My hair grew!  See: I wish!  The long ponytail isn't mine, it's a phony pony that I bought from the beauty supply store.  I have enough of my own hair to tie back into a wee little single ponytail, but it just wasn't quite the look I wanted to go to last night's squadron Christmas party with.  So, I got the phony pony, clipped it right about my wee little ponytail, and off we went!  Nobody could tell that it wasn't my own hair; a few people even said how na...

Until Sunday, I had 2 methods of making coffee in my home: instant and a carafe-less pot.  I'd been using the instant because my pot had developed a leak, but I was yearning for the taste of real brewed coffee.  Whilst browsing the BX on Sunday I came across a French press for a very reasonable amount.  For the folks who don't know what I'm talking about, a French press looks like this: You put the cround coffee in the bottom of the jug then fill it with not-quite-boi...

I think that has to be one of my favorite 'Wings' songs, with 'Mull Of Kyntire' coming a close second.  I like Paul Mcartney and I LOVED his wife Linda.  She was so...gentle.  I got from her that peaceful, serene feeling that I've talked about in the near past.  I'm said that Heather Mills has turned on him, but I have to say that I did see it coming.  She's made a living off of losing her leg - if it weren't for that, she'd have been a nobody along with the rest of us.&...

Once again, the rain has started to fall and my mood has turned to grey. I don't want to go out, I don't want to talk to anyone, I don't want to shower or clean or even get out of bed.  I don't want to do much of anything - even knitting has lost some of it's appeal.  I haven't returned anyone's emails in ages, I just haven't felt like it.  I haven't called anyone, and I've avoided answering the phone.  I've hidden in the house when people have rung the doorbell and I'...

I know that you're probably saying 'yes, Dharma, we know there was an ice storm and everything is covered in ice' but indulge me a little here.  I've never experienced an ice storm before.  Snow, yes.  Blizzards, yes.  Being snowed in the house and having to dig my way out, yes.  Ice storm, no. So, here are some more photos of everything ice-covered - and I have to tell you that getting them this afternoon was really creepy.  All the trees were creaking, you see....

When I said there was ice everywhere, this is what I meant: In the less than 3 minutes it took me to get these shots, my face was numb with the cold.  Yeah, I'm not going anywhere today....

Having lived in South Dakota for 9 years, I'm used to snow.  So when people started running around like headless chickens yesterday at the prospect of a winter storm, I chuckled to myself and went about my business feeling somewhat superior. The winter storm rolled in alright, but we didn't get snow.  We got ice. About 1/2 an inch of ice.  Covering EVERYTHING. The tree in my front yard couldn't handle the weight of the ice and dropped a bough across the street.  Ther...

I've had a sick kid at home for the past 2 days.  Jake started coughing Saturday and kept us all awake Sunday and last night with his hacking.  He's on a prescription cough medicine that's got codeine in it to supress his cough reflex, but it aint workin'.  Tonight I'm giving him (under medical advice, now - don't be thinking that I'm drugging my child up all willy nilly) some diphenhydramine (that's Benadryl, in case you were wondering) so he - and WE - can get some sleep.&n...

I saw him standing in line for the checkouts.  At first glance he looked as though he had some kind of genetic defect, some kind of retardation.  He looked like one of modern man's ancestors with his sloping brow and thick lips, not to mention his longer-than-average arms and thick, hairy knuckles.  He was neatly dressed but his ensemble had a 'too neat' air to them, as if his mother had chosen his clothes for him and he had been given no say in the matter whatsoever.  He...

*disclaimer for the dense: 'daft' is a British way of saying 'silly' in a good-natured kind of way.  Read on, and you'll see why I'm saying it* My mum is coming to visit us next spring.  We're really happy and excited to have her come and visit, it'll be the first time in a decade that we've seen her.  She knows that we're excited about it, but she's being very British and very polite about the whole thing First of all, she asked 'do you think it'd be okay if I came to visit...

I've been making candy this week. I made some blackberry flavored hard candy last Friday and some cotton candy flavored yesterday.  I made suckers and hexagon shaped candy pieces, and I also used a Jello 'Jello Bean' mold - the candy pieces that came out of that are the perfect size and shape (IMO). I also got a chocolate mold when I was at the cake and confectionery store.   It's like a sucker mold, but instead of sucker sticks you put pretzel rods in it and get chocolate p...

I don't use checks much anymore.  Most of our bills are paid online; there are only two that need to be paid via paper checks.  I only use checks at three stores - the commissary so I can write the check for a few dollar over to tip the bagger, the thrift store because they don't accept Visa, and the BX - we write checks there for cash to avoid the ATM fees (our primary bank account is in South Dakota and we get charged fees at all of the ATM's on base). Consequently, one box o...

There are some people on our street who are moving house.  Again. This is the latest in a series of moves for them, and that's just at this base.  I don't know exactly how many times they moved at their last duty assignments, but I know that the moves were pretty frequent. Here, they've moved from on-base housing to off-base civilian housing, then they moved civilian houses twice before applying to come back on base again.  Now they're moving to another subdi...

I've been up all night, sitting with a patient. After a hair raising drive along some dark and icy roads  I got home and to bed after 5 am, but I didn't really sleep.  I dozed, thinking about how I have to go to the store, clean the house, do laundry and run a bunch of general errands today.  I didn't get enough sleep the night before last either, so I'm literally running on fumes today.  Dave knows that and is being gentle with me...hopefully that'll last until...

A couple of years ago, I made Christmas gifts for my family in England.  They went over so well that I've decided to do the same thing again this year. For my mum: I've knitted her a cabled scarf using a vintage pattern.  I've also made her a pair of earrings and a matching pendant using some gorgeous turquoise crackled-glass beads.  The kids have made her Christmas angels to hang on her tree. For my brother: I hand knit a beanie in his favorite soccer team's colors (Manches...