fudge that I mailed before the MLK holiday. He says his address changed, so the package is probably 'over on Bliss' and he will talk to the 'mail guy' and they will go get it today. He also managed to get four of the T-shirts he needed before his trip, so we felt better about that. He also asked if I had gotten a hit on the blog from Utah. I did! It came through Jen's blog about a week or ten days ago. Seems he shared Jen's blog address with a friend who checked out both our blogs, then reported back to him about the content. So now he knows I posted pictures of him playing with the kids' toys at Christmas. Hee. TJ doesn't have easy access to the blogs right now because of his location, so it's nice he had someone to tell him about it.

More yuckiness

Sunday was wet and gray. Tom got called into work for a while, then saw one of his men off at the airport. He followed with a supply run to the lumber store - he is eager to get started on the set for "I Hate Hamlet." While he was gone and the house was quiet, I found myself falling asleep. I decided on a 30 minute nap and woke up three hours later. I guess that is the result of two late nights in a row, huh? In the afternoon, I called an old friend in Europe. She's been having difficulty with her phone (cell phone dropped in the toilet or chewed by the new puppy), so we haven't talked in a bit. I finally got her new number from her daughter. It was good to talk to her, but at the end of the conversation I learned she has a significant health problem. Her attitude is great. She says she doesn't feel threatened at all, just aware that she has to get through the therapy. I hope she's right. She's a single Mom whose youngest is 7 years old, so this could prove difficult.

Today is again wet and gray, so no raking of leaves for me. Not that I want to do it, but it needs to be done. Our trees here hold onto their leaves for as long as possible, and some actually still have dead leaves dangling from the branches. The house has a chill and I can't get the fireplace to light, so sweaters and scarves again today.

I found out that the Check Card for the Spouse's Club has arrived. They spelled my name wrong.

Happy Monday. ;)

S A T U R DAY!

Every January, the Air Force holds the annual Chiefs' Induction Ceremony and ours was last night. Of course, Tom is always involved in preparations and yesterday was no exception. He was responsible for renting a spotlight and getting it to the venue. He also helped set up at about 2:00, then arrived for the dinner (with me in tow) an hour and fifteen minutes early so he could rehearse with the rest of the Honor Cordon. It was a nice event for the six inductees and their families - lots of pomp and circumstance. At the end of the evening, the Chiefs' Group surprised Colonel Hyatt with his own Honorary Chief title. He has been a true supporter of the Enlisted Corps on Shaw and they wanted to let him know how much they appreciate it. The Colonel was genuinely touched by the honor.

After the ceremony, I accompanied Tom the the airport to welcome home one of his returning troops. Tom was all dressed up in his Mess Dress uniform, so he looked really spiffy to the guy's wife, daughter and in-laws when he walked up. The mom-in-law immediately grabbed her camera for a picture. The young man is returning home just in time to greet his newest child -- his wife is ready to deliver at any time and was having contractions at the airport! Tom says the excitement of her husband's return will probably help the little arrive by today. Excitement. Yeah, that's the ticket! When he walked up the corridor from the plane, we could hear the little girl (four years old) call out "Daddy! There's my Daddy!" She ran past the 'Do Not Enter' signs and right into her Daddy's arms. Thank goodness, nobody from Security stopped her... other people walking by were all smiles and we heard several 'Daddy's home' comments. I cried when he wrapped his pregnant wife in his arms and didn't let go for five minutes or so. I always cry - when they leave, when they come home, when I see a guy in uniform hold his girl close. I just cry easily!

Friday

Went to see this hypnotist in Columbia. Discovered when I got there that he does an 'Erotic Hypnotic' show. Some of it was hysterical. Some of it got really old really fast. Some of it was just gross. Tired. Bed.

Yucky day

Well, I think I made a mistake...I saved my errands for today, and the weather is complete crap. It is cold, overcast and raining. Many local schools and activities delayed opening today because of the possibility of icy roads. And I have to go to the base to handle some business, do some shopping and mail some packages.

Speaking of those packages, I have a question for the blogoshere: Has anyone else run into the following problem? I accepted one of those 'book deals' where 'every few weeks' I receive a new book, examine it for 14 days and decide to keep it or return it. Twice now, I have ended up with three books in my house, waiting for me to peruse them. There was one waiting for me when I got home after Christmas and two more arrived on the same day the following week. Between the books, shipping and handling, that's about $85 in merchandise. Where are the 'few weeks' between shipments?

"I Want You to Come a My House"

I just got a phone call from Ryan. Actually, he got his Mommy to make the call, but he talked. He must have said "I want you to come to my house" six times over the duration of the call. He also mentioned (with some prompting from Mommy) that gymnastics has started up again. He answered some of my questions too, but mostly he wanted me to know that he wants us to come to his house. That just feels so good!

What we did on MLK day...

Tom started the day cleaning his garage. I went outside in the gorogeous weather to get some yardwork done. I trimmed some branches from a small blooming tree and Tom decided to help me out with the ground cover around the edges of the gardens. I don't know the name of it, but it looks like thick blades of deep green grass and it grows black berries in the fall. I noticed that the gardeners at church trim these severely in winter. Last year, we didn't trim at all and they looked ragged most of the summer. Tom decided the easiest way to trim them was to use the weed whacker. It worked pretty well. Once he was done with that, he took off for the theater and I raked up the mess. I got three bags of debris! The lawns still need raking - some of our trees still have leaves on them! - so I guess I will have to get myself out there and get that done.

While he was gone, I got more Christmas stuff into boxes and ready to go to the attic. Most of it made it up, but Tom was getting tired, tripping on his own feet. I prefer NOT to hurt my husband with household chores so I suggested he might be done. He agreed when he realized '24' was coming on and we weren't going to finish last night. He's going back to the theater before he comes home from work tonight...and people think I was being silly when I decided to join the theatre company in SHAPE because I knew I'd never see him otherwise!

A whole new week!

Happy Sunday, Everybody! My condolences to all you Raven's fans. I really expected them to take that game yesterday! Didn't you?

We're off to church soon, but I thought I'd upload a few more Christmas pictures. Here goes:

TJ likes Lincoln Logs, too!




















Look at those faces! Aren't they beautiful?




















"Cool Joe" Zach in his Spy Gear. Totally inconspicuous! :)



















As soon as she saw her new doll baby, Lily's face lit up. So sweet.



















What's this? A truck AND a helicopter? Cool!

<- Oh, boy! What did Mommy get?

^ Sweet Sleepy Baby

Four

Things you may not have known about me:

Four jobs I've had:
Florist shop clerk, florist shop manager, dental admin assistant, recreation assistant

Four Movies I would watch over and over:
Sound of Music, It's a Wonderful Life, the Harry Potter series, Swing Kids

Four places I have lived:
Virginia, Louisiana, Belgium, South Carolina

Four TV shows I love to watch:
ER, Friends, M*A*S*H, Reba

Four places I have been on vacation:
Ireland, Paris, Niagara Falls, The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Four of my favorite foods:
steamed crabs, Thanksgiving food, ice cream, caramel

Four places I would rather be right now:
Sardinia, Europe, visiting the grandkids, a quiet tropical island


Four friends that may respond:
You can copy if you'd like - let me know if you do, 'k?

FINALLY downloaded my Christmas pictures. Wanna see some?

Lily enjoys her new book while Jen tried to open some Cars for Ryan.
TJ's new jersey. You can't tell, but the hat he's wearing is a Raven's-themed Santa hat.
Zach and Ryan are curious about Grandpa's Christmas present. It was a Dirt Dog--a Roomba for the garage! I didn't even know they existed.
Zach is engrossed in directions for his new video game.
Look! Stickers!

Friday

• Today's plan includes a trip to the base to pack Goodie Bags for folks who are leaving. We like to keep a few on hand in case they are needed.
• Since I have been absolutely DOOFY from the medicine I have been taking, I still have Christmas stuff sitting in my living room. It needs to GO. Today.
• I think leftovers for dinner. If I don't use them quickly they go bad. I hate that.
• Tom is trying to gear up to build the set for "I Hate Hamlet." It's hard going because the theater has been being remodeled and they don't know when the company will have access.
• I am actually looking forward to the Ravens/Colts football game tomorrow afternoon. I don't usually watch football -- I guess I am what is called a 'fair-weather fan.'

So I finally...

...managed to see a doctor. Not MY doctor, but a doctor nonetheless. I couldn't schedule an appointment with MY doctor because her appointments were listed as 'active duty only' for the rest of the week. Yes, the rest of the week. Even the appointment scheduler said he had never seen that before...and I have to wonder why I wasn't told this when I called yesterday.

Anyway, if I wanted to see a doctor, they could send me downtown. There the doctor found I do not have strep and my lungs are fine. However, since I've been coughing and had a sore throat for a month he says something is going on. He prescribed an antibiotic, an inhaler and a cough medicine with codeine. While I was at the base waiting for the prescription to be filled, I went to the ACES closet and made up a few Goodie Bags to have on hand for departing personnel. Then I took inventory of needed supplies and did the shopping at the Commissary.

Afterward I went to K-Mart to spend some of our 'budget overage' for the spouse's group. I got lots of hand-held games, some packaged nuts, and some surprises to stuff into Easter eggs for our upcoming Egg Hunt. That's my day so far! How's your goin'?

Just for fun....

The things my husband does in the name of fun..

Today's plan

• Make doctor's appointment (already failed. My average in making an appointment here is two days, so perhaps I will be lucky tomorrow. )
• Prepare Agenda for ACES meeting tonight
• Prepare report for ACES meeting tonight
• Continue with de-Christmasing the house

Hope your day is more fun than mine looks like it is going to be!

IMs and emails

Interesting IM yesterday...totally unknown screen name sends the very polite message "Who are you please?" Since it was a polite request, I responded "Excuse me?" The sender explained that my screen name has been appearing on her AOL Buddy List as well as her husband's for months, but she has no idea who I am. Interesting. This is not a scam I have heard before, but I still wanted to be cautious. I told her I am female, married, living in SC. She is married and living in Ohio. We still had no idea, so I ask if she may know me because I am a military spouse. She responds that her son was in the Army and now works for the government...do I know the V** S's? Yes, I DO! They were all active with the Entertainment Centre in Belgium. Heck, young Annie played my granddaughter in "The Women" in June of 2004. The family used the grandparents' computer while visiting, so that must have been when my screen name was auto-added to their Buddy Lists. How much fun was that?

I also got an email from another friend from SHAPE yesterday. I haven't heard from my French class buddy in quite a while, but we do email once or twice a year. We have tried to get together since we are both back in the States, but it has not happened yet. Well, Karl has been reassigned to the DC area, and will be in Atlanta for a retirement ceremony in January. We're going to try to get together for a bit when they are on their way home. They will have 3 1/2 year old Lee with them, whom they adopted after they left Belgium. Karl is so proud of his son! I have several photos of the baby he has sent me since Lee arrived in their lives.

So those were the interesting things that happened to me yesterday. Today, Tom is off with the director of the next play at the Community Theater, discussing his designs for the set. He really enjoys doing this--it is a wonderful and challenging hobby for him. I am going to start de-Christmasing the house while he is gone.

Hope your Saturday is a good one!

WARNING: rant ahead!

Issue: lost ATM card. I lost the card to the spouse's club account. There are two of us with cards. At branch office, I was told there had been no activity on the card and to call the '800' number to order a replacement. The man there asked TONS of questions, some I could not answer (what is the tax ID # of the account? I was at home, the info is kept at the office of the other cardholder.) Finally, because the card had NEVER been used, he asked me to provide a faxed copy of my signature. Having no fax machine at home, I asked if I could take the signed letter to the branch and have them fax it. "Oh, if you are going to the branch, they can handle this problem much more efficiently." When told I was instructed to call the 800 #, he agreed to handle the problem.

At the branch, the lady who helped me asked why I didn't just come to them in the first place. ARGH! She explained that they use 'floaters' -- people who work at different branches each day and sometimes don't do things the same way at each branch...hmmm. OK, since I already started the process with the 800 #, she'll just fax my letter for me, but in future, wait for her. She gave me her card.

The new card arrives at the mailing address, which is the office of the other cardholder. I get an email from her while I am visiting for Christmas -- the new card has arrived in HER name! How did THAT happen? She tells me she is going to let me handle the issue since it was my problem in the first place. I agree and call the bank. The woman I need to speak to is not in and won't be in until after the weekend. I finally remembered to call back yesterday. She was with another customer, so I left a message for her to call me. She called me back today. The card that was issued replaces the other cardholder's first card (the one that WASN'T lost in the first place). The other cardholder needs to start using the new card and destry the old one. If she has any problems, just come into the branch and they will fix it. My card is still listed as lost with no action taken for replacement. WHAT?! Seriously, if this had been strictly by phone I could almost understand the mistake since the other woman and I share the same first name--but they insisted on a letter with my signature to confirm the request! Then they send the card for the wrong cardholder? How stupid and annoying is that? Now I get to wait another ten to fifteen business for a new card. Grrrr!

Thank you. I feel better now.

OK, how funny is this?

What American accent do you have? Your Result: Philadelphia Your accent is as Philadelphian as a cheesesteak! If you're not from Philadelphia, then you're from someplace near there like south Jersey, Baltimore, or Wilmington. if you've ever journeyed to some far off place where people don't know that Philly has an accent, someone may have thought you talked a little weird even though they didn't have a clue what accent it was they heard.
The Midland
The Northeast
The South
The Inland North
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Those of you who know me know I was born in Philadelphia, but left there in infancy...however, I still have family there and both parents were born there. I was raised in Baltimore. Could I possibly have retained the accent through all the military moves and four years in Belgium? Any input?

Memories of today's family gathering--

• Ryan climbing onto the sofa next t cousin Colin, kissing his hand then patting Colin's shoulder
• Zach and Katie sharing 'back-scratches'
• The look on Lily's face as she looked into the face of her new doll baby
• Tommy's imitation of German 'whine'
• Raven's gifts
• Natty Boh gifts
• Meeting Samantha for the first time
• Becca's baby is a BOY!
• Ryan and Lisa chatting on the sofa