Secretariat

This afternoon, I went to see the movie "Secretariat." I have been so excited about this movie since I first heard about it back in May. Being a huge horse lover and fan of horse racing since I was a little girl, I was happy to see Disney take on this story. Secretariat was and always has been my favorite race horse ever - never mind the fact that his amazing Triple Crown run came a full ten years before I was even born.


The movie was very good. The acting was great, the camera work was really awesome and the horses were just beautiful. I learned a few things about the story I didn't know before, though I was a bit disappointed that never once did they mention the fact that Secretariat's connections also had Riva Ridge, who won the Derby in 1972. I guess it made for a more dramatic story to leave that part out. Either way, I highly recommend it whether or not you are a horse fan or have ever watched a race. It's more about the people than the horse, and still a great story.


Yesterday was a good day as I went to Retiree Appreciation Day in the morning and hung out for about an hour and a half talking with lots of the people I work with and taking a few pictures. I then ran a couple errands and headed home to relax and clean up the house.


I started reading the newest Nicholas Sparks book a while back so today spent most of the morning lounging and reading that before it was time to go to the movie. The book is good - it's so far pretty typical of his writings, but seems to be a little bit of a darker twist coming on the horizon. I'll let you know.


Tonight, Vikings vs. Cowboys. I don't think anyone will believe me, but I'm going to say go Cowboys in this one. I have my reasons! Since the Twins' season is sadly over (sniff, sniff) I have begun putting all my backing toward the Rangers to stomp out those stupid Yankees. My trip to the States is rapidly approaching, though it seems Carl will be here at some point soon too, so the trip is now up in the air pending his arrival. 


Thanks for reading!

Catching up

This week has been BUSY as I've been playing catch-up at work. Most nights it's been at least 6-ish before I leave to head home. I felt so good coming back to work though as so many people have stopped by all week to say they missed me and see how my trip was. I definitely can't stress enough how blessed I am - I love my job and my co-workers and my command!


Today was probably my most productive day all week. The rest of the week I've been scatterbrained while working on about 18 different things at once. Today I was able to buckle down and really knock a lot of stuff out before the weekend.


Tomorrow though I do have to work a little as our garrison is hosting Retiree Appreciation Day and I'll need to go take pictures of our folks working at the event. It shouldn't be too difficult; I hope anyway. 


I got my new work camera today! I'm excited. It has video capabilities too so I'm hopeful to start using that somehow. 


I've had a little bit of trouble falling asleep this week. I think I'm stuck on the cruise schedule still - I'm hungry all the time (thanks to the non-stop eating I did while on board) and I can't fall asleep till about 1 a.m. each night (thanks to our late-night partying -- lol ok not really).


Oh yeah, I did get most of my pictures loaded onto my Flickr photo site so please check them out! Right now, I do not have pics from the first and last days because I used my parents' camera and I don't have copies of those yet. 


Other than that tonight I think I'll do some tidying around the house. I am still cleaning up the mess from my washing machine explosion the other night.... did I forget to mention that? Yeah, Tuesday night my washing machine decided to stop working. It somehow collected about 50 gallons of water inside itself so when I opened the door it went everywhere. My basement floor was covered with water. I somehow have actually managed to fix it though by fiddling around, opening a door and letting out a bunch more water and fiddling some more. Next thing I knew it was working again and has so far the rest of the week. Fingers crossed it stays that way! 


My grass needs cutting, I need to hang pictures on the wall, my suitcase needs to be unpacked, and the floors have dog hair balls floating by again. Guess I ought to get started so I can spread it out over the weekend.


Thanks for reading!

Amazing Mediterranean!

I'm back from vacation! An amazing cruise through the Mediterranean with my parents and aunt. Oh, it was so unbelievably beautiful that I can't even begin to put it into words. We had a blast. So much fun. We were on the go pretty much the entire time. 


The cruise started in Barcelona, then went to Naples (we went to Pompeii and Sorrento); Rome; Livorno (we went to Cinque Terre); Nice, France (we went to Monte Carlo, Monaco); and Toulon, France (it was too windy so we couldn't go to port!); and back to Barcelona.


I just really can't describe the amazing fun we had. Laughing so much!! Eating and laughing some more; touring; walking; getting lost; taking pictures; meeting funny and interesting people from all over and from right down the road. 


I am currently in the process of uploading pictures to Flickr. Getting back to work today was definitely an adventure. I had 120 emails waiting for me and many people stopping by to see how the trip was but also discuss work stuff. It was busy, to put it mildly.


Tonight, my washing machine broke. Let's just say there was water gushing out of it all over the floor and lots of wet clothes everywhere. More to follow. I am just too tired to write more tonight. I'll post more about the trip and pictures tomorrow!!


Thanks for reading!

I'm a genius, plain and simple

Wow, did I have a busy day today! But overall it was a pretty great day. I am knocking out so much stuff on my to-do list. I just can't believe how much is going on now and it feels like I am honestly doing two week's worth of stuff right now to make up for being gone for just a week. 


I really do have some awesome co-workers though who are really stepping up and helping out. Thanks guys :) 


Today I found out that someone I work with was trying to pass some blame for a mistake that was made off to me. Luckily, other people knew the whole story and backed me up. That kind of hurts when someone you think you know suddenly pulls out from under you, but I guess it's ok that overall the real truth came out. Still a little frustrating.


Other than that, I had a great day!! I know it sounds completely cheesy, but I just absolutely love where I work and the people I work with.


Tonight I did something so completely genius, I would like to put myself in for the Genius of the Year award for this one:


Ok, so remember the cupcakes I made the other night? And remember how I dropped one of them so I didn't take it to work? Well, of course, I saved it. I was going to figure out a way to eat it. Tonight, I finally remembered to bring my frosting home from work. Since I didn't get home till close to 7 p.m., I was starving and ran straight to the sweet joys of my cupcakes. 


Hmm... when I dropped it, it only landed on its top side. I mean it was like straight-up just sitting upside down on its face so that the rest of the cupcake (in a wrapper) never even touched the floor. So, what did I do? Simple! 


I unwrapped the cupcake, turned it upside down, and frosted the bottom! I ate it upside down and left the top part (now the bottom) that had actually touched the floor!!


Ohhhh cupcake, sweet banana split cupcake, even upside down you were so delicious!! 


See? Genius!! The only part that got wasted was a small section of the top that had hit the floor. The rest is now settling nicely in my belly (or rather, my ever-expanding waistline...)


Now, I need to try to get to bed early. Dad called a little while ago and said he feels like he's getting sick. We're all trying to do our best to get lots of sleep before the trip because I can tell you right now, this trip is going to be whirlwind!!


Thanks for reading!

slow times

Yesterday I went to bed early. As in I was sound asleep before 10 p.m. Good for me. I needed it. As a result I woke up feeling pretty refreshed. 


Today at work I got slightly stressed. I have a ton of stuff to do, and lots of other stuff that keeps popping up. Overall I suppose it was a good day though. I do have some great friends here and I'm very thankful for  that. I also have some awesome co-workers who are really helping me out with stuff.


Tonight I talked to my mom for a while on the phone. We're still nailing down the details of next weeks' trip. I am getting SO excited!!


Well, it's late and I don't have much else to write. Just realized last night as I was laying in bed that I had forgotten to blog so I figured I better get something down tonight. 


Slow times right now but hang with me as soon I'll have some good stuff to write about!


Thanks for reading!

Still awake...

Still awake at almost 11:30 p.m. I swear I must have a sleeping disorder. I mean really, why is it that I can be wide awake this late and in the mornings I am so exhausted I can barely drag myself out of bed. This is not healthy. 


I just wanted to update on the banana split cupcakes. They are amazing! I will consider posting the recipe, but am I allowed to do that since I got it out of a cookbook I purchased? I guess as long as I give credit to the cookbook author it's ok, right? I might have to google the rules on that one. Anyway, this recipe has crushed pineapple, chopped maraschino cherries and sliced bananas and chocolate chips in the batter. Mmm... can you say delicious? I spread some cream cheese frosting on the top (the author said they didn't need frosting but she also includes a recipe for buttercream frosting if you want to try it. I just decided on the store-bought cream cheese frosting because I love it, plain and simple.) Wow! That made them extra sweet. 


Unfortunately, the recipe only makes 12 cupcakes. Not enough for our entire building. Oh and since I ate two of them and dropped a third on the floor, I will only be bringing nine cupcakes to the office. Therefore, I made a batch of my super famous brownies as well, which also turned out pretty darn good. Looks like the magic apron is back!!


Now I must try to get some sleep!


Thanks for reading!

An accomplished weekend

Yeah, so I didn't blog Friday or Saturday. Did anyone actually notice? Probably not.


Friday I went to Baumholder in the afternoon with our commander, SGM, company commander and company 1SG. We were going to see the results of the Best Warrior competition and see if our guys won -- sure enough, we got one! Out of the three competitions, we had a first and two seconds. Not bad! 


Baumholder is absolutely beautiful! I don't really envy the people who live there because it kind of seems to be in the middle of nowhere and the hills would make for a very rough winter. But the scenery - greenery and hills - was beautiful. 


Friday evening I fell asleep on the couch and proceeded to sleep all night. At 7 a.m. the dogs woke me up to go outside. So I went to the bedroom and went to bed in the bed. Leslie had called Friday night to see if I'd go to dinner with them Saturday and go to her soccer game at noon, so I knew I needed to be at her game by noon. Wow. I didn't actually wake up from my bed until 11! My jeans were in the washer still, so I put the dryer on and got ready to go. I got there only about 5 minutes late. 


Then the rains came. Wind, rain, cold. I am not kidding - definitely the coldest, rainiest, windiest day I've seen in a while. Usually when we have days like that I'm snuggled inside my house, dry and warm. Not this time. I braved the weather for an hour and a half. I am sure I'll get sick now from it. After the game (they won 4-1 and Leslie scored on a penalty kick - go Leslie!) she and I went to Burger King and then I headed to the office to send a couple emails. I was so cold and wet still that I just had to go home and warm up. I put on some sweats, made some tea and curled up under two blankets to watch some Reba. At 5:30 I was due at Lira's for dinner.


Once I got there we all decided we were feeling too lazy to actually go out to eat, so we walked to the pasta place around the corner and got some food to go. It was yummy and I'll be having my leftovers for dinner tonight. 


I got home about 9:30 or so and proceeded to talk to my dad, then my mom and then my grandma on the phone. Then I watched some more Reba and fell asleep.


Today, I did my usual Sunday routine so far - Church (sad as this is the last time our chaplain was preaching before he PCSes - I really like him. Mental note to send him an email tomorrow); then the library; then the PX; then the commissary.


Tomorrow we are having our monthly building birthday celebration at work so that means tonight is time to bake! I am going to attempt a new recipe - banana split cupcakes - but also make the old standby brownies. Dog hair hopefully excluded this time :(


This weekend I had been invited to Jen's house in Stuttgart to go to the Oktoberfest with the three Jen's. I actually highly considered going up just for the day Saturday, but decided against it on Friday afternoon when I realized they were going in the evening. I just felt like I needed to be here this weekend and while reading through this blog doesn't actually prove that I accomplished anything this weekend, believe me when I say it was a very productive weekend for me to be at home and prepare for my trip next week. Can't wait!


Ok, time to start baking!
Thanks for reading!

Getting blonder by the day

I was quite productive today at work. I think it's because I realized time is winding down before my upcoming vacation and I realized I have a very large to-do list of stuff to accomplish.


This afternoon I had my weekly update meeting with my commander and deputy. She started the meeting by reading a letter about me that she received in the mail. A retired general and historian were here in June, and I gave them a small tour of parts of our facilities. While they were here they taught me more than I could teach them, but they still wrote a raving note about me to the commander. I thought that was so nice! And my commander was so complimentary and appreciative of the good job I did. That was a nice point of the day.


Later in the afternoon, a friend from down the hall stopped by and said the commander asked him to talk to me about her time capsule. See, we decided to put the time capsule items in a curio cabinet outside one of our clinics to display everything we gathered. Problem is, I couldn't figure out how to get the cabinet open. I reported back to the commander today that the cabinet was broken because the front panel is off-center and I couldn't get it to open at all.


So, my friend and I walked over to take a look at the cabinet because he couldn't figure out which one I was talking about. I explained to him, (we'll call him MAJ V), that it was broken. He's the budget guy and said she wanted him to purchase a new one.


Only problem? It wasn't actually broken. Upon closer inspection, MAJ V waved me aside and proceeded to slide the front panel to the side.


It doesn't open like a door - it slides open. Nice. 


Embarrassing! I promptly turned 12 shades of red and tried to blame my blonde hair. Luckily, MAJ V is a nice guy and replied, "We all have our bad days!" Good news, at least we don't have to buy a new cabinet!


Beyond that, I did a little housework tonight but have a ton of stuff to do still around the house, yard and around town. 


I spoke to Lira for a little while because I think Rita and I may have found a home for Buddy their bird. We're working on it but hopefully it'll pan out. Watched some tv and now getting ready to head to bed - way too late, yet again. No wonder on the weekends I end up crashing for 12 hours at a time!


Thanks for reading!

Nothing for the group

Not a lot to report today! A good day overall. I got a few things accomplished and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. I am going to be sad to see the warm weather go. Although I like fall and it reminds me of football season -- it's definitely not the same here. I have been trying to wear my summery outfits one last time before the cooler weather decides to settle in.

I suppose an uneventful day is a good day too.

Oh yeah, YAY TWINS!! Minnesota Twins, AL Central Champions!!

Thanks for reading!

Band-aids and good news

Today, I got to bust out one of the free first aid kits that are normally reserved for give-aways at our outreach events. I know, they are not supposed to go to staff, but I got an injury in the parking lot at the shopping center and needed a band-aid!

An injury in the parking lot...How, you ask?

I had to re-register my car today at the vehicle reg office. Well, of course, I didn't know you had to bring the license plates in with you to get an updated sticker or something. Chelsey was with me because, well, since I was going to the shopping center around lunchtime for errands, she happily tagged along to help out. And eat.

All I can say is, a very nice Major helped us get the back license plate off and showed us how to do it. Then we had to get the front one off ourselves.

Result? Her finger got smashed, mine got sliced open with a blood blister to boot.

I would say that if you could picture the scene of two blondes in the middle of the parking lot, screaming at the license plate and screeching about hurt fingers, you would probably think you were watching a sitcom.

Nope, that's just Kristen and Chelsey up to no good again.

It's funny, every time certain people walk by us at work they ask if we're up to something. And we never are, when they ask. It's all the other times that no one asks when we are actually plotting something! But, I digress.

So, after stuffing our faces with Burger King (side note, customer service was terrible today) we headed back to the office and I found a first aid kit and fixed my gashed finger myself. Good thing I work at a health center and got a tetanus shot last year.

The rest of the day I caught up on work and attended a few meetings.

This morning, however, I had a dermatology appointment so I could be reassured I'm not dying of skin cancer. Check! He looked me over, head to toe, and said nothing looked suspicious, not even the one the family practice doc had actually referred me for. That's great news! Mark that one off the list of possible diseases!

The best news of the day came while I was in a meeting. I had a voicemail waiting for me from the gynecologist -- the colposcopy biopsy results came back, and everything was negative. YAY!!!! This is super, awesome, wonderful, amazingly good news. I am home-free and clear till next year's normal annual exam. Thank the Lord, what a blessing! I told a couple people at work, emailed my parents the wonderful news, and headed home a little early to celebrate. My celebration consisted of a backyard fetch session with the dogs and several episodes of Reba. Life is good :)

Thanks for reading!