Eastward Bound!

HAPPY EARTH DAY! What did you do to celebrate Earth day!? Don't worry, we didn't do anything either. But there is a festival at Mount Trashmore next weekend that we will be attending.

Well, lots going on this past week. Dave and I have been very good about going to church together, we are edging up on 6 weeks in a row! We go to a bible study on cults that is hosted at the church before the service. It's interesting; not organized as much as Dave and I would like, but interesting... an outline for the speaker would be helpful to everyone I think, but ohwell. Learning about lots of cults: Mormonism, ARE (Area of Research and Enlightment), which is based in VA Beach, LDS, FLDS (like the polygamy camp in Texas). We've also made some really great friends, too. And we're working on getting Greg and Becca to go with us too, fun times.

BIG NEWS: I bought a ticket to go see Diane, Scott, and the boys in Germany! And even better, it's SOON! I'm leaving May 5 and returning May 16. It will be sooo much fun to help her get boxes unpacked and help with the kiddos and provide some girl-time and sanity :) I'm super excited. I'll miss my boos at home, but it will be a good change for Dave to be here without me. I also got a good price on the ticket, which is good because airline ticket prices are expected to go up once the Delta NW merger is confirmed.

Dave and I went to a car show on Sunday hosted by NAS Ocean and Navy Federal. They had fields and fields of dealerships with allll these cars.. We aren't looking to buy, yet. We have to wait until we find out where we are going next. If we go to Japan, we can't take ANY cars, so we wouldn't want to buy a car and then have to get rid of it.

Sunday night, our friends from church invited us over for dinner. Katie and I have coffee together some times, and they have a 2 year old little girl, named Maya, who has red hair. (It seems like all the kids we meet have red hair... Is Someone trying to tell us something??) So we had a great time eating burgers, watching ducks and cats -- there were 8 baby ducklings!!!) Dave enjoyed getting to talk planes with Tom and Scott. And we noted their neighborhood for if we stay here and look to buy a house.

This past weekend, Cam's mom was in town and she had us over to Cam's new apartment for dinner along with Drew and Jeannette. We had a great dinner and enjoyed two games of Cranium and Trivial Pursuit Star Wars Edition. Its entertaining to see just how nerdy these boys are with Star Wars.

Sliderboo and I had a photoshoot together:







In other news, Becca and I went to the Central Library and got Library cards! We were totally overwhelmed, there are so many books! I got one on sewing machines and a good historical fiction book as well. Becca got some Ava books and some cookbooks. There were three rows of just cookbooks!

Dave's had events almost every day over the past ten working days... He's not as comfortable as he'd like to be (not yet at least) considering he could be put in the jet in the next couple of days! Eeek! But I remind him every time he gets bummed that he always as trouble at first and then when he gets it, he GETs it.

Dave and I are both VERY happy the Pennsylvania primaries are done. I'm soooooo tired of hearing about Obama's latest attack on Clinton, and Clinton's latest attack on Obama. Clinton just needs to suck it up and get out of the race before she does more damage to the democratic party. I think she's being selfish by not doing so. That's my soapbox.

I feel I should post a picture of Mav, just to be fair.



Well that's about all for now. Love to all.

Slider Sings

Slider is a vocal boo and this is what he has to say.

Westward Bound!

Happy birthday, Diane (April 9) and Happy birthday, Mommy (April 10)! I hope you both felt the love we were sending your way -- even acrossed the ocean -- on your birthdays! On Thursday I put a big package in the mail for Diane, and on Friday I drove up to Arlington to spend the night with mommy for her birthday. Sliderboo accompanied me to play with Doolin for the night a well. We had a great dinner at PF Changs, played with some Mary Kay color, watched a fun French romantic comedy (the Valet), and went to the farmer's market and AAUW book sale (where I found books on Elizabethan themes in literature and the Maria vonTrapp biography). On my way back down to VAB, I stopped in Richmond to visit former roommate Molly, and Amy. We had an awesome dessert (at 5pm) at CanCan... mmm creme brulee...

While I was busy doing all of this, Dave hosted a guys night at our apartment which included Cam Dave and Drew participating in RockBand, Halo and Seven-n-Sevens. They were considerate of our downstairs neighbors (who are moving out, btw) and padded the drum set so it didn't sound like they were jumping up and down every time Cam drummed. :)

In other news, Cam cooked Dave and I dinner on Thursday night, in thanks for our meals and beds while he has been waiting for his apartment to be ready (he moved in today!) He cooked a great meal - I forget what it was called, but it was a chicken-noodle-cheesey cassarole, with no onions because Dave's a baby. It was delish, and wonderful to have someone else working in the kitchen. :)

The other big news this week regards travel plans. I decided not to go to Phi Mu Convention in Orlando in June. Additonally, we bought plane tickets for Clif and Meg's wedding! We are suuuuper excited! Jeff's volunteered to give us a place to stay in his mini-mansion, and I'm even more excited because I've never been to the West Coast! And of course, the nuptials :) Plus Greg Valdez is going too so we'll have a travel buddy. Now let's just hope Dave leave gets approved......

The Job Front... Well after two weeks of silence, and me knowing I didn't get the job ant the Animal Hopstial, and me moving on and no longer wanting the job, what happens? They call and want a 2nd interview, of course! So I go, unsure if i really want to, but do because I said I would (by the way - they called at 1030am for a 220pm interview the same day.. should have been a sign...) So I go and meet with the head Dr... only to have him tell me I'm over qualified, blah blah blah. It wasn't a fun day, but I'm glad I had the chance to interview. Some of the questions would have put me off-guard if I'd been in any other setting. Such as: What did you like most about your favorite boss? Describe your least favorite boss. List three strengths and three weaknesses you have. Where do you see yourself in 18 months? And most importantly, I learned that when they ask about pay on applications, always put "Negotiable." Thanks Becca!

In FURTHER news, I've looked into ODU's grad school programs. They have an interesting program for MA. They off a MA in English - Teaching. So instead of getting a MA in Teaching with a concentration in English (which would be what I'd have should I get an MA in Teaching) I can get a MA in English with a concentration in Teaching which I think will work better for what I would want to teach - junior college/college level (maybe upper high school as well). So that's exciting. Good incentive to stay in the area three more years. But who knew taking a GRE prep course was $1200!!?! Really!?! Ugh.. So more challenges arise, as usual.

Slider had a bath this week. Mav played "Cat in a Box" and won't sleep on the pillow I made for him, and prefers Slider's pillows. Dave's had sims this week, and watch tomorrow (for almost 24 hours). He may be in a jet by next week!

Love to all.

Sliderboo: A short story.

A few weeks ago, Dave and Greg were playing the XBox. Annie was busy doing something online...probably researching airfare. As Dave and Greg are absorbed in killing things, and Annie is doing mental math, everyone's mind is very occupied. Eventually the droning sound of a car alarm fades into their peripheral hearing. As the sound continues, Dave comments, Who's the jerk that won't turn off their car alarm!? This has been going off for like 10 minutes!

Dave's outburst brings everyone to the here-and-now. As the math evaporates from Annie's head she notices Slider - or the lack there of. He's not at her feet. He's not on his bed. He's not under the table. Where is that boo?
Pan Left. Slider is in the sunroom. Chewing. Well that's not odd. As the car alarm continues to sound, Annie decides to investigate what Slider is so enthralled with. What's this?! Dave's remote unlock keypad!? SLIDER'S SETTING OFF THE CAR ALARM! Slider give me that! Annie wrangles the 1x2inch remote from Slider's jowls. Peering out the window, Annie can identify that it is indeed Dave's lights flashing, and therefore his car that is screaming at Banyan Grove for attention.
Aiming at the car, Annie clicks the lock-unlock buttons to shut off the alarm. In the wake, Annie, Dave and Greg remain astonished that Slider was the culprit, and Dave was infact the Jerk who's car alarm was going off.

As they all settle back into their zones, an alarm goes off again. Everyone stops, looking at each other. That can't be our car again, the remote is right here!? Annie looks out the window and confirms, it is our car! What!? She grabs the remote and clicks it off. Only to have spastic horn bursts. Slider goes to look out the window at his handywork, wanting to be involved. At this point Dave realizes Slider must have jammed the remote so that it permanently hitting something, therefore unable to be turned off completely. There is only one solution. Dave opens the closet by the front door. He quickly pulls out a small black box. He sets it on the counter. Annie Bring me the remote, he declares over the onking-horn. He opens the case and chooses his weapon as Annie places the remote next to him. The Hammer crashes down on the remote. Once. Twice. Three times. The remote splits open, batteries flying out.

Silence.

Slider wags his little tail.

I'm a Pilot, a Jet Pilot yeah...

Dave and I's new favorite YouTube video mainly because it's so true...

Uploaded photos...

I upload photos from my camera about once every couple months... here's a taste of what was on this batch.
MAV SNUGGLING WITH ME! Yes, he CHOSE to sit on me instead of Dave. I was shocked and Dave was bitter.
One of the spouses at VFA-106 has a 17 year old Potbelly pig as a pet, purchased in Kingsville! HA how appropriate. They got Ernie when he was a piglet because he was $500 cheaper than the mini potbellys.

Two weeks ago I attended Revealing at CNU! Here's a picture of my ever expanding Fishie Family! Lisa, Val, Jess, and Me!

Easter Daffodils.The winging cake I made for the Chocolate Lions in shape of a winged aviator's name patch.
A ROCKBAND jam session with Drew, Jeannette, and Cam, with Slider wanting to be involved as well