Jon versus the Sheets... the final showdown?

We decorated for Christmas a week before Thanksgiving, but it was a secret. Now that it's Christmastime, I can revel in the decorations publicly. So, above is my revelry. I found those ornament placecard-holders at Pier 1 Imports last year and waited until they were 75% off to snag them. They like living in my house and holding up Christmas story-inspired phrases.

A note about the title:

Jon has never gotten along well with sheets. Most of the time, I shamefully admit, we sleep without a top sheet, because they always (I'm not kidding - always) end up on the floor, in a bundle, on his side of the bed. I'm lucky if there's still duvet left by morning. His mobility-while-slumbering issues extend to all sheets. When I awake, the bottom corner of the fitted sheet on his side of the bed is usually un-fitted from around the mattress and is curled up around the mattress pad on top of the top sheet-less, duvet-less bed.
At Linens 'N Things the other day I purchased some sheet holders that claimed victory over restless sheets. I was doubtful, but for a dollar and change (thanks to the 60% off), I was willing to try.
As you can see for yourself, they seem to have been telling the truth. Only time (two more nights, perhaps) will tell if they can take the long-term attack, but I do believe my fitted sheets will live a longer, happier life where they belong. Which would be ON the mattress and UNDER the couple sleeping in the bed.Please forgive the mess. I couldn't very well make the bed and still prove the efficacy of the gadgets.

FourThousand Words - (plus captions)

Some old pictures for the brother on deployment who cannot log into facebook (what is the AirForce thinking, blocking facebook?)

First we have the siblings in Colorado:


Second in line is the dog in dad's bed and dad in the dog's bed.
Next up, Me & the best friend in St. Augustine.
Then we have the girls two nights before my wedding:
How was that, Broseph?

Pre-Thanksgiving Sappiness

I have admitted sappiness and now I also admit that this thought was inspired by a youtube video of Il Divo singing "Amazing Grace" with bagpipes. (Bagpipes, I might add, are a big deal where I come from.) With that in mind, please enjoy the emotionality of a little housewife and know that you've been warned.

So here's something about faith in Christ that has always kinda struck me: It's meaningful at all volumes. My redemption and the realization that I'm free and unconditionally loved inpsire great "HALLELUJAH!"'s and passionate, full song, sung at the top of my lungs. It also inspires a deep need to sing quietly, eyes closed - this faith and freedom is so intensely personal and true that to fully appreciate it's depth, a realization of my smallness has to occur.

The words of the Bible, of "Amazing Grace" and "In Christ Alone" will always be true. No matter what volume they're sung at, whether the voice be old or young, reverent or mocking. The Truth remains unchanged and unchanging. And it's that very solidity that make it so versatily inspiring.

That is pretty amazing. It's the little things that dispell doubts.


"...No guilt in Life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me.
From Life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand.
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I stand."

Sand Burs, Jet Fuel and a Piece of Cake

Today, VT-3, Jon's training squadron held a Taxi Day for the wives/mothers/little sister's of the students. They let us taxi (drive around) (but not fast enough to go airborne) the T-34's. Sarah Scott and I were taxi buddies, because we were practically the only ones without our husbands there to guide us through the whole process ("The Buckle has FIVE points? I push WHICH buttons? Is this a sand bur on my seat?").

The reasons for our forced independence were as follows: Mike (he belongs to Sarah) had a solo flight, which got canceled anyway and Jon (he belongs to me) was leaving for his cross country flights and had to brief and fly away during the event.

Here are pictures, with which I will explain some important things about Taxi Day.
First of all. We wore our husband's flight suits. This entirely explains the above picture. I originally intended on writing more, but I don't even want to comment. This is what I would look like in Munchkin Land, though. See? There I go commenting. I didn't mean to do that.

In light of the last picture, I thought I should add this one, so my adorable, flowery flats would show. I wore them on purpose, un-flight-like and impractical, though they may be, because I KNEW I would tromping around in Jon's flight suit all day and I wanted a touch of the feminine.

Let it be noted, lest any skeptical mind should think otherwise, I adore my husband's height and breadth and I appreciate his larger-than-me-ness VERY much. I find him irresistible. It is only inconvenient when I attempt to wear his flight suits, which are baggy, even on him. However, it is during times such as these, when I also appreciate my cute shoes.

This is me getting out of the plane, which I had just taxied. By myself. For AT LEAST several minutes of the 15 minute taxi. Please note the grin. I am thinking how cool I am.

Also worthy of mention, apparently my torso is longer than most, because my helmet got stuck on the canopy when I was trying to open it. And close it. My big head kept getting in the way and I'd fall forward or backward, depending on which way I was attempting to move the canopy.

Sarah displays her excitement through the only visible parts of her: her happy hands and grin.

I FOUND JON!!!!! He was on his way to his brief in the line shack, when I was, by God's super-duper plan, on my way to the wife-holding-area FROM the line shack. I was so excited to see him for the following reasons: 1) I just really like him and like seeing him any old time. 2) I was glad that the other flight suit-clad women would know that I HAD a husband and I was not an impostor. 3) I wanted a kiss. Which I got, once Jon made sure no one was looking. Isn't he handsome?

And that was taxi day. We also got hot dogs and Cheetos. And cake. Those were very nice, too, but not picture-worthy.

Thank you, Sarah for being my Taxi Buddy!

My Socks are White and Purple

I've been thinking about this off and on for a couple weeks now (So I thought about it like 4 times, including right now. That's what "off and on" means for me. And just so you know, "The other day" refers to any time within the past 9 months.) . Here is a list of things I'll never get over or get used to:

1) True worship
2) Anything to do with soldiers/sailors/pilots going off to war
3) The cuteness of babies and puppies
4) The taste of a good cheesecake
5) Watching people I love mourn
6) Christmas music
7) The faces Jon makes to make me laugh
8) The stop-breathing-beauty of a Bach sonata or the banjo playing Amazing Grace
9) The safeness of being held by my husband
10) The lyrics to In Christ Alone
11) My Salvation


Given time, I may edit that list, but it looks pretty complete to me right now.

Now I want cheesecake...

Atl-aunt-a

Aunt Sara was in Atlanta visiting her friends Kristina and Kevin, and their new little one, Anna Kate this past weekend, so I drove up for a couple days to visit. It was SO fun! We got lots of time to catch up and stayed up late gabbing. It was quite refreshing (and VERY cold for my Florida-accustomed rear!)
Here we are, looking a bit unsure, since my camera did not take a perfect picture on the first snap and we were waiting for it to obey. It did not comply.

This is precious Anna Kate (4 weeks old). Unfortunately, this is the only picture I got of her and she's sleeping. Take my word for it, she is simply beautiful.

Awkward foot-in-my-mouth comment of the weekend:

Kristina: I gained like 28 pounds with her ((talking about Anna Kate)).

((What I meant to say: Well aren't you supposed to gain between 20 and 30? That's a healthy amount of weight to gain over the course of a pregnancy, so it seems you did well. ))

What I ACTUALLY said: Aren't you only supposed to gain 20?


*sigh*

Big Fat Copycat, Give a Dog a Bone

So I read the MoneySavingMom blog, like a ton of other people and I recently saw a post recommending the use of swagbucks as a search engine. Apparently, you earn points for regular searches that you'd normally make on google or yahoo or whatever. Since swagbucks searches use Google (which I use pretty much exclusively) and Ask.com to find stuff, it seems to be essentially the same as using google. You can redeem the "bucks" you earn for using swagbucks as your search engine to get $5 gift certificates to Starbucks or Amazon. There are more places, too, but they require more swagbucks. I'm cheap, so I'd go for the Starbucks or Amazon.

Now, I do not want to be one of those people who puts up posts about "amazing deals" simply for their own benefit, so I'll be honest, if you click this link to swagbucks, I apparently get bucks for you signing up, in addition to you getting your own bucks. Huh. I signed up through MoneySavingMom's blog, so it seems she gets bucks for me signing up. So let's do a little experiment, shall we? Feel no pressure to participate. I only mention it, because I, myself, am experimenting to see if it works. If you are interested, sign up here and start using swagbucks.com as your search engine. You'll get points for your everyday searches like, "How to get cheap plane tickets when the Navy doesn't approve your leave until 10 days before you want to fly". You also get three free bucks just for signing up. Then, let's wait a few weeks or a month of diligent searching and see if our points rack up. If so, we all win.

Oh, also, you get more points if you refer people. I think that's what I'm doing already. You can do it on your own blog, too, once you sign up. Or in emails or whatever. They give you a link to post.

Here's to free Starbucks and books?

Also in recent news, if you didn't get my bitter example of a search topic above: the Navy JUST NOW approved our leave for Thanksgiving (the leave that we turned in about six weeks ago!) , so the plane tickets we can now buy are RIDICULOUSLY expensive and perhaps not worth it. Sometimes the free meds aren't a large enough compensation for dealing with the military.