New Years Eve

Yes, it's New Years Eve and I'm blogging. Obviously, Eric and I have no lives outside the home.

Anywhoo. We haven't done much in the past few days. Eric has worked half days this week. Nathan and I have hung out around the house. It's been hard to pry the kid away from the computer, actually. Yesterday we forced him out to play catch. He liked it so much that he actually volunteered to go out today for more catch. (Now, if I can just keep this up for the next 2 months while Eric's gone...)

The only drawback has been the workmen. We have a large crew of workman who are digging up and replacing some electrical lines behind our houses. Unfortunately, apparently the workmen do not have accurate maps. Yesterday, they managed to hit an underground transformer. We were without power for two hours. Today, they hit the cable line - and since we have cable phone, Internet and cable, we all twiddled our thumbs outside, looking at eat other. The worst part, however, is when they hit the sewer line...

Apparently we have 2 sewer lines. All 3 bathrooms are on 1 line, and the kitchen, plus hvac systems are on the 2nd line. I noticed water on the floor in the utility closet in the downstairs hallway, which houses the hot water tank and the havc system. We called in a work order. Guy came out, said it wasn't the hot water tank like we thought, and said the drain was clogged. He blew air through it, said it was cleaned out, and went on his merry way.

Three hours later, we noticed water all over the floor in the hallway. Apparently the blockage was connected to the kitchen sink, so when Eric was starting to cook, the line backed up. Had to call in another work order. Different guy came out. Poor guy spent about 2 hours with us. Had another worker come out as well. Our theory is that the workmen in the backyard did something to the sewer line. After the repair guys snaked and blew air, and sucked air in the line, it still wasn't working. Eric made some suggestion to block off both drains in the sinks while the guys blew air in the system. Low and behold, it seemed to work. Eric is now taking credit for fixing the whole problem. Wonderful. He'll be ready for his journeyman's license before you know it. I've suggested that we go back to Tybee Island for the rest of the week until the workmen are done in the back yard. We'll come back after they've screwed everything up and repaired it all.

So it's 9:49 on New Year's Eve. Eric is already taking a nap. I'm sure he'll be up in about 2 hours. Nathan is alternating between the computer and the Sponge bob Squarepants Movie. He just ate some mint chocolate chip ice cream with sprinkles while I blogged. Man, we are such jet-setters, aren't we?

Happy New Year!!!

And sun!

Much better weather today!. Little fog in the morning, then it burned off, then more fog came in, and now it's sunny again.

Watching the sunrise on the ocean was about everything we had hoped for. We've wondered the beach twice today. Nathan insists on getting in the water. Water temp is around 53 degrees. I managed to stay in up to my ankles, but that was as far as I wanted to go. Eric refused.

Visited the Tybee Island Science Museum. Did you know that shark teeth are the official fossils of Georgia?

Eric spends a lot of time looking through binoculars, watching the cargo ships out on the ocean as they head into the port of Savannah.

BTW, the all you can eat buffet at the hotel was not worth the price. But, if I wanted fried calamari, I could have had all I wanted to my heart's content. We went back to the Crab Shack for lunch. Eric passed on the sample platter that he had last time (see picture back in October). The gators in the pin weren't moving much, I guess trying to conserve body heat.

Nathan is in his idea of vacation heaven, jumping on the beds, riding the elevator, and playing PS2 nonstop if we'd let him. The room is the vacation, not the location.

Foggggg

We've had fog all day today. Cool, misty - seems like something out of Wuthering Heights. It's been cooler than we anticipated. Left Ft. Stewart around noon. Traveled to the river front in Savannah, where Nathan's class had taken a field trip. We were definitely not the only ones who had that thought. It was VERY crowded. We got to go on a yacht that is actually owned by a commune called the Twelve Tribes. Pic is of Nathan and Eric standing on the deck. After wandering for awhile, we went onto Tybee Island. Room wasn't ready yet, so we wandered by car around the island. Too cold for Nathan to walk much. Eric actually agreed to go into a souvenir shop !!!!! but we didn't stay long enough for Nathan to pick anything out. I promised him that we'd walk over tomorrow so he could get something. Went to the Tybee Island Lighthouse and Museum. A lighthouse had been on that site since 1732. No elevator. I almost gave up about halfway up. Second pic is the view from the top of the lighthouse. Now we're in the hotel. Wouldn't want to call this 4-star by any stretch of the imagination, but we got what we wanted - ocean side view on the top floor. The video is the view from our balcony. No audio. It should be in the upper 70s and sunny tomorrow, so we'll definitely be enjoying the beach tomorrow. Tonight we'll see if the all-you-can-eat seafood bar in the hotel is worthwhile. :)

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas to all you good people out there! I hope that everyone gets what they wanted on their wish list, and that you are with people that you love.

I woke up about 6:00, Nathan got up at 6:15, and we nagged Eric up soon thereafter. We counted. Nathan had 17(!!!!) wrapped presents under the tree. Eric and I had two. Plus a box from the in-laws. Strangest child I think I've ever seen. He unwrapped everything, then wouldn't actually open and play with anything until all the wrapping paper was picked up.

I figure that he has enough stuff to play with that we wouldn't see him for the rest of the day. However, his two Lego projects are so big that occasionally he's got to call for help.

All that planning and wrapping, over in 20 minutes. Eric and I just drank coffee and watched him go. Put a fake yule log on the TV screen, ate left over cookies from the batch we made for Santa yesterday. Eric is working on ribs for dinner tonight. Nothing says Christmas like ribs!

Winter finally came

Having our first real blast of cold air. Think it's only going to get to the mid-40s today. Back up in the 70s by Wednesday, which is good. We're going to spend the weekend at Tybee Island. Will be too cold to get in the ocean, but we're looking forward to getting out there and exploring.

Not really much to report. Nathan had a sleep over on Friday. The boys got up the next morning at 5:30 a.m. Yes, you read that right, 5:30! They had slept in the living room, and Eric had fallen asleep down there in the easy chair. Eric decided that he needed to wake me up at 5:55 to tell me the boys had woken up at 5:30. Thanks, honey. Actually, Nathan has woken up at 6:30 or earlier for the past 3 days. Can't get him up this early on a school day - noooo. We moved Nathan's mattress into the living for the sleep over, and still haven't moved it upstairs yet. Nathan's enjoying the 'trampoline'.

Eric's working half-days for the next 2 weeks. He gets to be the acting first sgt. We'll spend some time trying to knock out some of Nathan's wolf badge requirements. Since Eric's going to be at school in January and February, the two of them better get started on Nathan's pinewood derby car and raingutter regatta boat. I'm crafty, but I don't do wood putty and sanding.

80 degrees?

So, I'm seeing on the tv lots of snow and freezing conditions - snow in Las Vegas and Dallas. My friend in Chicago must be miserable with all the snow she's getting. Here? A week straight of near 80 degrees. I'm wearing a tank top today.

Finally got all the presents wrapped and mailed off yesterday. UPS told me they couldn't' guarantee deliver by Christmas Day via Standard shipping. Went the extra mile for the stuff for Eric's family. Figured if it didn't get there by Christmas, half the party would be on the road the next day by 4:00 a.m. and then their stuff would have to be mailed again. My folks on the other hand, not going anywhere. Sorry, guys, I hope it gets to you on time, but it might not :( For the folks on Eric's side - most of those presents were Eric's idea, and you can pretty much just mix and match.

But the incredible lightness of being after getting that mailed off was wonderful. Found myself singing "O Come, Let Us Adore Him" in Walmart afterwards. For some reason about 4 latin words were stuck in my head, so I'd hum or ta-ta most of it, then sing the same words over and over. Silly me, but my outlook was much more mellow than I should have expected it to be at wallyworld.

Nathan is having his buddy spend the night. Kid's parents are going to an office party in Savannah, so they asked if we could watch him. Kid showed up an hour ago, and I haven't seen either of them since. I should enjoy it while I can. Nathan started Christmas vacation this afternoon, for 2 and a half weeks. I won't get any time to myself for the next 20 days....

Nathan's got to go to the dentist tomorrow to have sealants put on some of his teeth. I guess I'll have to talk to the dentist about what the orthodontist said and plan for extractions and braces next month. sigh.

Nathan has adapted fairly well to the glasses. Every once in a while he will say he doesn't want to wear them to school, but he doesn't really fuss that much. I'm sure braces will be an entirely different story. I told Eric today that while I couldn't love Nathan any more, every time I look at him with his glasses, I just feel a little more gooey-er inside. He just seems more my kid - there's more a tangible visible connection between him and me - with them on.

Eric has become a Blago fan. Says he's been railroaded just like OJ....

He also tells me that he wants to become the Ft. Sill historical tour guide when he retires. I bought him a book about the history of Ft. Sill about a month before we left. We've spent many an evening discussing plains indians, Custer, and Sitting Bear Creek - which was right down the road from our old house. Doesn't that sound exciting?

Venite adoramus

Eric had his Christmas concert last night. They played in the main post chapel, and unfortunately the lighting wasn't very good (at least for my worn out camera). So no photos from me, but I did find a few online links.

http://www.coastalcourier.com/news/article/10623/ and

http://www.wsav.com/midatlantic/sav/news.apx.-content-articles-SAV-2008-12-18-0039.html

There aren't any close ups of Eric, but you can see him on both sites.

This was my first time to watch this band perform. He didn't play on the first song, which was the Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. There weren't any programs, so it was kinda hard to tell what the piece was. (It started out as something a/a Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor). But once the tune was recognizable and it started going through all its transformations, the crowd was loving it. His commander was quite a character. Eric had told me that he doesn't conduct beats, but rather cues the percussion. And it was true. Once he gave a downbeat, he spent most of the piece cuing players as they had an important part to play. But as he did, he'd turn around to glance at the audience and make a big deal of pointing out the players or section. It kinda was a cross between a very chipper flight attendant or one of those traffic cops with the over exaggerated hand gestures.

After that piece, most of the band left the stage. A woodwind trio played a tune. Then, the brass quintet came on to play 2 songs. The announcer made a joke that with this small of an ensemble, they could get all their equipment on one Blackhawk... After that the Dixie Land Jazz ensemble played 2 tunes. Now the audience was starting to get into the swing of things (so to speak).

Then, Eric's group came up. Besides Eric on bass, there was a guitar player (who likes to refer to himself as an OIF season ticket holder), a trumpet, a trombone, a trap set, a keyboardist and 2 male vocalists. This group rocked the house! Think of a James Brown tune, complete with the gyrations and drama from the vocalists. They sang "The Christmas Song," "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Ride, Sally, Ride." I know, you're thinking, "Ride, Sally, Ride?" But it worked. They changed some of the words to Ride Santa Ride. The pic from wsav.com has little old while ladies sitting in the audiences waving their hands from side to side, following the singers.

The last song from the rock group was O Holy Night, sung by a pregnant soldier on loan from another unit. Think Whitney Houston without the personality quirks. She could sing! A couple of people in the audience stood up about halfway through and started swaying like they were in church. She got a standing O from the entire audience after that.

The gospel choir from the post sang a couple of tunes. After that the whole group got up to play for the audience sing-along of Christmas carols. Then they played Christmas Eve/Sarajevo, and had a soldier playing the cello part at the beginning.

The final piece was Sleigh Bells. Eric got to play the bells. Nathan sat through the concert without too much whining and no toys for entertainment!

Now, somewhere I have a picture of my father-in-law in the exact same stance....


Anywoo. Nathan's pic is from his school Christmas program on Monday. Monday when it was 80 degrees in Georgia!!! My mother sends me pictures of snow in Dallas, and we're having a heat wave. But I digress.

Nathan's teacher had sent home a notice saying that the kids were to dress in their party best, and specifically mentioned dress slacks, button down shirt, and a tie. A tie? Are you kidding me? Eric doesn't wear a tie, I'm certainly not making Nathan wear one. Turns out he's outgrown his 2 pairs of nice pants, so I went to buy him a new pair on Sunday, plus a nice shirt. Didn't take the kid with me. And didn't make him try them on when I got home. Instead, waited until Monday morning to force him to wear them. Big mistake. Nathan has some quirk in his system that won't allow him to wear clothing that's too big. He had an absolute meltdown with me making him wear long pants that were too big. I gave in because he was almost too hysterical to be functional at school.

But he made it to school on time and all was right with the world. Eric and I both went to his program. I took along the old video recorder we've got and took about 5 minutes of video before the battery died. I've been trying to figure out how to get it onto the computer (not a digital camcorder). Not having much luck. Which is a shame, because the Nathan's Eric tendencies are really evident - on the back row, last one in line, faking interest in what the announcer is saying, swaying to while everyone else is swaying fro. He was really enjoying himself when they were actually singing. Rudolph had hand motions and he got to play a triangle for Jingle Bells. Still have to record him singing the dreidel song in the shower. At the top of his lungs. 20 times through.

Tuesday night was the cub scout banquet. Nathan's only been to 2 meetings, and these boys are all in a different grade, so he doesn't know any of them. But he seemed to enjoy himself. Again, in the group picture, hiding in the back. At one point in the shindig, the pack master had the two new scouts and their families come up to the front to be welcomed. Nathan and I stood up there. And where was Eric? Wandering the hallways, reading the plaques and posters. He spent more of the evening outside the room than in. Now, to be fair, it was crowded and noisy and stuffy, but still. I felt like I had married my father-in-law.

Eric's got the post Christmas concert tonight. I suppose I shouldn't be too hard on him. He's got to play a big band arrangement of Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer that plays the tune in 5 or 6 styles - swing, jazz, rock, etc. Serves the scrooge right. Tee-hee!

Poor guy had to sit through a 2-1/2 hour training meeting yesterday with the E7s and up. now, I think Eric is a terrific soldier and NCO. He's got the temperament to deal with people and the stresses of the job. He's actually pretty good on stuff like organization and procedures (even though I can't get him to pick up his dirty socks). But no way, no how does he have the temperament to sit through a 2-1/2 hour staff meeting unless he were required to. And with a deployment on the horizon, these meetings are just going to be longer and more often.

He did make me laugh on Friday. As he left for work, he said that it would probably be a pretty full day with rehearsals, a couple of troop arrivals and some training task with one of his subordinates. Twenty minutes he walks back in the door. Everything had been cancelled or pushed back except for the training task. He calls the soldier and says, "The only thing standing between me and a three day weekend is you." Then basically tells the kid to call him as soon as he's ready for Eric to meet him. I'm thinking, 'dang that's pulling your rank', but I didn't say anything to him. When he got back from meeting with the guy I asked him how it went. "well, the guy kept apologizing to me for messing up my three day." gee, you think? I told him my impression of the phone call. And he said, "Oops! I didn't mean it that way. That's pretty harsh." He's still getting used to the awesome unbridled power of the E7.

Christmas carols and road rage

This was one of the most frustrating days EVER!!! I decided to take Nathan into Savannah to go to the Boy Scout store. We needed to get a Wolf book, plus the patches for his new pack here. According to its website, the store is open on Saturdays 10-2. Now, I could have gone earlier in the week, but I thought the traffic wouldn't be as bad on the weekend. SILLY ME! Got stuck in an 8 mile traffic back up. I know how to get to Abercorn street in Savannah, and that's it. I was trying to make it to the store before it closed, and I was afraid that if I got off Abercorn, I'd just be lost in Savannah (which has happened before). Thought for sure that there must have been an accident or construction work. But NO!!! The back up was due to people getting to the mall...

Now, please believe me. If I am planning to going shopping in the month of December, then I am prepared. I already know that there will be lines, no parking, and lots of waiting. I embrace the suck, and I can tolerate the hordes of people. Today, however, I wasn't anticipating mall traffic and nearly went ballistic. I said several words that I don't want Nathan to repeat (several times), and glared at a lot of people who cut me off and nearly sideswiped me. I barely managed to avoid flipping the bird at least twice. Now, in the back of my mind, I knew that the road rage was out of proportion to the aggravation. And that it was the height of irony to be so irate as I was listening to my favorite Christmas CDs in the car.

We did mange to make it to the Scout store about 30 minutes before it closed. My blood pressure did not subside, however. Apparently, according to the side on the door, the store isn't actually open on Saturdays after all. I was so upset I was about ready to cry. I'm sure by the time I GO BACK on Monday, I will have my angst under control, and I won't totally flip out on the store staff for their erroneous website. Maybe.

Nathan and I did go onto the bookstore to pick up a present. While we were there, he found a dragon model painting set, which you see here. Unfortunately, we did not get back in time to go to the battalion Christmas party at the YMCA.

The other picture is from his boy scout meeting this week (before he got his glasses). The den is providing a table decoration for the banquet on Tuesday, so they were making a gingerbread house.

Mom and Dad, and Aimie, we got your deliveries today. I did get all of Nathan's presents wrapped on Monday. Made me think how not green Christmas is. All that paper. Gift bags are the ultimate in green gifting, but if you're trying to keep the kid from peeking, you gotta wrap. And could kid action figures be any harder to wrap? The packaging should all be required to be squares or rectangles. And those people who go all out with their light displays? Please, don't even get me started! I saw one person whose electric bill goes up $1000 a month for the holidays! WHAT? Are you kidding me!>@>#?

I'm probably really out of sorts because my laptop battery finally died. I've had to order a new one online, and it will take a week or so. I knew that Eric would be taking the laptop with him to ANOC, but I wasn't expecting it to just die on me, without me being able to take stuff off of it first. Good thing I'm not really doing genealogy right now. All my stuff is on there. It's just not the same blogging on the other computer, and having to share it again with Eric. The minute one of us gets up, the other one slides into the chair. Which isn't fair, because Eric has another computer upstairs in the radio room.

You just can't deny genetics

it was bound to happen sometime

Nathan's orb

Nathan decided we needs orbs for the tree, so the two of us went to get some. He really liked the 2 colored orbs, so those were his pic. When I told him I wanted to take a picture of him in front of the tree, he insisted that one of his orbs had to be in the picture as well.

Christmas activities have begun. Eric and the band had to play a concert at a VA hospital/nursing home on Tuesday. The 3 hour bus ride was an eye-opener for him. Apparently, the leadership takes the opportunity to have a training meeting while they're on the bus, so everyone of a lower rank sits towards the back while the upper NCOs sit in the front. (I didn't realize there was a seating hierarchy in the band. Who knew?) And of course, those not involved in the meeting were smarting off in the back. Eric, being the kind of guy he is, is thinking to himself, "but, but, but - I wanna be in the back, too."

The post tree lighting ceremony was on Thursday. I dragged Nathan to see it while Eric and the band played pre-music. It was a great night out, mild temps, lots of people. Bad lighting, so none of my pics of the band turned out. Afterwards, they had set up the Stewart Club for kids activities. Crowd control, however, left a lot to be desired. Rather than letting everyone come in at once, they had staff at the door regulating how many could come in at one time. Luckily, we were in one of the first waves. You can see Nathan decorating a Christmas stocking. The crush of people was getting to Eric by that time, so he went outside for a little while. But the bouncers at the door wouldn't let him back in - they wanted him to the back of the line. He called me and just said he'd meet us outside. By the time we left the building, there were still about 300 people waiting to get in. (My holiday spirit wouldn't have been up to waiting outside that long. I would have bailed after about 10 minutes...)

Eric and the band marched in the Hinesville parade on Friday and the Richmond Hill parade on Saturday. It was just cold enough that neither Nathan nor I were interested in going. Sorry, hubby!

Nathan managed to get 2 skinned knees and a skinned elbow yesterday, running up and down the sidewalk. Took 5 band aids to cover it all. He's walking around today like an old man with arthritis. He doesn't want us to take pictures of his wounds. He threw up Friday night big time, which is pretty unusual for him. No repeat occurrences, so I'm going to chalk it up to something he ate.

Big 12 Champs, baby!

It's beginning to look a lot....

Got the tree up, the decorations out and most of the Christmas cards mailed. (There are advantages to not working at the moment) Of course, the disadvantages come at the gift-buying side of the equation. Nathan shared with us what he wrote in his letter to Santa at school. Kid has expensive tastes. He thinks it's a guarantee if he tells Santa. I told him that Santa makes the toys, but Mommy and Daddy still have to give him the money to make them. I have no idea what to get Eric. Usually I've got a pretty good idea, but I got nothing this year. I'm not buying a carburetor or engine for Rufus, which are the only things I can think of that he'd want.

I'll have to take a pic of Nathan with the tree when he gets home from school today. He's so proud of his decorating skills. We put up the ornaments that we had - which come to think of it, were mostly hand-me-downs from my mother. Nathan said we needed orbs - meaning the colored balls. So we had to go buy some before the tree was perfect.

He and Eric finally went to a Cub Scout meeting last night. Now we need to get him involved in some sort of sports program. Guess looking into that will be my task for the day. Something that will work with his tight hamstrings....