Vacation time

I won't be posting for the next few days as I'll be in Venice!!! Melissa and I leave tomorrow and I still feel like I've got a ton of things to do to get ready. I haven't picked out what I'm going to wear (and make sure it's washed) I don't have my toiletries bought and it looks like we may even have some rain while we're there. (hopefully not much rain since you have to walk everywhere in Venice)

I'm a little nervous about the flight there. I've not flown much in my life, and it scares me everytime I get on a plane. Atleast this flight is only about an hour, the flight to Germany was much longer. As scared as I am to fly, I needed to do this. I needed to get away before we left Europe. I love my husband and son sooo much, but I need some time away from them doing something fun by myself. I feel since I've become a mother I've lost myself a little. So this trip will give me a chance to regroup and get-a-way with a girlfriend. (I'm sure all you ladies out there understand how important it is to get away with the girls every now and then!)

After I get back from this trip, we are busy busy busy getting everything ready for us to leave Germany. My husband has appointment after appointment scheduled for the next two weeks just so we can leave this darned place!! Most of them he has to take care of himself since he's the military service member. Ugh...I can't wait to be done with this move. I feel our family will be able to breathe again once we get home.

More random pics

This is a picture of our oldest dog Quincy. He was my very first Christmas present from my hubby. When I was working for a exotic animal veterinarian in Denver I was given the cockatiel you see on Quincy's back. He was a pretty cool bird, but we had to give him away. His constant squawking got on my hubby's nerves! LOL!
This is one of my favorite pics of the hubby. We took a camping trip to Turquoise Lake in Colorado. It ended up being a miserable camping trip as it was only about 25 degrees at night. We would have built a campfire, which is the best thing about camping, but because of the drought there was a fire ban. We would have slept in the Blazer, but our heater was broken, so we had no choice but to suffer. I don't think either one of us got any sleep that night. It was dubbed the camping trip from hell.
Here is another interesting pet we've had since hubby and I have been together. We used to have two veiled chameleons. They are the coolest animals! However, their natural habitat is tropical and they have very specific needs. We had to have heating lamps, a misting system, lots of ficus trees for them to climb on and they had to have lots of crickets. (keeping the crickets was the worst part!) Eventually one of them died because when it went to grab a cricket with it's tongue it pulled a piece of bark from the cage floor into it's mouth and poked a hole in it's stomach. We tried to save it, I even had to hand feel it chicken baby food with a syringe, but it died. The other one got huge after that. Eventually we moved and we knew that the big guy wouldn't do well in the move, so we sold him to an exotic pet store.
This is a pic of me and Sarah, our youngest pup, when I was about 25 weeks pregnant. I felt extremely fat during pregnancy so I didn't let anyone take very many pics during that time. I know it's silly cause you're supposed to look fat during pregnancy, but I'm very selfconscious.
This is Collin at about 6 months. The older he gets the harder it is to get sleeping pictures of him. I think there is nothing more peaceful then a sleeping child.

Memorial Day Tribute

For all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom we honor you this Memorial Day. We will never forget....

FREEDOM IS NOT FREE

I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze;
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform,
So young, so tall, so proud;
With hair cut square and eyes alert,
He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought... how many men like him
Had fallen through the years?
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?

How many pilots' planes shot down
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves
No, Freedom is not Free.

I heard the sound of Taps one night,
When everything was still;
I listened to the bugler play,
And felt a sudden chill;

I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant "Amen"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend;

I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands.
With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea,
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No. Freedom is not Free!
©Copyright 1981 by Kelly Strong

Smurf Yeah!

I love Family Guy!

I'm seeing a pattern here...

I was looking back on my last few posts and I noticed a theme. Boredom. Well, that and migraines. I really hate it when I get like this, so I'm going to try to be more positive and enjoy the time I have left here. After all, I've got that trip to Venice to look forward too and the move back to the USA! I'm going to try and focus more on the good things that are coming then the things that are getting me down.

I'm turning into a shut-in

These past couple of days have been pretty boring. It's been rainy again and Collin is developing alittle cold so we've been staying indoors. I feel like the longer I stay in the house the harder it is to leave it. Like I'm too lazy to go find something to do. Anyone who knows me knows that I can't stand to be cooped up in the house. I'd rather be out doing something...anything. But lately I've just been staying home. I think being a stay at home mom is making me a little depressed. I enjoy my time with Collin, but I miss the interaction with adults. Plus we are getting ready to go through a major move. I'm nervous about the plane ride back to the states. I'm worried about finding a job I like. I'm concerned about finding someone I trust to watch Collin, that is affordable. I think all these things going through my mind has made it alittle hard for me to express how excited I am to be getting back to America and my family. And far far away from Germany.

Rainbow after the storm

Last night was hell. I got another one of my migranes.
Collin and I had just had a nice afternoon out and about town. It was a beautiful sunny day and on the way home I started to get alittle headache. I can never tell whether or not it's going to a regular headache that will go away with Tylenol, or if it's gonna be the "Whopper". The thing about my migrane meds is that I shouldn't use them for just any headache. My doctor said over use could actually cause my headaches to be worse and more frequent. I did take them last night right at the onset of the headache, but it came on strong and fierce. I suffered from 5pm to about midnight last night. I took everything thing I could and it just would not go away. I even threw up with it and didn't feel better. I was miserable. The weird thing about my headaches is that I always feel like a million bucks the next day. It's like the rainbow after the storm.

Forecast....Rain

What a boring couple of days. It's been raining and it looks like it's gonna keep raining for the next couple of days. I feel like a school kid that can't go outside for recess. I know I won't melt, but I can't take Collin to the park or anything like that so what is the point? I could take him shopping but there are two problems with that....
1. I WILL spend money. I love to shop and I can almost guarantee that I'm going to find something to buy. I have that trip to Venice coming up and I'm going to spend a wad of cash, plus we're leaving soon and unexpected bills just keep popping up.
2. It ends up being more work than fun. He's a boy and a toddler. Neither one of those things make for a fun shopping trip.
So I guess I'll break out the washable markers and paper for art time. I need some ideas for things to do with a 19 month old that are fun and we can do indoors. I know he's just as bored as I am!

What you can do to support our troops

I may not support the politics behind the war, but I support our troops and I want them all to come home safe and sound......
I can personally say this is a legitimate way to help our wounded soldiers as I used to work for this hospital and saw the good things the chaplains did everyday. Due to their injuries a lot of them arrive with nothing, not even clothing.

Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC), the largest American hospital outside the United States, is where the majority of our wounded soldiers are directly transferred to from the field while serving in the Middle East, Persian Gulf areas and Europe. Wounded soldiers arrive daily...

Requested items:

Burger King Certificates (there's a BK in the hospital)
International Calling Cards
Sweatsuits: small through extra large
Athletic Shoes: men sizes 9-12, women's 6-9
Men's & women's fall & winter jackets medium through extra large
Ruck sacks, gym bags, and small suitcases for clothing storage
DVD's movies to put in the hospital wards so they can watch movies
Pillows and blankets are also needed for comfort on airevac flights

Only new items are being accepted. Pastoral services staff are also now asking for CHECKS to "USAREUR Chaplains Fund" so they can help the wounded get personal items.

If you can not send any of the above, please send letters of support, get well cards, thinking of you etc.

MAIL TO:

Landstuhl Regional Medical Center
Pastoral Services Department
US Hospital
CMR 402
APO AE 09180

This may be disgusting....

I swear I'm not fixated on all things related to the toilets over here, but my husband and I laughed our asses off when we read this link.
It was attached to the previously mentioned article on the Spiegel guide to Germany.

http://www.leftfield.org/~scott/misc/toilet.htm

I've been away from America for too long!

Optimists Are Idiots

I've found a really great site describing some of the cultural differences between Germany and the rest of the world. The World Cup is coming to Kaiserslaughtern (a neighboring town) and Spiegel online has a Germany Survival Guide for all the foreign visitors that are coming to watch their team compete. I have to say they have hit the nail on the head on many of my own observations.

If you want to know a little about what life is like here read the articles. My personal fav is the one about the strange toilets here!! LOL! :)

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,411291,00.html

Fields of gold

It was nice out today, so Collin and I went to the park. I had my camera with me and wanted to give everyone a glimpse of Germany this time of the year. I love the different colors in the landscape.

I'm really enjoying this new camera of mine. It's inspired me to take more pictures and hopefully I will learn how to use all of it's features! If you click on this last picture you can see more details. There are several windmills on the horizon.

I've been living in the dark ages....

AARRGGGHH! Our modem decided to crap out on us last week and I'm just now getting back online. I have to say it's been very frustrating not having an internet connection. It was even more frustrating trying to replace the modem. We went to our internet service provider to get a replacement and they told us that the one that broke has a two year warranty. However we'd have to ship it off and wait for a free replacement to come to us via mail. Um...we only have a few more weeks here. Not gonna work. So we just think, we'll buy another one. The damn thing ended up costing us $160 bucks! And it's DSL, so we'll probably not even use it in the USA. I wanted to say, screw it, we'll just go without internet until we leave but Dave is job hunting and he needs to have it up and running. Oh well, I'm enjoying the internet now so I guess I'll shut up!

I have some awesome news. I'm going on a trip to Venice Italy with Melissa, a friend of mine from work! It's going to be a girls gett-a-way. No kids, housework or husbands for a couple of days!! LOL! One last hoorah before we come back to the states.
While I was working at the hospital, Melissa and I kept talking about going somewhere exciting for the weekend but we were both busy with kids, work and life. We finally found a weekend that worked for both of us. I wanted to go to Poland at first. They have these wonderful factories there where you can get beautiful Polish pottery for fairly cheap. The nice thing is that Poland still are using Zloty's as their currency. The rate is 3 to 1 there so the rates are in our favor! But it would have taken us 6 hours to drive there and the gas here is so expensive that we changed our minds and decided on Venice.
There were a couple of places I really wanted to see while we were stationed here in Europe. I wanted to see Paris, Venice and any part of Ireland. I guess two outta three ain't bad. More than anything, I wanted to see Paris. Dave and I were fortunate enough to see Paris before Collin was born. ( I was about 5 months preggo ) It was wonderful. We only had one day there, but we saw the highlights. I'd like to go back again sometime, maybe for an anniversary or something.
This is a pic of me by the Louve museum! I think you could spend a week there and not see everything.

Here is Dave and I in front of the Louve. You can't really tell, but Collin's in the pic too!

I will post pics of the Venice trip once we get back. I hope to get some really great ones....

We're outta here!!

I don't want to be too specific for security reasons, but we finally got orders to fly back to the states. Dave will be done with his military contract and we will be done with all the Army bullshit. WHOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

I think Dave is in the worst unit in Europe. His unit has used and abused his knowledge of computers and have treated him like crap. Ever since he got back from Pakistan, they've tried to blame him for missing equiptment, pin him on things that should have been taken care of by the previous person in charge of his area, and task him with bullshit details when he's supposed to be clearing the unit and the Army. There is ALOT to do before we leave here and we are leaving in around a month!!! Dave calls me today and said that they stuck him with Staff Duty. Staff Duty is basically sitting at a desk so they can answer the phone if an emergency should arise after duty hours. They have a schedule so that people can plan on getting plenty of rest, ect before their shift. Dave finds out this morning he has it for today! His superiors are always doing this kind of bullshit to him. He has a TON of appointments to make before he leaves the Army. Most of the time people start this stuff 120 days before they are supposed to leave but no one told Dave that, so we are trying to get this all done with the time we have left but his shithole unit is not supporting him.
He has served his country, done his time, and it seems like they are doing everything they can to hinder his exit. We put in for his terminal leave (you can request to take all your saved leave before you exit the military) back around the beginning of April and we just found out it was approved late last week. They have been sitting on it all this time.
I am so mad right now, because we can't do anything about it. He spoke to a couple of people in his chain of command about why they are putting him on staff duty tonight when he is so close to clearing and they basically said, too bad.
Thank goodness we are leaving soon. And the Army wonders why they have such poor retention numbers. Who would want to stay when there are nothing but a bunch of idiots running the show.

A walk in my neighborhood

I took a walk with Collin today. It was a glorious morning here and we took advantage of the sunshine and fresh air. Here are some pics from our walk..

This is the church in the heart of our villiage. They ring the church bells every hour and anytime there is a service. We love to hear them ring, it's so peaceful. However it drives our dogs nuts.

Outside of almost every village are little flower farms. They have a payment bucket and you cut and pay for your flowers right there on the spot. Right now they have tulips growing, but they change as the summer progresses. I love tulips!

Taters

heehee....

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/taters.php

My alternative names

I got this off my old college friend Dre's website. These things are great for a few chuckles.

1. YOUR PORN STAR NAME: (first pet and current street name) Charlie Kirchenstrasse - ...hum sounds like a man whore to me....

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your mother's side, your favorite candy) Nadine Sweet Tart - sounds like the porno name to me

3. YOUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAME: (first initial of first name, first two letters of your last name) B Br? This one is just dumb. Do you know anyone by that name? It sounds like I'm cold.

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite animal, favorite color) Canine Pink

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Michelle Bangor - Once again...sounds more like a porno name

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of your last name, last 3 letters of mother's maiden name, first 3 letters of your pet's name) braienqui - I am braienqui....conconquer of the universe!! Roar!

7. JEDI NAME: (middle name spelled backwards, your mom's maiden name spelled backwards) ellehcim neirbo

8. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color, the automoblie you drive) The Pink Vibe -
My mind could be in the gutter tonight, but that definately sounds like it could be a porno video.

I had a poopy weekend

I was pretty much bedridden this weekend. Lets see, Saturday, I had a migraine headache all day long. I finally got the headache to go away Saturday evening, so we thought it would be nice to go out to eat. (I was happy cause I didn't want to cook!) We picked our favorite Chinese place. They do a Mongolian BBQ where you pick your meat and veggies and they stirfry them fresh for you.

We should have just stayed home. It was close to Collin's bedtime and he wasn't feeling his best, so Dave and I had to take turns eating so we could entertain him. We get done with our meal and no sooner leave the restaurant when Dave and I both comment on how our stomachs just don't feel right. Dave's got progressively better (which he attributes to his months in Pakistan, apparently if you eat the food there you develop an iron stomach) my feeling didn't go away. In fact, my stomach ache got worse. I think we were home an hour before my meal made a surprise reappearance. Shudder.

I HATE to throw up. And I had to do it several times that night. Needless to say, I don't think I'll be returning to that restaurant. What a bummer. I really liked that place!

I spent most of Sunday in and out of consciousness on the couch sipping water and eating Golden Grahams (without milk) just happy to not be puking anymore.

We did go to the grocery store on Sunday because I needed to get some healthy food choices. I joined this weightloss group. ( www.sparkpeople.com ) It's free and what I really like about it is that they have a meal planner where they give you suggestions plus you can adjust the meals if you don't like something and print out a grocery list. They also figure out what you need to do to achieve your weight loss goals. It's almost like a weight watchers group only you don't have to pay a ton of money.

I just finished day 1 and I am so full. It seems as though if you eat the right things you get full faster and stay full longer. So we'll see. If I keep this up I should be able to reach my goal weight in November!!! Funny...I start my weight loss program the weekend I have food poisoning. I'm off to a good start....