Furniture and Fur

Charlotte - "Why is Furniture called Furniture?"

Me - "I don't know.  (I am sure its a derivative of Furnish, but you don't need or care to know that)."

Charlotte - "There's no Fur on Furniture."

Me - (.....................Very True..............)

Deployment to Korea

*****It only took 5 months for me to hog tie Jason long enough to have him help provide captions to his pictures.  ******

Yes - Jason made it home - early!  We were surprised when he called to let me know he was only an 1 hour away (that took about 5 to get here).

Riding on the HSV (High Speed Vessel).  

HSV with about 20 trucks inside and holds up to 800 people.

An MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected).

The individually wrap all of the fruit while still on the trees.

Trying out the Medical Highback HUMV.

Medical Trauma Bay.  Not near as fancy as the ER.

Jason really liked taking pictures of the Blackhawks coming and going. 

Jason went running in the rice fields.

Eating an MRE

Working on patients using an Adal unit.  Set up in a storage room.  Dentistry on the go.

Portable X-ray!

More field setup - sterilizer, distiller...

Super comfy dental chairs.

No explanation needed.

North Korean watching Jason take pictures of him.

South Korean patrol.  The one South Korean stays facing the corner of the building, only keeping half of himself visible to the North Koreans.

This building is half in North Korea and half in South Korea.  This is where they meet for talks.

Kijŏng-dong is a city just inside North Korea from the DMZ (demilitarized zone).  The city is mostly fake.  There are workers to take care of any thing.  North Korea used to broadcast nice invitations to South Koreans to join them.  Later it" switched to blaring, condemnatory anti-Western propaganda speeches, Communist agitprop operas, and patriotic marching music at high volume for up to 20 hours a day".  Read more about it, kind of interesting.

The Bridge of No Return.  At one time was used for prisoner exchanges.  An interesting history.

New Toys for the Boys (and us Girls)

This is Jason's Valentine Present.  He loves it.  It is the Jungle Gym XT.  It gives all of us a great workout.  

I usually find one of the kids in the middle of some acrobatic move.  More Pics To Come.

Day at the Doc (post for the grandparents)

We were able to spend almost the entire day at the Doctors last week.  They all needed Wellness Checkups.  So off we headed at 9am and returned home at 2pm.  We did stop at Taco Bell for lunch and checked the mail for packages.

Tennyson and Charlotte were lucky and opted to have a few shots done.  Tennyson was so worn out that she fell asleep in her high chair before I could get her some dinner.  She slept through the night.  Poor girl.    Charlotte  fell asleep before dinner with a fever of 103.4, but woke up for food.

Jayce has had some phantom knee pain lately and had a regular diet of Motrin.  Jason and I have wondered if the pain was real or as severe has he had portrayed it because it seemed like it would flair up at convenient moments.  The doctor ordered X-rays and blood drawn.  I almost didn't wait to get all that done.  Then I realized at how stressed he was about the blood being drawn and decided that this would prove to me if the pain was real.  He did it, with a death grip on me.  I am convinced that his knee really hurts.  Just wish we could figure it out so he can get better.

Grahm got off easy this time around, well we do have a ENT appointment later this week.

The Missing Ingredient...

Last week I discovered what was wrong with all the mud pies I ever made as a child.

That is right.  Broken glass.

Yes, once again I was able to use the shop vac to vacuum my lawn and patio area to remove all the small pieces of glass.  Our neighbor girl had a drink in a glass bottle and left it at our house.  They have been playing cooking games for weeks.  I think the bottle was broken on its own in the wind and the kids just took advantage of the situation.  I happened to glance out the window as they were putting a band aid on Grahms foot, or I am sure more fun would have been had.

Grahm told me the glass was their peppers.  Of Course!

Consequences For Mom

One day last year I made Jayce mad at me.  He was sent outside.  I don't even remember the reason for any of it now.  While he was outside he decided that I needed to learn a lesson.  So he wrote me a message...   NO MOM

On the back of the car, scratched into the finish.   Lesson Learned.

The only reason he has lived to tell this tale is our car is a beater and will have to be junked when we leave the island.  Hopefully, they all understand that there is a zero tolerance policy for this choice.

Masquerade Ball

We had some mandatory fun this past Christmas for Jason's work.  The Christmas party was a Formal Masquerade Ball.  Jason looked dashing in his tux.  The kids thought he looked like James Bond.  We won the award for Best Couple Masks.  It was fun to get dressed up and go out without the kids.  I thought I would share the pictures that someone took of us the ball.

Another Harry Potter Wand Tutorial

Grahm asked for Harry Potter wands for Christmas.  Jason and I could not even think of buying the plastic model and I was not going to shell out the money for the nice wood version.

I know there are lots of tutorials out there.  I might have even done mine the same way as someone else, without realizing it.  I read a tutorial that made the wands out of paper and decided that paper would save my kiddos eyes, but be broken in .5 seconds.  So I used the ideas, but used very long chopsticks as the base.  One day Jason will have time to carve some, but by then they will have moved on to other interests.

How to make your own Harry Potter Wand:
You will need:
Chopsticks in desired length (mine are 13" long)
Heavy duty scissors
Hot glue (lots of it)
Hot glue gun
Fine grit sandpaper (120, 150, or higher)
Spray Primer
Craft paints in desired colors
Spray clear coat
Jar
beans or rocks
Opt:  Kitchen torch

Step 1:  Cut off the sharp point of the chopsticks.  There was no science behind how much I took off.  I didn't want the ends too sharp.

Step 2: Lightly sand the finish off of the chopsticks.

Step 3:  Warm up your glue gun.  You will start applying glue where every you want it.  I started on the handles.  I put some on and then kept rotating the chopstick to keep the glue from dripping off or forming any shape I didn't like.  I rotated it in a circle, end to end.  Just keep it moving.  You will get the hang of how the glue is going to act and you will be able to manipulate it to get the shape you like.  If you end up with something you don't like you can easily rip off the glue at this point.  Or grab you kitchen torch and warm the glue back up (it is okay if it browns a little on the outside).  Keep adding glue until you are happy with it.  (I fell in love with hot glue again.)  For the Elder Wand, I used a plastic chopstick dipped in water (too keep the glue from sticking to it) and as the glue cooled I poked the glue to make indention's.

When you are happy with it, place in jar with beans or rock to keep the glue from resting on anything until completely cooled.

In the picture you can see the Harry Potter wand in the back and the beginnings of the Elder Wand.

Step 4:  After you have the shape you want take it outside and place in jar with beans and spray with a primer.  After it is dry you can take it out and hold it while you spray the end.

Step 5:  Use the craft paint to paint your wands as you desire.  To darken the grooves, wait until the base coat is completely dry and then dab darker paints in the grooves and quickly wipe off excess before you soften the base layer.  Use lighter colors and darker colors to mimic the look of real wood.  It is hard to see in the pictures.

Step 6:  Place in jar of beans outside and spray a clear coat to protect your hard work.  Again, hold it to spray the end after the handle is dry.

We still have not had any accidents with our wands.  The kids enjoy playing and casting spells.

Photos for the girls

I wanted to have one year old pictures of Tennyson taken in a light pink dress that I was smocking for her.  Problem 1, it took longer than I thought to find the time to finish it.  Problem 2, life was crazy after it was done...  so the pictures are more like 14 month old pictures.  

Oh, and all you photographers - please give me pointers on what I need to improve on.  And Grandmas which ones do you want for your walls.

Charlotte turned 4 so these are her 4 year old pictures.  Well, I need to do retakes.  Even though it was cloudy, it was still too bright for her.  All of her pictures she was super squinty, except this one.

The balloons got away.

Larger than Life

So, I have spent a few years coveting all the beautiful canvas pictures everyone has on their walls.  Wishing I had the money and the picture to forever want on canvas.   Then one day earlier this year, I came across a picture system that was the answer to my problems - cheaper, big as I want, and because of the price I don't feel too bad about replacing it every now and then.  It is IXXI.  

For Christmas we ordered the picture I wanted.  In fact it might be one row too wide and one row too long.   My kids are now larger than life on my wall.  I smile every time I see it and can't wait to have a house again were it will fit even better.

Putting it together and hanging it was so easy.  No nails or screws in the walls.  Each piece is printed on plastic, so it is durable.  

There is an even cheaper option.  There are software options that will cut your image into smaller pieces that you can then print out on your home printer for a similar look.