5 on Friday

--ONE--

Hooray, the last day of January is HERE!!! January is the worst, isn't it? I feel such a sense of relief when February 1st arrives. I'm usually so surprised at how fast time passes when a month is over, but not with January. That being said, I will be really sad if we don't get just a little bit more snow. It turns out I appreciate the seasons more than I thought I did.

--TWO--

Todd won a couple awards recently that are very exciting -- Squadron Field Grade Officer of the Year and Operations Group Field Grade Officer of the Year. I am SO PROUD of him I can't stand it! He is now competing for FGO of the Year at the wing level. We find out in one week who won at the Annual Awards Ceremony and I am so excited and anxious all at the same time! It's a formal event and I can't wait for a night on the town to celebrate his accomplishments!

--THREE--

I spotted this glow axe at Wal-Mart this week. What in the world? Necklaces, bracelets, rings, sunglasses...and an axe???

--FOUR--

I watch a lot of reality TV. A LOT. The newest show I'm obsessed with -- Wahlburgers.



Let me state for the record that Joey was always my favorite New Kid. Donnie was a little old and raunchy for young and impressionable me. I like him better as an actor -- did you see Band of Brothers? He was almost unrecognizable. However, I am completely fascinated by the Wahlberg family, especially Mark. That guy is so disciplined it's crazy. The way he has turned his life around from a teen gangsta (for real), to Marky Mark, to a legit actor and producer with a wife and family amazes me. Dear Marky Mark -- please write a book because I would read it immediately.

--FIVE--


Photo courtesy abc.go.com

I'm a little late to the game on this one, but another new show obsession is Shark Tank. I went to go visit some family in Utah a couple weeks ago and my SIL and BIL are hooked on this. Thanks to them, now we are too. It inspires me to start a business until I remember that I don't have any original ideas of my own.

5 on Friday

--ONE--

The bottoms of our trees are somewhat scarce, considering we have a toddler. I only put a few near the bottom, and even those are ones that are either not breakable or ones I don't have an emotional attachment to. I have to say, Scarlett has been pretty good about the ornaments. She generally doesn't try to touch them or pull on them. 

Except for these three:

This is a felt stuffed Santa that Scarlett is totally obsessed with. She calls him "Ee-ha." 

This is one of my childhood ornaments and hangs next to Ee-ha. She points at it and says "cookie, cookie" over and over again.

 And this is a sparkly hot pink ball ornament on the candy tree. It is surrounded by brightly colored fake candies, yet this one is her favorite. She insists on grabbing it and throwing it as much as possible. It was off the tree for a day, and when I put it back up, she immediately saw it and ran straight for it.

--TWO--

My sisters introduced me to Chick-Fil-A mayonnaise. Oh.my.word. it is so good. It's the best mayo I've ever had.

--THREE--

Have you had Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Peppermint Crunch? Keeping this in my freezer is so dangerous.

--FOUR--

If you're looking to buy me a Christmas present, I recently discovered these hilarious embroidery hoops and I want them all. There are music lyrics, Liz Lemon quotes, Sheldon Cooper quotes, Clueless quotes, even Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead quotes! So awesome!

--FIVE--

The Air Force announced yesterday that it would go through a reduction in force process in 2014. Basically, a bunch of people will be losing their jobs next year, both voluntarily and involuntarily. 

http://www.airforcetimes.com/article/20131211/CAREERS/312110025/15-year-retirements-enlisted-retention-boards-coming-next-year

This means the next several months are going to be full of a lot of uncertainty for most of us in the Air Force. Thanks Congress. Merry Christmas to you too.

5 on Friday

--ONE--

Remember Halloween when we were kids? Maybe you had a party at school to dress up for, but really Halloween night was the big event.

Halloween afternoon and 50 cent corn dogs at Sonic

Not anymore. The festivities started almost two weeks before Halloween at a friend's Halloween party. The week of Halloween was out of control. We went to two trunk or treats, the fall festival at MDO, had some friends over for pumpkin carving, went to the squadron adult Halloween party, and don't forget Halloween night itself. That doesn't count the squadron's kids Halloween party or the two Halloween-themed play groups we missed that week. I was so exhausted by Halloween night I couldn't even muster the energy to get into costume. I trick or treated in my sweats and a tshirt.

Nifty Fifties Fall Festival at MDO

Ward Trunk or Treat

Todd had to fly on Halloween night so I took Scarlett to two houses and then called it quits. She had just figured out that it was candy they were dropping into her bucket so she insisted on sitting in the middle of the road and eating it right there. She refused to walk to the next house and I was not in the mood for a fight, so we went home to watch Monsters, Inc. and pass out candy. It was actually pretty fun.

Off to trick or treat!

Adult squadron party

--TWO--

Scarlett hated her bows for the longest time. She could never leave them on for longer than 2 minutes. So imagine my surprise last week when she started asking for bows after she got dressed in the morning. 

She not only asks for her bows, but she insists on picking them out. 

And sometimes she needs more than one bow. Such a diva.

--THREE--

Last week we got Chinese food and this was Scarlett's fortune. I think it's a pretty good life lesson.

Be bold, brave and forthright and the bold, the brave and forthright will gather round you.

Perhaps proper punctuation was lost in the translation.

--FOUR--

I love these. A lot. I could eat the giant Costco bag in one sitting. There was safety in the fact that I couldn't get them anywhere in Altus. Then I happened upon them one day in the commissary. 

The temptation is just too much.

--FIVE--

I am in desperate need of a new camera, preferably point and shoot. My camera broke so I'm taking all my pictures on my phone. I've been reading reviews but let's be honest, I have no idea what any of the mumbo jumbo means. If you have a suggestion for a good point and shoot that takes decent movies and has wi-fi capability, let me know!

5 on Friday

--ONE--

I had a birthday! I am now 34! That is terrifying. We spent the weekend in St. Louis with some of our favorite people. The day of my birthday was Sunday, which is nice and blah at the same time. But we had delicious smoked meats and a birthday cake, followed by girl time with a couple of my besties and popcorn and Sister Wives. Success!

--TWO--

Remember this post? I got the beautiful cookie jar! Hoorah!

I came home from a Walmart trip to find Todd making gingersnaps to fill the cookie jar. 

Happy birthday to me!

--THREE--

I also got the greatest invention in kitchen appliances -- the Whirley Pop. With my 52" tv, Amazon Prime and Netflix, and delicious movie theater-style popcorn, I will never leave my house ever again.

--FOUR--

Happy Fall Y'all! Can you even read that banner? I don't think I can.

Over the last couple of months I've gotten more involved with the Altus Spouses Club on base. Last night was our monthly social, planned by yours truly. People decorated table centerpieces with a fall theme and then we voted for Best Theme and Best Decorated. As the party planner, I didn't want to compete, but I also didn't want to miss an opportunity to decorate. My original plan was to do a football table, but somebody else was already doing that, so I opted for Plan B. I have loads of pumpkins, so I created a pumpkin patch. I love my pumpkin with lights. It's always my favorite.

--FIVE--

Ahoy me hearties! Yesterday was also International Talk Like a Pirate Day! I never remember until halfway through the day, so I hurriedly tried to get pictures of Scarlett before naps. As always, the necklace was her favorite accessory. I tried to put the hook on her hand and she freaked out.

Yarr matey! She be walkin' t' plank!

5 on Friday

--ONE--

One afternoon I was putting Scarlett's leftovers away when I noticed this:

I swear the matching is not on purpose. What is wrong with my subconscious?

--TWO--

This was Todd's fortune when we went to get Chinese for dinner the other night. How is this a "fortune"?

--THREE--

We went to the Jackson County Fair last weekend. Scarlett petted a cute pony, we saw some rabbits, walked around some booths, and left. The whole adventure took around 20 minutes.

--FOUR--

Source: Library of Congress

September 11 was this week. Am I the only one who actually enjoys the September 11th coverage in the days leading up to the anniversary? I think so, because this was the first year I noticed there wasn't as much on TV as in years past.

My September 11th story -- I was in my first year of law school and ran into a friend as I walked out of my Constitutional Law class. She told me there were planes "dive-bombing" the World Trade Center and nobody knew who it was. I went to the computer lab to get on the internet to see what was going on, and then I just decided to go home because I had a long break. After the towers collapsed another friend from school who was also my neighbor stopped by my house to tell me classes were cancelled for the rest of the day. My roommate and I just sat at home and watched tv all day and all night. 

Law schools typically use the Socratic Method as a form of teaching, which means instead of a lecture, you get called on directly to answer a barrage of questions. My Constitutional Law professor gave us three free passes to use at any time in the semester -- you signed a piece of paper as you came in saying you didn't want to be called on that day. The morning of September 12 almost the entire room got up to sign the paper because nobody had done their reading. Of course, my professor knew this would happen and he postponed our lesson for the day. We basically had a discussion on war powers and what could/would happen next. I don't remember any of it and I'm pretty sure I took crappy notes.

When I say almost everybody got up to sign the paper -- I was not one of them. I spent the entire class period on September 10 at the podium answering questions, so I was hedging my bets that because it was the beginning of the semester, there were still lots of people to call on and he wouldn't call on me again until he got through them. Hey, I wasn't going to waste a perfectly good free pass if I didn't need to. #lawstudentproblems

--FIVE--

My birthday is on Sunday! Happy birthday to me!

5 on Friday: Birthday Edition

It's my birthday month! As my birthday is in 9 days, the 5 things I've been thinking about the most are the top 5 things on my wish list. Here are they (in case you're interested). 

--ONE--

Have you seen the Happy Everything plates from Coton Colors? Now they have cookie jars. They are functional -- as they hold cookies -- as well as fashionable as they display cute holiday attachments year round. I am loving the big black and white polka dot jar...

--TWO--

Obviously I need some cute attachments to display on my cute cookie jar, such as this...

...or this...

...or THIS.

--THREE--

Did you know I have a Silhouette Cameo? Did you know I am OBSESSED with my Silhouette Cameo?  Sometimes I take it with me on vacay so I don't lose a minute of important crafting time. Unfortunately, I don't have a great way to conveniently transport my beloved, so I am in desperate need of this:

--FOUR--

I have been carrying the same Vera Bradley tote (as my "diaper bag") since June 23, 2012 (the day we brought Scarlett home from the hospital). The fact that I've been carrying the same bag for almost 15 months is SHOCKING. Nobody is more stunned by this than my husband. Maybe you haven't seen my stockpile of bags that I have on rotation. I love a tote, always have, even if I have nothing to carry in it, but somehow my other totes aren't QUITE big enough for the menagerie of toys and snacks that must be with me at all times. I think after 15 months of commitment that I deserve something a little different.

If I could have any bag I ever wanted, it would be a beautiful Coach tote in red or yellow. Something like this:

However, something is happening to me because I would also die for this:

But at $798 it's never going to happen.

So back in the real world, I would be happy with this Fossil Sydney Shopper in yellow:

--FIVE--

TECHNICALLY, I told Todd he never had to buy me another present ever again because he gave me a day all to myself on Labor Day. He took Scarlett to his brother's house all day on Labor Day and I was alone in my house left to do whatever I wanted. I cleaned and organized all on my own time and in my own manner, without my munchkin destroying everything behind me. It was magical. 

Of course, this is my dream list. In my dream world, should he ever feel inclined to give me a day all to myself ever again, he could also send me off with gift cards to Dillard's, Target, or the Enchanted Door (my fave cute little store here in Altus).

Happy birthday to me!