Cooking Adventures

You ever have that one food from home that you crave more than ever? Mine has been nachos. I tried them from TacoBell at the little PX (Army version of a mall), but they tasted weird. So today while we were shopping for groceries, I was determined to find a way to make my own.

Making nachos with minimal cookware and tin foil is an adventure to say the least. Since we don't have a microwave, I decided to melt the cheese and tomatoes in a sauce pan, then heat the bean dip up on a sheet of foil in the oven by placing a little spoonful on each chip, and then pouring the melted cheese sauce over the heated bean dip n chips.

Let me tell you...after all that work. They never tasted soooooo delicious!

Since moving here, I've fallen in love with sparkling water. It's almost as good as drinking champage. Tastes so good when it hits your lips!

Happy New Year to everyone. Much love from Italy!

One of Those Days

Exhausted. I felt this this older picture of my sleepy little niece "BooBears" fit the bill pefectly.

It's not like we did much all day. Studied for the Italian drivers license test tomorrow. Hope hubby and I both pass!

Went to the little gas station-like store to pick up food. It was the only place on base open at the time. Tried cooking bacon with two plastic disposable forks. That was a sight! Finished off the rest of the day watching movies and trying to nap.

Only three more nights till we are in our apartment! I can't wait. It will be so wonderful to have more than three shirts to wear again. We might be without internet for a little while. But don't worry, we'll come back to base ever so often to connect back with the technical world while we wait for our internet to get setup.

Happy Monday everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday to my husband and Merry Christmas to all!

Hubby and I went to Venice for Christmas and it was truely amazing. We toured Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco Marco, known in English as St. Mark's Basilica. It was so beautiful. If any of you come visit us in Italy, this is one place that I'm going to drag your little jet-lagged butts to. It's worth it!

Now we are back on base. Just came back from spending a little time in hubby's haven (aka. bowling alley). Enjoyed watching "It's a Wonderful Life" on the bar's tv...and drinking the best wine EVER.

Just finished calling my mom and wishing her a Merry Christmas. Think I'm going to call it a night now and go watch the Grinch (animated version), or M*A*S*H. Love that old TV series! Alan Alda cracks me up every time.

Love to all. Merry Christmas from Italy!

We Picked Our Home!

We went down to the housing office today and selected one of the two apartments we toured yesterday evening.

You won't believe how awesome it is. We have a DISHWASHER and AIR CONDITIONING! (Note: You can tell I'm over the top excited because I'm killing this post with caps and exclamation points.)

We get the keys on December 29th and will hopefully have our household goods moved in on the 30th. Once we move in, our next step is to fly our dog, Jack, over. I miss him so much. How can you not resist these soulful brown eyes!

Hubby and I are off tomorrow to a little Christmas escape. I'll post all about it including TONS of pictures, when we get back on Sunday. Thank you Uncle Mark for letting us borrow your camera while in Italy!

Sipping an Italian capuchin (cappuccino) as I type. Absolutely amazing. And I'm not even a coffee drinker.

Pretty Little Windows

Snapped this hazy picture yesterday while walking around Vicenza.

First Night Out in Italy

We've been here five full days and finally decided to venture out of the Caserma Ederle gates and into the city of Vicenza. It was really dark out, so it was hard to mentally capture the look of the area, but we did have fun!

After rambling down the sidewalk, we finally found a tiny little Italian/American restaurant. Most of the employees spoke broken English and they had American Christmas songs playing in the background (to bad - they should have been playing some of Il Volo's songs!), but the menu was in Italian. I was told not to visit restaurants that had menus in English because the food wouldn't be good.

We both had pasta and some wine...and it was all so delicious! We bought a bottle of wine to take home as well =0)

All in all, it was an amazing evening. Much better than what took place earlier this morning.

Because I Said So

I believe that should be the Army's motto. Why do I need to go through hours of orientation and interviews to be a VOLUNTEER before I can even found out what positions are available? Because they said so. That's why. It's the way of the Army.

I feel like they believe my time is of no value. One wouldn't go thru a job interview without knowing what kind of job they were interviewing for...right? And if I wish to be a volunteer instructor, then I have to pay for the training.

Today I reached a bit of a boiling point. All the insane and stupidity finally got to me and when my wonderful hubby tried to console me by saying I'll get use to it...that kind of lit me up again. I don't want to get use to all this nonsense because that means I'm one of THEM...the little dependent drones that do things just because the ARMY says.

My poor hubby. He didn't know what to say after that.

Getting off my soap box now.

What you are missing out on...

I was just informed that I can't take pictures while here on base anymore. Something about security. So, instead of a picture of us here on base, I have a picture for you of what you are missing out on, there in the States!

Every night since we've been here, Bondi Rescue has been on the oh so wonderful (sarcasm here folks) AFN television. As you can see, these hot Australians in blue are lifeguards that patrol the beaches. You are really missing out. It's a great show. Almost better than Hawaii Five-O and that is saying something. =o)

Sunshine!

Here is a view from the Arena. It's hard to tell from the photo, but it was beautiful and sunshiny outside!

Hubby and I went to the Comissary for the first time today to by lunchmeat and some microwave foods. We are getting VERY tired of eating at the PX (military version of a mall, but more like a walmart with a few fast food venues) or Burger King, the only two places to eat here that we know of so far.

On our way to the Comissary, we found the Outdoor Rec office (they schedule all kinds of activities). Coming up they have a Santa Run and a Klagenfurt Christmas tour. I'm not sure if we'll be doing the tour as you have to be up and at the bus at 6:30am on Sat morning! We might go to France for Christmas though. =o)

We also found the base Thriftstore. I plan on going tomorrow. From what I've heard, this thriftstore is pretty cool. I'll let you know after I visit it.

Before walking around and finding the golden gems (thriftstore and Outdoor Rec), I was feeling pretty blah. No offense to the military, but they REALLY suck at planning. It wouldn't be so bad if we had moved to someplace in the states, but being dropped in the middle of a foreign country, you might as well have thrown me in the middle of the ocean, literally.

Good news is, we are growing thick skin fast and in-processing starts tomorrow. Plus, Hawaii Five-O is on tonight...and watchihng hotty Steve McGarrett makes EVERYTHING golden.

New Day...New Adventures

Good Morning!

This whole jet lag thing is really kicking my butt. I've been up since 2am. Haven't crashed yet, but if it's my luck that will happen when we are out shopping for essentials or something and halfway across the base. It's just a ten minute walk from one end of the base to the other, but when you are running short on sleep like I am...functioning like normal is a thing of the past.

On a good note, I've seen three Christmas trees here on this tiny base. If you happen to know me well, you'll know that I can't fathom Christmas without a tree. Since I haven't been able to find a "Charlie-Brown" tree for our hotel room yet, you'll be happy to know that there is a real one outside our window on the other side of the street!

When everything feels upside down, it's the little things that count.

Including the fact that Hawaii Five-O is on the TV here. I actually cried tears of happiness when I saw the preview for the next show. (Mom: I promise not to call you at 2am in the morning to tell you how it went.)

We are off to get a cell phone.

Love to all!

Oh what fun it is tonight....

Actually, it's morning here in Vicenza, Italy. Since neither hubby and I could sleep, I decided to deal with AT&T and try and get our phones unlocked so we can purchase cell service here. Unfortunately, they won't unlock our phones due to a contract with Apple. Nice.

Now we can only hope that the cell phone place here can unlock them. =0) Cross your fingers!