Happy New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Winner of the Postcard Giveaway

The Lucky Winner picked via Random.org is comment # 23

Congratulations to Carmela

and thank you to the sponsor for providing wonderful service and giveaways

Wordless Wednesday - Greyhound Playtime

What happens when it snows and your Greyhound is doing zoomies in the backyard?

Well.... You get a series of pictures that look like this....

and some that look like this...

 Fawn Dog is just too fast and my camera couldn't keep up... By the time I got the first click off she was already jumping over me (literally) and then heading back... I was in the middle of our fenced area so you can see it's not small.

Even while playing fetch it was hard to take photos... I couldn't click fast enough.. Black Dog even gave up...

Nollaig Shona Daoibh

Merry Christmas

Nollaig Shona Daoibh

 You have a Happy Christmas

 

Mele Kalikimaka

Merry Christmas

 

Frohe Weihnachten

Merry Christmas

 

Nollaig chridheil

Merry Christmas

 

and

 

Přeju Ti veselé Vánoce a šťastný nový rok

Merry Christmas and a happy new year

 

 

Fun Christmas Game of getting to know you

Shelly over at The Attic Girl tagged me to join in this fun game about getting to know you... She has a great site and I always enjoy reading her reviews of books. Even added a few to my TBR after reading her reviews...

Okay, on to the game...

Instructions: Simply copy and paste the questions into your blog, and then answer them. Then tag 5 or more of your favorite blogs, and leave a comment telling them they’ve been tagged.

When you post your blog, please spread some Christmas cheer, and leave a link back to Top 10 Christmas, and the blog that you were tagged by. (You can participate even if you were not tagged)

Have you started your Christmas shopping?
Sure have....

Tell me about one of your special traditions.
Hmm traditions... well, we move so much that currently the only real tradition is decorating the tree and leaving cookies for Santa.. oh and carrots for the reindeer....

Are you a Black Friday Shopper?
H-E-C-K  no.... Are you crazy....

When do you put up your Tree?
Tree goes up during the first two weeks of December... (although not this year)

Do you Travel at Christmas or Stay home?
Stay home....

What is your funniest Christmas memory?
Hiding in my brother's bedroom with him and my sister trying to CATCH Santa..

What is your favorite Christmas Movie of All time?
I don't have one but DH love "A Christmas Story"....

Do you do your own Christmas Baking, what’s your favorite treat?
Of course I do my own baking... Cream Cheese Braids are my favorite... yummmmm

Fake or Real Tree?
Real.... However, this year we got a fake tree... *gasp*  I know I know... I couldn't believe it either... However, to make up for it I planted six Fir seeds and four are already growing... Yep I'm growing my own Christmas trees now..

What day (as a mom) does the actual panic set in to get it all done?
Panic? About what.... It's Christmas...

Are you still wrapping presents on Christmas Eve?
Nope... Usually done wrapping way before then...
*edited to add that I JUST finished this evening because I found some gifts I had hidden too well*

What is your favorite family fun time at Christmas?
Watching the kids unwrap their gifts and then gush about how much they love Santa and grandparents... (parents get no credit)

What Christmas craft do you like the best?
Hmm Christmas crafts... We don't really do any right now... Does Gingerbread cookies and cooking count? LOL

Christmas music. Yes or No, and if yes What is your favorite song?
Yes, of course you must have Christmas music... Favorite song... mmmm none but it has to be more traditional Christmas music.. I can't do some of this new stuff....

When do you plan to finish all your shopping?
All ready done with shopping..


I'm tagging:  well actually no one... I thought I had posted this already but somehow it was just a draft so it's a tad late to tag people now...

However, if any of you want to join in feel free...

Santa is that you?

Every year, on Christmas Eve, Santa visits little boys and girls around the world. When he does this he always takes his sled and reindeer; however, it's a little known fact that Santa always wanted to be a firefighter.

So, every year before he takes his sled and reindeer out for Christmas Eve he stops by and hangs out with his favorite military firefighters. Santa gets to ride around in the fire trucks and they get to help spread Christmas joy to all the families on base....

What? You don't believe me!? Just take a look at what Wee Man and Lil Kiwi got to see Tuesday night.

Santa living his dream and some lucky military members riding along...

That's Wee Man telling Santa how good (cough cough) he was this year and what he wants for Christmas...

Lil Kiwi waved and gave Santa a kiss when he was still on the fire truck but as soon as Santa asked if she wanted to sit on his lap it was a whole different story.... Lil Kiwi went into Danger Stranger mode. Which she goes into a lot after her surgery and who can blame her. She is getting much better though and is really making progress.

Tomorrow we are baking cookies for Santa because he reminded them to make sure to leave him cookies and milk... OH and the carrots for Rudolph and the other reindeer too... Thanks for the reminders Santa.

On a side note when Santa did this last year it was in the low teens and windy... Santa and the military members with him that night went above and beyond.. brrrrrr

Wordless Wednesday - S-N-O-W what is this stuff

While this is not Lil Kiwi's first time in snow; it is the first experience with snow now that she is walking and old enough to realize something is cold. She loved tubing and sliding on the slide... It was just the being IN the snow she didn't care for...

Wee Man was in heaven... He loved it... That is until he got cold then he informed us that maybe he didn't want to play in snow E-V-E-R again... (hehee)

OH and yesterday Santa made a surprise visit and the kids got to tell him what they wanted. (will post pics later on)

Winter Storm aka "Blizzard of 09"

The East Coast was slammed by a blizzard... Yep it's even been called "Blizzard of 09"... Records are being made for snow fall on the East Coast... However, while it was one whole day of some crazy snow and wind it wasn't the worst I have seen or been in... I was in Washinton State one year and let me tell you they have snow and blizzards...

Not that I am saying 2 feet of snow in one day is anything to scoff at.... Last year we got two days of snow total and maybe 4-5 inches if that...

These photos were taken just hours into the snow....

This is what things looked like right before bedtime...

Will post more pictures later...

Uprinting Postcard Giveaway

Postcards... You know what I love about postcards. Besides the fact they are cheaper on postage, have fun pictures, and trying to figure out the perfect sentence to put on it; I love that you can use them for so many things after you get them. You can put them in a scrapbook, on the fridge, memory board, and so much more.

I know you already guessed (because my readers are so smart) but Uprinting.com has offered you another great giveaway in the form of postcards.

One lucky reader will get to make their own postcards. What you plan to do with them is up to you. They can be thank you, wish you were here, business related, or whatever you can imagine. With Uprinting.com it's easy to put together a stunning finished product. Just check out all the options you have when ordering postcards from Uprinting.com.

Prize:

100 Postcards for one (1) lucky winner

Size: 4x6; Paper: 14pt Cardstock Gloss; Printing: Full color both sides

Winner will be responsible for shipping in the USA.

To Enter: Mandatory Entry (one time only): Leave a comment telling me how you would or plan on using the custom postcards... If this rule is not followed your entry will be deleted or removed from consideration.

Extra Entries (leave a separate comment for each one) :

• Follow WeeShenanigans (+2 entries)
• Blog about this giveaway linking back to Weeshenanigans and Uprinting (leave url/link in your comment) (+2 entries)
• Follow Weeshenanigans on Twitter
• Can tweet daily by copy and pasting: @Uprinting #giveaway for 100 Custom Postcards http://tinyurl.com/y8zn7g9 @weeshenanigans
• Grab my Shamrock button

This giveaway will end on Monday December 28 at midnight EST...

The Winner will be emailed on Tuesday December 29... So, please make sure your blogger profile has your current email address OR leave a valid email in your posted comment. (ie. weeshenanigans (at) gmail (dot) com) The winner will have 24 hours to reply or new winner will be drawn.

Please note that Sponsor is responsible for prize fulfillment.
Please note that Winner is responsible for paying shipping.

Good Luck to everyone

*Disclosure: I may receive the same item being given away from the company for hosting this giveaway. Product for this review/giveaway was supplied to me by the company or pr representing the company for the sole purpose of reviewing and/or giving away. No monetary compensation was provided for this post. All opinions in this post are that of myself and do not represent the views of the company. Reception of product does not influence my views on the product and I will always give an honest candid review of product received.

Just checking in

Still here... The snow is continuing to fall... and fall.....

There is talk of power outs so we are keeping the computers off and trying to be prepared for the power outs... In past history, whenever I PLAN on the power going out it never does and vice-versa... Thus, I'm planning so it doesn't go out... Makes sense right?! LOL

So, to our family.... It's not that we don't love you but the lack of phone calls is because I'm the mean one saying "Save the cell phones in case we need them"...

However, I'm sure we will call and update you shortly... The storm is only for a day or two...

To everyone else... Brrrr it's cold.... Enjoy your weekends..

Wordless Wednesday - Kayaking 101 in Hawaii

What happens when you rent this..... (aka old thin floating plastic kayak)

Then start kayaking out to that island in the distance....

that's me above.....DH below (not DH at the time)

what happens is...

1. You remember Hawaii has sharks (lots of them)
2. You discover that the island you are paddling too is a lot further away than you thought
3. Just because a camera is water proof doesn't mean it really is
4. When said camera falls out and washes up on shore, the local boys that find it will take the last few pictures on it BEFORE returning it to you.. LOL
5. That short two hour kayak trip was really an all day event and more like eight hours 

    and.....

    6.   Your arms might just fall off from all that paddling

BTW the photos are film not digital.... They are from when I was living in Hawaii and before I married DH... The funny thing is that was the hardest kayak trip I have ever been on...

Part II of.... What was I doing

During those weeks other events that kept me busy were....

Fawn Dog... Yep... Sweet innocent Fawn Dog... I let the dogs out for morning potty time and let them back in a few minutes later... Now, normally I would check feet for dirt and stuff but I was distracted by the kids... Fast forward a few minutes to when DH came in the front door and asked why the house looked like a murder scene...

HUH? Murder scene what was he talking ab.... OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOODNESS

As I turned around I see blood everywhere.... a trail of blood and puddles of blood from the back room all the way through the kitchen and into the living room.... I knew it was only one person errr dog that could have done it... Standing not five feet away is Fawn Dog with blood pooling around her foot...

It's a good thing DH and I are in the animal husbandry field because we went straight to work... Apparently something punctured her foot between the skin and toepad when she was outside... Since DH couldn't find vetwrap in the first medical bag we did the next best thing...

Quick military bandage....

Then I jumped up and got the second bag out and found the vetwrap... Yes we have more than one medical bag kit for the dogs... and when I say bag I mean duffel bag sized...

and here is the vetwrap bandage...

Fawn Dog was happy to relax and spend the rest of the day laying in the middle of the living room... However, every trip outside required some bandage protection since it was wet and rainy....

Awww yes the rain... there was just a little of that... It's actually funny because it started raining the day Grandma Shenanigans passed and for several days after that.... and then again the next week.... It has rained a lot here this year and we far surpassed the annual rain fall only months into the year...

and what does one do when it's raining.... COOK... I will write up the recipes and post them in the next few days... I made pumpkin pie.... pumpkin bread.... pumpkin muffins.... and I mean not just one or two.... There were two big pies... two mini kid pies... five loaves of bread... and about 3 1/2 dozen muffins...

What was I doing?

So..... I disappeared for two almost three weeks... The first week I told you that Grandpa Shenanigans wasn't doing so good.... then I told you that Grandma Shenanigans didn't have long.... and then came back with very sad news... What was I doing for those weeks when I wasn't blogging?

Well, honestly it's kinda a blur... It was the longest time during it but honestly now I can't remember much of it...

Raking leaves... Oh I remember helping DH rake leaves one afternoon and then two days later this is what the yard looked like...

Then DH flew home to attend Grandma Shenanigans funeral (which was lovely and had perfect weather)... The kids and I stayed behind so that Wee Man didn't get kicked out of school... I so have to post about that later...

Oh but did I mention that the day before DH left we found out Wee Man had a bad ear infection.... WAIT it gets even better... The day DH left I had to rush Lil Kiwi to the doctors because she had 104.2 fever... They couldn't decide what was wrong but thought it (ahem... rolling eyes) might be an ear infection... You all know how little I think of the base doctors but they know me so well now that when I called and told them I needed an appointment they told me to be there in 10 minutes... I was there in 5.... Oh Joy....

So, I was giving medicine twice daily to both children... One of which finally got off her daily medication back in September and never wanted anything to do with it again... It was a fun ten days...

That also means there was a lot of this....

and a bit of this.....

Good time....good times...

Will post more of what happened tomorrow and recipes.... I was a cooking fool....

Wordless Wednesday - The Yellow Baron

Was trying to clean up my photo files and ran across this one from a few years ago...

Remembering Pearl Harbor

1941 December 07

It was peaceful and then sudden chaos and confusion on Oahu, HI...

The surprise was complete. The attacking planes came in two waves; the first hit its target at 7:53 AM, the second at 8:55. By 9:55 it was all over. By 1:00 PM the carriers that launched the planes from 274 miles off the coast of Oahu were heading back to Japan.

This was the event that spurred the United States into becoming militarily involved in World War II.

By military stand point the attack was brillant however, it turned out to be Japan's biggest mistake.

Please take a few moments today to remember everyone involved in the attack.

Well Poo to the snow and Thank Goodness

Apparently, yesterday I was too quick to post about the lovely snow... That big fat perfect powder snow falling for hours....Oh I was soooo excited... It looked like it was sticking but sadly it wasn't... (whimper)

What does that mean? Well.... That means that on top of the already sponge-like ground from all the rain we had recently we now have water..... ice.... and slush..... YUCK.....

So while it was beautiful to watch the snow fall..... now we get to deal with the slushy aftermath but didn't even get to play in snow...

However, yesterday was also scary for us... We decided to pick up some food from a local restaurant and then return home.... It was snowing at the time but more like a soft wet snow fall... While sitting at a stop light we watched a gentleman wearing a white helmet turn into the WalMart parking lot on a scooter/moped.... We both commented on how dangerous that was and how bad we felt for him if that was his only option in this weather...

We picked up our food and were driving back home when I reminded DH that we were going to stop and grab some nuggets for Lil Kiwi.. (I know I'm horrible) .... Anyway... As we are getting ready to pull out onto the street we heard some sirens.... So, we waited and watched as an ambulance, fire chief, and two cop cars drove past us...

Pull out on to the street and then see the lights just a few feet up the road and not too far from our exit home... Since we live on a military base there is usually only one way to get on base (ie home)... If they closed the road we would end up having to drive about 30-40 minutes on the Highway to get turned around and back on the road to get home via the only only exit that leads home... That would not have been fun...

As we slowly drive past, one of the police officers was just getting out of his car and getting ready to keep traffic from passing.... Thankfully, we were able to pass and continue home...

However, I looked over to see what happened and there wedged under the front bummer of an XTerra was a two wheeled vehicle... Sitting on the curb, surrounded by people, was a gentleman wearing a white helmet... I teared up right away... We don't know what happened.... We don't know if that was the same gentleman.... It was dark so I couldn't tell if it was a scooter or a motorcycle but there was no denying the white helmet... I'm hoping he is okay... Didn't see it on the news so I'm sure it wasn't too bad...

The scary part is that IF we didn't stop to get Lil Kiwi nuggets..... it could have been us... that hit him......

The police/fire station is just around the corner from where he was hit so it was maybe five-ten minutes tops (the same amount it took to get nuggets) from when he was hit and them responding...

Scary...

I have a ton of things to do but...

I just finished downloading all the photos to the computer.. Whew!

As soon as I have time I will update everyone on the last two weeks...

First, let's play a game...

It's call Guess What It Is...

Ready?

Start Guessing...

No.. It is not a picture showing how dirty my walls are.. (although that is what the front door looks like)

Need a better hint... How about now.. Any Guesses?

Still not sure.... Okay... Okay... Last one....

SNOW!!!

We had already had snow this year but it was just enough to fall and melt... This snow just started and is sticking... They say it should continue to snow until tonight...

They want us to move

Okay... I need to update you all with what we have been doing the past few weeks... However, first I have to download some photos on the computer to go along with the update... Will try to do that this weekend (if not today)...

There is new news.. Is that even a correct sentence? new news... hmmm anyway

In the military you never know when you might have to move.... Last time we were told it would be BFE Egypt but since there are no medical facilities that could take care of Lil Kiwi we ended up not going... Of course it wasn't that simple and there was a lot of stuff that was done to keep us here...

We have been trying to get closer to home because family is there for both of us... Plus, in light of recent events with Grandma and Grandpa Shenanigans, it would be nice to be closer to all family... However, the military doesn't work that way... They offered us a position farther North than we are now; which was actually just the next base up and only an hour away... DH declined the offer from command and told them he would rather stay here than move on hour north to a different state...

There are a ton of excuses why they won't move us... The last one was yada yada have to be on this post for 49 months before you can leave due to XYZ regulation... Well, no one has been able to find said regulation and for those trying to figure out the math that is four years and one month...

So, imagine our surprise when we can down on orders yesterday... Huh? What? WHERE?

They have us going to a base that IS closer to home.... That would be nice... However, the closest medical facility for Lil Kiwi would be hours away... HOURS...

We have people looking into it to make sure if we have to go there that Lil Kiwi will have the treatment she needs... BAH Why is it never simple...

Hmmm I intended this to be more a hey guess what post but it turned more into a what the heck rant... I apologize for the rant... I'm sleepy... cranky... worn out.... and I haven't had my C-O-F-F-E-E yet...

Wordless Wednesday - Losing your spots

Remember this little guy? from a past WW

Well, he comes back all the time but is now bigger (sorta)....

Acorns (and the apple cores I toss out) make for some yummy snacks..

Real yummy

SUPER YUMMY

OR is this why he is hiding his nose...