Oh woe is Lolli

I am a spoiled brat that God is attempting to make stronger. I know this because my family got to be together without me for the first time this past week, and it hurt. It hurt a lot. I had never even considered the possibility of that happening. I've ALWAYS been there... and I have ALWAYS taken it for granted. However, the positive side is that challenges like this teach us to never take things like seeing family for granted again. The negative side is that I MISS THEM. I told my BFFFRMI (Best friend forever for real, mean it) Mary, that they were in Searcy without me, and she said "Is it okay if I drive down and see them? Because your family is legit." I agree. They are, in fact, legit. Anyway, my reasoning for writing this is to say that though I complain, I am glad that they got to spend time together and I realize that this was a lesson that I would inevitably have to learn. .. but I was still sad. In fact, it made me paint this:

Not a great picture, but hopefully it still captures the turmoil I was feeling at the time.

Today, I went on a girls from church date to Oxburgh Hall (which we will have to go back to because the inside was occupied), a pub for lunch, and a few antique shops. I bought a very large glass bottle that I will, at some point, find a good use for.

An aerial photo of Oxburgh hall. It has a moat!!

Tomorrow will be exciting because Kyle is competing in the Liberty olympics! He is competing in the 100m relay, and Ultimate frisbee. I'll try and take some action shots while I play cheerleader. :)
 We love you all!

Time is going by entirely too fast

   Poor Tesla was stung by a bee today. She sported a cartoonish fat lip for a good five minutes before looking normal again, and continues to try and catch bees in her mouth every chance she gets. I took a page out of "Marmie knows how to fix everything 101" and rubbed a baking soda paste on her mouth, which made her look a little rabid, so I tried to keep her indoors after that.  A woman who was shopping with her son yelled at me to get the stinger out, or Tesla would die... I tried to tell her that not many dogs are THAT allergic to one bee sting, and that it was a bumble bee.. its stinger has no barbs, so it gets to keep it after it stings you.(Thank you, Harding biology dept) She then left me alone and went back to yelling at her son. He and I shared a sympathetic look. 
    Two weeks ago, Kyle and I went to Great Yarmouth for our anniversary, and the first day was AWESOME. We walked on the pier, shopped,  rode rides, saw a movie, had dinner, took a carriage ride, and played in one of the many arcades on the promenade. The next day was not as awesome, however. I woke up at 4AM with THE PLAGUE, which I had apparently gotten from the two girls I babysat on Friday. I hung out on the bathroom floor for 2 hours, pondering my mortality and trying to give Kyle more time to sleep before I woke him up and asked him to go to the drug store. Super fun times. I won't get into all of the wonderful details of my anniversary stomach bug, but it definitely made me grateful for modern medicine. When we got home, Tesla instantly became worried that I was dying and would not let me out of her sight. She cuddled with me for 8 hours straight, until I started to act a little more alive. Hopefully soon, Kyle and I can go out to eat or something to make up for me being dead on our actual anniversary. :-/
     We are celebrating Kyle's first year in the Air Force this week, which is hard to believe. It has been a busy year and we are incredibly thankful for the opportunity and adventure! We hope and pray that everyone back home is happy and healthy. :)

Stevie Nicks is the best dental hygienist ever.

  I finally, after many months of waiting, started on getting my loose fillings replaced. I wish that I could go back in time and keep my past self from going to that dentist in Biloxi. It would have saved me a world of hurt. My dentist here, Dr. Moriarty (His real name is Dr. Anderson), may actually have begun the long journey that is restoring my hope in the dental profession. He took his time and never caused me any real discomfort. He carefully pointed out to me the restorations that Dr. Barnes did in Biloxi and how they were failing. He also used a bite block, which took the strain off of my jaw so that it wouldn't dislocate again. It only took an hour which was amazing compared to holding my mouth open for nearly 4 hours last time. Stevie Nicks came on the radio twice during the procedure and sang me through it. The rest of the time was made bearable by thoughts of petting tigers and cuddling Tesla.
   The 8 yr old I am babysitting sat patiently in the waiting room while I had the work done. He played his video game and didn't even noticed that time had passed. Feeling like I had half a face, I took him to get a donut on the way home. We may go bowling a little bit later after the novocaine wears off. I'll have to go back to the dentist and do this all again, tomorrow. Hopefully that experience will be as good.
   Kyle and I still haven't celebrated my birthday, and now we have an anniversary coming up. He has this friday off, so we are trying to think of something to do. My dentist was trying to give me ideas of where to go , the entire time he was replacing the filling. I would love to got to Alton Towers while I still can (being UNpregnant, and everything.) Kyle wants me to figure out a destination, so I have about a day to make up my mind. We'll have to take the train no matter what, since the Jeep still sounds like it has had a tracheotomy recently. I had better get on that and start planning! I love you!!

Ghost Hunting and Hedgehogs

    Raf Feltwell is supposedly one of the most haunted places in this area, according to the internet and various sources. Many people who used to stay in the old barracks on base talk about "Herbie", a ghostly practical joker who likes to wander around, stealing beers and resetting alarm clocks. They talk about him like he is just another resident, walking around in khaki pants and a teeshirt. One source said that they saw him walk into the day room, and decided to follow him. Once they got there, the day room was completely empty.
   There is also talk of a phantom plane, which makes attempts at landing on what used to be the Feltwell runway, whenever the fog gets thick outside. This is supposed  to be in reference to a man who crashed his plane trying to land in the fog a long time ago. 
   Lastly, I have a neighbor who has in her possession a very eerie picture.  She took it of the small cabin by the elementary school that used to be my band room when I was in the 4th and 5th grade. If you look at the picture, you will see the figure of a man in one of the windows. Very strange.
   A lot of people ask me, since I have so many stories like this, if I believe in ghosts. After all, I DID used to tell ghost stories every year during rough night for my social club for a good 5 years. No, I do not believe in ghosts. There is definitely something strange and unnerving that exists, but I don't think I have the slightest authority to tell anyone what it is. I merely tell stories, put out my disclaimers, and let people make up their own minds. 
    Kyle thinks I am completely ridiculous. I made up a fun theory, that I don't necessarily believe in, but I think is fun to think about. The theory is that seeing ghosts or spirits is really just a form of time travel. People sometimes see Abraham Lincoln walk down the halls of the White House, because in the 1860's, he did... and when "ghosts" interact with us, it's really just a breech in the barrier that lies between our time and theirs..and sometimes, WE are the ones in the past..and we are looking into the future. I think it would make a pretty awesome novel.
    Some of the "personal experience" stories that I tell come from a stack of occurrences that I secretly chalk up to my crazy imagination. For instance, I used to tell the story about being in the Benson auditorium alone at night and feeling/seeing someone rush by me, only to turn and see no one there. I always fail to mention that I had been running on 0 hours of sleep in two days, at the time. If I think about it logically, I can see how my mind could have been playing tricks. This makes me wonder how many people tell paranormal anecdotes, who know in the back of their minds that it may not have happened.
   However, there are a few times that something has happened, either to people I trust completely, or to myself with the company of multiple witnesses. My parents currently live in a house that was deemed haunted by the previous tenants. I'm sure my mom remembers calling my name and asking what I was doing, one afternoon. When I came out of my room to answer her, she stood there looking surprised. "You're not upstairs?", she asked. I was promptly pulled into the front room where I could hear distinct footsteps coming  from the second floor. We knew for a fact that we were the only ones home, and could do nothing but stand and listen, eyes wide. I joked, "Maybe... morbidly obese squirrels?"  The footsteps suddenly got louder and more distinct, startling us. After a fair amount of clumsy speculation, we made a plan to go up and see what it was... with a gun, just in case it was an intruder. We could still hear the footsteps, so I was at least certain that I would be able to find what was really making the noise. I walked up the stairs while carefully holding one of my Dad's handguns, opened the door.. and nothing. Not only was there no one upstairs, but the footsteps had stopped. My Mom and I spent the day utterly confused.
    All of this is really just to say that some girls around my neighborhood and I went ghost hunting the other night at 1 AM. We walked around the entire base, which is very peaceful and creepy no matter what time of day it is. We walked through the old barracks and even sat in the day room. Nothing very spooky happened, but it was still fun to explore and hang out. 
   All in all, I have a very bipolar attitude when it comes to this sort of thing. Half of me is curious and wants truth, and the other half is terrified and sees all of it as something not to meddle with. It causes a dilemma, because most of my curiosity came from experiences that happened while I wasn't being meddlesome at all. Maybe all of this is just my way of stumbling onto the idea that writing a novel about it would be fun. Hmm.
  OH... and yesterday, Kyle, Tesla, and I found the largest hedgehog I have ever seen. It's spines were so long that even picking it up with my jacket was painful. Once I picked it up, I immediately remembered how hedgehogs smell, from when we used to catch them in Ely. Not awful, but not like roses. 
  Sorry that is post isn't much of an update. I hope all is well! :)
    

Ode to ginger ale

    Ginger ale is a wonderful placebo. I can never tell if it is actually helping my nausea, or if my imagination is just rampant as ever and playing tricks on me. I will be babysitting every day for the next week, but after that, I'll be making a Dr's appointment to finally figure out why I've been feeling so gross the past 6 months. It has been suggested that I try to go off of gluten and see if that makes a difference, but.....bread... so I don't know if that will work out. 
  Tesla can't come to babysit with me anymore, which is tragic, but she keeps slipping through the fence and walking into people's living rooms. I thought for SURE that she wouldn't go through the side fence, because the dog in that yard always growls and barks at her. I thought this until I no longer heard growling, looked through the fence and saw Tesla, sitting with the mean dog in its dog house. That little social butterfly...
   I don't know all of the details, but Kyle is having a big day today. He had his name drawn to eat breakfast with the command chief this morning, and later today, will be participating in a POW/MIA ceremony. He will be marching and  carrying one of the hats symbolizing a branch of the military. I wish I could go see it. 
   Later tonight, Kyle is bringing over a buddy from work to grill and hang out. I am providing the potato salad, fried green beans, and banana pudding. I'm really excited about how the potato salad turned out, which I think pretty much seals the deal that I am now a grown-up. It has red potatoes, bacon, onion, and green bell pepper in a mayo dijon sauce. YUM.
   Rena: I did NOT get an autograph from the man at the country fair. He looked like the villain from Pocahontas. 

Not really that interesting... but it happened

      Tesla is growing by leaps and bounds. Well.. her legs and paws are. The rest of her looks pretty much the same, so she looks more like a Disney character than a dog, right now. To make extra money, I have been dog sitting people's pups while they take mini vacations around Europe, which military folk around here do all the time. It has been a pretty good gig, watching pets for 15 GBP a night, but I think I am about to have to say no to a dog for the first time. Kyle and I took Tesla to meet two Westies yesterday to see if they got along. The female seemed nice enough, but we soon learned that the Male is not fixed, and belongs in a tiny doggy straightjacket. The owner informed us that he gets overly friendly with female dogs, but never seems to figure out exactly how it's done, so it should be fine. Dealing with that for an entire week just doesn't really sound like something I want to do, especially with my little Tesla in the house, so I am currently trying to figure out the best way to tell the owner that I don't approve of her dogs's lack of morals.  Spay and neuter your animals, people...
      We got the MOT inspection and light conversion done on the Jeep so that our blinding American lights don't get anyone killed. (Sarcasm). Hopefully soon, we can actually go further than 20 miles out on weekends! Last weekend, we went to the Hockwold country fair. If you have ever seen Jam & Jerusalem (A really good British show about what living in a small English village is like. I think all of the episodes are on Youtube.), it was very much like something off of that show. They had a pig roast, Tea and scones, fish & chips, old English cars, steam tractors, a tractor show AND a push lawnmower show, giant work horse demonstrations, games, and various town organizations. We rode a bus to the fair from where we parked and discovered that English people sing "The wheels on the Bus" A LOT differently than we do.  The big celebrity of the fair was an extra who had been in a Harry Potter movie and the Dark Knight. He was selling autographed pictures of him walking behind Heath Ledger, which was hilarious. I ran into some people who have a theatrical troupe in Hockwold and want me to audition for their Scrooge panto which opens in November. I think it would be fun.
     Kyle seems to be liking his job, from what I can tell. He is good at keeping work and home seperate. I can tell that he is happy to be home, but he doesn't seem like he is escaping from anything when he arrives, so I think he is happy all around..... and that concludes my analysis. 
    I just heard a knock on the door (I am babysitting in a neighboring village) and it was two grinning British boys... and Tesla. She apparently squirmed through the fence and got into their garden, not that they were complaining. She has a pretty wide fan base, here in her homeland. I might take a trial run at leaving her at home tomorrow, because she tends to get really bored here, and it is difficult taking care of a puppy dog AND a puppy human at the same time. :-/
    I love you all and hope that all is well!
   

This will be interesting...

Out of sheer guilt and frustration from still not having Internet at our house, I am attempting to update this here blog using only my phone. Please don't judge too harshly if there are even more typos than usual.  Trying to spellcheck, let alone cling to any sort of organised thought while typing on a phone... Well, it's not easy.
  We have my Jeep, finally! We were going to celebrate my birthday in London, but had to cancel due to some work that needs to be done on the Jeep: inspection, light conversion, registration, and something under the hood that sounds a bit more like a hamster wheel than it should. I have been driving it, though being seen with an Arkansas license plate is definitely something that makes me a little wary, sometimes.  We will most likely celebrate my birthday sometime in June, at the rate we are going. Every week gets busier and busier. Kyle, Tesla, and I walked to the Spring Fling fund raiser at feltwell elementary school after I picked him up today. Something like 30 kids asked to pet Tesla and all said the same thing: "she feels soft! Like a stuffed animal!"
    We bought tickets to get food while we were there and a little girl in line with us told me, "I can tell you we're here during the fourth grade. Wanna know why? You're in a yearbook." It was so weird.  I still can't put together exactly how she knew that I went there. So strange.  Also very strange was that I ran into a very familiar looking woman, who turned out to be my elementary school nurse... The same nurse that Marmie used to substitute for. She was really excited that I recognised her and told me that she still works there and so do many of my old teachers! I saw some of them, including the man who taught the gifted and talented program I was in. It was all too weird. Oh... One more weird thing: thanks to meeting various people, I will possibly be in charge of feeding feral cats in the village this summer because the lady who normally does it is going on vacation?... And Kyle may soon be a Boy Scout troupe leader! His news is a bit more exciting than mine.. It was an interesting day, for sure.
    Not a whole lot of other news... Kyle rolled his ankle yesterday, playing basketball. I made him keep it elevated above his heart all evening to get the swelling down and he was able to do PT this morning, so that is good. The next two weeks will be busy. I'll be watching an 8 year old for ten hrs a day during that time, and Kyle will inevitably have lots on his plate from work. We are getting into the swing of things, slowly but surely. Our house is also finally starting to look like a home! I M coming to terms with the fact that our living room will have to look asymmetrical no matter what.. Which is painfully, but at least we HAVE a living room! I am more than grateful for that.
    I will try to update more often, now that I know it is possible to do so on my phone! Hope you are all doing well!! I love you!!!!