All Signs Point To: NOT GOOD.

Yeah. Throw me a pitty party.

So far it's not shaping up to a great New Year. Not that there has been catastrophic hapenings in the deGallo household. It's just an abundance of small things that are bringing me down.

First of all, Sarge's health seems to be going. He's getting cold after cold, and never seems to recover. That bacterial infection in '08 seems to have messed with his immune system in a big way. That's more of a bummer for him though.

Second, Girl Scout Cookies. Oh how I hate to love to hate them. Given the smallness of our community everyone knows about 5 or 6 people selling. I hate to be the 10th person to ask someone if they want cookes, but I have 98 boxes to get rid of, and I'm not buying them all. Luckily Sarge is a cop, and we all know cops love their cookies....Just kidding, they love doughnuts.

Third, friend drama. THIS is why I'm normally an Antisocialist. And really, it's not a problem with my friend, it a problem with her husband. See, he takes umbridge with the manner in which my husband does his job. That is that Sarge actually DOES his job and does not let them cheat and slack. And that is my problem how?!? I don't know why Friend's Husband(FH) has to complain to me (EVERY TIME I SEE HIM), I guess we all know I'm actually Sarge's boss at work too?? I can see the end of this as being me no longer being able to be friends with this gal because FH can't separate his work from his wife's friendships. So, are crap friends better or worse than no friends?

I'm a little grouchy today.

Oh yeah, and not a fabric store to be found in my area.

And, why does spell check on this thing never work?

Happy New Year!

Coming out of my cave today.
Something interesting and post worthy finally happened.
Check out the fireworks we bought in the German grocery store!

This was just small spinning things, and sparklers. So I guess I can understand the name. And, as it turns out our kid is kind of a budding pyro. She set most of these off herself.
You can imagine it was a pretty noisy night.
Next time we're geting some of those rockets that were as big as Piko de Gallo.

OH MY WOOKIE!!!

AAAA!!!! I want to put this on my MP3 player!
This might possibly be even better than the Weird Al Star Wars tribute!

Country Living

Usually I hate getting stuck behind a tractor on our winding country road.
But I love getting stuck behind a tractor when there's a doggie bouncing along in the cab with the driver.
And this time I had my camera!

CUTE!!

Right after I took this picture, the tractor started to pull to the side, and I though he was letting me pass. BUT NO!!! Another tractor, just as wide, was coming from the other direction!!! Piko de Gallo and I screamed!!!!!

More proof

I know I keep going on and on about how I'm turning Piko de Gallo into a mad geek.

Well, the Halloween season was ripe with opportunities for her true (unprompted) geek-ness to shine through.

Here are the cakes I made this year for the school's cakewalk.

Piko deG sees them. "Ooooh!! The eyeball cakes! One normal, and the other one THE GREAT EYE!!!! But Mama, the Great Eye is all red!"

Geek.

My Girl

So this morning, Piko deGallo tells me to vote for John McCain.

"Because he's handsome."

Yeah, that's my girl.

Well...

It's been a busy month. And not busy-funny, or busy-interesting. Just busy.
And it's my own damn fault for saying I'll do stuff, so I'll just shut up about it.

And I'll tell a sort of funny story.

Our landlord had to come over the other day to fix something. We have not seen him in about 5 months. It's a good thing really, we wait on the little things until something big needs fixing, then we add on all the little jobs.

Anyhoodle.

We were talking a bit about the property he owns around our house (which is quite extensive), and he tells us his dad used to have honey bees here.

"I likes the honeys" he says.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! Me too, Mr. Landlord, me too.

Piko Want Big Boom!

So.

The lovely Mrs. S stood in line for me, not once, but possibly THREE TIMES!!
You can read how much she loves lines here, and here. So you get the picture of what a big deal this is.

Anyway, when she went to this tech-convention last month she got signed t-shirts for Piko de Gallo and myself. Big deal? You bet. Because of who was there!!


Naturally we had to officially "break it in".

Piko de Gallo's "Cola Cascade"

Of course we did not deploy our Mentos very well, so our cascade was not that great. The second one we did was as tall as Piko deGallo, but of course I missed that picture.

And then to add pressure to my life (as if). Look at what else she sent!

A rainbow pyramid of HFC!! I feel the pressure to make something nice. Nice and yummy!

I'm feeling the bloggy love people, feeling it!

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

So today was the Star Wars convention on base.

Piko de Gallo made a new friend.

Practiced her saber technique.

Defeated an old enemy.

WON FIRST PLACE IN THE COSTUME CONTEST!!!!!!

Scooped some swag.

And went grocery shopping.

Busy Jedi day.

In A Galaxy Far Far Away...

...dun-dun-dun-DUN-da-DUN-dun-da-DUN!!!!



She's so spoiled, this is not even her Halloween costume. This is for the Star Wars convention we are going to on base next weekend.

I used the patterns from The Padawan's Guide. The over tunic and obi are muslin, the inner shirt is a thrifted sheet, the tabard is a thrifted pair of men's pants, and a couple of old belts for the utility belt. The robe is made from a dark brown sheet. I wish I could have found a flannel sheet for that though.

Oh, we have the best ammunition for when she gets older.

Still kicking

The rash has worn off, and we've found a Lyme disease treating antibiotic that won't potentially kill me, so all's good on that front. If you consider good to be having to wake up at 12am to take the antibiotic good. At least there's no rash...yet.

However, not to be outdone by deadly antibiotics, I have found new and exciting ways to injure myself.

Did you know that people are crazy about apple butter? Me neither, I had no idea until I took my first batch to the school and handed it out.

"OH MY GOD!!!!! APPLE BUTTER!!!!! I LOOOOVE APPLE BUTTER!!!! NOMNOMNOM!!!!"

That was pretty much the reaction I got.

Anyhoodles, back to the hurting of myself.

Hot apple butter is freaking hot. And it splatters. Lots. I'm going to have apple butter burn scars on my hands and wrists. Sexy I know.

Then there is "Popcorn Thursday" at the elementary school. For those of you not fortunate to have ever experienced popcorn day at your school, we popped a bag of popcorn for every child in the school. That was about 450 bags. For the most part, I did very well dealing with the hot bowl, and oil and those obvious dangers. Until the very end, when I was cleaning the machine I managed to burn the heck out of my forearm on the edge of the bowl. Sizzle and burn baby.

I think I might need some new hobbies.

The Horror!!! The Horror!!

It continues.

Yep, I'm allergic to damn antibiotics. I have to flush my system, so they gave me the 'Roids!

I have to take a big dose of Prednisone once a day for 4 days, and hope that works a trick. I'm doubtful at this point because last night I couldn't sleep for the itching. I even took Benadryl to no effect.

This morning I woke up to find that the rash on my chest has merged into one HUGE hive that covers my neck, chest and shoulders. And yesterday when I said I was covered about 70%? Well, today, make that 95%, and that includes the tops of my hands, feet, my throat, and other...places...

Check it.

This is just my legs, so you can imagine.

Poor Piko deGallo, we were supposed to go swimming on Friday....I'm thinking not so much.

OMG!!

What. The. HELL!!??!!

Seriously, is it because I'm getting older?

Guess what I found out this week. Not only am I allergic to Amoxacillin (rash), only the most commonly used antibiotic out there. I'm also allergic to Septra (chills, nausea, difficulty breathing, persistent headache, achy joints), and freaking Doxycycline Hyclate(severe rash and swelling)!!!

Ok, so I already knew that I was allergic to Amoxacillin, but I had no idea until this week that I was allergic to anything else! I woke up this morning after one day on the Doxycycline to discover about 70% of my body covered with an itchy rash, and my lips, eyes, and ears are swollen. At least now I know what I would look like if I decided to get collagen implants in my lips.

NOT HAPPY.

This all started out with what I thought was a spider bite on my back that would not get better. Guess what? It's not a spider bite after all. The wound has taken on a decidedly more BULLSEYE shape!!

WTFBBQ?!?! People!!!

Dog Damn WebMD, how do you treat freaking Lyme disease if you're allergic to all freaking antibiotics out there?!? Not that I know for sure I have Lyme disease. But I might!! AGH!!!

Tree to Pie

In just afew (sorta) easy steps.

1) Apples in the tree. Very crisp and tart, perfect for future apple pies.

Too many apples!

Don't mind my laundry there, it was the first sunny day in a while. Add that to the fact that we got our first electricity bill. OUCH!

2) Apples waiting to be washed, peeled, cored, and sliced.

3) A couple of hours later (I have a small range, it took a bit to get the water boiling).

Step 4 to come in a couple of months.
I think I'll use at least one as topping for some vanilla ice cream, maybe make some fried dough.....NOM-NOM-NOM-NOM-nom-nom!!!!

Dumb things I have heard

This is my version of Overheard in Germany.

In the video store:

Customer: Is this a good movie?
Clerk: Yes, it's excellent! You know it's in Spanish though, so it's subtitled.
Customer: Really? Why? Did it come out in the theatre that way?
Clerk: Uh. I guess?
Customer: In Spanish, huh. I wonder why.
Clerk: It's really good, and worth it to watch.
Customer: But was it originally in Spanish or just on this DVD?
Clerk: ......
Cutomer: I guess I'll look for something else.

The movie was Pan's Labyrinth. Besides wouldn't the DVD have a language option?

At the Medieval festival:

Guy: Hey, check out those guys in the armor!
Lady: That's pretty cool.
Guy: They must be so hot! I bet they're sweating alot.
Lady: Yeah, don't get too close, you know there wasn't deodorant back in Medieval times.
Guy: (Laughing) You're right.
Lady:...or soap.

Um, WHAT?!? I'm pretty sure there was soap in Medieval times. Weather or not they used it, or that bathing was in fashion, is another thing entirely.

Things like this hurt my brain.

Tourists

We live in an area that is fairly well known for it's wine. Much of the wine region is along a wide and long river called the Mosel. This past weekend we attended a wine festival in Bernkastle-Keus called “Weinfest der Mittelmosel”(wine festival of the Mosel river). It was lovely, and enjoyable even though Sarge and I are not big wine drinkers. We started out at the midway, where Piko deGallo got to jump on this jumpy...thing. She was having a great time, and the rest of the "jumpy things" were not busy, so the guy let her jump a little while extra, and even slingshotted her high up in the air once.

We then walked along the hand crafters market to the bridge that spans the Mosel, and got a great view of the castle ruins.

We crossed over the river to the opposite bank where all of the wine booths were. The town is beautiful. The streets are cobbled, and the houses and buildings all look like they just had a fresh coat of paint. There were many examples of what I would consider to be German architecture. I don't know the exact term for it, but they are those kind of stucco houses with the wood beam inlays, it might be called "half timbered". I know, I'm a real expert. Winding narrow streets, and the occasional traditional band playing were awesome, we're planning another trip back there just to view the town. Unfortunately it was also filled with hoards of obnoxious drunken Americans.

Since we are lame, and don't drink wine, we got some ice cream and headed back over to the other side of the river. We got there pretty early, and wanted to wait for the fireworks. So we bought some fantastic antipasto from a vendor, and spread out our blanket on the bank directly across from the castle. Piko deGallo of course was only interested in the swans. Really, looking back on it, I suppose I'm not the best person to give advice on the whole Wine portion of the festival. But it was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and the fireworks were spectacular!
Gotta love fireworks set to the Star Wars theme.

Geeky Movie Madness!!

Though we still have not had our TV service hooked up yet, we are enjoying our lovely new TV. We watch alot of movies. Alot.

Luckily the video place on base has a great rental deal, and the library has a pretty decent collection as well. A couple of weeks ago was "early 80's movie week" for us.

We got Krull(1983), which is surprisingly still pretty awesome after all this time. The special effects are pretty impressive considering the age of the film. The story is pretty good, and the acting decent. And did you know that Liam Neeson was in that movie?!? I had no idea. I wish I could find a good picture of him from this movie. I didn't recognize his face at first, but I was thinking "That really sounds like Lian Neeson!"
I did find this picture, that's him on the left.

Krull got the thumbs up from both Piko deGallo and myself.

Then we rented another childhood favorite.

I'm sad to say that this movie did not stand to the test of time, or adult taste. The acting was pretty mid-range, and the effects were laughable. But to be fair, this movie was made in the early 80's, 1981 to be exact, and I remember absolutely loving it when I was a kid. Sarge and I were only amazed by Harry Hamlin's super large lips, and crazy hair, and then he fell asleep as soon as Perseus chopped off Medusa's head. And so Sarge missed the best part of the movie. The Kraken!

Which, looks surprisingly like Paul Sr. from American Chopper!

How could I not find a picture of him yelling at his kids?

Clash of the Titans got thumbs down from me and Sarge, and a thumb's medium from Piko deG (mostly because she didn't understand what was going on, but liked the owl and Pegasus).

Piko deG seems to like treasure hunting movies (she loved Sahara, and enjoyed Fools Gold...maybe she just likes Matthew McConaughey..shudder...), so I picked up Romancing the Stone(1984). Unfortunately I forgot that there was very little actual treasure hunting, and several references to drugs, alcohol, and a scene where Kathleen Turner, and Michael Douglas are obviously naked in bed together. Oops!! Piko de Gallo had it all figured out though. She knew that they were getting married at the end of the movie since they kissed THREE times. Obviously!!! Still a great movie though, and I enjoyed seeing it again.
Romancing the Stone gets a thumbs up from me, and a ?? from Piko deG.

Unfortunately neither the library or the video store has the true best of 80's movie geekdom.
TRON!!!Oh, this is such a truly good and geeky movie of the 80's. I'm dying to see it again. Maybe we should get a NetFlix subscription.

Tasty...

So I know that kids are picky eaters, that's normal. But I swear my kid is not normal.

She does not enjoy anything that is made from potatoes. That means no mashed, scalloped, or baked potatoes, not even potato salad. And possibly most surprising no french fries! No french fries. Can you imagine that? She does not even care much for potato chips, and would rather eat some kind of corn chip, even plain Tostitos. Weird.

And then this is what she brings me to have as a snack yesterday.

Yeah, that's DRIED SQUID.

She better brush her teeth before Sarge comes home from work.

Now to people brought up in Hawaii this is really not an unusual snack. Someone sent this bag of Ika to me from home. I was even surprised when she started eating this stuff, because it smells exactly like what you would imagine, and has a very unusual texture. I'm pretty sure it is a case of monkey see, monkey do, because my dad always has this stuff at his house, and on our last visit Piko deG always wanted to do whatever G-Pa was doing.

Back to School

WOOO!!

I actually feel kind of bad that I'm so happy that school is starting again.

But I am.

I think that Piko de Gallo is just as happy to be seeing her friends again, and having something new to do.

Anyway, BTS shopping is not quite as good here as it is back home. I guess I'm just a little surprised that the BX on base does not coordinate with the schools a little better. It seems like they should carry whatever is on our school supply list. But not so much. And it's not very easy to shop locally since it is considerably more expensive, and there are different size/dimension standards. It's not horrible, but they did not bring in any pencil boxes, fat pencils, or plain pink erasers. All of which were on our list. Most people end up having family or friends back in the states send them stuff, but really, what a hassle. Not "I'm so mad about this that I want to kill someone", but more like "What's the deal man."

On a more positive twist, since there were no pencil boxes I did get to try out a new sewing skill.

I sewed my first zipper. I'm sure I did it wrong, but it zips properly and that's all that counts.

I made Piko deGallo a pencil pouch.

Here is a detail of the little bird I embroidered. It's actually chirping her real name, but I decided to block that out.

New neighbors

We have some new neighbors. They're three gals, pretty shy, keep to themselves.