I've been under the gun here for the last few days. We have movers coming next week and our house is a total mess right now with bits and pieces of our house all over the frickin' place. I am working the finance part of our new house before they take away my computer, scanner and financial records. Please pray that interest rates drop some so we can get a better deal!
Also I ask that you say a prayer, karmic thoughts or just all around give some good ju-ju to my friend. Her son was born on the 27th (my shower day), but at 34 weeks. He has a name but we shall call him Frog. Frog is having some respiratory issues, his lungs are little bit under developed. He's at a Children's Hospital in the Bay Area and will probably be there a month. Even a little early he was still 6 pounds, so he's got the fighting spirit of his Mom & Dad. He just needs a little bit of time to get his lungs into good working order.
Oz has not moved his little head. Thankfully, my muscles have stopped spasming over the fact that there's a head in there pushing them all out of place. This means I can actually sleep now, no unisom to sleep at all. I can't even lift 5 lbs though which really sucks but the hubby is being a trooper and is being really patient knowing I can't prep the house the way we usually do. We did have the schrunk disassembled yesterday. Which was funny because in a 10 foot radius we have lost one of the keys. I still think the Master Craftsman we had come show us how to take the thing apart took the key home by mistake. Which sadly means we will never see the damn key at ever again. I will have to contact the furniture company in Belgium, send them a key and have them send me my key and a replacement.
So the next ummm 3 weeks will be little to no blogging. I just have too much going on to be creative. I could just tell you what I ate for breakfast each morning if you like but ummm that would be pretty frickin' boring. (Speaking of which I have a giant bag of Marshmallow Maties and eat those every morning to make sure I get enough milk in my diet)
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
Memorial Day
As I sit watching a program about the reservations and the assassination of Chief Sitting Bull this evening I started to ponder about the sacrifices people have made either to their people, their government or this world. For me I think this Memorial Day it would be my honor to remember the Navajo code talkers in WWII.
With several codes already broken by the German's the US needed something that couldn't be broken and keep their service members safe. The Navajo Code Talkers Program was established in September 1942 as the result of a recommendation made the previous February by Mr. Philip Johnston to Major General Clayton P. Vogel, USMC., Commanding General, Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet, headquartered at Camp Elliott, California.
Mr. Johnston, the son of a missionary to the Navajo tribe, was fluent in the language, having lived among the Navajos for 24 years. He believed that use by the Marine Corps of Navajo as a code language in voice (radio and wire) transmission could guarantee communications security.
Mr. Johnston's rationale for this belief was that Navajo is an unwritten language and completely unintelligible to anyone except another Navajo, and that it is a rich fluent language for which code words, in Navajo, could be devised for specialized military terms, such as the Navajo word for "turtle" representing a tank.
Joe Morris Sr was one of over 200 Navajo recruited and served during WWII. He lied about his age and joined the Marine Corps at the age of 17. “At first the Marines didn’t believe that the Navajo code would help,” Morris said. “The Japanese had broken every other code that the Marines tried to use. The Marines started to like us. They said we were saving a lot of lives with our code.”
After the war ended, the Navajo Code Talkers were forgotten and the majority of the general population knew very little about them. In recognition of their dedicated service to America during World War II, the Navajo code talkers were awarded a Certificate of Appreciation from the President of the United States in December 1981. It was only in July 2001, more than half a century after the end of the war, the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers who developed the code were given the The Congressional Medal for Meritorious Service in Communications during World War II in Washington, DC. Only 5 of them were still alive. A few months later, the remaining 400 Navajo Code Talkers received the Silver Congressional Medal of Honor in Window Rock, AZ. Unfortunately, most of them did not live to see the recognition.
Please remember all those that have served during our history but please take a moment to remember the courage and ingenuity of the Navajo who helped to save lives of those that fought during WWII.
All information contained can be obtained from the following articles:
Navajo Code Talkers
Code Talkers (Part of the Story)
WWII Windtalker Sets the Story Straight
With several codes already broken by the German's the US needed something that couldn't be broken and keep their service members safe. The Navajo Code Talkers Program was established in September 1942 as the result of a recommendation made the previous February by Mr. Philip Johnston to Major General Clayton P. Vogel, USMC., Commanding General, Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet, headquartered at Camp Elliott, California.
Mr. Johnston, the son of a missionary to the Navajo tribe, was fluent in the language, having lived among the Navajos for 24 years. He believed that use by the Marine Corps of Navajo as a code language in voice (radio and wire) transmission could guarantee communications security.
Mr. Johnston's rationale for this belief was that Navajo is an unwritten language and completely unintelligible to anyone except another Navajo, and that it is a rich fluent language for which code words, in Navajo, could be devised for specialized military terms, such as the Navajo word for "turtle" representing a tank.
Joe Morris Sr was one of over 200 Navajo recruited and served during WWII. He lied about his age and joined the Marine Corps at the age of 17. “At first the Marines didn’t believe that the Navajo code would help,” Morris said. “The Japanese had broken every other code that the Marines tried to use. The Marines started to like us. They said we were saving a lot of lives with our code.”
After the war ended, the Navajo Code Talkers were forgotten and the majority of the general population knew very little about them. In recognition of their dedicated service to America during World War II, the Navajo code talkers were awarded a Certificate of Appreciation from the President of the United States in December 1981. It was only in July 2001, more than half a century after the end of the war, the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers who developed the code were given the The Congressional Medal for Meritorious Service in Communications during World War II in Washington, DC. Only 5 of them were still alive. A few months later, the remaining 400 Navajo Code Talkers received the Silver Congressional Medal of Honor in Window Rock, AZ. Unfortunately, most of them did not live to see the recognition.
Please remember all those that have served during our history but please take a moment to remember the courage and ingenuity of the Navajo who helped to save lives of those that fought during WWII.
All information contained can be obtained from the following articles:
Navajo Code Talkers
Code Talkers (Part of the Story)
WWII Windtalker Sets the Story Straight
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Bad baby, bad bad baby
Today should have been my baby shower. Other than dealing with the MIL inviting other people to my shower without my consent, I was really looking forward to it. This is my parents first grandchild and my first child. I wanted to hang with friends and just have a great time. Oz shot that one right out the window.
Tuesday night after my OB appointment, I vacuumed the house really well. I felt a small twinge in my belly but figured I over did it slightly and took it easy the rest of the night. About 3 am I awoke to a pain in my belly that nearly knocked me on my ass. I spent the rest of the night on the couch trying to find a comfortable position in order to sleep. It didn't improve and I was having serious issues walking or standing up straight. I called the nurse and left a message. It was nothing major I thought, just the baby moved into a bad position that is poking the crap out of me.
As I waited for a return call, I tried all the things people had suggested. I took a frozen water bottle and placed in on the sore spot because the baby would move away from the cold. All the little buggar did was kick me on the opposing side. After about 45 minutes of that I gave it up. I then tried putting a heating pad where I wanted the baby to be as supposedly they would gravitate towards the heat....yeah like that worked or I wouldn't be bitching about it today. I then tried putting a flashlight up to my belly since they are supposed to move away from bright lights. I was getting tempted to do voodoo shortly if something didn't work. I even tried the cat pose from yoga but no luck either.
Finally I get a call back from my OB nurse and I was told to lie on the floor and have the hubby rotate the kid to a better position. Neither one of us wants to hurt the kid, or make him stupid by cutting off his blood flow so we did it rather gentlely. He moved about an inch maybe an inch and a half. I had relief, until about 5 minutes later when the buggar moved right back!
I didn't sleep Thursday night either. I spent the night tossing on the couch watching adult swim on the Cartoon Network. The pain was to the point where I literally could not walk, sit or stand for more than about 3 minutes and needed to change again. I called the OB office and asked to come in. They for some reason sent me to L&D probably because I said I can't get this kid to move in tears.
When I am in pain I am a royal shit. I have a high tolerance for pain so when it makes me cry then you know you better run and hide. I try to make jokes to keep me from ripping heads off and slamming them on pikes, but unfortunately one of my jokes backfired and now I probably look like a drug addict seeking to get high.
While in L&D I teased the nurse by saying when is the doc coming I want a shot of demerol in my butt. This was after answering that I don't drink, smoke or take drugs at all while pregnant. I was really hurting and I was tearing the ACU sleeve off of my husband's arm. I figured that I was too calm and she probably didn't understand exactly how much pain I was in. In general I've noticed those that act like a cat on a hot tin roof get treated better than the quiet ones. Finally the doc comes and the first thing out of his mouth is "Well I think we will treat this like last time and only give you tylenol. There's no need for narcotics when a baby is involved and demerol is not a good idea." I could have killed the nurse and I tersely told him in the middle of his speech I was being a smart ass, rather than verbally abusing the staff.
He blatently refused to move the baby himself. I know they can do it, they do it all the time for kids that are breech in an effort to get them out vaginally without doing a C-section. I looked at him and told him I can't stand what the hell am I supposed to do? I haven't slept in 2 days and I really just wanted to get some sleep. I was told to wait it out and deal with it. Here I am supposed to fly to CA on Friday and I can't stand, there was no way I could sit for 4 hours for a plane ride.
I called my friend hosting the shower late Thursday and told her to call and cancel the shower. I called my mom to have her cancel the cake but she had already ordered it. They are going to take a picture for me and let me have the stuff off of the top of it for later. I was in tears. I just wanted to have a shower, to be with friends to be normal and not a military wife who knows no one in the area. I was lucky to have a shower at all had my nieghbor not been kind enough to put something together. This just sucks, I just wanted to be normal especially knowing this is probably the only child we were going to have.
My host had suggested that we have a welcome to the world party later about 3 months after Oz is born. Its a great suggestion, I'm just not up to not feeling sorry for myself yet. She had her shower yesterday and probably had a great time and I was stuck sitting in my PJs on the couch moving constantly to keep from crying out in pain. I wanted what she got and it sucks to feel jealous even over something as stupid as a shower. I'm happy for her (believe me hon' I am) I just wanted that too. I should consentrate on the fact that I will be having a baby when over a year ago I thought it would never happen, but you know how pity parties work - they don't stop until you want them to.
So I still can't stand for more than 5 minutes and really can't stay in any position more than 5 minutes without moving. I would have never made the plane ride and probably would have really hated the shower had I had to deal with the MIL pulling the crap she could have. I only sleep because they gave me Unisom to take. I don't know how long I can take it, but I will take it until I can sleep on my own. He still hasn't moved and this still really sucks. We move in 3 weeks and I just can't WAIT to see how the car ride is going to go with his little head resting on my ovary as a pillow.
Tuesday night after my OB appointment, I vacuumed the house really well. I felt a small twinge in my belly but figured I over did it slightly and took it easy the rest of the night. About 3 am I awoke to a pain in my belly that nearly knocked me on my ass. I spent the rest of the night on the couch trying to find a comfortable position in order to sleep. It didn't improve and I was having serious issues walking or standing up straight. I called the nurse and left a message. It was nothing major I thought, just the baby moved into a bad position that is poking the crap out of me.
As I waited for a return call, I tried all the things people had suggested. I took a frozen water bottle and placed in on the sore spot because the baby would move away from the cold. All the little buggar did was kick me on the opposing side. After about 45 minutes of that I gave it up. I then tried putting a heating pad where I wanted the baby to be as supposedly they would gravitate towards the heat....yeah like that worked or I wouldn't be bitching about it today. I then tried putting a flashlight up to my belly since they are supposed to move away from bright lights. I was getting tempted to do voodoo shortly if something didn't work. I even tried the cat pose from yoga but no luck either.
Finally I get a call back from my OB nurse and I was told to lie on the floor and have the hubby rotate the kid to a better position. Neither one of us wants to hurt the kid, or make him stupid by cutting off his blood flow so we did it rather gentlely. He moved about an inch maybe an inch and a half. I had relief, until about 5 minutes later when the buggar moved right back!
I didn't sleep Thursday night either. I spent the night tossing on the couch watching adult swim on the Cartoon Network. The pain was to the point where I literally could not walk, sit or stand for more than about 3 minutes and needed to change again. I called the OB office and asked to come in. They for some reason sent me to L&D probably because I said I can't get this kid to move in tears.
When I am in pain I am a royal shit. I have a high tolerance for pain so when it makes me cry then you know you better run and hide. I try to make jokes to keep me from ripping heads off and slamming them on pikes, but unfortunately one of my jokes backfired and now I probably look like a drug addict seeking to get high.
While in L&D I teased the nurse by saying when is the doc coming I want a shot of demerol in my butt. This was after answering that I don't drink, smoke or take drugs at all while pregnant. I was really hurting and I was tearing the ACU sleeve off of my husband's arm. I figured that I was too calm and she probably didn't understand exactly how much pain I was in. In general I've noticed those that act like a cat on a hot tin roof get treated better than the quiet ones. Finally the doc comes and the first thing out of his mouth is "Well I think we will treat this like last time and only give you tylenol. There's no need for narcotics when a baby is involved and demerol is not a good idea." I could have killed the nurse and I tersely told him in the middle of his speech I was being a smart ass, rather than verbally abusing the staff.
He blatently refused to move the baby himself. I know they can do it, they do it all the time for kids that are breech in an effort to get them out vaginally without doing a C-section. I looked at him and told him I can't stand what the hell am I supposed to do? I haven't slept in 2 days and I really just wanted to get some sleep. I was told to wait it out and deal with it. Here I am supposed to fly to CA on Friday and I can't stand, there was no way I could sit for 4 hours for a plane ride.
I called my friend hosting the shower late Thursday and told her to call and cancel the shower. I called my mom to have her cancel the cake but she had already ordered it. They are going to take a picture for me and let me have the stuff off of the top of it for later. I was in tears. I just wanted to have a shower, to be with friends to be normal and not a military wife who knows no one in the area. I was lucky to have a shower at all had my nieghbor not been kind enough to put something together. This just sucks, I just wanted to be normal especially knowing this is probably the only child we were going to have.
My host had suggested that we have a welcome to the world party later about 3 months after Oz is born. Its a great suggestion, I'm just not up to not feeling sorry for myself yet. She had her shower yesterday and probably had a great time and I was stuck sitting in my PJs on the couch moving constantly to keep from crying out in pain. I wanted what she got and it sucks to feel jealous even over something as stupid as a shower. I'm happy for her (believe me hon' I am) I just wanted that too. I should consentrate on the fact that I will be having a baby when over a year ago I thought it would never happen, but you know how pity parties work - they don't stop until you want them to.
So I still can't stand for more than 5 minutes and really can't stay in any position more than 5 minutes without moving. I would have never made the plane ride and probably would have really hated the shower had I had to deal with the MIL pulling the crap she could have. I only sleep because they gave me Unisom to take. I don't know how long I can take it, but I will take it until I can sleep on my own. He still hasn't moved and this still really sucks. We move in 3 weeks and I just can't WAIT to see how the car ride is going to go with his little head resting on my ovary as a pillow.
It comes in threes
I was tagged by the old Molly Pitcher who's now MamaLuxe and has a ton of Mommy related stuffs on her new sites now. Since I am stuck on the couch I guess she figured I could have a little fun...
Three Things That Scare Me
1. Currently buying a "money pit" house that we can't sell 4 years from now
2. Getting bit by a brown recluse while pregnant and not able to take the heavy duty meds for fear of making my kid retarded somehow
3. Having my parents go to soon
Three People Who Make Me Laugh
1. Robin Williams
2. My neighbor's son who's just about 2 but for some reason calls me 'Ney-ney'. He walked into my house the other day, crawled up on the couch with me, stood on it with his shoes on, shows me his two cars that he won't let go of, smiles and says "Hi Ney-ney!"
3. My brother Chuck
Three Things I Love
1. My husband
2. Spending time with good friends (you could throw in a bottle of wine MamaLuxe :-))
3. The smell of the ground right after an early morning CA rain
Three Things I Hate
1. Intollerance
2. Arrogance (its one thing to be ignorant and not know any better its a another to just not care that you are ignornant)
3. My lack of a quick wit since becoming preggo
Three Things I Don't Understand
1. Cruelty to animals or children
2. Why people to fail to accept differences and embrace them
3. How our current political system is such the failure to me that it is
Three Things On My Desk
1. A jar of change
2. Two pictures I printed with our new printer
3. Sticky notes
Three Things I'm Doing Right Now
1. Changing positions because my 5 minutes of comfort are up
2. Watching the boob tube
3. Looking the schrunk that needs to be cleaned out and figuring out how long this gimpy will take to do it
Three Things I Want To Do Before I Die
1. Watch my children grow and better themselves like my parents set up for me to better myself
2. Travel a little bit more - India, Thailand, Japan (stationed there would be great), China, back to Africa
3. Move back toward and ocean East Coast or West but live near the ocean again
Three Things I Can Do
(well? or just do?)
1. Raise my right eyebrow
2. A mean assed roundhouse kick
3. Speak 20 words in 6 languages (meaning 20 in each language)
Three Things I Can't Do
1. The splits (even at the hight of my karate days I could never get back to the splits)
2. Throw a baseball with my right arm
3. Spell
Three Things I Think You Should Listen To
1. A little bit of good punk each and every day (I am a child of punk)
2. Your gut - its there for a reason, don't ignore that squicky feeling
3. Your friends and family but still make the decision for yourself
Three Things You Should Never Listen To
1. Your mother in law (unless you actually like her)
2. Doubting Thomases - too much negativity drags you down
3. Know it alls who have never walked a mile in your shoes
Three Things I'd Like To Learn
1. To forgive more quickly
2. To go back to learning more karate & Shin Kendo
3. Professional photography - I've got blind talent but knowing what I was doing would be nice
Three Favorite Foods
1. Sushi
2. Gang Dang
3. Anything pretty much in Asia (Thai, Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Mongolian)
Three Shows I Watched As A Kid
1. The Brady Bunch - both the show and the cartoon
2. Mork & Mindy
3. The Love Boat - Yeah my taste did improve
Tagging always seems to get me in trouble but I'm thinking.....
Nicole - Itzy Bitzy Me
MQ - Word Well
Christie - Im Miei Pensieri
Three Things That Scare Me
1. Currently buying a "money pit" house that we can't sell 4 years from now
2. Getting bit by a brown recluse while pregnant and not able to take the heavy duty meds for fear of making my kid retarded somehow
3. Having my parents go to soon
Three People Who Make Me Laugh
1. Robin Williams
2. My neighbor's son who's just about 2 but for some reason calls me 'Ney-ney'. He walked into my house the other day, crawled up on the couch with me, stood on it with his shoes on, shows me his two cars that he won't let go of, smiles and says "Hi Ney-ney!"
3. My brother Chuck
Three Things I Love
1. My husband
2. Spending time with good friends (you could throw in a bottle of wine MamaLuxe :-))
3. The smell of the ground right after an early morning CA rain
Three Things I Hate
1. Intollerance
2. Arrogance (its one thing to be ignorant and not know any better its a another to just not care that you are ignornant)
3. My lack of a quick wit since becoming preggo
Three Things I Don't Understand
1. Cruelty to animals or children
2. Why people to fail to accept differences and embrace them
3. How our current political system is such the failure to me that it is
Three Things On My Desk
1. A jar of change
2. Two pictures I printed with our new printer
3. Sticky notes
Three Things I'm Doing Right Now
1. Changing positions because my 5 minutes of comfort are up
2. Watching the boob tube
3. Looking the schrunk that needs to be cleaned out and figuring out how long this gimpy will take to do it
Three Things I Want To Do Before I Die
1. Watch my children grow and better themselves like my parents set up for me to better myself
2. Travel a little bit more - India, Thailand, Japan (stationed there would be great), China, back to Africa
3. Move back toward and ocean East Coast or West but live near the ocean again
Three Things I Can Do
(well? or just do?)
1. Raise my right eyebrow
2. A mean assed roundhouse kick
3. Speak 20 words in 6 languages (meaning 20 in each language)
Three Things I Can't Do
1. The splits (even at the hight of my karate days I could never get back to the splits)
2. Throw a baseball with my right arm
3. Spell
Three Things I Think You Should Listen To
1. A little bit of good punk each and every day (I am a child of punk)
2. Your gut - its there for a reason, don't ignore that squicky feeling
3. Your friends and family but still make the decision for yourself
Three Things You Should Never Listen To
1. Your mother in law (unless you actually like her)
2. Doubting Thomases - too much negativity drags you down
3. Know it alls who have never walked a mile in your shoes
Three Things I'd Like To Learn
1. To forgive more quickly
2. To go back to learning more karate & Shin Kendo
3. Professional photography - I've got blind talent but knowing what I was doing would be nice
Three Favorite Foods
1. Sushi
2. Gang Dang
3. Anything pretty much in Asia (Thai, Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Mongolian)
Three Shows I Watched As A Kid
1. The Brady Bunch - both the show and the cartoon
2. Mork & Mindy
3. The Love Boat - Yeah my taste did improve
Tagging always seems to get me in trouble but I'm thinking.....
Nicole - Itzy Bitzy Me
MQ - Word Well
Christie - Im Miei Pensieri
Monday, May 21, 2007
Eureaka we found shelter from the impending storm
Well I like TN a HELL of a lot better than the cursed midlands crap I currently live in. I finally realized how I describe this place - Flat and yellow. I never realized that I did that before until now.
Being a grown up is scary, just thought I'd let you know. I met with the Realtor, went over the 18 houses I had lined up to look at and broke them down to make the best plan to save time going logically from one subdivision to another. You can tell by seeing the property if something will be done in time or if the property is crap. Those you don't even get out of the car. Sad part, was that one set of like 7-9 houses were beautiful. I loved they way they looked, they were in a nice subdivision too. Bad part was that you turn around (they were all on one street) and look to the other side of the street to see those big electrical transformer towers - there were a whole fucking row of them, 15 or so. There's no resale value in property like that so there was no point in even getting out of the car. By the end of day one, I had looked at 28 houses when you add the additional 10 she thought I'd like. We went back to her office, and selected another 10 or so to look at the next day. So for day 2 (the day the hubby was in town too) we had about 15 houses to look at.
I went back to the hotel and freaked out on my brother. I was totally frustrated. Looking for houses sucked big time. Anything that was within our price range or at least close to BAH was crappy. Either the walls were small and couldn't fit a 10 foot entertainment centre, there was no where to put the dining room table or the property was nasty, slopey or looked like we'd lose our fence every 5 years due to erosion. I was not looking forward to explaining to the hubby that if we wanted a nice home that fit our wants then we would have to go up in price.
When I picked up him from the airport, I went over all the issues I ran into. I had made notes on all the houses we looked at already and went through all the notes. I took pictures of some things like the gully at the edge of his favourite property - which probably would have meant losing the fence once every 5 years due to flooding or erosion. As we ate dinner, he was coming around to the fact that we would be paying more for a decent home that we thought.
Day two turned out to be pretty good. I had my favourite house, but something was odd. The builder put in a fence already so I asked the hubby to look over the fence for me. Guess what we found - a pond, or possibly a sink hole. It was pretty far away from the house and foundation but still, bugs and the chance of the thing growing was a bad idea. As the hubby hopped off the fence, Nine Inch Nails starts blasting from the tree line. We all look at each other and try to figure out what it is. Its a Saturday so no construction workers should be working. We get in the car drive around to find an apartment complex, but its not coming from there. Finally we find this tiny dirt road that we drive down only to find Joe Dirt and his 3 friends drinking beer at 10:30 in the morning. That pretty much rules out that place. It was too bad too because the floor plan was beautiful. Ranch style with no stairs except for the bonus room over the garage. It would have been perfect, had it been two streets over.
We went to this subdivision where most of our friends have bought their homes. It was about 10-15K out of our range, but there were two houses we wanted to look at. It was a pipe dream for me really considering the house I wanted to look at he kept rolling his eyes telling me how frickin' expensive it was. The first house was nice but the fools painted, the rooms upstairs some crazy assed colours - lime green, burnt umber, a blue/grey slate, some kinda chocolate colour - why the hell you do that right before you try and sell your home is beyond me. They spent all this money replacing the kitchen floor with this really nice tile but then paint the house funky colours. Not to mention that one of the rooms that appears to be a teenage boy's room smelled funny. Yeah, yeah I know boys rooms can smell, but with the super preggo nose I noticed a musty, moldy smell. It didn't smell right at all.
The second home we walked in the door and the hubby tells me he wants it. The one he just spent the last two weeks telling me how expensive it was, he really wanted. We measured the dining room, wandered up the stairs, peaked at the man's uniform to figure out what his rank was and his branch (he's an aviator), turned on faucets, flushed toilets all that kind of good stuff. We then wandered the back yard, looked at the deck, noticed how close the trees were or weren't to the house and if the property was pretty much flat. We then went back one more time to pick a second home in case our bid wasn't accepted and picked one of them.
Back at her office, we started working on the bid. Man that contract is a pain in the arse to read. I read them, no matter how time crunched we are but when we our purchasing something that is about the next 3.5 years salary I am going to read what I am getting into. I asked her if she knew what the other people were bidding - she either didn't know or couldn't say. All she mentioned is that they have countered twice. So I wanted to offer $500 less than full price but the hubby and the Agent said go ahead and ask full price, ask for the carpets to be cleaned, and to have the seller fork out $3K in closing costs. We set up the paperwork and went to dinner.
About two hours later we got the call, we won the bid! Funny thing about it was that we beat them out over a frickin' shower door and an additional $1K in closing costs. We priced the shower doors and install fees at Lowes the next day before we left. The folks wanted to bicker so bad over $300. Seriously, the shower door and install would have been $300. We laughed and figured we'd use a curtain for the first month or so and then put in the door later.
So now we are working the finance angle, looking for the best lender we can find. Gosh I thought kids were scary but this is worse. With kids you can pick them up and move them where ever, but you can't pick up a 2000 square foot house.
So now if we can figure out why the dog has gone completely neurotic things would be perfect (I can't believe the dog would be this nuts over me being pregnant but that's what its looking like).
Being a grown up is scary, just thought I'd let you know. I met with the Realtor, went over the 18 houses I had lined up to look at and broke them down to make the best plan to save time going logically from one subdivision to another. You can tell by seeing the property if something will be done in time or if the property is crap. Those you don't even get out of the car. Sad part, was that one set of like 7-9 houses were beautiful. I loved they way they looked, they were in a nice subdivision too. Bad part was that you turn around (they were all on one street) and look to the other side of the street to see those big electrical transformer towers - there were a whole fucking row of them, 15 or so. There's no resale value in property like that so there was no point in even getting out of the car. By the end of day one, I had looked at 28 houses when you add the additional 10 she thought I'd like. We went back to her office, and selected another 10 or so to look at the next day. So for day 2 (the day the hubby was in town too) we had about 15 houses to look at.
I went back to the hotel and freaked out on my brother. I was totally frustrated. Looking for houses sucked big time. Anything that was within our price range or at least close to BAH was crappy. Either the walls were small and couldn't fit a 10 foot entertainment centre, there was no where to put the dining room table or the property was nasty, slopey or looked like we'd lose our fence every 5 years due to erosion. I was not looking forward to explaining to the hubby that if we wanted a nice home that fit our wants then we would have to go up in price.
When I picked up him from the airport, I went over all the issues I ran into. I had made notes on all the houses we looked at already and went through all the notes. I took pictures of some things like the gully at the edge of his favourite property - which probably would have meant losing the fence once every 5 years due to flooding or erosion. As we ate dinner, he was coming around to the fact that we would be paying more for a decent home that we thought.
Day two turned out to be pretty good. I had my favourite house, but something was odd. The builder put in a fence already so I asked the hubby to look over the fence for me. Guess what we found - a pond, or possibly a sink hole. It was pretty far away from the house and foundation but still, bugs and the chance of the thing growing was a bad idea. As the hubby hopped off the fence, Nine Inch Nails starts blasting from the tree line. We all look at each other and try to figure out what it is. Its a Saturday so no construction workers should be working. We get in the car drive around to find an apartment complex, but its not coming from there. Finally we find this tiny dirt road that we drive down only to find Joe Dirt and his 3 friends drinking beer at 10:30 in the morning. That pretty much rules out that place. It was too bad too because the floor plan was beautiful. Ranch style with no stairs except for the bonus room over the garage. It would have been perfect, had it been two streets over.
We went to this subdivision where most of our friends have bought their homes. It was about 10-15K out of our range, but there were two houses we wanted to look at. It was a pipe dream for me really considering the house I wanted to look at he kept rolling his eyes telling me how frickin' expensive it was. The first house was nice but the fools painted, the rooms upstairs some crazy assed colours - lime green, burnt umber, a blue/grey slate, some kinda chocolate colour - why the hell you do that right before you try and sell your home is beyond me. They spent all this money replacing the kitchen floor with this really nice tile but then paint the house funky colours. Not to mention that one of the rooms that appears to be a teenage boy's room smelled funny. Yeah, yeah I know boys rooms can smell, but with the super preggo nose I noticed a musty, moldy smell. It didn't smell right at all.
The second home we walked in the door and the hubby tells me he wants it. The one he just spent the last two weeks telling me how expensive it was, he really wanted. We measured the dining room, wandered up the stairs, peaked at the man's uniform to figure out what his rank was and his branch (he's an aviator), turned on faucets, flushed toilets all that kind of good stuff. We then wandered the back yard, looked at the deck, noticed how close the trees were or weren't to the house and if the property was pretty much flat. We then went back one more time to pick a second home in case our bid wasn't accepted and picked one of them.
Back at her office, we started working on the bid. Man that contract is a pain in the arse to read. I read them, no matter how time crunched we are but when we our purchasing something that is about the next 3.5 years salary I am going to read what I am getting into. I asked her if she knew what the other people were bidding - she either didn't know or couldn't say. All she mentioned is that they have countered twice. So I wanted to offer $500 less than full price but the hubby and the Agent said go ahead and ask full price, ask for the carpets to be cleaned, and to have the seller fork out $3K in closing costs. We set up the paperwork and went to dinner.
About two hours later we got the call, we won the bid! Funny thing about it was that we beat them out over a frickin' shower door and an additional $1K in closing costs. We priced the shower doors and install fees at Lowes the next day before we left. The folks wanted to bicker so bad over $300. Seriously, the shower door and install would have been $300. We laughed and figured we'd use a curtain for the first month or so and then put in the door later.
So now we are working the finance angle, looking for the best lender we can find. Gosh I thought kids were scary but this is worse. With kids you can pick them up and move them where ever, but you can't pick up a 2000 square foot house.
So now if we can figure out why the dog has gone completely neurotic things would be perfect (I can't believe the dog would be this nuts over me being pregnant but that's what its looking like).
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Last train to Clarksville
My brother has that damn song stuck in my head......grrrrr what a butthead! That and I so want to give the young Davey Jones a blasted haircut!
Looking around Clarksville this weekend. Send some mojo or prayers (whatever your religion) my way that we find a nice home, at a decent price, and on a good, level lot.....no money pit houses allowed!
Take the last train to Clarksville and I'll meet you at the station....
Looking around Clarksville this weekend. Send some mojo or prayers (whatever your religion) my way that we find a nice home, at a decent price, and on a good, level lot.....no money pit houses allowed!
Take the last train to Clarksville and I'll meet you at the station....
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
The Slanted Screen
I am one of those people who flip through the channels versus just flipping through the channel guide. I don't know why but I do. Maybe its more interesting to see the images versus just reading about it. Who knows.
Anyways, last night I was flipping through the channels and landed on the local PBS station. I grew up as a kid watching PBS, either Sesame Street, the Electric Company or something my mom wanted to watch. I loved seeing the RSC plays of Othello or King Lear and learned to like opera from PBS. So when I landed on the PBS station last night a new program was starting - called the Slanted Screen.
It was a great one hour documentary about Asian males in the American Cinema. It covered the changes of Asian males & their roles through American cinema from the early 50's to present. I was really impressed that Asians are trying to change their current status in American cinema. But I was seriously taken a back that I didn't realize that Asian males don't really hold mainstream roles and definitely not romantic ones in American Cinema. Most often they hold character roles, comical ones usually being the clumsy idiot or they play the Yakusa gangster.
Yes there's Jackie Chan or Jet Li, but they pretty much only stay in one or two genres - basically either Chinese films brought to America or American martial arts films. Ken Wanatabe (who is yummy BTW) has stepped up some with great roles in The Last Samurai or Letters from Iwo Jima - but then again they were films about Japan or Japanese related themes. What really surprised me (and frankly seriously bothered me) was hearing how certain roles in The Fast & the Furious - Tokyo Drift the financiers kept pushing the writer to change from a Japanese person to either black or white. A scene at the end of Romeo Must Die was changed to remove a kiss between Jet Li & Alyiah because the test screening failed so miserably. Romeo Must Die was an adaptation of Romeo & Juliet so they are supposed to end up together as some point in the film. Apparently the American test screening audience couldn't handle the thought of romance between them.
I guess I am really fortunate that my parents really did raise me to not see colour. Ken Wanatabe is a good actor regardless of the fact that he's Japanese - I just like his work. I just like the work of Morgan Freeman (Sidney Poitier if you want old school) or Edward Norton as well. They are all males and all could hold their own on screen. I hope that the American cinema quickly gets over only putting certain people in certain roles just because of their nationality and places them based solely on their ability.
Anyways, last night I was flipping through the channels and landed on the local PBS station. I grew up as a kid watching PBS, either Sesame Street, the Electric Company or something my mom wanted to watch. I loved seeing the RSC plays of Othello or King Lear and learned to like opera from PBS. So when I landed on the PBS station last night a new program was starting - called the Slanted Screen.
It was a great one hour documentary about Asian males in the American Cinema. It covered the changes of Asian males & their roles through American cinema from the early 50's to present. I was really impressed that Asians are trying to change their current status in American cinema. But I was seriously taken a back that I didn't realize that Asian males don't really hold mainstream roles and definitely not romantic ones in American Cinema. Most often they hold character roles, comical ones usually being the clumsy idiot or they play the Yakusa gangster.
Yes there's Jackie Chan or Jet Li, but they pretty much only stay in one or two genres - basically either Chinese films brought to America or American martial arts films. Ken Wanatabe (who is yummy BTW) has stepped up some with great roles in The Last Samurai or Letters from Iwo Jima - but then again they were films about Japan or Japanese related themes. What really surprised me (and frankly seriously bothered me) was hearing how certain roles in The Fast & the Furious - Tokyo Drift the financiers kept pushing the writer to change from a Japanese person to either black or white. A scene at the end of Romeo Must Die was changed to remove a kiss between Jet Li & Alyiah because the test screening failed so miserably. Romeo Must Die was an adaptation of Romeo & Juliet so they are supposed to end up together as some point in the film. Apparently the American test screening audience couldn't handle the thought of romance between them.
I guess I am really fortunate that my parents really did raise me to not see colour. Ken Wanatabe is a good actor regardless of the fact that he's Japanese - I just like his work. I just like the work of Morgan Freeman (Sidney Poitier if you want old school) or Edward Norton as well. They are all males and all could hold their own on screen. I hope that the American cinema quickly gets over only putting certain people in certain roles just because of their nationality and places them based solely on their ability.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
May Showers
Bring baby fun! Today was my first shower thrown by my neighbor. We went to a local place, very cute little cottage called June's Cottage here in Leveanworth. Funny I didn't think there was anything redeeming about this place short of the Thai place. The cottage was really cute, had great food.
My friend decorated it really cute, well I just had a nice time. I didn't think I knew enough people here to be fun but well it was! Here's a few pictures, no people piccies of course....
My friend decorated it really cute, well I just had a nice time. I didn't think I knew enough people here to be fun but well it was! Here's a few pictures, no people piccies of course....
I see you
No seriously, I know who my regulars are, they usually leave notes or shoot me an email. But um, I've got a few new lurkers lately. New readers are great but let me know you've stopped by from:
Lincoln, Nebraska
Overland Park, Kansas (like 30 mintues from my house)
So uh, whatcha doing? You visit a lot but don't even say 'hello'. *sigh*
Lincoln, Nebraska
Overland Park, Kansas (like 30 mintues from my house)
So uh, whatcha doing? You visit a lot but don't even say 'hello'. *sigh*
Friday, May 11, 2007
Happy Happy Military Spouses Day!
Military Spouse Day was first celebrated in 1984 when then-President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the observance to honor the contributions of military spouses. The military now sets aside the Friday before Mother's Day each year to pay tribute to the spouses who play a vital role in the nation's defense.
I wish only the best for Military Spouses and their families. If you see a Mil spouse today, give 'em a big ole hug just for me.
I wish only the best for Military Spouses and their families. If you see a Mil spouse today, give 'em a big ole hug just for me.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Time is irrelevant
Ever have a friend that you like very much but who has no concept of time? Ever want to just smack them upside the head with a watch for them to wear? I love the few friends I've made here. They are pretty good people, like minded which is nice when you run into folks with similar values, but one of them really has no sense of time. The other night a 5 minute stop into a store turned into an hour. Sadly that meant the store I wanted to go to was closed by the time we got out of there. Pretty much the norm, I'm even used to getting ready a half an hour later than she mentions because she won't be ready on time anyways.
Unfortunately, the running perpetually late thing is starting to get a little hard for me. I'm starting to hit the invalid stage in the pregnancy where you waddle and can't bend over, etc. Its hard to stand for an hour while they try on clothes in a store where your little belly doesn't fit right at the moment. But being the friend you grin and bear it, knowing that there is something that you must do that drives them up the wall too - you know its a trade off. Really its just a petty annoyance, you know that joke "girl you will be late to your own funeral." But frustrating at times none the less.
Her birthday is coming up, maybe I should buy her a watch? *snicker*
Unfortunately, the running perpetually late thing is starting to get a little hard for me. I'm starting to hit the invalid stage in the pregnancy where you waddle and can't bend over, etc. Its hard to stand for an hour while they try on clothes in a store where your little belly doesn't fit right at the moment. But being the friend you grin and bear it, knowing that there is something that you must do that drives them up the wall too - you know its a trade off. Really its just a petty annoyance, you know that joke "girl you will be late to your own funeral." But frustrating at times none the less.
Her birthday is coming up, maybe I should buy her a watch? *snicker*
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
ASSociations
Ever wonder about that word, about ASSociation(s)? Who or what in an ASSociation becomes the ass? You for joining, members for becoming gossip mongers, the association for being or leading a stupid cause? Who or what is the ASS?
Many women that I have ran into over the past 9 years or so in the military choose not to join different spousal associations because they've heard or ran into a group that behaves like a bunch of asses. I am one of those women. I am so leery to become the 'joiner.' I have been burned or watched people get burned by the typical ASSociation. So I usually join tentatively. I hold back, keep quiet and check out the scene. That way if it is a true ASSociation I haven't opened myself up and revealed the vuneralbe underbelly of myself.
The only real disappointment I've ran into lately was a multi-service group. I played it safe, stayed on the fringe for quite a while. I started to make a few good friends, fell into an "administrative" type position within the group and was enjoying it. I passed out some advice one day and apparently the advice rubbed another admin type person the wrong way. What provided the biggest disappointment wasn't that I made a mistake, I mean yeah that sucks and I am sorry that I irritated and stepped on toes. But what disappointed me most was that I was never pulled aside and talked to, by either the offended party nor the head administrator. Instead I walk in to see a new policy on the wall and it wasn't worded very nice. Seeing phrases like "you may think your helping but you really aren't" is a crappy way to say it and honestly should have been brought to the individual doing the toe stepping first, then publish the new policy. That and telling them first would let the others know if they were the one making the mistake - which sadly because no one came to me, I could be an idiot jumping to conclusions. (Yes I've weighed that fact but pretty much got the idea that I'm not an idiot on this.)
Any member, administrative or otherwise could have given the advice as well. A regular member would have gotten a letter stating to play nice next time and it would have been done in private. What kinda stung was the fear I always have about joining a large ASSociation came true - friends aren't always what they appear to be. One of the offended party pretty much was a friend but didn't say a word to me. I would have apologized profusely and attempted to correct it. Instead in light of it, I pulled back and will go back to where I was - on the fringe.
So how do you deal with ASSociations? Do you automatically ignore them because you think that time and again they will prove to be a large number of asses? Do you work like me and take them on individually judging whether the group as a whole is okay while running around the fringe? Or do you just jump right in, join right up and don't even see the asses of the ASSociation while they drag you down the street dressed as a clown?
Many women that I have ran into over the past 9 years or so in the military choose not to join different spousal associations because they've heard or ran into a group that behaves like a bunch of asses. I am one of those women. I am so leery to become the 'joiner.' I have been burned or watched people get burned by the typical ASSociation. So I usually join tentatively. I hold back, keep quiet and check out the scene. That way if it is a true ASSociation I haven't opened myself up and revealed the vuneralbe underbelly of myself.
The only real disappointment I've ran into lately was a multi-service group. I played it safe, stayed on the fringe for quite a while. I started to make a few good friends, fell into an "administrative" type position within the group and was enjoying it. I passed out some advice one day and apparently the advice rubbed another admin type person the wrong way. What provided the biggest disappointment wasn't that I made a mistake, I mean yeah that sucks and I am sorry that I irritated and stepped on toes. But what disappointed me most was that I was never pulled aside and talked to, by either the offended party nor the head administrator. Instead I walk in to see a new policy on the wall and it wasn't worded very nice. Seeing phrases like "you may think your helping but you really aren't" is a crappy way to say it and honestly should have been brought to the individual doing the toe stepping first, then publish the new policy. That and telling them first would let the others know if they were the one making the mistake - which sadly because no one came to me, I could be an idiot jumping to conclusions. (Yes I've weighed that fact but pretty much got the idea that I'm not an idiot on this.)
Any member, administrative or otherwise could have given the advice as well. A regular member would have gotten a letter stating to play nice next time and it would have been done in private. What kinda stung was the fear I always have about joining a large ASSociation came true - friends aren't always what they appear to be. One of the offended party pretty much was a friend but didn't say a word to me. I would have apologized profusely and attempted to correct it. Instead in light of it, I pulled back and will go back to where I was - on the fringe.
So how do you deal with ASSociations? Do you automatically ignore them because you think that time and again they will prove to be a large number of asses? Do you work like me and take them on individually judging whether the group as a whole is okay while running around the fringe? Or do you just jump right in, join right up and don't even see the asses of the ASSociation while they drag you down the street dressed as a clown?
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Glucose is my nemesis!
I failed my initial glucose test about a week and a half ago. I was not looking forward to the 3 hour stress test I had to take today. Especially after hearing about the crap my friend has been going through since failed her 3 hour test. Her nutritionist I think has smoked a few too many bowls of skunkweed and can't seem to provide her answers to why she's now having the issues she's having with the shear volume of food she has to eat in order to meet the carbs requirement she was given.
Anyways, I spent the last 3 days eating a carb laden diet that gave me a ton o' headaches. I was borderline on my first failure so they like to max you out on carbs to see if you really are going to have an issue or if the body can handle the extra stress. I showed up for my regular OB appointment at 0920 and spent about 35 minutes in there then went down to the lab. I tried to convince them to hook me up to the little faucet like thingie they put in for an IV but they couldn't do it. I guess they needed a fresh prick to ensure that the blood was the freshest each time to show how the glucose levels change over the test time.
The Tech took my baseline draw and it didn't even bother me. That's great since I have the most annoying, crappyassed veins that don't behave. I was then given my goo to drink. I saw orange and quickly asked if they could find another flavour. I had an upper GI a long time ago and the barium I drank was orange flavoured. I had to drink so much of it, I can not stand orange flavoured anything. They gave me cola instead and it was warm and nasty. No lets turn nasty into VILE.
Then I got to sit in the waiting room for an hour for the next draw. I started to drink my water and rating scholarship applications for my sorority. I've done it for years now, I think 5 or so. The first draw came up and the Tech was able to use the same vein. It was still a pleasant experience and didn't hurt either. On for round two of an hour sit and I noticed I started getting a headache, the shakes and was having issues concentrating on the apps. In fact at one point I was skimming the apps because I was laughing at the stupidity of some of the essays. I had some idea in my head that I could never have been so goofy in my college days - you know I probably was. That's when I figured out I would need to re-read them later so I gave them a fair shot.
I made it through the third draw and only had one hour to go for food. By then I just straight up put the apps down completely because I just couldn't focus on anything and became so fucking logie that I could have taken a nap right there. After my last draw, I ran well waddled to the potty, went, washed the hands and before I was even in the elevator I had shoved 2 pieces of 1oz cheese into my mouth. I then commenced scarfing down the popcorn cake bites I brought as well and finished those before the elevator doors opened on the ground floor.
I ended up at home sleeping on the couch shortly after. No food for the first 6 hours of the day and a giant bottle of syrup really messes with you. I was a worthless mess for the entire day. I hope you all never have to take this test. It totally sucks the big one.
5/9/07 - UPDATE - I PASSED! I am not a gestational diabetic. Thank frickin' God for that!
Anyways, I spent the last 3 days eating a carb laden diet that gave me a ton o' headaches. I was borderline on my first failure so they like to max you out on carbs to see if you really are going to have an issue or if the body can handle the extra stress. I showed up for my regular OB appointment at 0920 and spent about 35 minutes in there then went down to the lab. I tried to convince them to hook me up to the little faucet like thingie they put in for an IV but they couldn't do it. I guess they needed a fresh prick to ensure that the blood was the freshest each time to show how the glucose levels change over the test time.
The Tech took my baseline draw and it didn't even bother me. That's great since I have the most annoying, crappyassed veins that don't behave. I was then given my goo to drink. I saw orange and quickly asked if they could find another flavour. I had an upper GI a long time ago and the barium I drank was orange flavoured. I had to drink so much of it, I can not stand orange flavoured anything. They gave me cola instead and it was warm and nasty. No lets turn nasty into VILE.
Then I got to sit in the waiting room for an hour for the next draw. I started to drink my water and rating scholarship applications for my sorority. I've done it for years now, I think 5 or so. The first draw came up and the Tech was able to use the same vein. It was still a pleasant experience and didn't hurt either. On for round two of an hour sit and I noticed I started getting a headache, the shakes and was having issues concentrating on the apps. In fact at one point I was skimming the apps because I was laughing at the stupidity of some of the essays. I had some idea in my head that I could never have been so goofy in my college days - you know I probably was. That's when I figured out I would need to re-read them later so I gave them a fair shot.
I made it through the third draw and only had one hour to go for food. By then I just straight up put the apps down completely because I just couldn't focus on anything and became so fucking logie that I could have taken a nap right there. After my last draw, I ran well waddled to the potty, went, washed the hands and before I was even in the elevator I had shoved 2 pieces of 1oz cheese into my mouth. I then commenced scarfing down the popcorn cake bites I brought as well and finished those before the elevator doors opened on the ground floor.
I ended up at home sleeping on the couch shortly after. No food for the first 6 hours of the day and a giant bottle of syrup really messes with you. I was a worthless mess for the entire day. I hope you all never have to take this test. It totally sucks the big one.
5/9/07 - UPDATE - I PASSED! I am not a gestational diabetic. Thank frickin' God for that!
Monday, May 07, 2007
Oh, no Ewwwwww
Just flipping the channels and passed through the View to hear Barbara Walters say that Rosie made the list of the 100 most influential people list. SERIOUSLY? Loud doesn't make right ya know? Again gay rights yes I bet she can provide the best information around, but the woman should have NO, NONE, NICHT, NUTTIN' influence over military ANYTHING. (HH6 shudders s she finishes this post)
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Wiskey Tango Foxtrot
Got a phone call about two hours ago from the host of my baby shower in CA. Apparently my mother in law took it upon herself to start inviting people to my shower - without asking me. I am infuriated beyond belief. The ONLY reason they were invited in the first place is because the host made me be polite.
I have a few folks coming that I haven't seen since our wedding 9 years ago that I just haven't been able to touch base with except through emails. I wanted to spend time with them at the brunch just talking and shooting the shit. NOW I have to entertain his parents as well as the extras that the MIL seems to deem was her business to invite. She keeps moaning and groaning about why I invited males to the shower and can't seem to understand that we are having brunch with friends NOT playing guess how fat the mommy is and other 'tardo baby games. I'm not cutesy, I don't want cutesy and I didn't want uninvited guests at my fucking shower either.
I am just floored that she thinks she has the right to randomly invite people to MY shower. She didn't even ask the host if it was okay she INFORMED the host that these extras would be attending. This is so typical of her, wants to put her fingers into EVERY-FUCKING-THING. This wasn't hers to put her fingers in, not even remotely.
And for those that think I will get a "killer" gift out of it what's the big deal? Well that was the point entirely. We didn't invite random people to be 'Giftwhores.' We invited the parents and friends. The only addendum we had was that my old workmates from Germany insisted on receiving invitations and had no qualms about specifically asking for them.
My poor husband just closed his eyes and laid his head back on the couch and listened to me vent. He knows how livid I am and short of telling his family to fuck off for eternity can't seem to find a nice way to get them to back off and realize we are grown ups and have been since a long, long fucking time ago. He had tried before and she wrote him a nasty letter that apparently was so hurtful, it was the first and only time I've ever seen my husband cry.
GET OUT OF MY BUSINESS BE-OTCH!
I have a few folks coming that I haven't seen since our wedding 9 years ago that I just haven't been able to touch base with except through emails. I wanted to spend time with them at the brunch just talking and shooting the shit. NOW I have to entertain his parents as well as the extras that the MIL seems to deem was her business to invite. She keeps moaning and groaning about why I invited males to the shower and can't seem to understand that we are having brunch with friends NOT playing guess how fat the mommy is and other 'tardo baby games. I'm not cutesy, I don't want cutesy and I didn't want uninvited guests at my fucking shower either.
I am just floored that she thinks she has the right to randomly invite people to MY shower. She didn't even ask the host if it was okay she INFORMED the host that these extras would be attending. This is so typical of her, wants to put her fingers into EVERY-FUCKING-THING. This wasn't hers to put her fingers in, not even remotely.
And for those that think I will get a "killer" gift out of it what's the big deal? Well that was the point entirely. We didn't invite random people to be 'Giftwhores.' We invited the parents and friends. The only addendum we had was that my old workmates from Germany insisted on receiving invitations and had no qualms about specifically asking for them.
My poor husband just closed his eyes and laid his head back on the couch and listened to me vent. He knows how livid I am and short of telling his family to fuck off for eternity can't seem to find a nice way to get them to back off and realize we are grown ups and have been since a long, long fucking time ago. He had tried before and she wrote him a nasty letter that apparently was so hurtful, it was the first and only time I've ever seen my husband cry.
GET OUT OF MY BUSINESS BE-OTCH!
Parents serve only to fight for custody later
She had raised her daughter for six years following the divorce, handled the shuttling to soccer practice and cheerleading, made sure schoolwork was done. Hardly a day went by when the two weren't together. Then Lt. Eva Crouch was mobilized with the Kentucky National Guard, and Sara went to stay with Dad.
A year and a half later, her assignment up, Crouch pulled into her driveway with one thing in mind — bringing home the little girl who shared her smile and blue eyes. She dialed her ex and said she'd be there the next day to pick Sara up, but his response sent her reeling.
"Not without a court order you won't." ARTICLE
The article goes on to tell the story of 3 or 4 more parents who are mobilzed or deployed only to find out on their return or while still down range that their children are no longer under their custody. Apparently the Soldiers and Saliors Relief Act doesn't cover this aspect because of the best interest of the child. This is truly sad, good parents who are only serving the call to duty on to be kicked in the ass once again by their own country's laws.
I know that may sound a little fatalistic, but some Service Members are having a hard time to getting their VA benefits and be treated properly for their medical issues, some lose their businesses/employment due to employers finding ways around the USERRA law and now this.
It just seems like the Service Member can't get a break lately.
A year and a half later, her assignment up, Crouch pulled into her driveway with one thing in mind — bringing home the little girl who shared her smile and blue eyes. She dialed her ex and said she'd be there the next day to pick Sara up, but his response sent her reeling.
"Not without a court order you won't." ARTICLE
The article goes on to tell the story of 3 or 4 more parents who are mobilzed or deployed only to find out on their return or while still down range that their children are no longer under their custody. Apparently the Soldiers and Saliors Relief Act doesn't cover this aspect because of the best interest of the child. This is truly sad, good parents who are only serving the call to duty on to be kicked in the ass once again by their own country's laws.
I know that may sound a little fatalistic, but some Service Members are having a hard time to getting their VA benefits and be treated properly for their medical issues, some lose their businesses/employment due to employers finding ways around the USERRA law and now this.
It just seems like the Service Member can't get a break lately.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Oz in 4D
Here's the little Oz man in all his glory. The little brat was very hard to deal with. He kept covering his face with his arms. After wandering the halls and jiggling the belly he moved his arms only to press his head tightly against the placenta wall. He's soooo totally grounded before he's even born!
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Know the facts girl
I should know better than to watch the View. I really do. I know Elizabeth is slightly naive, but Rosie just drives me nuts. I don’t like Bush, there’s no denying that. I don’t like the choices that he’s made as President. It’s not just his choices over the war it’s many of his choices. Rumsfeld scares me, he’s like a little tyrant in training and I was very happy when he stepped down.
What gets me, is that you’d think since I don’t like Bush that I’d be all for Rosie. But um, hell no! Her information is so inaccurate. It’s filled with misinformation and conspiracy theories. She actually thinks that 9/11 was a government planned event because steel doesn’t melt. I guess science wasn’t her strong suit in class considering iron ore and a few other elements are MELTED together to form steel. Steel CAN melt and with a full tank on an empty plane gives off a lot of heat here.
So while listening to her rip on Elizabeth this morning, apparently she doesn’t believe we belong in Afghanistan either. Wow the one place where we were actually wanted, where roads are being built, where the government is function pretty well and we were WANTED. Her other stupid statement was that the only reason the American kids were joining the Army or other service was for the education and because they are poor and have nothing to bring them out of poverty. This was under debate by the mil-blogsphere before and I really find this offensive. My husband joined because he believes in the U.S., he’s proud of his country. If all he wanted was an education out of it, why is he a lifer? And why is he 7 years from retirement? You don’t need 13 years in for the GI Bill.
I just can’t wait until this woman who claims she supports the troops but belittles them by saying the Army has its highest numbers of convicted felons and they are all so poor and stupid finally leaves the View. Really if she wants to be a loudmouth, maybe she should stick with things she actually has factual information about. Rosie has a lot of accurate knowledge about gay rights. I’m all for the majority of the gay rights issues and well she should stick to that. Because heaven knows she knows absolutely NOTING accurate about the Uniformed Services.
What gets me, is that you’d think since I don’t like Bush that I’d be all for Rosie. But um, hell no! Her information is so inaccurate. It’s filled with misinformation and conspiracy theories. She actually thinks that 9/11 was a government planned event because steel doesn’t melt. I guess science wasn’t her strong suit in class considering iron ore and a few other elements are MELTED together to form steel. Steel CAN melt and with a full tank on an empty plane gives off a lot of heat here.
So while listening to her rip on Elizabeth this morning, apparently she doesn’t believe we belong in Afghanistan either. Wow the one place where we were actually wanted, where roads are being built, where the government is function pretty well and we were WANTED. Her other stupid statement was that the only reason the American kids were joining the Army or other service was for the education and because they are poor and have nothing to bring them out of poverty. This was under debate by the mil-blogsphere before and I really find this offensive. My husband joined because he believes in the U.S., he’s proud of his country. If all he wanted was an education out of it, why is he a lifer? And why is he 7 years from retirement? You don’t need 13 years in for the GI Bill.
I just can’t wait until this woman who claims she supports the troops but belittles them by saying the Army has its highest numbers of convicted felons and they are all so poor and stupid finally leaves the View. Really if she wants to be a loudmouth, maybe she should stick with things she actually has factual information about. Rosie has a lot of accurate knowledge about gay rights. I’m all for the majority of the gay rights issues and well she should stick to that. Because heaven knows she knows absolutely NOTING accurate about the Uniformed Services.
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