Attack of the Stash!

I finally got a chance to fulfill a lifelong dream two weeks ago and I just got the visual proof!  For as long as I can remember I have always had a deep-seated desire to build a gingerbread house and then take a giant bite out of it while pretending to be a T-Rex or Godzilla or some other giant monster.  Fortunately for me there was a left over gingerbread house that nearby neighbor had and was willing to let me live my dream.  It went even better than expected!  Feels so good to be able to cross such an important item off of my bucket list, even if my mustache full of sticky frosty is a really unsettling feeling :D

Proof!

Because Everyone Needs Something Somewhere on the Internet that Humbles Them

I'm just about to the point where I've done all the things.  Now that Star Wars isn't playing anymore and there's a lull in new movies I've been looking for more stuff to do.  There has been lots of Ping-pong, board games, cards, and Bingo played.  So when someone out here challenged me to learn a dance I could only hold out so long before it started looking like an untapped well of activity.  

Those that know me know that I never dance.  Ever.  So there is really limitless time I could spend trying to learn any kind of dance.  I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing as the video below is going to prove.  I cold have the best, most patient teacher in the world (which I kinda did seeing as they are still talking to me after trying to help me learn all this) and I'd still drive them up the wall with my incompetence.

So, now to preemptively ruin any chance I ever had of holding public office, here is a silly video of me trying to line dance for your amusement:

Some Xmas Pics

Despite how amazingly decorated our dorm hallway is (thanks Elizabeth!) it's hard to fracking believe that Christmas is almost here already.  Just 3 more days!

So to help get you all jammed out for the spirit of the season, here are a few photos of some flying Santa hats (courtesy of the best Sister-in-law in the world!), and a few more of our room decorations (thanks to JP, Dianne, and Jake for hooking me up):

Happy Star Wars Day!!!!

It's Episode VII release day!!!  And the word seems to be that it is NOT a repeat of the prequels :-D

I'm actually stupid excited, but I'm on a base full of stupid excited people too.  The theater is showing Star Wars 12 times in the next 4 days and plenty of times after that.  They also showed every movie leading up this this day so everyone is really pumped up.

Every branch has their own fair share of nerds and dorks, but if you were going to pick the nerdiest branch you really have to go with the Air Force.  We crush the competition in both per-capita nerdom and pure straight passion. (The Navy is a solid #2--until you take my brother out of the equation and then they drop way down)  I doubt I'll have much of a chance to see it the first few days it's out because I'm surrounded by a bunch of scruffy nerf herders who are just as excited a I am.  Still gonna try though.

My Sister-In-Law Thinks She is so Damn Funny....

Getting mail out here can be a pretty fun distraction.  This place is a geographic oddity, two weeks from anywhere so by the time you get something you've completely forgotten what the hell you were even looking forward to in the first place.  Although it is pretty cool/concerning that amazon can get stuff out here (and that they are shockingly accurate with their delivery date predictions).

So it was with the kind of enthusiasm reserved for x-mass morning that I tore into a falt rate box my Sister-in-Law sent out.  Sitting there right on top were three pairs of sweats!  I brought pants with me, but to wear them you have to put a belt on and nobody wants to lay in bed in jeans.  Such is the tyranny of wearing civvies everywhere I go.  People just don't understand the struggle.  It's real.  The sweats got here just in time, the summer abruptly ended (I blame the pool closure) and now it's downright chilly out.  I was super excited to get my hands on the sweats she was awesome enough to send me....until I got a closer look at them.



So from left to right:

• NAVY sweat pants?!!?!?  Ridicules.  Just crazy ridicules.  I no longer feel sorry for getting you that boogie bass for Christmas now.
• Rubber duckies!  So basically another pair of Navy sweat pants.
• Olaf!  Olaf stating his love of warm hugs!  If we get 'Let it Go' stuck in the locals heads they might never let us back again

Big huge thanks to my SIL for the care package and the sweats!  I will wear all of them proudly and without a hint of irony (well ok, maybe a little irony with the silly Navy ones)  She is the best, and her sense of humor is....fun if you're on the outside looking in ;)

But it wasn't just silly sweats in there.  Among a whole bunch of goodies and games there was also a hand made card from my niece's art studio :)

I hung it up right in the middle of the other cards we got!

Bunch of Creepers Out on the Web

You may have noticed that the title of this blog has changed from: Pellow's Luxourorious Sandbox Tour; to:  Pellow Talk.  If you did notice - what the hell is wrong with you??  Call your family! Read a book! Watch paint dry!  Any thing has to be a better use of your time.  Now if you're one of those that not only noticed the change, but also care enough to want to know why; the reason for the change is I found out recently that a bunch of people have read or found out about this dumb little blog.  That was an unexpected surprise.  Like, I figured other than the couple people I emailed the URL to I figured there wouldn't be anyone seeing this outside of search engine scans and spammers.  Now all of a sudden there are real people reading it, real as in I physically see them every damn day.

I mean it's my own fault, I put the address up on my facebook, thinking that nobody ever sees or notices my feed, much less clicks on things I post.  I was pretty much spot on, except for this one Curious George individual who must have run out of literally anything else to do and found this blog. He let a few other people know and it started spreading from there.  Next thing I know I have someone telling me they read my blog, hate the title, and have a way better one I should change it to. Naturally, I reacted how any fully matured, grown adult would and got stubbornly defensive.  Mostly because, in all honestly, I was super jealous I didn't come up with the name first.  Then I found out she didn't even come up with the name, it was a whole new person!  How deep does this rabbit hole go??!!  I wanna get off the internet's wild ride!

Some Random Sandbox Pics

It's been pretty quite around here the last week.  Though I throw in some random pictures I took while I was wondering around looking for ways to fill my day up.  You can only build so many sandcastles in a day before you get all sandcastled out.

So a few days ago I volunteered to be a driver and part of that was dong a familiarization drive to figure out how it all works over here.  In other words:  Road Trip!!  We went over to visit a near by army installation because the army gets all the cool stuff.  They have a Chilis, a Taco Bell and a Bazaar open every day.  Meanwhile the Air Force is slumming it with a Subway, Pizza John's, and only a monthly Bazaar.  It was kind of a hassle all in all, and the trip took all day and I was exhausted when we got back, but all the $8 virgin Margaritas I could drink!

So this is what everything looks like in every single direction:

Occasionally there are some tents:

And there are quite a few mosques:

There's a pink one!

They really are very nice, and you can hear the calls to prayer for miles

They really like these kinds of water towers.  I don't know why they don't put a big round thing up top to hold more water but whatever

They're all over the place

This is the entrance to the local private shooting club.  You'd think it was some UN HQ with all the flags out front.  I guess they really love shooting stuff here.

They also have their own Taj Mahal

More Taj

Gas city out there.  Stretches on forever

Took a wrong turn somewhere

You'd think each of those buildings are like apartments or condos or something, but no they are all giant houses.  They stick their whole extended families in there so they can get huge.

Look a blue one!

More water towers and families living on top of each there.  Also a playground off to the left.

And of course, Camels!

Also the Harlem Globetrotters came to town!  It's their 90th year of taking on the Washington Generals!


So good they had to add a 4pt shot

The Globetrotters know the importance of stretching

They can dunk like crazy, it's insane.  They are seriously like at least twice as good at dunking than I am

And of course being the flat dry desert you get some really nice sunsets