Eventful weekend!

Quite a bit happened to talk about this week, so I figured I'd go ahead and post another blog!

I decided to make a few good meals this week since I have so much time on my hands, so here is the first one! I've been craving a good pot roast for a while now. It was delicious!

I was really happy to get my car fixed on Wednesday. It was getting pretty bad with the whole jumping forward thing. Also, two different times, the car just died on me when I was stopped at a light or stop sign. I just couldn't accelerate! So I had to turn the car off and back on, and then it was fine. I took the car in around 10 am and figured they would have it at least til Monday to get everything straightened out. BUT to my surprise, they called me around 1 pm and said my car was ready! So Dan took me to pick it up when he got off work, and I drove my car home. It is working perfectly now, thank goodness. The Japanese workers definitely show up the American mechanic places (like Goodyear...Midas...etc) by the speed of their work!

I was blessed to receive a ton of coupons in the mail this week! I joined a Facebook group for Kadena Couponers and joined a newbies document, so our PO box was flooded! It took me a whole afternoon to sort through them, and now I can mail them to others on the list. Pretty great system they have going on here since we don't have regular access to coupons like you do in the States.  

She's just so worn out!

One night, I wanted to do something in the crock pot for dinner but didn't have a specific recipe, so I just threw a few things in and it was amazing. A little salsa, a little ranch, some hot sauce, and cheese makes one delicious chicken over pasta! Can't wait to make it again. 

I really gotta stop making things in 9x13 pans for just the two of us. Its terrible for our health!

Friday morning (August 17th), I was having a tough time staying motivated during my workout on the elliptical, so I decided to text Dan, hoping for some motivational words or something. He simply said "Go downstairs to the fridge ;)". I was like...is he serious? Why?? But you never know with him, so I did and this is what I found!

Lunchables and Red Bull. Haha is that what it takes to make me happy? So random! But it was awesome and it totally made my day. Apparently he snuck back in the house while I was still sleeping and I didn't hear a thing, so I was definitely surprised!

Friday afternoon, I ran some errands including talking to one of the elementary secretaries. They have a new process for applying to substitute teach, so I had to fill out a paper for her to fax to HR. While I was there, I asked if there are any aid positions open, and she said yes because they just had to add a kindergarten class. So I made sure she knew I applied and am hoping she will remember my name!

That night, Dan and I had to go to the Marine base, Camp Foster, to pick up kitty food. Can you believe that nowhere on our base had any? We checked the BX, Commissary, and little shoppette and no luck. So after our trip out there, we went looking for Mike's Tex Mex which we heard was pretty good. We found it no problem, but when we tried to go in, we were told there were no tables. :(

So we walked around the block and ended up finding Araha Beach and Park. We have seen signs before for the beach but never explored the area. It was a beautiful place to stumble upon! The sun was setting and the weather wasn't too bad, so we just walked along the sidewalk on the beach for a bit before heading back to see if the restaurant had tables yet. AND we found an awesome sign that was completely lost in translation, but hilarious.

We saw a bride and groom getting pictures taken, but they were too far away. 

When we got back to Mike's, there were a few other people waiting outside to get in, so we decided to skip it this time and went to a place 2 buildings down called Ishikikigamas...or something like that. Dan tried a mozzarella burger, and I had some sort of tomato pasta that came with some sort of soup in a mug. I decided it tasted like sweet corn and it wasn't too bad! I wasn't sure how to eat it since it was in a mug..so I just drank it. Of all things to like, I enjoyed the sweet corn soup! After that, we headed back to Foster for a movie but we still had some extra time, so we checked out the electronics section of the BX. We had been searching for some TV speakers for a little while since we've been using computer speakers since we received the TV, so we decided to buy a little Panasonic set for our 1 year anniversary! (Guess who that gift REALLY was for ;)) haha. Then, we saw Hope Springs at the theater (Steve Carell, Meryl Streep). What a great date night!

Saturday, we enjoyed sleeping in, and then Dan made a lovely breakfast for us! Nothing like chocolate pancakes with white chocolate chips topped with marshmallow fluff. Haha! Surprisingly, they weren't too bad. :) Completely unhealthy.... but oh well.

After that, we ventured out to some local electronics stores to find some HDMI cables so we could actually use the new speakers. We started out at the "Everything in the World" store but had no luck. They had everything else you could think of though! Lots of crafty and random things. I was having all sorts of ideas of things to buy for my classroom if I ever have one! Then, after a trip to Starbucks, we found a computer store called Goodwill and actually had luck and found the cords. Finally, we had to make one more stop at the BX to find some sort of digital optical type cord to hook up the speakers to the TV since we don't have a certain connection already in our TV. Unfortunately, we didn't find one so we might have to order it online. Why can't products actually come with the cords necessary to make it work correctly anyways?

On the left is my Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher. I was disappointed that it tasted more like a flower than berries. Maybe you've tried it and liked it better than I did! Dan's Soymilk Strawberries n Cream Frap was pretty tasty though.

YUM!

That afternoon while Dan messed with the speakers, I attempted to make homemade lasagna for the first time! The first challenge was mincing fresh garlic. I never thought I'd have to google something like that.... but it was a success! And dinner was delicious. I feel like such a chef these days.


Dan had to start his first night shift for the Exercise, so he went in around 7pm and left me to enjoy a nice quiet evening with the kitties. He might get home in a few hours, or he might have to work the full shift and get back when I'm getting up for church! Guess we'll see. And then all next week, he will work from about 7:30 pm-8am and then sleep all day. But more on that next week....

Great week and weekend!


P.S. The kittens are 4 months old today!