The Final Inspection

The Soldier stood and Faced god,
Which must always come to Pass.
He hoped his shoes were shining,
Just a Brightly as his brass.

Step forward now you Soldier
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been True?

THe Soldier Quared his shoulders and said,
"No Lord, I guess I ain't.
Because those of us who carry guns,
Can't always be a Saint."

"I've had to work most Sundays,
And at times my talk was tough.
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough."

"But I never took a Penny,
That wasn't mine to Keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime,
When the bills were just too steep."

"And I never passed a cry for help,
Though at times I shook with fear.
And sometimes, God Forgive me,
I've wept un-manly tears."

"I don't deserve a place,
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around,
Except to calm their fears."

"If you've a place for me here Lord,
It needn't be so Grand.
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't I'll understand."

There was silence all around the Throne,
Where Saints had often trod.
As the Soldier waited Quietly,
For the Judgement of his God.

Step forward now you Soldier,
You've Bourn your burdens well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's Streets
You've Done your Time in Hell.

Written By: SGT Cruz, US Army, 3ID (Mech) Ft. Stewart, GA
Copywrite 2005

Pictures of Tracy!!!

Ok... simply because I promised a picture of my Sister in law, (And because I am SURE she will want to kill me!) Here are just a couple.

This is Tracy trying to rock climb, but the rock is too cold to hold on too!


This is Tracy (Far Right)and 3 of her friends after a swim... in a river... outside. Notice the SNOW around them... *smiles* Wish I could have been there!!! Would have ROCKED!

For some reason, I can't get the other pic I wanted to add up here. It was of me, Tracy, and Dave a few months ago. Alas... I will try again later!
PLEASE DON'T KILL ME TRACY!!!! *smiles*

Poor kitty....

Well, I had one hell of a day.
And there I was... my FIRST real day as acting NCOIC of my clinic... no head nurse... just me. And what happens... the power goes out in my apartemnt some time around 2am. Leaving me with a terrible wake up call at 0906. I roll over... thinking wow. I slept for hours finally... first night since dave left. Then... the realization that it is WAY TO BRIGHT in my room to be 0630, when I needed to get up for work. I look over, and there it is... my trusty alarm clock.... blinking 0518... and my body kicks in to high gear.
Grabbing my cell phone to check the time (0906... work started at 0730) and simultaneously grabbing my home phone to call work... I RUSH through the house tazmanian devil style and am in uniform and out the front door in 11 minutes. No shower... no breakfast.
I get in to my clinic at 0927.... not bad time considering. Everyone picks on me... but amazingly, no one bitched at me. So... I thought my day wouldn't be so bad.
WRONG!
My "Personal Trainer" (aka SSG Boulier) kicked my ABS at the gym (lol) and I feel like a walking zombie by the time I get home about 645pm. Then, my Cat is hurt... or sick... or something. Just acting REALLY wierd. They got shots yesterday, so I get scared and call the vet... who tells me I need to bring her in, and it will be $68 dollars for the visit PLUS and procedural fees. *OMFG??!!!* I ask what the standard proceedure would be... and she said fluids and they would monitor her overnight.
SO... I would pay more than $100 to have my cat babysat over night... PLUS have to drive and HOUR in to Savannah with a sick cat... and use all that gas. FOR WATER AND A CAGE!?
So, I took my kitty to a friends house to isolate her from the other cats... watched her for a few hours and got some fluid in her. Brough her home... she RAN out of th carrier... ate, and is now happily purring and bathing on the bed. No harm... and no money lost.
Guess the day ended well. I had a good night with friends... talked, played poker (THANK GOD we weren't playing strip poker... although I didn't lose... I cam in second.) And had a good time. Now that I have bored you all with my simple life... I will go for now.
OH!!! and Tim called... i will save that for tomorrow cause I just don't have the strength to deal with it. I am gonna take a bath and have a glass of wine... and sleep till noon... then I will broach that subject.

Mischief and mayhem!!!

My WONDERFUL and LOVELY sister in law has joined the ranks of online blogging! *CLAPS FOR TRACY* She can now be found in all her glory at:
http://tracytherockstar.blogspot.com/
or you can hit the link on the side of my Blog.
Tracy girl you ROCK!!! I love you!
*editors Note*
Tracy is my sister.... despite how cute she looks in her pictures, I will kill you if you look at her wrong. Got it? LOL Just kidding! Tracy is cool.... Rock climber bum and wishes she could live in a tent in Red Rocks for the rest of her life! GO TRACY!

The Finished Product!!!

Well, after approximately 6 weeks of working on my bed, I have finally finished it! The pictures are below. The room is beautiful, and the pictures don't do it justice. But you asked to see it... so here it is! and YES it is sturdy. I jumped on it to make sure. *smiles* Well... Enough waiting!

Ego Boost!

Well, I got a great compliment today. One of my Sergeants asked me today if I had lost weight! I about died of shock. I have only been doing the diet and work outs for about a week, and I sure as heck don't see a difference... but just the fact that someone thinks that made me feel awesome! I am working on getting my friend Becky on the band wagon.... going to her house tonight for her first work out with me. Now all I have to do is get her to Blog! *smiles*

Breaking the habit and a SLIGHT laps in eating...

Well, I have done it. I have sworn off Soda and anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup. In fact, tonight, I plan on molesting my kitchen until there is not more HFC in sight. Then I will go to the grocery store and stock up on "acceptable" snacks.
I had a wake up call last night on the topic of HFC... I was online with Dave and we started talking about it and I got curious. So I got up and checked my "normal" Breakfast food which included things like "Frosted Mini Wheats" and "Quaker Granola bars" and "breakfast bars" as well as various other normal breakfast foods.

ALL of them contained HFC.

I was in Shock. I began to hunt for other items and I have to say I was APPALLED at the amount of crap in my kitchen. *sighs*

BUT! (Yes, there is a but) I have found a light at the end of the tunnel. One of my FAVORITE cereals is Kashi Go lean Crunch.... ALL ORGANIC and is sweetened with Honey NOT HFC *smiles* And there were a few good things in my fridge. I have already switched to skim milk, and I had apples and carrots and such. I am also a HUGE fan of lean Cuisine meals. So a few minor tweaks and adjustments to my eating schedule and my habits and things should start looking up. I stepped on the scale today and there was no change in my weight yet... but I won't let that stop me.
Today did prove to be a bad day for eating though. My co-workers took me out for mexican food. I did pretty well. Taco Salad with Salsa dressing... Watermelon for desert... the only BAD thing was the 3 taquitos I ate. I don't even WANT to know how many calories were in that. So i am going to work extra hard at the gym tonight. Wish me luck!!!!

Long boring day....

Well.... Today has been VERY un-eventful. I am currently sitting at the SRC (Soldier Readiness Center) screening records to see what vaccinations people need. We have had about 500 National Guard soldiers come through today... all of whom were SUPPOSSED to go to Camp Shelby LA, but because of Katrina got sent here to get processed. They are getting ready to deploy to the Middle-East. Where? I don't know. All of them have been pretty nice and managable. You get the rotten one here and there, But most have been pleasent.

Tonight I will be going to the gym. I am going to do some ab work cause I can't do much else for a few days. (Hurt my shoulder... don't ask how!) And I think I am going to spoil myself with a hot bath and a good game of WoW.

Dave is getting his physical done here pretty soon to try for Special Forces school. I am really glad that he has decided on something that he will enjoy. I can't say that I am not worried about him. What he will be doing is hard work, dangerous, and it means being away from home alot. But in many ways it is MUCH better. So... I was feeling a little helpless about it, but now, after speaking with him about it...I am pretty confident that things will work out for us.

Gotta run for now.... more work to do *POUTS*

Redemption

I figured since I posted HORRIBLE pictures of me, that I should redeem myself and post a picture of what I look like Normally... WITH CLOTHES ON! *smiles* This is my husband David and I about a week before he left for Iraq.

Katrina and my bed...

First of all... Katrina.
I have passed the link along to everyone at work and have gotten a very positive response from those who saw it. JAY YOU ROCK! That was a fantastic idea. I know that if we help one family... we will have made a difference in someones life. And that is awesome.
Second... my bed.
We are having issues with the paint because the wood wants to soak it all up... so I am going to have to get a dark primer before I can finish it. Minor set back. But, I should have it done this weekend... so I will get new picks posted ASAP.

In Other news...
I failed my PT Test yesterday.... by 10 sit ups. So... I know what I am going to be doing everyday for the next month until I can re-take it. The thing that sucks is that I can not take ANY leave until I pass a PT Test... so that sucks. I have never failed a PT Test because of my sit ups before... so that is very upsetting.
I also lost my babysitting job this weekend.... so there goes the money I was hoping for.
To top it all off, I worked my ass off on that PT test yesterday (Literally!) And so now I am SORE all over. My ribs hurt so bad it hurts breathe! Oh well... guess that means a hot bath and a glass of wine tonight.

Katrina Help!

Hey guys, for those of you reading this, please listen. The link below is for assistance with housing for Katrina victims. I have volunteered my home (Although no one ahs contacted me about it yet) to help place some of the people in need. If you have a room, or if you are a victim who needs somewhere to go, click on the link below.



Thanks to Dave for passing this on, and to Jay for the brilliant Idea!

Carpentry SKILZ

Lol! So, I have been working on building s queen sized platform bed for our bedroom. (Because I was tired of cramming 2 people on to a full sized bed!) And I finally got the wood work done. All I have left to do is laquer it Black... should be finished tomorrow. I will try and get pictures of the "finished Product" up tomorrow.... but for now, Check it out in all it's naked glory! *giggles*

Down with Barbie... and her little Ken too!

Ok....
I was watching Disocvery Health tonight, and this woman who is 44 years old, is getting ready to marry a 77 year old man. OK.... not the problem.
For their "PRe-Wedding" Gift, he is getting her... A TOTAL FACIAL OVERHAUL. He said "Honey, your beautiful, you just need to get mroe beautiful" And did she slap him up side his head and walk out? NO! She just smiled and said... "Ok honey... whatever you want" and then he proceeded to point out everything WRONG with her face. Her nose... her chin.... she needs a brow lift.... the list went on. So he must be rich, and she must want his..... Money. I can't see why any woman would put up with that. She said ehr Idol was barbie.... so I think she may be a little bit nuts.

Triple trouble Ya'll

So, next weekend, my friend Becky is going to Hawaii... and I will be making $200 to watch her Monster Children (aged 7,5,18mos) I am ok with it... because the Kids do Push-ups and Flutter kicks as punishment.... which I can definately dishout THAT style of punishment! LOL! Should lead to an interesting weekend. If I was thinking about having children any time soon... I am SURE that next weekend would change my mind.
Still on Alert for Hurricane Relief.... still no idea What the F*** is going on either.
On a good note... I have decided what I am dressing as for Halloween. It came to me while I was shopping tonight... I will going as (Drum Roll Please!)
Josie.... from Josie and the Pussycats! (The Center chick in the Pic with the Guitar)
Probably something straight out of a "punk rock prom queen" Style.... Very exciting for me here!

Well, lets see....
my work out the other day has caused me so much pain that I could hardly walk, and I am now on day two of NOTHING.... I could not bring myself to work out because it hurt SO BAD. Hopefully, that will be resolved for tomorrow.
On Alert again for Hurricane Relief....
Army finance pissed me off, messed up my husbands pay, and now I am broke. That just sucks in general.
David has been so busy in Iraq, that I feel like I haven't really TALKED to him in days. It broke my heart to wake him up when I called, and have him tell me he had to go almost immediately....
Now a friend wants me to watch her THREE children next weekend... for the WHOLE weekend. THe plus side is.... she will pay me $200... and with money being tight... I am considering it.
So... bad day (the people at work STILL SUCK) and I am exhausted from all of this stress. So who knows.... we'll see how tomorrow goes.... 3 day weekend... can't get here soon enough.