WOW

ok this is just too weird.. I got into blogger with no problems!

anyways.. i was only trying to get here to post one thing.

so we get AFN tv here.. some American shows, not all current episodes.. but we dont get normal commercials. We get these things like public service things and some really corny things someone comes up with..

but we also get these military news spots and stuff.

so this last week we keep getting the same news thing over and over and it cracks me up.

I have to find out the mans name.. but there is this man in like congress or something.. (obviously i dont pay attention to what the news is actually about) but this man has HALF A COAT ON!

im serious.. he is sitting there in front of his microphone and he has on a white dress shirt and tie.. and then a suit jacket.. but the jacket is only on half of his body.

i thought maybe he only has one arm? but the other one is on the desk there.. you dont see his hand, but you see his arm.. with the white shirt on it..

what is up with that!?

I thought maybe I imagined it but dh and travis saw it on the tv at the hospital the other day too..

tooooo funny. its like he forgot to dress himself all the way and no one bothered to tell him.

FINALLY

My gosh I have gone through way more than anyone should have to in order to get into this blog!

hopefully its all figured out now and I can post more than once a week!

so lets see.. I had a bunch of things to talk about in the last couple of days and of course since I couldnt get on here, I forgot them.

yesterday was Trents 11th birthday. I cant believe its been 11 years! wow. We didnt have a big party, just a family thing.. cake and ordered pizza.. and our friends the Moyers came over and joined in.. the kids played some wii and we just chatted. Her husband is deployed and she just needed to get out of her house for awhile and we enjoyed having her here!

then this morning I had a Valentine card class here.. Susan was my only participant LOL
but I had fun getting to just chat with her about things. I think that might have been the first time we have really been alone.. I mean we have been in my car once but she only lived like 2 minutes from where we were LOL so that doesnt count. and we have been at scrap things and lunch, but not alone. the nice thing was that it wasnt an awkward thing. I felt like I could have known here forever and she was just here hanging out with me for awhile.
We also went through a gazillion of my stamp sets - and after she left, I even got them all organized and figured out which ones Im getting rid of for sure.
(though I still have a box of some that I havent decided on yet ) lol

And I must like her because I let her see my (s)crap room! No one can see it and no one really has seen it for the last year.. its a DISASTER! so i guess thats the test.. if she can still be my friend after seeing that and my messy bedroom (the 2 rooms connect) then it has to be a true friendship LOL

What else is going on here.. hmm

still no word on when Travis is leaving for basic.. but today he was told the first or second week in Feb they might have the list of his job choices out and then we can pick one and know a date.

oh and I still havent gotten over my chicken-ness and called my friend from the last post. I really need to. I know it. I want to. Im scared. of what? Im not sure.. crying? rejection? i have no idea. sigh

ugh i hate that i had a lot to talk about and i cant think of any of it!

well we'll see if I can log in again when I come up with it or not..

if not, youll see me in a few days when blogger likes me again! haha

If I could turn back time

I would go back about 5 months.

and from there, I would try to figure out what I did or said that must have been so bad that it hurt my friends feelings. We havent talked much since about that timeframe, and it hurts to feel that loss.

I really had no idea what was going on, why we havent been talking, until I talked to someone else today.. who didnt tell me a thing really, but I still 'got' that I did or said something... sigh

I have wracked my brain all day trying to figure it out. I have cried off and on all day over the fact that I hurt someone and didnt even know it..and still dont know how.. and Ive gone through all kinds of emotions that surely come naturally when you are... what?... grieving the loss of a friendship? feeling sorry but not sure exactly what for?

should I be posting this online for all the world to see? Maybe not. but maybe if someone reads this along the way, it might help..
maybe itll help me..

to think about this the next time someone hurts my feelings.. do they even know they did it? am i willing to sacrifice a friendship on the off chance that they do know? what if they dont?

ugh. what to do now? Im not one that likes confrontation.. and I dont even think thats the word I want.. I dont want to confront someone in an angry sort of way. I just want to know what I did to make this happen.. and to apologize if I hurt her somehow. So, do I call her? write a letter? talk to her in person? the chicken/scared/nervous/baby part of me wants the easy way out.
the adult in me says to just call and get it out in the open.

i hate being an adult sometimes.

I wanna be like Susan!

and change MY blog colors too!

;)

actually, I was thinking of changing my background before, but couldnt get into blogger again.
I had the blue/white sort of thing going for the whole son joining the military post.

but, Im in the mood for something bright. Im done with winter..even if its not done with me. :p

I tried a different background, but it didnt extend all the way to the edges so it looked stupid.
:( but I can deal with this one.. no biggie.

Its a very small world

so...

I had lunch today with Susan and Dawn.. very nice lunch and nice to get out with Women! and none of MY kids! Dawn had her son there but really, he was totally fine. no biggie. not like mine who would have been fighting and whining and begging and whatever else.

so we went to lunch. we all rode in Susans van.

backstory a little bit.. Susan had seen someone on my facebook page awhile ago that she knew from another base from church. she had asked me about her and it was just weird that we both knew someone.. well, not weird but weird lol

its not unheard of because the military is really sort of its own little family, and then the church is too, so youre bound to find someone you knew at some point along the way.

but then today she was asking me about another person on my facebook that she thought she might know.. we still arent sure though.

so on the way back to the base, Im thinking about how Susan used to be at Aviano.. which I had known already but today it just sort of clicked or something. so I asked her when she was there.. and I kept thinking I wonder if X was there at the same time..

so I say.. did you know someone with the last name XXX and she says YES! Pegge???? and I say yeah... she says I LOVED HER! so Im telling her thats...

Roberts mom! that is MY MOTHER IN LAW!
oh my gosh. she knew my mother in law! (who happens to live an hour from here)

now, I know its a small world, but this was just too much for my mind to process HAHA

I thought about it all the way home and even once I was here. I dont know why its on my mind so much other than its just kind of weird/funny/crazy all at the same time!

and I realized I could have met Susan years ago.. if only she was there a year earlier when we used to go from here to Aviano to visit his mom and went to church with her a few times.

mind boggling.

so, it really is a small world after all.

So which President # should he be?

I was listening to some sports radio show the other day.. I never listen to sports but I heard them having a discussion about the President #s and so I kept listening..

anyways, the one guy was saying that Obama should be Pres. # 43 not 44

and the other guys said no he is and should be 44

so the 2nd guy explains that 1 President served twice- not consecutively- so he counts as 2 numbers and thats why theres 44 now.

the 1st guy says no the one that served twice is only ONE man so he should only count as one President total.

the 2nd guy is also saying that 44 men have taken the oath and so theres 44 Presidents.
but the other guy is saying yeah, but one of those 44 was still one man.

so, I see both sides..

never thought about it before..

can you imagine.. you were the Pres. twice and you say, yeah I was President 18 and 21 (I dont know what #s he really was)
how funny.

wondering what others think it should be.. 43 or 44?

The Inauguration from the eyes of a 10 yr old

well, hes almost 11.

His assignment for school today was to watch an hour of the inauguration and then write
150-200 words on what he thought about it and on what he observed.

This is his report:

Trent Inauguration 2009

Here is what I think of the inauguration of 2009. Well it was pretty good it started at four p.m. and ended at eleven p.m. I enjoyed the speech Barack Obama gave to the crowd. In his speech he said that he would help in education and lower health cost so that everybody can afford it. My favorite part of the inauguration was when Barack said his oath that he kind of messed up on because he started to early and forgot some of the words he was supposed to say in the oath. That is what I think about the inauguration.
Now, what I observed in the inauguration. Well I observed that they like to speak slow a lot a an inauguration. I also observed that when Elizabeth Alexander was giving the poem her lips were not with the words of the poem she was saying. I observed that Barack is a good speech giver even though I did not know all the words he said. The last thing I observed was that everybody there was proud of Barack and that he was the new president of the U.S. That is what I observed of the inauguration.

New President

I dont pretend to understand politics. Ive never been really interested in it all.

I try to figure out what each person running for Pres. is telling us and then I do my part and vote.

My husband, and now my son too.. has a new Commander In Chief.



This year, we have an African American elected as President for the very first time. That is amazing...considering what things were like not so long ago in the U.S.

I admit, I didnt vote for Obama. but, that doesnt matter. He has been elected and he will be our new President and I am ok with that- besides, it really wouldnt matter if *I* wasnt ok with it LOL

Im watching the inauguration on tv right now.. while I type this. I cant remember ever watching one before... so why this one? Maybe because its history in the making. Maybe I want to say to my grandkids one day.. I remember when..
Maybe Im just curious about the whole thing.


He said the U.S. is a patchwork of heritage. That sounds about right.

Im ready to just see how well he does his job now.

Mountain Spring = BLECH

so I can finally log into blogger again and this is my first post?
yep.

I dont hate mountains or mountain springs like my title might suggest. :p

A couple weeks ago I went to the commissary and they had this huge jug of mountain spring Downy at a pretty good price. So, I picked up a bottle. Now, we normally use the April Fresh scent.. but change is good right?

not in this case.

blech!

the clothes I washed with the mountain spring scent came out smelling funky. It reminded me of clothes that might have been stuck in an old dresser drawer for a looooong time.

so, I went this week and bought a new bottle of it.. April Fresh thankyouverymuch!

anyone remember that old commercial with that camp song about Downy? now I have it in my head..
hello mother.. hello father.. greeting from camp hiawatha.. swimmings cool here, but this place is, not like home i miss my nice fresh pillowcases.

you miss downy, its so pleasing APRIL FRESHNESS thats one reason, downy softness thats another, Downy something makes the difference, love- your mother

I so know I got some of the words wrong LOL

and now, I have a huge jug full of mountain spring downy sitting in my laundry room collecting dust. anyone want it??

I'm a Military Mom

Im sure I was in denial. Travis has been doing all of the things to join the Air Force in the last month or two. Going to the recruiter, getting physicals, taking tests..

but he had to go back to the hospital several times for various reasons.. they thought he might have this problem, or that problem. they needed to re-do tests..come back next week. and on and on and on.

so, I think in my head I didnt think it would really happen. They would find something wrong with him and he wouldnt be able to go into the military. (not that I wanted anything to be wrong with him, but with all the appointments I just thought something minorish might be).

he had another medical appointment on Tuesday the 6th and they told him he passed it. then the recruiter wanted to see him on Wednesday the 7th.

we thought he was going in to pick career choices. he went in with a list. it just so happens that Robert and I went in with him that day since we both had nothing to do really.
Imaging my shock when as we are talking and he is picking job choices, as they finish up the recruiter says we just have to get an Officer and we can do the swearing in. ok, so Im thinking he meant in a few days or whatever.

nope.

that was around noon. at 1230 we had an appointment at 3 pm to meet with Roberts Commander and the recruiters at Roberts office to do it! Everything happened so fast that I was still somewhat in shock and denial about what was happening.

My friends had come to visit on Tuesday and left Wed morning.. and thank goodness I still had the camera in the car from taking them to the airport!

he will leave sometime between March and June.. most likely earlier rather than later. He is going to do something in the Electronics field.. we will know more later. and he will get out of basic training as an e-3 since he has joined for 6 years.

as a mom, I am worried. not a ton. I grew up in the Air Force and Im married to an AF man.. its all i know. Im not too worried about him being in the military really. Im more worried about it being Travis. and him making it through basic training. and him leaving home and all that stuff moms worry about. He's an adult. its time he leaves the nest I guess. but I dont think I thought it would happen anytime soon. I also think I might still be in a state of denial... like he really isnt going anywhere.

he will always be my 5 pound 12 ounce preemie firstborn son. He will always be my baby. Even when he goes off to basic training and then off to tech school and onto his first assignment.. wherever that may be. I love him and Im proud of him, and all I can do now is hope Ive taught him the things he needs to know to get out there and do what needs to be done, to the best of his ability.

I dont tend to show my feelings on the outside much, though I do cry when I hear the National Anthem.. even if its in the base theater, or when we lived on base and I could hear it in my house through the windows at 430 every afternoon. But when I heard my baby saying the Oath of Enlistment, I couldnt help but wipe the tears from my eyes.

"I, Travis Robert Burke, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

Ramblings

Having a heck of a time getting into blogger lately. I an get to my own blog, but I cant get to the page to add posts. its very frustrating!

Christmas was nice. Didnt go anywhere. kids were up early, unwrapped everything, we ate some cinnamon rolls, played with our new toys. I even made turkey which I havent done in forever. but it was turkey breast in the crockpot. LOL it turned out yummy though! and most of it got eaten. (I tried a new recipe I found online)

at some point we opened up the wii, but I dont remember if it was Christmas day or not. We also got the wii fit and have been having fun trying to beat each others scores on it. I am the ski jump champion! haha i have never actually skiied a day in my life! is it skiied or skiid neither one looks right to me. skii'ed ski'ed hmm

anyways

im a wee bit wii sore. i crack myself up :)


so then New Years came. Tyler and Tanner went to a youth activity at someones house and the rest of us stayed home and watched movies and listened to the fireworks at midnight. there were a lot more around us this year than last! we stood in the backyard and could see them all around us. Abby didnt like them and later when we were walking upstairs so she could go to bed, she told me that she thought that was way too many fireworks for one night.

so its 2009.
I still dont have my Christmas cards mailed. theyre in envelopes waiting for the pics to be put in them and addresses put on..... but my excuse is that the PO has been out of stamps for a loooong time now! how does that happen?

its like when we lived in Maine and the pizza hut ran out of dough one time and pepperoni one time and sauce one time.. ummmm your whole business is pizza.. how do you run out of DOUGH???

it happened here too.. popeyes chicken.. they ran out of CHICKEN!

what the heck!?

the kids went back to school today and I SLEPT most of the day away. i know, its not a good thing but it sure felt good to crawl back into bed after they left!
theyre home now and the house is suddenly very LOUD again. sigh. i love my kids- i really do- but i also love it when theyre all in school LOL

it snowed today.. it might still be snowing.. i dont like it. its pretty to look at but i dont like it anymore. i think living in Maine totally ruined snow for me. maybe if things didnt get slick or slushy id like it more.. i dunno.

i went to bingo again last week. didnt win a thing. susan didnt either and neither of us did last month.. im starting to worry that she will think im her bad luck! hahaha she did win last week.. sort of. she got bingo on both of her cards.. but so did half the room so they had to make it so there was one winner and she wasnt it. bleh. this month was dooney and bourke. next month is vera bradley and i wouldnt mind going again since i must be the only person that doesnt have something of hers yet. i just cant spend the money on a purse or bag or whatever..

tomorrow my friend is coming to visit.. her daughter is a teenager and shes coming too.. they only have one day here and i am stressing over what to do with them! im also stressing a tiny bit about the ride to the airport in the morning by myself. ugh. esp if its snowy still. but really.. what do you do with someone in this area that hasnt been to germany before?????
we could eat all day.. brotchen, ice cream, bratwurst, cake, schnitzel, doner... but i dont think thats the best plan.
i would take them to some castle ruins or something but dang its cold out there!
and no one seems to know when the schnitzelhaus is closed.. of course i dont know how to get a phone number for them. im afraid theyll be closed tomorrow and i dont know where else there is some REALLY good schnitzel. ive found good schnitzel, but not super good.

Abby said something funny to me this morning that i wanted to post, but i cant remember it now. of course. i have zero short term memory.

thanks to susan, im craving hot chocolate.. might have to make some today.

travis has another dr. appt tomorrow.. hopefully sometime soon we will know if hes getting into the AF or not.. this medical run around stuff has been insane.

so i think thats it for now.. i will try again later or tomorrow.. if blogger decides to let me in again.

ooh and i have to come back online tonight because SU is putting out the retiring accessories list at 8 my time.. i think.. its at noon mountain time.. so i think thats 8 my time.. we'll see.
if youre interested in any of it, get it while its available because that stuff goes fast! you can see it on my website later tonight.. www.gingerburke.stampinup.net

and THAT cracks me up that i would post that on here when i havent even told people about my blog! i know susan checks it some.. so susan, now you know! roflol