John Kerry Does it Again!

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”
Sen. John Kerry

Un-freaking-believable. I've never liked this guy, but now? Forget it. What an a$$.

My Soldier is one of the smartest people I've ever met.

Mr. Kerry? Screw the apology; from your mouth it would be meaningless.

Project Valour - IT

What a fantastic cause!

Project Valour-IT
(Voice-Activated Laptops for OUR Injured Troops)
In memory of SFC William V. Ziegenfuss

Every cent raised for Project Valour-IT goes directly to the purchase and shipment of voice-activated laptops for wounded servicemembers. As of October 2006, Valour-IT has distributed nearly 600 laptops to severely wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines across the country.

During its initial phase, Valour-IT created "libraries" of laptops equipped with voice-controlled software for the severely wounded staying at major military medical centers. In many cases a laptop was provided to a wounded hero for permanent use.

Valour-IT is continuing to accept donations of any amount to supply the "libraries" of laptops at major medical centers and gifts to individuals, but has also added the option of an individual or organization directly sponsoring a wounded soldier by completely funding the cost of a laptop and continuing to provide him or her with personal support and encouragement throughout recovery. This has proved to be an excellent project for churches, groups of coworkers or friends, and members of community organizations such Boy Scouts.

Most recently thanks to the efforts of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Valour-IT is now able to reach personnel in VA hospitals who would benefit from a Valour-IT laptop. Wounded military personnel can request a laptop through the sign-up form if they are recovering at home or in military hospitals, or through the Valour-IT/Soldiers' Angels representatives if they are patients at the following medical centers:

Balboa Naval Hospital
Brooke Army Medical Center
Madigan Regional Medical Center
National Naval Medical Center (Bethesda Naval Hospital)
Naval Hospital, Camp Pendleton
Robert E. Bush Naval Hospital (29 Palms)
Walter Reed Army Medical Center

Read about the competition here at Blackfive's blog.

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programming to Bring You... COOKIE TIME!

Not to worry!
It's that time of year again!
Girl Scout Cookie Pre-Sales!

Thing 2 is a Girl Scout and will be accepting pre-orders for Girl Scout Cookies from Sunday October 29th through Sunday November 26th.

On the menu:

Samoas: "Chewy and rich! Tender vanilla cookies, covered with caramel, rolled in toasted coconut, and striped with a rich, chocolaty coating. 0g trans fat! Count per pkg: 15"

Thin Mints: "Extra thin, extra minty! A thin wafer covered with a smooth chocolaty coating. Made with natural peppermint. 0g trans fat! Approx. count per pkg: 36"

Do-Si-Dos: "Peanutty excitement! Naturally good! Crisp and crunchy oatmeal cookies with creamy peanut butter filling. No artificial color or flavor. 0g trans fat! Approx count per pkg: 22"

All-Abouts: "The perfect combination. Girl Scouts and values... shortbread and fudge. Some things just go together. Celebrate what Girl Scouting is all about with these newly designed message cookies. Fun new shape! Same great taste! 0g trans fat! Approx. count per pkg: 18"

Trefoils: "Light and delicious! Short, tender, delicate-tasting shortbread that melts in your mouth. 0g trans fat! Approx. count per pkg. 45"

Tagalongs: "Wildly popular! Tasty cookies topped with creamy peanut butter and covered with a luscious chocolaty coating. 0g trans fat! Count per pkg: 15"

Sugar-free Little Brownies NEW!: "Made with REAL chocolate chips! An explosion of chocolate flavor in a bite-sized package! You won't believe this luscious treat is sugar-free! 0g trans fat! Approx count per pkg: 20"

Cafe Cookies: "Gourmet-Style Cookies. Caramelized with brown sugar, this charming crisp cookie will delight even cookie connoisseurs. With a hint of cinnamon spice, it's perfect with your favorite warm beverage. 0g trans fat! Approx. count per pkg: 45"

Cookies are $4 per box (plus any postage, if applicable) and will be picked up around January 11th.

The Girl Scout Council of Hawaii is also collecting donations for Hawaii-based military troops deployed overseas. Girl Scouts who collect over $48 in donations during our pre-sell period (Oct 29th through Nov 26th) will earn a special, exclusive patch!

I'll be ordering as many boxes of cookies as I can squeeze into the budget to send over to the desert for hubby and his fellow soldiers.

If you're interested, contact me!

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming!

Color Guard & Spurs

"Ho! Ha! Guard! Turn! Perry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust!"
~ Daffy Duck as Robin Hood

Thing 1 loves the Color Guard...

Even after spending an hour in the orthodontist's chair so he could do this...

"Spurs" is what he lovingly called this torture device.

Not shown: 2 sets of "buttons" and rubber bands to correct her cross bite.

15 minutes after procedure: "Mom! I can't ssspeak!"

1 hour after procedure: "MOM! I can't eat!"

4 hours after procedure: "MO-O-O-M! IT HURTS!"

And to think she was SO looking forward to this appointment for 2 months now!

Tri-Care Dental Program Premium: $26.27

Orthodontic Procedure AFTER Tri-Care: $1,000

Quiet time in our house until Thing 1 masters the art of speech with the new contraption in her mouth: PRICELESS!

Wasn't Me

It wasn't me...

but, damn, that's some funny stuff right there!

I don't care who you are.

Good Quote

"If you're going through Hell, just keep going."
- Winston Churchill

3 Months...

THREE MONTHS.

Feels like FOREVER.

I miss him.

Oh, I can SO Relate...

Do you have a Calvin?

I have 2.

Creepy Crawlies

Hawaii is supposed to be "Paradise" but they don't ever mention all of the wonderful creatures you get to share this island paradise with...

Such as gargantuan, flying cockroaches, geckos by the truckloads, and these NASTY poisonous centipedes that sting the crap out of you. I'm scared to death of them!!

Last month, I found one in my dining room by sheer accident. It was about 2 inches from my bare foot when I spotted it and my kids nearly had to peel me off the ceiling when they came running into the room at midnight to find out why their mother was screaming at the top of her lungs. I couldn't speak or think. I could only point. At. The. Twelve. Inch. Long. Centipede. Of course, then they started screaming and were climbing the walls right along with me.

Quite a scene.

You can be sure that bright and early the next morning, I was on the phone scheduling an appointment with an exterminator.

Tonight? Folding laundry... Minding my own business... I pull out the last item of clothing from the dryer and what do I see there in the bottom, dried up and dead? ANOTHER CENTIPEDE!

Where did he come from? Did he find his way into the dryer and die there? Or was he in the washer and I [BLECH!] transferred him to the dryer when I put my clothes in there? OR... Was he in the pile of dirty laundry that I [SHIVER] picked up and carried from the bathroom and then put into the washer?

Either way you look at it... I'm freaked out now. It looks like I'll be making another appointment with the exterminators.

FYI... Centipedes do not respond to RAID. You can douse them with it. You can create a virtual swimming pool around them with it. It will not faze them.

Oh. And yes, they are very fast.

And... they can climb walls.

I know this now.

Honey? Can you come home now?

Tired...

What a LONG week!

I just can't even begin to write about it. I'm so glad it's done!

That makes 12 weeks down!

I'm tired. I think I'll hibernate for the rest of the deployment.

All Shook Up!

From theHawaiiChannel.com

Earthquake 6.5 Shakes Islands; Knocks Out Power

HONOLULU -- An earthquake measuring 6.5 shook the Hawaiian Islands on Sunday morning, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The U.S. Geological Society is reporting the quake was 6.3.
It happened at 7:07 a.m. off the Waikoloa coast on the Big Island, according to scientists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The quake did not generate a tsunami, officials said. Aftershocks as strong as 5.8 have been reported.

Okay, Okay! I slept through the whole thing. I admit it!

After living in Japan and Alaska, even a 6.5 on the Richter Scale can't rouse me these days. It was nuttin'.

Nuttin' that is, until 10 year old Thing 2 came screaming into the bedroom like Henny Penny as if the sky was falling!

No shit, there we were!...

Just kidding.

We are fine. The house is fine. We lived without power [GASP!] and internet [GASP!] for about 11 hours and we are fine!

I grew up with Hurricanes... Moved here from the Gulf Coast after Katrina and Ivan the Terrible and Dennis the Menace and all of those other horrible destructive hurricanes.

We know all about disaster preparedness, evacuation, yadda yadda yadda.

With no warning for the earthquake, though... No time to prepare ourselves mentally for it...

I'll take Hurricanes for $100, please, Alex!

One thing we've learned after Sunday's rocking experience...

When hubby deploys, not only is every possible worst-case scenario GOING to happen, but we will NOT be prepared for it, since he's packed up and taken all his "camping" gear with him. ;)

(Did you know you can make coffee on a gas grill?)

Ever Have One of Those Days...

Ugh!
That about sums it up.

Good Night, Moon

One of the things I miss most about Alaska is the beautiful starry skies at night. On a clear night, you could find yourself surrounded by hundreds of stars and ribbons of Northern Lights. It was just amazing. And breathtaking.

I'm not sure why, but we don't always get to see the stars at night here in Paradise. Even on beautiful, clear nights... they just aren't there. I love to see the moon in its different colors and phases, though. And it's somehow reassuring to know that hubby is looking up at that same ole' moon on the other side of the world.

Good night, Moon.

Good night, Hubby.

Be safe over there. I love you.

October...

Okay. I have not fallen off the face of the earth!

I'm sorry I haven't updated the blog in a little while. I just haven't been able to write. It's been busy and stressful and hard to string two coherent sentences together for the purpose of this blog. The kids are fine. Mom is doing ok. The 'volunteer work' is tough. If you know me, you know what I do, so you can imagine at least a tiny bit of what I'm dealing with right now. I'm not getting a lot of sleep and this headache I've had since hubby left... well, I'm going to the doctor again this week, I promise. A positive side effect? I've lost a lot of weight since July! :) Please bear with me while I try to get through this time.

It's "Autumn" for most of the U.S. now. Here in paradise, however, temperatures haven't changed much. Everything is still as green and lush as ever! We could go to the beach almost every day if we wanted to, I'm sure.

It is October, though, and I've been looking forward to putting up the Halloween decorations for weeks! :) I went to the commissary the other day and found racks and racks of pumpkin carving kits... and NO PUMPKINS. Ummm. Oookaaayy? I *almost* bought a pineapple or a watermelon to carve instead... You know, "When in Rome..." Or, should I say, "When in Paradise..."

After the big m-o-v-e in August, when the box of Halloween decorations was moved from the old garage to the new one, I remembered to keep it to the side and not bury it under the boxes of Christmas decorations so it would be accessible when October finally rolled around. (I still can't believe I actually remembered to do this!)

So, the other day, with the help of Thing 1 (17 year old) and Thing 2 (10 year old), we put up a few Halloween decorations.

We've never done this without hubby's help before, so this is a BIG thing.

BRING ON THE TRICK OR TREATERS!