Tomorrow will mark the 12th anniversary of the day I changed my last name. I wore a green velvet dress and flowers in my hair; he wore jeans and cowboy boots. He said I was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and carried me across the threshold of our little house.  I said that he was my 'One' and wept as he placed the ring on my finger. Twelve years later, he's still my 'One'.  He still thinks I'm the most beautiful thing he's ever seen (even when I have bedhead and pil...

There will be no reprieve for my husband.  He's going to have to deploy this spring.  He'll be leaving to go to a three week training in New Jersey in a couple of weeks, then he'll be home for three weeks, then gone again.....for 6 months.  The good news is that he won't be going to Iraq.  He might also get an opportunity to work about half of his deployment in a location that pays $100 a day per diem.  If that's the case....then he's already said that money...

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. There was Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans, on national televison, proudly proclaiming that when New Orleans is rebuilt, it would be a 'chocolate' city; a city with an African American majority.  And why is New Orleans going to be that way?  Because God wants it that way. And I quote:"I don't care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day," "This city will be a majority Africa...

The mystery of what the dog rolled in has been solved. He asked to be let out again about half an hour ago and came in stinking again.  That prompted Dave and I to go out and see if we could find what he'd been wallowing in.  We came in empty handed. Jake was the one who found it.  He came in and announced his findings: "it's a mole.  A dead one.  It's all slimy n' stuff" I went back out to see, and sure enough, there it was.  In a pile of dead leaves be...

I walked into the living room this morning and caught Jake and Dave in mid-conversation: "I dunno, but we'll tell Mom and let her figure it ou.....oh, hey babe!" "Let me figure WHAT out?" Jake points towards Henry, who's sitting next to my usual spot on the couch and looking very sheepish.  "Sit down, Mom" he said "I dunno that I want to until someone tells me what's going on..." "Stand next to Henry and sniff" So I edged closer to Henry, who's looking more and mo...

My sons have a kid at their school whose parents both work full time.  Dad does something with the military, and mom works at a financial institution.  Both parents have worked full time since this boy was a baby.  He's used to daycare and after-school programs.  He's also used to getting what he wants, when he wants. And he's very vocal about it.  To this kid, your worth is NOT about who you are, it's about what you've got.  I know all kids go through phases...

I signed up for a medical transcriptionists course today. I've been hemming and hawing for weeks over this.  I had set January 1st as an enrollment date, but I have the payments set to come out of my checking account automatically 30 days after the start of my enrollments date, so it was better to wait until the 15th (we have fewer bills to pay on the 15th of the month than on the 1st).  So, this afternoon, I filled out a bunch of e-forms and signed up.  I actually did it. ...

During my stints working for military attorneys and my husband's job as both detective and NCOIC of two jails, I've heard of and dealt with child abuse cases.  All of them made me ill.  I was stunned at the depravity of some of the pedophiles, at the sheer selfishness of their actions.  I thought that I had seen some of the worst behaviour mankind had to offer in their actions. Until this morning. Link That link will take you to a story from The Independent, a reputabl...

Dave came home this evening with a sad look on his face and handed me a piece of folded paper. "Read it, and we'll talk" he said. I knew before I opened it what it was. He's leaving at the beginning of next month for 3 weeks training.  Then he comes home for 3 weeks, gets his A bag ready.......and deploys in March. For 6 months. To the desert.  A different location than last time, but a place that will give him combat pay all the same. This means that all the things that...

I got 2 games for Christmas.  Stubbs The Zombie was corrupt, and when I returned it the store didn't have another one and would only give me store credit (i hate best buy).  So, that was a bust. The second game I got, 'Missing since January' loaded okay, but when I went to play it it wouldn't connect to the server.  Another bust. Or so I thought.  I went to the company site today, initially to complain that my game wouldn't work.  When I was there, I saw a patch fo...

I've been practicing yoga for a long time now; since '98 or so.  recently I got myself a pair of gloves that have a layer of rubbery stuff on the palms so that they won't slip when I'm doing downward dog or other poses that require me to place my hands on my mat.  (The pair I have also have pouches around the wrists so that you can place little weights in there and add and extra ooomph to your owrkout - the one that you're supposed to do with the weights is full of slow, controlled arm...

My marriage hasn't been too great lately.  That might come as a shock to some of you, but there are a few who either knew or saw it coming. The military's enforced separations are taking a toll on us.  People change, and thay change constantly.  When you're living together you might not see these change - they work their way into your lives silently and go unnoticed.  You just adapt, and you do so without realizing that you've done it. But when you live apart from s...

My knitting has really taken off lately.  I've had people emailing me and asking me to make them stuff, and I have...the snood has been blocked and is ready to go, and the green mobeius is getting blocked this evening and can also go out this week. I've got a skull illusion on the go for my daughter, and a snowflake illusion one for her friend's birthday next week.  It looks like this: I have the rest of the week to knock that one out.  In the meantime, I'm making a 'h...

When I was younger, I felt an affinity to punk rock and it's style.  Actually, it was verging on gothic...not full on vampire fangs, white faced and red lipped gothic, but a more urban, grungy kind of gothic ( The Damned, Siouxsie and The Banshees et al were favorites of mine) Anyway, my parents being as they were (wholesome, simple country folks - who just happened to be pretty strict about stuff) I never was really able to indulge in my punk-goth tendencies.  I always had linitati...

It's been a couple of weeks since I saw the pain management specialist, Dr Tabakian.  He started me on a new medication regime, and I'm starting to see the benefits of it. The Duragesic patch used to make me nauseated all day, every day, and I temporarily quit using it.  He, however, thought that I'd eventually get over the nausea, and encouraged me to stick with it.  He was right.  The nausea has gone.  I'm also changing patches every 48 hours instead of 72, and that...