The old bed and matress we had was a queen that my parents bought for me my senior year of high school. While the bed itself is still in great condition, I think Brad and I have been married long enough to know that the night time snuggles have lost some of its appeal. More importantly it was time for a new mattress and since we had to spend the money anyways I thought that is was high time that Brad's feet don't hang off of the edge. Now I am excited to get the rest of the furniture to go with it.
Monday, July 28, 2008
The old bed and matress we had was a queen that my parents bought for me my senior year of high school. While the bed itself is still in great condition, I think Brad and I have been married long enough to know that the night time snuggles have lost some of its appeal. More importantly it was time for a new mattress and since we had to spend the money anyways I thought that is was high time that Brad's feet don't hang off of the edge. Now I am excited to get the rest of the furniture to go with it.
Posted by Rissa at 5:44 PM 4 comments
Friday, July 11, 2008
It is getting there....
I choose a black mulch to remind me of the lava fields in Hawaii...
Side yard
Front porch
My plumeria, again remembering Hawaii...(I hope I don't kill it)
A Wandering Jew, I just thought it looked interesting
Cordyline, aka Electric pink,
Yellow Chrysanthemums
and an agapanthus aka Peter Pan, because I never want to grow up...
Posted by Rissa at 12:21 PM 4 comments
Tuesday, July 01, 2008




Brad got promoted on 1 June. Myself and Chief Warrant Officer V Kelley pinned on his bars. I am very proud of Brad, he has come a long way from just another boot recruit at Parris Island. I don't think he even imagined back then that this is where he would be. Here (finally) are pictures from his promotion.Posted by Rissa at 12:13 PM 3 comments
Sunday, June 15, 2008
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Thursday, June 12, 2008
There is a new trashy reality tv show on E! entertainement called, "Denise Richard's ~ It's Complicated", I already love it.
This chick has a mouth worse than my own. Is she trying to save the world? No. Is she trying to save the environment, one hybrid at a time? No. Is she trying to give back what she has so fortunatley been able to receive? No. Is she a good role model for our children? No. Is she totally shallow and has nothing of importance to say? Yes
But who cares, it is called television people, if you don't like it don't watch it. I happen to still love it!
Posted by Rissa at 2:08 PM 1 comments
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Front of house before
And after
TV room before
and after (we still need to paint it though). Brutus seems to enjoy it!
Posted by Rissa at 7:26 PM 3 comments
Master Bedroom and Bath
As you can see Brad and I went with a nice neutral color. I was kind of wanting something in the blue/green ocean family but I chickened out last minute at Lowes and went with a sand color instead. I will definatley need to punch it up with color in my linens.



Posted by Rissa at 7:06 PM 1 comments
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
It is official; we own it
After much havoc Brad and I finally closed on our house on Friday! We were supposed to close on Tuesday but the original owner (remember it was a short sale) went and got remarried and started signing her new last name on all of the closing paperwork. The title company went uh-oh and had to have her now new husband sign off on everything (even though he was not on the title or the loan) since Cali is a comm property state. But after everything was fed -exed to Florida and back it finally went through. Good thing since we were in the house fri morning before it closed.
So far we have tackled the master bedroom; we primed, painted the ceiling, and painted three coats not including the primer. (must post l8r story of Brad and paint sprayer, still not funny yet) We also steam cleaned the carpets, bleached everything in the bathroom, as well as prime, painted (only 2 coats), painted the closet, and switched out the light fixtures. Cha-ching, Cha-ching!
Outside we got the garage doors fixed, all three of them, cha-ching, cha-ching, got an estimate to get the dishwasher fixed (the labor alone costs more than a new one, hence we nixed that one), replaced all of the locks on all of the doors, sprayed down the outside of the house to remove a years worth of cobwebs, snail trails, and dirt and I also started slowly pulling one weed at a time.
Yesterday our furniture (yes, we have a bed) and personal effects arrived so until everything is unpacked the rest of the painting, weeding, ect is on hold. Brad went back to work on Monday so I get to tackle it by my lonesome, what's new, while he has a view of the ocean from his office. However I am as tickled as ever to live here after 14 years of negotiating with the Marine Corps to get here, I will tackle any project by myself I am so happy to be here, let Brad work!
Once my cables are unpacked to transfer photos I will post so everyone can see the progress we have made thus far.
Sorry to have missed everyone at the wedding, sounds like a great time was had by all! I have enjoyed seeing all of the photos. Wished I could have been there. Congrats Liz and Kyle, enjoy the honeymoon.
Posted by Rissa at 11:06 AM 2 comments
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
New House (crossing fingers, knocking on wood, putting a word in w/ the man upstairs)
Brad and I, if all goes well will be closing escrow on our house on May 28th and moving in on the 29th. We put in an offer on this house back in the middle of April, at the time it had four other offers. Another was accepted, but since it took the bank so long to respond (it is a short sale home) those buyers had moved on. Lucky for us we were number two in line (at this time it now had eight offers) this was May 19th and we are actually getting it for less than what we originally offered! YEAH for that! So since this has been the worst house hunting/buying experience we have ever had wish us luck that we close successfully on the 28th.
Our e-mail and home address will be changing again.
Check out the link to see more photos.
http://listings1.sandicor.com/SearchDetail/Scripts/PrtBuyFul/PrtBuyFul.asp?prp=mls&AgentId=120185&EmailKey=66881700
Posted by Rissa at 8:55 AM 5 comments
Saturday, May 10, 2008
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Thursday, May 08, 2008
May is the month for birthdays.
Happy Birthday Pops, Mom, and Mandy!
Hope you all have great days!
Posted by Rissa at 2:47 PM 2 comments
Friday, March 28, 2008

Oceanside pier
It is that time again, moving time!
3 houses in 3 years (actually this next place will make it 4 houses), we are on a roll!
Well it seems 2 years has come and gone and the Marine Corps has decided that it is time for a change of scenery. This time we won't be moving far, just south to Oceanside which is a little north of San Diego. Brad and I are heading down next week hopefully to find a home to buy, but with the prices what they are in So Cal especially towards the beach we don't know how succesful our house hunting trip will be. We are keeping our fingers crossed.
This move is good for Brad's career, he is being promoted to Capt. hence the move. It is exciting to be move down to San Diego, the area is beautiful, but scary too since Brad will once again be with a deployable unit (they leave for Iraq in July). Can't get it all now can we.
Well wish us luck with the house hunting and I will keep blogging about our move status.
Posted by Rissa at 3:48 PM 4 comments
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
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Tuesday, March 18, 2008


Brad and James, too cool for school
Michelle and Missy chair dancing
Mom and Dad getting their groove on
Missy and Terry and Blonde headPosted by Rissa at 12:52 PM 4 comments
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
I recently commented on Aunt Nettie & Uncle Mike's blog page how it is easy for me to love the snow since I can view it from a far. the following photos I think explain those sentiments.



Brutus and I take a walk every day across the street from our house in the Mojave Desert. It gives him a chance to chase jackrabbits (if he even sees them), investigate desert turtle dens, run, jump and play. Although the desert isn't my favorite settings it does have its own distinct beauty and our walks remind me of that.
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Tuesday, January 08, 2008

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