Our New Lieutenant!!!

March 28, 2011 - Quanico, VA and Washington DC

Lance

DAY 3

Okay, looooooong day folks, so I'm just going to give you some of my favorite pic's from today and a one-liner for each....So hang on......here we go......

Our Soldier's Boots (middle boot)

Our Soldier's Arms (middle arm)

Our Soldier (middle)

The Calloway Kid's

Jacque and Liz at Marines Museum

Lance and his Dad

Sisters Who Potty Together.....Stay Together

Out Lieutenant Taught Us How to Salute

Our Lieutenant Teacher

We practiced everywhere we went...

Practice Makes Perfect....

OCS Commission

This was such a special day!  In a nutshell, we watched him graduate; took a bus to watch him get commissioned; took a bus back to where he graduated; took Lance and all his stuff across the campus (8-10 miles) to his new home; waited for him to get signed in; dropped Lance and us ladies off at our hotel in Washington DC; hopped on the train to Chinatown for dinner; back on the train to the hotel.....then called it a very long, successful day!!

DAY 2: GI Joe and the FBI.......

March 17, 2011 - Quantico, VA

DAY 2

Well, well, well.........it would APPEAR as though your's truly (yes, thats me!) has a few "connections" in the right places......yep, I actually know "higher up's" at the F.B.I (DA DUM....DADUM).......I would tell you exactly how high up the higher up is, but then I'd have to kill ya, so trust me when I tell you; it's WAYYYYYY up!!!   Armed with this kind of "connections", we were given a personal tour of the F.B.I. (DA-DUM....DADUM) facilities this afternoon.  I, unfortunately, didn't learn any "secret" "covert" or "hush-hush" secrets, but for awhile, I did pretend to be Jennifer Garner from Alias!!!  WAY too cool........

(We did a chance to do an FBI Line-up in front of the Headquarters, though......)

Before we headed to the F.B.I. (DA DUM....DADUM), we were fortunate enough to watch our main man, Lance, along with his platoon practicing on the field for tomorrow's graduation.  He was so handsome in his little outfit!!  But before we could grab him and hug him vigorously, we were scooted off to listen to his leader tell us how the last 10 weeks have gone for our guy and his troop.  

As we left the building, there stood our GI Joe standing at attention with his platoon patiently waiting for those orders that allowed him to relax and hug his family at last.......the family that had been so intently waiting on the sidelines for 10 long weeks.  I've got to tell ya, it was a wonderful feeling to see and hug our boy again.  

Tomorrow is the BIG day.......he graduates and will officially be a 2nd Lieutenant this time tomorrow.  Us girls who are heading on to Washington DC tomorrow night for a couple days, are doing our best to convince him to go with us and spend the weekend in DC......I think we are "thiiiiiisssssss" close to convincing him to spend the weekend with a bunch of old ladies.........Fingers Crossed......

See ya tomorrow......

P.S.  BTW, in case you're wondering what the "DA DUM...DADUM" is; if you're over the age of 45 and remember the old TV show called "The F.B.I." with Efren Zimbalist, Jr., you'll know that was the theme song for it......most of you are having an "Ahhh  Haaaa" moment right now, aren't you??!!!

At FBI Headquarters

DAY 1: We Are Off To See Our GI Joe!!

March 16, 2011 - Quantico, VA

DAY 1

Well folks, here we are having arrived in some place called Dumb Fries, VA (actually, I think its all one word, but I like it better as two)....

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

* The seat on the shuttle bus in Dallas smelled like a nursing home.....

* Found a penny showing the Lincoln Memorial on it in the bathroom stall at the Washington Airport which I thought was ironic since we were in Washington DC......no one else thought this was newsworthy.....

* Suffered through my 30-going-on-12 year old niece kicking the back of my seat on the plane......

* Witnessed a gorgeous sunset over the Potomac from the plane.....

* Picked up my suitcase at the baggage claim to find the handle and wheels frame had been broken off......this, after paying $25 just to carry most everything I own......now I get to haul around a wheel-less and handle-less 150 pound suitcase for the next 8 days......errrrrrrrrrr.  And now, thanks to Jacque,  my suitcase is being held together with a purple band that says "Jacque-Matt" on it...

* And last but not least, can't find Hannity or Fox News on this democratic TV........geeeezzzz

Cast & Characters of "4 Babes and a Couple Dudes"....

Tuesday, March 15, 2011


Tomorrow is the start of a weeklong Murphy's Mom Blog series titled, "4 Babes and A Couple Dudes".

Thought I'd get you familiar with the Cast of Characters:

Jacque

She is the niece of Liz and James, daughter of Debbie, Friend to Ellen and cousin of Lance.

She's a sound sleeper...

Is actually 30 but thinks she's 28....

Named after her Aunt Liz (middle name Elizabeth)....

Has a great collection of hats.....

Debbie

Sister to Liz and James, mother to Jacque, Friend to Ellen, Aunt to Lance.......

Has dropped 15 clothes sizes over the past year.......

She is the oldest of the Calloway youngesters....

Has the uncanny ability to reverse the aging process and appears to be getting younger......

Murphy's Mom's best friend.....

James

Brother to Debbie and Liz; Uncle to Jacque, Boyfriend to Ellen; Father to Lance......

Is the middle child of the Calloway youngesters.....

One of the most spiritual men I know......

Is tremendously disciplined.....

Is a really good guy.......

Ellen

Like family to the Calloway youngsters and girlfriend to James.....

One of the sweetest people I've ever known.....

Loves cats........

Is a killer Bunco player......

Nominated as our tour guide for New York as she is the only one of us whose ever been there.....(We haven't told her we voted on this yet, so.......Shhhhhhhhh)

Lance

Son of James, nephew to Debbie and Liz, cousin to Jacque and friend to Ellen

Graduating from Marine Officer School in Quantico, VA..

Star college football player for 4 years.....

Incredibly tender hearted.......

Has an amazing ability to remember important facts about people close to him and use those facts to endear himself to them even more........

Liz

Sister to Debbie and James, favorite aunt to Jacque and Lance and friend to Ellen........

Mother to Murphy.....aka....Murphy's Mom

Not a natural blonde....

Inherited her Dad's teeth and web toes......

The youngest of the Calloway youngsters.....







So there......you have the Cast of Characters and should be ready for Chapter 1 tomorrow.....

I don't know about the other 3 Babes and 2 Dudes, but I'm looking forward to the body scanner at the airport!!!!!

Did I Discombobulate You??

March 14, 2011

Did my clues discombobulate you?  Or.......were you one of the 1-2 that figured out my cryptic photoshopping??

First, let's take a look at some of your comments:

Matt said:

"Brady is watching YouTube on his iPad.
Matt is finding better deals than you.
James wishes he had an iPad.
Liz is talking about how great Mac's are, while thinking of what hotels are the best
Jacque is laughing at something - no, it didnt make sense.
Debbie is being serious, and booking hotels and such.
Ellen is having a silent conversation with James about how she wishes she had an iPad too...
Chuck is napping with Murphy."

Denise said:

"I couldn't ' catch ' your hint, the pic was kind of little for these old eyes, just saw an apple, so I'll guess a family meeting of some kind. But all I know is that you guys are sitting at the table that I wanted to buy from the Black Eye Pea restaurant. Is that yours? If so, NOT FAIR ! I want one too!" (Poor Denise got a little off task....)

Sherrie said:

"You are all emailing the whitehouse about gas prices!"

Lulu said:

"Semper Fi on an apple.......R U ALL joining the Marines??"

These were just a few of the comments that gave me a belly-laugh......thanks for sending them to me!

But here's the moment you've all been patiently waiting for (actually, I know you don't really give a flip.....)

Let's first take a look at the clues:

1)  Semper Fi = US Marines

2)  Obviously it's an Apple looking over New York City.

2)  The Capital in Washington DC set in NY

The photo was of my family and I making plans to attend my nephew Lance's graduation this Friday from the Marine Officer Candidate Training in Quantico, VA.  YEA!!!!  Geeezzz....it seems like yesterday we ate tacos and sent him on his way to Virginia.  Although that was 8 weeks ago, it seems like a grueling 8 years ago to Lance!

But directly after graduation, us girls are heading to Washington DC for a few days of site seeing and then taking the train on to NYC for a few more days!!!  WHOO HOO!!

Lucky you get to go along with us as I Blog our way through the week...... 

Oh, by the way....if WE get mugged.....YOU get mugged.......

QUIZ TIME!!!!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

QUIZ TIME

I know how much my Blogger friends L-O-V-E quizzes, sooooooo.......


Who can tell me what is happening in this picture?

Here's a CLUE:

Hurry........tell me what you think!!

Rest In Peace, Army Staff Sargeant Chauncey Mays

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

I've never met Army Staff Sargeant Chauncey Mays, but I'm here to tell ya, the boy has a lot, A LOT, of friends.  Let me explain.

Chuck and I were on I-30 today headed west towards Greenville.  We were about 30 miles from home when we started noticing people standing on the overpasses with flags.  Every overpass we went under, there were more and more people standing on the bridges looking down on I-30 like they were waiting on something.

We continued to proceed west a few more miles when we came upon approximately 20-25 highway patrol police cars, city police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, etc. all with their lights on, but sitting idle on the side of the highway going the opposite direction from us, again like they were waiting on something.

At this point, I called my girlfriend Becky and asked her if she knew what was going on.  That's when I heard the name Chauncey Mays for the first time.  See, Army Staff Sargeant Mays lived in the small town of Pickton near where we live.  While in Afghanistan defusing a bomb several weeks ago, he was killed when the bomb went off.  They were bringing his body home today.  He was 25 years old.

25 years old

Shortly after hanging up with Becky, we continued seeing people standing on the opposite side of the highway waving flags in front of farms, at gas stations or just in the grassy median.  We had now been seeing people with flags for about 25 miles when we topped the hill and saw an endless line of motorcycles......it went on forever......and then an endless line of fire trucks and police cars.....I also noticed that no one was pulling over on our side of the freeway, but having been raised to ALWAYS pull over out of respect, I quickly pulled to the side of the highway as the semi's shook my car as they sped by......

Chuck and I were in awe over the amount of people that were honoring this young man....It was an amazing site and brought tears to both of our eyes as we sat, for what seemed like an hour, waiting on the procession to pass on the opposite side of the highway.  It made me think of my own nephew who will be graduating in just over a week from the Marine Officer Training School in Quantico, VA and how touched and honored he would be to see what we were seeing.  And I couldn't help but think that unimaginable thought; what if this had been him?

As the last car in the procession passed, I looked in my rearview mirror preparing to merge back on the highway and saw as far back as I could see, people had pulled over and paid their respects as well.  I felt honored to have been a tiny part of this man's friends and family paying respect to him today.

Honored

Thank you Chauncy Mays, who left behind a wife and two toddlers.

Just A Few Cool Chicks......

March 7, 2011

Seriously.....I just LOVE the women in my life...........

This past weekend, my neighbor Becky and I went to Brenham to see our ex-neighbor Sue (oh ya, and her husband Norm too!!).  Sue's been in some serious need for "Girl Time", so Becky and I were only too happy to road trip it for some play time with our girlfriend.

We hadn't been out searching for fun long when we came up on this old, discarded recliner just sitting on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere screamin' our name.   Now......I know what you're thinking and "NO", the recliner is not part of my growing chair collection here at the house.  But I had a vision; a vision of a great photo of my girlfriends sitting in this skanky, flea-bitten, contaminated chair.

Now, it's important for you to know that Sue is, and always has been, my most hygienic friend.  She is the one who always pulls out the hand sanitizer before we eat and passes it around the table.  So I know it had to majorly mortify her to sit in this ghastly no-telling-where-its-been recliner, but she plastered on a cautious smile, wiped off the arm of the chair, and ever-so-gently, sat on the arm and said, "HURRY, TAKE THE PICTURE!"

Then I got the great idea; and it was a GREAT idea, to move the chair into the middle of the road and get pictures.   Sue was more-than-done with the chair, so Becky and I grabbed the chair and moved it to the middle of the road.  That Becky is such a sport........she's pretty much "game" for anything......and I think it's quite a flattering picture of her!!

Ant Ellie as a Nun

Then I heard from another great lady in my life this afternoon........Ant Ellie!!  You remember her; my favorite aunt from Florida!!   She is my "Survival-Buddy" as we are both into Survival Blogs,  and are constantly exchanging notes on the latest and greatest survival water storage solutions, prepping for nukes, etc... Well, she came up with an EXCELLENT idea I just had to share with you!  She came up with the idea of buying "Nun" outfits and wearing them in the event the world freaked out and started shooting each other.  She figured they wouldn't shoot a Nun.....and she wouldn't have a problem telling them they were going to "pergatory" if they did.......

Liz in a Burka

Personally, I'm going for the "Burka" look......I can eat ALLLLL the Blizzards and banana splits I want this way!!

My Mother The Rapper.....

Wednesday, March 2, 2011


I'm been noticing some changes lately in my Mom.....

She's starting to take on a new phat "Flavor Flav" Stylin' look.....
(if you are unfamiliar with who Flavor Flav is, Google it!)

And a seriously Funky attitude.....

And I think I now know why.......

Next thing we know, she'll be hosting 

"The Real Housewives of Springfield Senior Living Center"

Dog-Chasing, Money-Making Kind of Day......So Far

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

So, as I sit here typing this Blog, I am listening to Murphy and his neighbor Friend/Foe barking their fool heads off in the living room as they fight to see who wins the prize of sitting in Chuck's lap......

This comes on the heels of Togo cleaning out Murphy's ear....yes....only one ear.  This explains Murphy's current hairstyle....

Funny thing happened to me at the store today......

I had just arrived at the store this morning when I felt something running down my pants leg.....inside pants leg......obviously I was thinking the same thing you're thinking and down right mortified until.......until......out came a quarter.  I walked a few more steps when I feel it again and low and behold, as something cold slid down my leg and out the bottom of my pants came a dime........By now, I'm chuckling to myself thinking how funny that must have looked to the people behind me when out came another quarter......I'm figuring I probably ought to hot glue that hole in my pocket......I now have an extra $.60 to spend on glue sticks....

Check out where my beautiful $60 chair is now residing.......L*O*V*E*L*Y........My friend Cynthia helped me find the perfect place to set it in the guest bedroom!