Do all Americans eat cake?

I've, like everyone else, been watching the news endlessly. Katrina. Terrible, horrible, destructive Katrina. She is our Tsunami for all intents and purposes and after watching the number of dead climb, the picture fade more and more grim, I began to wonder what should I do? What CAN I do? I wish I were an emergency worker now because I feel so helpless, so glib sending a check to an organization that I barely know and only hope will distribute it properly. And then I hear the distant sound of American generosity marching to assist: Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, Exxon, Office Depot, more and more are sending money and supplies to the area to help our fellow Americans. "Good, Good!" I think. We're doing what we do best, helping people in need. But I stop in my mental tracks. What about the rest of the world? Where are the sympathy statements from the nations of the world? A "We're so sorry, this is horrible" would be really nice right about now. And even better they could make those words actually mean something by sending people or supplies (I understand many aren't able to and should not). BUT! I forget we are AMERICANS. We don't need anything. We're all rich. We all drive 2 or 3 cars and have boats and eat cake. Or so the rest of the world thinks.

I heard something pretty funny on Fox (YES FOX NEWS). An email from a viewer said something to the effect of, France was going to send help but when they found they would have to deploy they surrendered. I couldn't help but laugh at the irony (despite the account being a jab) since it was in fact their royalty that originated the bobble-headed phrase, "Let them eat cake."

The sad truth is, the people who didn't leave New Orleans in a car and suffered the worst losses, of life or now mired in infested water, were probably the ones who COULDN'T, i.e. the poor, the sick, the elderly. So, if we're helping the least of these, they aren't eating cake, they're eating MREs. Like my husband.
Light a candle for all of them.

The time equation

The length of a day, month or year is directly proportional to the degree of pain in separation multiplied by the chances of reuniting. Ok I just made that up. But it sure feels like time is relative, and it certainly doesn't cure all things. It seems sometimes I do the bare minimum to get through my day and think about how much time has gone by since he left, which means I watch meaningless television and watch my plants grow in the back yard. Well that's today anyway. For all of you who may worry, my house is clean my children are well fed and we're not wallowing in filth or anything, I said I do the bare minimum, not nothing. :)

Kids say the darndest things

In the car after a long road trip; me, the boys and my friend Carrie.

Me on cell phone: "Yeah it was fun but a really long trip. You know everything with the boys is an effort"

Gabe in the backseat hollers out: "We're not Fwords!"

Another one of my favs is:

Gabe:Mom, does God have a last name?
Gabe: Mom, are stars Angels?

Update

So, here I am. Been a rough past couple of days. But life goes on right?

We borrowed an idea from another wife and counted out an M&M for each day that he'll be gone. We eat one every night and so far Gabe's been good about not sneaking ;)

We went to DC and had a great time at the annual Lego Convention. Yes, we're one step away from the Star Wars convention. There were actually some really incredible creations there. Have I already talked about this?...




This is an entire race track complete with fans built out of Legos!



I found a mommy group called Mocha Moms for women of color. Isn't that great? Mocha Moms. I thought it was for fellow mommy/Starbucks lovers, but this will be fun too. :0) First meeting tomorrow, hope it goes well. I also went to my church again, the one I haven't been so fond of, but I decided I couldn't wait for an evangelist to knock on my door for a church to go to. Besides I would not have listened anyway ;) Hmmm what else. I have a new BFF. I hope she doesn't think I'm a stalker, because I'm so excited to have a friend near by who is in the same situation. We call each other almost everyday and it's one of those (drop on by anytime) relationships, just to check in on each other. She took me to the Marine Corps band performance you can see below.


Also, we have a date this weekend. I'm telling you I'm going to be on her like peanut butter on jelly, white on rice, Paris Hilton in Pink you get my drift.

Oh did you see I got an anonymous comment on one of my posts? Yeah, someone out there likes me but not Bush. So what's new?

Since I forget everything I want to say when I sit down to write this thing I decided it's time for a list. Things I would like to do one day:
Fly a plane
Own a motorcycle
Learn how to shoot a gun
Eat Sushi ( I haven't had the opportunity yet)
Drink a REALLY expensive bottle of wine, just to see what the fuss is all about
Learn to dive


Things I will never do
Eat a bug
Enjoy cooking
Shave my head
Run for office

So that's all for now folks...

Peace

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;Whatever my lot,
Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Can you hear me now?

Whether it's the Election resembling class president, your mother-in-law, or a kid with a tshirt that says "F*** You", it's loud and clear - we all want to be heard. Take this blog for instance. I know someone, somewhere is reading this and it strokes my ego just a little bit to know that someone is hearing what I have to say. I started thinking about this about a month ago when we went to Six Flags and every other person was wearing a tshirt with some one liner on it.

"I dated Nick before Jessica"
"I'm cuter than your girlfriend"
"Why are you looking at me?"
"If you think I'm cute you should see my mom" and
"Vote for Pedro" My personal fav.

(Notice how they're all about image? Hmmm, maybe we all want to be SEEN)...

I call them Scream Tees. Particularly for women who are blessed in the chest, it's nearly impossible to look away, and worse you're breaking the 3 second rule of glancing there, because you're reading the freaking tshirt. For a woman, that's really disturbing. And yet, I have my own set of Scream Tees. Mine are "Chick in Charge" and "My boyfriend is my hero." (I couldn't resist). I'm certainly NOT blessed, breastfeeding took that away from me a long time ago, but still it draws the eye and I did consider it before buying, but isn't that the point? I want someone to know something about me. I like to be in control. And there's a guy in my life serving this country. That's not too much info right?

So I'm wondering. What if we gave out free Scream Tees when you voted? I think it's a great idea to get people to vote. And for goodness sake it's got to be more creative than. "I voted." And it must appeal to a larger demographic than MTV's viewers. I'm not their target audience anymore (which I realized means that I am "old" by Hollywood standards) and I would love a free tshirt but I'm not wearing a P.Diddy, Diddy, Puff Daddy or whatever his name is now, slogan on my chest. Maybe "My vote is better than yours." or "Absentees do it alone." or "I voted for Mickey Mouse" or we could fall back on "Vote for Pedro" and hand out copies of Napolean Dynamite.

Meanwhile, there is this woman in Texas who lost her son in Iraq and is protesting the war. She found a platform and is definitely using it. Not that I don't think she has every right to protest, hell I'd probably be screaming at someone too, but I think sometimes we are all waiting for an excuse to really get up and shout. Like it's something we always wanted to do but didn't feel we had earned the right to speak (she wasn't protesting before right?)

We all want make our voice be heard, because sometimes a Scream Tee just isn't enough.

Happy Anniversary to me and Terry

Today is our anniversary. I forgot. I thought about it everyday until today and Terry called and was a little nervous about this convoy trip and everything and said, "Happy Anniversary" with as much happiness he could muster and I thought, " Oh my gosh, it's today!" I guess I put it out of my mind because I didn't want to be sad about it. Well, damn it here I am sad about it, but insightful too. We've been together for almost a decade. That's more than a third of my entire life that I have spent with one man. That's a longer relationship than any father figure I've ever had! What's the average marraige like five years? I think Terry and I have beat almost every odd out there, children first, broke, law school, and now deployment, which I'm pretty sure we'll get through :) Anyway, I was just thinking about how much we've both grown up. How I used to be a little sad that we had to deal with so much responsibility so young but how incredible it is that I've watched Terry change and become the person he will be. I got to see it all. He got to see me grow and change too. It's not always a bad thing that people change. I mean it seems that is the reason for many divorces (not judging here, just observing) that people change and grow apart. I don't think we had any secret trick, but for some reason we sort of grew together. Then again, I see us through rose colored glasses right now or Birth Control Glasses if you seen the pictures. I told him he'd be home in no time, bickering with me like we usually do when there's nothing stressful going on. That should get him fired up. ;)

How Bush comforts grieving families

How appropriate that I would read this article? This puts a human face on him if there ever was...

"Before Bush left the meeting, he paused in the middle of the room and said to the families, 'I will never feel the same level of pain and loss you do. I didn't lose anyone close to me, a member of my family or someone that I love. But I want you to know that I didn't go into this lightly. This was a decision that I struggle with every day.'

As he spoke, Ascione could see the grief rising through the president's body. His shoulder slumped and his face turned ashen. He began to cry and his voice choked. He paused, tried to regain his composure and looked around the room. "I am sorry, I'm so sorry," he said."

Read the whole article... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8941525/site/newsweek/

I did something stupid

I just watched a tribute to the 9/11 attacks, got it through email of course, and the mistake was watching it. I get chills everytime and, not that I was directly affected by what happened, but it always freaks me out that I was so far from home when it happened and so close to NYC (Syracuse) in comparison to where I should have been - Spokane. So it was stupid because it sends me into emotional fits, which I don't need right now. I feel crazy enough as it is. But it also reminds me of the good that I DO believe Terry and the guys are doing over there at least by keeping the war "over there" and not on the steps of my child's school. Anyway, I watch those videos for the same reason everyone else does, morbid curiosity, rememberence, etc.

So below are photos from my trip. Enjoy!

Brothers

All of us

Caleb

Johanna and puppies

Ash and puppy

Beach image

Winery

Kayak 2

Kayak 1

Carrie and me

Scenic

Getting there

Having fun

Missing the Mountain

Bfast at KW

Prefunking 2

Prefunking

For Marie

Ok Marie, this note's for you. I'm at the library balancing Asher on mylap and letting him rifle through my purse to keep him happy. Right now he's trying to slide my credit cards into the floppy drive....anyhoo...

It's been a really fun trip so far. The reunion was a blast! Drank and danced all night long. I'm still trying to catch up from that weekend! Have another girls trip coming up this weekend. Still not ready to come home though! I have been courting a job prospect while I've been traveling. I don't know though, full time work still seems a little scary to me. Send out good vibes people.

So unfortunatley for my east coast friends...I love Seattle/Tacoma. I want to live here for sure. It's just so friendly and active out here, I miss it. But I do realize that I am here during the most glorious time of year and I'm being a little deceived by all the sun and blue sky - oh, and I'm staying with my friends who live next to Greenlake. Well, this is short and sweet but I promise juicy details when I have time to write without a baby on my lap!

Monique