A Masterpiece....

I made cheesecake yesterday for my bruder. Not sure if he had any but I just had a piece. Soooo good!!! Kirk likes his cheesecake plain. So, I had a can of cherries for Nate and myself. It literally, melts in your mouth. I don't want to brag but it's PERFECTION! :P

Rainy Tuesday

Kirk and his friend had to be back on base at 12 noon today. I heard their cars start up at 5am this morning as well as the down pour of rain. I grabbed my glasses off the dresser and watched as they left this morning, saying a little prayer that they both get to base safely. :)

I had plans with Jessica today at 12 noon to go for a walk downtown. At 11am when I woke up I noticed it was still raining. I called Jess and we both thought to just do lunch and catch up instead. I met Jess at the station and we then went to Eileen's Bakery and Cafe.

We discovered this cute little cafe last time we were walking around downtown. The sandwiches, cakes and cookies all looked sooooo delicious! We knew we would do lunch here sometime in the future. Jess treated me to lunch which was very good. Thanks again Jess!!!! :) I got a chicken salad sandwich and Jessica got a turkey melt type sandwich. Next time we'll need to try the desserts.

Back at home now.....must be a lazy day for everyone. :)

And I guess it's time I put some more bird food in the feeders. :)

Chicken Salad

Chicken salad....Some chicken, celery, mayo and pepper on wheat bread and a side of reduced fat potato chips. YUM! :) I also made a plain cheesecake for my bruder. If Kirk doesn't finish it off, there's a can of cherries in the fridge for Nate to put on it. :)

Surprises....

On Sunday, Kristen and Ashley met at my house and we drove up to Burke to surprise Aunt Karen with flowers, cake, gifts and of course to take her to a late lunch/dinner. I schemed with Lora earlier in the week so we could pull off this surprise. Karen was supposed to have gotten off from work at 2pm but got home early. OOPS!! But that's ok! When we got to her house she was in the back yard with Ben raking/blowing leaves. Lora and precious little Livi had Karen come in from outside and we came out from hiding in the dining room and said "surprise". She was really surprised!! It was great!

We decided to go to a mall and walk around and find some where to eat a late lunch. We decided on Mexican food. YUM!! We went to Uncle Julio's Rio Grande Cafe. The food was great! When the waiter brought the check he gave us Sopapillas on the house since it's the first time some of us had been there. They are Puffed Mexican pastries sprinkled with cinnamon and
powdered sugar, served warm with honey for dipping. They were delish!! :) I don't think Lora and I could stop eating them. LOL

We got back to Aunt Karen's and dug into the cake and into Ashley's candy apples. Then just sat around for a bit and chatted. It was a fun girls day with my favorite aunt, favorite cousin, sister and best friend! :)



Around midnight, Nate and I went to bed. I had just gotten into bed when I heard a knock on the door and then the doorbell. I got up to look out the front window but didn't have my contacts in so I really couldn't see anything. LOL Nate ran down and answered the door and guess who it was? It was KIRK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) I heard his laugh and immediately grabbed my robe and came down. He had a fellow Marine buddy with him. They just thought they'd come up and they asked to crash here. I said sure. I went back upstairs and put clean sheets, pillows and blankets on the guest beds. It was a wonderful good surprise!!! :)

Note from Kirk on chalkboard when I woke up today. :)

9 years ago....

9 years ago today I became Mrs. Miller! Nathan and I were married October 22, 2000 at FXBG Square.

Cotton fields...

I've never seen a cotton field before. On the way down to NC we first started seeing the cotton fields near the NC/VA border. It was awesome. But it's so weird to see cotton growing from a plant. It just looks like little cotton balls on sticks. It was awesome!!

Welcome Home Kirk....

Kirk and the rest of CLB-8 support company came in on Monday night. They should have arrived around 5pm but it ended up being 7pm.

First thing.....Mother and I stopped off at the place that had the fence to hang your welcome home signs on. I pricked my finger on the wire I used to hang the sign on and now I have a blood blister on my finger, but it's worth it. Anything for my BRUDER!! :)
The walkway with signs hanging. Some of the signs were professionally done while others were made from sheets. One of my favorite ones.....A mother had her baby step in paint and walk all over the sheet to welcome their daddy home. :)

Ashley wanted to make a little sign to hold up for Kirk to see when he got off the bus. Below is Ashley making her sign.

Below is a picture of the little sign I made for Kirk....

Ashley and I thought it would be cool to get Kirk some balloons.


These balloons came in handy once the Marines finally arrived. There was such a crowd I kinda got lost from everyone, but knew exactly where my family was with Daniel carrying the balloons.

This is Stephenie Marciano (in red) and Lindsay McEwen. Their husbands are friends with Kirk. I talked to these ladies over facebook and e-mails. Mother and I even went to dinner with Stephenie. She's very sweet!!

Stephenie and Lindsay made this sheet sign that they hung up at the barracks once they got there. While we waited for our Marines to arrive there were Marines making hot dogs, burgers and nachos for everyone. They even had a DJ playing music and there was moon bounces for the kids to play in. It was nice!

Finally....a little after 7pm here comes the buses....(there were 3 and Kirk was on the 2nd bus)
I was looking at the buses trying to find Kirk and he tapped me on the shoulder and said "too late", then I smiled and gave him the biggest hug. :)



Kirk's room in the barracks on the base. He will be sleeping on the top bunk. He'll be sharing a room with two other Marines.

Marines looking for their bags. We're so glad all these Marines are safe and sound back in the US. :)

Making Kirk's sign.....

After Kristen and I went to Graves Mountain we came back to my house so I could make a sign for Kirk to hang on the fence at the Camp Lejeune base so Kirk would see it when he came home. I used 2 big pieces of cardboard, 4 pieces of white poster board, a big black sharpie marker, and lots of clear tape. :)


Here I am going over the letters again to make sure it looks good.

I had some extra little Marine Corps stickers that I put in the corners on the poster board. Then I had Kristen help me cover the poster board with clear tape. That way if it rained the tape would protect it somewhat. :)

Graves Mountain Apple Harvest Festival 2009

Kristen and I went to the Graves Mountain Apple Harvest Festival the other day.

You can pick your own apples fresh from the trees in the orchard or get them from the crates. Varieties include: Red and Golden Delicious, Stayman, York, Winesap, Mutsu Fuji, Granny Smith and Empire. We like to get a mix so we have varieties in whatever we make. Kristen makes good pies and I make good applesauce. :)

I think this is cider being made but it could be brunswick stew too.

Graves mountain has very good applesauce that you can buy there. They also have delicious apple butter and lots of jams and jellies.

I love this picture. It looks like a painting!!

Fall Foliage is soooo pretty! I love the FALL season here on the east coast. It's so beautiful.

You can't come here and not get funnel cakes. Sooooo good!!

Funnel cakes being cooked in the fryer.

Kristen got funnel cake and I got apple cider doughnuts. YUMMO!!

A picture of me in an apple tree in the apple orchard. :) We'll probably go again next year. I've been going for the last couple of years. If you want to join us just let us know. :)

Really America???

Yes, an Obama chia head. Wow!! Walgreens was selling them and pulled them off the shelves b/c people thought they were racist. Then CVS got a hold of them and started selling em'. I think after 1 day they were pulled off of their shelves b/c of complaints. And....last night Nate and I are watching TV and we see a commercial selling them. Why of Why??? :)

Scary Monster...

This is that scary monster that scared me at work several times. You might remember me talking about it? I would walk into one of our studios and the thing would be sitting there in a chair or under the board console. It's scary especially if you're not expecting someone to be sitting there. I don't know what happened to him. The last I heard he almost gave someone a heart attack when he was sitting on the toilet of the woman's handicap stall. LOL :)

My bad....

So, I went to Sneads Farm yesterday and got some pumpkins. I paid $3 each for the pumpkins. I just figured that's how much they were b/c that's what the price was last time I went like 2 years ago. I didn't see any signs saying how much they were. The cool thing about this farm is you get what you want, drive up to the farm house and leave your money in a box. So, it's kinda like the honor code. Last night, when I was reading the newspaper I saw an ad that said the pumpkins were $5 and not $3. I felt horrible. I felt like I stole a pumpkin. So, today I took the money I owed and stuck it in the box. :) I brought my camera with me this time and took some pictures of the sunflower fields. It was pretty. :)

Old friends....

Yesterday, I went to lunch at Vinny's. I was invited by my old WT friends to come say goodbye to Jennifer Moore Mears. She's going to be working at a different nursing home. We all wished Jennifer good luck and we hope she'll stay in contact. She's such a sweet girl. :)

6 min. dinner.....

I made my healthy stir fry for dinner tonight. The best thing.....it only takes 6 min. to make and it's delish!! To make yourself just use grilled chicken short cuts, snow peas, some shredded cheese, whole grain brown rice, pepper and W sauce. :)

Pumpkins.....

Today, I went down to Snead's Farm and got some pumpkins for my front porch steps. They look cute. If you look closely in the door.....you can see Harley walking up to take a look at the pumpkins. :)

Baker Bon...

MMMMMMMM............Brownies.......with chocolate chips for some extra goodness. (thanks Dave for the choco chips idea) :)

OMG I want one.............

OMG how cute are these little piggies??? They are called 'Teacup pigs' or 'Micro pigs'. They are bred by mixing potbellied pigs with the Tamworth, Kune Kune and Gloucester Old Spot breeds. They are the latest craze in England and are sold for about $1,000. They grow to 14 inches. Nate found them and told me about them and said "You're gonna want one". And yes I do. :) I love them!!!

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Stuffed Shells

Dinner for tonight......Stuffed Shells!! Very, very good. :)