Rambling update...

There has been so much going on lately, it's been difficult to update my blog. Sorry for anyone out there who is keeping up with me. Anyone? Well, Steve and I have been staying close to home doing some local things. One site we visited a couple weeks ago was the Angel Tree. The information on the website states that the tree is 1200 years old. The curators at the site say that is not true. They say the tree is actually only about 300-400 years old.  Still, that is pretty amazing. Think about all this tree has gone through, what she has seen. (I'm calling the tree a "She" because she is the Angel tree. Sounds feminine to me). This tree is massive - it's amazing to me that it has endured Hurricanes and other forces of nature that could have destroyed it.  I'm sure my pictures won't do it justice:

It was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  We needed to do something "low key" since we have been enjoying our weekends out with friends. The night before seeing the Angel tree, we went to dinner at an amazing restaurant called 82 Queen in downtown Charleston. Oh my goodness. I had the BEST shrimp and grits that I have ever had in my entire life there.  We had such a great time enjoying the atmosphere, the phenomenal food, and the delicious wine.

From L-R: Earl, Ryan, Steve, Me, Tracy, & Melissa at 82 Queen

Here is a picture of me and Mandi. I totally look like Dolly Parton, but I swear my boobs aren't this big! I just have on an amazing pushup bra and the angle of the camera has something to do with it.

The very next weekend, Steve and I attended the Air Force Ball. We decided to attend because this will be the last one that Steve and I will attend together due to his retirement next spring.  Before the ball we had our friends over for some pre-drinks.

Megan, Jacquelyn, Risa, Me, Mandi, Cari, & Melissa

Steve and I both doing the "Skinny arm"

Me being "Cheesy"

Of course we had to be good hosts by offering many different types of beverages.

Oh, and I guess you can tell that I changed my hair color. I went to a dark auburn on the day of the ball.

I have to tell you though, it's really the simple things in life that give me so much pleasure. My friends and family, a tasty dinner, a nice glass of wine, a beautiful tree, and sweet gestures like this one:

I love bottle caps! But my favorite bottle caps are the cola and root beer flavored ones. One night, my sweet husband handed me a handful of bottle caps. He had gone through an entire box and picked out my two favorite flavors and gave them all to me.  Life is sweet!



Venting Session 101

I sometimes wonder why when women work together there is always one or two "Mean Girls" in the group. The kind of women who love to insult others or who are petty and jealous.  Why can't we celebrate our differences and learn to get along?  I have a difficult time with mean girls. They stress me out and make me feel drained of energy and emotions.  Where does this meanness come from? Are they born with it? Is it a learned behavior?  Were their mother's mean and nasty? Is a self esteem issue?  So many questions about WHY! I have tried very hard over the past few years to be patient and to exercise more tolerance. When I find myself coming quick to anger I walk away. I cool down before responding to emails or texts that upset me so that I'm not writing irrationally. This is something that I had to learn the hard way. I wrote someone an email response out of anger one time (a few years ago) and I have regretted answering the way that I did. When I went back and read the original email sent to me, I should have been more understanding of the person's position, to not be so quick to judge.  Instead I said some hurtful things that I can't take back. Since then, I try very hard not to jump to conclusions.  But for some reason the past few days have been very trying for me. In my head I conjure up every thing I would like to say to the mean girls. I imagine spewing the words out like a venom. I want my offenders to know they are wrong, wrong, wrong! Instead, I vent to my friends and I vent to my poor hubby. (Who must think women are strange creatures). I don't get to state my feelings or get the vindication that I am seeking.  In the long run, does it matter?  Will it matter in the end if these girls are never told how mean they are? (They are not really girls, they are really kinda old and crusty, but that is besides the point).  Does it make me a mean girl to picture them flying around on their broomsticks? Do bad thoughts count, even if they are not said aloud?  I have so many questions and so few answers today. Must mostly, are some women predisposed to grow up with the Bitch gene? It seems to come so naturally...

You had me at Merlot...

For some time now, I have been looking for an opportunity to work from home.  I have looked at all kinds of home based businesses, but nothing really appealed to me.  It's difficult here on base to find a business that isn't already over saturated with independent consultants.  I know SO many Pampered Chef, Mary Kay, Scentsy, etc. representatives.  I didn't want to have to compete in this small market.  Plus, I knew that working from home is my only option because of my busy schedule with the Spouses Club and with taking Master Gardener courses.  I was fortunate enough to follow my gut and to answer a Craig's List advertisement about being a Wine Consultant.  I'm SO glad I did.  I am very excited to provide wine tastings in homes, sell wine by the bottle, and to have corporate sales available.  And, it's delicious wine!  It's not cheap stuff.  No Boones Farm here.  This is artisan wine produced in Napa Valley. My website is www.wineshopathome.com/tonyanoll.  My bartending background will definitely be helpful in my new job.  Plus, I love to consume wine.  I just can't consume my profits away!  I will keep everyone updated on my progress, and will also give reviews of our wines as I start receiving them.  Contact me if you would love to know more about what I do. CHEERS!

Cheer! Cheer! For Ol' Notre Dame...

Steve and I had a very crazy Labor Day weekend. We drove from Charleston to Columbus to pick up Steve's brother and sister-in-law Jay and Jana. No problem, it was only an 11 hour drive. From Columbus we drove another 4.5-5 hours to South Bend, IN for the Notre Dame game. Then, on our way home, we drove through Kentucky to say hello to my sister Kelly.  We drove 2,200 miles in one weekend. For a football game.  Did I mention that we REALLY love football?  Visiting the Notre Dame campus though is about so much more than just attending a football game.  There is so much rich tradition and history there.  I will never get tired of visiting the Grotto or seeing that Golden Dome.  During this visit I made an effort to really enjoy the beauty that was all around us. 

Our first stop is always the Grotto.  Steve lit a candle and said a little prayer.  Too bad it didn't help the Irish win their game!  Next, we make our way to the Chapel. The detail in the chapel is amazingly beautiful.  It's hard to believe it's on a college campus.

After the Chapel, viewing the Dome, and spending too much money at the Bookstore, we line the walk way to the stadium to wait for the band to lead us in to the game.  This is so much fun and never fails to give me goosebumps when I hear the band strike their first note!

So, let me give you a break down of the game:  It was hot.  Jana and I sat across the stadium from Steve and Jay.  It was really, really hot.  The first few minutes of the game were exciting!  The Irish seemed to be in a great rhythm and were down to the one yard line...

Then, there was that unfortunate fumble.  And... well, the rest of the game was unfortunate too. Instead of rehashing that god-awful game, I will give you a run down of my experience.  I was hot, the Irish were losing, my tee shirt was soaked with sweat, and there was an abnoxious fat guy two seats down. The campus bar Legends began calling my name, and Jana's too.  We left the game and went into a nice air conditioned bar. We drank beer and giggled thinking we had pulled a fast one on the guys.  Only God had other plans.  Enter a big lightening strike and the stadium getting evacuated.  Oh crap! We were locked in the bar and couldn't leave.  Our cell phones didn't work so we couldn't let the guys know where we were.  We started to feel guilty, so we found an unmanned side door and took off out of the bar.  Needless to say, we were busted! We found our guys who had braved the heat, the rain, and the lightening just to search for us!  After hugs and kisses we were forgiven! Whew!!  We finished watching the "game" at Buffalo Wild Wings.  The End.

Retirement dreams.

I don't know what I'm going to do when Steve retires and we are not moving to a new location every couple of years. But if we must settle down, I'd want to restore an old farm house like the one pictured. We don't own it, I just wish that I did. It would need to be sitting on at least 10 acres. I'd have a HUGE garden, some chickens (if I can get over my irrational fear that they will flog me and peck my eyeballs out). I would have flower gardens with sitting areas.  Another thing I would like to try with my homegrown vegetables would be canning. I have never done it, but I really, really want to.  I would like to grow and can all the vegetables out of my garden so I can avoid going to the grocery store for them.  I think that my hubby would be adorable driving one of these around my little mini farm: 

Speaking of canning my vegetables, I have been looking at canning websites and this one:  http://www.freshpreserving.com/getting-started.aspx looks like a pretty good one.  I also have some books.  But I imagine the best thing I could possibly do for myself is to convince my grandma to come to me and show me how it's done.  For some reason, I keep picturing exploding jars and tainted botulism infested food. Grandma if you're reading this, HELP!

Steve and I still have no idea what we are going to do when he retires from the Air Force next spring. He's still young and has another career ahead of him.  I will see what he says when I suggest that he becomes a Farmer so I can putter around in a vegetable garden.  Well, I guess he doesn't have to be a Full time Farmer. He just needs to be home long enough to do all the manual labor for me.

I hope that eventually we settle fairly close to family because I miss them. I think I've had enough of living far away from everyone, but where my husband goes I will follow.  I don't even want to think about what I'm going to do when I grow up.  That's a whole other Blog topic.



It was a lovely day for a Grape Stomp!

Fortunately for us here in Charleston, we did not sustain any real damage from Hurricane Irene. So, the day after Irene left our area Steve and I went to the Irvin House Winery in Wadamalaw, SC for their annual Grape Stomp Festival. Just a sidenote: The owners of Irvin House Winery also started a fantastic vodka distillery called Firefly - home of Sweet Tea Vodka. The distillery is also on the same property as the winery and for $6.00 per person, has tastings as well. If you've never tried it, Steve and I  recommend mixing 1.5 oz of Firefly sweet tea vodka with Lemonade.  It's delicious and dangergous because you can't taste the alcohol. Anyway, they also make some delicious wines with the Muscadine grape, so the the flavor is very distinct and the aroma is much like grape juice. 

The winery had a portion of their harvest available for sampling the grapes.  Eating a muscadine grape is not like eating a grape from the grocery.  The skin is very thick and it's difficult to just bite part of the grape.  If you try this technique, it will squirt all over you (experience talking here). So, you have no choice but to put the entire grape into your mouth, but be careful of the seeds. If you bite into one, they are very bitter.

There was also a Lucy look-alike contest.  It was entertaining to see all the ladies dressed as Lucy. The lady in this picture was the winner. She did a very good Lucy impersonation.

It was a nice break for us to sit under the trees in the South Carolina heat and share a nice chilled bottle of wine and listen to live music.  We did have to wonder if switching to wine is a function of getting older. We seem to gravitate more toward having a nice glass of wine when we're relaxing rather than a beer these days.  Back in my twenties, I swore I could never be one of "those" red wine drinkers. 

Change is good y'all!

Super Sign Up Success

For those of you who don't know, I am the President of the Team Charleston Spouses Club. Today we had our Super Sign Up Membership Drive. The idea was to invite other Military spouses who have home based businesses to be vendors. Once prospective members paid their annual dues, then they could shop vendors and have light refreshments.  The day ended up being a HUGE success! We have many new members and in one day, have exceeded last year's total membership!

And here I am looking very Presidential

And at the end of the day, I took advantage of our Massage Therapist Amy. Let me tell you what, that 10 minute session was just enough to work out the stress in my neck. It was wonderful. I was so mentally drained due to putting so much time and effort into this event that immediately after my massage, I went home, had a glass of wine and took a nap!!!

I am going to book a full body massage with Amy ASAP!



"Come on Eileen" - I mean Irene

So, I heard there is the potential to have a major Hurricane hit the Carolinas! But unfortunately for me, every time I hear about Irene the Hurricane, what I'm really hearing is "Come On Eileen." Groovy, huh? Since I am always giving to others, I'm going to share this song with all of you loyal readers so that you may have it stuck in your head also! You can thank me later!



Speaking of Groovy, since the husband isn't home, I should celebrate Irene's arrival with a good old fashioned Hurricane Party!!! I can make some of these: YUM!

Wowza! Look at her go. Seriously though, I hope that this Hurricane doesn't do too much damage and that people don't lose their lives. That would be horrible. 

Don't worry about me.  If the base calls for a mandatory evacuation then I will drive myself and the dogs to stay with my sister Kelly in Kentucky. Otherwise, me and the pooches are going to ride out this storm.  I may even be able to get some very cool pictures!  On a side note, people really do think that Armageddon is approaching.  I saw a man with TWO grocery carts filled to the top with water bottles.  Every one of the large gallons of water was sold out at the Commissary, as was every battery in the store. I tried going down the isle that had batteries, and this over zealous lady literally blocked my cart with hers, and reached over my cart to grab the last package of AA batteries. Listen here crazy lady - I don't want those batteries anyway. So there is NO need to play crash up derby with your cart you Hurricane Hoarder!!! 

I will update y'all again soon. I'm sure there will be more Hurricane stories to tell.  And I really do want to make that drink...

Anything bad that can happen - WILL happen!

Here is a bit of Military Spouse wisdom I'd like to pass on:

Whenever our spouses leave for TDY or on a long deployment, it is 100% certain that something will go wrong.  It always does. Not just to me, but to every spouse I know.  I found an old email that I had written Steve a couple weeks after he arrived in Iraq.  I am sharing it with all of you.  It made me laugh re-reading what I wrote.  Please excuse my language. I am not altering my original email so that you can get a true sense of what I was feeling, um or smelling.

Subject: Poop Duty

Well, I never thought doggie vomit could smell as bad as doggy diarrhea... but it does. Ruby was laying at my feet between the couch and coffee table and yaked quite violently, narrowly missing my feet. So, I led her outside (she was embarrassed, even though I spoke to her softly, she still had her ears down and tail tucked cause she knew she should be outside).

I had to shampoo our area rug all the while heaving my gutts out. It was disgusting and warm, and smelly, and mucousy. STOP LAUGHING! LOL. I have dry heaved so much my ribs hurt.

So, I put the dog bed into the kitchen, made Ruby a pot of white rice, and blocked the kitchen off and had her stay in there. About a half hour later, I hear her whining at the baby gate, so I let her go outside and and she has projectile diarrhea by the back door. She's freaking out. I'm just trying to keep her out of her own water poop. Then, she comes back to the door and quickly turns and runs out to the grass for some more squirts before finally coming inside.

Ruby is sleeping in the kitchen. I guess if I wake up to find shit and vomit on the kitchen floor, at least I can mop it up and it won't stain anything. The house smelled so bad earlier, I  mopped the kitchen floor with enough bleach (about an entire gallon) mixture to kill the poop/puke smell in the house. It worked. The smell of bleach in high quantities somehow trumps the smell of dog poop and vomit. Lucky Me... Meanwhile my eyes are watering.

So, there is the latest dog update. I'm thinking I deserve a nice trip to Hawaii when you get back for all my pain and suffering! Or, lots of jewelry, or PCS orders to Charleston! Think you can deliver any of that? hehehee

Alright, well I should head to bed now. I love you big bunches. If Ruby is still vomiting, and shitting water tomorrow I will call the vet.

Love Always, (even when our dog is literally and figuratively  a shithead)
Me

"I'm so embarrassed" (Ruby)

 I got my trip to Hawaii

And we got that assignment to Charleston.

I didn't get the jewlery though... Steve is gone now.  Maybe if Ruby throws up on the carpet tonight I can get those diamond earrings!

I guess the moral of the story is that even as bad as it seems at the time, things will always get better.  There is light at the end of the tunnel, I promise!!

I'm having a good Air Force wife kind of day!

I get asked from my civilain friends all the time HOW do I make the Air Force life work?  How do I stand the long deployments (Steve was in Iraq for nearly 7 months, then he did an additional 3 months of training soon after), How do I stand the loss of identity? Do I ever get lonely? Do I worry that he will die? Do I get tired of moving around? What is my personal opinion about war, our President, the state of our economic depression? Or, my favorite, "Your husband must be rolling in the money, and have all kinds of power since he's a Lt. Colonel." Now, that was funny. Hilarious.  If my husband had lots of power, I'd want him to fire up a C17 and take me places!  I'm sure the Air Force won't mind if we take a $237 MILLION dollar aircraft out for a little spin.

The Air Force can be inconvenient. Yes, spouses can easily lose their identity. You have to move and change jobs, or have to put off going to school.  There are long deployments, where skype becomes your best friend. But, at the end of the day, I can honestly say that I am proud of my husband. He does an amazing job, doing something that I could never do.

Look at ALL those shiny buttons and switches! I could do some permanent damage if only given the chance!

The C17 has some amazing capabilites. One of the most important is Medical evacuations, or transporting the bodies of our Fallen Heroes. This is what a Med. Evac. in the cargo bay looks like.



Here, a Fallen Soldier is being brought home. Sobering, isn't it?

Steve will be retiring June 1, 2012. We will have an amazing ceremony and party on his behalf. He deserves it. After spending 23 years in the Air Force, he needs to go out with a BANG!  I'm actually hoping our party is so BIG that we get noise complaints! (just kidding. I hope to bribe all of our neighbors with free booze and a shrimp boil).



Here we are reuniting after Steve spent nearly 7 months in Iraq last year.

So, for today I'm a happy Air Force spouse. I'm sitting here in my tiny base house. I just returned home from a  meeting with our Base Commander's spouses; brainstorming how to make our spouses club a better, more meaningful organization.  I'm happy to spend my last year as a military spouse helping pave the way for future generations of spouses who will have the same struggles. Maybe I will be able to pass a little bit of my knowledge on.





Seems like now is a great time to start!

I'd like to know where is MY welcome mat?  Here I am! It's me Tonya and I'm actually blogging. I have had some friends and family members try unsuccessfully to get me to blog for a number of years now.  Finally giving in to peer pressure, I'm going to give this blogging thing a shot.  Surely, someone out there will find my day-to-day ramblings amusing, insightful, and brilliant, right?

I will start off by telling you that I was inspired today. I had lunch (Panera Bread, YUM) with a couple of new friends Gaylie and Mandi.  During the course of our lunch we discussed how short and beautiful life really is. We don't know what tomorrow holds, so enjoy the moment. Savor it, live it, let go of negativity and bad energy. Have you ever known someone who, after being around them for any length of time, they suck the life right out of you? Have you noticed how their constant negativity, complaining, and criticizing just make you feel tired and drained?  We all know people like that in our lives.  No matter how hard we try to encourage that person, uplift them, make them feel good - nothing seems to work.  I've made a conscious decision to distance myself from anyone who is not putting forth any sort of effort to have a happy and fulfilling life.  Why should I waste my days on people who suck the life out of me?  Now don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about ditching a friend who is having the occassional bad day, and who just needs to vent. I'm talking about the person who never has anything positive to say, ever.  I've noticed that those friendships are difficult to maintain anyway. I keep trying, out of fear of being seen as a snob, or even worse yet *gasp* a bad friend!  I just realized that the life sucking friend isn't really a friend any way. When the so-called friendship is a one way street, it's not truly friendship to begin with. So, I'm not going to feel guilty about walking away.  Good bye negativity. Hello beautiful life!


This is a picture of my friend Gaylie. I love her energy.

This is Gaylie and her handsome hubby.

 This is Mandi. I'm told she was watching a football game when this picture was taken. We're going to be football buddies!  I'll even forgive her for being a Tennessee fan.