Hawaiian Reunion

Military wives tend to support each other and help out when the menfolk are deployed.  You make lasting friendships in short periods of time.  Then you are stationed away from each other, and you make new friends in that area.

Or like me, your husband gets out of the military and you start a civilian life somewhere.

Social networking has significantly changed things for military families.  Now, it's possible to maintain connection to others as they move around, change addresses and phone numbers, over and over again.  I managed to keep up with two of my closest companions from NC.  DH and I were there with our three kids from 1983 to 1988.

That is a long time ago.

Each year, one of us picks up the phone and calls the other.  We spend hours catching up and chatting about families, careers and each other.  This year, the conversation was a little different.  It usually closes with one of us saying, "we need to get together."  This year, it closed with, "you know, I have enough air miles to fly us out to see her."  Really.  Just like that.

My response was pretty quick.  "If you're buying me a free plane ticket, then I'm in."  She asked, "What dates are good for you?"  I said, "Whatever dates you book that free airline ticket.  I'm sure I can work my schedule around free."

So we did it.  We flew to Hawaii, the home of our third amiga, and had a reunion after more than twenty years.

It's funny how that kind of friendship works.  It's like we never moved on, lost touch or didn't talk for months and years at a time.  We dropped right back into a groove with each other.

It was tremendously rewarding and all the airfare was free, thanks to my friend who travels for work all the time.

I would love to go back to Hawaii with DH for a romantic vacation.  But the whirlwind "military base tour of the islands" was super fun to do with two old friends!

-- Sandee Wagner

CrossFit Day 107

Since I use this blog as a platform to talk about whatever interests me, I've mentioned before that I took up CrossFit a few months ago.

My son had tremendous success at his box in NC and recommended it.  I spurred DH to join and he went for a full month before I finally gave it a try.  I started the week after Thanksgiving 2012.  Now, I go four days a week.

There are all kinds of Facebook pages and blog sites devoted to individual fitness journeys.  They encourage everyone to take before and after pictures and to celebrate each personal record.  I have not posted on any of these sites, or written any kind of testimonial.

Mostly, because I'm still fat.

I don't look all that much different than I did before.  I have not lost a significant amount of weight, or changed dress sizes.  What I have done is gotten way stronger.

Take today.  Today I flipped a huge honking truck tire clear across the parking lot.  For a warm up.  Just part of a warm up, really.

Those tires have been lining the fence since I started at CrossFit Quest.  I've been waiting to see what we did with them.  If they ever used them in the workouts before, it was on a rest day for me.

Today, I saw the tire flip on the board and just walked out to the parking lot and said, "how do I do this?"  My coach told me how to do it with correct form and how to avoid hurting my back.

Then I flipped the damn tire.  Clear across the parking lot.

CrossFit has made me stronger.  Seriously.

A few weeks ago, I went to the store to buy some potting soil.  I wanted to redo all my indoor pots, so I needed a lot.  I picked up two fifty pound bags, schlepped them into my cart, onto the checkout register, back into the cart, out to the car, into my station wagon, out of the car and into my back yard.  Then I realized what I had done.  A year ago, I would have paid more for three smaller bags just so I could lift them and get them where I wanted.  This year, I threw 50 lbs on my shoulder and carried it by myself.

I feel like a beast.  Certainly a grandma in beast mode.

The other day, one of the guys at the box told me he could see my arms were stronger.  I told him my potting soil story and he just high fived me.  I felt like I had won something.

I'll keep going to CrossFit.  Even when it hurts.  Even when it's too early and I stayed up too late.  I'll keep going to get stronger, fitter and more able to lift heavy things.  Because it's working.

Today was my 107th day to workout at CrossFit.  I'm seeing the return.

--  Sandee Wagner

The Princess Experience

We did a Disney Cruise last week.  I was thrilled to spend that time with my grands.  They live on the East Coast and I like to grab the time I can to visit.

When we arranged the sailing dates, my DIL told me that Zoey would be celebrating her 5th birthday on the ship and so would I.

Disney understands kids and families.  The whole ship is designed to make it easy for a family to vacation this way.  I expected it to be well run and finely maintained.  I expected great entertainment.  Disney, right?

What I never expected was the princess thing.

A couple of weeks before the cruise, I asked my DIL what Zoey wanted for her birthday.  She told me that Aurora was Zoey's favorite Disney princess and she wanted something Disney princess but especially Aurora.  After I tugged on my memories, I remembered that Aurora was Sleeping Beauty.  I could totally do that.  Then I started looking at gifts and stuff that I could buy and send.  Then it hit me.  I was going to be on a boat.  With a fully stocked Disney store.  I could totally take Zoey to get her own gift!  My DIL and I decided that it would be alright to purchase something there that they would have to get home.  Great.

The day we hit the ship, I checked out the store and sure enough, they had Aurora covered.  I bought the grand girl an Aurora dress and tiny tiara.  You can see that she loved it and so did Aurora.

Disney does the Princess Experience by having six princesses all come out into a grand foyer that is lined up with rope for crowd control.  Each princess has a photographer assigned and a handler.  It is such an elegant system.  The handler takes your room key to the photographer and anything you want autographed to the princess.  The princess spends time charming the kid and then gets everyone situated for the photo.  The 'parent paparazzi' are encouraged to stand to the photographer's right and they even help get the kid's attention so that you can take photos.  Everyone was so patient and kind to all of us trying to get our own pictures of the experience.

Princess Tiana taught Zoey to do 'princess hands' in her photos.  Cinderella taught her to swirl down to a sitting position so that her skirt would be pretty for the photos.  Each princess made a fuss over her book, signing their pages and admiring what a good reader she was.

While standing in line, moving through, I got to see the princesses and their entourages interacting with all kinds of kids.  From the desperately ill kids there from the Make A Wish foundation, to the shy kids who couldn't speak because they were so dumbfounded.  Each one of the princesses was graceful and careful with each child's delicate feelings.  Those ladies were AMAZING.

There was one little boy in a Prince Charming outfit.  Cinderella got him to pose with his hands just like the prince in the movie and then slipped her hand through his arm like he was escorting her.  It was adorable.

There were girls in every princesses' outfit.  The one in the mermaid tail who spun around to show Ariel her tail and then insisted on looking underneath her skirt to see Ariel's legs made me laugh and laugh.  Those character actors have to have a great deal of patience and tremendous ability to think on their feet... because imagine what the kids are telling them!!

I went because Zoey wanted to go.  I never expected to enjoy myself.  After seeing this--how well it was run and handled by all the staff, helpers and the princesses, I was so impressed.  It was truly and experience.

 I teared up a couple of times.  And I laughed like a crazy person when I realized that the little girl in line in front of us had every single princess dress and her parent's were doing a 'quick change' between princesses so they could get pics with their daughter dressed like every one.

I can't say that this would be great for kids of all ages.  I think most of the boys would be rolling their eyes and asking to go see Peter Pan or Captain Jack Sparrow.  What I can say is that if you, or someone you know, has a princess then you need to see that they get to have the Princess Experience.  It was really wonderful.  I'm glad I went.

--  Sandee Wagner

Excellent Vacation

Earlier last year, my DIL contacted me and told me she was planning her vacation for 2013.  She said, "We're going on the Disney Cruise, you're welcome to come with us."

I marked my calendar and began saving my pennies. What could be more fun?  A Disney cruise with the grandkids?  It was a no-brainer for me.

We all booked with the same travel agent who coordinated travel for three sets of grand parents and the kids with the grands.  We came from three different states.

We cruised out of Port Canaveral, FL on the Disney Dream.  It was phenomenal.  Disney sure knows how to do customer service and entertainment.  Other than it being a little pricey, I have NO complaints.  The highlight of the trip is the stop at Castaway Cay, Disney's private island.

When a cruise ship hits a port like Nassau, there is a flood of people out into a port town that caters to tourists.  Generally, a lot of shopping and not much else of a draw.

Disney knew it would use the island for cruise ship stops and designed it to be natural but still offer nice amenities.

There was a short shuttle ride from the ship dock to the main beach area.  There were bicycles to ride if you wanted to do a scenic lookout of the whole island.

There is a nominal staff that maintains the island year round, and we chatted with some personnel from the ship who rotated onto the ship for a few days, but worked the island as their main task.  Pretty interesting, really.

Disney creates a more natural, less theme park area for family fun on Castaway Cay.  As a pasty white redhead, I don't generally enjoy whole days in the sun.  There were plenty of chairs, umbrellas and trees to provide shaded spots.

And, of course, the characters.  As the ship unloaded, Captain Hook and Smeed posed for pictures with the kids.

Further down the beach, both Goofy and Minnie Mouse showed their beach duds and took pictures with anyone who wanted to capture the moment.

One of the more interesting facts was that the stuff that was staged around the island as decor was all there when they took over.  They painted it up and placed it around strategically, but it was all there on the island.

I don't know what those big metal balls were originally but they made a great backdrop for photos.

There was also a plane fuselage and tons of stuff from wrecked ships.  Pretty cool, really.

Lunch was served and everyone went through a line and then sat in big covered picnic areas.  I truly enjoyed everything about the day.  Good food.  Plenty of shade.  And the kids had a blast!

-- Sandee Wagner

Houston Museum of Natural Science

Sunday we took a trip downtown to meet friends and tour the Houston Museum of Natural Science.  It's a great museum and we enjoy seeing the exhibits, but this time we were there to see some Faberge eggs.  It's near Easter, right?  Time to see some lovely eggs.

The collection of Faberge on display is some of the Artie and Dorothy McFerrin collection.  It's a fun story.  Dorothy loved the eggs and bought one.  It turned out to be a fake.  She spent the rest of her life purchasing the real thing.  That one egg, laughingly titled the "Fauxberge Egg" is on display along with all the other lovely things she collected during her lifetime.

Each piece is displayed and the artist named.  At the peak of their popularity, Faberge had workshops in Russia, England and France.  It was fun to see the artisans named because you could see who specialized in enameling and who specialized in metal work.

There were a ton of things besides eggs on display.  Faberge was a jeweler, actually a family of jewelers, and their work with stone was almost as amazing as the enameled eggs.  There were vessels (and eggs) carved out of onyx and nephrite.  The onyx bowl here was nestled in a base of woven gold rope that was studded with gems.

There were pieces of everyday utility made with such craftsmanship that they can only be called art.  Bowls, bell pushes, handbags and fans.

My favorites were the handbags.  Some of them had coin holders that were spring activated and popped up coins one at a time.  It was a beautiful exhibit.

But, of course, the big reason anyone goes to the HMNS is for the dinosaurs.  I don't think I've ever seen a bigger display of large fossil skeletons in my life.  It's massive.

So many different fossils.  Some of the small ones had details I'd never seen before.  Apparently, we see a lot of the 'tops' of some trilobites but the fossil record for what they looked like underneath is a little more rare.

It was a great museum visit.  An older child who is enthusiastic about dinosaurs would be thrilled with this display.  They tried to put the big beasts together in panorama displays and there would be an artist's rendering of what they might have looked like fleshed out with backgrounds.  Pretty cool.  I might have to go back again and wander through.

--  Sandee Wagner

Some More Fused Glass

So, BFF sent me another link to a fused glass class, this one in Austin.  I, being the rain on her parade, said, 'then we'd have to get a hotel room'.  The class is cheaper than my local studio, but by the time we travel and pay those expenses, I think it's too much money to spend.

A couple days later, she says, 'let's do this class' and sends me a link to Hot Glass Houston's Hip2BSquare class.  I agree and plan accordingly.  At the last minute, my SIL calls and says she'd like to come spend the weekend hanging out.  I asked if she was interested in the class and added her to the roster.

So, on Saturday morning, the three amigos headed off to the studio.  We met Cynthia, the instructor who was very patient and kind to all of us.  First we layered cut glass on a dammed shelf so it could be fused into one sheet.

If you look closely at the first picture, you can see the pieces of stock used to create the dams.  Underneath was a single pane of clear cut glass.  We stacked up four layers of glass on top of it.

Theoretically, the glass would melt into a single pane of glass, and if we did the damming correctly, it would not stick to the sides and break when unmolding.  We left very hopeful.

The next week, two of the three amigos arrived to do 'cold work'.  It sounds very simple, but it's NOT!  The glass was out of the kilns after the first firing and needed to be sanded around the edges and smoothed off before the glass was slumped into shape.  There was also some sand blasting to make the surface matte finish instead of shiny.

There were power tools involved.  First we ran the edges of the plate around a wet belt sander.  And although it sounds like you'd just be mashing it against a spinning belt, you really had to muscle it to keep even pressure on the piece.  These pieces were just big enough to be pretty challenging to handle (especially when wet).  You are very sure that if you slip and drop it on the concrete floor, all your hours of hard work will be swept up into a scrap bucket.

 Since BFF couldn't drive down two weekends in a row, I offered to do her cold work for her.  After experiencing the hours of sanding, blasting and hand smoothing, I will NOT be making this offer again.  Ever.  That said, her piece had a bubble trapped in the glass at the edge that made belt sanding a little dangerous.  I chip popped up and I panicked.  The instructor finished the edge sanding on that piece.  It took a professional to make it look okay.

Once all the tedious hand smoothing was done, we put the pieces on a mold to be slumped into shape.  This second firing would make them more functionally shaped.

The sand blasted, matte finish would not be altered by this second firing, only the shape of the glass would be affected.  We set up the kilns and left.

Yesterday, I went to pick up the finished pieces and they looked GREAT!

It takes hours to create one of these.  Hours of selecting, cutting and placing the glass.  Then hours of firing to melt it all into a plate.  Then hours of cold work to perfect the edges and surface.  Then more hours in the kiln to shape the final work.  It's really a fascinating process.

--  Sandee Wagner