Saturday, December 20, 2008

Saint Barbara's Day Celebration

One thing I always look forward to in December is the Saint Barbara's Day celebration.  Saint Barbara is the patron saint of the Field Artillery.  If you would like to know more about her, go here.  When we were in an artillery battalion, the celebration was usually a formal ball, which was always really fun.  Here it is also a really nice formal event, complete with the Artillery Punch ceremony, many toasts, dinner, and remarks from a distinguished guest, just no dancing.


Jay was inducted into the Order of Saint Barbara when we were at Fort Riley.  That is the medal that he is wearing around his neck.  I am also wearing a medal.  I was awarded the Molly Pitcher award when Jay returned from the Gulf War.  If you want to learn about Molly Pitcher go here.

It was a great evening and we will look forward to next year!

When husbands think they're helping, a Thanksgiving story

I was having two families over for Thanksgiving dinner, about 13 people, including us.  Now, anyone that knows me knows that entertaining is not my strong suit.  I love to socialize, but being in charge of the get-together usually puts me in panic mode.  But, to me, Thanksgiving is one of those holidays where you need to surround yourself with loved ones.  Since our family was not nearby, then we needed to surround ourselves with our other loved ones, our best friends.

I had cleaned the house and the turkey was in the oven.  That's when it happened.  Jay looked up at the ceiling and took note of the stain from the water leak we had had earlier this year. The ceiling didn't look that bad to me, I didn't think anyone would really notice, but Jay decided he would paint it really fast before everyone got there.  (This was about one hour before everyone was to arrive).  I told him I didn't want the house to smell like paint, and it wasn't that noticeable.  But he insisted he could paint it really fast and it would look a lot better.

He has some cool ceiling paint that goes on pink so you can see where you've painted, and then it turns to white when it is dry.  So there he went, painted the area, and it was nice and pink.  I went on with my food preparations and at about 10 minutes to dinner time I noticed that the ceiling was still pink.  I asked Jay why it wasn't dry yet and he said it should be dry by then.  I looked closer and realized that the ceiling bore a strong resemblance to Julie's bedroom wall, which is a nice PINK color!

We then realized that in his haste to get the job done, Jay had grabbed the paint can with Julie's bedroom wall color.  It was nice and dry on the ceiling, and it was PINK!  (he said he just saw the pink color on the side of the can and grabbed it, but if he had thought it through, if it was the ceiling paint, the color on the side of the can should have been white, since it dries white!)

So, instead of a small water stain on the ceiling that I'm sure my guests would never have noticed, they were all quite impressed with the big pink circle on the ceiling!  This is why I don't entertain!  

Below is a picture of Jay fixing his masterpiece.  Enjoy!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

A Magical Time at the Magic Kingdom


I love all things DISNEY.  I could go to Disneyland every year and never get tired of it.  I wish I could take my whole family there again, maybe someday.  I have discovered that if you can't get all your kids together to go to Disneyland, the next best thing is to go with your sisters.  It is a whole new experience, and it is a blast!  If our kids could have seen us they would have died of embarrassment.  But, there were no kids, no husbands, only three fun-loving women having a magical time.


We're off to a good start, Mickey is at the gate to greet us!

              And Pluto was there too!

  We had to take it easy after this ride, it was a little much for Lisa

Carol was on a mission to get up close and personal with Captain Jack.  I think she scared him a little bit.

            Two beautiful princesses
Thanks Mickey for a wonderful time!

Monday, December 15, 2008

A visit to the Jencks side of town


Carol came up with the idea.  She said she wanted to take mom to see her brother Harold, who she hadn't seen in many, many years.  I of course said "I want to go too."  Then we made Lisa go (against her will since we had to actually take a plane to get to California).

It was a fabulous trip... old people crying, pushing old people around in wheelchairs, eating at 4:00 (old people time), taking old people to visit even older people, and lots of talking about the good old days.

Now all kidding aside, it was a dream to see these people again, it had probably been 30 years ago that I last saw any of them.  My Aunt Kathe and Uncle Harold are like idols to me.  When I was with them it was like I was 7 years old again.  I was in awe of them growing up.  For me, going to their house was like going to a castle.  They lavished expensive presents on me and generally pampered me to no end.  I remember when I was young thinking that my Jencks cousins were the coolest people on the planet, and if truth be told, they still are.

I hope it is not another 30 years until I get to visit them again (because then I will be OLD).


              Brother and Sister

Aunt Kathe leaving to play bridge with friends.  Isn't she the cutest thing you've ever seen on three wheels?

Cousins
Lisa, Jane, Laurie, Lance, Melinda, Carol
Kathe, Harold, Unity

Saturday, December 6, 2008

One last post on this subject


"It's the most insanely romantic film since 'The Notebook'," said Harry Medved, a spokesman for Fandango.com, who described Pattinson's Edward Cullen as "the ideal boyfriend...He's incredibly strong, superfast, impossibly handsome, plays the piano, and all he cares about is what's on her mind."

Now, this is all I will post on this subject.  I just wanted it noted again that Edward is PERFECT.   I will now resume posting about the holidays, my family, and other such not as interesting or gorgeous subjects (sorry family, you're cute, just not Edward gorgeous).