Risa's Pieces

(Our) TGI Friday's

I have a deep fondness for food.  Especially if I don't have to cook it.  Topped with my enormous cravings for the previous mentioned not cooked by me food things start getting a little difficult.  My cravings are for Zaxby's kickin' chicken sandwich, Arby's curly fries, Olive Garden bread sticks and TGI Friday's Jack Daniel's chicken combined with living in Okinawa means I'm out of luck.  Don't get me wrong, there are some fantastic restaurants on the island.  I'm sure I'll develop some unquenchable cravings once we leave this island, but right now I want what I can't have.

Our solution.  Pretend.  We made a quick trip to the commissary to grab a variety of Friday's frozen foods.  We had to microwave and cook some of the foods, but it wasn't the real labor filled kind of cooking so I'll put my imagination to work and delete the cooking part from my head.

Caitlin got a hold of the stretchiest mozzarella cheese sticks I have ever seen.

I really wish I had a spare red and white striped table cloth to throw over the table laying around, but I just had to pretend that too.  The food was actually pretty good... or maybe I was pretending so much I couldn't taste any thing bad.

Dinner was full of laughs.  Since we were at a pet friendly Friday's, we threw Yoshi (formerly known as Waffle - long story) a few chips so we could chuckle when he crunched into them.  I know.  Weird.  But for some reason it's extremely hilarious to us.  Then Chloe and Caitlin got in on the loudest crunch contest. Chloe was determined the winner of the biggest noise when biting into a chip.  This upset Caitlin, she hates to lose so she announced that the only reason Chloe won was because she (Caitlin) still had a mouth fill of baby teeth followed by a "so uh".

  

It's a good thing we're tolerant folks.  We gave the waiter a good tip even though the waiter was a little slow to refill my soda.

"It Was Fun"

"It was fun" - that's all my daughter had to say about field day.  A half a day of school filled with engaging, sporty games for her and her classmates to play boils down to "it was fun".

 

So, I asked Caitlin what she thought of field day to which she replied, "fun".  Just "fun".  Not, "It was Fun", even.  Why add the additional words, it and was, fun sums it up for her.

Caitlin did get to have a super star moment during chair football.  The kind of moment when a basketball player throws the ball into the hoop just as the last two seconds dwindle down on the play clock.  Yep, my baby turned around in her chair just in time to catch the football right before the end of the game and become a hot shot at least for a few minutes.  And yet, it was just "fun". 

 

I love this picture of Marcus.  He had to go to a NCO Academy Graduation Thursday which meant donning his blues with the fabulous new stripe on it for the first time.

The Puppy Card Game

Caitlin and Chloe have a little obsession with these puppy card games.  It started out innocently enough, give the girls a few hundred yen to play games with if they acted like happy campers while I did a little shopping off base.  Then they saw it.  Another little girl playing the puppy dog game and even getting a cute little card from it.  A game and a card, who could ask for more?

The cards the game spits out either has a puppy on it, a stylish outfit, a neck accent or a hat.  There's bar-codes on the cards that let you pick your puppy and dress it.  Then you get to make your puppy dance with a little game.  Good times.

 

Since I want to support their habit, and well, because I got tired of finding doggie cards everywhere, I decorated little holders for them to put their collection in. 

 

It keeps it nice and organized, now they can find the perfect accessory to go with the dress in no time flat.  I hope their obsession last awhile because I'm enjoying all my peaceful off-base shopping.

Naha Dragon Boat Races

Tuesday, while my kids were spending Children's Day suffering through school, me and my friend Sarah ventured to Naha to watch our friend row in the Dragon Boat Races for the Women's Army Team.  They paddled their booties off but managed to only come in second for their heat.  Still, it was a nifty thing to watch, especially knowing the time, dedication and work that goes into it.  I imagine all these rowers have nice sexy, tone arms now though.

 

I'm getting a lot of Japanese culture in these days.  Wednesday, I got to watch another Taiko performance at the school.

 

I'll get to watch an extra performance on the 18th, their group was selected to perform for the Marines on Camp Kinser. It's a lot in a short period, but Chloe won't have this opportunity in middle school next year so I'm soaking it all up.

And plus I had sushi for lunch today.  Geez, I might as well start calling myself Japanese at this rate.

Iced White Mocha

I signed up for Facebook the other day.  I spent like three hours trying to figure everything out and I'm pretty sure I still don't have a clue.  This may or may not be my link if you want to come visit me.  I might be feeling defeated and hang my head in shame if I can't figure this stuff out.  I mean really, everyone seems to do Facebook, I should be able to decipher it.

After a hectic, run around day, I came home to this sweetness....

 

It says:

Babe,

You have a little something in the Fridge.  Get it now.  Marcus

A yummy iced white chocolate mocha was awaiting me in the fridge when I walked in the door at 5:30pm tonight.  He had put it in the fridge at 1:25pm, forgetting I was volunteering at school, going with Chloe to her middle school orientation, taking her to get her eleven year old shots while trying to convince her the shots really won't hurt even though I didn't believe it myself, then dragging the kids to piano and then waiting another hour for gymnastics to be done.  I walked in the door yawning and complaining about being tired when I saw the blue sticky.  I'm a lucky girl.

This doesn't look so bad, maybe even good for you, right?

 

Try telling that to my grumpy eleven year old who thought that when I said we're having veggie pizza for dinner tonight she thought it would be like real pizza, just without the meat. The rest of us enjoyed it, Marcus even requested I make it again real soon.  Chloe decided she would rather starve.  At least until about 7:45pm when she realized she wasn't getting anything else for dinner, then the veggie pizza started looking good.