Merry Christmas from Tennessee! Here's one of the pictures Sandals took in Jamaica; more to come in a couple weeks when we've returned to our camera cord!
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Merry Christmas, Mon!
Merry Christmas from Tennessee! Here's one of the pictures Sandals took in Jamaica; more to come in a couple weeks when we've returned to our camera cord!
Friday, December 16, 2011
A Pretty Party
Last Saturday I hosted a final spouse social for the spouses of Caleb's pilot training class. Sort of a farewell party but additionally an early birthday party for one of our spouses who is expecting a baby in March. Together with my friend Maylis and her hours of browsing pinterest.com, we created a color-coordinated party with some decorations that our friend can reuse in her nursery or wherever.
Unfortunately I was in a terrible rush when snapping these pictures as the girls arrived so they're not the best but hopefully you'll get the idea.
So the colors were purple, turquoise and green. Here you can see the branch that we sawed off one of my trees, planted in a vase with dirt to weigh it down, and wired little leaves out of scrapbook paper all over. This was my favorite. After the party I was so sad to see it go that I made a second similar but quicker and easier version. I'll post pictures of that sometime too. Also you can see the little paper flags in the muffins and a little bit of the banner we made for the wall.
This picture didn't turn out so well, but I also made a little baby version of the banner on the wall for the table! Our food didn't really fit the theme: brownies and kettle corn. We had sprite with grape juice ice cubes that did fit the purple color scheme.
Unfortunately I was in a terrible rush when snapping these pictures as the girls arrived so they're not the best but hopefully you'll get the idea.
So the colors were purple, turquoise and green. Here you can see the branch that we sawed off one of my trees, planted in a vase with dirt to weigh it down, and wired little leaves out of scrapbook paper all over. This was my favorite. After the party I was so sad to see it go that I made a second similar but quicker and easier version. I'll post pictures of that sometime too. Also you can see the little paper flags in the muffins and a little bit of the banner we made for the wall.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Yay Me
This is the little engagement card I made for a good friend of mine who got engaged several weeks ago. I got the concept off Pinterest or Etsy or something like that but changed it up quite a lot. Unfortunately I couldn’t think of anything more clever and succinct than “You are engaged!” to write on the front. “Congratulations” or “engagement” was just not going to fit. I still thought it was pretty cute.
A Creative Christmas
Just wanted to share a few little projects from the past couple weeks.
1. Gingerbread house from scratch. Not quite the Martha Stewart moment I imagined, although I do like this picture. I thoroughly read several blog posts and online articles about making a gingerbread house and thought that would just be the epitome of domesticity. Several hours into making and refrigerating the dough, which didn’t even taste good as a dough, printing, creating, and cutting out templates, rolling out and cutting shapes out of the hard-as-a-rock dough, baking the pieces, decorating the pieces with hard-as-a-rock icing, here I am with my mother and sister-in-law, trying to assemble said pieces. It was going fairly well until we realized the pieces became too contorted in the baking process to fit together very well and we didn’t have enough time to really wade through the process. Also, I burnt my finger on the burnt sugar mixture intended for gingerbread house mortar. The day after assignment night Caleb and I broke all the pieces into little tiny pieces and threw them away. I guess that was kind of therapeutic. I just hope I remember what a time-consuming process this was before I go and attempt it again next year.
This little wonder is actually the creation of my mother, who got the idea from a children’s magazine. Simple, adorable, and a great way to preserve beautiful Christmas cards. All you need are some pieces of stiff felt, some cute ribbon, some fabric paint, little squares of old Christmas cards, some sort of craft glue, and little bits of velcro, and some magnetic tape for the back if you want to put it on your fridge. Assemble. Admire. Use again next year.
This one was actually completely my brain child. Since we are going to be out of town for three weeks surrounding Christmas, we agreed it would be a waste of money to buy a real tree, but I couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing the pretty lights and our special ornaments this year. With a single strand of Christmas lights and some clear thumbtacks, you too could have a completely needle-free, low-cost fake Christmas tree!
Assignment Night
I know some of you have been wanting to see some footage from assignment night, so here’s a video of Caleb’s roast and the revelation of the plane and also the little movie that his class made as an introduction to the class at the start of the program. Apparently it’s a parody of Animal House and/or Old School so if you’ve seen those it makes more sense but even if you haven’t you’ll hopefully get the gist and it’s still kind of funny.
Get Ready...
Cause I am about to compensate for not blogging for the past two weeks. Honestly, I thought it had been two months. The past two weeks have been very busy and this coming week is looking quite busy as well.
You probably know by now that we were assigned an MC-12 to Beale. Not gonna sugarcoat it; that was a huge shock and a disappointment but we are definitely counting all the positives about the location and the mission of that plane. The MC-12 is part of the ISR(Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance--aren’t those three words for basically the same thing?? Yes, yes, they are) community so basically Caleb will be flying around over the combat zones overseas with the belly of the plane taking videos and pictures of what’s going on in the area and then they directly communicate that information to ground troops and air command so they can do more smart things and fewer stupid things. :-) Gotta love my laymen’s terms.
So the mission is pretty important and therefore enviable and exciting among pilots. Beale is near Sacramento, CA, which makes it enviable and exciting among spouses. Hello, civilization!!
We are thinking of living in between Beale and the suburban heaven of Roseville, CA. So, not too far from work, not too far from Crate and Barrel. And a great library, church, REI, Sacramento Airport, etc. We will probably move in March although it may be February. We’ll know for sure this week.
One thing we were not counting on until we got the MC-12 is that Caleb will most likely deploy for six months starting this summer. That’s just the way this aircraft’s system works: it has a very brief training period and then off you go! Deployment kind of stinks because you are apart but career wise it’s good because you get a ton of flying hours and air medals and stuff. Also, you make more money. :-)
So, there you have the big update. We hope everyone will come visit once we’re in CA because we’ll actually be in a desirable, attainable destination. :-)
You probably know by now that we were assigned an MC-12 to Beale. Not gonna sugarcoat it; that was a huge shock and a disappointment but we are definitely counting all the positives about the location and the mission of that plane. The MC-12 is part of the ISR(Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance--aren’t those three words for basically the same thing?? Yes, yes, they are) community so basically Caleb will be flying around over the combat zones overseas with the belly of the plane taking videos and pictures of what’s going on in the area and then they directly communicate that information to ground troops and air command so they can do more smart things and fewer stupid things. :-) Gotta love my laymen’s terms.
So the mission is pretty important and therefore enviable and exciting among pilots. Beale is near Sacramento, CA, which makes it enviable and exciting among spouses. Hello, civilization!!
We are thinking of living in between Beale and the suburban heaven of Roseville, CA. So, not too far from work, not too far from Crate and Barrel. And a great library, church, REI, Sacramento Airport, etc. We will probably move in March although it may be February. We’ll know for sure this week.
One thing we were not counting on until we got the MC-12 is that Caleb will most likely deploy for six months starting this summer. That’s just the way this aircraft’s system works: it has a very brief training period and then off you go! Deployment kind of stinks because you are apart but career wise it’s good because you get a ton of flying hours and air medals and stuff. Also, you make more money. :-)
So, there you have the big update. We hope everyone will come visit once we’re in CA because we’ll actually be in a desirable, attainable destination. :-)
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Anniversary
Today we celebrated our first anniversary! Actually, we celebrated by going out to eat on Friday because nothing is open on Sundays and we had stuff going on Saturday. But today is the day.
From last year:
Didn’t get any pictures this year because we forgot when we went out Friday and I was feeling poorly all day today. Oh well, maybe next year. Also, we’ll have our professional “engagement” pictures and “wedding” pictures in the next six months or so.
Just over a week till assignment night. Oy.
From last year:
Didn’t get any pictures this year because we forgot when we went out Friday and I was feeling poorly all day today. Oh well, maybe next year. Also, we’ll have our professional “engagement” pictures and “wedding” pictures in the next six months or so.
Just over a week till assignment night. Oy.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Good Company
The weekend before this last one, Caleb’s grandparents came down from Richmond to visit us! We had a great time visiting with them and we believe they did, too. They got to attend an assignment night(the class before Caleb’s--we’re next!), took an extensive tour of the base and the town, dined at the microscopic Thai restaurant here, and attended church with us.
Earlier in the day they arrived, I took the fall flower voucher the base housing gives residents out to an appointed nursery and was able to get a little pencil tree, orange and white pansies, and a terracotta pot. I painted the pot turquoise and planted it and put in a little mulch and thought it looked pretty good! I now consider myself an advanced gardener for putting more than one kind of plant in one pot.
Just for fun, I made a little towel cake out of guest towels and soap to welcome the grandparents. I made a horrible attempt at making a little cake towel in my car of the Target parking lot for my cousin Kate’s bridal shower and even that was enough fun that I thought it should not be confined to bridal showers.
And here we all are!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Blurbs
Well there’s nothing too exciting going on but it seems like it’s time for a post. Now I’m sure you’re all really looking forward to the rest of this post , ha ha!
We really enjoyed watching the Cardinals win the World Series last week. I thought of my Grandpa Jack, who instilled a life-long love for the Cards in all his children and grandchildren, and how happy he would have been to see them win it all this year.
Right before game 7, I was overcome with Cardinal spirit and decided to paint our kitchen floor red by dropping a gallon of Crystal Light fruit punch all over it. The cleanup was a bit of a process. Fortunately I had my sweet and ever-helpful husband to help.
We’ve also been really enjoying the warm, crisp, sunny days around here. Although it has started to get quite cold at night! We even had a freeze warning one day last week! Brrrr. I’m not at all envious of all the cold and snowy weather other parts of the country are getting.
Here we are all bundled up for an evening walk last week. Well, I am all bundled up. Caleb put on long pants and a thin hoodie over a t-shirt.
Four weeks and four days until assignment night!
We really enjoyed watching the Cardinals win the World Series last week. I thought of my Grandpa Jack, who instilled a life-long love for the Cards in all his children and grandchildren, and how happy he would have been to see them win it all this year.
Right before game 7, I was overcome with Cardinal spirit and decided to paint our kitchen floor red by dropping a gallon of Crystal Light fruit punch all over it. The cleanup was a bit of a process. Fortunately I had my sweet and ever-helpful husband to help.
We’ve also been really enjoying the warm, crisp, sunny days around here. Although it has started to get quite cold at night! We even had a freeze warning one day last week! Brrrr. I’m not at all envious of all the cold and snowy weather other parts of the country are getting.
Here we are all bundled up for an evening walk last week. Well, I am all bundled up. Caleb put on long pants and a thin hoodie over a t-shirt.
Four weeks and four days until assignment night!
Monday, October 24, 2011
Career Day
Every six months or so, CAFB has a career day where they bring in a lot of pilots and airplanes and in the morning everyone gathers in the auditorium and the pilots give briefs about the airframe and the accompanying lifestyle, typical deployment schedule, training schedule, locations, etc. After a lunch break everyone heads out to the SAC ramp(no, I do not know what SAC stands for. But it’s a huge concrete slab at the end of the runways) and crawls around the planes and ask the pilots questions. It’s pretty fun. This was our third and final career day before assignment night!
Capturing a huge slab of concrete covered with airplanes with a point and shoot proved to be more difficult than I thought it would be. I did the best I could. From the left, the planes pictured are a KC-10(tanker i.e. refuels other planes mid-air), RC-135(tanker and recon), C17(cargo) peeking out from under the C17 is one of the A10s(fat fighter), then AC130(armed cargo), a JC130(fancy cargo) and couple helicopters that didn’t make the shot, and a PC12(special ops) and a black T38(some bases use them for training to fly other aircraft as well).
This was our first career day where they brought in a pair of A10s, which are number two on Caleb’s dream sheet(after the F-16, which did not make it to career day this time) so that was fun to look in those and talk to the pilots. They are ugly, ugly planes used for air-to-ground support, i.e. dropping explosives and shooting things on the ground, not air-to-air combat like the prettier F16s, F15s, or F22s. (All the other Fs are Navy planes and not an option for us)
You do not want to find yourself on the wrong end of that gun. I believe Caleb said it’s a 33mm bullet. Also, you can see under the wings where they can load it up with missiles and bombs. Each plane has a nickname and the A10 is the Warthog. I assume because it’s ugly and dangerous. So that’s what’s supposed to be painted on the nose. I think it looks like a shark. Ugly, dangerous, and gray.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Formation Interview
Due to the positive response we received from the solo interview that I had with Caleb a couple months ago, we are creating another detailed glimpse inside the life of a student T-38 pilot just for you. Today’s topic: formation flying.
TKB: Let’s start at the very beginning. A very good place to start. Pretend that I have no idea what formation flying is. In other words, picture me, one year ago. What is formation flying?
CFB: There are two types of formation: close formation, which includes flying as close as three feet from the other plane, and tactical formation, in which planes fly approximately a mile apart. Close formation is used for flying short distances and through bad weather, allowing planes to navigate as a single unit, whereas tactical formation is used in combat situations, allowing multiple planes to attack a single target while simultaneously defending one another.
TKB: How do they even begin to teach you to fly three feet away from each other at 400 miles per hour?
CFB: Well you start out in the T-6, flying ten feet apart at 200 miles per hour.
TKB: Which is just a walk in the park?
CFB: Not exactly but you have a wider margin of error which allows inexperienced students to learn the basics. From there, the transition to the T-38 is relatively straight forward. The high speed and close range is more challenging but the basic principles remain unchanged.
TKB: So what sort of techniques or guidelines do they teach you to help you not crash the multi-million dollar airplanes into each other?
CFB: Well, they teach us visual references which show us how close we are to the other plane.
TKB: Such as: if you can see your wingman’s dimples you are too close?
CFB: You’re funny. The cue we use is looking straight down the front edge of the wingman’s wing and placing your head next to their tail. [Caleb would like to note that these are laymen’s terms. The technical terms are "leading edge" of the wing and "horizontal stabilizer", or “elevator” where the editor thought the audience would relate better to “front” and “tail”]
TKB: Do you ever find yourself slowly gravitating towards the other plane and then over-correcting into a cloud? You know, how sometimes when one is driving a car and looks at something and then drift towards it?
CFB: You’re never truly in the exact correct position, and if you get there, moments later it will change because of the dynamic nature of flight.
TKB: Interesting. Now, all the flips and loops and rolls that you talked about last time: do you do those in formation?
CFB: We generally don’t do loops in formation, but we do fly barrel rolls and lazy eights. This is especially exciting when flying a formation solo, which means you’re alone and your instructor is flying as your wingman. Generally, there’s a student and an instructor in each plane.
TKB: Now, I know you talk about formation take-offs and landings. What is that like? Do you take off and land side-by-side?
CFB: Yes, and that can the most challenging part of the flight, especially if it’s windy. We have to coordinate gear and flap positions and changes in air speed in addition to the general challenge of fingertip formation. To aid this process, we use hand signals, such as pointing our thumbs down over our shoulders to indicate we’re about to put the gear down. Hand signals can be simpler than using the radio, and in combat you wouldn’t want to tip the enemy off to your presence or plans by making radio calls.
TKB: Wow, that’s impressive. And intense. Let’s not talk about combat.
Here’s a video of a T-38 two-ship formation take off. This is not a video of Caleb, but it could be! Feel free to skip ahead to about 0:45.
Stay tuned: in six weeks and six days we will know what our next assignment will be!
TKB: Let’s start at the very beginning. A very good place to start. Pretend that I have no idea what formation flying is. In other words, picture me, one year ago. What is formation flying?
CFB: There are two types of formation: close formation, which includes flying as close as three feet from the other plane, and tactical formation, in which planes fly approximately a mile apart. Close formation is used for flying short distances and through bad weather, allowing planes to navigate as a single unit, whereas tactical formation is used in combat situations, allowing multiple planes to attack a single target while simultaneously defending one another.
TKB: How do they even begin to teach you to fly three feet away from each other at 400 miles per hour?
CFB: Well you start out in the T-6, flying ten feet apart at 200 miles per hour.
TKB: Which is just a walk in the park?
CFB: Not exactly but you have a wider margin of error which allows inexperienced students to learn the basics. From there, the transition to the T-38 is relatively straight forward. The high speed and close range is more challenging but the basic principles remain unchanged.
TKB: So what sort of techniques or guidelines do they teach you to help you not crash the multi-million dollar airplanes into each other?
CFB: Well, they teach us visual references which show us how close we are to the other plane.
TKB: Such as: if you can see your wingman’s dimples you are too close?
CFB: You’re funny. The cue we use is looking straight down the front edge of the wingman’s wing and placing your head next to their tail. [Caleb would like to note that these are laymen’s terms. The technical terms are "leading edge" of the wing and "horizontal stabilizer", or “elevator” where the editor thought the audience would relate better to “front” and “tail”]
TKB: Do you ever find yourself slowly gravitating towards the other plane and then over-correcting into a cloud? You know, how sometimes when one is driving a car and looks at something and then drift towards it?
CFB: You’re never truly in the exact correct position, and if you get there, moments later it will change because of the dynamic nature of flight.
TKB: Interesting. Now, all the flips and loops and rolls that you talked about last time: do you do those in formation?
CFB: We generally don’t do loops in formation, but we do fly barrel rolls and lazy eights. This is especially exciting when flying a formation solo, which means you’re alone and your instructor is flying as your wingman. Generally, there’s a student and an instructor in each plane.
TKB: Now, I know you talk about formation take-offs and landings. What is that like? Do you take off and land side-by-side?
CFB: Yes, and that can the most challenging part of the flight, especially if it’s windy. We have to coordinate gear and flap positions and changes in air speed in addition to the general challenge of fingertip formation. To aid this process, we use hand signals, such as pointing our thumbs down over our shoulders to indicate we’re about to put the gear down. Hand signals can be simpler than using the radio, and in combat you wouldn’t want to tip the enemy off to your presence or plans by making radio calls.
TKB: Wow, that’s impressive. And intense. Let’s not talk about combat.
Here’s a video of a T-38 two-ship formation take off. This is not a video of Caleb, but it could be! Feel free to skip ahead to about 0:45.
Stay tuned: in six weeks and six days we will know what our next assignment will be!
Monday, October 3, 2011
Weekender
Last Friday Caleb finished work half a day early, so we decided to take Friday afternoon to go pick some apples so we could still watch football on Saturday...yay...actually we watched the Navy vs. Air Force game which was exciting because we were personally invested and it was a very exciting, nerve-wracking game. Anyway, here we are at our closest local apple orchard...about one hundred miles from our house...
We got about fifteen pounds of apples for ten dollars. Score!
It was a beautiful day!
Then on Saturday morning I participated in my very first race! I ran a 10K in 48:25, which was about seven minutes faster than I thought I would run it, so I guess all that stuff about the competition pushing you is true! The weather was perfect, as it has been for the past week or so, and the course took us up and down the runways on base which added a little extra interest and fun! I was the fourth-place female finisher(out of twelve or so--but only two minutes behind the female winner!) and tenth overall(out of about forty). So I guess it was a pretty small race but I had a lot of fun and I am hooked!
Here I am after the race, with my number on and everything.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Celebrating Six Months of Full-Time Domesticity!
If you know me pretty well, you know that I have an odd ability to remember dates, some important and some not. One date I remember is that six months ago this Saturday I was set free from the clutches of the pit of misery that was the preschool I was working at here. I’ve been so incredibly grateful to have all this time to do all of the fun things I’ve been doing. (For more details, um, read the blog!)
On a separate note, I will say that living here and shopping at the smallest grocery store I’ve seen since I left Montana has definitely taught me the value of buying and eating in-season produce. Because that’s pretty much what they carry. For right now, that means lots and lots of apples and apple products, squash, and pumpkin! For the first time in my life, I am welcoming fall with open arms! No trepidation about blizzards that inevitably arrive with fall in the mountain west.
I have to admit I’ve been kind of afraid of squash, so weird and varied. But this year, Real Simple published a wonderful sort of “Squash 101” article about the different varieties and how to prepare and cook them. So I timidly bought one butternut squash, one acorn squash( I had at least heard of those varieties) and one spaghetti squash( I went, “What?!” and Caleb said, “Oh yeah. We used to have those all the time; they’re good”).
Tonight was my first attempt with squash; I sliced an acorn squash(Wow. Not that easy) tossed the slices with salt, pepper, thyme, and olive oil and sprinkled parmesan cheese on top and roasted them for thirty minutes and you know what? It was delicious! I love squash! On Saturday I’m making a soup with pureed butternut squash and I also have a recipe for spaghetti squash that I’ll be trying soon. Stay tuned.
Now here’s a blurb I wanted to post nearly a month ago but we’ve run into some complications with getting our bowls(thanks a lot, Amazon!) so I decided to just post some pictures of some goodies from our shower without the bowls. Here is a picture of our new dinner plates, salad plates, everyday flatware, steak knives, dessert bowls, wine glasses, napkins, place-mats, and carafe. Ah, you should see them in person. Seriously. Makes you want to come visit, doesn’t it?
And to top things off, here is another sample of some gifts from the shower that we’ve just really enjoyed having. Especially the food processor. I did not grow up with a food processor so I reluctantly agreed when Caleb said we should get one and what do you know? It is amazing!!!
To bring this post full-circle, I’ve just been feeling very blessed and grateful to have some nice things to use and appreciate and time to enjoy all the little domestic projects and other interests I’ve had the time and energy to pursue in the past six months. And I’m thankful for the cooler weather. Lincoln should have made Thanksgiving the last Thursday of September. By the end of November, half of the country is sitting in an airport waiting on a flight delayed by a snowstorm. And it is too close to Christmas. Just my two cents.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Horseback Riding
Yesterday I got the opportunity to do some horseback riding through some friends of a friend who has horses. The last time I was on a horse was over four years ago so I was a little rusty and unfortunately these horses were a little older and not accustomed to being ridden much, so they were kind of set in their ways, which is a problem because the first rule of riding is that the horse has to know that you’re in charge. We had a bit of a power struggle initially but did warm to each other just as the sun was setting. I still really enjoyed being around the horses and hope to do it again soon.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Latest Little Project
Last Friday while I was enjoying a rare day off and waiting for evening and the AF Ball to arrive, I decided to rearrange our bookcase according to color! I had seen this in a few places and was dubious that we had enough colored books to make it work and I also enjoyed having the books grouped by content but I gave it a try and I love how it looks!
Here’s before:
I kept all of our board games, CDs, journals, photo albums, and Academy yearbooks down at the bottom, mainly because I was afraid putting the Academy yearbooks up at the top would tip the bookcase over, ha ha!
Here’s before:
And after:
 |
So here’s a close-up of just the color-coded shelves without all the miscellaneous items on the bottom two shelves:
Overall, much nicer to look at and a great way to spend a Friday morning!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Air Force Ball
Well we had a great time at our first Air Force Ball last night! We danced all the way up to the last song that the band played, enjoyed some good food and talking with the five couples we knew who attended( for some inconceivable reason the ball is not very popular with the student pilots! So we pretty much knew Caleb’s instructors, people I babysit for, and some other spouses I know from being social on base).
There were, however, some technical difficulties that put us in an awkward position. When we arrived and checked in, the poor 2nd Lts. roped into working the event had no seating assignment for us on their little spreadsheet. We awkwardly stood around the lobby for 15 minutes or so, waiting for someone in charge to tell us where to sit. Then they came up and said that a couple recently said they wouldn’t be able to make it after all, so we would be sitting in their seats and keeping their place cards because we ordered the same food. This couple happened to be one of the higher-ranking officers on base who is in-between command posts, i.e. he used to have a big important job on base but now someone else has it and he is waiting around until his next assignment is ready for him. There is more waiting in between moves than you might think. Anyway, he and his wife, who worked with the student spouses a lot and is the most classy, gracious, down-to-earth person you could ever hope to be like, were supposed to be sitting at this table in the back of the room with some other random parties (the rest of the room was arranged according to squadron, i.e. people you work with and know). So we got a big kick out of telling our few acquaintances that we’ll be standing in for the Lt. Colonel and Mrs. for the evening!
So we’re sitting at our table and taking pictures with our place cards and observing the singing of the national anthem, a drill team performance, the entrance of the official party, etc. when who should come up behind our seats but the Lt. Col and Mrs! We practically jumped out of our--their--seats and explained what happened and we had to stand around awkwardly again waiting for the people in charge to give us all some seats!
In the end they found seats for everyone and we got over our embarrassment and enjoyed the evening!
There were, however, some technical difficulties that put us in an awkward position. When we arrived and checked in, the poor 2nd Lts. roped into working the event had no seating assignment for us on their little spreadsheet. We awkwardly stood around the lobby for 15 minutes or so, waiting for someone in charge to tell us where to sit. Then they came up and said that a couple recently said they wouldn’t be able to make it after all, so we would be sitting in their seats and keeping their place cards because we ordered the same food. This couple happened to be one of the higher-ranking officers on base who is in-between command posts, i.e. he used to have a big important job on base but now someone else has it and he is waiting around until his next assignment is ready for him. There is more waiting in between moves than you might think. Anyway, he and his wife, who worked with the student spouses a lot and is the most classy, gracious, down-to-earth person you could ever hope to be like, were supposed to be sitting at this table in the back of the room with some other random parties (the rest of the room was arranged according to squadron, i.e. people you work with and know). So we got a big kick out of telling our few acquaintances that we’ll be standing in for the Lt. Colonel and Mrs. for the evening!
So we’re sitting at our table and taking pictures with our place cards and observing the singing of the national anthem, a drill team performance, the entrance of the official party, etc. when who should come up behind our seats but the Lt. Col and Mrs! We practically jumped out of our--their--seats and explained what happened and we had to stand around awkwardly again waiting for the people in charge to give us all some seats!
In the end they found seats for everyone and we got over our embarrassment and enjoyed the evening!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Weekend/Update
First of all, I am very sorry that I neglected to take any pictures over our long weekend. I will try to do better next time and I will probably take some pictures soon of some of the new goodies around the house.
Over Labor Day weekend we made the eight-hour trek to Kingsport to spend the weekend with Caleb’s family! In addition to the two of us and Caleb’s parents, little sister, aunt, uncle, and cousin who still live in Kingsport, Caleb’s older sister came down from Annapolis, his grandparents came down from Richmond, and three cousins came home from school for this weekend! Saturday we went to the wedding of a lifelong church friend of Caleb’s that was officiated by Caleb’s father, so that was fun. On Sunday afternoon, Caleb’s home church hosted a wedding shower for us that included lunch and cake and of course opening presents. We were very touched by the thoughtfulness and time put into the shower and were very blessed by all the gifts we received. :-)
Surrounding those two celebrations we enjoyed time visiting, eating, and playing games with Caleb’s family. Then after lunch on Monday we headed out through the deluge that covered our entire path to Mississippi. We did get a short surprise visit with another of Caleb’s uncle and aunt as our completely separate paths intersected at virtually the same time, but other than that the drive was a bit nerve-wracking. At least for me. Caleb pretty much remained his usual calm self.
Last week and this week have been two very busy weeks for us. Caleb has been flying at least once and usually twice a day now due to the other class in his flight graduating and the new “baby class” not being able to fly yet, so his class gets to take all the available flights, and they’ll continue to have priority over their “baby class” until graduation to make sure they stay on schedule. They really do call them the baby class, that’s not me adding my personality! And I have been babysitting four or five times a week pretty consistently now.
This Friday we are attending our first Air Force Birthday Ball as a couple! This is a formal event so Caleb will be wearing his mess dress (if you haven’t seen it just go to thesaurus.com and you’ll see a picture of him under dashing or dapper ;-) ) and I am wearing a floor-length dress. The evening includes cocktails, dinner, a speaker, and dancing! We are looking forward to it and I promise to take at least one picture!
Over Labor Day weekend we made the eight-hour trek to Kingsport to spend the weekend with Caleb’s family! In addition to the two of us and Caleb’s parents, little sister, aunt, uncle, and cousin who still live in Kingsport, Caleb’s older sister came down from Annapolis, his grandparents came down from Richmond, and three cousins came home from school for this weekend! Saturday we went to the wedding of a lifelong church friend of Caleb’s that was officiated by Caleb’s father, so that was fun. On Sunday afternoon, Caleb’s home church hosted a wedding shower for us that included lunch and cake and of course opening presents. We were very touched by the thoughtfulness and time put into the shower and were very blessed by all the gifts we received. :-)
Surrounding those two celebrations we enjoyed time visiting, eating, and playing games with Caleb’s family. Then after lunch on Monday we headed out through the deluge that covered our entire path to Mississippi. We did get a short surprise visit with another of Caleb’s uncle and aunt as our completely separate paths intersected at virtually the same time, but other than that the drive was a bit nerve-wracking. At least for me. Caleb pretty much remained his usual calm self.
Last week and this week have been two very busy weeks for us. Caleb has been flying at least once and usually twice a day now due to the other class in his flight graduating and the new “baby class” not being able to fly yet, so his class gets to take all the available flights, and they’ll continue to have priority over their “baby class” until graduation to make sure they stay on schedule. They really do call them the baby class, that’s not me adding my personality! And I have been babysitting four or five times a week pretty consistently now.
This Friday we are attending our first Air Force Birthday Ball as a couple! This is a formal event so Caleb will be wearing his mess dress (if you haven’t seen it just go to thesaurus.com and you’ll see a picture of him under dashing or dapper ;-) ) and I am wearing a floor-length dress. The evening includes cocktails, dinner, a speaker, and dancing! We are looking forward to it and I promise to take at least one picture!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Snippets Part Deux
Here’s what’s been on our minds the past couple weeks:
1. Caleb had his first check ride in the 38 last Friday and passed with flying colors! A check ride is kind of like a mid-term. You go up with a special IP(instructor pilot) that only does check rides and they don’t do anything except add up every tiny thing you do wrong in the plane and every question you answer incorrectly about the components of the electrical system of the jet and fun things like that. It’s like golf; a low score is good. If you get a certain number of things wrong, or even one important thing wrong, you fail, or in UPT terms “hook” the ride. The better your check ride scores are, the better chance you have of getting the aircraft you want at assignment night (which, for us, is only three months and three days away but who’s counting? ;-) ). One check ride down, two to go.
2. Caleb taught me how to dive at the pool here! If you knew me when I was little, you’d realize what a big deal this is. I didn’t even learn to swim until I took adult lessons at the Y when I was 18 because I was terrified of water growing up. Diving headfirst into deep water seemed pretty unthinkable for many years, especially since some people break their necks and die or are quadriplegics for the rest of their life if something goes awry. This was also my concern about skiing but I did that the winter before last too. What a daredevil I am! Anyway, I can now dive pretty well off the side of the pool and even the diving board. :-D
3. We had some friends over for some grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, peas, and my “Spanish Salad” (romaine, garbanzo beans, and chopped carrots in a salt, oil, and vinegar dressing) last weekend. I also made chocolate cherry cupcakes, which is chocolate cake mix with a can of cherry pie filling poured on top. The laziest person in the world could make this dessert but it seems gourmet and is very tasty. We recently discovered that one of our friends here is familiar with the game “Nertz” aka “Pounce” to my family and similar to “Dutch Blitz” for Caleb’s family. If you’ve never played it’s basically a fast-paced game of group solitaire. So I played that with six competitive student pilots in their early twenties and you can guess who had the upper edge. We also played Apples to Apples and corn hole. A good time was had by all.
4. I’ve recently taken on “Taco Tuesdays” in Caleb’s squadron. Handed down to us by spouses before us, and spouses before them, Taco Tuesday serves as a fundraiser for whichever class is running it to offset the costs of the graduation banquet. Basically a few of us get together and cook about ten pounds of ground beef and take it over to the squadron in a crockpot along with tortillas, queso, salsa, cheese, lettuce, jalapenos, rice, black beans, sour cream, hot sauce, tortilla chips and brownies. Then we sit there for four hours and the students and IPs come through and pay a suggested donation and take two or three tacos or nachos or whatever combination they want and we talk to them. They absolutely love Taco Tuesday because the tacos are delicious and I think they like looking at people who aren’t wearing flight suits and don’t talk about flying. We love it because it’s a profitable and easy fundraiser and it’s fun to talk to them and get to know them, too.
1. Caleb had his first check ride in the 38 last Friday and passed with flying colors! A check ride is kind of like a mid-term. You go up with a special IP(instructor pilot) that only does check rides and they don’t do anything except add up every tiny thing you do wrong in the plane and every question you answer incorrectly about the components of the electrical system of the jet and fun things like that. It’s like golf; a low score is good. If you get a certain number of things wrong, or even one important thing wrong, you fail, or in UPT terms “hook” the ride. The better your check ride scores are, the better chance you have of getting the aircraft you want at assignment night (which, for us, is only three months and three days away but who’s counting? ;-) ). One check ride down, two to go.
2. Caleb taught me how to dive at the pool here! If you knew me when I was little, you’d realize what a big deal this is. I didn’t even learn to swim until I took adult lessons at the Y when I was 18 because I was terrified of water growing up. Diving headfirst into deep water seemed pretty unthinkable for many years, especially since some people break their necks and die or are quadriplegics for the rest of their life if something goes awry. This was also my concern about skiing but I did that the winter before last too. What a daredevil I am! Anyway, I can now dive pretty well off the side of the pool and even the diving board. :-D
3. We had some friends over for some grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, peas, and my “Spanish Salad” (romaine, garbanzo beans, and chopped carrots in a salt, oil, and vinegar dressing) last weekend. I also made chocolate cherry cupcakes, which is chocolate cake mix with a can of cherry pie filling poured on top. The laziest person in the world could make this dessert but it seems gourmet and is very tasty. We recently discovered that one of our friends here is familiar with the game “Nertz” aka “Pounce” to my family and similar to “Dutch Blitz” for Caleb’s family. If you’ve never played it’s basically a fast-paced game of group solitaire. So I played that with six competitive student pilots in their early twenties and you can guess who had the upper edge. We also played Apples to Apples and corn hole. A good time was had by all.
4. I’ve recently taken on “Taco Tuesdays” in Caleb’s squadron. Handed down to us by spouses before us, and spouses before them, Taco Tuesday serves as a fundraiser for whichever class is running it to offset the costs of the graduation banquet. Basically a few of us get together and cook about ten pounds of ground beef and take it over to the squadron in a crockpot along with tortillas, queso, salsa, cheese, lettuce, jalapenos, rice, black beans, sour cream, hot sauce, tortilla chips and brownies. Then we sit there for four hours and the students and IPs come through and pay a suggested donation and take two or three tacos or nachos or whatever combination they want and we talk to them. They absolutely love Taco Tuesday because the tacos are delicious and I think they like looking at people who aren’t wearing flight suits and don’t talk about flying. We love it because it’s a profitable and easy fundraiser and it’s fun to talk to them and get to know them, too.
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| And here’s a picture I meant to put up a while ago of my dad and me with Kayla-poo from my last trip home. |
Friday, August 19, 2011
Wedding Sneak Peek
I read in a bridal magazine once that you shouldn’t reveal all of your wedding details to your guests before the event because then they won’t be surprised or impressed or wowed or whatever they’re supposed to be when they get there and see it altogether. Even though we’ve still got about nine months to go, we have really got a lot of things already taken care of for the wedding! Probably because I’m not working. Anyway, I’m really excited about all the things we have planned: we have our sites, decorations, the florist, the photographer, the food, apparel, and my mom and I have been working on the wedding stationery( invites, programs, personalized notecards). Actually she works on them and sends layouts to me and I get to say what I do and don’t like. Probably more fun for me than for her but I am loving the results! :-) So as much as I’d like to describe everything in detail, I will just give you a sneak peek of two details that I’m really excited about.
Happy Friday, everyone!
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| I saw these tissue paper flowers in Martha Stewart Weddings and loved the way they looked but doubted I’d be able to achieve a similar outcome. So I grabbed our gift tissue paper and gave it a go and guess what? It actually was really easy. These were just for practice; I’m ordering a couple gradients of our color for the real deal. The only problem is now we’re out of tissue paper for gift-wrapping. |
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| A five-tiered cupcake stand or tower made out of MDF or particle board like this one costs about one hundred dollars online, but I’m telling you this was one of the cheapest and easiest projects ever. First I bought four orange clay flowerpots for one dollar each and painted them white. Then I bought a sheet of particle board for twenty dollars(you actually only need a quarter sheet, i.e. a 2’x4’ piece but I had no choice but to buy a whole sheet) and cut 9,11,13,15, and 17 inch circles out of it with a jigsaw(also easier than I thought). Finally I painted them white and glued ribbon around the edges ( two three yard spools for two dollars each). Et voila! Total cost for me: twenty-eight dollars because I already had paint on hand, but if you could buy a quarter sheet of wood and still had to buy paint it would cost less than twenty dollars. Pretty good. |
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| And, just for fun, here’s a picture of me harassing Caleb while he works with bubbles left over from that wedding we went to recently. Hee hee. |
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!
Yesterday I got an email from wallwords.com, who made the stencil that I used to paint the big fancy B on our corn hole set, saying that I was selected as the winner of the photo of the week! I have no idea how many submissions it was chosen out of, or if it was a random drawing or chosen on merit, but supposedly it will be featured on their website and in their weekly email that goes out to 40,000 people(no word on how many of those people actually open the email). I signed up for the email so I could see it and haven’t received anything and I’ve also searched their website trying to find my award-winning picture but have not found it. If nothing else, we did win a $50 gift certificate to wallwords.com! Yay!
Here’s the money maker again, in case you forgot, or failed to notice its inherent winning qualities the first time. ;-)
Here’s the money maker again, in case you forgot, or failed to notice its inherent winning qualities the first time. ;-)
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| Our orange, white, and gold-trimmed monogrammed homemade corn hole set. Well, half of the set. Will be available for play and autographs at the upcoming “wedding”! |
Monday, August 15, 2011
Solo Interview
At long last, I was able to sit down with Caleb, who has recently “soloed” (flew alone) in the mighty T-38, and pump him for first-hand information about what it’s like to zoom across the sky at speeds averaging 300 nautical miles per hour all alone. Here’s what he had to say.
TKB: So you recently had a solo flight in the T-38. How did it go?
CFB: Very well. I didn’t break the plane or hurt myself.
TKB: So is this experience more fun or stressful for you?
CFB: Overall it’s a very fun ride; since you have more freedom to enjoy the flight without an instructor critiquing your every move. However, the absence of an instructor also increases the stress level since you are solely responsible for everything that occurs during the flight.
TKB: What sort of fun things do you do during this one hour flight?
CFB: I get to do all kinds of aerobatics including loops, barrel rolls, cuban eights, Immelmanns, clover leaves, split Ss, and lazy eights. Afterwards I get to go back to the base to practice my overhead patterns and landings.
TKB: Cool. I don’t know what most of those maneuvers are exactly but I’m glad you enjoy them. What is your maximum speed and G’s pulled during this type of flight?
CFB: Many of the maneuvers require entry speeds of 500 mph and pulls in excess of 5 Gs.
TKB: In your centrifuge video, it looked very painful to pull so many Gs. Would you agree with my observation or would you say you’ve grown accustomed to that kind of strain?
CFB: There’s no real pain involved, it is a stressful condition which requires constant muscle strain and increased focus on breathing. It does become more natural the more you do it and it’s much easier to control when you are flying as opposed to being spun in a centrifuge. Not unlike when you are driving a car around a sharp turn versus being a passenger going around the same turn. It also helps to have a G-suit which constricts your legs and abdomen and helmet/mask which provides you with increased levels of oxygen.
TKB: This is serious stuff. So tell us, Caleb, how does this flight compare with other flights in terms of amount of preparation, content, and the importance of your performance?
CFB: Preparation and content are similar, however there are several maneuvers, such a stall, that you are not allowed to do while flying solo.The solo flights are much nicer, actually, in that the grade is pass/fail which leads to much less pressure on individual maneuvers. It allows you to enjoy the flight as a whole.
TKB: That’s nice. Any other comments you’d like to make?
CFB: Can’t wait to do it again tomorrow. I can’t believe that this is my job.
TKB: Me neither. Okay, thank you for taking the time to talk about your latest and greatest adventures with our readers and me.
CFB: My pleasure.
*Fun fact* The T 38 was used by the USAF Thunderbirds from 1974-1981. I used to think all AF planes were painted like the Thunderbirds, and I wish they were. Most of them are a dark, matte, gray color.
TKB: So you recently had a solo flight in the T-38. How did it go?
CFB: Very well. I didn’t break the plane or hurt myself.
TKB: So is this experience more fun or stressful for you?
CFB: Overall it’s a very fun ride; since you have more freedom to enjoy the flight without an instructor critiquing your every move. However, the absence of an instructor also increases the stress level since you are solely responsible for everything that occurs during the flight.
TKB: What sort of fun things do you do during this one hour flight?
CFB: I get to do all kinds of aerobatics including loops, barrel rolls, cuban eights, Immelmanns, clover leaves, split Ss, and lazy eights. Afterwards I get to go back to the base to practice my overhead patterns and landings.
TKB: Cool. I don’t know what most of those maneuvers are exactly but I’m glad you enjoy them. What is your maximum speed and G’s pulled during this type of flight?
CFB: Many of the maneuvers require entry speeds of 500 mph and pulls in excess of 5 Gs.
TKB: In your centrifuge video, it looked very painful to pull so many Gs. Would you agree with my observation or would you say you’ve grown accustomed to that kind of strain?
CFB: There’s no real pain involved, it is a stressful condition which requires constant muscle strain and increased focus on breathing. It does become more natural the more you do it and it’s much easier to control when you are flying as opposed to being spun in a centrifuge. Not unlike when you are driving a car around a sharp turn versus being a passenger going around the same turn. It also helps to have a G-suit which constricts your legs and abdomen and helmet/mask which provides you with increased levels of oxygen.
TKB: This is serious stuff. So tell us, Caleb, how does this flight compare with other flights in terms of amount of preparation, content, and the importance of your performance?
CFB: Preparation and content are similar, however there are several maneuvers, such a stall, that you are not allowed to do while flying solo.The solo flights are much nicer, actually, in that the grade is pass/fail which leads to much less pressure on individual maneuvers. It allows you to enjoy the flight as a whole.
TKB: That’s nice. Any other comments you’d like to make?
CFB: Can’t wait to do it again tomorrow. I can’t believe that this is my job.
TKB: Me neither. Okay, thank you for taking the time to talk about your latest and greatest adventures with our readers and me.
CFB: My pleasure.
*Fun fact* The T 38 was used by the USAF Thunderbirds from 1974-1981. I used to think all AF planes were painted like the Thunderbirds, and I wish they were. Most of them are a dark, matte, gray color.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Wedding
Well we had a fun weekend going to Rome, Georgia, to attend the wedding of one of Caleb’s Academy friends. On the way there and back we got to stop in Birmingham to do some shopping at a beautiful shopping center(I just can’t even tell you how much I now appreciate nice shopping centers with landscaping and fountains and classical music playing...not to be found within a two hour radius of us). Here is a picture of us towards the end of the wedding.
I promise the next post will be an in-depth interview with your favorite student pilot about what it’s like to fly around in a jet at up to 500 mph by yourself! Stay tuned!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
The Half-Hearted Foodie
So I am not a person that you would refer to as a “foodie”. If I could avoid the effort of grocery shopping, cooking, taking the time to eat, and trying to maintain the balance between tasty and healthy by just taking a pill a day that would fulfill all my dietary requirements, I would. That being said, here are a few recipes that we’ve very much enjoyed in recent months! They make even a non-foodie a little bit of a foodie and they are pretty simple and healthy. You should try them. Click on the recipe titles to go to realsimple.com and see the recipes!
In other news, Caleb installed an antenna in our attic so we now have access to the major networks and we’ve been enjoying watching America’s Got Talent. Reminds me of watching American Idol back when it was good with my cousin Jane. :-)
Also, tomorrow,weather-permitting, Caleb is scheduled for his first solo ride in the T-38! Maybe I’ll have him vividly describe the experience afterwards. :-)
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| Grilled Chicken and Corn Avocado Salad I’m a big fan any time one recipe includes protein and vegetables. I left out the avocado because I have very childish taste buds and used the parmesan cheese that comes in a plastic container and it was still amazing! |
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| Chicken Caprese Sandwich Quick, easy and delicious, especially with all the fantastic summer tomatoes available these days! I just started branching into eating fresh tomatoes a year or two again but now I’m starting to really like them! |
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| Rosemary, Lemon, and Garlic Roast Chicken I love a roast chicken because it makes a great presentation but is actually incredibly easy. I just follow the directions and it turns out nice and juicy and has great flavor. Cleaning out the uncooked chicken does make me gag so I have Caleb do that part but roasting chickens are so cheap(I’ve gotten ours for $3-4) and leave enough left over for a few sandwiches that’s it’s worth it. |
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| Tomato Parmesan Basil Rice Saving the best for last! I am mildly obsessed with this quick easy and absolutely delicious side dish! Again, I don’t spring for fresh grated Parmesan and I confess I’ve been using Minute Rice because it’s just so much faster. Tomato, basil, and parmesan is a flawless combination! |
Also, tomorrow,weather-permitting, Caleb is scheduled for his first solo ride in the T-38! Maybe I’ll have him vividly describe the experience afterwards. :-)
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