Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Christmas Traditions


For the last--oh, I don't know...twenty-six Christmases--I've given my children ornaments. Actually--I don't think it started off that way. In fact, I'm sure it didn't because we had to fill in a few early years for the girls. Okay, so not twenty-six years, although they do both have 1st Christmas ornaments, hand made by Mommy dearest.


My girls, especially my Brown-Eyed Girl for some reason, love this tradition. In the lean (and missing) years we've gone with hand made ornaments. In the more prosperous years, they've been store bought. Hallmark can always be counted for something cute. (Sonshine has an inordinate number of Scooby Doo ornaments...)

I love the tradition as well, although, I'm down to only Sonshine's ornaments and after this year, they'll be packed up separately for him to take. I'm really going to miss the mish mash and memories.

This year, I'm making ornaments again. It's a pretty lean year and I have what I need to craft and create.

So this year, more cross stitched ornaments...

 T for Tim...

I for Isabel, Tim's girlfriend...


They're not done yet. I'll trim them down and then affix some felt or something to the back to hide the stitching. The girls will both get one and I may just make an extra for myself.


What about you?? Do you have a favorite thing to collect at Christmas??




Monday, December 8, 2014

Congratulations, Sonshine!


Just sharing some images from Recruit Training Command Graduation, December 5, 2014...


Tim's division during Pass & Review.

Tim and I played a bit of peek a boo... If he saw me lean left to look at him, he fought his own smile. He's there, just to the left of the guy in the foreground.

 He also earned sharpshooter during weapons training.



In addition to spending his post-graduation liberty with him on Friday, we were at the airport at the same time (for a bit) on Saturday morning and got to spend another hour or so with him.




Too many goodbyes in a short amount of time, but with any luck, we'll be saying hello again shortly before Christmas. And now that he's out of boot camp, he can have a cell phone again, so I can reach out with a text at any time.


Friday, December 5, 2014

Anchors Aweigh!


Hello from North Chicago, Illinois once again...

Today, Seaman Recruit Sonshine officially becomes a member of the U.S. Navy.


I couldn't be more proud although the choice of the Navy still makes me scratch my head a bit... Seven members of our immediate family were or are in the Air Force. Sonshine's high school JROTC program was Army. Go figure. But I'm not complaining at all. And I digress...

Sonshine received his orders right before Thanksgiving, and after a thirty-day or so stint in Florida for a bit more basic seamanship training, Sonshine will be on his way to Bremerton, WA and be stationed aboard the U.S.S. Nimitz to take part in an apprenticeship program before he chooses his actual job track. At some point, he'll go back to "A" school to actually learn the job he decides he wants.

(Image courtesy Wikipedia)


Wednesday, December 3, 2014

So You Think You Want To Be a Hotelier, Part II


A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the show I'd been watching with DH--Hotel Impossible. Then I travel to Chicago and stay in a budget motel and, well, I bet you can guess...

Don't get me wrong--for the price, I knew what I was getting. The bed was comfortable and the location was perfect. But...

The room had been freshly painted as evidenced by the overwhelming odor upon opening the door. Of course, the fact that the heat was blasting probably didn't help, but considering the temperatures, I'm not really complaining. As a bonus, there was a microwave and a small fridge. I was close enough to the lobby to be able to get hot water from the industrial grade coffee machine any time I needed a cup of tea.

However, despite the fresh paint job, the room and the hotel cold use some updating and work. Other rooms were being worked on and maybe timing wasn't in the management's favor, but still, this was not acceptable.



Yes, those are unfinished cable boxes behind/between the TV cabinet and desk. In fact, I could see through that box on the right into the next room.

The outdated furniture and TV were tolerable, but there was no clock, alarm or otherwise. There was one picture over the bed; the rest of the walls were bare. Not that wall art is a necessity, but with the proximity to the base, they could have gone with a Navy or nautical color scheme and decorating theme for cheap.

The thing that got me the most however was the lack of precision or cleanup in the painting...



I'm sorry but, if I were paying someone--ostensibly a professional--to do this work then I want the best job done for my money. And if I were painting this myself, I'd do the very best job I could. In fact, I love to paint and decorate the rooms in my house and I gotta say, my living room looks way better than this.

Anyway--overall, my experience was fine, but the situation was too ironic to not do a followup post on.

What about you...do you sometimes imagine yourself as the proprietor of a hotel or B&B or restaurant and think, "I could do better than this."?


Monday, December 1, 2014

Looking good, Sonshine!


As you probably know, DH and I traveled to North Chicago, IL to see our boy for Thanksgiving. We picked up Tim and a division mate, Marcus, took them to a local super center and bought food then took them back to our hotel room for some down time. We just lounged around and talked and visited for the entire day. It was awesome to see Tim.

Of course, the end of the day came way too soon. I'm glad we hugged at the hotel before leaving as there seemed to be some sort of kerfuffle at the entrance gate, and even though we left early to get them back with plenty of time to spare, the boys ended up hopping out of the car and double timing it back to where they needed to be. We were lucky and really weren't that far from the gate, but there was a huge line of cars as we drove back to the hotel. I imagine many many of the recruits had to do the same.