Wonderful Ladies!

Hosted a Navy wife stich and bitch last night. It was a lot of fun. We always have a great time. I also find it to be a great time passer when Joe's away. It's very interesting to "bitch" with each and every one of them. Even though we have one very very LARGE thing in common- we are all so different. It's a great way to get coping skills, recipes, perspective and ... lots of laughs! I really, really, really enjoy having them all over!

Other then that... I just can't believe March is almost over. Where is the time going? I switched our banner outside from Easter to the American Flag. I have a really cute Rain one for May, but nothing before then. I love to switch the banners and wreaths. I think it's my favorite thing about owning a house.

I spoke again yesterday...but lucky for me it was in CT! I love that. I was in Vermont the day before, 8 hours of driving- exhausted! I came home and slept until 11:30, brushed my teeth and slept until 6:45. So.. I ended up being well rested for the two speeches yesterday and my company.

Missing my sailor :) He's such a cutie......
Samantha

Easter wishes...

.. It's hard to spend holidays apart. That might be my least favorite part of the "being away" thing.... I think about him and worry that he's not sleeping, eating enough... and even sillier things like that he has to use *gasp* powder creamer! Poor baby! I know, I know. I just know he deserved a great Easter weekend and chances are he worked like crazy, hardly slept, hardly ate and had to use powdered creamer in his cup of coffee!

The Easter bunny here is VERY funny. Some how, there were packed Easter presents in the good ole sea bag...but he came and delivered a big Easter Basket here for when Joe comes home. I think he couldn't help himself or something. Lucky for me, The Easter bunny knew I would be in RI at my Mom's house and sent mine there.

Joe did get a chance to tell me that he had fun with the antique cribbage board that the Easter bunny sent on with him. He's going to do some research about it when he gets home. I'm sure we can post a picture or two as well.

Hope you all had a great Easter with friends and family!

Samantha

Moving along.....

Life is just moving along.... I can't believe it's mid-March! Oh- and Happy belated St Patty's day to everyone!

I didn't do much to celebrate- Although the Friday before I went out with my good friend Alicia and her husband. We were joined by some of the guys on his boat. We had a really nice time in Mystic. With all the boat talk/stories- I felt like Joe was home! And then when I got home- I opened (early-don't tell Joe) my St. Patty's gift he left behind for me. He got me *drum roll* LEGOS! I can't wait to have a little time to put them together. I'm getting quite the collection from him!

Easter is so early this year! Joe laughed when he spotted wrapped Easter gifts in his sea bag. I said, " Listen...the Navy can't take away the Easter bunny too...". He just shakes his head at me. I'm serious. I can make this navy career work for however long he wants... but he'll have to make room in his sea bag. Secretly- he loves it. In other news, I sent all of our Easter cards out without postage- so I've been slowly getting them back and trying to get them back out! Annoying! Oh, and another secret... He got me peeps for Easter( I just couldn't wait!). Yum. I like them stale though- so I had to open the plastic on them. I can't wait to enjoy them in a few days.

Not much else to currently report. I had a great Navy wife get together this past weekend. We all had a lot of fun. It's great to meet people off my favorite website: http://www.submarinewivesclub.org/. If you're not a member ( and a sub wife, mom or dad ), check it out. Really great group of women(and men)!

More later!
Samantha

Exhaustion....

I've been so tired- it's been hard to get on here to blog. I left the house Thursday morning at 3:45AM and I actually got back in the house at 11:30PM. Long Long day in airports, rental cars, schools etc. I was speaking in Penn! My body aches. My throat hurts. I have been so busy this entire week that I haven't even had a chance to be sad that Joe's not here. But then as I make my way off the last plane in Hartford to see people running into the arms of the ones they love knowing that Joe could make everything better right now....made me realize how sad and lonely this life can be. I miss him every day but I hadn't had time to feel gloomy until then. My voice is gone, my body aches and I could have used a nice cup of tea and a shoulder rub. It made me so sad to think that he wouldn't be waiting for me anywhere in the terminal, but worse... he wouldn't even be there when I got home.

Eh, such is this wonderful military life we are part of....

I finally got my tired butt home and put on my Jammie's. I wanted to make sure to log on the computer and send off my nightly email to Joe and whew -surprise!! My silent prayers answered. Not one, but two emails from him. And as I was putting my Jammie's on, I spotted my gleaming pile of cards and gifts from him. I was cheered up instantly. He's so very thoughtful. He is making the biggest sacrifice but.... I can't tell you how how nice is is to know he recognizes mine as well.

Friday was a long day with the girls. Regan was very under the weather. I was exhausted when I got home and ready for bed. Alicia called me and coaxed me out in Mystic with her husband and his friends from his boat. She's such a good friend to me, I had to go. We had a great night and I finally fell into bed around midnight to get up at 7:00AM to get off to RI to work at my moms Salon for the day. Back home last night to meet Becky and BB for a girls night and then up this morning to get ready for the At Home American party I am hosting at the house today!

Whew! When everyone leaves.... big cup of tea.... and a pair of Joe's Jammie's...and I'm good for the night.

Take care!
Samantha

Joe's heart

Joe left me this pile of gifts for the current underway. I love the labels. So, I had to share. I hope you can all see his wonderful "guard dog" drawing to make sure I don't open that one before 1/2 way. And I will say- so far, I've been doing well- Only opening things on time-but as time goes by... I want to open them sooner. But then I'm always sad when I have none left. I'm trying to remember that.... So far I've opened new measuring spoons and a peeler. Both are really nice and we really needed both sets. He's so thoughtful. I'm always amazed at how much he listens to me when I don't think he's listening. I am really so very blessed by his love.

I spent yesterday evening at my moms salon in RI. She had a CAbi party. Gosh that stuff is so cute. She treated me to cute shorts and a REALLY cute spring jacket. She of course had a HUGE party and they debuted the new makeup line the salon is carrying.

I'm speaking today in Connecticut. Actually doing the Junior(Making Your College Search Count) and Senior(Making your College Count) programs. I love both! Off to get ready.

Love
Samantha

Sunday some time together... sort of

Well as Sam posted before there is no better way to tank a weekend then duty. That being said, on the one day we have together her going to do some bridal planning for a friend doesn't help either. I must say that she is way more helpful than I thought she was going to be when I showed her my list of stuff I wanted to get before I left. She went and got it ALL!!! She's nuts, and she reminded me that she spent less money that I would have, which I will admit is most likely true. So while she's away my plans of doing some shopping are out the window. So I figured hey why not get a few things that we need for some fixer up projects around the house? Which means the dreaded trip to the Home Despot.... Now it took me while to figure it out but that store was created by the devil, there are so many good things you can get there and as soon as you walk out to your car you remember 30 other things you needed to get besides the 10 foot tall inflated Easter bunny that was on sale. So now I am home and I resisted the urge to get the Bunny. It's outside for me to fix the flag that got ripped off the side of the house in the last wind storm. Then I'm going to clean out the fridge, and do some work to the soon to be pantry. Also the smell of the lamb that Sam started slow cooking for dinner tonight is wonderful. Can't wait to try it when she gets home. People not in the navy tell me that they normally have two whole days off on the weekend with their significant other, and to those people I say, stop telling me about it and enjoy it. You never know when you might get shipped out, I guess that doesn't apply to them but hey every moment with the person you love is special, make the most out of them. We wish we had more times to make the most of!

Duuuuuuty calls.....

SAT DUTY - YUCK.
What could ruin a weekend more? NOTHING! Well, an upcoming underway....
Which kept me busy today!

Joe's list of things he NEEDS for the underway :
( Joe's list of things he WANTS for the underway(translated by Sam))

Quaker bars ( brown sugar or banana bread )
Crystal Light to GO ( Any of the citrus flavors )
Treasures or Nuggets - 2 bags. (Don't get anything fancy, I have to share them)


This is what I am making for dinner tomorrow: ( story to follow )

Lamb Chops in Apricot Curry

Ingredients
4-6 Lamb Chops - which ever your favorite (the cheapest:-)
¼ cup white wine (or white wine vinegar)
2 tsp crushed garlic (we use garlic out of a jar).
1 tbls curry powder (makes mild curry - add more for hotter)
250ml apricot nectar
½ tsp mixed herbs
Optional Vegetables - If you want a one pot meal put a selection of your favorite vegetables in first. Last time, I used potato and sweet potato (yam - orange flesh) cut into inch size pieces – delicious.


1. Mix the wine, garlic, curry powder and apricot nectar together.
2. Put the meat in the Crock Pot. (Vegetable on bottom if using).
3. Pour in Liquid
4. Put on Lid, turn on and walk away. On low cook for 8-10 hours OR on high 4-5.
5. An hour prior to serving, stir in the herbs.
6. At this stage if the sauce is very runny just mix a tablespoon of corn flour with enough water to make a paste. Stir this into the Crock Pot and turn on high for half an hour.

So I searched the world for Apricot juice- It's not ANYWHERE. I even checked the baby aisles of the stores I hunted in. I finally found apricots in the can. I bought four cans and mushed the apricots and marinated my lamb overnight(it's marinating as I type). I'm going to use the left over juice in the crock pot tomorrow and hope for the best. I'll let Joe tell you how it turns out!

In addition to that- Joe was needing a black backpack so that he can go to the gym in uniform. It's hard to find black backpacks since it's not September(back to school)...but on my hunt, I found one! The same place I got him Adidas Sandals ( The request was shower shoes ). BOB's store. They were having an incredible sale too.

To go along with the Adidas sandals and backpack, I ransacked Wal*mart for energy drinks and cliff bars. I couldn't pick which high protein cliff bar he'd like better- so I got four different kinds for him to try. I'll buy them in bulk on e-bay when he picks. I picked up some Aquafina flavor splash too-since I found an empty bottle when I was cleaning out his backpack. See, when Joe decides to do something, he must doooooo it(have everything to do it and all the fun accessories too!). I love him for it though. You won't find a more passionate guy anywhere on earth(well maybe-but I'm bias!). And since he switches hobbies faster then anyone I know- he knows a lot about several things. You're thinking... jack of all trades, master of none. Now- that's what amazes me. He's pretty darn good at most of the things he tries. I think he enjoys them all-but he has a need for "new" and "exciting" since he's stuck under water so much.

We try to do different things together. We enjoyed taking our Pistol Permit class together last week. We both did well and have to wait for our permits now. The class was very educational and we got to shoot(practice) with a lot of different weapons. It was my first time shooting a gun-but I was happy with my progress. Now we have to start working on our gun collection. We got my first 9mm in Maine already. YAY. I'm on the search for purple ear "muffs" for the range.

Speaking of new and exciting- We are going to take a leather working class together next week- which should be fun. Joe had went down to Tandy Leather and gotten a lot of supplies, but no knowledge/experience. We thought it might be fun to take the class together.

That's all we have to report.
Can't wait until the morning
xoxo Samantha