Minnesota is Heaven, But Virginia is Home

Just to get home and show Hans the picture that was on the front page of the Newport Daily News! Yes, people that's my husband with the leader of the free world!! He was next in line for THE hand shake. There are more pictures at http://newportdailynews.com . Click on "photo gallery" and then "Presidential Visit 2007". There's one other picture with Hans in it. Also, some interesting pictures from the Tall Ships Festival that is going on right now.

So. Hans got to shake PRESIDENT BUSH'S hand today. Then he (Hans, not the Pres) went to Wendy's and got a taco salad. Let it never be said that celebrity goes to Hans' head.

Peder tagged me to do this and for once, I'm going to try to comply. 1. One book that changed your life. This one is a tough one. No matter how hard I think about it, I can't seem to come up with anything concrete. I've read a lot of books that inspired me at the time but nothing that pops right into my mind. I want to say the Bible, because I don't know what my life would be like without faith, but the truth is, I've never really read the Bible, though I know great amounts of stories from It. I may have to take a raincheck on that one. 2. One book you've read more than once. I've read the entire "Little House" series about seventeen times and each time I get something different out of them. I've read "Gone With the Wind" at least five times. Also, Edith Wharton's "The Age of Innocence", Larry McMurtry's "All My Friends are Going to be Strangers". I've read "Cold Mountain" three or ...

First of all, may I say that I am absolutely tickled pink that Anne Glamore commented on my last post! I feel like I got an autograph from a famous and lovely movie star. If you haven't checked out her blog yet, please do so...her tales of motherhood and life will put a smile on your face and have you nodding your head in agreement. Plus, she's just a cool lady. So. I've been thinking lately about how making friends in my 30s has been worse than dating was in my 20s. And I didn't have an easy time finding boyfriends, either. I mostly kept recycling the same crappy ones over and over again because it was just too much work to go out and find a new one. Well, that and I thought that my looooovee would change them into everything I thought they could be. I keep meeting mommies on the corner playground or the Y or the commissary, wherever. We have great chats while the kids play together (without fighting, hitting or pushing). A lot of the mommies I meet are fellow militar...

What strange sayings do you use that come from your parents? Donna just left me a message and said something about knowing that I was "busier than a one-armed paperhanger". Now there's one I've never heard. Here's a few from my growing-up days: "Wound tighter than a two-dollar watch" "For crying in the soup!" "Running around like a chicken with its head cut off" "Raining pitchforks and hammerhandles" "Good Lord willing and the cricks don't rise" I'll add more if I think of them. Anyone else?

Building on the bizarre theme of my last post...thanks so much for all the comments, guys! I checked out Rommel. He's just not my type. Too, I don't know...too...Nazi? I know it would never work out, a posthumous romance with Rommel. But thanks for the suggestions. And Gen, thank God for the internet , so that I don't have to embarrass myself by going out in public to find out about my crushes...I can google them from home to my heart's content. On to our military-themed weekend, which began with a trip to Fort Adams on Friday. You can visit the fort at www.fortadams.org . Hans and I were a little reluctant to go take a tour there, not for lack of interest, but because of the naughty three-year-old and his blossomingly naughty sister, who learns from his antic every day. Luckily for us, there was no one else on our tour--we got our lovely tour guide all to ourselves. So, we relaxed. A little, because we can almost never totally relax in front of the kids....

Well, my boys are finished with school. For the time being, of course. Hans will be off until August 16th and Josiah...well, we don't know what we're going to do with him. He may or may not start school again in the fall. We may end up waiting until we get to our next duty station. We'll have to see how he tolerates MamaD4's Family Preschool during the summer. Yes, that's right, I have a calendar all made up with activities for us to do for the next few weeks. Gen, Eli, remember how much I loved playing school? I was always the teacher too. Now, at last, all that experience of "teaching" my siblings is going to come in handy. Gen was a pretty good student, but Eli usually had better things to do. Hmmm, what else? Hans and I have been watching a lot of TV. I know, I know. Those of you who know Hans are very, very surprised to hear that he's been watching a lot of TV. Usually he's busy training for his triathalon, donating plasma or co...

We have officially dumped the second buyers. Their realtor was not returning calls to our realtor and not getting the paperwork to escrow. I have a feeling that these folks were in over their heads and looking for a way out. Well, they found it, and luckily for them, we're not litigious people. We are officially on to our third set of buyers. This would be bad, except that they offered us $7,000 more for the house. And they seem a little more prepared to go into escrow than the last couple. Wish us luck. Hans just went to fax paperwork again. We ought to be including faxing fees into all this paperwork. I'll bet we've spent around $50 just faxing stuff. Hopefully it will really be worth it this time!!

As usual, I forgot to put my pictures in backwards, so they aren't in sequential order, sorry about that. Maybe I'll remember next time. Right now I'm just feeling too lazy to remedy the situation, so... Josiah (post haircut) in the barnyard at the zoo. He looks a little like a sheared lamb, doesn't he? Josiah playing in the fountain at the zoo. Believe it or not, I let him get in there and get completely, totally, absolutely soaked. He loved the fountain and would have been fine skipping the rest of the animals in the zoo, if only we could stay at the fountain for a couple of hours. Note to self: next time we go, I will bring along a complete change of clothes. I don't know who looks worse: me or the camel. There's something similar in our big toothy grins (and wide hips). But Josiah and Annika look cute. Something I never did as a three-year-old. But hey, I got to go to places like EROS Data Center, so I'm not complaining! I showed Josiah how to paint h...

So, in the ongoing and everlasting saga of selling our Chula Vista piece of junk house: Everyone is aware that we are on our second selling of our house, right? If not, here is the back story: our homeowner's association (bless their sweet, sweet soul) doesn't allow commercial vehicles to be parked in our parking lot. That includes the guy who lives there but drives his Roto-Rooter van to work everyday. Isn't that completely dumb? They don't want "advertising" in the community. Maybe they should take some time to hunt down the carpet cleaners, house cleaners, dog walkers and child care outfits that were putting "advertisements" on our doorknobs (or in one case when my head nearly exploded, ON MY CAR). Unfortunately, the nice PREAPPROVED couple who bought our house the first time...well, one of them worked for Verizon and drove a Verizon van to and from the jobsite everyday. Luckily, under California's strange and irritating real estate laws, they...