Yesterday was our Pack's Blue and Gold - which is the big to-do at the end of the year when the boys earn their rank.  We always try to do it up right with Order of the Arrow (OA) Dancers and good food.

So, I thought I'd share a few pictures of my boy earning his Webelos rank.

And here is the whole pack

And here are the parents!

I'm proud of all the scouts for working so hard!

Until next time ~ Kris

Postcards from the Effinghamptons

By Kris - February 22, 2011 It's Tuesday which means it's time for Postcards from the Effinghamptons hosted by Jill over at Hagler Happenings.

Here are my postcards for the week.  As usual the whole college thing blows my mind!  Maybe sooner or later I'll figure out how to let the idiocy go.

And one more -

There you have it.  Link up and go visit Jill and see what everyone else is venting about!

I Miss My Bed

By Kris - February 21, 2011
For about two weeks I've been sleeping on the couch.  Not because we are fighting (yeah, I wouldn't sleep on the couch even if that was the case!), but because of the torturous illness that's been flinging around our house.

It started with Zach being sick, and I wanted to be close to him in case he needed me in the middle of the night.  Actually, during those times he slept on the couch and I slept in the recliner.  Wow, that makes for a long week!

Then I got sick.  Getting Erik sick is not an option, so I'm relegated to the couch.  Or the recliner.  Or anywhere I happen to fall asleep.

I can't wait until it's all over with so I can sleep in my bed again.

My Misguided Trip to Borders

By Kris - February 20, 2011
In our town, it's called Waldenbooks.  It's also the only bookstore in town.  And it's tiny.  Very tiny.  But sometimes they have what you need so I went over there today looking for another non fiction book about prison life.  Yeah, well, not so much.  I guess I will have to go to the 'big city' to find something like that! LOL

What I did find though were some awesome deals on books.  Remember I said they were tiny?  Yeah, well they have to make room for more new books!  That's my opinion anyway.  Plus I'm a Borders Plus member so I get an extra 10% off.

What did I score today?  Wonderful hardcover books for $5.99.  Yep, You read that right!  I did pay full price for one it's the next Big Nate book for Zach.  He's not a huge fan of reading so whenever he finds a series of books he's willing to sit down and read, I don't hesitate!

There is a moral to this story - my husband should never, ever let me go in a bookstore alone!

Until next time ~…

Saturday with Shel Silverstein

By Kris - February 19, 2011
Over on my reading blog the 30 days of Books prompt was favorite poet or collection of poetry.  I chose Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein.

I think people sometimes forget to be young at heart.  Shel was wonderful at writing poems to bring back the fun times.  Well, to me anyway.  So, I thought I'd share a couple of Mr. Silversteins poems with you today.

"A genuine anteater,"
the pet store man told me dad
Turned out it was an Aunt Eater
and now my Uncle's mad

Hug O'War
I will not play at tug o' war.
I'd rather play at hug o' war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles,
And rolls on the rug
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.

MilSpouse Fridays

By Kris - February 18, 2011 Time for the MilSpouse Friday Linkies

First up is Mil Spouse weekly round up.  This week it's hosted by Hillary at The Whole FamDamily.  People, if you haven't checked out her blog yet you must!  It's awesome, she's awesome.  Just do it - for realz folks.  I'm still not 100% clear on the directions (sometimes I'm slow) but this is my favorite post for the week - My Dream Place to Live.

The second linky is MilSpouse Friday Fill-In (#30 no less) hosted by Wife of a Sailor.  She asks the questions, you answer. it's fun.  You can learn a lot about your fellow bloggers, which is always uber nice. This weeks questions were all submitted by other MilSpouse Bloggers, which is also uber cool.

1. What is your favorite MilSpouse blog (not including Wife of a Sailor who we all love, or your own)?
Wow, I don't know if I have a favorite.  I read a lot of blogs, and I didn't even realize most of them were milspouses until after I started reading them.  I can't…

High School Memories

By Kris - February 17, 2011 Jill, over at Strawberry Freckles is hosting a high school memory link up.  The link is for a song that reminds you of high school.

Her song was popular waaay after I graduated - but that goes to show - bloggers are not bound by age groups, just the love of the same things.  That's why blogging rocks.  I love her song choice!

Anyway, I had to post the song that reminded me most of high school.  Believe me, there were a plethora to choose from - I graduated in '85 - we had some fantastic one hit wonders during the '80's!  We also had Duran Duran, Blondie, and the Culture Club.  *ahh, memories*

I didn't choose any of those people though.  Picked this one ~

If you've never enjoyed this song - please do so now!

Linkity link link up your fav high school song over at Jills!

My Little Man Today my little man turns 10.
I can't believe how fast the time has gone
It seems like only yesterday he was this big

and now he's this big

Where does the time go?

Science and School

By Kris - February 16, 2011
Remember Zach's Science Project?  Yep, he got a 98 on it!  I'm so proud of him!

Progress reports come out on Friday - I am sincerely hoping he's doing better in ELA.  After all the struggles I had writing my paper I believe I might have to be less demanding in the writing department.  That crap is hard!  Look, I thought I did a shit hot job and only got a 50 on my first draft.

Speaking of English - today I didn't get my final paper back, but I did get my peer reviews back.  I got a 99!  Since first drafts and peer reviews both count for 10% of my grade, I consider myself even again.  At least until I get that paper back!  What this proves - writing is hard - picking apart someones paper is easy.  Kidding, I actually had a hard time picking apart their papers, but you know, you gotta do what you gotta do.  Hopefully Friday we will get our papers back (fingers crossed!).

Math is, well, math.  Absolute value's kicked my butt.  So hard.  For the first time I got below…

What's on my Phone?

By Kris - February 15, 2011 I was going to include this with the postcard hop but I was running late for school this morning - so lucky you - you get two posts.

I will be nice though - I won't post two weeks of pictures!

Time to play

One of my old (not as in age - but in time knowing her!) friends came to our base for a few days.  I hadn't seen her since 2002!  We went out to dinner.

My son enjoying some nice weather.  And treating his "plushes" badly.  I think he bought them with his Christmas money, so whatev!

Messing around with my camera on science night

One I forgot from last month at our Cub Scout Campfire

And no week would be complete without my nephews

Click the button and link up y'all!!

Post Card Blog Hop It's Tuesday and time for Postcards from Effinghamptons.  You can get all the info on joining here.

So go to Hagler Happenings and do this thang!  It really is quite therapeutic!

It's been a rough week and sadly, my postcards reflect this

Hop on over to Jill's blog and check out the other hoppers!

Valentines Day

By Kris - February 14, 2011
We don't make a big deal out of Valentines Day.  I mean, we'll be married for 15 years next month, so really, I think we got the "I love you beary much" thing down.  Pat.  He is the love of my life, even though we're not all showy and telly about it.

He did ask me to marry him on Valentines Day 1995.  On bended knee, with a ring attached to a rose.  Very special and wonderful.

But every year we go through the "What do you want for Valentines Day?"  Me - "Nothing."  This year he even asked where he could find it and I told him on the corner of Nowhere and Hmm.

We just don't do Valentines Day.

But my husband is a romantic at heart, and it sucks that he fell in love with probably the one girl on earth who doesn't want flowers 'just because' or any of those sweet things.  True story - when we were dating he came down from Belgium to Germany for a weekend and when I came in from work there were flowers.  The first thing I said wa…

My Dream Place to Live

By Kris - February 13, 2011 Wow!  Where do I start with this one?  You'd think I could just say "oh I've always wanted to live ____" but I can't.  I'm a Navy brat with no roots, so I don't feel obligated to go someplace.  Which, by the way, is wonderful!  When I joined the AF I started looking at every place we lived as a possible "retirement" place.

I would like to live in Phoenix, AZ.  Not because I adore 120 degree heat (even if it's dry - ahem).  But I do adore my little nieces and nephews (and their mommy's and daddy's who are also my nieces and nephews and sister!!)  I've not met 4 out of the 8 kiddos at all and the last time I saw one was when he was about a week old at my older sisters funeral.  So we'll say 5 out of 8.  Also, I would love to live in AZ when the decide to secede from the USofA.  Don't think it will happen?  I wouldn't doubt if it does!  But if/when it does, I want to be where they are so I can see them without getting a …

About Birthday Parties

By Kris - February 12, 2011
First, yes, I did change my background.  It's just for the week though, since my baby boy will be 10.  I guess that means he's not my baby boy anymore.  Just my boy.  *sigh*

We've been planning a birthday party.  When we homeschooled we always took his birthday week off and went to DisneyWorld.  Our little vacay during a quiet time of the year.  It was lovely.  But now, well, we have to plan vacations around school, and he's definitely not out of school next week.  So, it's a birthday party.  At our house.

That's ok - as long as I can find Twister he'll be happy.  But now it's "who to invite".  My son is a wonderful little man, who chooses his friends very wisely.  Kind of like his mamma and daddy.  I knew he wasn't going to crazy and invite everyone from his class.  He'll tell you bluntly that he doesn't like everyone in his class so he doesn't need them to come to his party.  He does have his small group of friends thoug…

The Awesome Week that Wasn't

By Kris - February 11, 2011
I had such high expectations for the last five days   Really High
Monday started off gangbusters 48 out of 50 on my Sociology Test 100 on my math quiz (finally) Even the disturbing news that Erik would have to extend until Feb 2014 (he signed his GI Bill benefits over to Zach) couldn't disrupt this awesome blossom day
Tuesday started to slide I had a cool project set up for my Tigers that night but forgot all the stuff at home (thank God for my GS mom who brought her stuff!  You saved me "back up Miss Kris"!) I got word that my GI Bill was approved (don't know what I would have done if it wasn't!) Had so much trouble logging onto Blackboard that I didn't get my math homework until almost 11 pm  trust me, I wasn't doing 70 problems of math at 11 at night
Wednesday was wild (not really but I like alliteration) Got my first draft paper back - I got 50 out of 100.  WHAT?  Turns out that my formatting was somehow off and I ended up being short three lines - which is an au…

By Kris - February 10, 2011
When did it become acceptable to send your sick kids to school and get everyone else sick?

My little man got in the car yesterday after school and said "I don't feel good". In the whole five minutes it took us to get home he was running a fever and pale.

Now, rude parents, I'm trying to juggle school and a sick boy. After a rough night I made it to math class (thankfully my dearest was able to come home while I went to class). That's one class I really cannot afford to miss. But tomorrow, well, that's not going be so easy.

I have Sociology at 8 and English at 11. Dearest can only get home for one and I have to choose. I chose English because it's by far the class I struggle the most with. It was a hard decision because I LOVE Sociology. Weird, huh?

To top it off, now my little man is missing school - work that he will have to make up - so when he does get better, he will be unable to enjoy it because he'll be buried under work he missed.

By Kris - February 08, 2011 Dang - what a bitter disappointment I'm being this week.

First, still no Bubbleology Part 2 and now I'm not doing 'What's on my Phone'. Not that I don't love what's on my phone Tuesdays, or for that matter have some pretty good shots this week. Because believe me - I do! But I'm doing the post card blog hop this Tuesday.

"Why Kris? WHY???"

Well, because I'm not feeling very witty today - and since I already let my wit (and sarcasm) loose on these babies, this is what I'm sharing today.

I may just have to split my Tuesdays - we'll see.

At any rate - this is a post card blog hop. Where you get to vent at people and say things your may not usually say. It's hosted by Jill over at Haler Happenings. So check it out!

Meet Me on Monday

By Kris - February 07, 2011 This cool little link up is hosted by Java at Never Growing Old. She asks the questions.  We answer and get to know some fellow bloggers.  Fun!

This weeks questions:

My answers ~

1.  Yes, I did watch the Superbowl.  I didn't want to because Green Bay beat my Bears a couple weeks ago.  But I did want to see the Black Eyed Peas and the commercials.  Ah, at least the commercials didn't disappoint.

2. The last book I read was Breathless by Dean Koontz.  I liked it even though the ending was a little weird.

3. Hmm my favorite kind of cake - I don't think I have a favorite.  Um, if I had to actually pick I would probably say carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.  *yummo*

4.  I do snore.  Loudly.  So loudly that sometimes I wake myself up and I can't go to bed until after Erik has fallen asleep.

5.  I used to pl…

My Worst Depolyment Ever

By Kris - February 06, 2011
I know, everyone is waiting patiently for "Bubbleology Part 2" - or not.  But it's not today because lameo me still has to download the pictures.  But if you feel you can't wait until I get around to it check back on Tuesday since I did take some pictures with my phone.  Yep, you know how I am.

Today I decided to talk about my worst deployment ever.  Which wasn't when I was deployed (although that stunk), but of course it was one of Erik's deployments.  Erik always deployed a lot more than I did when I was active duty.  Perhaps it was the job, who knows?

And before you think "Is there such a thing as a good deployment?", I want to say no, I don't think there is.  But there are deployments that are higher on the crap-meter than others.

Before we got stationed here in SC we were stationed in Washington State at Fairchild.  No friggin' exaggeration - I saw my husband less than two years of the four we lived there.  He was always deployed.  But…

Bubbleology Part 1

By Kris - February 05, 2011 My son has always loved science.  I wish I had the same love of science that he does, but alas, I'm more of a Social Studies kind of mom.  What can you do?

When Zach was in 2nd grade I started homeschooling him.  I was at a loss as of what to do, really I was, but then I happened across a hands on unit called 'Bubbleology'.  Science and bubbles.  OK, I figured I can do this, he loves both those things.

Here are some pictures from that long ago unit study -

Needless to say it was a hit and probably my first actual success as a homeschooler!

But why am I talking about this?  I mean, really, he's in 4th grade now - ya know?  Quit living in the past and stuff.  But it comes full circle (as life tends to do - so bear with me).

This past Thursday was Science Night at Zach's school.  The theme of this science night was, can you guess?  Yep Bubbleology!

I took a ton of pictures (um as usual) but they still need downloaded.  Today I got a message on my FB that said "Za…

MilSpouse Friday Fill-in #29

By Kris - February 04, 2011
Wife of a Sailor hosts this MilSpouse linky party and I thought I'd give it a whirl today.

Question 1: Since most of the country has had nasty weather, what has your weather been like this week?

Well, it's been rainy and ranging from the 40's to the 70's.  The day of the big "snowmageddon 2011" this is what my son was doing after school.  It's from my phone so please excuse the quality!

Question 2: What is/are your best money saving tip(s)?

Hmm I'm not the best at saving money.  We don't live close to anything like Sam's Club or Costco.  I usually just take coupons for the things we need when I go grocery shopping and I always try to use the commissary.

Question 3: What was your favorite vehicle you've ever owned?

Wow, another toughie, because I'm not a vehicle person.  I own them, I drive them, but I'm not all crazy about them - know what I mean?  I would guess it would have to be the 1996 Chevy Cavalier I owned.  It was purple and a…

Embrace the Camera 2/3/11

By Kris - February 03, 2011 Woo Hoo!  It's time to

So, without further ado - here is my embrace for the week:
seriously, isn't this the dorkiest set of dorks you've  ever seen?  We are even wearing the same shirts!
Thanks Andy for the photography skills!
Now, go get your embrace on
And don't forget to link up with Emily
and spread some embrace love
You know you want to
so do it already

I finally figured it out

By Kris - February 02, 2011
Not "it" per say because I'm not sure what that is
but IT - the reason for my math frustration

So, in honor of my 'lightbulb' moment, I wrote a letter to math professor
Because I'm border-line failing at this point and would hate to piss him off in person!

Dear Mr. Latin-American Math Professor,

I don't hate math.  I don't even really hate you.  Because hate is a strong word and should be used sparingly - and there's a list of things about you that should bother me, but don't.

Like: the way you say 'sits' when you say 'sets' - I get that.  I know what you're talking about, and I've been places other than SC, so I've heard some accents!  Your accent actually makes the class more interesting.  When I say 'equation' it doesn't have the same ring - for sure.

Like: the fact that you love math; which honestly, I don't get.  At all.  But you like it enough to want to teach it to people who don't get it and w…

Two posts in one day?

By Kris - February 01, 2011 Um yeah,
but I had to do this one

I found it here at Hagler Happenings and it seems really fun
and a good way to vent

There is even a little button
Which I somehow can't make work
I know how to do it - I'm just having issues at this particular moment

Go check it out - it's quite fun to get stuff off your chest!

Here is my postcard for the day:

And I promise - no more posts until tomorrow!

What's on Kris' Phone 2.1.11 A month into 2011 already, hmm
and another side note - it seems like my pictures are turning into those little boxes with question marks can anyone help me figure out what that's all about?
Now, onto

"Hey Kris, what kind of crap is on your phone this week?" 'I'm so glad you asked!'

this is the free book I got for joining a reading challenge this year
kind of awesome that it was free kind of creepy cover

goldfish that Zach found in the box
he thought it was cool that they were baked together
and no - his finger isn't bruised
he had a run in with a marker at school
his nails could stand to be cut though

Call Grissom
'cuz I want to know what this bug is
they hang out by my garage
and make a loud crunching noise when you step on them

this is on the bathroom mirror at the University
really? We're college students, right?
that's what I thought

This cutie here is not my actual nephew
but he plays one on TV
No he doesn't
he's my friends son
and you'd …
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