Painting Mianna's Room

After moving all our stuff out of storage with our friend Merrandas truck. We headed over to Whata Burger to eat a late lunch and then off to Home Depot. We loaded up on all the paint and supplies to paint Mianna's room. It took us 4 hours to complete the project and I had to run back to Home Depot since I messed up on the paint calculations :0( but we got all the paint we needed and had so much fun painting as we listend to a rock channel on the radio. Mianna's room looks so good, but we will add crown molding to give it a more finished look.

Closing

WE DID IT! We closed on our house today and we are official owner of a brand spankin new home!!!!!!!!! whooooooooo hoooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!! Our first Mortgage is due on Feb 1st. Tonight when I get off work in about 2 hours we will probably run down to the house and check it out and see if our keys all work. We got the keys and I must say it feels so good. I have been so giddy and excited all day that I showed everyone at work my keys. The builders gave us a pizza coupon and a 2 litter of Pepsi. Rich said he will pick me up and we an go celebrate with a bottle of champange and stawberries. I don't know if the power is still turned on at the house, but we have to get it all transferred over into our name. We will spend the day tomorrow, just painting Mianna's room and maybe shopping around for a fridge and doing a little bit of legwork to get the power and water turned on in our name. We still have the apartment until Feb. But that gives us plenty of time to move. Oya, we will be moving the stuff out of our storage unit that we have been paying 63 bucks a mont for the past 4 months. Now we can actually use our grill and lawn mower. We only had a pay a small amount at closing but NO closing coast were due for us. They builders payed it all it was well over 12,000. Thank goodness they payed it all. Our realator Pat Leroy is just the best. He told us that we made a good investment and should make well over 150,000 when we go to sale our house in 5 years. I'm so excited guys!!!!!!!!

Final walk through

Well guys we made it out to the house today to do our final walk through and we were shocked to see that lot of stuff was not yet done. The thing that scared me the most was that I walked into the family room to find two guys on there knees sawing holes into the drywall right at the kitchen bar. When we did our initial walk through we had found that our kitchen had no power to any of the outlets. The guys there were cutting holes into the drywall to get to the wires behind it to find out what was causing the power failure. They found out that a nail or a piece of wood was jammed into the wire and had split it. They fixed it, but the guy had told me that a little piece of nail or wood, could have sparked a fire that could have burned down the house. O MY GOD>you can just imagine the look on my face. I was thinking,O man ..... Mean to tell me the house could have burned down before we even got to move into it. I'm still skeptical on our close tomorrow since the house looked half finished, but I sure hope they pull off a miracle tomorrow and have every thing done. There is nothing major, just small minor touchups and caulking that needs to be done. But now we have power to our kitchen and they will have to patch up the drywall and sand and repaint it. I sure hope they get it all done in time. The outside of the house needs a good power wash and also the inside needs to be cleaned up before we move in. I will not be happy if this is not all done by tomorrow. I wonder how they expect us to want to close on a house that is not complete and not clean. Shoooots. But you know I'm just too excited to have the keys in my hands. We have already changed our renters insurance over to home owners insurance and I must say that had a nice ring to it. Rich was was one resposible for making all the phone calles and doing all the leg work yesterday. I'm so proud of him, he said he had to call the fire deferment and the post office and the post office didn't even know the last 4 digits to our zip code because our neighborhood is so brand new. But he had to call the main office in Tampa I think it was and they had the complete zip for him. Well guys, cross your fingers for us and I hope this all goes well tomorrow.

Could I be blondE? OOPS I can't spell too

Okay so today I got up late at around 9am and jumped in the shower. I was thinking about how exciting it will be to go see the house all finished and ready for us to move in... I have enough info to fill anther titled blogg, but for right now let me keep to my Blond moment I had today. I got out the shower and oiled down as ususal and then I put on my undies and then back in the bathroom for my makeup and hair. I got my sweater on on and sat down on the bed and proceeded to put on my shoes and then Rich came home from work. I walked in the bathroom only to realize that my reflection in the mirror was so shocking. I had my sweater on and my shoes on , but I had forgot to put on my pants. Rich just looked at me and said " I like that look". I started busting up at my self with a little bit of winning I'm my laughter. This has got to be my best blonde moment, I'm not sure what I was thinking this morning but I sure got a good laugh out of it and that woke me up. I put on boots that took about 3 minutes to lace up and so I had plenty of time to think about pants...... but my mind was else where. LOL. I'm too funny!!!!!!!

I love this room

Okay that is a perfect picture of the way I want my family room to look. I even want that color on my walls. I know in about a year, I'll be ready to paint again, but for now I'm in love with the warm vibrant oranges. I have got to get to this showroom here in Jax's , ehehhehe. I don't care much for that sectional, but I like the other accents in the room. Oya, the lamps are to 50-60's for me, eheheh. O my god, that table looks like it's going to take off, OKAY , but the color on the walls and the window, really give me a good look at what my room will look like when we paint and the floor is almost like ours. I better go to bed now, we do our final walk through later on today and I'm so excited to see my home again. I'll take more picture of course. I would like the secional I picked the first time, below this article............yeah that one, in this room here above.

Family Room

I've never been a big fan of sectionals, but I like this one. I think it will look good in our family room.That rug also has all the color I like and would compliment the paint colors I plan on using in the family room

Quake, tsunamis kill more than 22,000

DEATH TOLLS

SRI LANKA
Sri Lankan military authorities report more than 10,000 people killed. Tamil Tiger rebels report 2,000 dead in the territory they hold in the northeast of the country.

INDIA
At least 6,200 killed by waves that flooded the southern coast, official media report.

INDONESIA
News agencies report more than 4,350 killed, many of them in Aceh in northern Sumatra.

THAILAND
Thai authorities report at least 866 people dead.

MALDIVES
46 people are dead and more than 70 missing, according to Hassan Sobir, the Maldives high commissioner.

CRC

My friend Stacy at work drew this picture of our staff at CRC.
That is me in the middle. Stacy is on the the left front.

Duke and Mianna

look at my children , ehehehe.

Thank You Nina Ingrid

Mianna’s Nina Ingrid sent her gifts all the way from San Diego and she opened it on Christmas Eve. That mint candy bar disappeared in someone’s tummy, I wonder who? hehehehhe. mmmmm. Okay I did it. Man Ingrid you know I love that stuff just like you do. Thanks for the gifts. What up with the make, and from Sefora too, Dang, spoiled baby girl. Mianna loved all her gifts you got her and she even tried out the markup. We love you Nina. Kisses and Hugs. xoxoxoxoxox

1st. Christmas in FL

I love this card Rich made for Mianna.





Rich and I were up all day Christmas Eve and at midnight we were still up wrapping and setting up last minute gifts for Mianna. We got Mianna a computer for x-mas and a few other small items as well. Rich got US our HOUSE for X-mas and so I wasn't expecting him to get me a gift, but he did. I got an Ann Klein diamond watch bracelet and it's so pretty. The bracelet is made of my favorite pearls with a mother of pearl face and a real diamond at 12 o clock. We got Rich some clothes from Abercrombie and Mianna go him a poker game for the PS2. Mianna made me a Christmas plate that is just so cute. This was a real nice first X-mas in FL. Rich got up early this morning and baked a ham. We were invited over to my friend Merranda's house to eat X-mas dinner with her family and some new friends that just moved here from Hawaii. We ate turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mash potatoes, gravy and ham. For dessert we had cranberry apple casserole, pumpkin pie, apple pie and pecan pie. Every thing turned out so good and I even helped with the gravy and potatoes. After dinner we played a fun word definition guessing game that just had us busting up. Merrands husband Steve was the winner. Mianna kept her self busy with 2 cats, the dog Biscuit and Merrands two kids Sadie and William. We will try and have the next gathering for super bowl/house warming at our house next.

Addictive

Okay now I'm just so addicted to this program and I can't seem to stop. Our dining room is the first room on the left as you walk in the door and it has white trimmed wainscoting like in this picture. Also my dining room chairs are real similar to what is pictured above. I was just trying to get more ideas on paint color. I do want the entire living space to flow as far as color hue, I'll stay in the same Hue, but I will use a different color for the family room. The formal dining and living room will most likely be the same color and both have white Berber carpet. The family room and kitchen are both Prego laminate wood flooring.

And yet another color

I picked this living room set up because the couch is real similar to our couch color and the flooring in here is real close to what we have.

Paint colors

We went out to luch at one of our favorite spots for sushi at KoKo's. After eating we ran over to Home Depot and looked at paint colors and it took Mianna about 5 minutes to decide on a color for her room. She picked a Bayou color and this is what her room will look similar too.
For the living room we are still undecided, but I would like a sunset orange color. I found several ideas that we all like. We will also paint the celing the same color tone but just a few shades lighter to keep that airy and tall feeling. our ceilings are vaulted and go to more that 10 feet at some points.

that is our actual living room and I tryed to paint it in photoshop


Our nook
here is a sample from the Behr website.

Back in my Sep. Blogg I posted a few pictures of the sunset here and that is the color orange I want to paint my living area in.

Color Tips From The Pros
1. Deliberately set out to create a mood with color.

Active colors include yellow, orange and red. These hues work well in social and entertaining rooms. They make a positive, inspiring statement with their energetic and upbeat attitude. Reds and oranges excite and invigorate. Lemon and golden yellows spark creativity and are excellent choices for home offices and kitchens.

I like this color too, it's not as bright as my first choice but it's still in the orange family, just a light hue

this next color is called Pumkin Butter


Okay I'm in love with this one and the name is cool too. Hawaiian Passion


This one might blen a little too much with our floor, but the color is called Iced Tea

Daybeds

I was trying to find some type of seating arrangement for my formal living area, and I'm in love with this daybed. I would like to use it as a seat more so than a bed, but at the same time I would be able to use it as a bed if we had some extra guest over and it would be just perfect. I also like the day beds from Pottery Barn, but this one from The Bombay Company is much nicer and cheaper. I will also make the formal living area house a wine cabinet. Today we will go shopping for paint and tile. I came up with the ides to add a mosaic back splash to our kitchen. The painting will be our priority since we want to have it done before we start moving furniture into the house. I want a real soft suede looking paint finish in the living areas and then some thing unique to the kitchen and bedrooms. The living areas and hallway will all get the same color to make it look uniformed. Mianna has decided on a blue for her room. I'm torn between a sunset orange that is really light in color or a soft green for the entire living space. I'll probably have my self with paint samples up to ears tomorrow. This takes me back to the time I was having my couches custom made and I had tons of fabric lying around the house for weeks. Oya, we do plan on a reupholstering our couches, Thank goodness I bought quality couches that have stood up to the test of time. The Navy has done some damage to my poor couches and I'm still holding my breath on getting the money for the repairs.

Florida weather

Last week was really cold here in Florida and we even had a few days were the temps dropped into the low 20's and few pipes broke becaue it was so cold. I had a few callers at work that need to go to the lodge becuse of busted pipes here in Florida. Today it's so beautiful and warm.

Thursday began with some rain showers that will last for most of the morning into the early afternoon. By mid-afternoon the rain will end and the clouds will move out so expect to see that sunshine before the day is over. It will be another warm day with highs in the low 70s.

Skies will become mostly clear for the night with cool air moving in. Overnight lows will fall into the low to mid 40s with winds from the northwest.

Tonight I get off of 9 and I'm looking forward to going to the movies with Rich and Mianna to see Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Show me the money

I'm real happy about the increase in the BAH. This really helps out now that we have made a good choice in buying our first home. Mo money Mo money Mo money . eheheheheh

Amber Alert

This is so crazy and the lady that did it looks like a sick psycho

Temps in the 20's

A blast of very cold air will begin arriving during Sunday evening making for a frigid and blustery start to Monday morning. Temperatures will read in the 20s, but they will feel more like the teens. This could be some of the coldest air yet this season!

It was very cold out at the lake while we ate dinner and watched the light parade. It snowed here in jax about 15 years ago and it could happen again this year. I actually had to put on thermals, hat, scarf and gloves this past week because of the
cold.

December 25, 1989-
Tallahassee, FL has a trace of snow, the first ever for Christmas Day

Light Parade

We drove out to Mandarin this afternoon to the Sears Outlet to find a refrigerator. We found several good deals and will most likely buy a fridge in a few weeks. After that we took a look around Books-a-Million and got some paint and decorating ideas from a few Florida books. We decided to try and eat dinner at Clarks seafood, but when we got there they didn't have what we wanted on the menu, so Mianna and Rich ate the oysters and then we left and went to Whities Fish Camp. When we got there we were shocked to see such a huge crowd. As we got out of the car this lady that was leaving next to us, said that there was a light parade going on and good luck with trying to eat dinner. We had fun just watching all the decorated boats as they went along the river. There was this one boat that was decorated with all the Shark Tales characters and had a bubble blower. There were so many cool boats but that was the best. Whitie's puts on this boat parade every year and they also have a contest between the boats for first place. They also raise money for a woman and children charity by raffle tickets for 10 bucks and the prize is a 24,000 boat. We ate a good dinner and had a perfect seat outside on the dock, so we could see the light parade going on. I was just sad that I didn't have my camera with me. I really need to get into the habit of taking that thing with me. Today I had decided to use my smaller coach bag, and it was already full with junk. ehehheeh. Next time I need to bring the big one for sure and carry my dang camera with me. We also walked down on the pier to get a closer look at the boats that were in dock.

Shopping at Wal-Mart

Only in FL , this is the second time this has happen since we have lived here. Click the title to read the article.

First walk through

Well guys, we did our first walk through and the house looked really good. We only had 11 small issues for them to repair, but they are very minor. Lots of caulking to do and a few touch up paint jobs. The sprinklers and misters all work well and most of the outlet switches worked. Our house will get one last final walk trough on the 29th and then we close on the 30th and will get our keys and start moving in. The garage just seemed so big to me because we have never had a side-by-side 2-car garage. When we lived in SD we had a 2-car garage, but it was the type where you had to pull in behind the other car. We also found out from our neighbor that a tree fell on our house during the last two hurricanes. I talk to Jill from Armco and she said that was true and they would provide us with a letter for proof that that indeed did happen and that there was minimal damage and they made all repairs. There was no damage to the inside of the house, but only to the exterior wall of our bedroom. The down tree is still in the preserve behind our house, but they will remove it. I worry about next year, when we have hurricanes, since we live so close to the preserve and have so many trees in the backyard, but we will stock up on plywood to protect our big windows. I was talking to a caller the other day that lives in south FL and was hit hard by both Frances and Charlie and he has USAA, and they covered every last time of damage and even to his car. I'm so glad we have USAA. They are the best insurance company.

Walk through

O my goodness this is it. I just got off the phone with the builders and we scheduled closing for Dec 30th and tomorrow is our walk through at 11am. I'm so excited. This is really happening. We just found out that we do have to give the apt. 60 day notice, so we will be paying rent for Jan and 1/2 of Feb. That really sucks, but o well. Our first mortgage is due Feb 1st. I'm just so excited and ready to GO!!!! I can't wait to turn on that fireplace and just relax by it and look out at our beautiful view. Happy Happy Happy!!!!!

New home accent

Hayleigh got this for me in Hawaii. I can't wait to put it up in our new home because we have white Berber carpet. Hey Ingrid I bet that looks familiar... Hmmmmm.

Best X-Mas gift ever!

Today at work we had our secret Santa gift exchange and our before x-mas dinner. My friend Merranda cooked an awesome turkey and I bought Virginia baked ham. You know it's my favorite because it's named after me. LOL ehehhehe. We also had green bean casserole, stuffing, sweet bread, mash potatoes and gravy. For deserts we had chocolate cake in the shape of Santa, pumpkin pie and my favorite pecan pie. For drinks we had several different types of cider and Celines famous frozen coke, the reason it's famous is because Celines always forgets about it in the freezer here at work and it's all frozen when she goes to get it out.

I got up early this morning and ate breakfast with Mianna but after that I talked her into riding her bike to school so I could jump back in the bed. I was still sleepy since I had went to bed at 1:30 and got up at 5:30. I fell back to sleep at 8 and got up at 10. I had to run to Super WalMart to get the ham for the party and then I ran home to cut it up and get it ready for work. I also ran down to our new home to turn in some paperwork and then take some pics of the outside of the house. I will post them when I get home. I'm at work now just killing time and day dreaming about how its going to be when we move into our new home. I still can't believe we bought a house today. We still have to close, but that will be before the end of the month and We hope to move in before x-mas. I'm not sure how I'm going to move the x-mas tree, but I really would love to save it and put it up in the formal living room so that it's the first thing you see when you walk in the door. I must say this is the best Christmas present EVER! I signed all the loan papers today and it was kind of nerve racking to see all them $$$ signs. Wow, we will be living in a home worth a quarter of a million bucks :o) that just sounds too crazy. I haven't even called my mom to tell her the news. Every time I try her house the phone just rings and rings with no answer. I did call Erin and Ingrid and Davina. I talk to Pinky in North Carolina last night and told her. But I think we still have yet to tell Richie's parents and mine. Most of you online that read my bloggs know now I suppose. I'm just so dang happy. I hope it all works out and we really like living in our small town of green cove. I read all about the history of the town and it's pretty neat. Check out this link to read more. Here are the picture from today

Work X-mas dinner and gift exchange

New Santos Home

We almost have a home

I went to meet with Debbie at Hickory Knolls and I looked at a few more models to see if I liked them, but none of them were as pretty as the one Rich first fell in love with. We have decided to go with the house across the street from the one I wanted, and I must say it was my 2nd choice and I'm happy we are making it our home. YUP we will sign the papers again tomorrow and this time we are using another company that was able to give us a 5.5 on a VA 0/0. That APR is pretty average and so we were comfortable with it and locked it in today. I hope this all goes well and we can move in after all the inspection and maybe move in before X-mas. It is so cold here in FL today; I had to keep warm in my thick sweater, hat gloves and boots. Our home has a fireplace and right now is the perfect weater to use it. Click the title above to see the house. I will post pictures as soon as I can becaue the batteries for my camera are dead.

Location Location Location

Okay, so we were approved for the loan and we know how much of a house we can buy now. We really don't want to have that high of a house payment and so I'm going back to the neighborhood today and I will look at a few more models and maybe just maybe, we will go with the house that Rich first fell in love with. The payment on that house will be a little less than the two story I wanted and the difference is on ly 75 sq ft. Not much differenct in size, but they payments would be a lot less. HELP> ehehhehe. It will be so hard to live accross from the house I know I was in love with :o(. Or all together we might just give up and look around some more.

Good Credit

Well guys, the out is that we were approved for the loan on our dream home. I have excellent credit and my FICO score was much higher that Richie's and he was joking about not talking to me for having a better score, but together we really have excelent credit and they approved us for 234,000 for that house, but we decided that the payments would be a little too much for us, since we also plan on buying a new car after we buy the house. Tomorrow I will go back to the neighborhood and look at a few more models and we might just go with our second choice. The house that Richie really fell in love with is only 217 and we might try and go for that one. I do love the view and the many bay windows in that house. It was such a nice feeling to know that we have good credit and could be approved for such a good amount. If I was making more money a year, I would feel more comfortable with the payments of 1800 a month. So for now I'll keep you all posted.

9 days

Well guys, we got up early this morning and got ready to meet with the builders and our realtor at 11am. We took one last look at both houses and it was hard to choose but we ultimately went with the two story. We went back to the model home to sing all the paper work and put our offer in for 232,000. The house should really sale for 236,000 and if it wasn't going to sale this week, he was going to raise the price to 240,000 and so that makes me think that the house is really worth more that what we might get it for. Cross your finger and hope that every thing goes well. We will be talking to the finance people tomorrow and our realtor is also a broker so if we have no luck with their finance company we can always go with our realtor at Watson. We will try to get this house for the least amount of payment that they will give us and maybe even do an interest only loan or a convetional 30 year fix. We really only plan to live in it for 5 years and the rent it out or sale it and move again. I guess I was so excited I forgot to take pictures of the house, but if it all goes smoothly we will be in the house in 9 days. YUP before X-mas and we will have to move our x-mas tree to the new home, how funny. But it would be so nice to be in our new home for x-mas and maybe even light up the fireplace, it has been so cold here the past 2 days with the temperatures as low as the 30's and 40's. Today is such a pretty sunny day but very chilly out. I just can't get over the fact that we signed the contract on our home and could be moving in 9 days.

Portal Potty God

Well guys, the day after the x-mas part was kind of ruff on me. I must have had a little food poisoning with dehydration mixed in and needless to say I was on the toilet most of the afternoon. I took a couple hour nap and then woke up to pick Mianna up from school. I thought I was all better and so we decided to drive out to Green Cove to get the red car registered, but we had left one important piece of paper work at home. Despite our drive out to the cove, we had decided on going to check out the neighborhood that our realtor Pat Leroy had suggested to us. We stopped in Hickory Knolls Estates and as we drove around we were just marveled by the houses. All of a sudden my stomach starts to bubble and I break out in a hot flash and begin to sweat," O my god". I told Rich " I need the bathroom now, so as we turned this one corner I screamed stop!!! Right in the middle of the street was a blue portal potty. O my god I was in heaven and I couldn't get into that thing any faster. I almost had a near accident that would have been so fatal to all of us in the car. What or How in the world, was my prayers answered, was just so baffling to me. I walked out of the portal potty with a big old smile on my face and I really didn't want to go too far from it, but we drove around a little more and I found the house I liked. Today we got up at 10:30 and met with our realtor to go shopping around for houses. The first one he took us to was just across the street from his house and it was nice with the biggest yard I have seen in Jax. O man that yard was just so huge. You have to sit on a sit down lawn mower just to cut that grass. After that we ran around to many more models and then fell in love with this 5 bed, 3 baths home and thought for sure we had found our home. Mianna was already making plans to sleep in the bonus room above the garage. The outside of that house was made with seashells and it was actually pretty looking. But after we went into this all brick house, we had changed our minds again, and this was that first house of the day to make me say WOW, it's such a pretty home with a huge yard, big enough to put a pool. After we left that area, we drove in to Green Cove and went to Hickory Knolls Estates and finally I was going to see the house that I thought I would fall in love with, and yes, the minute we walked in, I did the WOW and was in love with it. Tomorrow we will sign some papers and get things started on buying the house. Our realtor was able to bring the price down 5000 bucks for us. I believe the house is about 230,000. It doesn't have a huge yard, but I think it's a perfect size to enjoy some backyard fun and it backs up to a natural preserve that will never be built on and so we will not have neighbor on the back of us. We will have neighbor on both sides of us and some across the street too. This community is very small and I believe it is less than 100 homes in the neighborhood, but a few still need to be built. We fell in love with this model called the Hickory III, take a look at it. I think the portal potty was a sign and one really funny story for me to tell. The house is brand new and ready for us to move into in a few days if all goes well. We did pay for rent this month ,but we can be out of this apartment before X-mas and have that in our new home in front of the fireplace. ehehehhe. cross your fingers for us. The resale value on this house is going to be out of this world, well not as good as resale in SD, but good enough for FL. After all that running around, we went to see Oceans Eleven and that was a good movie.

AIMD Christmas Party

Last night we went to Richie's AIMD X-mas party and it was so nice. It was at the Adams Max Hotel in downtown Jaxs and this place was so huge. There were several X-mas partys going on, that we had to follow the signs to our party. When we got there, people were already in line to get food. We found a table to sit at and then went to the bar to get our drinks. The ball room was decorated in gold green and red colored baloons with special engraved wine glasses with the AIMD insignia on them. We made sure to take our glasses home. The DJ played such good music , but with over 800 people at the party you can imagine how crowed the dance floor was. We opted to stay at the table and mingle with folks. Eveyong on the dance floor was doing the electic slide, to every single song. The night was filled with so much fun and then the suspence of the number calling for the drawing and the big winners of the night was the last ticket called for a 50 inch TV. We were not lucky that night, but lots of rio MP3 players, and george forman grills and other small tv's and DVD players were given away. I hear that last year the big give away was a cruise to the bahamas. People were really dressed up nice and lady's had there hairs DID and nails done. It was so nice to meet and see eyeryone. After the part we headed to a club called Christophers and we were in for a treat when we got there. It was actually gay night and when we walked in there were drags performing on the dance floor and it was so cool. I danced with Tiffany all night and Rich played pool and hung out with his friend. That is by far the most fun thing we have done in Jaxs. I'll have to tell you the rest of the story when we get back. but click on the title to view the pics, I didn't take too many.

Thank You!!!!!

Mianna would like to send a BIG thanks to Aoife, Coleen, Alex and Lorraine.
She got the package from Japan and was in love with all the goodies. Click here
to see more pictures.

Five dead after Ohio nightclub shooting

20 min. Countdown

Okay, this is my last blogg of the night, I have 20min. And I'm out of here. Tomorrow is my "Friday" and I'm having 3 days off. whoooo hooooo. We have the X-mas party on Thursday and I'm looking forward to going to that. I still have no idea what I'm going to wear but I think I want to buy a fur shall or shrug to accent my dress and keep my shoulders warm. I'm kind of planning and off the shoulder dress or maybe a strapless with some nice tall heals and lots of bling bling. eheheheh. O, I can't forget to go shopping for cute evening bag. :o) NO I'm only joking. I will find a bag in my closet...... NO more bags for me. Yeah, 15 minutes to go and I'm out of this ice box, it's so dang cold in here today.

Intelligence Overhall

19 hijackers on September 11 had more than 60 licenses between them as a reason for the provision.

I just finished reading the article on CNN, on how they will pass this new bill to give our intelligence reorganization. What or why in the hell would it take this long to pass such an important bill for some MUST needed overhall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Some times people in congress really do need a clue!!!!!!!!! Freaking aliens allowed to get all them dang licenses to be able to attack us on our own soil. This country can be so dang backwards I sware. I guess you can tell I'm on an all politcal feel today. I'm at work and I have 40 more minutes to go, just catching up on some world news.
here is the article if you would like to read it.

USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6)

Now I know why everyone was calling to book rooms for December 5 and 6th in San Diego. I'm glad my hubby is not on deployable status any more. I do hate sea duty and having him home everyday on shore duty is THE BEST!. I love you Richie boy and thanks for being such a strong support to have gone trough all that blood and sweat to serve your country. I know being on a ship is not as bad as being on land, but just the fact that your loved one is gone for 1/2 a year at a time or more is really the pitts. I do pray for all the soldiers out now and some of our family members and friends that are in the gulf. It would be nice if all this madness could end. We need Peace

Real life Desperate Housewives

My friend here at work just finished telling me about her evening last night and this is what went down. She said that there was a bunch of police and fire trucks on her street and they were pretty close to her brother-in-laws house, so she headed down the way to check it out, since she lives on the same street. It was her brother-in-law sitting on the curb and he had hand cuffs on. She was trying to ask her brother-in-law if the kids and his wife was okay, but the cop was so dang mean and told her to step away. She got a little fed up with the cop and decided to go back down the street to her house. Well later on the next day she got a collect call from her brother-in-law and he was calling from jail. He was calling to ask to get bailed out. Her and her husband come up with 720.00 buck on a credit card and a two hour wait to process his release. She says she was not real sure what had happen last night but that her brother-in-laws wife is a crazy lady. She is always drunk and addicted to pain killers. So she said that they got into a big fight and she called the cops on him. He pleaded not guilty but was still arrested and this same situation happened last year, but it was a reverse roll with the sister-in-law being arrested this same time last year. I told my co-worker that she has her own real life desperate housewife on her block. toooooooooooo funny.

Pearl Harbor

Today is the 63rd Commemoration of the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

Tree and Ornaments

Here are a few picture of the new ornaments we added to our tree this year. I also put up a few new and old decorations around the house to get into the spirit of X-mas. I hope to decorate the lanai with lights as well. It's the thing to do when you live in an apartment. I also put up my dollar snowman on the front door.

Cook Out

Today we went to Sams Club for the first time and did some serious shopping for the cook out. Rich has a few boys that are leaving AIMD, and so they planned this cook out weeks ago. First off we ran with one of his friends to Sams Club to get few things, and I was not impressed at all. I will keep to Costco for my bulk shopping because Sams Club was really small and they didn't have a lot of brands we use. After shopping we ran to the Nex and played with the new lip glosses by Lancôme and a few by Estee Lauderdale and I think I'll have to stop by the NEX on my way to work tomorrow and pick up a few for the X-Mas party this week. I still have no idea what I'm going to wear to this thing. It's going to be at some really nice hotel, downtown Jax's so I'm excited to go and check that out. After we left the NEX we went to look at a house around the street from Mianna's school that's for sale. It was nice and big and had a really pretty color carpet, but I was not that impressed with it. This guy that lives in it is a pilot and he is leaving to Pensacola. He has a really cute daughter named Tia and he is divorced. With just one kid and that big old house with 4 bedrooms 2 baths, it seemed too big for them. The house had some really nice features, but it's still not my Panama. I had to tell Rich, "I'm still in love with my Panama home and I want it. That house we looked at was going for 220 and the Panama is going for a little less and it's a two story but just a little smaller than the one by Mianna's school. Anyways, we will look at more, but I think we need to put a hold on the lot for the Panama just in case we do not find one we like. Our realtor gave us a listing today and only one stood out from the rest, it has a pool and it's actually pretty cute on the inside, but I have to go see it in person to know if I like it or not. Okay I'm not sure how I got off the subject, but after we looked at the house we ran to Richie's friend apartment and it over looks Lake Ortega. I tell you the one thing I love about FL is all the lakes we have and all the bridges. This place is just awesome. I still think I want to live her for a while. I really love the weather, and low 70's are not bad for the daytime in December. ehehehheeh. o man this is the life for sure. I sure hate the cold and the snow. I don't mind taking a vacation to the mountains once in awhile and visiting the snow, but I sure never want to live in it or near it. I would rather retreat to the hot humidity. I love humidity. Most people hate it but I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To me it's home I'm a true islander girl. I grew up on an Island just because I've left the island, doesn't mean the islands have left me. When we lived in Hawaii I was in Heaven and I really liked it better than my Island of Guam, but Florida is just like being on the islands, but with more room to venture and seasons that are mild and comfortable. I do like dressing up in my sweaters and boots and beanie hats. Today I had on my new poorboy VS sweater and Abercrombie hat with my new nice west boots. I was styling in my new duds. ehehhehe. I bough over 150 bucks from VS (Victoria's Secrets) online and got a free $150.00 weekend bag. This bag is so huge and just perfect for travel. I'll be adding that to my bag collection in the closet. I swear I have been on a bag binge lately. But no more bags for a while I have over 7 new bags...........ehheehhe I know I know. I'm bad. You should have seen how I feel in love with this bustier bag in payless shoe store and Rich gave in and got it for me. Knowing that I had just bough 4 coach bags and he was with me when I was going coach crazy. ehehhehe. I went shopping yesterday with Mianna and we were on the hunt for Richie's X-mas gift. I'm so sad, because they ran out of it and now I have to buy it online. I got a towel warmer at Bed Bath and Beyond and took a brows in Pier One. I have a gift card to that place, so one day I will have to buy stuff for the new house. I think I'll try to hold on to the card. I also got a gift card to my other favorite store, Pottery Barn. I did find the cutes snowman candle and I still have to go back to return some wine glasses because Rich didn't like them. I will buy some thing else for the house, since Richies wants crystal wine glasses. I'll tell you this boy is just as picky as me when it comes to house stuff. But he does like the way I decorated the kitchen table and coffee table for X-mas. I'll post some pics for you all to see. O man I'm off to work tomorrow, but it's okay because i will have a short week and we off on Thur, Fri and Sat. Whooooooooo hooooooo. I will make up for it in the xtra pay I got for working on Thanksgiving. It's still so hard working and I miss Mianna the most but we are loving my new scedual of having Fri and Sat off. We have time to be a family again. Right now Rich is still at the cook out, we come home to walk Duke and Rich is playing poker with the boys. Thank goodness he is playing with chips and not for real money. ehehhee. He did that last night and it was for real money, and this poker house he loves to go to in St. Augustine. I really wish we could buy a home out there, but not now while he is working on base. Maybe when he retires we can sale our home and move to St. Augustine. I really like that town, it's so cute and so close to the beach. Okay, my shoulder is killing me, I do enough typing at work and I just pulled a muscle this past 3 days I've been in so much pain. I better go and rest my arms. Talk to you all soon.

One Week

Wow, it had been about one week since my last blogg. I have so much to talk about and yet I have no idea where to start. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I had to work that day and made some big bucks doing it, so I could spend it the next day shopping. YUP I was up at 3 in the morning and met up with my friends from work at Denny’s to eat breakfast drink some coffee and then hit the stores. Our first stop was the NEX and I got Mianna x-mas gift out of the way, but I was bad and picked a few items for muah! ehhehehehe. I had so much fun. It is so cold her in Jax's that I actually had to put on a jacket and wear my boots and hoody to keep warm. Friday was the longest shopping day of my life. I shopped from 6am till
Just about 10pm that night. I even went to see a movie with my girlfriend Merranda. Saturday we got the X-mas tree and put it up and today I just finished up some of the last minute touches and added a few decorations to the house. I'll post a picture when I have time. Right now I'm just so sleepy, I'll finish this blogg later on.

Desperate to watch Desperate...........

I'm not use to working on Sundays till 9:30pm. On my old schedule I use to get off at 7:00 and that was just fine with me, but now with the new schedule I start my week off on Sundays and it's from 1:30 -9:30. I miss desperate housewives and so does Rich. He watches the first 10 minutes or so and then he heads to the base to pick me up from work and the we jet back home to watch the last 5 minutes of the show. I think we need TiVo...heheheheh . I really like that new show, but it suck I have to miss it now. Rich was trying his hardest to hook up the VCR, but I'm not even sure if that thing works anymore. He cut his arm on the glass while he was doing that and so that sucks butt. But he is okay. I cooked some fried rice when I got home and I ate good and then cleaned up the kitchen. Now I'm getting a little sleepy and I need to wash my face and hit the sack. I just wanted to touch base and let you all know that Lorraine has joined the world of blogg. Adios people.

Our National Treasures

Okay, Mianna fell in love with the phone and so I gave it to her. I told her it was an early X-mas gift and a late B-day.... No for reals I was going to give it to her for X-mas. The one I really want is like a PDA phone and a lot bigger. I will be shopping the day after X-mas and I hope I find a good deal on one some place.

We just got back from watching National Treasure with Nicolas Cage and it was a good movie so much hunting, just like in Indiana Jones. We ate out again, are you surprised yet?????? I know, we try and try and we still can't get over having all these so good and close by restaurants at hand when we please. I did cook the other day, I made some good blackened steak and last night I made sausage and rice. That is the most I have cooked in about 3 months. ehehhe. O man. I'm working a new schedule now and so I have Fridays and Saturdays off, today I was off, but my new schedule starts tomorrow. This past week I was off Wend, Thur and then today. It was nice to have one day of the weekend off to spend time with Mianna and Rich. I will treasure this new schedule and doubt I will want to change for a while. I do have to work on Thanksgiving, but since we have no family here, there are no real big plans for the day. I will enjoy the over time and use it for X-mas shopping the next day. I got gifts for my self, as usual and they include two very pricy items. I really hate to say it, but I got 2 more Coach purses :O) ehehhehe. But I got them at really good prices and one is similar to that link, but in a brass khaki berry color and the other looks like this in a khaki color. I know I know; I'm having that I feel 30 and need a new bag to go with my shoes........ Stage. LOL. I will try so hard to buy gifts for other this year, but it's so hard. I will be up at 4:45am the day after Thanksgiving and at the stores by 5:30 to fight the crowds for the sales. Tomorrow I'll buy the sunday paper to make my wish list of national treasures.

New Cell phone

I broke my cell phone the other day and a replacement is on it's way in the mail. But I also purchased a new phone. and got it in the mail today. It's so cool and has a camera and colored screen. I have had the same cell phone for about 3 years and it was about time I got a new one. We have 904 phone numbers now and yes I still have my 619 #. I got the Sprint PCS VisionSM Picture Phone (Samsung® A600). click the title to check out the phone. What I love is i can play pacman on it

Bad Ass

We have a Bad Ass coffee shop here in Jax's I guess I'll have to try it some day. I just looked it up and it's on Southside Blvd, pretty easy to get too. Maybe I'll stop by when I'm out doing my X-mas shopping. I partial to Starbucks, but I'll try Bad Ass and see how good it is. The Honolulu Hula: Tiramisu and Coconut sounds like it might be goood. mmmmmmm I'm hungry for coffee now!!!!

House Shopping

As most of you know we have been shopping for a home. I'm still in love with the yellow house and just last week, I finally took Rich out to see it. He fell in love with it just like we did. Right now we are trying to get apoved for our loan and I hope we get enough to buy a home like that yellow house. We will be shopping some more, but right now the lots are starting to fill up and and we found one we like, it's and extra 3000. Here are a few pics of more houses we looked at. This one house we went into, was so awsome it had a home theater.......nice. Click the title above to see my dream home.... (aka)the yellow house, better known as The Panama. Our favorite thing about it is the 19.5 ft. ceiling in the family room.

Bryce

Ingrid and Mike had Bryce
more pics on Ingrids site
Hey, More pics of the baby

X-Mas gift

Okay I figured out what I want for Christmas.ehhhhhhhhh.

ipod Photo. I would like the connector from the camera too. then that way i can connect my pictures to the that and upload real easy to my Mac.........how cool. this will be my present to me. LOL

Driving in Japan

I was 10 years old when I first visited Japan with my grandma,aunty Peewee
uncle Albert and cousing Davina. We also went to Tokyo DisneyLand for
the grand opening on April 15, 1983.

I do look like my mom

My Mom

Carrabba's

Last night we ate out again. This time we went to Carrabba's and had some good Italian food. For our starter we had the
ANTIPASTI PLATTER A delicious combination of house favorites: Calamari, Bruschette of the Day and Mozzarella Marinara
Rich had POLLO ROSA MARIA Fire-roasted chicken breast stuffed with fontina cheese and prosciutto, topped with mushrooms and a basil lemon butter sauce. Mianna had PASTA WEESIE Shrimp sautéed in a garlic, lemon butter, white wine sauce with sautéed mushrooms and scallions, served over fettuccine alfredo. I had LOBSTER RAVIOLI stuffed with tender Maine lobster in a white wine cream sauce with diced tomatoes. Every thing was deliciouse and to top it all off we had the TIRAMISÚ Lady fingers dipped in liqueur laced espresso, layered with sweetened mascarpone, Myers’s Rum and chocolate shavings

Me and my Grandma

Holy Communion

I just touched up this picture of my mom. This was taken the day she recieved her first Holy Communion. I left a few imperfections because I feel it just adds to the patina of the picture. Take a look at the original. I'm still learning when
it comes to touch ups, and it sure takes lots of time.

What Happened?

I know it's been to long since I've done this. You asked what happen???? Life, that's what, ehehhe. I got so dang busy. We left to southern Cali for my grandfather’s funeral and then got home to find my self so busy with work and catching up on a week of mail and errands. I'm so dang busy, plus I have to help Mianna plan a party this weekend for her B-day. She decided to invite a few friends to the house for a sleep over and I hope that all pans out for her or else we will have to have a plan B. I still have to go to a meeting in the morning and do my B-day shopping, so I'll be so super busy, and not to mention the dry cleaning, house cleaning and to many things to mention. HELP, calgoon take me away..... I need a message; I better call my misuse tomorrow. Okay, I can do this; take 3 breaths with me, ready? 1... 2.... 3...

Electrocution

O my goodness guys, I just got electrocuted. I’m still shook up from it and my right hand feels so weird and my fingers are still tingly. I was trying to unplug my digital camera battery charger and I accidentally touched the prongs with my
Clammy hands and that was when I got a strong jolt. I screamed and then fell into a chair near by. Mianna was in the room and she looked over at me and said, “ mom are you okay?” I ‘m fine now, but that sure was scary as hell.

Farts

O my goodness. I have proof that Duke ate the cookies, he is farting so bad and it smells like chocolate chip cookies. LOL. o my goodness. To bad there is no way to capture smell, or I would have an attachment to that. hehehehehe

Empty plate of cookies

Well, tonight I spent time with Mianna making Katie's Famous Cookies. While Hayleigh was here, she introduced us to her friend Katie’s famous cookies and man I’m so hooked on them. We didn't quite get the recipe the way we should have, but someone other than use, sure thought they were good and he has a full belly now. Can you guess whom I'm talking about? YUP, I left a paper plate of about 8 cookies on the table and I know I didn't eat them, and Rich went in the room to take and nap and Mianna is asleep. I found the paper plate on the floor by the coffee table and Mr. Duke is laying here with a big fat belly. O man, this boy must have eaten the entire plate of cookies. HEHHEEH. O man

Sailor of the month

Rich was chosen for sailor of the month and had to apear in front of a board of E9's tomorrow, so he is studying hard. here is he is in action.

Total lunar eclipse

I've been out taking picture of the moon. We are having a total lunar eclipse today. This is so cool.
Here are a few more pics of the moon.