I know...It's been a while!

I signed on today and caught up on all the blogs in my list. I can't believe I haven't posted in 10 days! I guess we've been busy...work, soaking the toe, golf (not me, Stephen), etc. I did go to the dr for my toe, and he gave me some antibiotics and said to come back in 2 weeks. So I will.

Not a whole lot else going on...the temperatures are dropping, it's kind of nice. And I think we are going to wander downtown Mannheim tomorrow, IF it isn't raining! OH, speaking of rain, we had the Garrison Organization Day today, and there was some rain, but for the most part it was very nice.

And, football starts up soon!! woohoo!

ARGH!!!!

"Dentists will tell you never to pick at your teeth with any sharp metal object. And when you sit in their chair, the first thing they grab is an iron hook."
Bill Cosby - Himself

I have never really disliked the dentist/hygenist. I'm very blessed with pretty decent dental health. However, today I went in for my cleaning (if you live in Mannheim, stop reading here). The lady was all scratching and scraping and digging around in there. it was probably the most abusive cleaning ever!! My mouth is sore now!

It's balanced by my big toe, though, which was involved in a chair moving accident. It is throbbing and bleeding from having the nail pulled back to the cuticle. I'm sorry that I just made you wince and have a stomach queeze and go "ssssskkkk". I'm ok, it really doesn't hurt as bad as when I shut my finger in the bathroom door or when I walked into the 1/2 lowered window shutter. It looks and sounds more hurt than it is. I hope it's not going to hit me in the morning!

You know what, though? Life is still good! I hope you are having a great day!!! (or at least a less painful one!)

German Astroworld!

Yesterday, we went to Holiday Park. We really had a great time, and made constant comparisons to our beloved Astroworld of days gone by. We rode rides, ate food, watched shows, etc for about 8 hours. Europa Park is next!
A couple of things of note: (1) I almost had a full on nervous breakdown waiting for the Thunder River ride. The line winds through a wooded area, and there is of course the water element. This is apparently conducive to mice. Well, one that was about a thumb and a half long and a little wider went scurrying across the path. I turned and looked at Stephen and I know my eyes were giant. The girl in front of us PICKED IT UP!!! I was literally face-in-Stephen's-chest, gripping-his-shirt-for-dear-life, starting-to-tear-up FREAKED OUT. He just kept saying, "don't look at it, look at me, it's okay," etc I knew I didn't like the rodents, but I really didn't know I was THAT freaked by them.
(2) We did a lot of people watching, and knowing there would be some Americans there (the USO sells tickets) we were on the lookout for them. Several things will always help identify someone as NOT in the American military. 1. ManPris. These are capri pants on men. They are HUGELY popular here, and I think universally frowned upon my American men. 2. Facial hair. You can't have it in the military. 3. Long hair 4. Piercings. There are also times you can tell for sure they ARE. The two that stand out in my mind are 1. the man who said, "AH, Texas!" to Stephen because he was wearing his UT hat and his Texas Embassy London shirt. 2. a man we saw in line at the Ge Force with a tattoo in honor of a fallen soldier that read the soldier's name, OEF 06 and their unit name.
OH, and (3) parking was only 2.50 Euro, and food/snacks were I think much cheaper than I remember at Astroworld. PLUS, you could bring in your own coolers, backpacks, blankets, etc. I guess for large families that might make sense, but it made better sense to us to not have to haul around a bunch of crap all day. Money, the camera and sunglasses. We were good to go.




"Thunder River" with GeForce Expedition roller coaster in background






I love this picture of us. Its the "spinning teacups" ride, but we are in mermaids!



















This is Gunslinger, German style!

What a great day!

Here is my day:

1. Got up early to go to a meeting. I rushed in and found it had been postponed until next week. Part of the reason I was rushing was because I went by my office (on a different installation than the meeting, about a 15 minute drive counting security gate) to grab something and to make copies for the meeting. The copier was acting up, so I checked mail real fast. Meeting postponed. So it is a good thing I didn't go straight there.

2. I went back to the car where I had left my stuff (since I thought I was running in for a couple seconds) and when I locked the car, I dropped my keys. Into the street grate. Great. I didn't know you could just jerk those out of the ground. I went to the car fixit place steps away and asked the man about a wire or something I could fish them out with. He was German and followed me over because he couldn't decide if my keys were locked in the car or what. I pointed to them. He said,"AH! is no problem" and yanked the grate out of the street, handing me my keys. I thanked him profusely in both languages and headed to the shopette for breakfast and to tell the autoplace managers what an awesome employee they have!

3. In the course of the day I reported 2 more people for being professional, kind, and helpful to their supervisors! At work, I accomplished quite a bit including making a tri-fold of battalion information to hang in my BRAND NEW pamphlet display board (thank you M!), and hung up a bulletin board.

4. Went to the Dental Clinic to get an appt. It is at 730 tomorrow morning! How's that for service?!

5. Got home a little early and cut a tree in our yard way back. It was all in the way every time we took trash out and mowed.

6. Sat down to Jeopardy to find Sam Waterston, Kathryn Erbe and my not-so-secret crush Christopher Meloni playing! Christopher WON!!! Law and Order ROCKS!!!

7. SB is grilling some dinner here in a minute!

life is good.