Edward's Graduation

So unfortunately Edward and I have decided that I wont be coming out to his graduation. The flight will be about $1000, let alone hotel and car rental costs, only for a total of 16 hours with Edward. I think Edward and I can survive being without each other for a week or a month (whichever the military decides it is). Anywho... just thought I should keep you all updated.

5 Years of Marital Bliss

It's Edward's and my anniversary today. Hooray for being married to someone you really like.

ps. I just got the most beautiful floral arrangement from Edward... just thought you all might like to see (I just about cried when I saw them)

Are the Rumors True?

I just heard from an old high school friend (Angie Meyer) that Bill Clinton will be in Decatur, Indiana today? Is that true? How crazy is that! Claudia and Ed, will you be attending this event? I sure hope so!!!

Update-erific

Hi guys! Just to keep you guys posted... I've been a busy bee. I officially have a website up. It's been taking me forever and I'm happy it exhists... but I still have a lot more to go on it. I chose Octopus Ink Illustration as my business identity because nobody can remember how to spell either of my names for beans... so I decided to go aquatic. Really it's just a play on the medium I mostly paint in, which is watercolor.

Anyway, so that's that... and I recently started an Edward and Me blog if you guys are interested. We'll see were things go :)

Love you all and hope things are well,

Meridth

Happy Birthday Stacey!!!

Mom and Dad have been trying desperately all day to post a happy birthday wish to our dear Stacey Martin Phipps! Today is her birthday!! Although there are only a few hours left in the day, we all hope you enjoy them tremendously!



How did you celebrate your birthday Stacey? Did David take you out for a nice meal or did you enjoy a nice evening at home? Did you celebrate with friends or family? Did you eat some delicious cake? Did Kyle sing you happy birthday? We hope that whatever you did, it was something you wanted to do and something that made you happy! We were all thinking of you on this special day!!!



HAPPY BIRTHDAY STACEY!!!

Cleveland here we Come!

It looks like we will be moving to Cleveland in May. Plan your visit now to The Cleve'.

Any packing and moving tips from those of you who have done a big move? Once I finish my masters project, I'm planning on starting the packing process. I need to do some major edits and reductions of our stuff. It is amazing to think that Richard and I moved to LA three years ago with three car loads of stuff and that was it! Here are just a few things in our garage that we will be either donating or getting rid of:
1. A broken picnic basket
2. Material to build 2 liter bottle rockets (for Richard's Boy Scouts)
3. lots and lots and lots of tote bags. I don't know why I have so many totes, but I do.
4. A few strange Christmas decorations that Richard will insist that I throw away, but that I sort of love. This includes a "Thai Santa"
5. Potting soil

This is just the coo-coo crazy stuff that is in our garage! I haven't even started to look in the deep, dark crevices of the closets in my apartment! Seriously, any tips or ideas about moving would be greatly appreciated!

We are still trying to figure out the logistics of the move and everything, but we will keep you all posted!

MREs, Candy and the Black Market

Let's talk about MREs. For the uninitiated, MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) are precooked prepackaged (in some cases, pre-chewed and digested) meals the army uses when they are in the field. You can buy them at Army Surplus stores if you'd like an example. They come in a heavy plastic brown bag and break down further into maybe 5-7 pouches, each a processed food item.Your typical MRE might have say... Italian Chicken with shell pasta. In addition to your entree, you get a small pouch of trail mix, an envelope of powdered electrolyte drink, a pouch containing a palm sized piece of wheat snack bread, a pouch of fortified cheese spread (with bacon) and a fig bar. Ideally, the MRE contains 100-1300 calories to sustain soldiers in the field who are burning more calories, but with so many pouches of snackish foods the Basic training soldier typically turns quickly to economics and trade.


Allow me to back up a moment: In basic training one isn't given a lot of time or a lot of choice concerning food. Granted in the chow hall soldiers can select from as any as 5 entrees and side choices, not to mention an alright salad bar. However one typically has a mere 7 minutes to wolf down their food. This tension, combined with a logical lack of any and all junk food and a blanket ban on any food outside the chow hall (i.e. no between meal snacks) makes the typical BCT soldier somewhat edgy about his/her food.

Back to MREs. Soldiers can get pretty picky about MREs even though we're not allowed to choose our own. It's a lottery with the lucky winning the popular choices (Beef Ravioli because it has stellar side items) and losers taking what's left (Tuna on pita bread because it's measly.) On top of that, and again, although it's ostensibly prohibited, there is a lively market for trading sides. Fortified peanut butter often trades slightly higher than it's counterpart cheese spreads (in plain, bacon or jalapeño) and Hooah Bars (like an Army Powerbar) run much higher than carrot pound cake but are roughly equal to mint chocolate brownies, which are pretty rare. The trading of entree items happens more rarely but it's not unheard of. Some soldiers go so far as to trade their entrees away for a pair of wheat snack breads and a fortified peanut butter, but this is rare as it will likely leave the trader somewhat hungary.

Now rarely but occasionally a package of M&Ms or Skittles will be inside a MRE. Some platoons are allowed to eat theirs in spite of aforementioned ban on junk food. In our platoon, however, we are not allowed. Sadly only the naive (like myself) ever really turn candy over to the drill sergeants. Part of the Gimbel tendency to rabidly avoid trouble, I suppose. Most soldiers who find candy secret it away under their body armor, into their briefs or, if they are foolish, into their pockets. Pockets are for the foolish because of the random contraband shakedowns that happen on occasion.

Yes many like to eat the candy but there is also a vigorous black market for goods of this nature. I have heard, for example, that a Snickers bar will go for about $8 and soda runs for about a dollar an ounce. Getting it is the tricky part because you have to know a private with PX privileges.

Anyway, all this explains why you guys have to curb the impulse I know you're all feeling to send me care packages fulll of crispy snack crackers, chewy cookies or scrummy fudge. Fight the impulse! Your letters will have to suffice. As soon as I get home you can bet that I'm gonna whip up a batch of fudgy brownies with walnuts first thing. Yum!

~Rusty

Something Cool from LA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3aAVctDK8U

You have to watch this video. It is so cool! Josh and Charlotte are our great friends here in LA. We will miss living in LA so much because of all our amazing friends!!!

XM Radio Deal

Ed/Karl: My buddy at work was telling me about a new promotional deal with XM Radio where you can get one year of service for $77. (50% off) I called 1-800-347-0600 and asked for a sales person and it worked. (Promotional code: zwinback) - Brandon

looking for a new car dad?

Saw this and thought of you. buy in is 30 grand. something to think about.

ryan

A Very Funny Website

Richard found this site. We had a good laugh about it. Basically because we saw ourselves in it.

Another Typical Day in the Gas Chamber

So everybody keeps asking me how Edward has been doing in Basic. How do you answer a question like that? My impression of Basic Training is that it really really sucks for everybody, but that it's a necessary evil. So... I just got a letter from Edward today talking about his experience in the gas chamber and though I'd share:

"We had a few hours briefing about the operation of our chem mask. Pretty typical stuff. Most people were a mixture of nervous/excited. Through the trees we could see the squat brown building lurking like a beast. I personally am not especially fond of gas masks, it feels like you're breathing through a straw, but I can tell you it beats the alternative. They have a sliding metal door and a drill Sergeant stands there telling us that we're all going to die.

Inside, the walls are damp concrete, kind of like a basement. The lights are dim or maybe it seems that way through the gas or the fogged up glass of the mask.

Suddenly we are instructed to break the seal of our mask and expose our nose and mouth and recite our name, rank and social security number. After a brief burning sensation and a moment of panic I resealed my mask clearing out the bad air. My eyes burned, my nose dripped mucous, I was breathing hard. I could feel the burning now on my neck and hands and I was particularly concerned almost panicky about the next part.

They rushed us over near the exit and shouted for us to remove our masks. Taking a deep breath I slipped my head out from the straps. I pounced on the first three lines of the 'Soldiers Creed,' the chant we say every morning. Gagging, I fought my way through lines 4 and 5. Up to line 7 I was okay and then they threw me out the door.

On hitting the daylight my first thought was that I couldn't breathe. I was breathing only in short little hiccups. Fighting back panic again I walked as calmly as I could, waiving my arms to air-ate my clothes. Then my eyes started burning. Ow. That was the worst part. The only way to clear my eyes was to open them... which stung.

Long story short, five minutes later I was alright. Now about 8 hours later I can still smell it just a touch and the back of my neck still burns. All in all, it wasn't as bad as I expected and I'd have no real hesitation to repeat the experience within the confines of a mission."

So there you have it. A day in the life of Private Gimbel.

Mom's Contribution to the Household

Ed and I had a conversation the other day about our contributions to the household.  Since the axle strike, he has been laid-off from General Motors, and thinks that he is the only reason that things are running so smoothly around the house.  I have to admit that he is really a great help--especially at the end of the grading  period when things are so crazy and hectic for me.  

So anyway... as we were going down the list of all the stuff he's doing; cooking, grocery shopping, cleaning, washing windows, dusting, laundry, scrubbing toilets, shoveling sh--oops I mean snow, painting, organizing his office, working on the garage--the list is endless; he asked me what I'm doing to contribute the the betterment of the family.  

Boy, I really had to think hard.  Of course, the top of the list would be that I'm the family bread-winner!  I get to be the one to pay the bills.  I'm also the our family public relations specialist, AND the social director.  (Now, you know at this point, I am really scrambling to find meaning for my existence.)  

I'm also the acting spiritual liaison for the family, and the communications expert.  On occasion, I even function as the family spell-checker.  I still work in gifts and acquisitions, although he has become much more proficient at ordering via the internet than I.

Anyway, at this point, I can't think of any more pretend jobs that I do that sound funny, but if you can think of any pointless, banal, pseudo-job that I do around the house besides grade papers, do Relief Society or sorority stuff, OR anything that has to do with scrapbooking, or whining, please post your contributions to my cause.  All entries will be taken with a light heart (not on my sleeve!)

Love, Claudia 

Another new Gimbel-Martin-Phipps

I hope that I'm not betraying any confidences when I share this breaking news story! I have been unable to spend much time on the e.gimbel email site because of some ISP difficulties here in Decatur, but I went on the gimbel email while at school, and found a wonderful email from Stacey and David announcing the (I believe it was..) August(?) arrival of a new little brother or sister for Kyle. Stacey included an ultrasound picture, and you can clearly make out the shape! She said that Kyle keeps asking when the baby can come out of her tummy and play. Too cute!

We love you Stacey, and are so excited for you, David and Kyle! Babies bring such happy times. We will need to stay in closer touch, so we can be there for you if you need anything.

CONGRATULATIONS!

They Say It's Your Birthday!

Margie turns 30 today.  It's so hard for me to imagine it's been thirty years since Margie was born because I remember it like it was yesterday.  Margie was the first Gimbel baby born in Janesville, Wisconsin, and the first baby delivered by Doctor O'Brien and cared for by Doctor Nagle.  Everyone at church was so excited to meet her, and I couldn't believe my luck at delivering a little baby girl.  She was SO incredibly beautiful, and just perfect in every way.  

My mother came out to help me care for her, and she could not get over her own little girl having a little girl.  Margie, you were so snugly.  You would just conform your body to my body when I held you, and you loved being cuddled up closely.  And you had a vibrant and exciting personality from the very beginning.

I loved being your mother.  I love that I got to care for you, and nurture you, and I am so proud of you and all your accomplishments.  You are still an incredible person, and I wish that you weren't so far away.  I miss you.

Dad says "Happy Birthday", too and we hope you have a wonderful day.  We will see you next weekend!

Love, from Mom