Part of a School Project

Just thought I'd share. :)

Big Announcement!!

Friends and family, please take the time to read.

This is quite possibly the biggest news I have ever put on my blog. ::Deep breath::

The Mister is taking the early retirement option and will be retiring from the Marine Corps this year. The paperwork was officially approved today and this a "no going back" decision. He will go on terminal leave towards the end of July. Terminal leave is when you take the leave you have on the books added with travel and job hunting leave. He'll still be active duty until September, but won't be actively working for the Marine Corps starting in July.

A lot of factors went into making this decision. A lot of soul searching. A lot of discussion. A lot of time. Hindsight is, as they say, 20/20 and if the Mister and I are completely honest, he should not have opted to reenlist clear back in 2006. We have been dissatisfied with the military life for quite some time. Did you know...The Mister is 36 years old (he'll be 37 this year.) He's been married for 18 years this May and will have a daughter old enough to enlist in the military herself this July. AND, he has to ask permission to buy a motorcycle. Or to travel to New Orleans over a weekend. We are simply, too old for this anymore. When you add in the current political climate here in the U.S., early retirement is, by far, the best decision that we could make. He will have his Master's degree before he officially retires and he has tons of experience behind him for job hunting. Basically, he's taking retirement while there's still any retirement from the military to be had. With our government downsizing the military, the Marine Corps will be significantly decreased over the next couple of years, there's a good chance he would have been forced to leave the military anyway. A better than good chance. Frankly, we don't like what we're seeing on the horizon and we certainly don't like the changes that have been made to the military overall that we have seen over the past almost 17 years. I'm trying not to get too political here, but it's really hard, lol.

I'll end this by saying that I hope the people that we care about most will support us in this decision and if you cannot, we didn't like you all that much anyway. ;) (I wink, but I'm not really joking.)

Leon Ain't Got Nothing On Us

(Please forgive the poor grammar in the title ;))

The palm tree in our front yard covered in ice. And say hello to our OSU lawn gnome, lol.

I have to laugh at the extreme irony that the first named storm we had to deal with since moving to Florida was a winter storm. I mean, seriously?!?!

Leon brought our part of Florida a sheet of ice over the roadways and especially the bridges. You need to understand the amount of bridges around here. Like I said in my other post, the Mister crosses four just to get to work. During the course of the storm, every major bridge in the three counties of northwest Florida closed. The bridge that leads to the main gate of NAS Pensacola (where the Mister works) was closed. At one point, the only way he could have gotten to work was either by air or boat.

Something else you need to understand is that Florida isn't equipped to deal with winter weather. At all. Northern states have machines that salt and sand the roads. We had to wait for the ice to melt. I even saw on the news, workers who were chipping away at the ice covered bridges with shovels. I also think that it's ironic that whenever northern states experience widespread power failures that Florida sends up power trucks to help out. Where were salt truck to help us out?

My girls had three days off of school and the Mister had two and a half days off of work. And you know what? I really enjoyed having my family home while not being able to go anywhere. We didn't lose power, unlike the almost 50,000 other people in our area who did, and our pantry was full. It was nice being home, warm, fed, and together for those days. For the Mister, it was like free days of leave. However, Florida doesn't build inclement weather days into the school year so they have to make them up. Our county has applied to not have to make up those days, but so far and until and unless that gets approved, they are taking two days off of their Spring Break. We had planned on taking a family vacation during that time and now we don't know what we're going to do.

Overall, we made out pretty good during Leon's wrath. Some of the plants in the backyard are probably going to have to be pulled up in the Spring, but I've seen a lot more plant damage in my neighbors' yards. I didn't cover any of the shrubs or bushes up. What can I say? This is a rental and I think the shrubs in this yard are ugly, lol.

Did Leon visit your town? How did you fair?

Crazy Winter Weather

Much of the U.S. has been experiencing the wildest weather this winter. I've seen on Facebook many postings my my friends and family in Ohio about their kids not having school. One friend posted that her kids only had one day of school out of an entire week due to the weather. I also saw that Ohio's governor is saying how they need to add more school days for the schools this year.

It's been pretty crazy here in Florida too. This being our first winter here, we didn't really know what to expect. I was guessing that it would be colder than San Diego but warmer than New Bern, N.C. So far, we've been having a lot of "colder than average" days. The arctic blast that most of the country experienced affected us too. We had subfreezing temperatures and I'm pretty sure my poor hibiscus aren't going to survive the winter. I tried protecting them by putting them in the garage and then in the driveway, but they weren't getting enough sun in the front yard. That, combined with the cold-ass temps has really hurt them.

Today, we are getting ready for yet another dose of winter weather. Winter weather advisories were posted yesterday and now we have a winter weather watch. The weather "authorities" keep changing their minds about how much snow/sleet/freezing rain we're supposed to get, where, and when we're getting it. As a result, schools have been cancelled for both Tuesday and Wednesday. For an Ohio native as well as a person who has survived several harsh Vermont winters, that's pretty insane to me. Right now, it's a mild 63 degrees outside. Is that not craziness? I always chuckle when warm weather places panic over a little winter weather. I distinctly remember driving my girls to school in Vermont when we already had lots of inches on snow on the ground and it was snowing so hard on the way to school that I could barely see to get us there. If I hadn't had 4 wheel drive, they would've missed school that day. The only time I can remember them cancelling school in Vermont for weather was when it was due to cold temperatures and not because of snow. I also remember when New Bern got a dusting of snow. You could still see the grass and roads under the snow and it closed down the entire city. Schools, government offices, everything, lmao.

Pensacola Three Mile Bridge

However, even the jaded me is keeping a close eye on this storm. Why? Because if we get as much ice as they're forecasting, it's a pretty good bet we'll be losing power. Hardly any of the trees down here lose their leaves in the winter. The gigantic trees in my front and back yards are still very leafy. Add ice to leafy trees, and you have broken limbs and downed power lines. They're saying we could get as much as 3/4" of ice. I also worry about the Mister because he has to drive over four bridges between our house and his base. Bridges are especially dangerous in winter weather. One bridge is three miles long. I've been hearing on the interwebs that they might actually close this bridge so it might be a moot point.

On the up side, I'm hoping that the bad road conditions hold off long enough so that we can drive to the beach if and when it snows. I've always wanted to see snow at the beach. I know. How dumb. But I've always thought that it would be neat and unique. We've also laid in a supply of wood in case we do lose power and we just went to the commissary so we have a full pantry and lots of tp. From what I've been hearing on the interwebs, the stores are all out of milk, bread, and tp. And we have a cabinet full of liquor. There's more than one way to stay warm, heheh.

What's the weather been like in your neck of the woods this winter? Crazy, normal, mild?

A Romantic Recharge

On Friday, Jan 17, the Mister surprised me with an overnight trip away from the kids, the pets, and the house. Do you ever have those times when you just need a break. A break from homework, cleaning the house, cooking dinner, feeding the pets, just EVERYTHING. I was having one of those times. It wasn't any one thing. The kids have been doing relatively okay and the pets are fine as is the house. But it was just the everyday minutia of the cats running around the house like monkeys and having to nag the kids to do their homework and having to figure out dinner every single day that was wearing me down. Because I have a wonderful husband, he listened to me bitch about it and planned an overnight trip just for the two of us.

Sandestin Village of Baytowne Wharf

He booked a terrific hotel at Miramar Beach, FL. He made dinner reservations at this fancy French restaurant. He planned it so that we could go out afterward for drinks and not have to worry about getting back to our hotel room.

The hotel was located in this village-type resort area that had several properties with accomodations and even streets with regular houses and town houses. It's hard to describe because I've never seen anything like it before. Our room was HUGE! with gigantic windows overlooking the courtyard/pool area (not that we could take advantage of the pool in winter). You walk out the lobby of the hotel and the restaurant was just around the corner.

We ate at the Bistro Bijous. I had the filet mignon which was so perfect that it was fork tender and melted in my mouth. Then I had the bread pudding with goat cheese ice cream for dessert. Goat cheese ice cream was pretty exotic for me but it was yummy. The presentation was so pretty it was almost a shame to eat it. The Mister had duck. Neither one of us had ever had duck before and it wasn't that bad. He also had a Russian coffee for dessert that was 99% Russian and 1% coffee.

After dinner, we walked across the way to Rum Runners which is a dueling piano bar. I had never been to such a thing but it was a lot of fun. The pianist was hilarious. Coincidentally, he told his audience that he attended the University of Michigan and it was on after that with the Mister. He heckled the piano player and requested he play "Hang on Sloopy", which is an Ohio song and he refused to do it replying by playing a few bars of Michigan's fight song. It was so funny.

Saturday, we spent the day recuperating from a night of overindulgence. Kinda made me feel old, lol, but it was so totally worth it.

I can't believe that the Mister managed to plan everything, tell the girls about it since they would be spending their first night alone, and keep it all a secret. It was the best surprise and I truly have the best husband and the best friend ever.

Making Changes...Making Improvements

 We breathe, therefore we live, therefore we evolve. Right? Oh. And we're open-minded which also allows for change.

Today marks the first day of graduate school for me. It's also the first day of the Mister's next to last semester in graduate school. I also made a hair color change. It's also a Monday and raining like cats and dogs. Just thought I'd throw that in there.

Today, I had to take a 200 question assessment of my IT skills. I had 1 hour and 20 minutes to take the assessment and I needed a 90 to test out of the first three "sessions" or weeks of my class. The test came with a disclaimer that it is hard and even IT professionals have a hard time scoring a 90. Needless to say, I didn't. I didn't expect to. Some of the questions were about things I had never even heard of. Some of them were statistical-type questions that I couldn't even begin to guess the answers. So, I have to partake in the first three weeks of class. I have to say, I'm not that disappointed. After all, I paid for an entire semester and I also paid for the book. Skipping three weeks might be easier, but I wouldn't have gotten a refund for those weeks. Anyway, the test gave me a pretty good reality check into the differences between an underdrad and graduate class. I can't remember ever having such an extensive test the very first day of any of my other classes. I'm taking a total of seven credits this spring semester; two full classes and a one credit, required "introductory-type" class. Blah blah.

So, back to the title of changes.

With both the Mister and my classes starting today, we've decided to implement a new homework routine. Out of the four of us, the Youngest child is the only one with good homework habits. The Mister and I both leave everything for the last minute and the Oldest child...is a whole other story. This means that we all need a more structured and stringent homework routine. Like it or not.

Lastly, I colored my hair yesterday. I remember saying when I was an ignorant teenager, that I would grow old gracefully. The reality is, I am unable to embrace gray hair. I only have a few, but they're stupid and grow right where my hair meets me forehead and where I part my hair. So, they stick up and an old lady palm tree. I usually just pull them out but I figure this is only a short term solution unless I'd rather be bald at some point. I decided to color my hair to cover up my troupe of grays and I went with a darker color. Naturally, my hair is a mousy yuck color between true blonde and true brunette. I nudged my color fully into the brunette camp. I have to say that I am very pleased with this change. I like the darker color. Normally when I decided to color my hair, I go much lighter into the blonde arena. I like the brunette better. It's shiny and glossy and more natural looking than bottle-blonde.

Now, I have to go because it's homework time. Then I get to make dinner. Chicago dogs are on the menu. I figured we needed something fun to ease the pain of enforced homework time, lol.

Influencing the Mood

I don't know about you, but when I read, I like to read novels that are entertaining in some way. I don't mean that every novel I read is a comedy or romance, but every book that I read and have enjoyed has taken me away and allowed me to live outside of my tiny world for a little while.

Have you ever read The Lovely Bones? This is probably the only book that I've ever read that I regretted doing so. I'm not saying that it was terrible or full of typos or stupid analogies. What I didn't like about it was how depressing it was. If I'm depressed, I don't read sad books or watch tear-jerker movies. I listen to moody music or loud angry music. Or I clean the house angrily. Heheh. Anyway, The Lovely Bones was the kind of book that you want to put down just so that you can find the nearest tree and noose and hang yourself from it. I don't get why people like to read these kinds of books. Ok. That's not entirely accurate. I understand that everyone has their own personal tastes. What I mean, I guess, is that I don't get why someone would exclusively read these kinds of books.

I'm currently reading Juliet Grey's Confessions of Marie Antoinette. It's the third book in a trilogy. I love it and the whole series. Juliet Grey really immerses the reader in revolutionary France from the smells of the filthy palaces to the clothes that Marie and the people of France were wearing. I think she gives a good balance of historical fact and drama as well as giving Marie Antoinette a realistic voice. However, I have to put the book down every once in a while because it makes me sad. I know how it's going to end and every mistake that the King makes or the ignorant attitudes of the citizens make me clench my fists. I want to yell, "Don't take the heavy berline. You don't need two cook plates, picnic baskets, and writing desks inside of a coach when you're fleeing for your lives!!!!!" Yeah. I take Marie Antoinette's and the royalists side. ::sigh::  

The Oldest child has recently taken to reading depressing books. Books about teenaged pregnancy, breakups, Nazis, concentration camps. I mean, truly depressing stuff. She's 17 and has just now started to really enjoy reading. It's evolved into a pastime for her and not just boring assigned school work. I've been not-so-patiently waiting for this to happen and I'm thrilled that she's finally discovering the joys of a good book. I'm gently trying to steer her towards more lighthearted subject matter, but I don't want to discourage her from reading what she enjoys. This is just yet one more way that she's totally different from me, lol.

I've said this dozens of times of the years, but the only thing I wanted my kids to inherit from me was my love of reading. Instead, they both have my nasty hair color, the Oldest has my terrible attitude, and the Youngest has my anxiety. The fates are sometimes cruel, ya know?

Does what you read influence your moods? And if so, does that influence your reading choices?

Ushering in 2014...Looking Back Over 2013

 Everyone is doing a "look back" post for the New Year so I figured I'd put on my Lemming shoes and join in on the fun.

2013 was a pretty busy year for us when I sit down to really think about it.

• We celebrated the Youngest Child's 14th birthday in February. As usual, we did so at Joe's Crab Shack. She loves it, the rest of us tolerate it the one time a year we have to go there, lol. This year, she's decided on Flounders in Pensacola Beach. Their food is much better.
• I finished my undergrad in March. It took me an embarrassing amount of years to do it. However, if you consider the fact that we lived in four different states and in six different houses and I transferred schools three different times, it's a miracle that I finished it at all.
• The Mister and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary in May. 
• We moved from San Diego, CA to Navarre, FL in June. I also celebrated my 36th birthday in June at a restaurant that will haunt me for the rest of my life.
• We celebrated the Oldest Child's 17th birthday in July. Talk about a bittersweet birthday for a parent to celebrate.
• I applied for and was admitted to grad school in August and September, respectively. I'm hoping that I can get this degree in a reasonable amount of time.
• My grandmother passed away in October and we made the trip to Ohio for her funeral. We also got our cat, Winnie, in October. She's a sweetheart.
• In November, the Mister and the Oldest Child attended the Marine Corps Ball. It was the Oldest Child's first Marine Corps Ball. We also had our first Thanksgiving in Florida.
• December, of course, was all about the holidays. We had a really great holiday season here in Florida despite what most people think about celebrating Christmas in a warmer climate. We were actually more festive here than we had been since living in Vermont. We celebrated New Years with a bottle of actual champagne and it was pretty good.

For 2014, I'm hoping for a smooth transition into being a graduate student. I'd also like a better paying job that utilizes my skills and at a company that I can have some respect for. I'm also hoping that my kids finish out their first school year in Florida on a high note. I hope for the Oldest Child, that she opens her mind about school while she still has time and enjoys her senior year. I fervently wish that my dad's health improves. I'm not ready to think of my dad as being old and infirm. I wish for the Mister, that his job situation improves. I try to take comfort in the fact that at least it's not recruiting duty but there are too many similarities. ::sigh:: Aside from hopes and wishes...

I'm looking forward to having my second and third bookshelves built. I'm also looking forward to getting furniture for the sitting area in my living room so that it doesn't look so bare. It's going to be a tranquil and peaceful area to read and relax that's apart from the living room. I'm also looking forward to beach weather and flip flops!! Woot! And books and yarn. Lots of reading, knitting, and crocheting for 2014.

Cleaning, Shining, Buffing

I saw a post on Facebook this morning for homemade jewelry cleaner. I had seen similar posts on Pinterest and had even tried one that didn't work so well, so I was skeptical. However, I have several pieces of silver jewelry that are not only pretty, but sentimental to me. I bought all but one at The Mystic Jewel in Duck, NC during our family vacations to the Outer Banks. I haven't worn them in some time because they had become quite tarnished. Something about silver jewelry...If you wear it regularly, the oils from your skin keep it from tarnishing. I've gotten out of the habit of wearing any jewelry, so mine needed a good polishing. As a result, I decided to give the post on Facebook a try. It is as follows:

• 1 cup water heated in the microwave for 1-2 minutes (I heated mine for the 2 minutes)
• 1 piece of aluminum foil. Big enough to cover the bottom of a cereal bowl.
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1 Tbsp baking soda
• 1Tbsp liquid dish soap

What you do is heat the water up in your bowl. While it's heating, cut or tear a piece of aluminum foil that is the size of the bottom of your bowl. Once the water is heated, place the aluminum foil in the bowl and add the salt, baking soda, and dish soap on top of the foil. I used a plastic butter knife to give it a little stir. Then I simply placed my jewelry, a few pieces at a time to the cleanser and let it sit for five to ten minutes, giving it a little nudge with the knife every so often. I could actually see the tarnish cloud up the water as it was cleared off of my jewelry. I wish I had taken before and during pictures so you could see the difference.

The Results:

The chains cleaned up very nicely. Most of the tarnish came off of the pendants, but some shined up better than others. I took some pictures so you could see:

 This is my moonstone pendant. Of all my pendants, this one had the best results. You can see the shine and clarity of the silver.

 These are my chains. As you can tell, they are tarnish-free and pretty shiny. There are just a couple spots in the first chain that had some tarnish that wouldn't come off.

 This is my blue lace agate pendant. As you can tell, there's quite a bit of tarnish on the side. I allowed it to soak for the full ten minutes but this was as good as I could get it.

 The front view of my blue lace agate pendant. The pendant hangar (I don't know the technical term for it) came pretty clean.

 This was the most disappointing piece. This is my opal dragon fly. While the tarnish came off, I was unable to get any shine out of it. The silver is pretty dull looking.

 This is my charoite pendant. I had pretty decent results with this piece. The charoite itself cleaned up nicely.













As you can see from the side view, the silver part, while not showing much evidence of tarnish, isn't very shiny. 

 This is my peridot pendant. This piece was a Christmas gift from the Mister and didn't come from The Mystic Jewel. Anyway, it cleaned up okay. I just wish the silver was shinier.

 This is my peridot bracelet. The tarnish did not come out of the tiny detail around each stone. However, I think that it gives the bracelet a nice vintage look to it. The silver itself, on the links between each stone, still shows a bit of tarnish. The clasp, especially, looks a little rough.

This is a full, if a bit out of focus, view of my peridot bracelet.

















Final Verdict:

While the homemade cleaner had some good results, they weren't as good as a commercial silver cleaner would have been. My main concern with using both the homemade cleaner and a store bought sliver cleaner on my jewelry is damaging the stones. I didn't notice any adverse effects from the homemade cleaner so I think I might make another batch and try it out again. Anyone have a better recipe for jewelry cleaner that they want to recommend?

'Tis the Season?

I have a long and convoluted story to tell. Hang on to your shorts.

After that cold snap we had, freezing temperatures equals a cold snap in Florida thankyouverymuch, the weather did a turn about and we had a warm front come through. Being the heating/air conditioning Nazi that I am, I opted to open windows rather than turn the air conditioning back on. I'm sorry, but air conditioning isn't happening at my house in late November/December. Remember that if you ever want to visit in the winter.

Anywho...

Our rental management company informed me that we were "due" for a home inspection on December 5th. I have a hard time believing that the timing is sooooo coincidental when he just happened to mention it to me on the phone when I called for the second time to tell him the heat pump wasn't working. (Remember when I posted that the heat wouldn't come on and we had a repair guy come out? Well, it turned on once and then wouldn't come back on. AC either. Turns out that the outside unit had a short that caused a thingamajigger in the inside unit to break. It's all fixed now and it wasn't our fault.) So, between the heater being broke and the high temps we've had, my electric bill for the past month was less than $100. Beat that! I digress. Again. ANYway, because of the inspection, I went on a three day cleaning frenzy. I vacuumed every one of those days. We also got one of the book shelves built, sanded, stained, sealed, and loaded with books that we've been intending to build since the movers broke ours. I completed all the organizing, unpacking, and decorating that I've been putting off for five months. The house looks pretty good if I do say so myself.

Today, I wrapped the first Christmas presents. I went to put them under the tree, but the tree skirt was a bunched mess, all wrapped up around the trunk because the cats won't leave the tree alone. Cat owners commiserate. I figured I'd vacuum up the needles while the skirt was mostly out of the way before straightening it. When I hauled out the vacuum cleaner, I noticed that it the canister needed emptied from the last time I vacuumed. When I went to do so, I saw that there was a sludge build up all around the bottom of it. Because the epic cleaning took place during this warm front with obscene humidity levels, the dust and dirt combined with the excess moisture in the house and formed a layer of ICK in my vacuum cleaner. I had seen a post on Pinterest a while back on how to clean your Dyson so I figured I'd do a Google search to see what I could come up with because, frankly, I was afraid of running water all over my $600 vacuum cleaner. I found a YouTube video that demonstrated how to take apart and rinse all the various components of your Dyson. They had a yellow Dyson and I have a purple Animal, so I had to figure out some stuff of my own, but I bit the bullet and washed it out. Talk about disgusting. Just when I thought I had cleaned everything, more nasty, dirty, sludgy water would pour out of it. It was freaking nasty. I'm sure living in San Diego on a canyon for three years contributed to the excess of yuck. I mean, we had an amount of dust in that house that you wouldn't believe. I didn't realize how truly dusty that house was until we moved into this one.

These are all the parts of my Dyson that I cleaned. The two in the back are both pieces of the canister and the three in front are parts of the two filters. P.S. My kitchen was painted that color when we moved in. I no likey.

So, if you have a Dyson, don't be afraid to take it apart and clean it. In fact, if you have allergies, hay fever, or general lung sensitivities, I highly recommend regularly cleaning your vacuum. Probably with a dust mask or something if you have "limp lungs" (what movies is that from??). Dyson recommends rinsing the filters every three months. Just be prepared to go without your vacuum for about 48 hours while it dries. I'm sure mine will take longer with this lingering humidity and rain we're having. I'm going to give it 72 hours at a minimum just to be safe. I don't want the dust to combine with any moisture that might be on the inside of the canister. It'd defeat the whole thing. Just be sure to check out an online "how to" video before attempting to clean your Dyson. I take no responsibility if you decide to throw your entire vacuum in the tub without knowing what you're doing first.

Chain Mail

I haven't done one of these in a while and you all know how much I like them. I found this meme over on Adventures in Mediocrity. It may be called Adventures in Mediocrity, but it's really about her life as a New Yorker which is anything but mediocre. If you want to participate, consider yourself tagged and let me know that you did so I can go and read your answers. On to the questions.

1. Song you can't get out of your head?  Daylight by Matt and Kim. The Oldest Child was listening to this song when we got home from Christmas shopping today. I've been humming it all evening. I love this song so I don't mind it so much being stuck in my head.


2. Favorite ice cream flavor?  I luuuuurrrve Ben & Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch. It's so yum.

3. Are you a polka dots, stripes, or sequins kinda girl? Stripes mostly. Then polka dots. I really don't like sequins all that much.

4. Your favorite beauty product or secret? I really love Urban Decay's 24/7 eyeliners. They come in so many different colors and they apply very nicely. As for a beauty secret, you should always pluck your eyebrows right after you shower. Why? Because the heat of the water opens up your pores so it hurts less.

5. Favorite spot in the area (or state) you live in? That's easy. I love the beach. Our beach is absolutely gorgeous with sugar, white sand, blue-green water that's warm in the summer and the tourists bypass us for the more popular tourist-y places like Destin and Gulf Breeze. In all the times we went to the beach this summer, there was always available parking. In all the places I've ever been, Florida's gulf coast has the prettiest beaches in my opinion.

6. Current app/website addiction (besides Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest)? Well, since Google had to go and continue their trend of treating their loyal users like asshats, I've switched to using Feedly to read blog posts. I really like it and it's actually more visually appealing than Google Reader was. I also love my Weatherbug app because I'm obsessed with the weather.

7. What's at the very top of your Christmas list this year? Well, it was the box set of Breaking Bad. I've forbidded (TBBT reference, hahaha) the Mister from getting it for me though because it's pretty pricey. There's really not much else on my list this year except for some books that I've been wanting.



8. What is your favorite color? I've really been into the green family lately.

9. What do you order when you go into a coffee shop? I hardly ever get coffee out anywhere besides Starbucks. My go to drink of choice is a mocha frappuccino. During the holiday season, however, I love the peppermint mocha latte. YUM!

10. Favorite place to shop? This is hard to pick just one. Barnes and Noble is one of my faves. I'm also pretty much addicted to Ulta. If we still lived in San Diego, I'd say Nordstrom Rack. OMG!! It's so much fun to shop there. 

11. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? This one has been covered a lot. I'd go to Europe. I don't know how I'd limit myself to just one country, so I go broad and say the entire continent, lol.

12. Go-to nail polish color? Scarlet O'Hara by Essie. It's the best red EVER made. Ever. Hands down.

13. What is your favorite outfit? And I ask: Favorite or go-to? My favorite outfit is my nice pair of jeans, my purple blouse, and my alpaca cardigan. However, more often than not, I'm wearing sloppy jeans and a t-shirt. I'm trying to venture out into scarves though.

14. Do you have any body mods (tattoos, piercings, etc.)? I have my ears pierced but hardly ever wear earrings because my ears are so sensitive. Even gold and silver makes them swell and itch. Other than that, nope.

15. What animal would you be, based on your personality? Probably a sloth because I don't do much other than hang out at home.

16. What is your favorite song? I don't have just one favorite. Off the top of my head though, I'd pick These Days by Foo Fighters. I absolutely love that song.



17. What is one object that you use daily, that you love? I guess I'd have to say my phone. I use it every day for just about everything. I feel disloyal for saying so, but my Samsung Galaxy S3 is 100 times better than any iPhone has ever been. Apple needs to beef up their game in my opinion.

From Meghan Sara:

18. What is one non-holiday thing you're looking forward to over the next few months? Starting grad school in January.

19. How do you take your coffee (or tea)? I take my coffee with flavored creamer. My favorite is International Delight's White Chocolate Mocha. YUM!! As for my tea, depending on what kind it is, I like it with honey and/or lemon. If it's plain oolong, I like it straight.

20. What is your favorite food obsession? Panera Bread. Aside from loving everything that I've ever gotten off of the menu, (Okay. I don't really care for their smoothies.) I really like their hibiscus tea.

21. What do you wear to sleep in? I can only sleep in a t-shirt or tank top and shorts. Long sleeves, pants, and socks in bed drive me nutso and make me hot, no matter what the weather is.

My addons:

What is your favorite holiday cocktail? Feel free to leave a link to the recipe.
What is your favorite holiday scent/air freshener (plug-in, spray, potpourri, etc.)?
Do you do the whole coordinated bedding set or do you put together your own look?

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Our northern route to Ohio took us right through the middle of Alabama, up to Nashville, through Louisville, and into Ohio through Cincinnati. We drove straight through since we were in somewhat of a hurry to get there. The drive took about 14 hours and the loss of an hour by transitioning from the Central time zone to the Eastern time zone. Yes. The western part of Florida's panhandle is in the Central time zone. Most people don't realize this.

Anyway, on the way home, we decided to break the trip up into two days. The halfway point was in Nowhere, Alabama. Or maybe it was Nowhere, Tennessee. Either way, it was in the middle of nowhere. I'm pretty much a genius when it comes to maps. I'm directionally challenged, but I can read a map. Figure it out. So, I mapped us out an alternate route that took us through the eastern part of Tennessee, with a quick jog through the very northeast corner of Georgia, and back into Alabama. It only added 30 minutes to the drive and allowed us to stop in Chattanooga which is just about, smack dab halfway between Huber Heights, Ohio and Navarre, Florida.

We stayed at a pretty decent hotel in Chattanooga that was downtown. Ok. I have to tell you. I was pretty much unimpressed with the city itself. It was very blue collar and seemed run down. The surrounding area is beautiful with mountains and fall color and the Tennessee River. We checked out a local restaurant for dinner, the Terminal Brew House. We wanted something non-chain and having a selection of craft brews, as well as being close to our hotel, it seemed to be a winner. The Mister said that the beer was excellent. I had the house pinot noir and it was pretty good. We had to specifically ask the waiter if the girls could have soft drinks since he didn't bother to take their drink orders or even give them a glass of water. The food was so-so. Not horrible, but for the prices, nothing special. We opted to have the "seasonal steamed veggies" as our side dish and was served BEETS. Who in the holy heck serves beets? Who likes beets?!?! What kind of side is that? It was an unsatisfying meal, excellent selection of beers aside.

Overall, I didn't have the best impression of Chattanooga. I know. We were there for less than 24 hours, but from what we saw, it wasn't compelling enough for us to plan our next family vacation there. It's nice to know that it's a good halfway stop for the next time we drive to Ohio and we'd stay at the same hotel again too. They had a really good breakfast.

Lip Factory Inc. November Beauty Box

Package insert with product descriptions. Included in every beauty box.

I've been a subscriber to Lip Factory Inc. for several months now. I am a very satisfied customer. Despite what the name might suggest, the beauty box includes more than just lip products, most months. November is the first month that it's been all lip products. Either way, I am a happy subscriber. The monthly subscription cost is $22.00 but the contents of each box is worth twice if not three times as much. And I LOVE trying new products. Here's what came in my November box.

1. Palladio Herbal Lipstick in Wine Shine. Retail price:  $6.99. I love the color. It has just a bit of shimmer and it smells pleasant without being overwhelming. I really hate lipsticks that smell so much that they taste perfume-y.











2. Model Co. Lip Couture Lipstick in Luella. Retail price:  $17.00. It's a great fall color, feels very moisturizing and has a satin finish. I love the built-in mirror that's on the tube cap too.

3. Designer Skin Fall Lip Shimmer in Hottie Tottie. Retail price:  $7.30. It's a pretty color with a nice shimmer. It has a pleasant minty smell that's not too much and it doesn't have a taste at all. It even feels tingly when you put it on which will be nice for the cooler months when lips start drying out. The only thing about it is that it takes forever to click it up the tube to the brush applicator. Stila lipglosses are like that too and it isn't my favorite delivery method but the product is usually worth it.




4. Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Red Square. Retail price:  $12.00. I have to tell you, red lipsticks scare me. I've never had one before now. The color, once applied, doesn't really match the tube, if you can tell in my picture. It's almost a fushia rather than a bright red. It also has a candy-like smell too it but it's not overwhelming. I love the unique tube that it comes in but I wish the pigment were more true to the tube.






5. Medusa's Makeup Lipgloss in Temptation. Retail price:  $8.00. It's a very sheer lipgloss with a candy scent to it. I love the gold shimmer to this wine-like color. This will make a great fall color.














6. Retractable Lip Brush. Retail price:  $3.88. Honestly, I don't use a lip brush to apply lipstick or gloss. I'm a straight from the tube kinda gal.

So, the total value of my November box is $55.17 which is a great deal for having paid only $22.00. Amiright?? Plus, it's totally fun to get stuff in the mail and it's also great fun to try out new products. Before getting my beauty box, I had never heard of these makeup brands. If you're tempted to join me, I would love and appreciate a referral #385105.

Where the Hell Am I??

It's COLD here. Maybe it's not Vermont cold, but it's freaking cold nonetheless. We've had freeze warnings the past two nights. Our daytime highs have been pretty chilly too. I knew, logically, that it gets pretty cold in northern Florida and it's even been known to snow from time to time, but I think I was hoping that people were exaggerating. I don't have enough winter clothes for this place. Seriously.

What's more, our heat doesn't seem to be working. We, supposedly, have central air and heat but when I switched the thermostat over from "cool" to "heat" three days ago, the heat never kicked on. The current temperature in my house is 63. Do you know how hard it is to make yourself get out of bed in the morning when you know it's that cold and there's no heat coming? Considering that our forecast high for today is only 55, I don't see the house warming up all that much today.

When we first moved into this house, we had a very respectable-sized woodpile in the backyard. In the last three days, we've seriously depleted our supply of wood due to the fact that the fireplace has been our only source of heat. Having an open concept living room/dining room/kitchen, it really doesn't heat much though. It raises the temp about three or four degrees. As a result, we've been sitting and/or laying on the floor in front of the fireplace, lol. Even Bailey is cold. She wears a sweater all day with her bone blanket draped over her back plus an extra blanket at night to sleep.

Three good things come from having your house uncomfortably cold: 

1.) It's cold enough to put my pretty comforter on my bed and I sleep really well.
2.) The water in the glass next to my bed stays nice and cold all night.
3.) I should have a nice decrease in my electric bill with it not being hot enough for the ac and no heat.

I'm calling the rental management place as soon as I post this. I'm hoping they open at 8 am.

I'm Right. That's All.

While we were in Ohio, something occurred to me. Over the entire course of the trip, we stayed in three different hotels. You know what all three of them had in common? The most available sheet of toilet paper in all the bathrooms was folded into a neat little triangle. Do you know what this means? The correct way to put toilet paper onto the holder is with the sheets rolling out from above not below. If you have your toilet paper with the roll coming out from below, YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG!! You can't fold a sheet into a nifty triangle if the toilet paper is coming from the underneath.

I. Have. Solved. This. Debate.

You man now continue on with your life, all the richer for this most important, life-altering revelation.

You're welcome.

Cousins

You know the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding? There's this part where Nia Vardalos' character is going on and on about how big and crazy her family is and how many first cousins she has, 27. I have something like 25. Add in myself and my siblings, and there's 28 grandkids altogether. I have first cousins that I've never met. The way my family likes to give people up for adoption, I probably have more that I don't even know about. Our trip to Ohio afforded me the opportunity to see some of my cousins again. On my dad's side of the family anyway.

It was almost a surreal experience for a group of us to get together and go out for drinks. The majority of my memories and interactions with my cousins are from family get togethers while we were growing up. Being the second oldest grandchild, I have cousins who are still teenagers which is weird. It's hard for me to even think of them as first cousins. They're more like nieces and nephews.

Still, while in Ohio, we were able to get a group of us together and go out for drinks. There was my cousin J and his wife, my cousin D, my cousin K and her husband, and my cousin M and the Mister. Between the five of us cousins, we live in three different states. Going out was so much fun that I wish we lived closer so that it's something we could do more often. We reminisced about family holidays and summer vacations spent at my grandparent's house as well as catching up on our current lives. For being so closely related, we are a diverse bunch.

I wish I had thought to get pictures. Who knows the next time that I will see any of them. I can hope that it won't be another 13 years and that it won't be because of a funeral.

Falling Back

Autumn in Rural Ohio

So far, fall has been quite eventful for us. First of all, it certainly doesn't feel like fall in Florida. We had a couple cool'ish days in October, but they were only a few days and overnight lows didn't get out of the 50s. Having lived the majority of the past 16 years in states with moderate climates, the one thing I miss about living somewhere with definitive seasons is the autumn.

My grandmother passed away last week. She had a history of diabetes, the childhood kind, not the fat people kind, and heart disease and had been on a steady decline for a while now. For some, the release of death is a kindness and not a devastating loss. For my grandma, who had been shocked back to life by a defibrillator several times in the past several weeks, knowing that she was finally at peace was a relief. Added to that, when my grandparents sold their house back in 2009, I had said goodbye to what was. We didn't make it back to Ohio between that last visit and my grandma's passing. Yes, I'm sad that my grandma is no longer with us, but I've come to terms with her passing and I'm okay.

We took the girls and Bailey and drove to Ohio for her funeral. The trip north was quite picturesque. Once we got into Tennessee, fall colors started showing themselves on the trees. As we made our way further north and into Ohio, the colors were more vibrant, varied, and plentiful. The last time we had been able to enjoy fall like that was when in the fall of 2006 when we were still living in Vermont. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I was in the middle of it once again. Still, you'll never, ever hear me say that I miss the snow and winters, lol.

The trip north wasn't all about my grandma. We also took time to visit what family that we could, carving out special time with my dad. Recently, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He actually got his third round of chemotherapy while we were there. I hadn't seen my dad since 2010 when I was in Ohio for his last open heart surgery. You might get the idea here, that my dad isn't always in the best of health. Seeing him and the drastic physical changes he has undergone was the most difficult part of the trip for me. As you could probably guess, he's lost a lot of weight. According to my sister, his hair has started to thin, but from the way he's wearing it (in a hippie ponytail, lol) I didn't notice a difference. The most startling difference was that he now looks older than his 62 years. It was hard to see. My dad has already had surgery for the cancer and the chemo is to, hopefully, ensure that the doctors got everything and that it doesn't come back. We are optimistically hopeful. Despite the circumstances, I was glad that my girls got to spend this time with their papa and that he was well enough to go to Chuck E. Cheese (I have an 8 year old nephew) with his grandkids.

After spending a week in hotels, we are more than thrilled to be home. I missed my cats terribly. We hired our 14 year old neighbor to look after them and she did an excellent job. We are back in the land of summer though. It was 80 degrees when we got home and it's in the 80s today as well. Time to put the winter clothes back in the closet for a few more weeks. Fall is all about change. Change comes a little later for Floridians. We'll have to wait and see what it'll bring.

Minimum Effort

I'm making an effort to get back on my blogging schedule. Today is Current Events Wednesday where I voice my very opinionated voice-y opinion on something in the news. Or something people are talking about. Or something that I feel like talking about. Ya know.

Anyway, I saw on Instagram on Monday an image furthering the movement to raise minimum wage to $11.00. You really gotta be kidding me there. $11.00??? Really??? I'm sure this sounds good to all the high school drop outs out there, but let's be realistic.

How many small business owners can afford both the Affordable Care Act and paying a 16 year old kid $11.00 an hour?? Even before the health care deal, a small business owner would have a hard time paying a minimum wage of $11.00. Who do you think is really going to pay those increased wages? The consumer will when all businesses, because you don't really think this will be confined to just small businesses do you, raise their prices to offset the increase in minimum wage.

The instagram pic said to raise minimum wage because, "nobody can survive on $7.25." I'm not even trying to debate that. I can't imagine how hard it would be to live off of $7.25/hour, especially if you're a family. But you know what? Minimum wage equals minimum skills. Get yourself educated. Get yourself some experience. And don't even begin to tell me that there aren't enough resources out there. There are free job fairs all the time. Most communities have workshops for job hunting, resume writing, etc. And if all you're doing is earning minimum wage, you qualify for student loans/grants. Can't afford books? Rent them. My school had a thing where I could designate part of my loan for books and I still had money left over after paying tuition. What other excuse do you have?

Don't cry to me and don't expect me to support/vote for $11.00 minimum wage.

My First Autumn in Florida

It occurred to me the other day that this is the first time I've ever been in Florida during the fall months. I briefly lived here in 1998 and I've been to Florida on several occasions for vacation, but all those times were during either spring, summer, or winter. Huh.

I'm really enjoying the cooler temps. We're still getting into the lower 80s, but overnight, it's been in the 50s and 60s. Overall, it's cool enough that I've had the windows open this week for the first time and the ac off. I don't think the home owners ever opened the windows. They were nasty dirty and required cleaning and vacuuming. Anyway, I'm looking forward to a lower electric bill. Hopefully. Speaking of bills...

Our water/sewer bill has gone up $15-$20 every month since we moved into this house. I was expecting an increase from June to July since June would have been a partial billing month, but every subsequent bill has had an increase. Not only has it increased, but it's now $50 more a month than the average for this house. I'm not happy. One reason was that the hall bathroom toilet was leaking. The flapper was warped. We replaced that last week so I'm hoping that will reflect on next month's bill. I also went all dictator on the fam and made a list of rules for water/sewer usage. Ugh.

Anyway, this fall ushered in the first tropical storm system that we had to deal with:  Karen. First, we had hurricane watches. Then, the storm weakened and we had tropical storm watches. Finally, it weakened further, changed its track, and we barely got any rain and hardly any wind at all. We had worse thunderstorms over the summer. Seriously. All this storm did was ruin weekend plans we had. So, we have all of our canned food, water, batteries, candles, etc. on hand so if something else comes in before the hurricane season ends in less than a month, we're all set.

Navarre Beach from the Pier before Karen. Scary, right?

Something else this fall in Florida...

We're upping Bailey's weight loss program. She's lost quite a bit of weight since we moved. She's been getting daily walks in the evening once the pavement has cooled off and with the weight loss, she's been more playful and moves around more easily. She seems to have reached a plateau though, so now I'm walking her in the mornings before it gets too hot. She's not enthusiastic about this additional walk. I have to constantly encourage her to keep going after about 15 minutes. I even let her take a break at the bay. We have a fishing dock in the neighborhood that is on the banks of the East Bay. It's really very lovely. Still, after that first 15 minutes, it's a chore to keep her going. I'm hoping that with repetition, she'll start to enjoy the additional walk instead of acting like I'm punishing her.

View from the dock as Bailey and I relaxed during our walk.

Lastly, the Mister signed us up to go to the Marine Corps Ball this November. The jury is still out on whether or not I'm going. He has to. The only reason I even considered going this year (the last ball I attended was in 1998) is that it's supposed to be at a really nice resort-type place in Destin, FL. I, like Bailey, have gained some poundage. I have to tell you. Using this blog and my social media peeps as a support system for keeping up with diet and exercise was a dismal failure. You people sort of suck at it. Anyway, shoving myself into a muumuu isn't my idea of fun. However, if I can find a dress that isn't muumuu-like, and I don't look like a stuffed sausage in it, I'll go. I don't like the idea of the ball to begin with. It's a bunch of adults going to prom. It isn't dignified. And it's also a thinly veiled excuse to get drunk at the prom like you couldn't necessarily do in high school. It's annoying.

Today, It's Games

This is a subject that has annoyed me for many years. First of all, I’d just like to say…How very easy and convenient it must be for people to be able to lay the blame for mental illness and/or a lack of parenting and/or a lack of personal responsibility on the doorstep of video games. It takes a severe lack of imagination, or at least a good imagination, to use video games, television, and movies as an explanation for why people do dumb things.

Anyway…

 I’d like to open my topic by saying that I am by no means, an expert clinician on mental illness. I only have my familial experiences and examples to go by. Haha. I kid.  Sort of. My undergrad is in English and I only took intro to psychology. Still, I would like to claim a sort of expert-ship when it comes to gaming. I’ve been playing video games since the original Atari. I even played the black and white Pong but I think that was a little after it was initially introduced. I played The Oregon Trail in elementary school on a Commodore 64. I’ve played games on every Playstation console and almost every Nintendo console. I admit to never having had a Sega or Xbox though. I put my foot down against the Xbox because we already had a Wii and the PS3. I also game on a PC, Mac, iPod/phone, and iPad as well. Suffice it to say, I’ve been playing video games the majority of my life. I still play some sort of game at least once a week and participate in the gaming world via Twitter and blogs. Yup. I’m a geek or nerd or whatever you want to call it. I am joined by millions. We are legion. Deal with it.

I’ve played a variety of games from first person shooters to MMO fantasy games to platform games to simulation games to role playing games. I’ve even played a few sports games even though I’m not a sports fan. I can’t think of a genre of video game that I haven’t played or at least tried. AND LO AND BEHOLD!!! I’ve never felt compelled to get a gun and kill actual people. I've never gone on a hunt for elves or gnomes. I have also never developed a gaming compulsion.

I’ve known people that have had a compulsion to play video games. All of them have said that their compulsion had roots in another problem or issue in their life. For instance, one person said that his/her gaming compulsion stemmed from issues with his/her father (this person was 19 at the time of their gaming affliction). The game became a place to hide, a place to avoid confronting the real problem. Another person said that they had a generally addictive personality. Video games weren’t the first, nor were they the last, addiction that this person had to overcome.

I have to say that I’ve never known someone who translated actions in a game to real life like the criminals we’ve been hearing about in the news. Most people understand that something that is animated, such as video games, isn’t real and isn’t an example by which to live their lives.

How many millions of people who play video games every day and aren’t criminals are there versus the people that play video games and have committed violent crimes because of them?

I’m not saying that there are not inappropriate games, at least in my subjective opinion, out there. Personally, for my family, Grand Theft Auto and all of its incarnations, aren’t allowed in our home. You know why? Because the Mister and I actively parent our children. Still, offensive, objectionable, unacceptable, inappropriate, are all subjective words. What I call offensive someone else might not and vice versa.

I’m also not saying that in some instances, video games cannot play a part in the motivation behind a violent crime. But I am saying, in my inexpert psychological opinion, that even if games have been part of the drive behind a crime, that it is only one piece of a diverse and complicated puzzle. People that have the ability to pick up a gun and kill innocent strangers have way more complicated problems than the video games that they play or the movies that they watch.

My point being is that of all the people that I have known of that have had addictive issues with video games have all had other underlying personality flaws and/or mental instability(s) and/or social issues. They have all said that if it hadn’t been video games, it would have been something else. These people had the ability to take personal responsibility for their actions despite everything else they had to deal with which is more than you can say about most people. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, we are a society full of people with an inability to take personal responsibility for our actions and pass the blame off onto someone or something else. Today, it’s video games, yesterday it was guns, who knows what it will be tomorrow. How about we all take an old fashioned look at our values and personal ethics for a change. If you think I'm wrong, some of my opinions here are supported by someone who is an expert. Read this article on video game addiction/compulsion.

It would be a breath of fresh air if people could demonstrate that they possess common sense. And I’m not talking about the criminals here.