Crash Dummy

It is my pleasure to announce that my husband, Chad White, is the 2008 recipient of the Geico Safety Award for the Army. He will be honored at a dinner in Washington D.C. the last week of April. He was nominated for his work at Fort Polk with the Directorate of Emergency Services. It was there that Chad (the Traffic Accident Investigator) investigated a large number of preventable motor vehicle accidents and decided to offer safety courses, conduct checkpoints, and post new warnings in order to reduce these types of accidents. He did all this and more wearing the outfit in the picture below:

Man, you just gotta love him.

I'm so very proud of him (even in that dorky crash dummy costume).

P.S. Did I mention that he is also in the running for NCO (Non Commissioned Officer) of the YEAR? Okay, I'm done bragging now.

Ciao.

Go Fish

Our friends tried to talk us into taking a German fishing class with them.... since I got my fishing fill in Louisiana, we opted not to take the class. However, they did take the class and received their German fishing license. They went fishing on Saturday and brought back two fish. We ate the fish while discussing German fishing laws.... which led to the conversation of catch and release. Apparently, the "environmentally friendly" Germans do not believe in catch and release. Maybe it's too inhumane for them... I'm not sure. So instead of gently removing the hook from the jaw of a fish, they simply WHACK it over the head with a club. Sometimes one whack isn't enough, so it is quickly followed by another whack. This usually does the trick. I'm not sure how this works since it is also illegal to catch a fish and not "use" it. Does anyone else see the hypocrisy in this?

Regardless of the laws, the fish was delicious.

Revenge of the Doner Kebab...

To the man (or woman) who thought President's Day should be recognized as a national holiday... I thank you now. I am especially thankful for President's Day because for some unknown reason the Army always recognizes our civilian "3 day weekends" as "4 days." This "4 day" was especially productive as you will see in the following blog. Please enjoy!

Friday: House cleaning, sleeping in, walking dogs, trip to the PX followed by impromptu tour of IKEA, Chinese Dynasty, McDonalds, and Burger King (Chad's newest and proudest achievements thus far in Germany include remembering how to get to specific "landmarks" without the use of TOMTOM (GPS), which also means that he MUST take me to each landmark and I MUST respond with excitement and enthusiasm), made Julie's Jello (my family will without a doubt know what this means) for Valentine's day dinner, friend's birthday party at their flat.

Saturday: sleeping in, making coffee cake (added twice as much milk as necessary and forgot an egg... but miracuously... it tasted good), snuggles, house cleaning (again), dog park, Valentine's Day Dinner (spinach salad, enchiladas, Julie's Jello... delicious).

Valentine's Day in Temporary Housing!

I tried folding heart napkins... that skill apparently left me after the age of 13.
JULIE'S JELLO! No more needs to be said.

Sunday: woke up early because our friends talked Chad into going to church, went to church, decided to go for a drive to Esslingen to watch the Fasching Parade (German Mardi Gras). I will elaborate more later...

Esslingen is a small town about 15 minutes from downtown Stuttgart. It marks the beginning of the Swabian wine trail and was once a walled medieval town. They are now known for their Gothic Church of Our Lady (see pictures).

Gothic Church pictured above.

Chad, myself, and his beverage of choice... Fanta.

Our good friends... Kendra, James, & Daisy.

Chad and his favorite meal... the Doner. For more information and opinions regarding the Doner, please read this blog.

I knew I had to deliver an image of the Doner eventually and here it is folks. Shaved mystery meat w/ cheese.... uhuh.

And if you're not already thinking how cooky these Germans are... please view these few photos from the Fasching Parade...

Wow, they sure are family oriented in Germany. KID FRIENDLY TOO!

They say American children are
desensitized but look at that pirate kid in the background... totally un-phased. Does anyone else find these masked creatures (some even kidnap you and run you down the street) frightening? Craziness.

Sunday (continued): napping, leftovers, bedtime.

Monday: sleeping in, driving to PX (two times this weekend), test driving a new car, grocery shopping, eight loads of laundry, movie, sleep.

It's amazing how much two people can accomplish in four days.

Four Day= Long Weekend

V-Day
With more and more friends and acquaintances facing deployments… and with Valentine’s day right around the corner, I thought I’d take a minute to think about and appreciate my husband. Even though I have to share him with the United States Army, I don’t mind. It can be challenge when there is no 9 to 5, and his responsibilities are all day, everyday. It’s not always easy when their duties come before their families and themselves, but it’s the job he loves, and therefore, it’s my job to deal with it.

I’m lucky enough to have a great view of the parking lot, which may not mean much to some people reading this, however, nothing beats the feeling when I see Chad drive up, looking proud and strong in his uniform. The only thing better than seeing my husband, is seeing the many other husbands and fathers pull up… hug their children… and take their dogs for walks. When you’re married to the military, those little things are not taken for granted.

When Chad steps inside and starts explaining his day, I always try to listen, because now we talk about traffic accidents instead of road side bombs. When he leaves his dirty clothes on the floor in the bathroom, I pick them up without complaining because I feel fortunate to pick up dirty PTs and ACUs. I appreciate that when I call him at work he answers… it makes up for the two years when I never had a way to reach him, and I was the one always answering.



My husband may throw his dirty laundry around, return movie rentals three days late, and leave every light on in the house but I’ve learned to accept those things about him. I also know that when he gets a phone call at 3 in the morning, he will have to go in to work, and that extra paperwork will have to be done over the weekend, but it’s a small price to pay to have a hero… to call my own.


Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!

(A bit early, but I want to spend this long weekend with my love… which coincidently… is not my computer.)

I'm dreaming of a white Valentine's Day!

You go to sleep green and you wake up white.

This always results in adventures to the dog park.

Gnocchi loves the snow...

Now, Meatloaf... not so much.

Aufwiederhoren!

See you later!

Lazy Americans...

The other day Chad and I were driving to the PX to pick up a few things. As we drove through the city of Stuttgart, we drove over a very steep hill. Now this steep hill was also covered in snow. The snow was covered in icky debris, including sticks and leaves and such. Now to me, this hill did not foster positive thoughts and I believe I caught myself thinking, "yucky-dirt-snow-covered-hills-are-gross" or something along those lines. Anyway, as we reached the top of this icky-steep-snow-covered-hill, I saw a lady. Now this lady wasn't just any lady... she was like an 85 year old lady. And this 85 year old lady had a WALKER but was still slowly walking up the icky hill. This 85 year old lady didn't just have a walker... and she wasn't just walking slowly up this icky-leaf-and-snow-covered-hill... she was actually walking a DOG. Yes, at the top of a very-steep-snow-covered-dirty-hill was an 85 year old lady with a walker, walking a dog! (It needed to be repeated for emphasis!) Not just any dog, but a big dog... like a Lab or Sheppard or something was being walked slowly by an 85 year old lady with a walker who had reached the peak of a dirty-leaf-covered-snowy-steep-hill in Stuttgart, Germany.

Just thinking about this [true] story makes me tired. I'm going to go watch German television now and hope that I get motivated to walk more...regardless of the incline, or weather, or dirtiness of it all. If this 85 year old dog walker with a walker can walk up a squishy-leafy-yucky-snow-covered-hill... so can I.(And you too!)



A quick side note which includes a few reasons why I love my husband...

1. He lets Meatloaf sleep between us when it's cold (even though Meatloaf has a habit of farting under the sheets).


2. He calls twice a day... once to say hello (he leaves before I'm up) and again to say he's on his way home (this call often includes dinner conversation... please see last blog for clarification).


3. He gets a ride to work so that my friend and I can have the truck to go to IKEA and get out of the house.


4. He tells me I'm beautiful every night before bed (after make-up is removed and exhaustion has set in).


5. Sometimes I ask him for JUST a massage and sometimes he listens.

<3

What's for dinner?

An interesting conversation took place between Chad and I the other day and I was left wondering if anyone else has ever shared in such an exchange. The brief conversation went something like this...

Chad [calling on his way home from work]: What's for dinner?
Amy: I don't know, I'm going to whip something up right now.
Chad: Are you sure you don't want me to just pick something up?
Amy: Yes, I'm sure...
Chad: I just don't know if you've had a hard day and if you're not up to cooking dinner. Are you sure you don't want anything?
Amy: Why don't we just save a lot of back and forth and you tell me what I'm supposed to want in order for you to get what you want for dinner?
Chad: Oh nothing.
Amy: You want to bring home meat on a spit don't you?
Chad: The chicken wagon is right here... I could get one if you want.
Amy: I'm not in the mood for rotating meat right now (experiencing doner kabob flashbacks)
Chad: okay, love you, be home soon.
Amy: love you too, bye.

Has this happened to anyone else? Or am I the only one plagued with a husband who craves meat on a stick pretty much on a weekly basis. It also didn't help that we went to dinner with friends and they said the chicken wagons (Think taco truck with rotating chicken and ribs) are excellent and we should try them. Okay Chad... ask me next week.

P.S. Went to a wonderful Greek restaurant with friends, are fostering a blue merle collie, had a crisis at the dog park (meatloaf got jabbed in the back of the mouth with a stick), tried to stay awake for the 12:30 am Superbowl kickoff... only made it to the national anthem, and have included pictures of Meatloaf and his girlfriend, Dynamite Daisy.

My Meatloaf... missing his love. Meatloaf and Daisy sharing a toy.

Ciao!