well hello strangers

yes this is my first post and my first log in. pretty hard when you dont have a computer at your house. but everything doin good here.

still live in northgate with my awesome roomate terry. work at my stand in ballard full time. love love love it. starting school at seattle central next quarter. rated top 5 community colleges in the country and they have a top notch apparel program. since gene juarez academy didnt work out as you all know... im going to the aveda institute next year instead. whats better then hair, makeup and clothes? an education in them all!

david and i broke up. yeah i know finally right? its about time. he's living in new orleans for work and as if it wasnt a hard enough relationship when he was here, its def not working out with him down there. i walked away. be proud. and now that hes far away he cant just show up on my doorstep and try to fix it. thats probably the best part. he's a jerk. and a liar. asshole. am i allowed to swear on here? maybe just when it comes to him :)

so basically i work 6 days a week and come home then go to the gym and sit on my couch with izzy. yes shes still fat but she is on a kitty diet.

as soon as i figure out this new stupid camera ill post some pictures from time to time but apparently they are .TIF files not .jpeg files. i dont even know what those are.

lots of new stuff going on for me i guess. hopefully 2009 will prove better than 2008. its been a rough year for me.

love you guys :)

Main Photo November 22 - 29

I am thankful for...

* my wonderful wife for whom my life would be so much less without. Frankie, you are my partner, my everything and I am so grateful for you everyday.

* my girls Whit and Peach. Though sometimes I may not show it, I love you both.

* Mason & Camden - you are the best things in the world. There is nothing like a smile from either of them. Greatest thing is - I can hand them off to Whit when I am done with them.

* The rest of my family here and around the country. Glad that everyone is doing well, employed and happy.

* Being in a good job in this very precarious time in our country.

Best thing about this holiday is that the mess is not at my house this year!

Damn Seahawks! Love you all.

I am thankful for...

* my incredible family. I know that I am so blessed to have all of you in my life, even though we are all so far away...I talk to my friends all the time about my family, and they are shocked that we are all so close, because they do not have that.

* my husband who is working so hard to put us in a great spot. We are paying off bills for the first time on our marriage, instead of accruing them, crazy huh!

* my wonderful, healthy children. I know that I am blessed that they have nothing wrong with them. And although Mason is a pain, I love him like crazy and Camden is just a joy everyday.

* and the fact that I am making great friends, who I think will be in my life for many many years to come.

Today I am making Thanksgiving dinner, my parents are visiting as are Guy's and his grandma. This is my first official host of Turkey Day, so hopefully it will all go well, and my cooking will not kill anyone :) lol. Tonight mom and I are headed to Spokane to crash for the night so that we can black Friday shop over there (all I have here is Walmart and Big-5 Sports). So I will let you all know how that goes and the haul we bring in. God Bless you all and I hope you have a great Thanksgiving even though we cannot all be together. I love you all and miss you!

it's been a long time...

to start what i'm thankful for:
* for my loving boyfriend/fiance/"man"/whatever you want to consider him. he's the best thing that ever happened to me and has really helped me a lot lately.
* our adorable dogs. they seriously brighten my day, whether it's creo sticking out her tongue or rocco showing off how he can now "shake"
* seeing my family weekly (and using there washer/dryer for free) and finally getting along with my sister. we are really start to have an actual relationship and she's growing into such a beautiful girl!
* my aunt for letting us move to her house. you're really helping us out, even if it's stressing us all out a little trying to hammer out the details and make sure the family doesn't suffer
* and finally still having a job! with the economy being so bad and everyone losing their jobs it's nice to know that i still have one, especially since i work for a small business. and i really enjoy where i work and i know i'm a huge asset.

so other than that the main thing that's happened lately is that nick's car broke. instead of putting money into fixing it and having it probably break again we just decided to go ahead and get him a new one. it just made more sense. he is now driving an oldsmobile bravada. it's nice because it holds all of his tools, which his car didn't. so i've been pretty stressed lately. it just feels like we can't catch a break. something has to keep breaking and new bills keep getting added. my fibromyalgia has been pretty bad, no matter how much i work out; i'm just too stressed out. my muscles are so tender. that's why i'm so glad aunt bob and roger have given us this awesome opportunity. they are really helping us out!
tomorrow we go over to mom and dad's for a vegan thanksgiving consisting of burritos!! and vegan pumpkin pie!! YUMMY! happy thanksgiving everyone, i wish we could all be together!

What I am thankful for...

While I wont be sharing a Thanksgiving Dinner with my family - I have so much to be thankful for, and sometimes I need to be reminded of them.
I'm so thankful for....

1. A safe/healthy family.
2. A husband that is willing to do what it takes to take care of us.
3. A son that has found his direction, and loves his mom.
4. A dog that is 2 and 1/2 years cancer free, and loves his mommy.

While I really miss my family in Seattle, and my husband is in Iraq - often I need to be reminded that I am lucky to have them all safe - and to be able to pick up the phone and talk to all of them.

We do know that we have too many house payments, and life is not as we planned, but we are thankful that we can make it work.

It is true that I commute 15+ hours/week, but for now - I'm very happy to have a job, and it provides me a housekeeper to make up for those lost hours.

While the East Coast summers and winters suck - fall was beautiful. I got to have tomatoes, and am enjoying country life.

I still have too much weight - but I am so lucky for my health. I don't get sick, and have no health problems.

Tell us about what you are thankful for - you deserve your own post.

Things that fly

G'day everyone. Practicing my Aussie speak, since Simon sits right next to me. We caught him using southern speak today as he was chastising us for our poor English. Over the past several posts, I have been sending pictures of buildings and such. This time I thought I'd send a couple of pictures of things we have added to the culture -- things that fly.

The first picture is of a Blackhawk (UH-60) helicopter. I've flown all over the area in the back seat of one of these, and regard those as some of my more fun times over here. I even have some movie footage of some of those flights, if you ask sometime when I'm home.

Well, Angie can attest to the fact that I have gotten used to having things flying over me, as she's been subjected to it on many occasions while talking to me. Can anyone tell me how many helicopters will fly over at any moment in time? I bet she could! If you look at the picture below, it is a good indicator of that number. The only exception is the Apache helicopters, which I have yet to capture on FLASH.



These things are incessant. I can see or hear them almost every minute of every day. The fact I happen to live by the airport over here doesn't help, as it's the central dropoff point for just about everyone from anyplace. If they don't have their own landing strip, they use a helicopter. They are the unsung heros of this war -- the helicopter bus driver...

Now this one is one most of you have probably never seen. They are on duty 24x7, being tethered baloons, or blimps. They are used for surveillence and have lots of functions specific to force protection. I can see about 5 of these on a clear day. These are quiet, and you see the blinking warning lights at night.



Now, I have seen these up close, as my job over here last fall included the installation of some gear in the base station to transport information over to the hill for dissemination. No, I won't get into any detail, but lets just say it was interesting to see what they could do, and how they were used. I still like networking better!

Not a lot of detail. I'm home in less than 40 days for three weeks. I'll be ready for a little piece and quiet, with only the dog to bug me. We'll see which one of us sleeps more during the day!

Main Photo November 11 - 21

Long time...

since I posted, sorry about that. I think that Frankie posted recently for us, but I am sure that it doesn't count.

Work is good. It is interesting working for a start-up. You never know when might be your last day. We are gaining customers which is good, but the board has to now get more money for the next year. The way I am looking at it is this: We have customers that need to be taken care of, supported. That is my job. Even if they started to lay off people, I would be one of the last to go. Positive outlook right?

I started dieting recently. The "tumor" that has taken over my stomach is slowly fading. Dropped 14 lbs. in just 16 days. Really happy about that. If you remember, Frankie and I are losing weight for several reasons one of which is to donate a kidney. This is motivating me a lot right now. I got on Facebook recently and connected with a guy from my old neighborhood who needs a kidney. There is something driving me towards helping him, but I know that I can't just yet. BMI (Body Mass Index) has to be in a certain range before you can even get tested and I am still about 20 pounds away from that. So I might not be able to help him, but someone will get this kidney.

We are heading to Whit's for Thanksgiving. Not looking forward to the drive through the pass but Cam and Mason are worth it! Well that's it for now.

Brrhhh fuckinnn-eeehhhh

We had our first snow last night. Not a lot, just a heavy dusting, however we are in a serious cold snap for November. Our high today was 40 degrees. Went I got home - it was 29 degrees with a 20mph wind. What is that -- something in the teens?

I left work an hour early today so that I could get to Costco (we are having a large party on Sunday). I called Spenser to be ready when I get home to help me get the stuff in the house cause it's so damn cold!

He informs me that he is on his way to duty crew, and isn't home.

Whhuuuttt?

Even better - I have to take the recycleables to the end of the driveway. They only come every two weeks, and they were missed last time (remember party....) Y'all remember my driveway ... right?

Fuckin-eh it's cold outside!

Back from Florida

Well, Cam and I made it back home in one piece. The flights this time were a little more stressful in some ways, easier in others. All in all our travel time home was less, having 2 longer flights instead of 3 and both flights we had a whole row to ourselves. However, it was bedtime and Cam was a little stinker till I finally got him to sleep on each flight, once he was down however, he stayed asleep the rest of the flight. 2 days before we were due to come home I came down with swimmers ear and a mis-diagnosed sinus infection, so by the end of 2 flights I thought my ears were going to burst, because they would not pop and relieve all that pressure. So, Guy picked us up, I cried in pain once in the car and he took me to the hospital (12am, nothing else open). They gave me pain meds, antibiotics and other goodies...I am still not feeling to great, 3 days into the meds, so I may be going to the Dr. for different ones....anyway, what you have all been waiting for, the pics!

Cam's first toe dip in the Atlantic Ocean

Not to sure about the sand at first...but then decides, its not so bad

Feedin the birds lunch leftovers on the boardwalk, he loves watchin them :)

Playing with Grandpa at the restaurant

Giggling cause Nana is kissin his feet

For the most part he tended to stick to this rug to play, he was not to fond of all the tile on his little baby knees

I did not get nearly as many pictures as I should have. I just kept forgetting to go and get it out. Cam loved the pool while we were there, he would chew on all the ducks, kick around in his floaty and run his hands through the waterfall. When ever we got done playing in there, he was exhausted :) Nana took him out to feed the ducks one morning while I was in the shower and she said that he had a blast with that, just giggling away, he also LOVED Cracker :). He was pretty sure while were there that he needed to grab some of that fluffy cat fur, but those cats are smarted then they look and kept their distance.

And while we were there he only managed to break one thing, out of all the stuff in that house, and only got himself hurt once (well, technically Nana hurt him), hehe :), she is gonna kill me for telling you guys, but he fell off her bed while under her watch. She felt awful (I thought she was gonna cry right along with the baby), but he was just fine and I tried to tell her all kids must eventually fall off beds, it is, after all, a right of passage....so all things considered, a very good trip :) I was really glad that I got the opportunity to take him down there so that they could spend some time with him, one on one. I think that Nana greatly enjoyed it, and I know that I enjoyed not having to share them with all of you, like when they make a visit up here :) hehe.

What to do with me - when I die.

Spenser and I have talked about things like this lately. We often talk about being so far from family - and what would happen if something happened to one of us.

It made me realize that as a family - do we know what each other wants? Do our spouses and children know what we want if we were to die tomorrow?

Do any of you have living wills, medical proxy's - or trusts for your children? We don't, we've talked about it, but we don't. After seeing what Sharon when through - I have realized that this is something Roger and I have to do for our children. My son will struggle enough if I were to go tomorrow.... this choice I can make for him now.

I've signed up for an attorney service through work - and this is one of my goals for 2009.

However right now - as a family I am going to tell you my wishes.

Spenser and I both want to be buried in a "Natural" way. Many of you probably remember that I used to want to be dropped off in the Amazon to be eaten by animals. Even long before I was green - I wanted to "give my carbon back".

I've now found a new way... a green burial. I want to be put in a cheap box (maybe not quite cardboard), and placed into a green cemetery - with a tree planted over me. Make it a pretty good size tree.

http://naturalburial.coop/USA/

The week is over. (Old post never published)

This is just a picture of the chandelier hanging in the rotunda of Al Faw Palace, looking straight up, almost centered. Still haven't managed to get that perfect, and now that we don't actually work there anymore, it's a bit more difficult to take regular shots attempting it. It hangs down about 2 stories, and is still 2 stories above my head.

It's hard to believe sometimes...

But I do actually work in this building. This is an older photograph of Al Faw Palace, taken back in 2005 when I was here the first time, but the water is just as nasty now as it was then. It gets that way in the summer as the weeds have plenty of sunshine, plenty of water, and very little maintenance. The building has 3 very tall stories, and I happen to work on the ground floor. You're looking at it from the side, and my area is to the far left in the picture. If I had to guess, I'd say about under that antenna.


A couple of weeks ago, my boss came running back into the office, because he had just walked past someone he recognized from television. We get celebrities in here all the time, so I didn't
really consider it all that big a deal. But, it's late and about time to go home, work was a bit slack, so what the heck, let's go see who it is. We found Gary Sinise, here shooting some footage for his documentary on his band "Lt. Dan", in reference to the Forest Gump part he played with Tom Hanks, up on the third floor overlooking the rotunda in the Palace. Well, I climbed 3 flights of stairs, so I might as well get my picture taken with him too. A very gracious individual, and as you can see, he shook my hand for doing my part.


This last piture is looking across the rotunda from one stairwell looking at the second stairwell. This was also taken in 2005, and today looks very
different because they put flourescent bulbs in in place of the incandescent ones. It's much less red now, and far brighter. Everything is marble, and the lighting is all very gaudy crystal chandeliers. Angie has one of the crystals that happened to fall from one of them. I also brought home one very similar from another palace, obviously put up in about the same timeframe from the same construction vendor.

Mosques

Angie has a thing for road signs in different countries, and in different languages. I thought I would post this so she could have a look at one I see each and every day as I walk to get my breakfast. This is the crosswalk to the chow hall, with Al Faw palace in the distance.

This next picture is of the mosque located a short distance outside of the wall to the Victory Base Complex, the location where I am at. I took this with a telephoto lens, but it is just outside the wall.





These next two pictures are of the mosque located here on Victory Base Complex, originally built by, or for Saddam and his family. It stands vacant these days, and of course we are not allowed to go in. I walk a stones throw away from it each morning as I go on my walk with Stephen after breakfast. I took these pictures in the afternoon last Sunday as I walked around the lakes specifically to take pictures. I took a lot of pictures of this, from differrent angles, at different elevations, etc., but this one was one of the first before the sun went down toward the horizon.

The one is from a distance, and the other is of the reflection off the pool (mosquito breeding ground) right in front of it.

No title

I'm glad that October is finished. There was too much work that month.
The value of the won is still very low and transfering money isn't great at the moment. So I'm waiting and hoping it improves.
I have to go bck to work now, I'm writing at lunch break. Just a small hello. I finally got my crown. Dentist said "You know crybaby? you crybaby" because of instantanious crying during a root canal. Evidently, Koreans don't feel pain.

Main Photo Oct 31- Nov 10

Safe and Sound

Well, Cam and I made it to Florida Tuesday evening, after a long day of flying. Our first flight, which was about 2 1/2 hours, we had a whole row to ourselves, so Cam got to move around and play and he did great! We then had a layover for about an hour and a half where he got to have some lunch and crawl around, flirting with women in the waiting area :) Our next 2 flights were 3 1/2 hours a piece, no layover between (I had to haul butt from 1 plane to the next) and they were FULL! So we were sandwiched in and Cam could not move around much. Luckily the people next to us were great and Cam did sleep the first hour and a half or so of each flight. By the time we got in town we were both hot, sticky, hungry, tired, and done with people in our bubble :) But, he did AWESOME!

Sp, here we are, and it is GREAT to see Nana and Grandpa, Cam already has them wrapped around his chubby little finger :) The weather is FABULOUS, about 78-80 degrees, low humidity and plenty sunshine (there is a hurricane that is being watched, down by Cuba, but as of now it does not look like we will get more than a little rain on Sunday as it heads out to the ocean). Nana thinks it is too cold to swim, but I made her turn the pool on anyways, because I think she is crazy, so by this evening Cam and I will happily be playing in the pool.

Well, that is all for now, I will write again in a few days and let you all know how we are doing here.

New Job Opportunity

I am moving into a new job opportunity in the next couple weeks. Still within Boeing but with a lot more visibility and a lot more opportunities.

The company is upgrading one of our computer systems at the end of 2009. They are looking for a 'few good people' to train to become what they call...Super SME's. (Don't ask why, I guess it stands for Super Subject Mater Expert). Anyways, my name was added to the list. I was confirmed throughout the Renton Wing Division all the way up to my 3rd level management. Out of all of Renton...I got the job.

The company will train me for the next year on the new program and at the end of 2009 I come back and train the rest of the SCA's and will run as a lead after that. It's an upgrade (which means more money), a lot of visibility and a lot of responsibility.

Now that it's been announced I can begin to get the cold shoulder, the evil eye and the nasty comments from my co-workers. Whooppee!

Finally...a bit of a breather

After going non-stop for a few weeks, it was nice to have a bit of a breather last night. A Girls Night scheduled, haven't had one in months. My girlfriends and I used to do this on a fairly regular schedule...but there just hasn't been time lately. One of my goals on my 101 goals in 1001 days was to have a girl's night devoted to viewing a movie made my HBO called "Iron Jawed Angels".

It was about the women's suffrage movement and what women went through to get the right to vote. The movie was awesome and really made us understand that not having the right to vote affected more than voting...you also couldn't serve on a jury. If women were to stand trial for something, they would not have a jury of their peers...it would only be men. You were taxed without representation and made to follow laws that you had no say in creating. We had a great night drinking, snacking, learning history and talking.

Things are good here, Mikey and I are doing great. We are seriously kicking around the idea of a 3-5 year stint of living in Ohio and helping Mel get her teen center off the ground. We will be helping from here if we stay in WA, but a move would allow us to do more. It's a thought...if anyone has any good stuff they think should be added to our pro/con list...shoot it our way!! It's a tough decision.