Please pray....

The Coast Guard is a very small service, it is with a heavy heart that I ask for prayers for the families of these Coast Guardsmen and Marines.

Please click on the "please pray" title for link to news story.

Lee called me this morning, as soon as he got to work to tell me there was a plane crash in southern California, and then told me it was one of ours...meaning a C-130. In 20 years as a Coast Guard wife, this is not the first call I have gotten from Lee letting me know that a helo (or some other accident) has gone down. The tone of his voice is so different...so serious, just thinking about it makes me sad.

I cannot imagine the fear and sadness those families must feel....the unknown.

Please take a moment to offer your prayers for the families involved.

Ya put the lime in the coconut, and you shake it all up

Let me introduce you to my psychic friend.....Christine. She and I were introduced way back in 1983, our boyfriends at the time were best friends....well those relationships did not work out but Christine and I did. We have gone through a lot together, way more than I ever imagined. We do not talk often, which is my fault, because I am an awful phone talker (made even worse because I have the worst cell coverage here), but if she had a flower for everytime I thought of her...her world would be nothing but roses. We have single handedly kept Hallmark afloat these last 26 years....shooting cards back and forth. Chris is the friend that hears the quiet sighs and more often than I like to admit...can read between the lines when I write. Today I picked up the mail, I had gotten cards from Chris the other day, so I was surprised there was a package. I eagerly opened it....Chris never gives me hints, so it could have been anything...I was excited. When I got the box open, I thought...."Did she lose her mind??" She sent me a box with two coconuts and two limes and some seahells. Then I read the card, it was one of those cards that sings....and it sung "Put the lime in the coconut and drink them both together, put the lime in the coconut make you feel better, put the lime in the coconut drink them all up, put the lime in the coconut and call me in the morning".....IT MADE MY MONTH!!!! I giggled out loud, the card said if all else failed I could throw the coconuts to make me feel better. Well it worked, I feel so much better.

Christine, this is the crappiest time of year for you...and you took a moment to make my day better. I love you, you mean so much to me...I am so grateful for you!

How long until I get the lime and the coconut song out of my head....."I say doctor........"......more giggles!

Ok...I admit it...I am a big chicken!!

When I was a teenager, I loved scary movies. All the scary movies they keep remaking, came out the first time when I was a teen. I loved all the Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street movies.....and then came my 30's! I think it was a combination of being a mom and the world becoming a little more scary that I care to appreciate. So, now when we rent a scary movie....I am hunkered down with an blanket and I take my glasses off, so the screen is a little blurry. It can't scare me if I can't see it...right???

Lee volunteered at the Coast Guard's haunted house this past Friday. He said it was a lot of fun, and we decided we would all go back on Saturday night. I am thinking...how bad can it be, Lee told me all about it. As soon as we get there, my tummy gets butterflies. We get the safety brief and then are led through a maze. We were the first ones through that night, so a couple people were not in place...so that was fine, then we enter the "haunted house". As we enter, we are greeted by someone dressed as Lurch, like the butler from the Munsters. We head upstairs...first scene is a pirate scene, and of course when the guy moved...I jumped a little. Next scene, done by the cooks....a gross kitchen scene, I was good for that one. Then came the best one, we round the corner and there is a girl sleeping on the bed, I am thinking...she is going to pop and scare us....NOOOOO! Freakin' Freddy Kruger pops up from the middle of the bed and drags the girl back down with him. It was as seamless as on the movie screen. Poor Elliott...who watches hardly any tv...was probably wondering what the Hell his parents had dragged him to now! After that, I was just chanting "it's not real" to myself and I had the death grip on Lee's sweatshirt. That 15 minutes likely took 5 years off my life.


Lee is already plotting what he wants to do next year....he wants to do his own scene. I better figure out how to walk through with my blankie and no glasses on with out looking like a big scaredy cat!!

Probably the most amazing picture.....

This picture was taken by a fellow Coastie wife's husband. He is aboard an ice breaker that I think is on a Northern patrol. Due to operational security rules, we are not supposed to say exactly where they are. She has posted some great pictures he has sent her on Facebook, but this one took the cake! When Lee was on northern patrols, he would show me the pictures people took after he got home. It was a great idea, because the Bering Sea is not a friendly place in the middle of winter.


We sort of got a housing update today...not really a good one either. :( It turns out the floors need more work than originally predicted. Thankfully the money spenders seem to be on top of it and are aggressively pursuing all means to get this going again. The housing officer is as eager to get us and the other families in there, just as much as we want to be there. I cross my fingers to be in there by Thanksgiving....but feel it may be a little while after that. It is such a tough choice, we could probably find a place to rent....but the funds we had when we got here just are not there now (spent over 2k on truck repairs, a little on motorcycle repairs and the expense of living in this temp housing has eaten most of it away), and the places that allow pets are not in safe areas where I would be comfortable. So, we are in a holding pattern. I always thought I was a patient soul....NOT!!! Poor Lee, he has to tell me when things are not going well....I feel bad for him...but I think he should take pictures of my face...we could maybe win a prize!!


My mantra now is "good things come to those who wait"....followed by Dora's (from Finding Nemo) "just keep swimming". Ahhhh....deep cleansing breath.... working on that :) again!

A"maze"ing!!!

We did something totally different today!! We went to a pumpkin patch in the Arcata Bottoms (the farmland area in Arcata) that had a corn maze. It was a lot of fun. I am sure Elliott must think we are insane, but he admitted to having fun too. We entered the 5 acre maze, thinking...this is easy, the lady said it only takes 15 minutes. Yeah right! There are moments, like when you have walked into the 8th dead end, when you think...maybe we should have brought a water bottle and a granola bar..we may be here a while! It was fun though, I would be terrified to go through it in the dark!! As we finally made it out of the maze, it begain to rain. We got our wagon and headed to the pumpkin patch. It was fun, because they had all types of pumpkins..like the ones you see in a Martha Stewart magazine, lots of colors, sizes and textures! We picked out our pumpkins, had them weighed and paid for them. We left there pretty wet from the rain, but we had smiles on too!

Columbus Day!!!

Wow....I have not had a day like today in so long, that I am not sure what to do!! Lee has a holiday...and he is HOME!!! I am so used to him being either underway or deployed...hence, not home! He took Elliott to school for me and now is bowling on the Wii. Ever since Deana and Elaine left, Lee has played the Wii every night!! Like he is making up for lost time, we have had the thing over two years. Unfortunately, we only have a couple games with us (the rest are in storage with our household goods). So, you are either playing Mario Kart or Wii Sports Resort.

It was a pretty quiet weekend, Lee spent time at work getting caught up. I made sure the Lifetime Movie channel stayed on the air and Elliott worked on homework. Mason is doing good too, and found a job! Woo hoo! He and Arrielle are sticking to their budget and spent yesterday, exploring the free stuff to do!

We are going to get our first "strong Pacific storm" beginning tonight. Is it bad that I miss the rain and crappy weather??? I say bring it on....within reason of course. I just hope it is not raining cats and dogs, the day our household goods get delivered...but who knows when that will be. The menu is planned to coincide with the weather this week....I have a couple soups in mind...split pea and black bean chicken chili.

I am outta here.....can't let Lee beat my high score in table tennis!!

Adventures in Mom Land!

Oh, I wish I could say it has been adventurous...but it really has not!! Unless, you consider a trip to my local Winco an adventure. Our Winco....I cannot even describe it, it is like a two-fer. You get a decent price on some groceries and the best people watching on the North Coast!! The week has been pretty quiet. All these truck repairs and expenses from this crazy move have wiped out the savings account, so I am sticking close to home. Trying to keep caught up on scrapbooking the pictures we have taken since we got here, teaching myself to crochet again, and trying to work on the cross stitch piece I brought with me.


There has been a culinary adventure this week...I love Mexican food, and I am trying to replicate my favorite dishes. This week I tried making Chili Colorado....chunks of beef in a chili like sauce...it has been a favorite since I was a teen! I looked online for a recipe, and found one that seemed pretty close to the flavors I remembered. I am lucky and crazy Winco has all their spices in bulk, so I was able to get what I needed easily and cheap! I put it all together and it was delicious....even though I do not have measuring spoons and I was guessing at the size of a tablespoon and a teaspoon!! Tomorrow, my mom's favorite... Chile Verde!!! Pork simmered in a green chile sauce. Susan made this for us, when we were with her...and I copied the recipe. Lee loved it.

We are still (as patiently as I can) waiting for our house to be ready. I asked Lee if he was confident that we would be there by Thanksgiving....he said he sure hoped so! I then told him that if we were not, I am eating at the housing guys house and I am bringing the people I invited over for turkey dinner with me! So, keep your fingers crossed.

The Girls......

Deana and Elaine came for a very welcomed visit!! They drove down on Tuesday and were here by dinner time!! I was so excited, I must have texted them like crazy while they were driving! I was so happy to see them, they were a great distraction from what seems to be the "long term, hurry up and wait" my life has become.

On Wednesday, we did the drive around Eureka and saw the fancy Victorian mansions. We made our donation at the casino....none of us won at all!! They went with me to pick up Elliott at school....Elaine decided Elliott needed ice cream. So, we stopped for some....Elliott had two scoops...a huge cup of ice cream! We also stopped at the scrapbook store that day....fun stuff! Thursday started out so well.....we headed to Ferndale, first stop...Centerville Beach. We took lots of pictures, played in the sand, the usual stuff. I glance up and see a Coast Guard helo, as I point up to it to show the girls...a huge wave smacks me and I am soaked, the wave had enough force to pull off one of my favorite flip flops too!! If you see my lavender flip flop....call me! With pants wet and full of sand we head back to Main street Ferndale, getting our fill of garlic bread and pizza at Ferndale Pizza Co. Then walked up and down the street checking out the shops. We headed back into Eureka, and I stopped to pick up the mail...this is where the day gets a little crappy! I get back in the truck....it won't start. It won't start at all...crap!! Deana and Elaine learned that Jeanine does not do well with a broken truck, especially when Elliott is stuck at school! We get a hold of Lee, who comes to get the key's to Elaine's car and goes to get Elliott. The girls and I wait for the tow truck....those will be fun pictures to post in the scrapbook. The truck gets loaded up and we get to go for a ride in the tow truck!! Woo hoo!! We get the truck dropped off for repair...and Lee comes to pick us up, in Elaine's tiny Honda...kinda like a clown car with all of us unloading out of it! The best part of Thursday....Deana had Elliott hook up the Wii, and we challenged Elliott to some games. It turned out to be a grueling battle between all of us....the pictures are priceless! For some reason, if I am as close to the tv as possible...I do better!! So much fun!!!

Friday, we headed for the Redwoods!!! We made plans to walk up Fern Canyon, which is beautiful. It is so different than when we went 10 years ago, storms have changed the 'canyon' quite a bit. We had fun though. Once back to the car and a quick peek at the park map, we went on the scenic drive. So pretty, huge trees on either side of the road. Got out and took some pictures!! I wish we had more time (had to be back to pick up my truck)....I would have liked to walk through the Lady Bird Johnson Grove (which was where the park was dedicated in 1968.....gotta love PBS). We took advantage of the beautiful day and stopped in Trinidad for lunch.....the scenery there is amazing! The ocean is turquoise there!! We got the truck picked up. Us girls, decided we would try Lost Coast Brewery for dinner. We got Deana to try the beer sampler....10 glasses (4 ounces each) of different beers!!! She made it through all of them!! It was a real nice dinner, It was a fun night, full of giggles!!!

They headed out on Saturday morning...kind of a bummer!! I was so happy to have them here. Lee and Elliott had a blast too!! MUCH LOVE TO DEANA AND ELAINE FOR MAKING THE TREK HERE!!! I HAD A BLAST AND I LOVE YA!!!

See the following post for more pictures!

so much fun it will take two posts!!!