Happy Anniversary!

This post is from Nick (yes me actually posting from Indiana). As most of you know, today is Lindsay and my 4 year anniversary! We are sad to be apart, but I only have about a month left out here before I come home on leave. So, we decided to have our celebration next month (Ruth's Chris sounds better than pretty much anything from the DFAC here...).

In the mean time I have some more pictures and a video of us in the field. We just got back from Gunnery Tables where we go out for a series of engagements on the HMWVV. Our crew had a .50 Cal which you will see in the video. We were trying to take down the brown building you see in the 2 O'clock position.

After that we went out for the night fire. This is me in front of our truck with my NVGs (night vision goggles).


Also, I know everyone is getting geared up for the wedding this weekend. Andrea and Drew, I wish I could be there but I know ya'll are going to have a great time!


Only 27 days an a wake up to go and I will be back in SC...

A New Look for an Old Favorite

Today I decided to re-cover my dining table chairs (two of which actually reside in the living room). These babies have been around longer than I have. It's true! I actually learned from Mom and Dad last weekend that the set I now have was purchased by them circa 1979. It's no wonder that the once cream colored fabric on the chairs had faded to a nasty yellowish, stained color. I've been afraid to mess them up by re-covering them, but today I decided that something had to be done. The reason? My women's group is coming to my house next month, and I just couldn't stand for them to have to sit on those old nasty chairs.
I've had a few comments like "you did that by yourself?" so I thought I'd share with you all how this was done. The key, as the lady in fabric store shared with me, was in having an electric staple gun. Mine is a $30 model that I purchased at Target. For six dining chairs you'll need 2 and 1/4 yards of fabric (make sure to buy upholstery grade). My fabric was very reasonably priced at $22/yard. Once I got the fabric home, I unscrewed the seat cushions from the chairs, cut the fabric, and stapled it on top of the existing fabric. Bah-da-bing! All told, this project took 4 hours, soup to nuts, and cost me less than $100 (not including new pillows). How easy is that?!
Here are the pictures!

The two arm chairs with their new fabric and pillows. So much better!The blue chair got new pillows too. I also took some extra fabric and framed it above the chair to tie it all together.This picture isn't so great, but you can tell more about the fabric.

One of the cute little dragonflies!

Mom and Dad's Visit

Mom and Dad,

I'm so glad that you came to visit this weekend! Iknow that ostensibly you were here to see me be hooded (picture below), but all of the other fun things we did really gave me a lift. I had so much fun eating out, hanging out, shopping, and just generally being with you two. I can't wait to see you again at Andrea's wedding next weekend. Have a great week!

New Pictures

My little Fin is feeling much better now. Here he is yesterday, chewing on his rawhide on the porch:
Nick has also sent some pictures. This first one is him all decked out in his gear with his M4. The second is my favorite!