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This weekend we went to Amberg.  I posted pics on my FB.  Everyone had been except me and Taylor so it was all new to us.  I learned that getting stuff for my pretend salon was EXPENSIVE.  But the Sally's here sells professional products, so that was nice.  I was able to get some TiGi stuff but they didn't have the color line, which wasn't super surprising.  I ended up getting X Pro brand stuff along with L'Oreal Maji colors.  TiGi used to use the L'Oreal line so I'm pretty familiar with it too.  I'm very excited about all of this though.  I figure I'll put my schooling to use.  It's not going to be a real salon, of course.  Just somewhere I can do my friends hair.  But long story short, it was $173.  Whoa.  I did get a big bucket of bleach and a ton of color.  I should only need to buy specific colors if someone wants something I don't have and maybe developer later.  So that's not bad at all.  I keep telling myself.  I love doing hair so I guess in reality it's not terrible.  It provides me the ability to do it.

We also stopped and got a new couch.  I'll post a pic down there at the bottom, along with an updated picture of Jax.  We just got new ones yesterday.  We also got word that we get to pick him up on the 5th of March.  A little bit later than I had initially thought but I think it's good that this particular kennel likes to keep the pups with their Mom's until they are 10 weeks old.  It gives them a better head start, I'm sure.  The woman I am dealing with is the Vice President of the Great Dane Kennel Club of Germany so I'm guessing she knows what she is doing.  I'm excited about the new couch, we made sure that we got one with room for Jax.  The salesman kept saying we could train him not to get onto the furniture when we were asking which couches were sturdy.  No thank you.  I want to cuddle with him all the time and I don't want to sit on the floor, so why should he.  I'm totally going to break this puppy but he's going to love me and be well behaved so it's okay.  I really hope he's like Ollie and I broke him so it should work.  I hope that he and Ollie are BFF's too, when we get back to the states.

I started school today.  I had two assignments.  I finished one.  They're due the 13th so I didn't even look at the second one.  I will.  I just wanted to give myself a minute.  I'm a little anxious.  About everything.  So it's best to take baby steps for me.  Once I get a little more into the swing of things I'll be more apt to get into the assignments right when they are posted.  And...honestly...once I actually enjoy the class I'm taking.  I'm not really into this class.  And I'm not really into Biology which is my next class.  But Philosophy will be wonderful, I know it.  I am so excited about my field of choice.  I am going to seriously enjoy every bit of this.  I know I'm old.  I understand that I waited so long because I just couldn't find time and I was just not medicated enough to be able to do it, I think.  Not well anyways.  But I also hadn't really developed my own personality.  I think had I got to college right out of highschool I probably would have chose something less suited for adult me.  I wanted to major in English and minor in French.  I still like both of those courses but...well...what exactly did I want to do with that? Cause there's not a lot that can be done.  Now I have developed to the point that I know exactly what interests me.  I know exactly who I want to be.  I want to help people, teenagers in particular.  I want them to see me and know I'm like them, just a person.  I'm not some fancy psychologist of social worker.  I'm a human with human flaws.  I really think I can connect and help them in ways that maybe other people couldn't.  Teenagers think I'm cool.  I have met a lot that are just immediately smitten with me.  Not in a "in love with" type of way but just in a "wow she's cool, when I grow up I can be like that!" I'm not saying these things to sound cocky because Lord knows, I'm not.  But from a teenage perspective I am pretty cool.  I have tattoos and current hair and I talk to them life people, not like children or as if they are lesser than me.  I really believe that I can make a difference and I am so excited to be able to try.  The major in Sociology is because it will help me understand different backgrounds.  Where people are coming from.  Religions, cultures, all of the things that make us who we are even if we don't want them to.  I was thinking of majoring in Psychology but I know that with a minor I'll have enough of what I need to do what I want.  I already understand teenage psychology a lot more than some.

So yes.  A new couch, a lot of hair color, school and a puppy.  Exploring! Always exploring.  Next weekend I am hoping for Bayreuth.  Cross fingers!! I know I've said that before but things keep coming up.  This time I really want to make it happen.  Danny wants to go to Nuremburg because there is a castle there.  I am all for castles but...Bayreuth has a haunted graveyard!!!

In other news, my dog ate my Kindle.  So I need to get a new one.  NEED.  Stella is the worst dog in the universe.  Never get an English Bulldog.  I repeat, English Bulldogs are EVIL.

I thought I would mention.  I have become obsessed with light blue nail polish.  I would like to find some sky blue polish.  I got a China Glaze color called For Audrey and I swear it is Tiffany blue but I want something lighter.  So just know that within a short while baby blue will be the color that everyone wants.  This is how it happens with me.  I'm finally just going to say it, predict it.  I have a knack.  I get obsessed with a color of an item and can't find it anywhere.  Within a short while it is EVERYWHERE and of course I don't want it anymore.  So there is my fashion related prophecy.

Alright, so here are my pictures.  Do enjoy!

None of the matching furniture, we chose a dark brown leather recliner.

Izaiah Jax Teller, 6 weeks old....SO CUTE!!

Jaxy poo.  Look at that wrinkly nose and those giant paws!

Amberg

 

 

 

Amberg, how cool is that??

So I guess that is all for today.  I need to do some wonderful online shopping, order a few things I can't find here.  Hope everyone has a lovely week!!

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books books books

I went to the library today.  Taylor got a Buffy book.  Danny sat down and read a magazine.  I wandered around the Mythology, Philosophy and Social Sciences section for quite a while.  I was looking for some books on religion.  They didn't have an actual religious section, which was kind of odd to me.  They had a HUGE Christian collection ranging from Catholicism to Methodist literature.  There were 3 books on Mormonism (including the Book Of Mormon).  There was one shelf devoted to Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism.  A couple of shelves about Judaism.  And one shelf on Islam.  That was it.  Nothing else.  There was a small section of Sylvia Brown books and even smaller area on ghosts/paranormal anything.  I saw absolutely no books on Wicca.  Which is actually what I was looking for, specifically.  I was able to find a book on Crystals.  Which may be helpful, but probably not.  I got a book titled Illustrated Dictionary of Religions.  It looks fantastic.  It will contain more religions with hopefully good details.  I also got Mythology for Dummies and a book about dream interpretation.  Absolutely not what I was looking for.  I'm kind of bummed.  But I can do research on the net so it's alright I guess.  It's for a book, by the way.  I'm not converting.  Converting from what, I don't know.  But I'm not converting to Wicca.

Anyways.

Danny leaves for the field Monday.  It's going to be quiet around here.  I'm not looking forward to doing dishes.  I'm also bummed that he's leaving before pay day cause that means I have 1/2 a tank of gas in the Xterra and 3/4 in the Mazda.  I don't like not having full tanks.  Even though I don't go anywhere regularly.  I have a few things to do that week...so it's distressing.  Cause I'm easily stressed out.  He's only going to be gone 5 days, I act like it's two weeks.  I need to get on the registration so that this isn't an issue.  Can't do that until he returns.  Things like this irritate me.  I don't understand a gas rations card.  They allow you plenty.  More than enough even living way out here in the middle of nowhere.  Not to mention my name is on the stateside registration as well as the insurance.  It should be enough.  Oh well.  What can you do.

It's getting closer to time to start planning day trips.  I am heading out to Langen to pick up my puppy in about 2 weeks.  That's over near Frankfurt.  So I'd like to stop there and wander around some.  But around the beginning of March I would like to take another trip.  I just don't know where yet.  Somewhere puppy friendly, I think.  So we can take Jax.  Oh, and I want to go to Bayreuth.  To wander around the cemetery and check out some palaces, museums.  So maybe I'll plan that.

I am currently reading a Pretty Little Liars book.  It's interesting.  I read the first one and this is the 4th...so I'm lost.  But it's somethin'.  I am gonna go help do most of the dinner prep...then prepare for a bath complete with my book and some hot hot water cause baby it's cold outside.

Word.

A Little History

We went to Vilseck on Saturday to check out some furniture.  Of course because it was the luck of Rachel, it was not to be.  They were closed for inventory (yes, on a Saturday).  Danny told me that the day I got my license they drove around a lot and happened to see a cemetery, right there on post.  So we decided to go check it out.  I love cemeteries, the older the better.  There is potential for some VERY old cemeteries in a land that has documented occupants before the 600's!

I got quite a few pictures.  It wasn't as old as I had hoped, 1930's was the earliest dates I saw but several didn't have dates.  Tragically (in my opinion) around here it seems that headstones get replaced.  It is a bummer cause I like the old ones...more character than these shiny black things.  But I digress.

So, it seems that long ago before Vilseck was a post the land (and that surrounding all of the Rose Barracks and Graf) were several small towns.  In the 1937-38 time frame the land was taken to house the German Army.  This caused the evacuation of the towns, Langenbruck was one of them.  In 1945 Vilseck was surrendered to the United States.  Post war, Vilseck the town integrated 5 villages into one community.  Vilseck the post, however, maintained some of the old Langenbruck relics.  The cemetery is the one we have found, I have determined if there is more to find or not yet.

I am sure you can find most of this at the Museum in Graf or by Wikipedia (which is where I got a good portion of my info) but I just wanted to give the basic run down of the area.  I feel like doing a little historical research of the places I visit is the best way to go, it's also a good learning experience for Taylor.  I'm not sure how much of it she actually pays attention to but it's a good base anyways.  (By the way, I live in a hamlet.  How cool is that?)

So here are my pictures...there aren't a ton, it's a small area.

And one more...

So, way back in 2000 I was managing a coffee shop. There were a whole bunch of guys that hung out at the shop. The above just happens to be two of them, the brothers Dusk1 and DJ Honna aka Ryan and Ben. I actually hired Ryan to work at the shop at one point and he went on to be a manager of another store. I always knew Ryan was a super talented artist, I bought two of his paintings and still proudly display them. But I didn't know about this Hip-Hop awesomeness until later, after we had moved. I am a huge fan. So I just wanted to share a little bit of great.

Amazing, as always.

health(ier)y

I am trying to eat a bit more on the healthy side.  I'm not being fanatical about it because...well I have before and I just don't have that kind of time right now.  I'm starting slow.  Making small changes.  It really seems like when I go all dramatic and change everything all at once it not only fails miserably but I feel a little craz(ier)y.  So right now I'm still making dinner however I want.  But breakfast and lunch are changing.  Typically I only eat one, but today I decided I'd have toast for breakfast since I was up at 8am.  For lunch it was pita with hummus and bell peppers with ranch I made myself using a seasoning packet and skim milk, I substituted Greek yogurt for the cup of mayo though.  Dinner was pasta salad and Veg burgers on whole wheat buns.  So it was small tweaks here and there.  For desert tonight we had apples with caramel dip...one day I will forgo the caramel dip but the serving size is 2Tbsp per apple and we averaged 1Tbsp...so I guess that's better.  I had grapes too.  Cause they looked good.  And they're grapes, not crepes.  I really have to start taking this heart health stuff more seriously.  I started riding my exercise bike last week, 25mins a day is my max so far but better than nothing I guess.  I still drink a pot of coffee a day but we cut back from 2-3 diet Cokes a day to 1.  The rest is water with Real Lemon or Lime.  I know I need to quit smoking.  I fully understand how much of an impact that would have on everything.  But lets be real.  Right now, it's not going to happen.  I have my limits.  If I wanted to get on some serious daily anxiety meds (instead of the "as needed" I have now) maybe.  But I sat myself down and I said, "Self, let's be realistic.  What's more important.  Diet and exercise or smoking." I could not answer myself.  But I did determine that if I quit smoking and that's all, I will probably gain wait and increase negative eating habits (need hand to mouth motion? reach for a Cheeto) which has counterproductive issues, obviously.  As it is, I have cut back to anywhere between 1/2 to 3/4 pack a day.  That's much less than it used to be.  I got up to 1 1/2 at one point.  1 a day is bad.  But it's still an improvement that doesn't cause added stress.  So I guess I'm trying to move in the right direction.  I'm pretty convinced I'm going to have a heart attack.  We'll see what my blood pressure is tomorrow.  I'm hoping lowwwwwww.  It's possible!

It's 2am.  I'm going to stop typing about food and take all my multitudes of vitamins and go to sleep, or at least go lay down.  I'm not finding that regular blogging is helping my writers block but I am determined to push through it!!

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vita-meeta-vegee-min

I'm sitting here watching The Troop (on AFN Family, not entirely by choice) and trying to get the courage to start taking my nightly medicines.  Only 3 of them are real prescriptions.  Zyrtec, cholesterol pills and the anti-cuckoo pills.  Then starts the vitamins.  I'm going to name them then take one.  Cause maybe it'll make it easier to down them.  I will want to get this over with to get on with the rest of my life.  So.  Vitamin E, 2 little gels.  Easy.  The end of easy.  Now lets go with...the giant oil pill.  I forget what it is except that there is sunflower oil and I think (gag) fish oil...it helps my heart and I need all the help I can get there right now.  It's huge though.  This one take the most courage.  Yup, I gagged.  Moving on.  Hair, skin and nails vitamin.  Check.  I really think it's working, especially in the cocktail I take.  Mmmk.  Now...2 Calcium/Vit D pills, total of 1200mg calcium.  This doc insisted since I'm lactose intolerant and old.  Got those 2 down.  Alright.  Now some super B-complex vitamin.  Not bad.  And last but not least, the prenatal vitamin.  Don't be crazy.  It's just the same as a good multi-vitamin only the doc can prescribe it aka it's free instead of $10+ a bottle.  Ta-Da! That only took about 5 minutes.  That's not bad at all.  Not for me anyways.

The vitamins really are working for my hair and nails though.  My hair is growing way fast and my nails are stronger.  It's great since I'm actually trying to grow my hair out.  The nails have got to go though.  They're horrible.

Today Taylor fell.  On her face.  She and Kiara came home and worked on their homework and they did really good.  They helped each other I guess so they did really good and only missed 2.  Not too shabby.  So I let them go to the park since it has still been decent out.  About 15mins later someone knocks.  It's two older girls I don't know.  They say, "Um, Taylor fell, um, on her face? At the park? And she's hurt? She went to Jasmines? Jasmine wanted us to tell you?" - - I swear to God every single thing was a question.  Poor kids lol.  So I found shoes and started to head over to Jasmines but Taylor and Kiara were already heading up the driveway.  Tays lip was all bloody and her chin was scraped up.  She also has a scrape on her cheek right below her eye.  Poor kid.  Jasmine's babysitter cleaned the cuts up so I went over them again and then put Neosporin on them.  I gave her tylenol and ibuprofen cause the swelling was ridiculous.  It still hasn't gone down.  I just emailed her teacher to let him know she's not going to be there tomorrow.  She bursts into tears every time she looks in the mirror and says she looks "hideous".  What 9 year old has issues like that? Apparently all of them.  I tried telling her she looked like a UFC fighter but that did not work.  At all.  It may have even had the opposite effect of the one I was going for.  Sigh.

I guess I should try to get off of here.  Pretty Little Liars is on...I'm guessing this is a REALLY old one...and it's the only one I've ever actually watched...but maybe I can fall asleep and have just serial killer dreams instead of vampires AND serial killers.  We'll see.

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