A Week of Random Thoughts

I've got nothing in the picture department because I'm on the laptop and for some crazy reason it doesn't have a card reader in it. Something I should have checked into before ordering it... I'm too lazy to find the cord to my camera or the flash drive to transfer some pics over here.

Tropical Storm Nicole side-swiped us this week. We had a day with some crazy high winds. On my way to the gym that evening, I was constantly dealing with sand being whipped around by it. It was no fun when it got in my eyes. That night, it rained like crazy (which is saying something, considering the intense rainstorms we see here), and I spent the next morning's run dodging puddles in the unpaved perimeter road.

Today, it's raining again. It's actually been gloomy the past few days, and today rained nearly all day. I found myself driving what is normally a two minute walk to the dentist, then driving across the street to buy some cheese for dinner (it's pizza night) and visit the post office. I also drove the block to Wyatt's school to pick him up. I felt a little silly about it, but I really didn't feel like getting soaked.

In truth, we walk more than a lot of people here. Golf carts are pretty easy to jump in and go, and I have been surprised at how many people will use them to drive to the next street or an equally short distance. Oliver takes the car to work because it's easily a 15-20 min walk for him, but I don't use it much. I've actually had some trouble with the road orientation because of that. I did most of the driving the last time we were in the States, and found myself constantly having to think about which side to drive on when pulling out or making a turn today.

Oh, yeah, we realized today that Oscar's birthday is just around the corner. I don't know how that one got away from us. My baby is turning three. Although, he insists he's going to remain two. I guess he likes that number. Silly kiddo. Even the idea of presents isn't convincing him that turning three is really a good thing.

I did notice some softening on the issue this evening when I asked him what kind of ice cream he wanted. Because we're making it for him this year! He got excited and asked for vanilla. With a strawberry on top. That might be a tough order to fill. We're going to have to take a trip off base to see if we can find some over-priced strawberries. I'm willing to do that for my little guy's big day. I'm still not sure what we're going to do about the cake, though...

Finally, tomorrow, I'm going to make pickles for the first time ever. I've saved up some random jars, bought a bag full of cucumbers from the produce guy (only five bucks for about 15 good sized cukes - yay for island-grown produce!), and just got my order of pickling spice in the mail today. Here's hoping it turns out all right. It would really be nice to stop paying three bucks a jar for pickles.