Christmas 2019 (aka Rainbows over Stuttgart)

What did we do for Christmas?  Snapchatted with the girls - they spent Christmas Eve together and Christmas morning before Angela had to head back to work on Thursday, so we got a few minutes to snap chat with them - that was nice to see them together and having a good time.

 we got a good chuckle out of the Snapchat filters for Christmas!

What else did we do?  WE'RE old and we're alone so we cleaned.  We cleaned out the filing cabinet which made me want to clean out my office and get all the paperwork moved into the filing cabinets - it was LONG overdue.  The room still looks this cluttered, but I was LOVING the amount of sunshine for the day.  It was cold as bejeezus out there and the frost was thick enough that it looked like snow.  It still has not thawed some 20' foot out from the tree lines in the shade - seriously cold here lately.  Burrr.  BUT with it being in the 20's at night it's a warm 40 something during the day... yet the frost persists... there is even a car in the shade along the road to work that is STILL covered in frost to this day.  When I go home at 3;30 it's still frosted up totally... weird.

AND while I was up in my office I happened to open the blinds in the guest room and look at that beautiful full rainbow out there!!  The pictures just don't do it justice.  I tried to adjust the colors and brightness, but ipad cameras only go so far... and my ipad is older... should have grabbed my phone, but I was being seriously lazy that day :)

Georgia Fun

I got into ATL and Angela and I headed out to get Pizza at our favorite place while waiting for her sister to get into town.  While we were waiting we got the news that Elizabeth's plane was going to be late and we were lazy and did NOT want to hang out until 11pm to see her for a few minutes so we went back to the house and passed on meeting Elizabeth at the airport.  We opted instead to meet her at her house on Monday evening for dinner :)

 We walked to dinner through the Christmas lights - love the Christmas lights there :)

 This shake was loved by all - it was a whoopie pie shake ... we all enjoyed it!
It was a quick trip - as soon as we got done with dinner, we headed back to Liz's apartment then headed back up to ATL for the last night in the country.

My flight wasn't until 6pm BUT Angela had to work and wouldn't be getting home until 5pm so I was left to my own devices after we went out to Breakfast - yep, I had my parting Waffle House Breakfast.  It wasn't worth documenting as Angela and I were busing chatting and spending our last bit together.

 The evil grin is due to the EMPTY seat next to me on the flight - YEP, I got to be super comfortable!!

 Weird shot on the take off...

 AND over the ocean we go into the sunrise on the far side.  I didn't sleep nearly enough on the flight but I did sleep for TWO hours at Angela's after breakfast before catching my Lyft to the airport.  So, with that I was back to reality and work.  I did go into work for 1/2 day after going home and showering... it did keep me awake long enough to sort of get back on track.  I didn't really get back on track.  I was still off from all the traveling.

I had a back that was super tweaked since about the first week in December.  yeah, fun.  I was popping Tylenol like it was candy.  I'm still not super well and still not super well on the back area.  There are days I don't know it feels a bit tender... today is one of them darn it.  So I'm about 20 days into it.... but it's getting better, just super slow.  This getting old and the travel is just wearing on a gal.  Sigh. 

What I did on my vacation in Utah

I took Mom to get her ears re-pierced - they had closed up after her leaving her ear rings out for months after CTs and MRIs for her hip pain.

we went to dinner at LuPita's Mexican - finally a GREAT Mexican dinner!!

 This was actually a green chili omelet.  it was delish!!

 My spirit animal at the checkout!  ha!  I feel like her most days!!

 Mom and I took a drive up the mountain to the houses up by the C on C Hill.  It was an adventure for Mom - she was super nervous as it was a gravel road going up.  It was all good, but she was nervous.  We made it and then we went all the way to the OTHER side of the valley where they used to live.  I should have take another picture from there to show where we had been from both perspectives.  It was a fun afternoon just driving around... Had to get the car washed after, but it was a good day!

We're a foodie family.  We went out to eat again -this time Appleby.  I had to take a picture for my girlfriends as this was where we used to go out to lunch all the time when I was in Warner Robins.

Then it was Dad's birthday.  Robert came down to celebrate as it's his birthday as well - it was nice to see him and get to have a nice birthday dinner with the two of them!

 After the Christmas party Linda and I were driving to Vegas to stay overnight so I could catch my super early morning flight.  I had forgotten my jacket in Linda's coat closet... and while we were headed back I started to look for my passports.... and they were NOT there... as in NOT there.. I had a bit of a panic... I took and pulled everything out of my suitcases, out of my carry on, out of my purse...  Yeah, NOT there.  I started making calls to see if I could fly back home without my passport.  NOPE.  I was stuck.  I called Delta and changed my flight to Sunday then called the passport place the next morning and found out that only regional offices can do fast track passports - as in hours rather than weeks.  The closest one to Utah is in Colorado - BUT there is one in Atlanta.  So, the plan was made to change my flight from ATL to STR to Tuesday to give me a day in ATL to get my passport.  Goodness. 

Luckily Angela had Monday off so she was able to go with me to the passport place to get my passport applied for.  It cost me, but I got the passport and was able to get on my flight for Tuesday.  Fun times.  Fun times.  The funny thing is that I really didn't freak out.  Butch freaked out more than I did.  I just went "hum, that sucks guess you get more time with me!! ha!"

I even took the time to set Mom up with her Christmas lights in her rooms window.  We did a good job hanging them as a Christmas tree.

 And memories of Christmas on display in mom's little place.

 This little project was fun - Linda took a cute sweatshirt that Liz and Angela had given to Grandma and made it into a pillow fo her.  We dashed out to Joannes and got the snowflake buttons to embellish it.  Cute!!

 So with my extra time I was able to go with Mom on her back appointment to get her shot. It was short and quick but I was also able to spend a whole day more with them on Saturday as well, so I took full advantage and pretty much stayed the whole day!


Sunday morning was a surprise as it was snowing - well more fog/snow when we left, but as we got closer to St. George it was really coming down and covering the ground!

The mountains outside of Mesquite had snow down pretty low as well - stormy stormy day!  Poor Linda and Mike on the road home!!

On to Utah

Frontier when you pay a few extra dollars (like 10 more than what I paid for the baggage fees making my total $80 for the whole flight).  I had a hella amount of leg room and it was lovely for the five hour flight.

 I got into Las Vegas at 11:45... and took a Lyft to my hotel in the north end of town.

My place hotel was actually nice for the one night I got to stay there.  My bus -Flixbus - didn't leave until 11am the next morning so I had plenty of time to sleep in.  I enjoyed the extra time, but for some reason i kept waking up early every single freaking day.  Oh, well, I took the time to go onto GrubHub and order Del Taco green egg burrito. mmmmm  I actually tossed on some pajama pants and a sweater and went down to grab it from the front desk :)  ha!

 That dark part you see just outside of Vegas is a large solar field.

And along the way there was a road runner - it was just outside our stop in Mesquite

 THIS is the first picture I put on social media during the two week period!  I almost blew it on the timelines playing games with mom by playing in the middle of my night - ha!  She asked what I was doing up at that hour... my answer?  Pooping... the story of my life - hahaha!

 STORM clouds coming into Utah

Lights on main street!  Beautiful!

Long overdue December update

I had a TDY in December that I told NO ONE about.  Why?  It was to Virginia.  Initially I was planning on sneaking into the states to see the folks or spend time with family for Thanksgiving.  BUT I found out you can't take leave at the FRONT of a TDY - well, not unless you want to pay your OWN flight to the states... the government will gladly pay the price to take you from your vacation location to the TDY location.  That's great if you can afford the trip to the states.  SO, I went on my TDY on the 1st of December to Virginia.

So.  I was getting on the plane and who did I run into by a person we PCSd in with - I would have never recognized Craig - he has a full beard for the winter and for hunting.

It was nice to catch up with him.  I did find out he golfs, so I'll set Butch up with him to golf and we'll have to get together for dinners on occasions.  I have been a slacker person in inviting folks over for dinner and visiting.  This year I'll try to do better.  It won't be a resolution, it will simply be a goal.

So after a lovely 15 hours of flying and waiting in airports I finally arrived in Virginia... there was quite a bit of fog while we were landing which was fun to see in the night with the lights peeking out on occasions..

I forced myself to stay awake because I was getting in at 10pm and figured I would be better able to get onto the correct time zones.  I was right.. I passed out and was ready to jump right in on Monday - the issue?  I wasn't due to start my TDY until Tuesday, but I could seek out the building, get signed in and get ready to go first thing.
So - what did I do my whole TDY since there was no one there that was a) my age b) civilian rather than military?  I went shopping.  I went to thrift stores galore... I went to WalMart to load up on things I have simply failed to buy for whatever reason while in Germany.  I also went to Dollar Tree for things that I don't want to spend a bunch on but really DO need in my life on a pretty much daily basis.  I went to Target... and believe it or not I found NOTHING to buy.  seriously - found nothing.  I wanted to get some clothing, tall brown pants in particular, but I didn't find anything I wanted to buy.  Seriously made me sad.  I had hoped to find something... but then again my suitcase was full enough as it was, so, meh, could have been worse.  I got some necessities.  Good enough.

My TDY was through Friday.... Friday noon.  I managed to find a super cheap flight ($80 with luggage) to Utah on the 7th (Saturday night) so I took advantage of the extra time and set up a get together with Aunt Karen, Uncle Mike, Keith, his wife Eve and their two kids.  It was super nice to get to visit with them for a few hours.

I have chatted with Eve for quite a number of months so it was awesome to see her in person and get to chat with her and meet the girls.  Hopefully when we get back to Georgia we'll see them a bit more as they are moving to northern Atlanta in the spring.

So what else does one do when they are in the land of plenty?  Well, we try to find some good Mexican food because that is the ONE thing I really miss in Germany... and it was a huge fail!

BUT first Waffle House... 

Ihad to have at lease ONE breakfast from Waffle House.

Not going to tell you it was actually lunch!

 Yes, I was a happy girl and had no need for dinner that night for sure!!

On to Mexican food.  First experiment was after a failed attempt to get some pants in a nearby mall that had Lane Bryant and another big and tall place

 The green salsa was great.  The HOT was better and the chips were thin and delicious...

 The food didn't deserve to be called food!! I ordered a Chili Relleno and it was covered in nacho cheese... good lord!!  the meat was delicious the rest?  NOPE!!


Attempt number 2 was a different location after thrifting (and finding nothing that I would want to ship home)

 OK, started out good.. but what is that white stuff?  I had to ask... the waiter was so excited that it was white salsa and home made (said with glee) and it was HORRIBLE  What is White Salsa?

• 6 Cloves Garlic
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 tsp Oregano, Dried
• 4 dashes Hot sauce
• 18 Pimento stuffed olives
• 1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp Garlic salt
• 1/2 tbsp Red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1 cup Sour cream
• 30 oz Miracle whip jar
• 1 tbsp Olive juice from jar

OK, you lost me at the miracle whip... yes, its sweet and GROSS!!!  Trust me.

 At first glance this looks great... the chili rellenos were super tasty... but look at that rice:

 OMG that rice is stir fry rice without any seasoning... yep... it's white rice in a mexican restaurant!! 
The good news is that was the ONLY faiy they had on the meal itself. 

And I finished up with a very disappointing fried ice cream.  I don't know why I continue to order this only to be disappointed because it's stale tasting.

Happy Thanksgiving - German style

Colorful chips in tan and green. The dips are clockwise: guacamole, creamy chipotle dip, salsa, sour cream (but with one thing else in it, I think). Always tasty. But the difference between Germany and America is you pay for the chips. I’m OK with that.  And, last but not least a margarita!

Dinner was three street tacos for me. They were the chipotle pulled pork ones. They were tasty however they “soft fried” the corn shells and they became chewy. But the flavor made up for it 😁

Butch had the fajitas. He had shrimp, chicken, steak. It was quite good. I tried the meats. They’re always tender and tasty. It’s still funny that they give you pickled red cabbage (aka sauerkraut) for a topping as well as cucumbers long with the typical stuff. 

The only downside yo our trip in was that I wanted to take the train. Butch wanted to drive. I drove because he can’t see well in the dark anymore (getting old sucks). It was raining. There were huge traffic jams and we didn’t leave in enough time so he pushed back our reservation. We got there, found the parking I had chosen. I chose wrong. It closed early. Like 8:30. So we got there at 7:00. Dinner doesn’t go fast in Europe. BUT we made it back to the car in time to get the car. Sooooo next time we find a better parking that is open later.