Eilat

Yesterday we went to Eilat and the Red Sea. It was a beautiful ride out. The land here looks more like canyons than sand dunes. Lots of rock with mountains in the distance. The strangest things to see were dairy farms in the desert. There is not a single blade of grass, but all of these cows were living under sun shades, living off of hay and grain. I don't know where they find the hay, but the bales were huge. They were also bleached yellow by the sun.

The Red Sea was beautiful. I wish I'd had the money to go snorkeling. It's probably best I didn't bring a swimsuit because I would have spent money I didn't have. We did eat at a really good place called Boston Seafood and Grill. I had a shrimp and calamari salad. Very tasty. Then we walked around. We didn't get to see much beyond the boardwalk. The shops were mostly trinkets. I decided to save my shekels for Jerusalem. I did get a couple postcards though. Now I just need to find stamps. I tried calling Matt when we got back. I really miss him. I couldn't reach him at the house or on his cell, so I called my parents instead. Dad was home, so I got to talk to him, Mom and Tyler. Ryan and Anna were at a retreat. I tried Matt again and still couldn't reach him so I went back to my room.

I spent this morning shoveling bird poop out of a warehouse. I spent the afternoon feeling ill. Part of it was the heat, part of it was needing a break. There are people everywhere. I can never get time alone. My roommate interrupts me when I'm reading. People try to make polite conversation or ask what's wrong when I'm lost in thought. Everyone seems to annoy me. Maybe it's because I don't feel well. Maybe I just miss Matt and how well he understands me. I should try calling him, but I just don't feel very talkative right now. I think I'll just throw my clothes in the dryer, take a shower and go to bed.

Second Day in Israel

I'm amazed I even know what day it is. We left Robins AFB Tuesday evening. I hated to say bye to Matt, but I'm glad he drove me. It was good to spend a few more hours together before I had to leave. This is going to be a long two weeks. Ok, almost three weeks, but who's counting? Then we spent Wednesday in Sicily. I would have loved to stay there longer. I tried speaking a little Italian. I ended up ordering five deserts when I only wanted two. We walked around Catania and tried taking pictures, but it got dark. Then it started raining and we got soaked. Umbrella vendors kept following us, trying to get us to buy them. I think I said no out of spite. Beautiful city. I really hope to go back someday.

Then Thursday we got into Israel. We haven't seen much of it yet, but we're going to Eilat and the Red Sea tomorrow. Today we went to Arad for a bit. Everything was closed because of Shabat. There were a lot of cats though. The one I stopped to pet would have stood there all day if I hadn't needed to catch up to the group. Sheep herding is big here too. It's like the old days before fence laws and shepherds took their flocks from place to place in search of grass. I noticed a lot of underground rivers and oasis here that had herds grazing on them. We also saw a lot of folks riding donkeys. Saw a few horses and camels as well.

Tonight was Shabat. There were Hebrew prayers followed by a banquet. It was delicious and there was so much of it. I shouldn't have eaten as much as I did, but I couldn't help myself. A lot of veggies too, so it was kind of healthy. Got a chance to talk to Matt after dinner. I hate when there is drama at home and I'm not there to help. He lost his job Monday and is having trouble filing unemployment. He's trying to work on the taxes and doesn't know his password. He got into a car accident Wednesday (not his fault) and now has to get a quote to fix it. The dogs are getting loose and not listening. Apparently he's forgotten when he learned in dog training. Now I'm stressed and feel guilty about being here. I did send him a post card from Sicily. Hopefully it cheers him up. I'll have to send him one tomorrow as well. I don't want him to feel forgotten. All I think about is how much I wish he was here to share this with.

Organization

Wow, has it really been November since I posted last?  The holidays really got away from me.  December was a rough month for us financially, but we came through it and I think we've learned some lessons from it.  I've put a plan into place to pay off all of our credit cards.  Hopefully that will happen in the next five years; sooner, if we can ever refinance the house.  Let me just say this right now, if you don't have credit card debt then keep it that way.  There are better ways to earn credit then a revolving account.  Much better ways.  We would have a lot more money in our pockets if we didn't have to pay so much in credit card payments every month.  They have gotten out of control.  Some of our minimum payments have tripled.  It's just not worth it.  We have also stopped using the credit cards.  It's tough to feed all these animals and still only spend the money when we have it, but we're getting there.  Which brings me to my main New Years Resolution: stick to a budget.

Budgeting means a lot of changes.  First of all, I've gotten back to keeping a ledger with my checkbook so I always know exactly what we have available.  That has really helped a lot.  I shouldn't have waited so long to start keeping one, but the computer that I had kept the ledger on finally bit the big one, so I didn't have much of a choice.  The Lord works in mysterious ways.  Second of all, that means translating that ledger to the  budget.  I'm finding that we don't spend the money on the things I thought we spent it on.  Too bad that also means we've spent more money in some areas than we should have.  I'm definitely working on that.  The tough one has been the grocery bill.  We have expensive tastes when it comes to food.  A couple of new resolutions have come of that.  First of all, only buy meat when it's on sale.  Second of all, stick to locally grown, in season vegetables.  That's easy since we have Beasley's around the corner; however, I am in the process of starting my garden in the next month.  We are also packing lunches and limiting dining out to only very special occasions, or at least no more than once a month.  It's also causing us to eat healthier which is never a bag thing.  I'm drinking water like it's going out of style.

But the biggest project of all it getting all of this organized.  Lately, we have taken to throwing all of our bills in the filing cabinet drawer.  Now I can't find a darn thing.  That's bad when I have medical bills that need paid off and I don't trust these people to apply my payments correctly.  So I came up with a great filing system that will organize our bills by payee and make everything easy to find.  The only problem is that I now have to organize two drawers full of bills (some dating as far back as 2002) and putting them into said files.  So guess what I'm supposed to be doing right now instead of posting this blog.  oops

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I'm sick, so it looks like I'm staying home today. Not a big loss. I don't particularly enjoy spending Thanksgiving at my father-in-law's house. It's mostly due to his wife, but I don't really want to get into it. If I wasn't sick, I would still go. As it is, I can't talk and would rather lay low under my heating blanket. I do have a little more energy then I did yesterday, so I'm working on cleaning the house and making a Thanksgiving dinner of our own. I need to get rolling though if we plan on eating some time today.

I'm not overly surprised that I'm a walking petri dish. This happens almost every time I travel, especially in winter when the climates are so different. Kansas City was very dry and I had a bloody nose all week. I also came home with chapped hands and lips. Then Monday the scratchy throat started. By Tuesday morning it hurt to talk and swallow. I suffered through a day of work, but ran by CVS for a strep test. Came back negative which I guess is a good thing. Down side is that it means I have to wait it out and can't just get antibiotics. It's starting to look like a monster of a sinus infection. I'm not sleeping well. I have a little cough syrup with codeine left from the last time I was sick. It seems to be helping, but I only have one dose left. I'll probably need to go to the doctor tomorrow if I don't feel any better.

Kansas City wasn't bad. The BBQ is awesome. I would have been happier if I was there as a civilian. Aside from the usual BS that associates the military, there was some contention between the military and the civilian emergency managers. I tried to network with the civilians as much as possible and I think I made a good impression. I didn't see many more of the military members making the same attempts. I did get a little annoyed that I was left playing babysitter for the week. The guy wanted to take every woman who gave him the time of day home with him. You could tell these girls were uncomfortable which he attempted to flirt with them. And then I get to hear about how he wants to take each one of them home with him. And what makes you think these girls would even want to go on a date with you? They were already regretting saying hello, which since they were there as sales people was kind of a requirement of their jobs. It's not like he was in any way charming or attractive. Then he tells me that it's my job to find a single woman to join the shop for him. Umm, yeah, I am not taking part in the sexual harassment suit that would likely follow. I was so glad to come home.

In other news, the law of threes is in effect again. You see, when it comes to my life, all things good and bad come in threes. This law holds especially true when it comes to my ex's. I haven't had it happen with my ex's in quite some time, but every time I hear from one out of the blue it is almost guaranteed that I will hear from two others. It comes as an even greater surprise when I have moved 1000 miles away and changed my e-mail, name, and phone number. Yet, somehow they go out of their ways to find me. It's not always bad. For one, it's good for me to see that I can have a civil conversation with them without getting all wrapped up in my emotions. And I can see all the reasons that my life is better now because I am no longer with them. There is only one ex in particular that I truly hate for the way he used and manipulated me when we were together. He was abusive, both mentally and physically, and I have tried very hard to forget he was ever a part of my life. Naturally, he's one of the ex's who is almost sure to contact me during the law of threes. He likes to see if he can still get to me. I am happy to say that this time he will not get so much as a reply.

He contacted me on myspace today to let me know that one of his friends killed himself. This is one of his friends who was the world's biggest ass when I was with him. He was also a severe alcoholic. It got to the point that I liked him better drunk then sober. Does it make me a bad person for considering the world a better place now that he's not in it? But that's not the ex who threw me for a loop. There was another who broke up with me after two years over an e-mail. I will admit that the break up was a long time coming, and I know how that it was for the best, but it hurt that he refused to talk it out or even see me afterwards. I fell into a deep depression and eventually made the decision to move to Florida to escape his memory. I see now that it was all for the best, but it still took a long time for me to get over it. Part of what helped me was the thought that he wanted to forget about me. Imagine my surprise when I get an e-mail out of no where apologizing for him being such a jerk when we broke up six years ago. He actually googled my name to get my current e-mail. It really surprised me. We e-mailed back and forth a couple times and then he dropped off the map again, as quickly as he appeared. I'm trying not to think about it too much. I really think it was the surprise of it all that threw me for such a loop.

It was about three weeks between the two contacts. That means it'll probably be three more weeks before I hear from someone else. It makes me wonder who will be the third to contact me. I've only had a few truly serious relationships, but it would probably be even more surprising to have one of those very short term relationships contact me. I know, I'm sure everyone thinks I'm crazy for believing in this stuff. I'm not some weird religion or anything, I'm a Christian, but I do believe in the power of numbers. Take a look at your own life and you may find patterns as well. All things good and bad comes in threes. 19 is my lucky number because significant events in my life happen on the 19th of the month. I also think that seven is the number of perfection. It's a little creepy if you think about it.

I rock the grill

Sometimes it's a good thing to be told that you suck after your husband finished his dinner. That would be because I made an awesome dinner tonight which included steak that kicked his steak grilling butt. Literally, he told me he's supposed to be king of the grill, not me. hahaha Dinner was very good though. I wish I could stay home more often. Maybe one of these days. I marinated the steaks in Tabasco sauce, A-1, sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Then I also steamed asparagus in the skillet with olive oil, crushed garlic, and sea salt and threw red potatoes in the oven with olive oil, rosemary, and sea salt. Yum. I was worried that the steak would be too spicy, but it was just right. I timed it on the grill so I wouldn't over cook it, six minutes on each side. Matt swears that the only reason the steak was that juicy was because I marinated it. Maybe, but I don't think that's the whole reason. I will say one thing though: from now on I'm getting all of my steaks from the butcher case. I love hand picking my steaks and they really do seem to be better quality and fresher. Plus I can better control my portion sizes that way.

Not much else to share. Like I said, I stayed home today. My stomach has really been acting up the last couple days. I don't think it liked the butter popcorn I had yesterday. I guess I can put that on my list of foods I can't eat since having surgery. It looked like a beautiful day for a ride, but I stayed inside. I did get a little housework done though. I wish I could have done more, but I guess something is better than nothing. And of course I had the opportunity to make a wonderful dinner that I usually don't have the time or energy to make. I was about to beat the dogs though. I didn't feel good and really wanted to sleep. They wanted to spend the whole morning barking. In fact, on at least one occasion I think they were barking at me because I was still in bed. I put the shock collar on Greta and that helped the problem tremendously. Greta knows better than to bark with it on and Woody doesn't bark nearly as much if he doesn't have another dog to bark with him. But now it's time to drag the hubby away from his study materials and have him come to bed. For having slept all day, I'm tired.

Daily Musings

Pizza Bites are the dinner of champions. I have all kinds of healthy food in the fridge. Really, black eyed pea soup would have been easier and faster to cook then Pizza Bites, but Pizza Bites are what we ate. And I wonder why I can't lose weight.

Well, around here Mondays are dog training night. Tonight we were building jumps, so the dogs stayed home. It was fun to just hang out and relax. I put my jump together, but quickly passed it off to hubby so he could glue it. Not sure if that was such a good idea. I swear the boy had a glue high the rest of the night. He was even more hyper and obnoxious than usual. Afterward we went to the grocery store. I was very good about staying with my grocery list, but I still spent more then I would have preferred. That's also how we ended up with the aforementioned Pizza Bites. They were buy one get one free. We got home and I swear our dogs were on crack. Greta was using me as a spring board while she went running and jumping around. I showed her the new jumps and she gave them a spin.

Well, I'm glad the temperatures are pretty nice right now, not too cold, not too hot, because I think our air compressor went out. Since it runs both the heat and air that means that we don't have either. It was a little chilly for a few nights there. Thankfully, the furry animals were more than happy to sleep on top of me to keep me warm. Plus we had the space heater and heating blanket. Yes, I was cold. Yes, I live in Florida. No, I don't care how cold it gets in Ohio. I'm afraid to have someone come out and look at the compressor. We can't afford another expensive fix right now. Home ownership is highly overrated.

Halloween

Halloween was fun. On Thursday, we went to a party at our dog trainer's place. Nothing like torturing dogs for the amusement of others. Naturally, we were late. We missed all the games, but it was still a lot of fun. Our friends Bonnie and Dave were there with two of their dogs. Their Dobbie, Akima, was so well behaved. She's not in training there, but everyone got a kick out of her. She makes me like Dobbies. Greta went dressed like a witch, but you can't tell in any of the pictures because it's as black as she is. Woody went dressed as a football ruf-fur-ee. He was adorable as always. The boy lives for attention. The only downside is that Matt was right about his cosutme: not made for a boy. He peed all over it. Oops. Matt went dressed in his cow costume. Surprisingly, the dogs did not growl at him. However, he ended up taking it off because he realized that you can't see what the dog's doing when you have the giant head on. I went in my fail-safe elf costume. It was a hit as always. Plus the cape was so warm now that the nights are getting cold.



Then Friday we went to Miss Kitty's dressed as Frankenstein's monster and his bride. We didn't win anything, but we still got a lot of compliments. Most of the night we hung out with our neighbors at the bar and learned all the Brooksville gossip. Plus we got to know our neighbors better. That was probably the best part. We then ended up hanging out at their house Saturday and today. Makes for a cheap weekend. But we did bring a couple horses by today for pony rides for the birthday party. They fed us cake, what more can you ask for?

Matt also took some time this weekend to learn how to drive a horse. It was an interesting process. Imagine my surprise when I looked outside today to see him walking Dolly around with the cart hooked to her. Guess I forgot to tell him that he should always have assistance when hooking a horse to a cart for the first time. Not first time for her, but it is for him. Plus it's been a while since she was worked. She was nice and stubborn because of it. It all went well and no one was injured in the taking of these pictures. Well, hate to make this brief, but it's way past my bed time.