MY TDY

For those of you that don't know what TDY means, it means Temporary Duty. Since we speak in acronyms in the military, it is our way of saying we will be away from our regular job for a temporary time. You may be TDY for a conference, a school, etc. I went TDY for a training/ conference. It was an awesome networking and learning experience, but like most conferences it was pretty dry.

The most random part of the entire TDY was the hotel we stayed in. 2 of my co-worker, my boss and I all went to on this TDY. My boss got special authorization to stay at an off base hotel, which she loved (she told us that before hand). Normally, for TDYs, you stay on base, it is usually close to the training and cheaper.

So, we pull up to this hotel, it has a bright pink car out front advertising the hotel rates, name etc. Kind of funky, yes, but also kind of cute.

We walk into the hotel, it is FULL of crap, there are fake flowers everywhere shelves of strange knickknacks. My co-worker turns to me and says this place reminds me of a no name Vegas chapel with rooms connected. In hindsight I wish I would have taken more pictures.

We got our room keys and that's when it got interesting. All of the rooms had mirrors on the ceilings and little lights in the mirrors with a dimming switch. All the rooms also had saunas and jacuzzi tubs. The hotel was quite the experience and the decor made you think renting by the hour was an option. We are still laughing about the place and wondering about my boss. :)

Las Vegas: all the amenities of modern society in a habitat unfit to grow a tomato. ~Jason Love

Transition to glass

I know random, huh? Transition to glass what the heck am I talking about. I am talking about trying hard not to use plastic as much to store and reheat foods. Thanks to my good friend Allison, I started using Pyrex dishes and other glass containers instead of Tupperware or those ziplock things.

So, why am I blogging about this. Well, the top picture is of the glass storage containers, note, they are clean in the top of the dishwasher.
This next picture is of the can of cheap spaghetti sauce that was also in the dishwasher.

This next picture is of the plastic lids and a plastic container that I was washing to put in the recycling. Note the pink tent, similar to what happens when a red sock gets in a white load. Yes, the spaghetti sauce did this to the plastic.

Lesson 1, cheap sauce must be made with green tomatoes, and then dyed with red die. This cannot be good for you, next time I will consider being less of a cheapo and buying better sauce. No promises there.

Lesson 2, stick with glass for storage, if dye leaks into plastic this severely, then I can only imagine what is leaking out of the plastic into my food, when I reheat and store in plastic.

Random, I know...

An optimist will tell you the glass is half-full; the pessimist, half-empty; and the engineer will tell you the glass is twice the size it needs to be. ~Author Unknown

Slow and Steady...

Builds character. Oh wait, the saying is slow and steady wins the race. This afternoon during a super slow run I was thinking about this saying. Somedays, I wake up and my legs are very handicable. Today was one of those days. I have never been able to figure out what "sets them off", but today they were super tight and walking felt like a chore, so I decided I would go for a run. Sometimes a good run loosens them up. The first mile today was a real struggle, I just wanted to turn around, start crying, and head home, but I knew what was best for me and it was to keep going even though it hurt. No pain, no gain, right? ha. By about a mile and a half into the run they felt a bit better, but still not quite right. I have the Nike chip in my running shoes and I run with my iphone, I love it, because it keeps my distance and pace. Today's work out was about 45 secs slower than my usual pace. Those of you who run, know 45 secs off is a LOT slower.

So, what is the moral here? I just question, why we say slow and steady wins the race? I know the rabbit and the turtle and all that... But, come on, the slowest person in a marathon is not the winner?? Common sense and facts leads us to that conclusion.

I think it should be slow and steady builds character. Yeah, I know, not very catchy, but it's true.

Here I am after my run. Exhausted.

Here's to, tight legs, slow running, tears, and believing in yourself.

How grateful I am to be me! I have the best friends and family in the world and... an awesome set of handicable legs, heck they are not perfect, but they have taught me so much.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. ~Helen Keller

About me!

Back when myspace was the "in" thing I wrote this "about me", I think it still sums it up pretty well!

What makes me happy: Working out, watching the sun come up, inside jokes, friends, family, college sports, tailgating, the good life, margaritas, Kwaj, the beach, Vets Hall, popcorn, COFFEE, rainy days at Starbucks, cities at night, the feel of mud between my toes, ketchup, memories of my childhood, the farm, peanut butter pie, baking, making others smile, laughing so hard I cry, support, love, forgiveness, the sound of children laughing, smiles, following dreams, pushing the envelope, being sassy, dressing up, matching jewelery, hugs, making care packages, good beer, independence, happiness, good wine, cooking, dancing, booty shorts, late nights, proving people wrong, email, cocky men, flaming dr. peppers with great friends, pedicures, the smell of my moms house during the holidays, my super smart sister, books, alone time, silence, music, chai tea, georgia coffee from the machine, accents, Japanese bread, the smell of summer nights, speaking my mind, independent music, the real world, "girl dates", flowers, getting snail mail, road farming with my dad, candles, reading, hard runs, clean air, military kiddos, shopping, an empty laundry basket... life!

What I don't like: Ignorant people, working too much, sneakiness, and mayonnaise. Yuck!

Learn to... be what you are, and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not. ~Henri Frederic Amiel

My Fire

Last weekend, I decided to do some work in my "forest" better know as my backyard or as they would say here my garden. To give you a little background, I think it has been a while, since my "forest" has been maintained. Whoever was here before me piled small piles of twigs everywhere, on the fence line, by the garage... everywhere. They also never raked the leaves and did not touch the pine needles.

So, I had the bright idea to burn the debris. I also need to mention it was drizzling outside making the fire seem like a good option, yet a challenge. After I decided to burn the debris, I went to my handy friend google and tried to look up if it was legal or not the burn in town in The Netherlands. I could not find anything, all I could find was a blurb about nuisance laws and it said if the smoke interferes with the neighbors then they can call the police.

So, out I went, I lilt a small fire, wishing all along I had lighter fluid or gas. To say the least, the fire was LAME. I got sick of the small lame fire, so decided to pile a bunch on pine needles and debris on the small fire to suffocate the fire and go inside.

I went inside to take a shower. I looked out the bathroom window to my surprise, there was a HUGE plume of white smoke. I knew then I was going to jail.

To end the story, my smokey fire burned all night and no one turned me into the police. I am not going to attempt it again without calling legal first.

In a country where pot is legal I thought for sure I was going to jail for a backyard fire. Next time, I am going to let the gardener deal with the garden.

Despite the gardener's best intentions, Nature will improvise. ~Michael P. Garafalo

I heart Europe

So far my move here to The Netherlands has been awesome. I am blessed to be working with great people who do their jobs well, while respected each other. I miss my co-workers in Japan and my good friends there, but I will say the change in working enviroment has made life so much better.

I feel like there was/is a big weight lifted off my shoulders that I did or didn't know was slowing my life down. I was hesitant about this move because I took a drastic pay cut and that was scary to say the least, but even with that life here is wonderful. I know there will be some hard days, but I am grateful that I was brave enough to make the big move.

Here is a picture of my basket full of groceries from last weekend's shopping. I live right around the corner from a bakery and a little market. I love it!

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.” ~Seneca

Internet

Internet, a novelty or a must?

I just got Internet the other night after not having it for over a month. I was still able to check my email at work, so it wasn't that bad, but I didn't have FB, Skype or anything like that. Due to the firewalls on govt computers a bunch of sites are blocked.

For me internet is a must, in the time I was offline I was not able to use Skype therefore, I could not make phone calls, this made me feel very cut off from civilization. But is it really a "must"? Doubtful, in the weeks I didn't have internet, I read 5 books, went on runs, and always made it to bed at a reasonable time. I have decided that I am going to shut off my computer an hour before I want to go to bed and read, we will see how that works, but to be honest I really enjoyed my time reading, so this is my way to keep it up.

Here's to Facebooking, Skyping and reading. :) And we wonder what is happening to kids these days... that is definitely for another blog.

For now I am back online, yay!

"Never let a computer know you're in a hurry." ~Author Unknown