After some snow we got on 11/23.

This is a snow storm we got on 12/2. All it ever does here is snow if you haven't noticed.

Bailey's snow beard.

This is a picture I took this morning. Snow, snow, snow.

So Excited for Myself

I completed my registration at CCV and will start classes on January 23rd. I found out on Thursday that I only have 9 classes to go to get my A.A. which is only three more semesters. I'll be done around this time next year, right before we're due to move again. I can't believe it! I didn't realize I was so close. The classes I'm going to register for this semester are Intro to Psychology, Art Appreciation, and The Vampire in Literature, Culture, and Film. I'm so excited and can't wait to get started. After the blah classes I was required to take at UOP, these will make for a nice change of pace. Woohoo!!

Also in the news...I got pulled over by the police for the first time on Thursday. I was so completely nervous, lol. Anyway, Vermont requires a yearly vehicle inspection and our sticker wasn't valid because it was issued in New Hampshire where we bought the 4Runner. We knew that and everything, but just hadn't gotten around to taking it for an inspection here in Vermont. Luckily, he let me go without a ticket and I went out that day and got the inspection, heheheh.

We had a really nice Thanksgiving, thanks for asking. It was just a quiet, normal, family dinner for us this year. No driving for 15 hours, no alcoholic Marines, and no arguments. Can't ask for more than that.

I have most of our Christmas decorations up. There's just one more window I need to do but I ran out of suction cups. We don't have our tree yet either because we get live ones now. We'll probably get it in the next week or so.

Well, that's that for now.

Random Picture

This is just a picture I took when we were driving up to Williston along I-89. I thought it looked nice. 

Bailey's first Halloween. She wasn't too happy about it, lol.

Camel's Hump Mountain. This was taken a few days after the storm. If you'll notice, the top of the mountain still had snow on it.

Bailey checking out the snow. This is at the beginning of the storm when we only had a couple inches.

The snow storm

Mini Covered Bridge Tour

The following are pictures that we took of covered bridges in the area. All of these are located in Chelsea and Tunbridge, Vermont. All of them were about an hours drive from our house and they were all within miles of each other. This is just a small sample of the covered bridges in New England. Mill Bridge was rebuilt a few years ago after an ice flow washed the original away. All the others are the original bridges. It was a pretty neat day. Oh, and they all also cross the same river, White River.

This is Moxley Bridge and White River which runs beneath it. It was built in 1883.

This is Flint Bridge. It was built in 1845.

This is Larkin Bridge. It was built in 1902.

This is Mill Bridge and the river and dam beneath it.It was built in 1883.

This is Cilley Bridge and the surrounding scenery. It was built in 1883.

This is Howe Bridge.

Another fog picture from this morning.

Here's another fog picture. I took this one just this morning.

This is the turkeys heading back to the trees after I scared them by taking their pictures, lol.

Here's a picture of some turkeys that came out of the trees that you see in the distance. You can also see where our yard ends and how close they get to our house.

I took this on 9/2 in the morning looking out my front door. I thought the fog was neat.

Kam and Candy dancing back in '96 or '97. Loooong time ago, lol. I stole that shirt from Kam, heheheh.

Exercise is Bad for Your Health

This has been an eventful day. First, we've been having problems with house flies. They're freaking everywhere. So, I've been spraying the crap out of my house with bug spray lately. We're probably going to die of bug spray inhalation, lol. Today, in addition to flies, I also had a wasp get into the house. FYI, Raid Flying Insect spray is excellent.

Also, we decided to move Bailey from the front yard to the back yard and train her to do her business in the fields behind our house. Well, I go to hook her tie out to the back steps and there is the neatest (if you're into those things) spider I've ever seen in real life. Here's a picture of it.
If anyone happens to know what kind of spider this is, I'd be interested to know. Leave a comment. Then, after I proceeded to beat at it with a large branch, it ran off and I tied Bailey to the steps. Stupid person that I am, I didn't unlock the back door. So, I unhooked Bailey from her tie out thinking (again, being stupid) that she'd go to the front door to be let in the house. Boy, was I wrong. She took off like a bat out of hell and ran clear down the back of our road 5 houses down. The girls and I chased her down there (M crying the whole way) and then I had to drag her back since she's too heavy to carry very far. I'm telling ya, if she hadn't stopped, she would've been a homeless dog tonight I was so mad.

Now, I'm pooped from chasing the dog and half dragging, half carrying her home, which she's lucky she still has. I'm ready for a nap. But, I have an algebra assignment due today and I decided to make homemade chicken and noodles for dinner. Making noodles is a chore in itself. So, just thought I'd share my day. Here's a couple more pictures of Bailey, The Dog Who Lived.

This first picture is the Boxer Smile. She doesn't do that all the time, but it cracks us up when she does. She looks so dopey.
The second picture is Bailey and her friend Buster playing in our front yard. He comes to visit her every so often.

The Wonders of a Blog

I found out yesterday that we missed seeing a friend of ours while we were in Ohio by mere days. HowEVER, if he had kept up with our Blog, he would have known when we were going to be there and we could have planned accordingly. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!! Cedar Point is much more fun when you go with a group of people, moron.

Anyway, you can definitely tell summer is almost over in Vermont. It got down to 46 last night. We went to bed with the windows open and we froze our tushes off. I'm sure the leaves will start changing anytime now. It's almost 11 am and still only 57 outside right now. BRRRR! I can do without the snow, but we're looking forward to seeing how Bailey does this winter. She doesn't even like to go outside when it's raining, lol. The other day, C was going to let her outside and she took one look and saw that it was raining and peed on the floor right in front of the door. So much for Boxers being a vicious breed of dog. The only people that would think that are people that have never actually been around one.

Well, time again to hit the books. Laters.

More Pictures.

My nephew, Noel. Fresh out of the oven at 2 weeks old.


Baby Noel sleeping at my dad's.


Noel in his carseat.


Noel chillin' in his carseat.


Noel in his carseat.


C, Noel, and Bailey at my dad's.

Another picture of Bailey sleeping. She does a lot of that and in weird positions.

This is a cool picture I took last weekend. I just thought the way the sun was shining through that cloud was neat.

This is a picture of Bailey sleeping after her bath. She was shivering really bad, so we covered her up and she fell asleep like that.

Just an FYI

I cancelled our Vonage phone account today. That's the 802-522-1038 number. The service sucks, so there ya go. We still have our cell phones though like always.

Warning!

I finally got our desktop up and running and was able to access my address book. Be forwarned that I had funny e-mails that I have just been waiting to forward on to everyone, hehehe. If you didn't get any, you were probably the one who sent them all to me, lmao.

This is, obviously, a rainbow. I took this after some rain we got last week. This is the view we have out the front of our house. Pretty nice, eh?

A closeup of Bailey. This picture makes me laugh everytime I look at it.

This is Bailey sleeping on the couch. She's such a nut.

Front view of our 4Runner.

Actual picture of our 4Runner.

Another shot of our house.

This is our house.

Just Chillin'

With my new refrigerator!! It finally came today. 5 weeks with no refrigerator sucks royally let me tell ya. Our new one is super duper nice too. I had to wait all day for it to be delivered so we don't really have any food in it yet, but it'll hold tons and keep it all fresh. All we have to do is hook up the ice maker and water filter thingy and figure out how to shove it into the space where it goes, lol. Woohoo!

This is what was so interesting about our trip to New Hampshire. The color in the pic is a little off, but otherwise, we now own the same 4Runner.

Just Bailey.

Bailey chillin' in the yard.

Bailey checking out Chloe

Isn't she purrrty??

Military Spouse Appreciation Day

Military Spouse Appreciation Day: May 6, 2005 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Article by Arlene H. Hull Content provided by LIFELines

"If the military had wanted you to have a spouse, they would have issued you one." Remember those words? Well, that was then and this is now. America's military has realized and acknowledged the significance of the military spouse. In 1984 President Reagan proclaimed the Friday before Mother's Day of each year to be Military Spouse Appreciation Day. It is your day to stand up and be honored.

For the times you've stood and watched a ship sail from the harbor, an aircraft disappear into the clouds, or a truck convoy pull out of sight, not sure when they would return, we thank you.

For the countless household moves you've made from a place you know to one that's strange and different -- often by yourself -- we thank you.

For the families you've held together, for the anniversaries, birthdays, and holidays you've celebrated alone, we thank you.

For the hand you've extended to another military spouse when the need was there, truly creating a military family, we thank you.

For the spirit and strength you've shown when your service member has gone into harm's way, we thank you.

For the pride you've displayed while serving as an ambassador of the military spouse to the rest of the world, we thank you.

Far too frequently, the sacrifices and dedication of the military spouse have gone unnoticed and unappreciated. In our nation's recent history, thousands of service members have been placed in harm's way as they stood watch as freedom's guardian. You too have stood watch at home, facing challenges alone. You have waved flags and held banners high to express your support. You have kept the candles burning on the home front as a reminder of our deployed military.

You have made difficult sacrifices of your own, and have called upon your inner reserves to nurture family life so your service member can focus on the business at hand.

Even in times of relaxed alert status for our military, you have stood ready and alert for the slightest of signs, perhaps overlooked or ignored by your civilian counterparts, signaling a potential change in the status of our military forces. As a military spouse, you have willingly packed up and relocated countless times, and may have been separated from your own parents and siblings for several years at a time.

Quite often, you have been placed in an unfamiliar ethnic or cultural setting, or a remote location. You have met this challenge with confidence and pride, making your nation proud of you. By the same token, you have extended your hand and hospitality to visitors to our country.

A country cannot count itself strong by its armed services alone, but must also depend on its civilians. With military wives and husbands setting a superior example through devotion, courage, and commitment, we are a nation of strength.

Military spouses … stand tall, stand proud … we salute you, you are truly our unsung heroes.

The kite is actually flying.

Updates

I just sent out our new phone number and mailing address in an email. I don't have all of my contacts on this computer and I haven't hooked up the other one yet, so if you didn't get it and want it, email me or call our cell phones and let me know. I'm not posting that info on here. That's it for now.

Life at the New House

We're sorta settling in. I haven't unpacked too much because we're painting everything and I don't see the point in unpacking just to shove it all in the middle of the room and covering it with plastic. The kitchen isn't getting painted so it's mostly put back together. Half of the living room is almost painted so I'll be able to unpack and put some furniture away. We haven't picked out a color for the dining room yet or our bedroom. I've been so stinking busy lately. I've been ready for bed at 9 o'clock, lol. I'm covered in three different colors of paint and my hands are so sore from painting I can barely make a fist. I know, I know. It'll all be worth it when I'm done. Blah. I also started my next class today. Fun, fun.

Our weather has been absolutely great though. Not too hot, not too cold and the humidity is real low so the paint dries fast. It couldn't be more perfect. But get this, our fire danger is high. I thought we left all that behind when we moved from Cali. If Vermont burns down like San Diego did, we're moving to a swamp. There have already been several brush fires around the state.

Well, I'm gonna grab some breakfast and get started painting for the day.

We Are Official Home Owners

We are completely moved into the new house. It took 3 days altogether to get all our junk moved. Closing on the house went smoothly. Getting all our stuff moved and getting the old house cleaned was a big pain though. The next time we move, I'm hiring a cleaning service. Our new house is awesome. We love it even with it being a jungle of boxes. We're sore, bruised and tired, but otherwise well. We're trying to get some r&r, so this is all the update you all are getting for now. Laters.

What a Nice Day

Too bad I had to spend it indoors packing. It actually got up to 63 here today. That's a veritable heat wave for Vermont. The girls are outside playing and enjoying the first truly nice day we've had so far this year. I, however, have spent the entire day running errands and packing. I will never again complain about TMO movers. They can break all my stuff just so long as I don't have to pack it. I've also been busy making calls. I've had to call U-Haul, the cable company, the trash company, the electric company. I still need to call someone about water and sewage but darned if I can find out who does that for here.

Stupid people. As I sit here typing, some idiot is sitting in the middle of the intersection waiting to drive through it. Umm. Doesn't it make more sense to wait behind the stop sign and let traffic through?? Idiots.

Anyway, I also still need to call the oil company to have our service switched. There is SOOO much to do when you're moving. There's things about this house I'm going to miss. Like, all the room, the deck, the huge yard, the creek that I can hear running out behind our house, our nice neighbor, the views, and our family room. I'm not going to miss the leaky sky lights, my rotten land lord, the mysterious smells that stink up the house from time to time, the flies, earwigs and hornets, the huge oil bill, the lousy fridge and stove, and the slanty floors. I suppose there's always going to be things that you love and hate about any house you live in. I just can't wait to get started on the decorating in the new house.

Daylight Savings Sucks

Why does one hour make so much difference in the morning?

I've been pretty busy packing lately. If someone wanted to pay for us to have movers, I wouldn't object, lol. I spent 7 hours on Saturday just in 2 rooms and didn't even get them all packed. We have so much junk. I need to learn to not be such a pack rat. So far so good with the house and loan and stuff though. We close in 9 days. Any birthday or holiday gifts should come in the form of Home Depot gift cards from now on, lol. We're gonna be spending some mad money in there in the next couple years.

We're still waiting on Spring. Almost all of our snow has melted. It's been raining like crazy here. Supposedly, it's going to get into the 60's tomorrow, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Other than house stuff and the weather, lol, nothing else has been going on at our house. Till next time...

Home Again, Home Again...

We made it back safe and sound late Tuesday night. We're beginning to hate the drive from Vermont to Ohio. 14 hours in a car isn't fun no matter how you look at it. The girls made it to school yesterday despite being up so late the night before. They've missed so much school lately it's pathetic.

Domino went bye bye while we were gone. We don't miss him. He was a pain and didn't have half the personality that Chloe has. Chloe, however, is being a pain herself since we've been back. She always makes us pay for leaving her. She's been kicking her litter everywhere and dumping her food dish. She'll settle down after a couple of days, but until then she's going to drive me crazy.

This is the first day of the last week of my current class. I'll be so glad to get that class over with. It was boring as all get out. Being in Ohio made me fall behind, so I had a lot of catch up to do in one day.

Now, we're just trying to hash out a few things with the new house and get settled back into our regular routine.

One of the radio stations on the way back was having people call in with their favorite or most hated reality tv show. It made me realize that I like very few reality shows and couldn't pick just one that I hate the most. Who's with me? I can't stand any of the dating and marriage shows, Survivor, or American Idol. C and I both like Project Greenlight, Last Comic Standing and American Chopper. I like Wife Swap and Super Nanny. The people on those shows are so annoying, lol.

Something else we saw on the way home was that there is an Iwo Jima Memorial in Connecticut. We saw a sign for it and I looked it up on the internet to see what, exactly, it was. It looks neat and we'll have to stop there sometime.

Has anyone read The Da Vinci Code? Some Catholic cardinal is warning people against reading it, lol. I read it and enjoyed it and recommend it to others. Good thing I'm not Catholic I guess, heheh.

Anyway, Happy Saint Patrick's Day. Don't forget to wear your green.

Pictures and Other Things

I've posted some pictures of the house we're buying. There's more on the realtor's website, but I haven't posted those yet. So, starting from the top and working our way down, I'll explain what you're looking at.

The first picture is of the dining area. We're thinking of using it for an office area and putting the kitchen table next to the kitchen, behind the fireplace though. That's something we'll figure out for sure when we get our junk moved in. The light that you can sorta see at the top of the picture, we plan on replacing that with a ceiling fan light deal. I hate the one hanging there.

The second picture is of one of the bedrooms. They both basically look the same. One is going to be the girls' bedroom and the other will be their toy room since they've decided they want us to put their bunkbeds together and share a room again.

The third pic is the living room looking towards the front door and coat closet. The border will be the first thing to go and I plan on painting. What color? I haven't decided yet.

The next pic is the master bedroom looking at the closet. Again, I plan on painting that room too. Color has yet to be determined.

The next pic is the master bath. Across from the toilet is the shower and behind me is the oversized tub. I love that bathroom. The fixtures have to go though.

The next pic is the living room, I was standing back by the front door, looking towards the kitchen. In this angle, behind the fireplace is where we're thinking of putting the kitchen table.

Next is the laundry room.

Next is one of the girls' bedrooms again looking at the closet and out the door.

The last picture is the girls'/guest bathroom.

I think that's the grand tour basically. I'll post more pictures another time. We're getting ready to go to Ohio today when C gets off of work. Our grandfather passed away last night, so we'll be in Ohio for the funeral and stuff until Tuesday. So, I need to finish up cleaning the house and load the car so we can go as soon as C calls to say they're done with him. Till later.

Dining area.

Bedroom #2

Living room.