Charlie was beside himself with excitement yesterday because the house was full of people and puppies. Guess who he got to play with? The sweetest puppy on the planet...

Tim is in town for job training, so Patti came over to hang out all day yesterday and brought their brand new puppy. Charlie had so much fun, and we had fun watching them. Charlie would pounce on the puppy and then roll over on his back and pull the puppy on top of him. Hilarious. Also, he'd steal a toy from the puppy and run away with it, and then walk back up to the puppy and let her steal the toy back from him. They were too cute. And the puppy was drenched by the end of the night because Charlie kept licking her head.

And Patti learned to knit! I love teaching people to knit, especially people who get all gung-ho about it. She was very excited and plans to crank out a baby blanket before Christmas!

It was so nice to have friends over. I've been a tad lonely here since I don't have any human contact except with my husband. Patti kept apologizing for monopolizing my afternoon, as if I were pining for my normal afternoon of Law & Order reruns. It was great to have someone to hang out with, and even better to have Tim and Patti for dinner. How fun to have your dinner guest begin the meal with "So, what do you think of Amadinejad's letter?"

I wish we were moving southwesterly instead of northeasterly, because our move will only take us further from these good friends.

Whose head will Charlie lick when we leave?

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Yesterday we did the whole shebang, a turkey and all the fixins, for just the two of us. On one hand it seemed sad not to have a real Thanksgiving, but on the other hand it felt a bit silly to do the whole deal just for two. In the end, it was really nice. Three years ago I got scolded in my comments section for complaining about slaving over an entire dinner for six people. Last year was wonderful fun, but I think we made entirely too much food and stressed ourselves out a bit getting everything coordinated in the oven. But this year was nice in its own way. We cooked everything as time permitted, and it didn't matter if half the pecan goo spilled over the edge of the pie or the turkey took longer than expected. There was no one to impress, nor was there anyone asking when it would be done. We just ate when we were ready. It was very relaxing and nice.

And Charlie took an extreme liking to turkey. He followed us everywhere and cried all evening long as he tried desperately to knock over the trash can and get at the carcass.

(image cropped so you can't see the messy kitchen and laundry room)

Posted by: Sarah at 08:14 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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The fur and the wet nose, and the dimples and the freckles.
This is what I'm thankful for.

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For those of you who used to follow the adventures at Armor Geddon, I thought I'd let you know that Red6 and his wife are home safe from their year in Iraq.

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I was messing around over at Tammi's World and decided I wanted to do part of her About Me:

* I AM: the Household 7. Most wives say they're the 6, but I work for a living!
* I WANT: my husband to be as happy as I am
* I HAVE: nine big plastic tubs of yarn, waiting to be used
* I WISH: my body didn't require sleep; I think sleep is a waste of time
* I HATE: disagreeing with people
* I FEAR: losing my husband to a car accident
* I HEAR: Charlie barking his fool head off as kids leave for school
* I SEARCH: for Charlie's kong toy; we threw it down the hall a year ago and never saw it again
* I WONDER: how long we'll be at our next duty station
* I REGRET: not meeting Bunker before he died
* I LOVE: the Apollo program
* I ALWAYS: knit while I watch TV; I don't know how to just watch TV
* I AM NOT: a feminist, by any stretch of the term
* I DANCE: to Elvis with the dog sometimes
* I SING: Swedish showtunes when I feel like belting it out; somehow my singing voice sounds awesome when it's not in English
* I CRY: at the end of Raising Arizona and most episodes of Cold Case

DO YOU:

* HAVE A CRUSH: Yes, on every man I've ever met named Fred, which is my favorite name in the whole wide world. I have no idea why I'm hooked on that name, but I get giddy around every Fred I've ever met. I remember the day we met Angie's husband, and my husband went "oh lord, here we go" when we found out his name. Angie's Fred, on the other hand, has no idea who I am even though we've met several times, which obviously points to how cool I am. (By the way, just so I don't look like the only crazy one, my husband has a crush on one of my friends from college; he schemes for her to get divorced and then marry his best friend from high school.)
* WANT TO GET MARRIED: I'd sooner die than be at a point in my life where that'd be possible.
* GET MOTION SICKNESS: not really
* THINK YOU'RE A HEALTH FREAK: ha, I wish
* CURRENT HAIR COLOR: brown, same as it's ever been. It always makes me laugh when someone says I've changed my hair color, because I've never dyed it or gotten highlights or anything.
* EYE COLOR: blue or something. I've worn contacts so long that I can touch my bare eyeball with my finger and not flinch, which makes my husband want to puke.
* BIRTHPLACE: I am way too proud of being an Okie.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:50 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 I'm laughing so hard I'm crying about the Fred stuff. See, I think you should just have a baby girl so she can marry my lil' Freddie. Our Freddie is the 4th consecutive generation with the name in our family. Whenever you get to meet Freddie you'll for sure have a crush on him too.

Posted by: Angie at November 17, 2006 05:11 AM (ec43W)

2 p.s. Fred says he DOES know who you are Too Funny!

Posted by: Angie at November 17, 2006 05:15 AM (ec43W)

3 "hey, how you doin?"

Posted by: fred at November 17, 2006 09:22 AM (GrO13)

4 you kill me, with this Fred thing. That is a lot of yarn!!

Posted by: armywifetoddlermom at November 17, 2006 09:23 AM (GrO13)

5 A finance officer in the field? What, pray tell, is he doing?

Posted by: Fredmerc at November 17, 2006 11:34 AM (Qlh7l)

6 I enjoyed your thoughts - keep them coming and thanks for the service of you and your man - from an old retired 06 (Texan turned OKIE)

Posted by: bob at November 23, 2006 04:01 PM (Vee40)

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I just had to fill out the papers for our next move, and I got to do the fun one where you tally up all your beds and desks and sewing machines and get an estimate of your moving weight. In the blank where you can say what other heavy stuff you have that's not listed, I put "books -- at least 1000", which if you think about it is heavier than all our desks combined.

My mother-in-law read that I was a US history dummy and mailed us some history books. She asked my husband if I had had a chance to read them yet, and he snorted and said that I had a lot on my plate right now. Here's my birthday jackpot, thanks to my husband, Oda Mae, and CaliValleyGirl.

And that doesn't include the stash of cookbooks from my mom and mother-in-law. Nor the twelve paperbacks I got at Goodwill yesterday, nearly rounding out my Michael Crichton collection. (I swear I'd buy his grocery list if he published it.) Life is good.

I just finished reading Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader. I completely recommend it for anyone my age, we who were too young to really appreciate Reagan as a president. That man was fantastic. I just started Island, and after about 100 pages, I'm still at that feeling where I can't decide if I'm liking it or not. I guess I'm not disliking it, but it's not what I expected.

My husband said I need to stop buying books and start seriously hoarding that money to buy, oh, a refrigerator, washer, dryer, sofa, and backyard fence. I told him that my books cost less than his beer, and last much longer. And that he's lucky his wife's Day of Splurging means spending seven bucks on paperbacks at Goodwill.

But I promised: no more books until after we move.

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We bought a house yesterday. Let me tell you, that was way more stressful than I thought it would be. Sometimes people get stuck because they can't find a good house, but we had the opposite luck: there were too many to choose from. And houses are not an apples to apples comparison. This one's a couple thousand more, but it has more square footage. But it's a longer commute to post. And this other has a better school district but hideous wallpaper throughout. This one has nice landscaping, a long commute, and costs more. And so on. My mom thought that I'd get a gut feeling about one house and just know I had to have it, but I didn't. Or, I kind of did, but that house was entirely too far from post, so it wasn't perfect either.

We picked one, and have spent the past two days alternating between ecstasy and trepidation. I guess there's no way to know if we made the absolute right choice, but at least we made it.

So now the moving begins! Man, I can't believe we just did this six months ago.

Posted by: Sarah at 11:40 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Alton Brown
speaking Swedish
the Crunchwrap (CaliValley even got a comment from the creator of the Crunchwrap)
the cast of The Magnificent Seven
anything that comes out of Butters' mouth
the stupid grin I get when I hear "Burning Love" or "Mmmbop"
Robertson Davies
chocolate iced rings from Dunkin Donuts
opening a jar of new peanut butter
Wes Anderson
Mormons
knitting for babies
Old 97s
Lolita
the very first and very last discs of episodes of Futurama
Jimmy Stewart
John Doe
When Lileks told Salam Pax "F**k you"
the squirrel in the Hoodwinked! trailer who says dee-na-meee-tay
buying postage stamps
high and tight haircuts

Most of the time, this blog feels like it's just me and Will. I noticed that AWTM asked her lurking readers to de-lurk and comment once on one post. (She got 25 people to chime in, but she has more readers than I do.) I thought that was such a fun idea that I'd like to do the same. Tell me something you love too.

(This post inspired by trying the opposite of a Piece of Crap List. I'll do one of those one day too.)

Posted by: Sarah at 08:41 AM | Comments (26) | Add Comment
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1 Seeing as I JUST de-lurked on the other post, does this count? What timing. I love leaf piles and cold weather.

Posted by: Sabbrielle at November 06, 2006 08:55 AM (C0EP2)

2 I love Mormons too! Everytime I would see them in Germany I would run up to them and say "hi!" They used to be a bit freaked out, but it was so great seeing someone from home. And man, their mission is hardcore. If you have been sent to mission in a country where they speak a foreign language and the government has pretty much been open about its distaste for all denominations outside of Protestants and Catholics, you are pretty brave in my book.

Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at November 06, 2006 08:58 AM (deur4)

3 I love my boys, my soldier, welcome home ceremonies, babies, smiles, reality TV shows and Christmas morning. I also love your blog...Thank God there is someone on this earth that feels so strongly about the same kind of issues I do. Thank God you have the courage to express your views in such a mature and intelligent venue. You always say exactly the right things and it seems like that's just how I feel too!

Posted by: Angie at November 06, 2006 09:28 AM (ec43W)

4 I never thought I'd see Wes Anderson and Mormons right next to each other on a list. So congratulations - you've blown my mind once again. BTW, have you seen the South Park about Joseph Smith? It's a classic. Anyway, my Anderson favs in order: 1. The Life Aquatic 2. Rushmore 3. The Royal Tenenbaums 4. Bottle Rocket (this is my girlfriend's Favorite Movie Ever)

Posted by: Will at November 06, 2006 11:17 AM (QRBGL)

5 1) Indiana University Basketball. 2) Popcorn that isn't microwaved. 3) Curbside trash pick up. Seriously, how amazing is that? Put it out and someone takes it away forever. 4) Election day. Even if it's just for the local school board,I love that I get a say. 5) The Public Library. All sorts of books on about any topic you wish. 6) Dogs. My dog,my neighbor's dogs,Charlie. I don't trust people who don't like dogs. 7) I love that I am a citizen and NOT a subject. I love that if I met the Queen,it would be wrong to curtsy to her,because TECHNICALLY she is my peer. The internet. Big brother isn't watching us, George Orwell. We're watching him. 9) I love the kindness and decency of the average American. I love the generosity and spirit of volunteerism I see coming from regular folks. 10) I love that yesterday I stopped in to "The Woodchuck IGA" out in the middle of NOWHERE and there,over the register,was the photo of the soldiers with the "HELP US JON CARRY" sign. The WOODCHUCK IGA people. See #8 for how this very recent photo happened to be there.

Posted by: MaryIndiana at November 06, 2006 11:56 AM (YwdKL)

6 I love living in America, the sound of rain, bear hugs, being pregnant, and the Green Bay Packers.

Posted by: Jen D at November 06, 2006 12:05 PM (D4EDG)

7 I am glad you love Mormons, even if they are not "practicing". I like clean sheets hot baths laughing and happy well behave children smell of new babies welcome home kisses good books a fantastic book when I find a letter and no bills in the mail orange leaves

Posted by: armywifetoddlermom at November 06, 2006 12:28 PM (GrO13)

8 I love Wes Anderson, and think he should do a movie about Mormans leaving Utah and moving to Germany

Posted by: armywifetoddlermom at November 06, 2006 12:29 PM (GrO13)

9 First time commenter, long time reader and enjoyer of your blog. I love being an American I love that my kids are now officially grown (24 and 21) and the pressure is off me - what they make of their lives is now up to them! I love the way the internet has brought the whole world right into our homes and destroyed the hold elitists once had on information and how it was disseminated. Wait- I forgot I did once comment before. So this isn't my official first post!

Posted by: Amy at November 06, 2006 01:41 PM (I9LMv)

10 Things I love: 1. My soldier 2. My kids (Frick and Frack) 3. My family 4. My job (it can happen) 5. My friends 6. The rain 7. Fall and Winter 8. ALL babies (the smell too) 9. My life 10. and last but not least.....I love me!

Posted by: Vonn at November 06, 2006 04:14 PM (/VoEr)

11 Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, Personal Courage.

Posted by: Eric Chen at November 06, 2006 05:18 PM (ldef+)

12 I love: --my soldier --my three children --Texas --Election Day --Blue Bell Ice Cream --artichokes --that after a BBA and a MBA I am done with school....for now --my parents for giving me a great start in life that a lot of people don't get. I hope that I am making them proud with what I have done so far. I miss you Dad! --Love your blog and many others that I read --I also love being a military wife and I love that my hero is also my husband and my best friend. Hmmm.....I'm sure there is a lot else, like I would love to have a couple hours of sleep but until DH comes home that is out of the question!

Posted by: Curly26 at November 06, 2006 05:21 PM (kQWmi)

13 I love: 1. My family 2. Interesting conversations with my daughter 3. Our dog Toby 4. Flowers 5. Rain at night 6. Genealogy 7. A beautiful snowy day 8. Babies 9. Traveling to new places 10.Dancing How's that? Your Mama

Posted by: Nancy at November 06, 2006 06:12 PM (hNLfY)

14 A stack of new books and a 2 week vacation. Freshly mowed grass. Hugh Hewitts quotations at the beginning of each hour...especially Aragorn's "St Crispin Day" speech..."Stand Men of the West" Chocolate cake and a good cup of coffee The Internet...especially blogs...milblogs Trying to Grok was the first blog I read.

Posted by: Mary*Ann at November 06, 2006 07:04 PM (bdvqO)

15 1. God 2. Going to church on regular days 3. My daughters 4. My ex-wife 5. My parents 6. America 7. Cats and dogs 8. Talk radio 9. Trying to Grok 10. Early Heinlein 11. Andre Norton

Posted by: Don at November 06, 2006 07:33 PM (6VFW4)

16 Things I love 1. Opening a new can of coffee. 2. Kittens and Puppies 3. Finding a new (or undiscovered by me) book by an old author. 4. Sunrise 5. Having a family & home to come home to. 6. My wife. 7. My cat who come to ME to have his ears scratched. 8. The ability to ignore or pay attention to the world around me and the freedom to do so. 9. Being able to walk into a grocery store and buy food without having to grow it myself. 10. Technology.

Posted by: SciFiJim at November 06, 2006 07:59 PM (tLU1K)

17 Delurked, cha cha cha. Still lovin' yer blog. Thanks for the great posts.

Posted by: JACK ARMY at November 06, 2006 08:25 PM (fuKox)

18 An occasional poster, but every day reader: Opinion Journal trying to grok The Bleat Scrappleface.... I love your positive attitude, your sacrifice, your honor and morals, and how young and enthusiastic you are! (I've got about 20 years on you.) I love how in love you and your husband are. I love how you put yourself out there and say what you believe (not easy these days!). Also: puppy tummies baby pectoral fat rolls a good thunderstorm how my lawn looks after a good mow community on Scrappleface The Grace of God blog on.....

Posted by: MargeinMI at November 07, 2006 02:03 AM (Nf9lC)

19 I love: * Peanut butter and cheese. * Big machines. DC-3s, earthmovers, whatever. * Violin solos, whether in Gaelic folk music, bluegrass, whatever. * Debating ethics and philosophy, as long as we use small words On a larger scale, I like reasoned debate, not slanging matches. * Sci-fi, fantasy, and history. * Zombies, giant robots, pirates, kittens, and ninjas. But hey, who doesn't?

Posted by: Hiraethin at November 07, 2006 02:27 AM (hnFlP)

20 I think (But I don't recall now..)I posted on your blog once last week. I love it. So I am not sure if this is officially de-lurking.. Things I Love. 1) my husband and 2 girls 2) the smell of fresh cut grass 3) Laughing 4) the song "When you say nothing at all" (Duet version by Alison Krauss and Keith Whitely) 5) reminiscing with friends

Posted by: Keri at November 07, 2006 04:55 AM (PgLZz)

21 I've been reading your blog regularly for a while now and commented a few times. So, you know I love trying to grok. Other things I love are: God's mercy and grace. My wonderful husband of 27 years (so far). Our two beautiful daughters. My huge extended family. America. Alabama football(Roll Tide) even when we lose. Seeing Old Glory flying over our embassy when I'm in a foreign country. Freedom. The fact that there are still people who understand that there are some things worth fighting for. A rainy day at home, cuddling with my hubby and watching old movies. Books and libraries. The internet. Traveling. Christmas. Thanksgiving. I could go on and on. But, that's a good start on the things I love.

Posted by: Pamela at November 07, 2006 05:08 AM (xf/WZ)

22 I love it when a plan comes together.

Posted by: Bob at November 07, 2006 01:14 PM (WMa4u)

23 Jag älskar Amerika. Och mina barn, min fru, mörk choklad, J&B, pizza med Bud, RHCP, att vara en neocon, Italien, frihet, att blogga, Battlefield 2142, svensk sommar, vara DJ på fester, kräftor, och alla som tjänstgjort i Irak. Hope you enjoy reading Swedish as much as speaking it, Sarah Sorry to all for not making sense.

Posted by: Anders at November 08, 2006 06:48 AM (RWjHO)

24 De-lurked... Love: The USA My soldiers Hammock and a good book on a warm day Fresh laundry Cat purring Thanks for the blog and for your and your husband's service keeping the rest of us safe in our beds.

Posted by: Molly at November 08, 2006 03:11 PM (8PL1W)

25 Sarah, I love Alton Brown too!! I love the movie Office Space, and this line in particular: Peter: I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.

Posted by: Kate at November 09, 2006 12:37 PM (h/MYc)

26 I love... My husband, friends and family My dog Babies when they laugh Crisp fall mornings Pumpkin cheesecake Reading Learning something new Taking a great photo The way the Army has shaped me Oh and Gluehwein

Posted by: Household6 at November 10, 2006 04:25 PM (40zEu)

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The Girl has been knitting for nine months in preparation for her new niece. But in all the joys of waiting, she never anticipated the baby to be so sick when she was born. No baby should ever have to look like this.

It hurts my heart so much to look at this picture. Please go over and send your strongest thoughts to The Girl's brother and his wife.

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