Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Much to be Thankful for...

Has a month really passed since my last post?  Not sure how that happened...buuuut to sum it up with a few short statements:

Fall Fest event on base- 44 different activities available sponsored by different basewide organizations, 265 volunteers, almost 6000 participants, and zero negative feedback equals a majorly successful event!

Now reunited with the hubby after a month of travel between the two of us.  Happy days :)

Put on a Thanksgiving feast at work for all the children and families- 160 for dinner is a big meal!  Thanks to a few staff and helpers who fried 8 turkeys and prepared all of the food, everything went smoothly!

Had a delicious Thanksgiving meal at Kika and Greg's with all the fixings and some spaghetti for Taylor to uphold his family tradition.  I was a bit embarrassed bringing spaghetti to a meal with Italian guests because I'm sure their family recipes passed down from generation to generation is a little better than my Prego and Ragu mix...but oh well :)  They had spaghetti American style...or at least Katie style!

Quick trip to Berlin on Thanksgiving weekend.  It was a trip full of history from Napoleon invasions to Nazi Germany, to Soviet communist control.  And not only was there great history...there were 54 Christmas markets in the city.  We went by about 6 of them just wandering through the city.  And I found my Nativity scene I've been looking for.  Olive wood, hand carved set from Jerusalem.  I mean, really, how cool is that?  The vendor comes to the Berlin Christmas market every year (7 years so far) from Jerusalem where he has his shop.  I'm so excited...I'll post a picture when I get the decorations up...hopefully this week.

A few birthdays have happened...my wonderful mother and my sweet sister both had birthdays in November.  They are now an average combined age of 37...hmmm...someone came out on the good end of that mathematic equation...I'll let you guess who!

We are starting to hear talks of a next base assignment...hopefully something firm will be nailed down in the next month or two.  Looking to be Stateside bound making us only a cheap flight away from friends and family instead of a life savings flight away from everyone!  With that being said...anyone planning to make the trip over the great pond better get to planning...quick.  We are down to 10 months TOPS, left in Italia.  Three years have gone quickly!

We are about to begin month 5 without AFN (Armed Forces Network) television.  We are STILL waiting for the Italian contractor to contact us to set up an appointment to install a new satelite.  I've been waiting on the call for 3 1/2 weeks now.  I've emailed Housing 2 times in the last 3 weeks about it...THIS is a part I will NOT miss about Italy.

That's all for now, folks!