BeautifulLife
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Posts posted by BeautifulLife
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We live in Hawaii, and Costco is an even better value now than it was when we lived in Florida. Unlike other stores here, Costco keeps their prices the same as they are on the mainland. Some of the things I consider great deals there compared to other current options:
organic ground beef
organic boneless skinless chicken breast
red, yellow, orange bell peppers pack
spinach
carrots
grapes
strawberries
kale
organic milk
toilet paper
paper towels
dishwashing liquid
detergent
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We are loyal Apple users, and of all the products we own - iMac, iPad, Macbook Pro, Macbook Air - the favorite for all of us is the Macbook Air. You can get the super drive separately to play CDs and DVDs; it's attaches by USB. But for the price ($999), you have a computer that's fast, super light, and has plenty of space.
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DH (31) has 2 brothers. One is 34, the other is 24. DH talks to the older one probably once a week. He and the younger brother text occasionally but usually don't talk on the phone. He has a close relationship with both of them, but careers, distance, and personalities play a roll in how often they communicate. We live in Hawaii, and DH works very long hours. His older brother is a state trooper in NJ so he calls when he works nights, while it is after work but before bedtime here. DH and his younger brother are both pretty quiet on the phone, and it's hard to keep a conversation going very long between them. So texting works best. :)
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We have a Toyota Sienna that comfortably seats 8 and has plenty of storage space in the back. Our previous vehicle was a Honda Odyssey that also seated 8. Both get decent gas mileage, are great for long road trips, and have plenty of upgrade options. I've loved my minivans - and this is coming from someone who only ever had SUVs and was sure I would NEVER drive a minivan :)
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Chick-fil-a!!
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We prefer Standards as well...
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I have no idea what you're talking about either! 30 yrs old, born and raised in Florida...
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Hike the Kalalau Trail on the Na Pali coast! Hanakapi'ai Falls is absolutely beautiful and worth the extra 2 mile hike to get there. It's where DH proposed, which was amazing, but not exactly the easiest spot to revisit. :)
Here are a few links with some helpful info:
http://www.kauaiexplorer.com/hiking_kauai/hanakapiai_hike.php
http://www.hawaiistateparks.org/hiking/kauai/kalalau-trails.cfm
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I think a lot of women enjoyed Brad Pitt's character by the same name in Legends of the Fall. :)
Yep, that is why I have always liked Tristan. :)
My son's name made the list. I don't personally know anyone whose surname is Hunter, and I don't consider it to be "violent" either!
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Once at summer camp in high school.
:lol:
For me, it completely depends on whether my husband is home or deployed. When he's around - a couple times a week. When he's gone? Ummmm.....
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Yes. I share everything with my DH so I would assume most other wives would as well.
:iagree: Exactly.
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I usually end up wearing make-up once a week for church. However, I will actually fix my hair and apply make-up for girls' night, dates w/DH, dinner guests, baby showers, etc. :)
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Jacksonville, FL has many of the things you want. We're 1.3 million, but the city population includes all of the surrounding county, so that number is a bit deceiving. It feels more like a city of 500,000 than 1.3 million in terms of traffic, for example, but we have the big city amenities, too -- an NFL team, museums, "road shows" of Broadway plans come here, we have a symphony, etc.
We do have humidity and Florida has hurricanes, but the geography of the area means that they almost alway veer away. We have very mild winters. It was 72 degrees here yesterday, and we took a ride on our boat on Saturday, in shorts. ;)
There are two Navy bases here. Homeschooling is easy (minimal reporting) and public schools allow HS kids to participate in sports/activities. Just south of Jacksonville, in St. John's County, there's a very strong school district if you chose to have your kids in public school. Large families aren't unheard of; our next door neighbor has 6 kids. ;)
Libertarians are common here. I'm one! There's no state income tax.
There are plenty of churches, though I don't know about the specifics of the denomination you wanted to attend.
Housing is afforable (44% cheaper than Honolulu, apparently), and we're a swing state.
Lisa
:iagree::iagree:Another libertarian homeschooling family currently here in Jax. And yes, except for the whole humidity thing, Jacksonville seems to be a nice fit. We LOVE our large, non-denominational church with both Calvinists and Arminians. However, I know of a few good Calvinist churches in the area that women in my Bible study group attend. The Navy is sending us back to Hawaii this summer, and we are actually going to miss Jax quite a bit!
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It's 70 degrees here right now. I have no idea what that even feels like, snuggling up and getting ready for snow! :)
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What are your thoughts on profanity?
Me:
1. They are just words. Words have appropriate and inappropriate times and places to be used. Using an expletive in a situation that warrants it is ok. Riddling your speech with it shows ignorance to me.
2. IMO, that time and place is not around children, and generally not around ladies. And it bugs me when others use it in those situations.
3. A female that uses excessive profanity isn't classy, or "lady-like" to me.
4. Heck, crap, darn, etc don't really count in my view. I do understand why some have a problem with them.
5. The only word that offends me is G**d***, unless used in a literal sense of eternal ****ation.
Actually, I agree with most everything you said - especially the words in bold. My DH doesn't use profanity, but a lot of the guys he works with do (he's in the Navy). It doesn't bother me to hear it. Now my son's football coaches.... well, I'd prefer them to watch their language around the kids.
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Your alarm goes off at 4:45 - 5:00 am and you joyfully leap out of bed. You go downstairs for a hot cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee from your Keurig while you listen to worship music, read your Bible and have a blissful quiet time. You then hop on your eliptical machine for 30 rigourous minutes to get those endorphins flowing. You eat a wholesome breakfast while your children are still asleep. You have your second cup of coffee and browse your favorite homeschool blogs, message boards and Facebook.
You take a nice long hot shower and dress nicely head to toe, hair and makeup done, earrings on and shoes on.
Your children rise at 7:00-7:30 and call you blessed as you feed them a wholesome breakfast. Without complaining or fighting or whining, or making a mess, they dress, wash their face, bruth their teeth and are ready at 8 for a half hour of cooperative family chore time whereas by 8:30am, your entire house is clean and spic and span from top to bottom, for everyone has done their assigned chores.
They happily bounce onto the sofa at 8:30am to listen to you read fantastic literature selections from all of the magnificent curriculum you have purchased. They diligently work on their schoolwork and lapbooks, notebooks..whatever throughout the day.
Full of energy after a whole foods lunch, you take them all over kingdom come to their activities, bringing with you your knitting, lesson planning, a good book etc because your hands are never idle.
You come home, freshen up, and have an outstanding dinner ready for hubby as he gets home from a long hard day at work.
The children practice their piano or other instruments, have a nice tubby and the family reads a wonderful read aloud together before agreeably going to bed on time without complaint.
All prepared for tomorrow, you get to bed by 9pm after a relaxing quiet time of reading, so that you'll be all ready to start over again tomorrow.
Oh man..I think I feel nauseas again....:lol::lol:
Umm, yep, this is precisely my homeschool fantasy. Unfortunately, reality doesn't even come close to this. I still keep dreaming about it though; it gives me something to aspire to!
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When you walk in my front door you are standing in my schoolroom. I love it. It has to be kept tidy because of where it is. And since I have big windows next to my door I can always see the neighbor kids before they knock on my door and interrupt my school day.
This is the same for us as well. We turned our formal dining into a schoolroom and, although I really enjoyed decorating it for the seasons before, we only used the dining room a few times a month. It is right off the foyer, the first room you see when you walk in. I love it! I like that it forces me to keep it organized and clean, and we enjoy having all that natural light. (We have never had to turn on a light during school.)
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1. He hates attention or being the topic of conversation and would not be happy to know I am writing this. ;) (I have to secretly tell his parents about his accolades & make them promise not to tell everyone!)
2. He is an incredible athlete and extremely competitive.
3. He loves to be outdoors and wants to hike the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine someday.
4. He is a a very patient, devoted father who loves nothing more than spending time with his family.
5. He is the best gift-giver & dwells for hours over finding the "perfect" gift every time
6. He got accepted to West Point before the Naval Academy and couldn't decide which one to attend until the very last day. His dad had to drive his acceptance papers from New Jersey to Annapolis to get it there on time.
7. He has now been to 24 countries (between backpacking through Europe after graduation and 4 deployments)
8. He is an avid reader, especially historical fiction, and we love to spend rainy days reading together.
9. He's more romantic than I am - he proposed at Hanakapi'ai Falls on the Na Pail Coast, Kauai and has been one-upping me ever since.
10. HE IS COMING HOME IN 38 DAYS!!! :hurray::hurray:
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Currently--
from my parents: 272.96
from in-laws: 738.18
After we PCS--
from my parents: 1131.20
from in-laws: 241.40
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Lettuce, tomato, pickle, cheddar, mustard, mayo, ketchup
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We were both 17 when we met at the National Young Leaders Conference in Washington, DC. I was representing my high school in FL, he was from NJ. We ended up in the same group because of our last names. I thought he was the most handsome guy I had ever seen, then soon realized he was kind and intelligent and funny too. :) We both knew halfway through the week that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. :001_wub:
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MY DH is active AF, a major as well, and also assumes that most people don't have a clue, and isn't bothered by it at all.
I think to him, the details don't matter, but we both wish more people cared more about politics and what is happening in their country than they do about American Idol (and others like it). We both hope that people who vote for the leaders who send my DH in to war actually pay attention to what they are doing.
:iagree:
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Oh, and to be technical ... there are SEVEN branches of "uniformed service" in the US:
Air Force - Dept of Defense
Army - Dept of Defense
Navy - Dept of Defense
Marines - Dept of the Navy (sub set)
Coast Guard - used to be under Dept of Transportation in peacetime, DoD during War. That changed to Dept of Homeland Security in peacetime, DoD in wartime under direction of the President
U.S. Public Health Service
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps
Oh yes, I forgot about the Marines being under the Navy. I also didn't realize that the last two were considered an armed service. Thanks for the info! :)
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See, now you've gone and insulted the Coast Guard !!!!! Now the COAST GUARD will critique you. (Again, do they still have this option in the AF. If they do, it's still funny.)
Since I'm bored, and most of the people taking the heat are military and can take it, I'm going to review the original list and object line-by-line.
- the different services
OK, not unreasonable, but people will stop after naming four and the USCG will be sad.
- our general term of reference (the difference between the terms soldier, airman, sailor, Marine, etc.)
Zoomie, Jarhead, Grunt, Squid . . . HOW general should we be? :lol:
- enlisted v officer (what's the difference)
Ok, that one is easy as a concept.
- the different ranks (in general ... I'll never even get the Navy's enlisted ranks right!)
They have a special place for learning this. It's called Basic Training. Unless you've been through it, knowing all this is going above and beyond.
- the BASIC mission
I'll give you that one.
- what a military uniform looks like so you can tell what service someone is in
NEVER gonna happen. Unreasonable request because every service has several uniforms and sometimes they mix and match. The best you can hope is that they can find a visual cue on the uniform that allows them to puzzle out the branch.
Fun thread :001_smile:
KFP - 98C1LF8AP
It is interesting to note that there are 5 Armed Services, with 4 being under the Dept of Defense and 1 being under the Dept of Homeland Security. I know that the Coast Guard can sometimes be transferred to the Dept of the Navy, especially during war. But it is currently still under the Dept of Homeland Security, right? Sorry, I'm not around as many Coasties anymore at our current station to keep up with such things. :)
For Mac users-Macbook vs. iMac
in The Chat Board
Posted
I only have experience with the Mac one. I noticed the 3 stars too and read through several of the reviews - they're all over the place! Seems like people really love it or really hate it. I can only say from personal experience that ours has worked very well the past 3 years. DH took it with his MacBook Air to Afghanistan on deployment. He used it daily for work and to watch movies for the 8 months he was there with no problems. My DD uses it with her Air now for school games and movies, and we always take it with us when we travel. So far, not a single issue with it.