Friday, June 15, 2012

Day Seven

Bus to the train station. Well worth the 4€ spent rather than 10-15€ spent if we did taxi.
And our first adventure with hopping a train with no reservations. We didn't even have to move with a fairly full train. We thought for sure we would be booted to different seats. Nope.
Then when they come to check tickets I find that the high speed trains require reservation. Oops. Cost me twice the amount to get said ticket in the train - 20€ at the station vs 36 on the train. Oops! Things have changed since I was here last eh? that and all these high speed trains are under ground... We've been in a tunnel for 30 minutes! The thing was Pisa they didn't bat an eye at no reservations. Weirdness it has to be the high speed vs local issue? Possibly that there is no first class on those trains? Hard to know.
Ah well lesson learned. 
Riding a train is relaxing!

Found the hotel we may well have the exact room we (Suz and I) had in the past.

We're on Murano for lunch and talking about cost ... There is a family of 10 "adults" 7 kids and they were talking about the bill being around $25 a person. Ok. I had to do the math and it was about 550€ for the bill YOUCH. I will NOT complain anymore about our relatively small cost for meals.
Spaghetti with peppers and chicken. Yum
Bear enjoyed it as well! Ha!
Gnocchi - for Liz
And off to shop for Christmas ornaments.
Christmas ornaments purchased and shipping home. 6 clear red ones.
Two new friends in Murano :). They were 8 years old... Cute and had a shop out their window near the water bus station :)
One BIG glass of wine that Berry wanted to share
The ultimate view during dinner.
So Italian!
Finito! 
Our view us towards Rialto.
Ahhhh the life! 7pm and we will wander towards San Marcos then to the hotel to wait for the singing to begin. :)
Similar to the fish I emailed you about Butch :)
Yes - this is the spot!
How Liz is now sitting with feet dangling down. How funny!

We have wifi but in the lobby or stairs only. Good enough :)

Thursday, June 14, 2012

We were going to eat dinner here... But it was a sandwich shop so we changed to here:
Nice view ;)

Behind us is a rowdy crowd for the Italy/Croatia soccer match. :)
And a fattening and filling meal was had by all. Goodnight Florence!

Day six.

Day six is interesting. We couldn't figure out where to go next so we stayed here and went to the Uffizi Museum. That was done by 3pm so back to the hotel to chill. I napped and Liz read for two hours. Hum. Not quite what I had planned... But works I guess. Dinner out tonight then Venice tomorrow. Well go early. Drop luggage and then take a train back to Verona if we get the urge that same day as its just an hour and we have a room booked... Again winging it...

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Worries and slight panic...and letting go...(maybe)

It's been tooo long since I have traveled... it's been too long since I have been out of the states and truly on my own in a foreign country... it's just been too long!!  We're leaving in 5 short days and I think I'm a bit more prepared.  I have a hotel booked in Rome.  I have no idea how to get there... but I have it booked :)  that should scare me, but I keep getting side tracked.  I know, I know... get it together!
I just can't.  I have two hotels booked for the whole time and I think I'm OK with that... I have Venice as it's a weekend, and I have Rome as it's a weekend as well.  The rest?  I think we're really going to wing it.  I have an 11 day EuRail pass and think I'm going to really leave this up to chance for now.
Scary in a way, liberating in a way.

The Venice hotel is almost a joke, it's the hotel that my cousin and I stayed in some 20+ years ago when we backpacked Europe.  Liz said she wanted to experience it.  So experience it, we will. :)

the rest of the trip, with the exception of the overnight - and even that may change... we'll go, we'll see, we'll see if we like it, if not, we head on out to another stop on the map and call it good :)

We'll see if I survive this trip!!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Job Search Update

Agency name
Job Title
Status
Air Force Materiel Command
Purchase Request System Analyst
eligible
Air Force Materiel Command
TRAINING ADMINISTRATOR
eligible
Headquarters, Air Force Reserve
PROGRAM ANALYST
eligible
1712/Supervisory Training Specialist (Emerging Leader Program)
eligible
Air Force Materiel Command
Operations Research Analyst, DR-1515-2/3/4
Military Sealift Command
IT SPECIALIST (SYSANALYSIS/CUSTSPT)
Forest Service
Program Specialist
U.S. Air Force - Agency Wide
MANAGEMENT ANALYST
Air Force Materiel Command
MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SPECIALIST
Supervisory Inventory Management Specialist (Emerging Leader Program)
Supervisory Logistics Management Specialist (Emerging Leader Program)
0346/Supervisory Logistics Management Specialist  (Emerging Leader Program)

So… there you have it… I’m not sure I want to do the Emerging Leader Program… but it’s in the mix regardless

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Happy Memorial Day!

You would think being prior military and all that Jazz we would do this holiday up right, wouldn't you?  Nope, not us.  We're very laid back - in fact this squirrels attitude says it all! 
This is how we felt:
 We had gone to the park and I looked up and noted Mr. Squirrel asleep on the limb... by the time I pointed him out and was taking a picture, Angela was armed with a twig to see if he really WAS asleep... well, was is the key word :op  poor squirrel was awake now!
 He seems to be telling her he WILL get even!  ha!
Soon after we got there, we discovered Angela is too old for true park trips anymore... all the little kids on the playground discouraged her from joining in on the fun... sad, my baby is growing up!

Saturday evening we opted for a beach walk at sunset... very nice!






Sunday we got up early and went to the beach for a swim... the water was a bit chilly for we wimpy folks now... burrr... and lots of seaweed that Angela had to fight her fear over... but fight it she did - she made it over in grand style and out to the deeper water!
 Lizzie warming up in the sunshine!
 Angie getting in the shade with Mom....
 Butch was getting a little sun as well....
 Grandma, Angela and I were the only shade hounds the whole weekend! :o)
 Final splash before going home!
This is something I wanted to share... and wish I could capture this for the scrapbook as well, the sound of Destin/Fort Walton Beach sand is quite unique in the world...
it squeaks!


Thursday, May 24, 2012

Ze Lockers... Zey are DONE (insert cackling laughter and lightning!)

 I need to move a few more things off the shelf, however, progress can be seen - and the lockers are in place in the corner ( insert a Wooping sound here! )
 Not all the towels are in place yet.. some are in the wash, some are hiding in a closet inside (unsure why to this day why they end up in there!)  Progress - the noodles that will stand upright are in the corner in a basket - temporary, I'm sure, as it's not quite big enough for them.  The older ones are in the garbage and the old deck box is rinsed out and waiting for a new owner :o)
what secrets the lockers hold.  There are side hooks on the outer lockers and the potential for some more side hooks as needed (I have a few more to install if we so desire)... the top hooks are on either side of the lockers with doors to hang things from.  The left locker is going to be dubbed the "pool extras" cubbie - things that really aren't used that often and just need a place to "hang" - may put what little chemicals I have on the shelf in here as well.  Bottom left is all the "war" squirters - center bottom is the fins (I think Butch's are actually in there right now too), bottom right is floats and surfboards and silly things like that, upper right is the masks and goggles... do you think we have enough of those???   I actually had to fish two more out of the pool to run rover and as I was gathering towels found two more sets of goggles running around too.  Yikes!  I think that labels are in order for the doors as well in bright yellow - what do you think?

Before and after on the front yard

Before
After
Which do you like best?

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Job Hunt Statistics

Job Title
Status
Operations Research Analyst, DR-1515-2/3/4
IT SPECIALIST (SYSANALYSIS/CUSTSPT) (Guam)
TRAINING ADMINISTRATOR
Program Specialist
IT Specialist (APPSW-SYANALYSIS)
withdrawn
General Supply Specialist
ineligible
PROGRAM ANALYST
Purchase Request System Analyst
eligible
Program Analyst
MANAGEMENT ANALYST
Supervisory Management Analyst
withdrawn
EQUIPMENT SPECIALIST (ELECTRONIC)
minimum not met
MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SPECIALIST
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SPECIALIST (CUSTOMER SUPPORT)
eligible - not referred
Information Technology Specialist (Data Management)
not selected
For those not familiar with the whole job hunt in civil service and are wondering “what does that mean”:
·         Withdrawn – typically means that the person they were looking for on that job “pull” of applicants was NOT on the list.  So they drop back, dump the list and try again in a few more months – means even if you were qualified, they didn’t want you…. They wanted Joe Blows brother or contractor xx who was now available to go into civil service.
·         Eligible – not referred – this means, you had all the qualifications to DO the job, however were beat out by someone with more preference than you – e.g. someone with veterans preference, spouse preference, a Masters… something in the point system that they have just didn’t “rank” you high enough to be considered for the job.
·         Ineligible/minimum not met – just means I was stretching just a bit for the job and telling them I am no slouch, I have an education and I could do this job…. They didn’t buy it.  I’m OK with these two as I knew they were stretching and the supply one wanted specifics I didn’t have… so it was a toss up…
So there you have it.  Fifteen jobs since the beginning of the year being applied for.  Six out of the running.
The good news?  I’m still in the running for eight as total unknowns… and one I am definitely qualified for… now let’s just see who wants to take a chance on an “unknown”….  
Off to a new adventure if I’m lucky

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Yard Work, Yard Work and MORE Yard work!

I made the mistake of telling Butch that I would LOVE the holly out... after he had been pulling berry bushes out all morning... so he hooked up the truck and a double yank..

 and out they would go!
For those that know me, know I hate killing plants, however, after trimming these a few years and trying to pick up the trimmings without getting stuck and crying. Well, let's just say there is NO love lost for these bushes!!
 Bye Bye Holly shrubs!!
 The after... and I really will remember one day to take a decent full picture of the before..
ONE of these days.  there were a minimum of 4 in front of the garage, 3 along the wall under the crape myrtle, then one to the left of the door, and two on the right (don't ask, not sure about that one!)
 it's so much "lighter" and brighter looking.
I know, I know, that sounds retarded, but it's how I feel about it.  I also trimmed up the crape as well and took the lower limbs all out, then Butch trimmed all the yopons back into "balls".  I tried to get him to take those out as well.  No such luck.  :(  Oh, well, I'm still doing a happy dance that all the holly shrubs  are GONE. The only hollys to remain are the corner ones - so we have 4 total left to contend with and if all goes well, they will continue to be SLOW growers and we'll keep them in their "Christmas" shape.
the plan is to put some decorative grasses in front of the garage and possibly along the blank wall.  Maybe... we'll see.  For now, we rest and chill!

Pool fun with Angela

Only the three muskateers would think to do this.  Angela, Mikayla and Grace are under there...
 There's Grace!
 And Grace and Mikayla in the "fort"
Angela would NOT squeeze in for the picture, but she's under there too :)

Friday, May 18, 2012

Grow baby Grow!!!

 This grape in the foreground was planted last year and I really didn't have any hope it would look THIS good this year.  It's year two and we're almost to the top of the pergola :)  YEAH!!  On the far side, you can see the NEW addition of the wisteria.  It is doing very well as well.  It flowered this spring, which surprised me as it had just been transplanted in the early, early spring.  apparently it really likes where it is as one tendril is already at the top of the pergola as well.  The plan is to have them cross and have grape from one side to the other and wisteria doing the same.  Then we'll have flowers in the spring and grapes in the fall.  Bonus!

Next up - do you know what THIS is?
 I had seen/read on pintrest about planting the ends of whole celery.  I really had my doubts, but there it is... a brand new celery plant from the "toss away" stuff.  I have yet to see how tall it will grow, however having seen this, I planted a second one as well - here is the evidence that it really IS celery and it really does sprout... you can see this one just now starting to sprout in the middle:

Angela and hair...

Angela went shopping with me at Target and found more hair color on sale... and she wanted to go MUCH darker... OK - it will come out in time... or maybe not - but it's just hair, and she did choose a NORMAL color, I should be happy, right/ 
it's not a lot different than before, and to be honest, I think her hair was getting faily dark with age as well... she will be my child with her dad's coloring.  Liz will remain the child with my coloring.  True to form as Liz is blonde hair and blue eyes and Angela is now dark hair and hazel eyes. 

Projects and Liz learning to solder... scary!

Many a discussion went into the last minute project for a shoebox... it included switches, Christmas lights, red paper... and a demo of how a fire spread in London at the turn of the centurly... I asked her to "pretend" she was doing something... so I got a weird look...
 Then I made the mistake of telling her I thought it was a weird face, and  this is what I got:
OMG, what have I taught my kids? Oh, WAIT - Butch is pulling a face too - good grief, they get it form both sides!!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Concert band



Liz had her spring (and last) concert on Thursday night.

I should be the LAST person to go to concerts. I just don't get it...

Thursday, May 10, 2012

"Wouldn't it be good'" Nik Kershaw

I got it bad
you don't know how bad I got it.
You got it easy
you don't know when you've got it good.
It's getting harder
just keeping life and soul together

I'm sick of fighting even though I know I should.
The cold is biting through each and ev'ry nerve and fiber

My broken spirit is frozen to the core.
I don't want to be here no more.

Wouldn't it be good to be in your shoes even if it was for just one day
And wouldn't it be good if we could wish ourselves away.
Wouldn't it be good to be on your side

The grass in always greener over there.
Wouldn't it be good if we could live without a care.

You must be joking
you don't know a thing about it.
You've got no problems
I'd stay right there if I were you.
I got it harder
you couldn't dream how hard I got it

Stay out of my shoes if you know what's good for you.
The heat is stifling
bun@ing me up from the inside.
The sweat is coming through each and ev'ry pore.
I don't want to be here no more. I don't want to be here no more.
I don't want to be here no more.
Wouldn't it be good to be in your shoes even if it was for just one day. . . .
I got it bad. you don't know how bad I got it. .. .

 

Yep, that’s the song that is stuck in MY head today…what about you?

Monday, May 7, 2012

It's that time... time to revist (gulp) goals....

·  Back door needs to be fixed near the garage - fix it and then have it vinyl clad to avoid future rot! DONE
OK it's always scary to see it in writing, but it's better if it IS in writing.
What’s the good news? The door was replaced. However, I now need to add another bullet for:
· PAINT the backdoor.
·  Sprinklers - yes, we HAVE to add this back on there
What is the GREAT news on the sprinklers? They were seeing a LOT of progress. New heads put in, water running to them, trenching continues to this day... Pretty soon we'll be down to just one (not so) little thing left... and that is run the final wiring to the box by the driveway bump out. Butch wants to go under the driveway for this one... which will entail some tunneling. What is the BETTER news? I now have a sprinkler in my little garden area. I don't know if I'll know what to do without having to hand water everything all the time. :o) I'm pure-d twitterpated at this point!!
· Revisit tree solution - as sickening as that is to say
The tree solution? Hum... with about 7 of the 50 trees surviving after the drought, lesson learned WAIT until the spirnklers are fully completed.
· plant flower beds to the north side of the pool
This bed too has a sprinkler freshly installed and ready to start sprinkling whatever is put in there... It's "Butch's bed" to plant... so it will be interesting to see what goes in there.
For the sake of THIS exercise, I’m going to put the whole “sprinklers” and backyard stuff to bed with a “Butch is doing that… and pray the progress continues!!
·         Transfer the lovely Wisteria vine dad has for me to my arbor THIS spring.. just before the thaw and the roots start growing...
This is DONE (transplanted) and growing link a, well a wisteria.  It’s almost reached the top of the arbor already – it’s about 2/3 of the way up.  The grapes, however, on the opposite side are going gung ho and are all the way to the top and filling in nicely with grapes actually forming on them this year.  I’m exited!  By next year I should have grapes on the left and wisteria blooms on the right… and by the next year, hopefully they will have intertwined and we’ll get color and greenery all year long across the top of the arbor!
·  get the rest of the house organized with the group
· get the craft room up to snuff (scary statement)
The organization is going well too with the weekly "to do" list from the group. I find it doesn't get the exact thing done at that time, but it keeps me moving and somewhat on track to get things DONE. That's a good thing.

As always without moving every few years it’s harder to keep from accruing a lot of “junk” and stuff that I would never miss.  I’m doing better… just really need to concentrate on the crap craft room over the next few months.  Goals are set… let’s see if I can stick to them. 

Locker in progress

Testing out BlogPress to see if it will work well for our trip :)

And to post the progress of the locker :). Almost there. One more coat blue and one more coat yellow and I'm there!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Friday, May 4, 2012

When the swallows return to... our front porch

shhhhhh- don't tell Butch they're back, he hasn't noticed yet and isnt chucking glasses of water at them yet :)


Well That (WASNT) Easy...

Why yes, that was a serious play on Staples, because if Staples had such cute furniture, I would NOT have gone to Office Depot to order this.  To their defense, I did LOVE the style, and Butch even agreed that it was acceptable to replace one of our mostly useless console tables with a bookshelf. 
Why?  I have a lot of scrapbooks in the computer room that are both finished and unfinished that NO ONE knows exist.  So - it's time to put them into the living room where they will be looked at by someone - anyone?  The entertainment center overflows with 'other" things... so the option to get a bookshelf just seemed logical.  so, why the pun on Staples?  Well, I ordered this gem on 1 March. No, that's not a typo - MARCH.  I put the order in, 1 April, they unceremoniously cancelled my order.  What the???  I call, I ask "does this mean you won't be getting them back in?"  The answer was, "no they are just on back order"  absolutely NO one there could tell me just WHY they had cancelled my order.  Sigh, so I put it BACK on order the first part of April.  For those that don't know Butch is infamous for NOT picking out furniture for MONTHS.  He literally sold our living room furniture out of living room without anything picked out and we lived on camp chairs for three months before he would choose a set he liked.  Yes, months. 
So for this gem, I did NOT want to go shopping for another bookshelf again - and don't you know I was really thinking I was going to have to order it again this month :)  BUT it finally did arrive and here it is!
 there are black glass inserts that you will NEVER see on the first two shelves :)
 what we took out of the entertainment center... plus two more that were stuffed down beside it as well with photo albums.  Yes, the stack is 2 deep.  Sigh.