That's insane!

The other day we were at the store and Jason was looking at cigars.  I looked over and noticed the price of tobacco.  Almost $8 for a pack of cigarettes and $75 for a cartoon!!!! Holy Crap! 

But wait! It get's better.

I thought that was the worst markup in pricing I was going to see, but I was wrong.  Very wrong. We went to buy more bottled water tonight and a 24 pack of Aquafina is $22!  That's right, I said $22!  And before you ask, it wasn't a price mistake.  That was the price at another store as well.  So we bought the 24 pack of Nestle Pure Life for $5.99.

Double Rainbow

Book Talk: Bad Smut

Ok, time to talks books.  I just finished a book called Dangerous Lover by Lisa Marie Rice.  Here is the synopsis provided by Barnes and Noble:

"I don’t want to be alone tonight."

Caroline Lake can hardly believe she would ever say these words to someone she'd never met before. When a tall, dark stranger arrives wanting to rent a room in her beautiful empty shell of a mansion, she hesitates. Though she is in dire financial straits, the man looks dangerous—dangerously sexy. She's overwhelmed by the desire he sparks in her—hotter than anything she's ever felt before, making her ache to experience his sensuous touch. But who is this armed and mysterious man with danger following in his wake? He's not who she thinks he is . . .
Jack Prescott has wanted Caroline forever. He has spent the past twelve years dreaming of her, desiring her, while fighting in some of the worst hellholes on earth. Now he's back, with twenty million dollars in blood diamonds and a relentless enemy stalking him. But this time Jack's determined that nothing will stop him from finally making Caroline his.

I read it in two days and I'm afraid I have to give this one a "bad smut" rating.  This story had great potential but fell short on many levels.  Here are my reasons:

• Never really got attached to the characters.  Yes their personal stories were sad, but something about the writing just didn't grab at your heart.  I never felt connected to them and wasn't really cheering for them.  Not people I thought about when I had to put the book down.
• One minute Caroline is thinking how Jack is not attractive but yet has this pull about him and the next minute she is saying how incredibly handsome he is.  Which is it?
• Lots of misspellings.  One character's name is Deaver and the story constantly switches between Deaver and Deacon.  
• Needs more research!!!!!  Jack, the main character was supposedly an Officer in the Army.  Well, he never went to college and only had a GED.  Um, so he could not have been an officer.  He was an Army Ranger. All the covert, heavily secreted, dropped in the middle of a third world countries to infiltrate their government type missions would have been Delta Force, not Rangers.
• Deaver, the bad guy, talks constantly about getting his diamonds back and living the good life overseas.  Only he doesn't say overseas, he says OUTCONUS.  Um, WTF is that?  It is supposed to be OCONUS, an acronym for Outside Contiguous United States.
• Jack constantly talkes to himself in his head.  No big deal, most books use this. But Jack uses lots of words from Courtney's "I don't like that word" list.  Cussing I can handle but if you know me, there are certain words, usually pertaining to women, that make me cringe and just kill the mood!
• The whole book is building you up for the major scene at the end.  I knew there was going to be a problem when there were only 5 pages left.  The books ends with the bad guy dropping to the ground dead.  The End!  You get a little extra tibit from a new character who suddenly gets a check in the mail, so you can figure out what they did with the diamonds, but you get nothing more on the couple.  I don't like that.  Give me a better Happily Ever After.
• Finally, the smut.  It was detailed, but just not interesting.  In fact, after reading several scenes, Jack should have been slightly if not more embarrassed.  See a doctor dude! 

Hope you enjoyed my review.  This is not one I will be buying in print to keep and re-read. 

Oh Popeyes!

When we lived in Germany,  I loved the food.  But there were times when you just wanted food from "home".  We had a Taco Bell on post and I was there often, even if I had to walk in the snow.  One of my guilty little pleasures was to sneak over to the Popeye's Chicken line and order a few biscuits to eat after my Taco Bell.  I loved how warm and soft and buttery they were.  Really reminded me of being a southerner.  Don't get me wrong, German bread is wonderful.  But sometimes you just want/need a dense biscuit that can be used to scoop up mashed potatoes and gravy.

Well wouldn't you know, the first thing I saw outside the PX here when we were shopping on post was a Popeye's!  Of course I had to get some biscuits!  The whole time I was worried.  I hadn't had them in over 8 years.  (Yes, I know there was a Popeye's in West Columbia about 20 minutes from my house in SC, but that is not the point.  It has to be a POST Popeye's to be sentimental! So I never ate at the one in SC)  I worried I would be disappointed, that they would not be as good as I remembered.   I sat down with my meal, ate my chicken and saved my biscuit for last.  SCORE!  Boy oh boy was it worth the wait!  Even better than I remembered! 

Now, for the shocking part.  Over $9 for a 2 piece meal!  It was good, but from now on I will just buy the biscuits or learn to make them myself.

Better schools, not so better evening

The girls had a great first day at their new schools.  They like these schools much more and even made a few friends.  It was such a relief to hear them come home happy.  There is not much I can do about the bad public school, but Jason and I plan to file a complaint about the post school. 

While the girls had a great day, Josh's was not so grand.  He started feeling bad right before we left to get the girls from school.  By dinner time, he was throwing up.  This went on until late into the evening.  Hotels are no place to be when sick.  However, there were plenty of clean towels and sheets and I was not stuck staying up all night doing the laundry!

Finally some progress

It has been a very busy past few days.  We were not able to get a rental.  The last one we were trying to see didn't pan out.  The rental agent canceled our appointment to see it 5 times.  So, we had to finally give in and consider the option of buying.  We got pre-approved and started looking.  We found one we really liked and put in a strong offer, only a few thousand under asking since it needs some upgrades.  He countered, asking for full price and we walked.  He then realized his mistake and tried to come back and agree to our first offer, but by then we were already looking at other houses.

We found another house the next day.  It is perfect!  It has all the room we need and is move in ready.  We submitted an offer and it was accepted a few hours later.  We close Feb. 24!  I can't wait!  Our house payment, even after taxes and escrow, will be $600 a month cheaper than the rental houses!  Plus the house has great rental potential later on.  It is 5 minutes from post, and has a fully finished basement (with it's own entrance) that can be a second rental unit.

Finding the house could not have happened at a better time.  The girls hated their schools.  Joanna was going on post and came home crying everyday.  She has always loved school and has never come home crying before.  Chey was going to a civilian school and was terrified of her school.  Most of the kids in her class had their drivers licenses already!  They were supposed to be in 10th and 11th grade.  She was one of the only ones in 8th grade for the first time.  When I was walking her down the hallway, all the kids were bigger than me, covered in piercings and the girls were showing way too much skin and boobs!

So, we took our housing contract and went and enrolled them in the schools near our new home.  They started this morning.  Hopefully today is a better day for both of them.

Jason leaves next week for training.  He will be gone until March.  The kids and I will be moving into the house alone.  I am actually hoping to get our house hold goods delivered and have the whole house set up before he comes home.  He can enjoy the house a few weeks before heading off for the deployment.

You know it's cold when.....

The inside of your nose freezes the minute you walk outside.  I HATE that!  It is a very uncomfortable feeling.  Jason says that is how you know it is -20 or below.  It was -34 the other day.  Absolutely painful.  It did warm up yesterday.  After starting the morning at -27, it warmed up to -14.  I know that sounds strange, but you really could tell a difference.

What I am confused about is, how does plumbing set off fire alarms?  Our alarms went off at 3am.  Not a pleasant way to be woken up.  Everyone was standing at their doors, trying to figure out what to do.  Well, we know what to do, but it's hard to make yourself go outside when it's almost -30 and snowing.  Luckily, it was a burst pipe in the building next door and everyone was told to go back to their rooms.  The fire department did come and Josh had a blast watching them out the window.  I am grateful it was just a pipe since the Frontier Lodge Motel did catch on fire yesterday.

Robbers and Strippers and Renters! Oh My!

There is no love lost between me and the extended stay hotel.  It truely is from the bowels of Hell.  Not only was it hot as Hades on the inside, it smelled.  I guess a lot of cooped up people in sweltering hotel tends to lead to odors.  However, I was not expecting the attempted robbery of the main desk.  Nor for the guy to get away, while in hand cuffs, cause the cop "had seven knee surgeries and didn't want to risk injury by chasing him." 

Then there was the scenery.  I was expecting snow and wildlife, not Strippers and a place called Showboats.  Yes, that's right, it was right next to a strip club.  But the final straw, the one that broke the camels back, happened yesterday.  They shut off the water!  No notice of any kind and no apologies.   Just turned it off at 9am then said "We don't know when it will be back on.  Maybe six hours, maybe longer."  And then, with all the smelly, grumpy waterless people stuck in a hot hotel, they decided to set off the fire alarm.  Everyone had to vacate and stand out in -27 degrees.  Nope, no more! Can't do it any longer.

We moved to a new hotel, one we wished we had known about sooner.  It's called Pike's Waterfront Lodge (http://www.pikeslodge.com/index.html) and it is beautiful.  We have two rooms, free breakfast and free ice cream in the evenings. They have Aveda toiletries, flat screen tvs and free wifi in all the rooms.  The website does not do it justice.  The lobby is amazing and the rooms are beautiful on the inside.  We are so much happier here!  And we get to control our own heat!!!!!!

We are going to look at a possible rental house tomorrow.  The current renter is being evicted.  I feel bad for her, but hey, I need a place to live! Fingers crossed it is as nice as the pictures the agent sent us. I also finally got the girls enrolled in school.  YAY!!!!!  Nanners starts tomorrow and Chey starts on Monday. 

Can you say SCAM?

We encountered our first renters scam.  A lady had a house listed for rent.  It had nice pictures and says it is only a few miles from post.  So I sent an email inquiring about the property.  She sends back a long email full of run on sentences, bad/broken English and misspelled words saying her husband was sent back to London for work and she and her 3 yr old daughter had to leave this past week and head back to London as well.  They had to leave the house furnished and were not able to list it for sale before they left.  Now they are trying to rent it, themselves, but the keys are with them in London, as they do not trust anyone here.  If we are interested, we must fill out an application, send it along with a $900 deposit to London, where, upon approval, they will mail us the keys!   Uh.......NO!

Also, at no point in the email would she give us the actual address, since they don't trust anyone here.  However, she did repeatedly say how we could trust them and the keys would be sent over night, after they received their money.

Killing me with heat

It was -24 outside yesterday.  Bitterly cold and it hurt to breathe.  Ice covers everything, including the road.  I knew it was only a matter of time before I busted my ass.  I have slipped several times but always managed to right myself before falling.  Last night I finally succeeded.  Fell right on my butt crossing the parking lot.

The hotel is trying to kill us with heat.  They have the heat preset for all the rooms and you can not change it.  It's 75!  It is absolutely miserable. We can't sleep at night in this heat, even with no blankets. I realize it is cold outside, but 75 (oil heat, so a lot warmer than forced air heat) is way too hot.  You go from one extreme inside to another extreme outside.  We tried opening the window but the mix in temperatures causes fog in the room and ice build up on the window sill.  Going to buy a fan today.

Still don't have a place to live.  Hoping to look at a house today.  We looked at two yesterday.  One did not have working water.  Lets just say the houses here are like nothing we have ever encountered before.

Alaskan Sunrise

Here are a few pics of the sun rising at 11am!  We were on our way to see about a rental house.  Hopefully we find a place to live soon.

So far there really hasn't been too much to see.  We went grocery shopping and are happy to report the prices are not as high as we had been expecting.  Honestly, aside from meat, eggs and coke, the prices are about the same as shopping at Piggly Wiggly.  The Commissary on post has great prices and most things are cheaper than back home in SC.

Last night we ventured over to Fred Meyer's, across from the hotel, thinking it was just a grocery store.  We ended up spending forever walking around.  Imagine a much, much nicer Walmart.  They had everything in there! Will definitely be shopping there a lot.

Who was your first?

I was reading one of my favorite book blogs, http://www.paranormalhaven.com, the other day and loved her topic.  It was "who was your first?" as in book boyfriends/favorite moments. So, here are mine:

• My first crush:  Stephan Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries.  I was in the 8th grade and he was my introduction in vampire romance.  
• My first serious book boyfriend:  Zadist from Black Dagger Brotherhood.  Who doesn't love a tortured soul who can kick ass.  He's big, bad and scary.  True Alpha male.
• First time I strayed:  Dante from Midnight Breed.  I loved his character from the start but when he goes out in DAYLIGHT to save Tess, wow, SOLD!  I even wrote to the author about how much I loved his book.  And yes, she wrote back!
• First non vampire book boyfriend:  Vane Kattalakis from Dark Hunter.  MMMMMM, wolf shifter.   I love his need to protect his brother and friends and that he doesn't want "model skinny" women.  Plus, that scene with him and Bride in the dressing room, Oh My!
• My first girl crush:  Hmm....at first I thought this one would be hard because I usually don't like the female characters, their too whiney.  But then I realized there are two females that have always stuck out in my mind.  Bride from Dark Hunter.  She is done with trying to please men who want her to be stick thin and she has no problem using force to defend what is hers.  The second one is Anya from Lords of the Underworld.  She can fight and has a smart ass mouth.
• First time I was greatly disappointed:  Jamie from Outlander.  I loved his character.  He was strong, honest and loyal.  I was a huge fan all the way up until Claire comes back 20 years later.  His personality changed too much.  I just didn't like him anymore and could not finish the series.
• First Series I fell in with:  Dark Hunter by Sherrilyn Kenyon.  I went to Dragon Con to see her and tattooed the Dark Hunter symbol on my back.
• The first book/scene that invoked strong emotions in me (I'm talkin' throwing my book against the wall) :  definitely New Moon when Edward leaves Bella.  I cried my eyes out and the whole thing left me greatly depressed.  Yes I know that sounds stupid, but the whole scene brought up some of my own demons and it was all down hill from there. 
• The first scene I read where I can read and reread it a thousand times and it won't get old:  when Bella goes to see Zadist and he writes "I Love You"  That is all you are getting from me. There are many, many "scenes" in many books that I can and do read over and over again but I am not giving out that info!
• The first scene to ever make me blush:  Hands down the scene with Beth and Wrath involving peaches.  I will never eat a peach again.
• The first book I enjoyed but don't think I can read again:  Outlander.  I can not handle the torture of Jamie.
• The first book that made me think "why did I pick this up?":  Two books tie for this.  The first is Southern Vampire Mysteries (aka True Blood) HATED IT, first book I never finished!  The second is Undead and Unwed with Queen Betsy.  Could she be any more shallow!  Second book I could not finish.
• The first book I read I thought I would not like but was proven wrong:  Beyond the Highland Mist by Karen Marie Moning.  I hated that his name was Hawk but it turned out to be a great book and a great series!  Also, A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole.  The cover art was soooooo cheesy, I thought for sure the book would be bad.  But I was definitely 100% wrong and wish I had read it sooner!

Not Accepting Part-time friends

I have always tried to be a good friend, even to people I don't know well.  I believe in being there for people, even when the action is not reciprocated  But I am finally at a point in my life where I just don't have room for part time friends.  I finally realized it was time to downsize.  No more going out of my way to be there for people who are too "busy" to ever call, text, email or facebook even a quick "hey!"

And to those who recently sent me emails wondering why they were dropped, all I can say is I am sorry.  I am even more sorry that it took you 6 months to even notice! But thanks for proving my point!

Smut Makes Everything Better

So our adventure has begun.  Well, technically we should be in Alaska already, but apparently fate decided I wasn't stressed enough and decided to throw a curve ball in the form of snow and ice into the mix.  So here I sit, in a hotel hallway, doing laundry in Charleston, with no car and no coffee, waiting to leave tomorrow. 

Here's a brief rundown of the fun we have ad so far:

• Movers took 4 days instead of the planned day and a half
• the house did not sell nor do we have a renter
• our credit cards got stolen
• J lost the power cord to his laptop
• our hotel has no coffee in the lobby
• we have no rental car
• ice storm/flights cancelled
• we have no idea where we will be living in once we get to Alaska
• our furniture won't arrive until Feb. 17 and our car will take 35 days to get there
• J leaves for training in another state Feb. 4th

This has definitely proved to be our worst move yet.  Everything is out of our control, and for some one with OCD, I don't handle "out of control" very well.  But there is not much I can do so I am trying to remain positive. Anytime I start feeling "the crazies" coming on, I reach for my nook and read some smut.  Smut makes everything better.