Thanksgiving 2012

I am sad to report that I do not have any and I mean ANY photos from Thanksgiving this year. In all fairness I did spend about eight hours in the kitchen on my feet cooking for nine people! We had Turkey, Ham, Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing, Gravy, Veggies, Green Bean Casserole, Sweet Potatoes and whatever else you normally have at Thanksgiving. We had apple and pecan pie for dessert, because I'm allergic to Pumpkins. Everyone was kind enough to suffer with me and not have Pumpkin Pie. I always feel a bit guilty whenever Thanksgiving comes around because lets face it... for most, it's just not Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. Yes, I would try to avoid it by the obvious and not eat it, if it were actually that simple. However, I am extremely allergic and if I touch it I break out in welts and blow up like a balloon animal. I'm not 100% sure but I think if I may even look at pumpkins my eyeballs would explode LOL!

The guest list this year consisted of; Hubby, Child, Myself, 3 other people hubs works with who are temporary here at Keesler without their families and three airman (two of which were actually ladies) straight out of tech school, they are still so cute when they are at that level! LOL! I always love having them over because they are so appreciative and respectful. They all got to see their families briefly after BMT for graduation but that time is so short (two day weekend) that I'm not sure if its easier or harder on them. They were sent straight here to Keesler for school, no breaks in between and no family time. That it R-O-U-G-H! Especially since they were quite young and this was their first time out in the world and away from the comforts of home and family. Having them over was fun and heart warming. We got to know them a little, about who they are and where their from. Give them good home cooked food (because let me tell ya...the chow hall will get old real fast!) and good conversation and laughs. It might not have been their families they spent time with this year but at least we could be the make shift "family" to get them through their first of sadly many holidays away from home. I will surely miss this opportunity when hubby separates from the Air Force in a few months, but these are memories I'll always remember.

Halloween 2012 Post... a little late but hey... better than never.

So this year we decided to geek out for Halloween and show our inner most geekness! I put full responsibility on the child, seeing that she got to pick what theme we were going with this year. This year she picked...STAR WARS! She also requested that she get to be Yoda (without a mask, yet still with green ears and a light saber.) and that Daddy would be Hans Solo and Mommy go as Princess Leia. I'm just thankful that I didn't get Chewy or Jabba the Hutt! And Daddy was incredibly grateful that she didn't go with her second choice; Peter Pan... and guess who was going to be Peter (with tights) LOL! I had the fortunate duty to find make the child a costume since the only ones I found were infant sized. No sweat right?!... WRONG! Fourteen and a half hours later, my fingers looked like I had been working in a sweatshop and my machine was squeaking in agony. However, the costume came out perfect! We ended up buying a Princess Leia and Hans Solo costume because I just didn't have the time or patients to make two more costumes. We  ended up trick-or-treating with a few friends on base and a few stops (yes, I said stopS)at the Generals houses. What?! Don't judge... they give out the best candy! We then finished up the night with dinner at hooters and some long over due chicken wings!

OooOoohhh! I see Hans kissing Leia! The extra kiddos on the lower right side belong to friends of ours. They were dressed as Luke and Leia since they really are brother and sister, their dad wore a Darth Vader shirt that said; "Who's your daddy". Funniest little Halloween parody ever!

The amazing costume and hat since she didn't want to wear a mask and the cutest Yoda ever!

Our Cruise to the Bahahmas and Key West Florida

I am slacking big time in my posts and for that I apologize! As per our usual we have been insanely busy... It' also occurred to me that I didn't post anything about our cruise adventure!...

We did end up going on our cruise to the fabulous Bahamas despite the weather and the impending doom of Hurricane Sandy. Yes, we were out there in the Florida straits when she was growing into the massive "super storm" that wiped out parts of New Jersey. How was it you ask? Rocky to say the least. The first day was very nice, we left the port of Miami right on time and were steadily sailing along that night to be in Nassau's port the next morning.

We arrived in Nassau and it was EXTREMELY windy! We had a little rain but we did have a GREAT time. We went on our shore excursions while there; the underwater submarine and the city tour around Nassau and Paradise Island. The next day we were supposed to go to Coco Cay which is Royal Caribbean's private island for a day of beach fun but sadly we had to skip it since the winds were too high to tether the ship off and because we were trying to out run the Hurricane behind us, this is where the vacation took a detour to crap-tastic-ville.

That day we sailed to Key West and up the Florida straights (which is usually pretty rocky anyway) around 8pm that night we decided to head into the theater after visiting the lounge for our "drink of the day". And this was when I received my first bout of motion sickness or "sea sickness". I've been cruising before, I've been on airplanes galore, I've even been under water but never have I been sick in all my life. We had to leave the show early and I ended up sleeping from about 8pm till the next morning with a brief intermission to the bathroom around 3am. Around 5am it got extremely rocky and we actually woke up out of our sleep to the sound of the ship crashing down on a 15 foot wave. It nearly knocked us out of bed (in a room on the 8th deck) and later that morning we discovered it trashed the dining room and theater on deck 3 with over turned palm trees, plants, tables and lighting.

We docked in Key West around 7am and took our raining but interesting tour aboard the "Trolly of the Doom".  We stopped off at Key West's fort and took our EMF detectors (Ghost Reader Meters) along for the tour. We stopped inside the fort at the "Robert Doll" and low and behold our meter went off as soon as I had a light tingling sensation in the palm of my hand. I told hubbers to pass me the meter since I had a tingly sensation in my hand. It felt sort of like when your foot falls asleep and sorta being brushed gently by a breeze but just in my hand. And like a well behaved tourist I asked Robert's permission before I photographed him and then thanked him as well. Some of the people on our tour thought it was a bit ludicrous to ask permission and thank a doll, however our tour guide warned us if we didn't we'd be asking for the address to write Robert an apology letter to undo his curse. We also found out later after we boarded the ship again that two of the ships passengers didn't make it back on. I wonder now if those were the two skeptics on our tour...? LOL! Anyway here's a few pics from our adventure on the high seas!

Ready to board and sail away to paradise!.. or so we thought... LOL!

Our room, tiny right? It was ok, we didn't spend a lot of time in it.

The lunch buffet in the wind jammer.

The pool deck where we spend most of our time!

The view of downtown Miami from the pool deck.

Inside the centrum where the shops and dining rooms are.

The Casino!

Our first drink of the day... a Bahama Mama!

Hubbers winning big at the casino!

Docked in port at Nassau

Hubby standing next to the ship LOL! So little!

On our underwater sub tour!

Someone's a little worried LOL!

Don't we look cute in green?

Pretty fish and crystal clear waters!

Atlantis from Paradise Bay

Want to buy a conch for $5.00?

Fort Fin Castle

A view of Paradise Bay from Fort Fin Castle

In front of the fountains at Atlantis

Junkanoo the Mardi Gras of the Caribbean!

Our treasures and trinkets from Nassau

Woohoo! Midnight Pool deck party and buffet!

We found these statues in Key West and decided to have a little fun...

Um.. honey? You've got a little something back there ;)

The Jess-a-saurus strikes!

I swear she looks like shes about to say "Get your own burger!"

Pretty statue... I believe it's of Ernest Hemingway.

Docked in Key West.

He got a "Cookie Monster" cone!

Aboard the Trolly of the doomed!

At Key West's Haunted Fort

Hubby prepared to find the ghosts with his EMF reader!

Robert the doll. Creepy right? In the left corner just behind him is where I was standing when my hand started to tingle and the EMF reader was going crazy! The papers on the wall are notes and letters of apology written to Robert and begging for him to remove the curse because tourists have come and either mocked him or not asked his permission to be photographed. I think it might be a good idea to even just thank him for viewing this pic! ;)

Book Review: Bruja Brouhaha By: Rochelle Staab

Liz and nick are enjoying the sixtieth wedding anniversary celebration for their charming hosts, Paco and Lucia Rojas, devout Santeria practitioners who own the historical Botanica Rojas near MacArthur Park. But the small group of friends is left horrified and confused when the evening ends in tragedy. 

Devastated by loss, Lucia, a Santeria priestess, blames the locals for the escalating crime in her beloved community. She casts a vengeful hex on the neighborhood, leading strangers and friends alike to dub her bruja-Spanish for witch-and turn on the elderly woman. Lucia may be in harm's way, and it's up to Liz and Nick to unravel a mysterious disappearance and solve a murder before more lives are lost... 

A great follow up to Rochelle's "Who Do, Voodoo?"! I had a feeling though, when I finished her first book that I would get happily stuck on her series of "Mind for Murder Mysteries"! As usual, she kept me turning pages and racing to the end to see if I my guess "who did it" would be right... and just like before she through me for a pleasant loop! I liked everything about the book, the setting, the usual suspects... I mean characters and of course some new friends that were added in this book. I was also happy to read about a new aspect of occult and loved the strong influence of Santeria had the plot, it made the book very rich and detailed. Thanks for another GREAT read Rochelle! I am now dieing to read whatever you come out with next!

New Glasses, Our First Girl Scout Patches and Saving the World One Napkin at a Time!

I know what your thinking... what in the world kind of title is that Jess?! Well, its a jumble of stuff that has been going on lately and since I don't have much time before I head off into the sunset with my hubby on our first cruise together, I figured I write it all in one shot. Don't worry I will have plenty to write about when I get back, all about my cruise that is! We leave on Saturday and fly into Miami International to set sail on Sunday morning! Oh man... 5 nights, 4 days and not a care in the world! I can hardly wait! So anyway... on to what's been going on.


A few weeks ago the munchkin had her eyes tested at school and she came home with a note from the nurse saying she failed the eye exam and they suggested that we make an appointment with the ophthalmologist to get her eyes check out. So I did just that and it turns out she does in fact need glasses, the poor child has been struggling since August to see in class and hasn't said a word to us about not being able to see the board in class, it also didn't help that she sits at the back of the classroom and is pretty much blind as a cute little bat. No really... she is! Her prescription is even worse than mine and I'm 30 years old! Right now she's sitting at a -4.00 in her left eye and a -3.75 in her right eye. The doctor says it should correct her vision a little and hopefully in a year or two she wont need such a high strength. So she now has glasses and looks quite cute in them if I do say so myself! She really loves them as well, and I figured as much since they totally help her to see and she got to pick out the frames herself. :)

Sorry this one is sideways... Blogger is being difficult... But isn't she cute!

 

 

 

So if you can remember a few posts back, I had said we took the girl scouts to the corn maze and the pumpkin patch up in Kiln Mississippi. Well... I ordered their cool patches over the weekend from Snappy Logos (which I LOVE! Because they are cute and oh so much cheaper than ordering from Girl Scouts, and right now seeing how we have no troop money... this momma is taking the cheap way out! LOL!) So I put them together for the girls in little zip lock bags and had the kiddo help me draw some happy jack-o-lantern style faces on the pumpkins we cut out. Just a little something to make them seem cool. :)

Last Sunday we also went grocery shopping, which means I end up going to SAM's Club and dreading every moment of it... usually... This time however I was glad I went because I stumbled upon this!

The mother of all S'mores maker! Look at this thing! Doesn't it ROCK! I can't wait to use it at girl scouts... even if we don't get the chance to take the girls camping this year (again, not us... money is the issue) at least with this baby we can still rock an awesome "S'mores Night"!

Ok now... onto the napkin part... so I was scouring the web (like usual) to find some cool crafts and what not for the daisy girls that tie into our petals we've been doing, when I stumbled upon a cool idea for myself! I found a blog (that now, I can't find again... sorry, should have bookmarked it) that had a tutorial on how to make your own napkins and paper towels by sewing material to make them reusable! Think about it!... how much do you think we spend on paper towels and napkins a year? I know I spend at least a couple hundred dollars if not more... I dunno if were just messy or what!? But what if I could save that and help the environment?! I know.. I know... "Jess, when did you turn into such a hippy!" LOL! Call me crazy but I actually believe in recycling, reusing and re-purposing... I guess it's something that stuck with me from growing up and living in Europe (where recycling is not an option) and being a girl scout, I also have a grandmother who grew up during the great depression and who is very frugal, savvy and proud that I am making something from left overs, in fact she's the one I owe credit to for showing me how to sew. I was really glad to find the tut on it as well since I have a ton of left over scrap fabric to sew into little napkins, now I have pretty napkins of all sizes and color. Some are lap napkins, some are hand napkins and some are cocktail napkins. I haven't yet started the paper towel roll but it doesn't look hard, they are just bigger versions of the napkins and they are snapped together with those non metallic baby snaps that you see on the bottoms of onsies.  As soon as I get some more fabric I will attempt them and show you what I mean. :)

In the mean time... enjoy my pics from my napkin making adventure... :)

Oh man I love this Thanks Giving fabric! I am not super excited to have people over for Thanks Giving!

Pretty right?!

I also bought some Halloween fabric, because Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I just couldn't resist! I will probably end up making napkins for just about every holiday! LOL! You wait and see!

A little more of a close up on the Halloween fabric, yes, because I love it that much!

From my left over scrap collection of fabrics, I painted the Efiel tower part and the "Merci" part just to have a bit of a french theme to it..

These remind me of something Gram would have at her house... I love these fabrics! Vintage!

Awe, my starter basket already! This might just have to make more to give for Christmas gifts, I know my mom, mom-in-law and Gram would love it! 

 

 

So what do you think?