When it Bizzards... Ain't it Thrillin'

My nose wasn't too chillin' on our trek to the galley last night... I had my ski mask on. My eyes sure hurt though, every time I looked up and got hit with snow at 60 mph. Goodness! I didn't think much of our blizzard until I got out in the wind. It wasn't the "Little House on the Prairie" kind that I had in my mind... I could see across the street just fine. Nonetheless, our barracks required us to go to chow in a group so we didn't get lost or something.

They let us out of school two hours early and canceled all Open Learning/Mandatory Study hours. They told us the base was shutting down, but clearly McDonald's and the NEX were still open when we went out. The snow was a blessing in disguise, though, as it allowed me a couple hour nap and time to clean up the room and take a shower when, if it hadn't, I would have been in more extra study. I might still be able to finish on Friday, like I want to anyway... only having two and a half Modules left total.

And continuing today, I'm really happy to be stuck inside, relaxing and being quiet (as one of my roommates is a night yeoman, she sleeps during the day). They've closed school for the entire day, I'm on duty, but have no watch... we have plenty of food in the room so I don't need to wander out in the couple feet of snow. All the wind created beautiful snow drifts... there's a huge one coming up from the sidewalk to the base of our big windows. That means I won't have to get my boots messed up before our big, class uniform inspection tomorrow... yay. :)

It's extremely white outside... and doesn't look like too much fun, especially since I got to experience joy last night at romping through snow drifts to and from chow. I'm staying dry and warm today! Thank the Lord! This and the extra rest is definitely helping me recover from being sick since Saturday.

(click the Navy icon for another post)

Jp

Back in Order

Even though staying up late on the phone again after a very tiring week, I'm doing great at the moment. Slept in til 0815, with muster at 0845. Then went right back to sleep after having breakfast with my roommate at the Galley (the freshly made omelet was outstanding). Three more hours... I felt like a lazy bum, getting out of bed at 1pm! - But I was a happy, lazy bum. :)

After that I took a long, relaxing shower, then did all my laundry and shined my boots. I checked all my email, and straightened my stuff. Had chow by myself and got a couple things at the NEX in my allotted hour outside the building. For duty tonight I swabbed the passageway outside my room... and I'll have watch after chat.

Today's been terribly relaxing and nice... watched the snow fall out the window... people made a 12-foot snowman on the football field (I can see it from my window), and a giant igloo on the smoking deck between the three barracks here. And across from that was a snowman with stones arranged in a Navy neckerchief and a sad face. One of his stick arms was crooked in order to make him salute. LOL

What I really loved was walking around at night with the lights casting tree shadows on the blankets of untouched snow and the white-covered trees standing out against our pitch-black sky. Felt like a real winter-wonderland.

Jp

(photo from Facebook... those stones down lower are representing the 13 buttons on a male's dress blue uniform pants. LOL

Fun Days!

The road in front of my house was still pretty hard to navigate on Saturday night when my friend came over. It is only just starting to bare the asphalt only today. I am really adoring having an all-wheel drive car - it's making life easier this winter!

Since my friend and I stayed up late, we slept in too, and spent the entire, glorious day together. My sister's family comes over on Sundays, so, after an excursion in the snow, we entertained my niece and nephew by wrestling and rolling around with them on the living room floor! So much fun! And exhausting! By then, it was time to take my friend back to her house in Seattle, but I went in and stayed to play games like Spite&Malice and Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego? until it was very late.

Monday was... very unlike Mondays! Thanks to vacation! I slept in a bunch, and then my sister and I went to BCC for her to sign some papers (and we reminisced with old friends, like our old co-worker in the mail room and one of my sister's profs - my old profs weren't in). After that, we headed for Crossroads Mall where we spent some time in Half Price Books, where I got a "then & now" book on London, mostly for the photography but also for the history of all of London's famous streets & buildings. I also picked up the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum Story of Flight (300 pgs with lots of beautiful pics). We then dropped in on Uncle's Games and I got two very nice puzzles, and then we had a little snack, Greek style at The Mediterranean Grill.

We arrived back home around four pm, and I immediately realized that I was missing the first part of my brother's "Band of Brothers" marathon when I saw his friend's car parked outside. Thankfully, they had only got into the second episode (which I had just seen on the plane this summer), so by the time I finished my Christmas avocado with my sister, I joined in on part three of the ten part (and hour) miniseries. There were seven guys over, so I had to start out on the floor. The show was so well done, I hardly noticed the eight hours as they went by. I had seen bits and pieces of most of the episodes before, but only on TV. This was my first time through the whole thing. It is a great experience if done that way. Wow!

Today I had planned on doing just reading and writing, but that will have to wait for tomorrow. The snow had melted enough for my sister and I to head out to Carnation for some belated Christmas and horseback riding. We had a good time, but it was very snowy and wet all over the trail and we didn't get very far. But it was good to do horsey stuff again and see our friends. Our Christmas gift from our Aunt and Uncle was a trip to Outback Steakhouse, so that I just returned from. They have an excellent Tilapia and Crab dish that is just delightful!

On to tomorrow after a little "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" with my siblings! Ah, vacation!

Jp

It's Melting!

It first snowed here on December 13th, exactly two weeks ago. Today is the first day that it actually began to melt. I can start to see my neighbor's roof and our light bulbs on the rock wall in our yard. This has been absolutely incredible for all of us here... not only having more than four inches, but having it stick around for more than two weeks is just unheard of here.

Well, my aunt and uncle were snowed in on Christmas (they live a half-hour away to the east of us, toward the Cascade Mountains), but they let us come in my all-wheel drive Subaru to pick them up! So we stopped just outside their hilly road and they walked up and got in! So they came for Christmas, just like normal! I ended up greatly enjoying my very first very white Christmas. Not only was everything covered (I did a lot of shoveling when I woke up), but huge flakes were coming down as well. It would have been a perfect day if I hadn't have stepped in dog poop. LOL

We had our usual huge breakfast, which includes waffles from a waffle iron with strawberries, hash browns, scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon (which I generally decline), link sausage, and my personal favorite, spam. Needless to say we were generally full for the rest of the day. There was a little bit of salmon dip that I enjoyed later on, but that was pretty much it.

I got a couple things I wanted, like that big Narnia pop-out book that has stuff from all seven books, sort of like an illustrated time-line through the series with large colored images from the books. It's a great one! You can make the Stone Table crack, Prince Rabadash wiggle as he's stuck on the wall, the Dawn Treader escape from the sea serpent, and they even have a mirror with a beard! Gosh, it's awesome! But I most enjoyed how much my siblings liked their presents. I was even the tiniest bit able to surprise my sister M, who is impossible to surprise.

And then without knowing about the details from chat last Saturday, my mom got me "A Christmas Story" on dvd! So we watched that Christmas evening after we had taken my aunt and uncle back to Monroe. I now understand the leg-lamp joke going around at work and I have a better appreciation for my Red Ryder BB rifle that I got in 1994. LOL

Yesterday I went out with my bro and my sis to Best Buy and Fred Meyer, where with Christmas money, I got a portable hard-drive for my photography class and a couple of movies that have been impossible to find: Miss Potter and Miss Pettigrew Live for a Day. The latter of which, I watched on the airplane going to China this summer. It's set in 1939 London - and it's very fun and well done. A surprisingly good period piece.

Before Christmas, I watched "A Tale of Two Cities" (1958) when I needed to relax, and I was impressed at how much of the book they squeezed into it! The actor who played Sidney Carton nailed the performance, I thought. And then last night, my brother and I and our parents watched "The Dark Knight" on his projector. I totally understand why my sister didn't care to watch it again. The Joker is... beyond disgusting. The bad guys are unrelentingly and shockingly evil - it's pretty repulsive to watch. I closed my eyes many times so I don't get nightmares or something. I do like Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman a lot, but I don't think I could handle watching this again. The ending is really good, but the bad guys are just... too bad. I loved Batman Begins back in 2005, but that was a very different movie.

I'm going to try and not feel depressed about watching that last night... :)

A good, childhood friend of mine - that is going to school in Florida - and that I haven't seen in a whole year - is coming over tonight for dinner and a sleep over! Very excited for that! But I don't think I'll make it onto chat... so for all of you out there tonight... Good night, and good luck!

Jp

Merry, Merry Christmas!

Let it Snow...

It just keeps coming! I think we had about 5 inches last night, and it's still coming down really hard! It's so exciting, because it's so rare... Oh, Washington... :)

Since we're pretty much stuck at the house (and I knew we would be last night), I slept in this morning and relaxed. The family is still over, as well as friends of my parents, so I hope they are able to do what they need to. They might have to stay... it could be fun!

I'm going to put my GI boots on, as well as my BDU wet-weather pants and waterproof civilian coat (like I did last night) and take the dog on a walk. It's a lot of fun when you don't get soaked or frozen... LOL!

Jp

Snow Day!

As there are two giant hills between my house and my work, I didn't go in today because of the three inches of snow, coupled with the bad drivers. My confidence was shaken as Dad and I tried to drive this morning in my Subaru, when Dad yelled at me for going too fast and this guy drove right through a red light into the intersection a few seconds later. Dad doesn't like it when he's not in control of the car. Everything was fine, but I turned around and went back home as I didn't want to risk not being able to stop at the bottom of the hill.

Got lots of stuff done though! I made those Christmas CD compilations I've been meaning to make all month... and I took the dog for a walk in the snow... and I frosted all the sugar cookies with my sister. I also took an hour nap on the comfy chair in the living room around 2pm... Gee! I wish I could do that every day!

My boss called around 8:30am to check in on me because nobody from my department, including herself, went to work today. My dad went in later when there was nobody else on the road and he said there were only a couple at the whole plant.

Hopefully the roads will be sort of safe tomorrow...

Jp

Winter Dreams

First snow of the season today! I first saw it around 3:30 today when I walked out of church from serving some ladies from a few of the area women's shelters a Christmas luncheon.

"When it snows, ain't it thrillin'?" You bet! Now I can actually, really start dreaming of white Christmases...

Sigh. :)

The rest of today was spent finishing up all the Christmas lights - just a few more strings to go on our pillars. And then I wrapped all of my presents for people. Not too many to shop for though.

But yesterday, I had the time of my life! It was all so dream-like!
I took my mom to a fancy dinner and then to the Seattle Symphony for a Christmas present. The show we saw was called "Winter Dreams" - a collection of Handel, Vivaldi and Tchaikovsky. The first two were shortish and were the first times I've heard just strings and a harpsichord live. They were so soothing and beautiful! And then Tchaikovsky's piece was just gorgeous! When we got home - around 10PM - and after I had changed out of my fancy clothes, I felt as if the whole thing had been a beautiful dream. What fun!

Here's to dreaming about lots of white stuff!

Jp