Japan!

So our family has started a new adventure in Misawa, Japan!  We are currently living on Misawa Air Base, in Misawa Japan.  Japan is a beautiful country with lots of things to see and do. I will try to keep this blog updated with our fun travels and pictures.  Here are a few to start with:

Steak flavored Doritos?  They have some of the weirdest flavors and combinations of flavors I have ever seen before!  Someone mentioned they had seen Pepsi flavored Cheetos the other day....not so sure about that one :/

The Japanese are kind of obsessed with Kit Kats, so far I have seen strawberry, green tea, and we are currently looking for the rumored pumpkin flavored ones!  I love pumpkin flavored anything.  Adam has taken a liking to the many cream filled pastries they have here, I haven't taken any pictures yet though.  They are quite delicious!  

This is the building you will see directly out the front gate, we haven't been to it yet, but it looks interesting.  During the day the street in front of it is one way, but after 10 pm it turns into a two way street for some reason.  Not quite sure why though.  

Some random road signs, it's a little disconcerting to not be able to read what they say, but common sense tells you what most of them are.  Adam and I both took a short course to obtain our Japanese drivers license, cars drive on the left side of the road here, and the steering wheel is on the right side of the car-crazy!  On base, you can go LEFT on red.  Adam has done most of the driving, he's pretty much a pro at it, just like everything else ;) I have driven a few times, and it's not as horrible and scary as I thought it would be.  You have to be much more aware of your position on the road, I've almost hit the curb a time or two.  Off base driving is different than on base, the streets are narrow and tiny, everyone's cars are much smaller, and the signs are different too.   

Well, that's all I've got got now, just little snippets of our everyday lives, I've been keeping a written journal also, and this weekend the kids will start theirs.  Hopefully this weekend we will do some more off base exploring, maybe some apple picking, or something else fun.  I will update next week.

Faith

I was thinking on my way home from work tonight about the amount of faith we put in people. Sometimes it's blind faith, sometimes absolute faith, conditional faith, but we have a lot of faith nonetheless. Then when those people let us down or don't do what we expect, we are disappointed. Why is that?
I mean really, one person is just that-ONE person.
I was listening to a news story on NPR about how an advisor to the president was stepping down on my drive home. They mentioned how they were surprised he was stepping down, because he had only been in his position for a year. Then they mentioned that he had not seemed ho really "fit in" and that parts of his job had been delegated to someone else. Why are they surprised he is stepping down? They took away part of his responsibilities and gave them to someone else who "fit in" better!
I mean really, what did they expect?! Duh.......

Well, here is a photo I recently took of Anthony in a tree at Herman Park. I messed around with an app called Snapseed. I think it turned out cool.

I've got lots more on my mind right now, but I've also got to go to sleep. Blech, priorities......

Need To Blog....

OK, so sometimes I just have this NEED to blog.  Luckily for me, today was a day when I felt this need, AND I was in the reach of a computer.  My friend and I did ALL of our visiting teaching this week!  It feels good to have it all accomplished and to know that our sisters are well taken care of.  Visiting with one sister today made me realize that I'm still interested in getting my degree in nutrition!  I'm going to look at my options.  I wish so much that I had been smart and gotten all of my education out of the way early, so now I could be working.  BUT, I had to be difficult and different, so, I'm paying for it now.  But I appreciate education so much more now than I did when I was younger.  So I guess it all evens out.....

And guess what I got in the mail today....dun dun dun....

woo hoo!  A Sam's Club gift card for the promotion that they are putting on with General Mills and MyBlogSpark!  Yay!   I'm excited.  I love the color pink to begin with, so October, I am in HEAVEN with pink this pink that for breast cancer month!  Did I mention I LOVE pink?  Why yes, I think I may have.  So this month, even my food is going to be dressed up in pink to support breast cancer research and survivors!  Has anyone ever dealt with this issue before?  I, luckily, have not had to.  I do remember being very young and my mom having a "scare", but it turned out to be nothing bad.  thank goodness for that.  Hopefully I will never have breast cancer or my friends or family will also never be affected with it, but according to the most recent statistics, 

1 in every 8 women

will be affected at some point in their lives.  How scary is that!  good thing that General Mills, Sam's Club, and MyBlogSpark have partnered together to support research, and also care for those who can't afford it.  

For 5 years, General Mills has partnered with  the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Foundation to bring  breast cancersupport to local communities, and this year  they are making their annual donation of $2 million  to the foundation to advance breast cancer research  and support education and community outreach projects. Purchase specially-marked General Mills products  like Cheerios and Fiber One 90 Calorie Brownies  at your local Sam´s Club and help decide  how half of that contribution will be donated by  voting at PinkTogether.com from now until April 14, 2012. General Mills´ donations will be divided  between two important Komen programs:  the Treatment and Assistance Program,  which assists women in securing care  they otherwise may not be able to afford,  and Prevention Research,  which helps unlock the keys to preventing breast cancer.  Voting results will be announced on Mother´s Day 2012. Pretty amazing that you get to choose, also!  I love it!

Guess what else, though.  Someone very lucky who reads my blog will also win a $25 gift card to Sam's Club, so you can buy your own pink boxes and drool over them!  You lucky ducks!  All you have to do is:

1) go to https://www.facebook.com/samsclub Sam's Club's Facebook page and "like" them, then come back to me and leave a comment telling me you liked them,

then,

2) go to http://www.facebook.com/pinktogether?sk=wall Pink Together's Facebook page and do the same thing!  Just leave me a comment when both of those are done.  Then you are entered!  Yay for easy!  I will draw a winner on October 1st (to celebrate the start of pink month!).  So you have until the end of this month to enter.  Good luck!

And if you have any stories you'd like to share, feel free :)

Thursday's are great!

Well, I haven't posted a new blog in a long time.  I get all these ideas all swirled up in my head that I want to blog about, but I usually forget them five minutes later!  Anyone else have that problem?

Time for another school year to start!  The boys are in kindergarten and second grade, and they both enjoy their teachers and their classmates.  They have a new principal at their school this year, which is exciting.  New principals usually bring big changes, which their school is in need of.

I had been planning on taking a Nurse Aid I course at the local community college, but missed a deadline for paperwork (grr, still mad about that one!), so I'm taking it as a sign God wants me to do something else right now, and trying to figure out what that something is.  I will defintiely start working SOMEwhere, even if it's just part-time.

Ironic, I was just typing about jobs, and as I was typing a second ago I got a call from "American Income Life Insurance" company, wanting me to go interview in Raleigh on Monday.  I said yes, but after reading all sorts of negative reviews online, I will be calling back and cancelling.  Plus I can't drive to Raleigh every day!  Crazy people.....

I've decided that I LOVE Pandora radio.  I listen to the Mercy River channel and the Boyce Avenue channel the most.  I love Mercy River!  They are LDS musicians and their songs are so pretty.  I put it on Pandora and the whole house just seems much more peaceful.  until hubby comes home and says "turn off the music!!!".  Grrr.  Buzzkill....lol.  The only thing I don't like is the fact that some old neighbors of ours in Mississippi used to have a dog named Pandora, and when I think of the word pandora, all I can hear is the woman next door yelling "Pandora!" in a heavy Russian-type accent.  SOOO annoying.  But I can get over it.  It adds such a pleasant soundtrack to my days.  And it actually makes me want to clean, which is AH-mazing.  Anything that makes me want to clean is AH-mazing, lol!

Hubby's mom just sent me a crazy video on Facebook that I will share here:

Crazy New York Weather

Scary huh!  This is from all the horrible flooding.  That waterfall would normally be a serene, gentle trickling waterfall, I think.  Yikes.

Well, I've got to get on with my chores, cleaning house and other horrible things :-/

Blech.  Have fun everyone!

P.S.-Let me know if you can't see the video, I don't know if it will show it to everyone since it's from Facebook.

Updates...

Wow!  Has it really been almost three months since I've posted?!  I guess life got in the way like it always does!  Since I've last posted....

• I graduated and recieved my certificate in phlebotomy (blood drawing) -yay me!
• LKS graduated from her program and recieved her degree - yay LKS!
•  We've had 4 visits from family
• My house got really messy (okay, it's always been messy, lol)



Lots more has happened, but I can't think of it all right now.  The kids and I just returned from a LONG, fun, LONG, exciting, did I mention LONG, weekend in Pennsylvania at Blue Knob State Park on Monday.  Me and my kids; Leah, Gene and Sarah; Matthew, Taya, and their kids; Dad and Kay; Gramma Baldwin; and Mom and Tim all went camping together.  Yup, two sets of divorced and remarried parents who hadn't seen eachother in oh.....eight years or so, and my Dad and Kay, and Gramma, had NEVER met Tim.  Considering that fact (yikes!), it was a really fun time and I'm so glad we went.  The kids all got a chance to hang out together, and mommy had a chance to relax and not worry about both boys 24-7.  Yes, there were many awkward moments, but isn't life all about those awkward moments? 

No??  Oh. 

Oh, well....lol!

So now that I have mountains and MOUNTAINS (there literally is a mountain of clothes right now in my laundry room!) of laundry to do, what did I decide to do instead?  fart around on the computer, yeah!  That's a good idea.  Maybe not.  I hear the laundry calling my name.  I think it's actually starting to creep out of the laundry room, slowly so I won't notice of course, and wind itself around my legs.  Ok, laundry, OK!  I'm COMING!  Sheesh, that laundry is impatient.  Alright, blogging can wait, back to real life. 

No fun.  But here's some fun pictures!  And oh yeah, I turned 29 again-hah!