Hello All,

Wow, seems forever since I updated although I know it wasn’t that long ago.  Life has been busy here with our battery Christmas party.  That took up a LOT of time.  I’ve also been busy teaching classes.  I did a Calendar class that actually took 4-5 class sessions and not the 2 that I had originally planned on.  I also did a Christmas gift wrap class.  Everyone loved that one.  If I had enough time I could have done another one.  Everyone really liked all the ideas. 

We also had our very first snow which I will post a picture of Rocky on there.  I think I put one of myself the first day it snowed.  It lasted a week with it snowing constantly.  Just when we thought it was done it dumped about 6 more inches on us.  It has pretty much melted away by now other than up on top of the small mountains around here where it takes a little longer.  I almost wiped out twice.  Once going to the autobahn.  There is a place in Friesen where it is all down hill and I wasn’t even pressing on the gas and the car slid sideways almost taking out 4 cars and several street markers.  If we had hit we would probably be in the hospital.  Thankfully we are okay.  Then another time last Friday I slid into the mailroom parking spot towards a ton of cars.  I was like, “No, not again!”  lol.  God has been with me is all that I can say.

Well, Bethany and I are gearing up to go to the States.  We are very excited.  Especially me!  I need the break I think.  I need stress-free surroundings.  I’m very anxious to get my eye surgery over with.  I’m sick of my contacts bothering my eyes.  They cause my eyes to be red all the time.  Hopefully my eyes will be good to go so I can immediately get lasered and be on my way.

I finally got to talk to Jeff.  He has IM in his room with a camera, so we have been chatting every so often.  It has been so good to see him.  Even if I don’t get to talk on the phone to him just being able to see him is the best part.  I love seeing him smile at me.  He’s been begging for his Christmas gifts and his quilt.  I will take a picture of the quilt when I am done and post it.  I will have to post it after he receives it because there is no way that sneaky man is going to see it on my site.  Sorry hon!  I was trying to be sneaky back to him because he was wanting to see it, so I held up one of my old quilts.  I ended up showing him the back which is white so he couldn’t really tell nothing from that and I showed him the corner of the front of the quilt.  I’m so mean.  Hehe.  I love you sugah! 

Okay, I’m getting ready to head out.  My friend, Renee, is coming to pick me up and we are going to Vogelweh.  I need to buy some stuff for the trip.  Keep coming back as I will try to post often and especially during my trip so you can see what is going on in my life in San Diego.  WOOOOOOO HOOOOO!  Wish you could be there, babe!  I love you!

Merry Christmas to All!

Remember our troops this Christmas!

Ciao!

p

Hey All!  Hope you all had a very festive week and are getting all prepared for Christmas.  I know that I am.  I am ready for my vacation to California.  It is my first time back to the States in 3 years.  I’m ready.  Just a visit though.  I’m not ready to move back to the States.  I love Germany!  We love it so much that after Jeff goes to school we want to come back.  We love the way of life here.  Hopefully, we’ll get stationed at the Marshall Center in Garmisch!  Lol!  I would love that and I know my parents would try to move in with us.

Well, not much has been going on here.  I went to a babyshower for the Oppermans who used to be Jeff’s XO.  For those not familiar with Army lingo, XO is Executive Officer who works for the Commander who would be my Jeffy!  We have a new XO who is funny.  He reminds me of Matt Damon.  He is so young too.  Lol.  Makes Jeff and I feel so old.  I guess we are just at that stage in his career where half the people are so much younger than we are.  It is nice not to be the youngest anymore.  Anyways, got off track.  It was nice going to the babyshower.  I hadn’t planned on going, but decided that I needed to get out of the house.  Although I have so much to do around here that I really needed to stay home. 

Bethany is upstairs babysitting for 2 families.  That kid is in high demand I tell you!  It’s sad when your daughter makes more in babysitting than you do.  Haha.  She better get me one heck of a Christmas present.  Tonight was the concert for Ron White off of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour.  I had planned on going, but decided not too. Anyways, see ya!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and quite frankly I am SOOOO glad that it is over with.  It was slightly nightmarish to be honest.  It’s a lot of personal crap, but yesterday was mostly spent in tears which had very little to do with Jeff being gone and not much really to do with Bethany.  It had a whole lot to do with my FRG however.  Bethany and I took pictures of each other dining.  I had a very hard time putting a smile on my face.  It was the third time she had taken the picture because I wouldn’t smile.  Hard time when people have been rude to you.

Bethany and I went to Ramstein and watched the new Harry Potter movie.  It was much better than the previous one although it left out about half the book.  It was still 3 hours long.  I guess they had to cut somewhere you know.

Today, I got up to run and repurchase Bethany’s Christmas gift from Jeff.  I had bought it a couple days earlier and then yesterday received a 20% off coupon for anything in the store.  So, that is what I spent my coupon on.  It saved a great deal of money, so it was worth it.  Then I just took the other one back.  All is good.  So, we have a good 4 inches of snow on the ground and I thought I would share with you.  The picture of me doesn’t even look like me for some reason.  Can’t figure out why.

Well, that is all for now.  I didn’t get to Jeff yesterday, but I know he’s busy.  I love you Jeffrey!

Ciao!

Howdy Everyone!  Well, I know it’s been a few days, but I swear it feels like the world has came crashing down.  Not that I feel that I am depressed per se, but that I just have a LOT going on in my life.  I’m happy though.  It’s definitely not like I am sitting around being moody blues or anything.  I don’t have time for that.  Lol.

Anyway, all of my girlfriends took me to Chili’s for my birthday.  I need to download the pictures and post them on here.  I had a fabulous time.  After Chili’s, we went back to my friend, Melanie’s house to find flowers that my husband had sent back with her husband to buy for me.  My other friend, Christa, baked me a cake.  There was a ton left over which she made me take home and unfortunately during a stressful several hours last night….I ate 3 pieces!  UGH!  Does it count that I didn’t have lunch or breakfast?  LOL!  Anyways, we sat around and talked forever.  It was a good night filled with lots of presents!  What more could a girl want, right?  Wrong!  I would have traded all of it in a second to see my baby, Jeff.  I love ya, shug!

So,………..MY DAUGHTER MADE HONOR ROLL!  I am soooooo proud of her that I could just scream.  Lol.  Her dad is proud of her too.  He was TOTALLY bragging about her to his parents.  Lol.  Yes, Jeff, I heard from your mom!  Haha.  Anyways, she said she is going to work harder and harder so she can do better.  She is really determined this year.  I just think she had way too many distractions last year with boys and friends.  This year she has tons of friends, but seems they are less of a distraction.  Hmph.  Who knows!  Anyways, I don’t care.  I’m proud of you, Bethie Boop!  You ROCK!  Okay, am I suddenly becoming one of those braggy moms?  Ack!  Sorry, Beth!  I promise to keep my bragging to a minimum in the future.  Lol.  I’m just so damn proud of you, babe!

Well, I guess that is about it.  I started working on Jeff’s quilt last night about 9pm and worked 3 hours on it.  I have the quilt top about half done now.  I’m getting ready to go work on it some more before I get ready for a meeting.  Hopefully, I will get the quilt top done today.  That would be in record time that I finished one so quickly.  Lol.  It’s for a good cause!  Haha.  Okay, I’m off.  Lots to do.  Love to all! One last development...I got to IM with Jeff tonight and he got to see my face with the cam.  It was so good getting to talk to him.  I miss you honey, so much....Ciao!

Well, my honey has been gone for 5 days straight now!  We are almost a week into this thing.  In the mean time, I have been kept busier than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.  I feel that there is really just not enough time in the day for me.  Tonight I went to a hail and farewell.  One of the other wives in the battalion called me up and asked if I wanted to tag along with her.  I said sure thing.  We had a blast.  We picked up some other girls from my battery and headed out to Idar-Oberstein to a horrid restaurant.  The only thing that made it worth it is that one)excellent company and the girls are funny two) the wine wasn’t too shabby and three) they had cherry crepes.  Plus, it got me out of the house.  What more could you want?  I did almost break down at the table and bawl when two of Jeff’s fellow commanders were farewelled and one of them kept mentioning his name.  I told my girlfriend that if they mentioned Jeff’s name one more time I was going to have to excuse myself because it was killing me.  Other than that it was fun.  Everyone was happy to see us girls there and didn’t really expect to see us there so it was a surprise.  It made it a little more fun, but like I said was a little hard when the farewells came up.  All in all I had a great time and it was great to get out of the house for a bit and away from the multitude of phone calls.  Lol.  I love my ladies, but I can’t seem to get anything done around my house for all the phone calls.  Well, I guess that is about it for now.  I just wanted to update you all since I hadn’t been on since Sunday.  Just hanging in there.  Ciao!

Well, it's almost time now....  I only have a little over 24 hours till the love of my life has to make his journey.  I am going to miss him so much that it just breaks my heart.  I was so proud of him yesterday at the farewell ceremony.  He turned to his soldiers and did the Warrior Ethos in the proudest voice I have ever heard.  It brought tears to my eyes.  I have been fighting it off so hard, but they just leaked out.  I feel that I have to be strong for my wives.  Lead by example.  Be the backbone of our group.  Just the sound of my husband's voice commanding his troops to repeat after him:

http://www.army.mil/features/ethos/

I AM AN AMERICAN SOLDIER
I WILL ALWAYS PLACE THE MISSION FIRST
I WILL NEVER ACCEPT DEFEAT
I WILL NEVER QUIT
I WILL NEVER LEAVE A FALLEN COMRADE
I AM AN AMERICAN SOLDIER

I could NEVER be prouder of my husband than at that moment.  You can go to this site to see some pictures of the farewell ceremony.  http://www.baumholder.army.mil/sites/local/
I am somewhere in there with bright blonde hair and a brown coat on.  I am actually in two pictures.  My husband is at the top standing in front of his troops.  Anyways, below is a picture taken a couple of weeks ago.  After he leaves, I am going to backdate and write out a couple of entries with pictures of everything that has been going on in our life the last month and you will see why I haven't posted.

One thing that I must mention is that my daughter has made honor roll!  You rock, girlie.  Daddy and I are SOOOOOOOOOOOOO damn proud of you that it brings tears to our eyes.  You have changed so much and have turned into a beautiful young lady that we always knew was hiding in side.  We love you very much!

Love to all, p