The Meaning of the 'Fish'

If you've chatted with us at all in the past 2 years, you know that S had to work very hard to get his 'fish'.  "Getting qual'd" has been the name of the game. And since S isn't here to write about it himself, this falls into the "proud wife" category of sharing.

Until you earn your 'Fish', you're considered a newbie - and a liability while underway. Once you qualify, your life stinks a little less (more down time), but there is a never-ending process of learning how the boat works, how a sailor can keep their shipmates safe, and where to go from there.

So I thought I'd direct you all to this blog of a retired submariner- as he gives those who just earned their 'Fish' a run down of what it means.

http://bubbleheads.blogspot.com/2012/12/submarine-officers-earn-their-dolphins.html

Enjoy!

 PS.  S did indeed earn his 'Fish' this year.

It's Begining to Look A Lot Like Christmas

So the Elves (namely, J) have been very busy around these parts lately! Lots more to come, but some of the tricker decorating is in place already!

Going from an 800 square food apartment without room for a tree, to a 2000 sq foot property is quite a change, and more than a little challenging on our little boxes of decorations, but we're getting there.

The goal this holiday season is to "buy local" whenever possible for any decorative needs. To complete the lit garland on the stairwell, I made a trip to our local Goodwill store! It's not exactly the 'craft' type thing, but is locally provided and helps people in the immediate local community, so it's counting.

So I scored about 80 feet of lit brand new lit garland (running about $25/20 feet in Target) for about $15 total.  Pretty proud of our awesome staircase. Odin seems to be okay with it too! Since it's his first Christmas with us, we weren't sure how he'd react, but he seems pretty okay with it. It brings out the Polar Bear in him, don't you think/

Before S left to go Find Nemo, we picked out a few Christmas cards, and it'll be Elf J's duty to write them out and keep them ready to be signed (Power of Attorney does NOT extend to Christmas cards  whenever possible in this house!). They'll be going out late, but what the heck. Who couldn't use a  little holiday cheer all year long, right?

This year, we'll be hosting the Munderloh's! Our first Christmas at our first house with in-laws attending! Should be a fun year. And who knows? We might actually have a little bit of a white christmas this year?