March 31, 2005


Looks like me on a bad hair day Posted by Hello

yeah, has issues Posted by Hello

Would you give these cats a home? Posted by Hello

March 29, 2005


we stretched for literally miles Posted by Hello

In the distance you can see the flames from the oil refineries. Posted by Hello

we had to set up our own cots:-D Posted by Hello

this was me hanging out in the tent down in Shuaiba Posted by Hello

everyone behind my truck Posted by Hello

This was my bunk while staying in Camp Udari. I know it looks like a mess, but believe me I had a system. Posted by Hello

Driving into Camp Udari, Day 1 Posted by Hello

The windshield from the inside, after sliding through the mud. Posted by Hello

The view from the bus. Posted by Hello

Oh gotta love the desert. Posted by Hello

LOOOONG day

We did not get released from work until close to 1900 (7pm)!! And then I rushed straight home to clean my dishes as my team leader was walking through my room. He barely walked in, looked around, then left ROFL. No issues with that here. I had my quarterly counseling today, and while it wasn't very bad, it still wasn't as good as I had hoped. I am frustrated at times because I am trying so very hard to be better, but I will merely try harder. Very tired today, so I am going to post the first of what will be many blogs on my year in Iraq. Bear in mind I have edited these for both my privacy and the privacy of those I wrote about, I have also made notations in some to clarify certain points. The above are some pictures from that first week.


9 January 2004
16:10
Not even 24 hours in country and already I am miserable. But there have been bright points, like my good friend showing up at the APOD:) Then I was one of the group to take the drivers course and drive the NTV's up to Udari, so I got to hang in Doha for awhile. Talked to some of the old 221st guys I used to hang with all of the time.
The flight over here wasn't too bad, save for my embarrassing bawling in front of just about all the higher ups who had come to see us off.
Driving up here to Udari was kinda boring for the most part, I kept wanting to fall asleep, and then we went off road:) At that point we are FLYING! Myself and my TC were having a blast. Then they decided to hit mud and my Pajero decided to spin out of my and we covered the car in mud. After we had stopped me and my TC busted out laughing our asses off. Of course I got chewed by the NCOIC of the trip, spoilsport that he is.

10 January 2004
22:15
About time for bed for me, though doubt I will sleep anytime soon as I was out cold for about 2 hours this afternoon.
Life here isn't too bad. So far it is wet, muddy (REALLY muddy) but not so bad. I could not believe my eyes this morning as I was leaving for formation and ran into an old friend from AIT!!! We used to hang out in AIT alot. He is here, part of the unit that we are attached to so we will be seeing alot of each other. Awhile back we had reconnected online by pure chance and not more than 3 weeks later we are walking around together. We both got a kick out of that one.


15 January 2004
15:40
Day 6. It's been a weird week. Sunday we went down to the Spod (Shipping Port) to stay the night and then on Monday morning we drove the humvees back up to Udari. That morning we only had 8 vehicles so it was a smooth convoy up. The very next day we were back on buses back down there to pick up the rest of the vehicles. I got lucky enough to be the 1Sg's driver down there in the NTV, but I don't think he is going to make that mistake again anytime soon ROFL. I wasn't misbehaving Very badly. The convoy up that day was impressive, 34 vehicles that were our units alone and then we had another unit attached to us. The convoy stretched for literally miles. We stopped at the beginning of Snake trail, where it was reasonably dry but still muddy enough for me to be happy. I was jumping around and another NCO had a good laugh at me behaving like a happy little kindergartner:)
I have been giving a hell of a lot of thought to re-enlisting. For all that I hate this sitting in the desert, I love the Army, I have made my life pretty good. I have all that I need, and then some.

March 28, 2005

Incommunicado

Yes Yes yes, I know, I have been out of it for the last few days:-D I have good reason though, my darling dearest was here this weekend, making my weekend fantastic! He got in earlyy Friday morning, and since I had to work that morning, he got to sleep all morning, and then take me to my MRI appointment that afternoon. He was such a dear as he ended up having to wait about and hour for me to get done. The day was absolutely gorgeous so after all was said and done, we headed out to the riverwalk downtown for a walk along the river. Being a sappy romantic at heart, that was one of my favorite moments. The rest of the weekend passed by too quickly, until this morning I had to go to work, and he had to head back down. BUT, it won't be a month before I get to see him again, as a week from now I will be flying into Houston to spend 2 weeks with my beloved and his family. I can't wait. That is the thing I hate the most about long distance, is saying goodbye. But in the end, it will all be worth it.

March 24, 2005

Growing up too fast?

I just read a little blurb about how the Williams sisters wrote a book on money and dating for preteens aged 9-12. I'm sorry, SAY WHAT?!?! Dating? Between 9-12? I don't know about you all, but I know what I was doing between those ages, and I know what were my concerns, and NONE of them involved money or dating. I was too busy playing with dolls, practicing violin. I think the biggest worry I had was whether I could work my way up in the orchestra levels high enough to get to wear a taffeta dress! I have sisters aged 12, 14, 16, and 18, and I can barely imagine my 18 y/o dating, much less the younger ones. There is so much else out there! These kids these days need to quit growing up too fast! ENJOY the innocence of childhood! It seems that everything these days is focused on making kids grow up faster then they should. Clothes, music, school, don't even get me ranting about clothes. When I was growing up, my clothes covered my body, and were age appropriate! Hell, I had a freak out fit one day when my sister walked out wearing a halter top that was perfectly modest, but did have a low back. Mummy got quite the giggle out of that, she says that I am more of a prude then she is. Grrrrrr, I want my siblings to stay young and worry free as long as they can! Adult life BLOWS!

March 23, 2005

Hump day

Ah, half way through my week, and one more day closer to seeing the man I love dearly. In the meantime I am preparing for his arrival Friday, doing all of my laundry, cleaning my room thoroughly, etc.....
My mother, in one of the various topics of conversation we had this weekend, suggested that I start posting some of my journal entries from the first 6 months I was in Iraq, and let you all see what I was up to before I started my blog. I am going to do that here shortly, I just have to edit them out to preserve other's privacy:-D
So, for today's site, I recommend you all go read This, and weigh in on the subject. I personally would be interested in seeing what you all think.

March 21, 2005

wild weekends

This weekend was quite busy for me, as Saturday morning I drove to NC to pick up my mother to head to Atlanta together. Going to Mum's is a 3 hour drive, then it was another 3 1/2 hours to Atlanta, that took quite awhile as we were blabbing all the time, and we stopped at Target on the way as well and picked up some necessary items. We finally got to the Hyatt around 7, and immediatly started getting ready to go meet Garrison for drinks and socializing:-D We started at a jazz lounge and enjoyed good conversation there. It was great conversation, ranging all over the place. G was very easy to talk to, and it was great having Mum there as well. I so rarely get to go out with her these days, so it was a lot of fun. I won't go into all the details;) but lordy lordy double trouble! We ended the night around 0130 at a different place that was also wicked kewl, and when we got back to the hotel that night we just collapsed ROFL:) Oh such comfortable beds.The next morning we got up with enough time to head to the meet, unfortunatly yours truly was born with a wee bit too much testosterone in her blood, and hates asking for directions when I already had them written down, and ended up passing the road the first time hehehehe:) But we got there and thankfully the meet was running late, so we did see all of it:-D My sister is so very good and I am so very proud of her! She fell off the beam once, but everything else that she did was great, on the floor, bars, and the vault. I don't remember exactly what all of her scores were, but she scored 36.25 and placed 3rd all around and is headed to on to regionals. So very very very good:-D Mummy and I headed back and the conversations ranged from genetics to geneology to a womans reproductive cycle to even an impromptu math lesson on fractions:-D I got on the road to Augusta around 2200 (10 PM) and was home at 1230 just about:-D Today was alright, I had my first Physical Therapy appointment, got some exercises for my legs, and then went on to pysche.That is going well, I do believe:-D

Ah, double trouble! Posted by Hello

Garrison took some great shots:-D Posted by Hello

again, not a good shot:) But wow! Posted by Hello

I know this is not the greatest shot, but here she is performing on the beam. Posted by Hello

Becca entering the meet:) Posted by Hello

March 18, 2005

Fun site

For a good laugh and smile today, go visit Here.

March 17, 2005


We had a Class A inspection recently (Class A's would be the uniform I am wearing here) and I took this for you all to see:-D PS Check out the rack............................of ribbons goofballs:-D Posted by Hello

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!!!

I hope everyone wore some green today:-D My spot of green (after changing out of my uniform of course) was a green scrunchi wrapped around the poof on my Irish tam:)
Today was a good day for me, this morning we did our tests, and everyone passed, so we had all afternoon off:-D While driving home I heard about the St Patty's day parade on the radio, and decided what the hell, I wanted to go:-D I was going to drag my best friend and her baby down there, but she felt really badly, so I headed down myself. Surprisingly, for a small(er) town like Augusta, it was a good sized parade. And in case you missed your hometown parade, highlights below:-D
Ok, earlier I had so much to type about and now, I forgot LOL.

That is damned impressive balance, to be able to dance on a moving vehicle! Posted by Hello

See the pretty horseys:) Posted by Hello

My favourite radio station here in town:-D Posted by Hello

The shriners were some of the funniest guys out there:-D They were speeding around and leaving skid marks on the road:-D Posted by Hello

Mini Fire Engine. Boy it put out a lot of smoke! Posted by Hello

Ugh, Smoky! Posted by Hello