I have been sick for the last couple of days and this evening, to help make me feel better, I took a lovely, luxurious and relaxing bubble bath. I haven't had a bubble bath in years, and by myself it's been since I was little. :) I have a nice collection of Philosophy Bath Soaps and I chose to use the Mimosa scented soap and it was heavenly.
Our house has a bath tub in the guest bathroom and we have a walk-in shower in the master. So, for the first two years of living here I never used the guest bathtub and for the last two years of living here I will use it at least once a week.
I'm ready to curl under the covers and fade off to sleep. I'm feeling better too! How do ya like that?!

As I'm typing this post, a cleaning company is going to town on our home. They are called Good Housekeeping Okinawa and they ROCK! Two ladies "Mama-san's" are here and doing everything from wrapping the metal plates in the stove with tin foil to mopping, vacuuming, heavy-dusting, and cleaning all the bathrooms and kitchen from top to bottom. Our house is 1700 sq ft with three bedrooms, two & a half baths and two floors and it only costs $65.00 for all their hard work.
I do feel guilty being at the computer while the ladies are working their butts off though. Rocky is at the groomers and at the end of the day we will have a clean and groomed dog and a clean house. Ahhh the ways of some DOD and Military families on this island.
If you would like to try GHO out for yourselves please contact me via the comment option and I will get the phone number to you.
Their web site is http://www.ghokinawa.com/Welcome.html
Check them out!

Sorry I yet again fell off the blogging wagon. I have been pretty busy with nothing really but I'll tell you, nothing can keep you pretty busy. (Make sense?)
One of my best girlfriends here on Island, Amy, moved back to the States on Friday. I helped to take her and her kids to the airport along with the rest of our little circle of ladies. I was the only one who didn't cry. I understood and felt the sadness of her leaving but I was not so sad because I will see her at Christmas when we go home for vacation.
One of my other best friends here on Island has her twin sister visiting right now from the States. It was very cool meeting her and seeing and hearing the similarities between them that make them twins.
This month has started off being very busy so far but hopefully after this week I can open my calendar and find empty squares in the June calendar. I think when I was living in the States I wasn't nearly as busy as I have found these last two years here in Okinawa. When you work you can't say yes to every invitation and your evenings are spent winding down and gearing up for your next day.
Summer has finally found us here in Okinawa. The days have gotten hot and muggy and the rainy season is upon us. Typhoon season comes after the rainy season and hopefully this year will be quiet once again.
I really don't have much more to report but I do hope your summer is going well so far. Let me know what's new with you if you like.
XOXO-Lady K

So over the weekend I caught the Larry King interview with Hugh Hefner and his three stunning girlfriends, Holly, Bridget and Kendra. I enjoyed the interview and was curious about their hit show in the States so I gave in and purchased season one fo THE GIRLS NEXT DOOR on iTunes. I downloaded the eighteen episodes yesterday morning and just finished watching all of them. I am SOOOO ADDICTED!!!!! I love Holly Madison, Hef's #1 Girlfriend and Bridget. I'm not too excited about obnoxious and annoying Kendra but there always has to be one in the bunch doesn't there?
Anyway, I have missed this kind of fluff television while living here in Okinawa and this show definitely takes care of that. It is so funny, cute and neat to watch these people whom I knew nothing about before Saturday live their lives on camera.
I am a little curious about what the girls really think about the curfews that the big guy sets for them and if they really all sleep with him. I believe Holly does but I'm not sure the other two do. I don't quite see what is so appealing about Kendra (her face is not pretty to me and her personality is just nails on a chalk board). Bridget is adorable and sweet and educated. Holly is just gorgeous (she and Gwen Stefani were separated at birth I believe) and I'm sure would be nice to hang out with at lunch or something.
Hef is a sweet man who is just living a fantasy that lucky for him is a reality.
I have changed my mind a bit on the mag and do understand that compared to the other "skin mags" it is more art than anything else.
Anyway, if you are a closet "Girls Next Door" watcher, don't feel alone. I LOVE IT!!!!

Last night I atteneded a going away party for some friends at one of the northern bases here on Okinawa. June 8th one of my favorite friends here on Island will be moving to NO. VA. Though I know I will see her again, it is hard to think of her not being here on Island. We became friends when she noticed my Redskins flag on my van at a culture group meeting in October 2005. Then after a favor that included front row, 40 yard line seats at the Redskins/Cowboys December game (which the Redskins won!) we started getting to know each other and learn that we had many similarities and really enjoyed each others company. Her husband is great and fighting in the Middle East and her two boys are just adorable, wonderful little men who make me laugh and smile.
She is the second of my friends to PCS (Permanent Change of Service) and definitely not the last. We extended our stay in Okinawa for two years and yesterday marked the end of our second year here.
Friendships are rare to find as you get older and the close friends are rarer still. I feel blessed for the ladies in my life. My dream is to throw a huge party one day and have every one of my close girlfriends together. Everyone from my grade school and high school friends who now both live in Florida to those I have met here. One day you will all meet each other and feel like you know one another already because of my stories.

This is my Playlist Player from my MySpace Page. I hope you'll hang out a bit and go through it and listen to some fun and great music.

Rocky had his check-up appointment today and so far the vet doesn't seem to think that DCM is what we are dealing with. He thinks that Rocky's heart is slightly enlarged because (in his words) Rocky is obese. Now for those of you who are familiar with Rocky I hope you would agree and say that Rocky isn't OBESE but more fluffy and festively plump.
Anyway, I have already adjusted Rocky's portion sizes at breakfast and dinner and cut down on his daily intake/receiving of treats.
The cough is still there so the heart is still pushing on his breathing pipe but we will continue with meds till next Thursday and see if the cough has subsided by then.
It is a relief that Rocky doesn't have DCM yet (though it is very common in Cocker Spaniels) and that he is still a happy go-lucky doggie.
In other news, I am devastated that Melinda Doolittle has been voted off American Idol. I actually cried because I just love her and her voice soooooooo much. I am happy with whoever wins out of Blake and Jordin but will always love Melinda and I can't wait till her cd is released. You know it will sell millions because she is soooooo great!!!!
Anyway, I hope all is well with you and that your week is going well.

Friday afternoon Rocky had a coughing attack that lasted for a good minute or so. I thought that if he was still coughing the following morning we were going to go visit the vet. Well Saturday found us at the vet and I heard the words I never thought I would hear so early in Rocky's life. He's only four years old and he has Canine Dilated Cardiomyopathey (DCM). My cocker spaniel growing up, Maxwell, was diagnosed with this disease at age ten but because I was aware of the symptoms like coughing, I knew deep down that this was a possibility.
Rocky is doing fine though and has a chronic cough that makes him sound like he smoked a pack of ciggies the night before at the bar but all in all he is doing ok.
I did get an x-ray taken of his chest and his heart is enlarged to a third bigger than it should be. The enlarged heart is pushing his trachia upwards which is causing him to cough.
He is on antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory for the next few days and then we go in for a check up to see if the trachea's inflammation has cleared.
I am sad that this disease, which runs in his breed and can be genetic in the family, has stricken Rocky and our family so soon in his life, but I know what signs to keep a watch out for and I know how to care for him and what care to get for him. Maxwell was diagnosed at age ten with a survival rate of six months. Maxwell surpassed that time line and lived for three more years as a happy, painless and loved dog.
I plan on doing the same for Rocky and reminding him everyday how much I love him.

This morning I attended my first Change of Command Ceremony for my dear friend Susan. She is a Captain in the Marine Corps and will be PCS'ing (moving in civilian terms) on Monday. She was Commander of BRAVO Company, Camp Butler, Okinawa, Japan for the last couple of years and the ceremony recognized that she was leaving her post and a new Company Commander was being assigned.
It was a beautiful morning on the Island today and as I sat under the tent as one of my friend's VIP guests, I looked out over the lawn to the III MEF Band and BRAVO Company. I thought about this woman who lead her Marines in day to day affairs and how much they will miss her. I know I will miss her and her fun loving, fresh spirit. We met at one of the Officer's Clubs where they have karaoke every Friday night. She loves 80's music and has a beautiful, sexy, husky (when she wants it to be) and versatile voice. My husband and my favorite song she sings is "Betty Davis Eyes". It is a dead on vocal performance and it gives us goosebumps when we hear it.
Susan is the first of many friends of mine that I will have to say "See Ya Later" to while here on Island. I don't know if I'll ever see her or her boyfriend again after this duty station (though I sure hope so) and that is the way of "military" life. Face it, we are not living the "average" American life. With Pete's job we will move every two to four years over the next twenty years and when we move it will be hard (unless we absolutely cannot stand the place). One of the hardest parts will be not seeing the friends we make along the way everywhere we go.
Tonight is Susan and her boyfriend's last HooRah at Karaoke. I will be singing "I Will Always Love You" and "Leaving On A Jet Plane" for them along with some other tunes. I will miss them both at karaoke as I know my husband will.
I wish them all the luck in the world and as this summer finds her boyfriend deploying to Iraq, I will worry that that their love story won't have a happy ending until his return. I hope she won't have to see that hot, sandy country again herself. In the words of Colonel Jones this morning, "The Marine Corps is about the Marines that serve and when there are Marines out there serving our country Like Captain Susan, I have no doubt that this Marine Corps is the best."

I am SOOOOOO SORRY to the one or two of you who actually read this blog!!!!!! I have neglected this blog in the last few days and I don't really have any good excuses for you. The only lame ones I can come up with are the following... "GOD OF WAR 2" (what a frickin's awesome video game), running around because I can't way no to any invitation that comes my way, lunches with the ladies, television, "DREAMGIRLS" came out last week and it is FANTASTIC, Rocky (he went to the cleaners on Friday and I spent every moment I was home this past weekend petting him because he is SOOOOO SOFT), Bunco, Karaoke and SLEEP.
You'll notice reading was not one of my excuses. That is because I have fallen off the reading wagon and am struggling to get back on. It is hard when you can't get into the books you have due for reading groups. "The Emperor's Children" just isn't grabbing me and pulling me in like the last few books I've read. I feel bad because I am the ring leader of my reading group "Lit & The Island" and I nominated the book which lead to it being voted on by the group. A couple of the other ladies are enjoying it and some are having the same problems I am. I also chose to join an on-line reading group where the May selection is "Water for Elephants". I know I would really like it if I didn't feel the pressure to read it and have another book hanging over my head.
I know I'll get back on that reading wagon but I think it will take a new book to so it.
Other than that, the weather on Okinawa has been fantastic since Monday. Highs in the 70's and lovely ocean breezes with low humidity. I know this weather doesn't last forever, especially with the rainy season on it's way followed by typhoon season, but I am loving this week. Also, Pete's home for a few days and we have had a great time. We saw "SPIDERMAN 3" last night out in town at The American Village. It was ok but we missed the first five minutes or so so I might try to see it again when it opens on base.
This weekend is Mother's Day and I got the gifts off in the mail yesterday to both my mom Marilyn and Pete's mom Ann. I hope they like their gifts. Marilyn got a couple of extra things in her package because she is having reconstructive knee surgery next Wednesday and I thought she might need some cheering up.
I promise to try to be better about blogging. I would hate to disappoint you again.