Minnesota is Heaven, But Virginia is Home

Hooray, the last day of January 2014!  What a full month this has been...I'm glad that it's Friday and that we don't have any plans this weekend.  Hans is leaving tomorrow for a nice little cruise, so it will be just the four of us.  You know what that means:  I get to drive the "fun" car! Hey, it's the little things.  And when you drive a 14-year-old minivan most days, driving a much more nimble and powerful little car is a great thing.  Well, for me it is, anyway... This week was busy with volunteering at Navy-Marine Corps.  It was busy too, since it's coming close to payday and a lot of the younger people find themselves out of cash and in need of the quick-assist loan.  I sat in on one of their classes this week, "Budget for Baby", designed to help first-time parents get financially ready for baby.  After the class, the participants get a very nice "seabag" full of things for the baby, really everything they need with the except...

What a great weekend!  Friday was the hail and farewell, which turned out to be so not worth worrying about.  Everyone came, ate and drank, visited, did their official hailing and left.  I barely had to clean up after them!  We were thrilled that many of the younger, single guys stuck around later than usual.  According to XO, that right there was a sign that they are happy with their new(ish) CO.  The kids stayed upstairs with their devices and strict orders not to appear downstairs unless they were bleeding or in imminent danger.  Will popped in once in three hours, but we didn't see the other two the entire time.  It probably didn't hurt that we bribed them each with a crisp five dollar bill and a cookie... Lord, the food was good!  We did potluck...there was chili.  Sushi made by one of our Japanese spouses and her mother.  Chicken, veggies, pies, puddings, cookies, more cookies.  I had a little sushi and that was about...

This week in the Yoko Gazette:  I started my new volunteer job with the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society (hereinafter referred to as NMCRS) on Monday.  I am excited about this opportunity because I have an actual job description, they gave me a resume-friendly list of job duties that I will perform, they reimburse for childcare while I'm volunteering AND they have a fridge full of Starbucks lattes free for the taking.  And candy.  Lots and lots of candy.  You may remember that I was doing volunteer work for a new organization here in Yokosuka, YESS, a program that would help incoming spouses get sponsors.  While the idea of this group is fantastic, they are still in their infancy and I don't have the patience to sit around while they debate different forms of organization and elect heads of still more sub-committees.  Oh, and get into heated arguments at meetings that are supposed to run an hour, but end up taking three.  Too many personalitie...