Mail for me!

This beautiful envelope arrived for me in the mail today! First mail to the new place. Tony got it in port in Japan.

So fresh so clean care package

 After packing up the package, I met my friends at the beach on the north shore...This is at Sunset. The waves were going off quite a bit...guess it's about time for winter...




This picture below is at Sharks Cove. We decided to go down the road to it to wash off the sand and I happened to have my mask with me so we took turns snorkeling a bit...

Flowers...for me!

The one day I leave school before 3...just as I'm pulling into the parking level, my phone rings...it's the office at my school calling...they ask, can you come to A2? There's a surprise for you...I'm all...ummm....I kinda already left...she asks, are you far? Like 20 min...she says, if you can come back, a really nice gift for you just arrived and it won't be here tomorrow...

Now my curiosity is piqued....what could it be? 

So, I drive back....this gem was waiting for me :)

How sweet is that?

They were super thoughtful and it was nice to get them at the beginning of a 5 day week...The last 3 or 4 weeks were all 4 days weeks so I knew this one was going to be a long one!

Rescuing mail...

So I get a notice in the mailbox...postage on letter mail due. I needed to go to the post office to give them $1.62 to pay for the rest of the postage due on the letter. Tony paid for it at his hotel in port...Yeah, the ship ran out of stamps...again...Seems to happen a lot...
Anyways, it was pretty funny, then the cashier rings it up at the post office and is all, that'll be 2.62 when he sees me getting out cash...I was so tired, I probably would have just given him the extra dollar...

Anyways, inside was a letter and a mini flashlight on a key chain he sent me "in case of another hurricane." Haha. It's pretty nifty for on my keys, I must say...

Halfway There Theme Care Package

We hit the halfway point of this journey...107 days down, 107 days to go. That is, if everything goes according to schedule (that's funny...you should just expect it not to).


I decided to send a package with the theme of being halfway there...with a little help from my favorite milso blogger.
Halfway There Theme care package



I took pictures of it before I sent it but my phone got stolen from work and the pictures hadn't been backed up to google + yet so I had to ask Tony to take pictures.

 You know I love putting surprise, secret messages on my packages every once in awhile.

I really like to combine themes. I like to have a theme on the outside and sometimes, something different on the inside. I was pretty rushed putting this one together because of course the port schedule got changed so I thought I had more time but then with the schedule change, I had to rush to get it there.

Of course it was a couple days late but c'est la vie. Basically, I've found it best to just ignore the "schedule" and wait until Tony can give me information. I just keep sending packages whenever and they get there when they get there.

Yeah, that's how cold it is on the ship...
I guess every time I've been on it, it isn't very cold at all. Maybe because it's parked...Not sure.

All the loot! The real reason for needing to send this package was to send him the Biology textbook for his Bio class that was starting. Well, of course it got there a bit after he started the class.

 And finally, the secret message! Haha :)
You know I gotta make my statement about the whales!
Always about that ocean protection and conservation....

Halloween themed care package

I decided to send a care package for each person in Tony's work-group. I think they call them a division...but I'm not quite sure...Anyways, so I set out after coaching a swim meet that ended early shopping for supplies...

My theme: Halloween

Intended Materials list:
14 flat rate envelopes
halloween scrapbook paper
lollipops
mini marshmallows
candy corn
candy
mini pumpkins
construction paper
spider web material

Impulse Buys
mini pumpkins
LED tea lights
glowsticks
halloween-themed burlap

The first order of business was to start with the decorations for the outside of the envelopes. I asked Tony the names of everyone in his work-group (or whatevas it's called) and decided I was going to make an envelope for each person. I found stencils of pumpkin faces here: pumpkin face stencils (they're actually intended for little kids' shirts). I printed them out and set about creating an individual face for each person. I traced the stencils onto black construction paper, cut them out and then glued them on the pumpkins I traced from a stencil I printed out from a google search of pumpkin stencils.

 This is from a tutorial about making party favors using TP rolls. I have been saving them since I moved in here...I hate to throw them away...I finally found a way to re-purpose them. They are wrapped in scrapbook paper. I filled them with little bags of candy. The tutorial used mod-podge to adhere the scrapbook paper to the tubes but honestly, that would have required yet another trip to the store...so these guys are getting packing tape. In word, I inserted a circle and then a textbox inside it that says, "BOO." You just fold the ends in and it makes a cute little candy storage box.

 Now, for the mustache pops... The idea for these is from here (mustache and lips lollipops for Valentine's Day) and I got the mustache stencils from a wedding photographer's blog for photobooth props.


Instead of making them lips for the girls and mustaches for the boys like the tutorial...I decided to go gender neutral and give everyone a moustache. I had a total of 5 different mustache types. I only made one mustache of the curly-up one because it's hard to cut!

I thought that they might like to have the mustaches...idk what for but...they are out in the middle of the ocean so I'm sure they'll find a way to make them a source of entertainment...I ghetto laminated them with packing tape. Then, I punched a hole in them so I could put them on the lollipop stick. Then, when eating the lollipop, they have a mustache!

I got all the packages packed up and sealed and with the last one...I noticed I had 2 lollipops left...oops last to be sealed has to find who didn't get one and give it to them!


And now for the purpose of the mini-marshmallows....
ghost poop!

The link isn't the exact printout I used but I think I may have just ended up googling ghost poop printable or something.

I just put the mini-mallows in ziploc bags...I hope they made it there alright! I tried to get the air out as best I could...

 pumpkin poop printable
The candy corns are pumpkin poop!

I also put them in ziploc bags...Hope they don't get squished. Honestly, I don't know if anyone even likes candy corn. I can eat about two before I feel sick...

But, how adorable is that? They even had a super dorky poem on the back side of the printable about it!



I packed a couple extra bags of the poops and put them in random people's packages with a note to give the extra to a friend!

They can't have jack-o-lanterns on the ship?
Not a problem!

I found these cute little mini plastic pumpkins at the Don Quijote and the led tea lights (with batteries included!) at Wal Mart. How totes adorbes.





And now, a peek inside the packages!
I put a joke in each one (ok my printer ran out of color ink so I only have jokes in most of them...) I packed each package with candy...assorted. sweet, chocolate, sour candy, li hing candy, peanut butter candy...as many different kinds so I hope there is something in there that is each person's favorite...
I got some "spider web material" from walmart and packed in on the top of each package...

So....someone's glow sticks might not work...my knee cracked them...These are so cheap, they crack really easily...

I forgot to take a picture of the "goblin tongues." They are li hing sour belts...I had to buy more and the commissary re-did their store and made a section called, "HI candies" but it DID NOT include any li-hing candies! Can you believe that?! So, I found the "ethnic foods aisle" I mean, honestly, how can you shove so many diverse foods into just one aisle! It's ridiculous but I digress. I found sour belts but they were only strawberry (sorry guys, I ate some of the li hing ones when I was working last night...) So a couple people are going to get strawberry sour belts instead of li hing sour belts... 

 Here is the view of the bottom of the envelopes...


I think I used a total of two complete rolls of packaging tape on all these. I think that's pretty good, considering...

 I found Halloween printed burlap at walmart. I got "Happy Halloween" and "BOO" printed burlap the line the edges of the envelopes. I also cut pieces of scrapbook Halloween paper on the back of the envelopes...

Here they are all, lined up and ready to go...

 

All ready to go to the post office...

Now which one to choose...
Pearl City has a very grumpy worker so that's out
Aiea is usually pretty busy
Ewa Beach makes me fill out the big customs form...

That settles it...the post office on base...Try my luck there. The last time I went, the lady was super nice and helpful when I was trying to mail a package to Australia.





The results...
Halloween mayhem!

Mini-package for me on Day 100

We've officially hit triple digits!
Today marks 100 days since Tony and Lisa sailed away....Well, I guess, technically, they didn't really sail away...Haha. Although, the Navy really should look into harnessing the wind or even hydropower to be more eco-friendly...I digress...

I received a mini-package from Tony today. Inside it, there were letters and a pen. (a hint, maybe?) Haha!



Anyways, in it were letters that he'd written me every night...many of them at times when the internet was out but lots of them were just "regular" nights. He wrote one from day 69-85...missing only 1 day!

There were also 3 other cards that he was going to send to me but the ship didn't have stamps...One would hypothesize that a ship, knowingly coming in to port, would stock up on stamps while at said port so that the sailors on said ship could mail letters home...Alas, no can do. This is not the first time this situation has occurred on this ship. I hope they do a better job of stocking other things...like T.P. and fresh water....


Note about rates for sending mail:
It also says all over the internet that deployed military get to send letter mail for free. I can tell you that he and I are paying for every single letter we send back and forth. Oh, and I get a discount of like a dollar on mailing the large flat rate box but when he sends me one, he has to pay the full price. (Just to put that info out there for anyone wondering).

See? Everyone loves getting mail!

I'm pretty sure he's talking about:
someone in HI loves you and
Mess Deck Survival Kit

Just to put the days in perspective...and also to show how long it takes to actually get the mail... Honestly, the hold-up on his end is that his ship only sends mail when it's parked. Once he sends the letters, it takes a couple days. When I send letters, it takes at least a couple weeks. They're significantly slower than packages.




My life here at home is so hard...
Haha!

Fall care package

Well, it's fall...time for a fall-themed care package!

 The commissary/nex are kinda limiting on fall items...specifically in the keurig dept but I did find k cups from gevalia where they have a packet of powder you put in your cup then run the regular keurig cup so I'm interested to see how those turn out...

I printed off leaf stencils and traced them into construction paper...

I got a pack of "holiday themed" scrapbook paper at WalMart in the clearance section. (I visit it shamelessly every time I'm care-packaging)

Score...milk box that doesn't have to be refrigerated...

I put little pink post it notes on as many of the things as I could...

I also found a new kind of popcorn - white cheddar! I only got one package to see if he likes it.

And here he is with the package!

:)

A couple things aren't technically fall but...a lot of times, fall is the end of the fruit season so I got things that were fruit or fruit infused or fruit inspired.

The "soup" is actually chef-boy-ardee raviolis...He likes weird things like that. I've never eaten them in my life but they sound like something he might eat..We'll see. 

The planetary stickers are glow in the dark...Maybe he can use them to decorate his rack because they wouldn't be able to be seen when the lights are on...

All the goodies... 

earlier, I sent him a buffalo powder shaker and this time, I found ranch.

Plus funnies and lots of fruit items...don't want any scurvy, now!

The Dole fruit bits with yogurt and whole grain granola were a hit.

He loves the Ninja Turtles and the packs of the gummies were on sale at the Commissary...I tried one of them...they're revolting...sorry, honey!