Slip-on shoes

I'm looking for some good, comfortable, not too expensive slip-on shoes.

What are they called? Not clogs, shoot, I don't know.

Anyways, my feet are so swollen that none of my slip-ons are comfy. I normally wear a 6 or 6 1/2 but right now I'm having to go bigger...

Anyone have any recommendations. I looked at Target, Kmart, and Wal-Mart with no luck.

*sigh*

Two growing acrobats maybe?

I have two full-blown growing acrobats inside me.

One flips, the other flops.

One tosses, the other turns.

One's upside down, the other is right side up.

I'm ready for bed, they're ready to swing.

I'm trying to sleep, they're breakdancing.

I'm sound asleep, they wake me playing the drums.

I'm in a meeting, they make me laugh by kicking at my belly button (so very ticklish there).

This is pretty nifty. There is life inside me.

Life can only get more interesting.

Veteran's Day

As I was reading Blackfive this morning it reminded me of a day back in 2004. I was stationed at Travis AFB and many of the wounded GI's serving in Iraq on their way home to recover would stop overnight at Travis's David Grant Medical Center. Each night a plane with wounded service members landed a different squadron around the base would visit the hospital.

On this particular night, it was my squadron's turn. The call came at noon for volunteers and at 5pm we met at the hospital.

I wasn't sure what to expect. Who knew how bad the GI's were injured or what they had been through.

I walked into the first room and there lay a young man barely 20 years old, pins in his leg and a bandage on his head. He smiled and said "howdy!" There went the ice and we spent a good half hour in his room just talking. He didn't talk about the war, he didn't talk about his buddies who were injured. He talked about building a school for the Iraqi children and how much fun they had passing out toys and candy. He talked about his Mom and how glad he was he was getting to see her soon. And then he fell asleep from the pain meds with a smile on his face.

In the next room was a Navy female. She was on her way home to Washington and ready to see her husband and children. That's what she talked about. She asked for some orange juice. We got her some and she smiled, said "thank you" with the sweetest smile and went back to watching TV.

In another room was a soldier with a hole in his chest. At first he looked asleep but when he saw us he motioned us in. He didn't talk about his family, he didn't talk about going home, he talked about the fact that he was scheduled to return to Iraq in 3 months once he was healed. He talked about how scared he had been but with his buddies with him, the scared went away and the buddies became brothers. And that's how he referred to his patrol members- as brothers. Then the doctor came in to give him more pain meds and we had to leave.

The last stop we made was in the break room where two young men were sitting watching TV and playing a checkers game. Their eyes were old, shuttered, with memories walking across the iris with each word they spoke. They talked about their buddy who had died sitting next to them. They talked about huddling together at night to stay warm, about what it meant to be soldier. They talked about their separation date and how they were returning to Iraq one more time before their DOS. And they wondered aloud if they'd make it out alive the next time.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I went in. But I know what I came out with afterwards.

Each one of them touched my heart in a different way. I was amazed at their courage, energized at their love for one another, encouraged by their strength of will, and blessed by their attitudes.

You see, they didn't look at the war as a curse of their existence, they looked at it as a chance to do something right for everyone.

And that's how I choose to remember them. Not as wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen but as heroes who did the right thing simply because it was right.

Veteran's Day is about remembering their courage, their strength, their love for each other and all of us. It's about true sacrifice to keep freedom alive. It's about standing up for what is right, willing to pay the ultimate price to make sure right stays alive. It's about love, truth, honor, and belief. Let us not ever forget.

God Bless America and God Bless our Veterans each and every day.

My cousin deployed to Iraq

Just found out this morning. I knew he was scheduled to leave sometime the end of this year but I guess I just wasn't ready to hear he was there.

He's been there for 3 days and another 362 days to go.

Say a prayer for him please.

2008 elections

So now that the midterm elections are over, talk has turned to the 2008 Presidential elections and who's who among possible frontrunners.

John McCain is a strong possibility for the GOP.

Hillary Clinton is a strong possibility for the Dems.

Toss in Rice, Obama, Gore, and Romney; well it might just get interesting.

Bring in Colin Powell or Rudy Giuliani and you have a race.

Leave John Kerry out in the cold.

My vote would go to Colin or Rudy. I don't know about anyone else except for one sure thing-

I will NEVER EVER vote for Hillary.

Change...

Well with election day over and the democrats taking over the House and Senate...life is going to get very very interesting for us military folk.

Stupid law!

Me and my mom went to the grocery store today pick up a few groceries and a 12-pack of her beer. Only to be told in the checkout line that we couldn't buy beer today because it was Tuesday, election day. Some stupid Georgia law says that you can't buy beer within so many feet of a polling booth.

How many ways of stupid is that?

Has anyone else heard of this in their state?

Introducing Mick and Mack

Ultrasounds are amazing things. Whoda thunk you could see what your baby looked like before they were born.

Here's my 20 week ultrasound of the twins. Aren't they just adorable?

Baby A is the top pic. Baby B is the bottom pic. What you see to the left of Baby B's head is Baby A's feet! LOL By the next afternoon Baby B had flipped...guess they didn't like getting kicked in the head all that much!

I haven't fully decided on their names yet but can't keep calling them Baby A and Baby B. So after trying out frick and frack, pete and repete, humpty and dumpty, I've finally settled on Mick and Mack as their nicknames until they're born! Then who knows...

I can't get over how sweet their profiles are. Maybe it's an early sign of their dispositions?