Randomosity

How Freaking Cute is this?

2006-11-02T07:35:00.000-08:00

Oh yes...it is Mabel in her halloween costume...she is the cutest Sunflower EVER!!!

i am still alive...sort of...

2006-10-25T17:19:00.000-07:00

okay so i know that i haven't updated in a while. And i know i always say this, but things have just been a little hectic around here.

I am currently getting ready to move back home with the parents. This should be interesting. I don't think that they really want me to move back home. I think they are just pretending to be happy about it. But it has to be done in order for me to get back on my feet.

In the time i live at home i will be working on getting all my bills caught up. They ahve just gotten out of control. :( Mostly because i work at a job that doesn't pay me diddly crap and i have a $400 a month rent payment, on top of a car payment, on top of all the credit card bills that i got stuck with from the divorce :( So i will be able to get those straightened out when i move back home.

While i move back home i will work on going back to school. I need to finish my degree and there have been a lot of things that have been standing in the way of that. I have been too focused on everyone else to really take the time to get my life in order. Which brings me to the next subject...

Today i broke up with a guy that i had been dating for a while. It was really hard for me to do but i realized that i was investing more into the relationship then i was getting out of it. This relationship started off on the wrong foot anyways and so that didn't help much either. I actually just got done crying to my mom on the phone about this. Sometimes i just feel like i can't make the right decisions when it comes to dating. I find someone that i think i get along with, things go well for a couple of months, and then everything just starts going downhill. I think it is the type of guys i date. I date the ones who haven't really grown up yet. They still like to hang out with their friends and party and i am just not into that. I mean i don't mind it occasionally, but not every weekend. Also i seem to date guys that are just on a different page from me. I want to get married and have children. My ex wanted to get married but didn't want to have children and they guy that i was dating...well i am not sure if he wanted to either of those things. I know he definetly didn't want to have kids and there is no way i could deal with that. So who knows what is wrong with me? I don't understand why i can't find a person who shares the same interests and everything that i do. I mean i know i am not going to find someone who is perfect. But i do at least want someone who i can hold a whole conversation without feeling like i have to put on a front. Grrr...i am taking a break from dating for a while.

So yeah, that is pretty much what is up with me. what about all of you? What have you been up to?

Laterz,
~ApriL~

Happy Birthday!

2006-10-03T06:49:00.000-07:00

Today is me and Michelle's birthday. Yes, we were born on the same day two years apart. She is 22 and i am 24. And for some reason i am having trouble dealing with this birthday. I don't know why but i have been out of sorts the past couple of days because of it. maybe it is because i am now where near where i wanted to be at 24. It will all work out though....

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE!!!!

~ApriL~

Okay

2006-06-10T09:24:00.000-07:00

So for those of you who saw last weeks post. People seem to think that i closely resemble Wynona Ryder. I can kind of see it and if you think that i look close to this picture then i wouldn't mind...
or even this one...But anyways, this whole thing was started by my handsome friend Gaz. You should really visit his site because his music is good. Visit his MySpace account to while you are at it. Anyways, so he started this whole thing and i feel that i should comment that i think he...
looks like a cross between these two people....

Mr. Ryan Cabrera

and Mr. Lance BassMust be the hair :) He is so going to beat me for posting this. Geez! I am such a dork. See what happens when you get divorced. You get really really bored and have nothing better to do then be online all day! Grrr i need to get out of the apartment for a while. Oh wait, i have to go to work. So yeah, i am getting out the apartment now. Let me know what you guys think about the resemblances :) I will have more important updates to post later. well, actually tomorrow because tonight is Margherita night at LaFiesta....anyone want to join me?

Fun fun...not

2006-06-07T03:42:00.000-07:00

Today I have to go to court for my divorce. After the week i had last week I am not looking forward to this. Well I am because my divorce will be final but, I am not because well, just a lot of mixed feelings.

I need to update this thing and let everyone know what happened with the job that I got but then didn't get...yeah, i know, it confused me to.

Update later...got lots to do today.

Mom is going with me. She has been such a support for me through this. I can't thank her enough.

Later,
~April~

P.S.- I have been told by multiple people that I have this Wynona Ryder thing going for me. Does anyone else see it? Let me know. I am not sure if that means that I look like Wynona Ryder or if I shoplift like her LOL. I am sure they mean that I kind of look like her. What do you think?

Wish me luck

2006-05-25T05:40:00.000-07:00

Now after both of my sister get a new job....I have a job interview today at 10:00 a.m. This was a little unplanned seeing as I wasn't actively looking for another job. However, I am ready to get out of Meijer's!

WISH ME LUCK!!!

I will let you all know how it goes later!

It's about dang time...

2006-05-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

I know it is a day late. But, seeing as i spent yesterday at church with my mom and then went from church to work...i didn't have much time to post this. Anyways I just want to say

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

To all you mom's out there. I hope that you had a wonderful mother's day!

To my mom. Thank you for being such a wonderful mother. You have put up with a lot of crap from all of us kids and yet you are still sane. That is an amazing thing in itself. But what is more amazing is the fact that, after everything we have put you through, you still manage to be there for us when we need you. You have helped me through so much this past year and I know I don't thank you enough for it. Just know that I do appreciate everything that you do. Because I know that you do not have to do those things for us. You can easily say "Your old enough...take care of it yourself." But yet you don't. You are always there to help in anyway you can. Even if it is just listening to me whine about this or that. But you know what....sometimes that is all I need is for you to be there to listen to me whine. You are an awesome mother and I love you bunches. I couldn't ask for a better mom. I love you mom! Hope you had a wonderful mother's day. I will see you on Tuesday for your Mother's Day lunch at La Fiesta... Yummy mexican food. Hope you enjoyed your plant.....

Yes that is the plant that I got my mom for Mother's Day.

Anyways, I hope everyone out there treated their mother's nice yesterday. They sacrificed many nights of sleep and many hours of free time for us. Just remember without them none of us would be here today. Unless somehow men could figure out a way to reproduce on their own...okay that was a little weird. Ignore that last saying.

Anyways, i got to get ready to go to work. This is day number 7 in a row. I really don't want to go into that place but, i have to. I have the next two days off THANK GOD. Tomorrow i am taking mom out for lunch for Mother's Day since I really didn't get to spend much time with her yesterday. I freaking had to work 1-9. But I did surprise her by showing up to church. She didn't know I was coming. And I bought her a little flowering bush thing. Plus I showed up to church in a skirt instead of dress pants like I usually do. I even had to go out and buy a new skirt just to wear to church because I have started working out and I have lost like 10 lbs. None of my dress clothes fit. So yeah, i think i surprised her by showing up to church...in a skirt non the less.

So yeah... i have the next two days off and I can't wait. Hopefully one of those days are nice. I am getting tired of this crappy rainy weather. It needs to get out of here.

I will talk to all of you later.

Have a wonderful day!

~April~

update city

2006-05-10T07:10:00.000-07:00

Okay everyone. Time for me to actually update this thing and let you all know what is going on. Lets start with the happy stuff...

Both of my sisters have the most adorable children in the world. Just look at them...

Here is Hunter and Alexis...
Here is Hunter...
Here is Mabel...

I love my nieces so much. I can't imagine life without them. They make me so happy. I enjoy spending as much time with them as I can. i wish i could see Hunter and Alexis more but, for some reason I don't. Mostly because I have so much going on right now and I really don't leave home much because I just got a lot of stuff to take care of here. Because of certain circumstances Michelle is the only one who is able to come and see me. She was actually here yesterday with my little chuncky monkey 2 (Hunter is chuncky monkey 1 and Alexis is my little tater). I just love seeing them though. I especially love it when all of them are together. Although I get a little overwhelmed because i want to hold all of them at once and I don't have enough arm/lap space to do that. But I spoil them when I can and love on them as much as possible. they are getting so big and growing up so fast. Mabel is starting to outweigh Hunter I think.

Me and the roommate got a puppy about a month ago. His name is Spencer and he is the most adorable dog ever. Michelle came to see him yesterday and fell in love with him. I mean how can you not fall in love with something that looks like this...

He kind of reminds me of peaches. He is a 5 month old King Charles Cavalier Spaniel and he is full of energy right now. I know that it is because he is a puppy and he will eventually grow out of it. But sometimes it is a little annoying in the morning when I am trying to sleep and i hear him barking because he is ready to come out and play at 6:30 in the morning and I don't go to bed until 1 or later. Yes, I am a night owl. I have been staying up late lately (interesting). Which brings me to the next part of the update...

I have been staying up late mostly because I can't sleep. There are a lot of things I have been thinking about. Like what direction I want my life to take and so on. Most of that is because on June 7th at 8:30 in the morning my divorce will be final. While I am happy to get this over with, part of me is just not prepared for some reason. It has been a rough battle and I know that it is for the best that we finally get this over with but, for some reason I just don't feel prepared to go through this. I never thought at the age of 23 I would be going through a divorce. Heck, I didn't even think i would ever be married at the age of 23. It just feels like more of an adult thing to go through then I think I am ready for. My parents and family have been so supportive through all of this and I just want to thank them for helping me. Especially when I would call them a various times of the day crying about one thing or another. I know this is something that I just need to get through and in the end it will be fore the best. I need to move on with my life and hopefully I will be able to do that soon. I am tired of being stressed and upset and having this whole divorce thing looming over my head. I don't know if that makes any sense to any of you. But I know what I mean to say. I am just thankful that we didn't have any kids. That would have just complicated things a lot more.

Well, that is what is going on so far in my life. I hope to update more soon. Just keep me in your thoughts and prayers. I will update more later.

~April~

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

2006-05-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

NO IT IS NOT!! The weather is GORGEOUS! And I have the day off! I am going to go grill out! Finally nice weather and the day off. What makes it better is...I HAVE TOMORROW OFF AS WELL! Sweetness!

Hope you all enjoy the beautiful weather. I know i will.

New Look

2006-04-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

Okay everyone...

I went Monday and got a new haircut...what do you think? It will probably never look this good again.....

Talk to you all later. I really need to start updating this thing more!

One Year

2006-04-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

Today is kind of a depressing day. I gave Michelle a call today today and asked her what she was up to and she said she was on her way to Chillocothee. I asked her why and then I realized...

One year ago today Gavin J. Colburn was killed while serving his country. He sacrificed his life in order to save my sister. Today is a very somber day. It just crept up on me out of no where. I can't believe that it has been a year already. I just don't know what to say.....

Gavin~ I can't believe it has been a year. It is hard to realize that you sacrificed your life so others could live. I thank you for everything you did but at the same time I wish that things could have turned out different. You are missed but never forgotten. May God comfort your family at this time and may no one ever forget your sacrifice. You are a true hero. God bless you!

D-Day

2006-04-13T06:09:00.000-07:00

Okay,
so i got up earlythis morning (like 5:30) because I freaking couldn't sleep (mostly because of the hacking and coughing and the sore throat). I waited around until 8 a.m. for the doctor's office to open and then made a phone call. after the nurse made me repeat everything 3 dozen times because she couldn't understand me (gee could that be because of the fact that I don't have a voice?) I finally have an appointment with the doctors at 11:10. Yeah for me. I know they are going to freaking draw blood from me and then I am going to be mad because I HATE NEEDLES! So I will update when I get back from the doctors office (not like any of you are reading thihs). So wish me luck! Oh yeah, I also called into work today because of the fact that I can't talk and I am coughing and everything, have a major headache from hell, have had very little sleep in the past two days, and don't feel like going to work and repeating myself 800 times to every customer like I did yesterday when I was about 40% better then I am today. So no work and a doctors appointment in which i know they are going to stick me with a needle. Guess that balances out to be an okay day. Now if we could take the needle stabbing out of this equation it would be a wonderful day!

wish me luck. I will update later!

yucky

2006-04-12T19:23:00.000-07:00

okay,
so i have been sick for the past two days. My throat is all swollen and sore. So I have to get up early tomorrow and make a doctors appointment. I am really hating this. Will let you all know what happens later.

I so need to update this thing...

2006-04-07T19:54:00.000-07:00

I really do need to update this thing. There are so many things wrong with it. For one my sister is home from Iraq and has been since before Thanksgiving. Not to mention she also has a baby. Craziness!!! Plus I am getting tired of looking at the same dang stuff everytime I log in here. I am just way to lazy to fix it. You would think with all the time I spend on the computer I would have fixed a lot of this already. But for me it takes too much effort to actually go in and correct this stuff. I guess it would take just as long as posting a blog....but as you can see...i am not good at that either. Geez, i need to get some motivation...but i think my job has sucked all motivation out of me. I so need a new job. How did I get on that subject. Oh well, screw this I am logging out!

Night all!

Blah

2006-03-30T09:28:00.000-08:00

I hate my job. I need a day off!

Bored

2006-03-25T15:15:00.000-08:00

Man I am so freaking bored. I am so bored that i got on here to type an entry about being bored. I have downloaded so much music that I think Limewire will start charging me because of all the downloading I did today. I am so bored that I don't even know what the heck I am talking about. This is my first day off in like 7 days and I can't find anything to do. The sad thing in I don't go back to work until Tuesday. I am usually excited about having three days off in a row but not this time. I am so bored. I think I am going to go watch a movie. Someone please figure out a way to entertain me!

Let Freedom Ring

2006-03-25T07:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know I promised you guys another post a while ago. Things just got a little busy around here with my job. Mostly the fact that I had to work a 7:30a.m-3:30p.m. shift at work on the day that I was supposed to post something. Yeah, I am not used to working in the morning. I actually love it and would rather work in the morning. However, meijer's sucks and won't let me.

Anyways, the other day I was getting ready to go to work and I decided that Nibbles (the hamster) probably needed some food. So I go to get his food bowl and I notice that he isn't in the top of the cage like he usually is, he isn't in the bottom of the cage either. So I immediatly start freaking out. I knew he was in there the night before because he was running like crazy in the wheel while I was trying to sleep. So I start hunting everywhere in my room for this hamster. How the heck did he get out anyways? Apparently he had figured out how to push a cap off the top of the cage. The cap is there to cover up a hole where you can add another tube for him to climb through. So somehow he figured out how to push this cap out and climb out because the cap was laying on the floor.

So I start searching all over the apartment for this stupid hamster. My roommate was gone and I didn't want her coming home and opening the door and the hamster take off through the door. When he is in his ball he usuallly finds his way to the front door. Always has done that. Even when I lived in the apartment in Fairborn. I seriously think this hamster hates me and is trying to figure out a way to escape.

So after about 15 minutes i find the hamster in my roommates room in the corner behind the kitty liter box. Yeah, did I mention that we have a cat? Well, we do and I figured that if he had been out all night the cat would have found him and Nibbles was pretty much a gonner. Well he was still alive and ticked off because he was trapped in this corner. So now I have to figure out a way to coax him out of the corner. I tried picking him up but he is ticked because he has been found and can't make his escape. So he just wants to bite me and squeal. I didn't know that hamsters could make this kind of noise. It was like the sound of I don't know but it could wake the freaking dead. It was horrible. So yeah, I had to figure out how to get him out of the corner and into his ball. Because if I can coax him out of the corner and into his ball no one gets hurt. Well, this involved making a trip across the hall to the apartment of pilots. Yes, there are four airline pilots who live across the hall from me.

Well, once I explain to them what is going on they all start laughing their asses off. They think it is hilarious. Now I am getting ticked because I have to be at work in a half hour and I still have to take a shower. So I just tell them "listen if you want to help great. I will be in debt to whoever helps. If you don't want to help, whatever. I don't have time to screw around with this. I am going back over to my apartment and I will figure out something." They all kind of stare at me with this blank look on their faces because they have never seen me get mad.

So i head back over to my apartment and start trying to hold onto the hamster ball with one hand while taking the fish net (you know the thing you scoop fishes out of the fish tank with). yeah i am taking the fish net and trying to lure him into his ball. He get to the ball, gets about halfway in, realizes what is going on and takes off back for the corner. Dang it!

About that time one of the pilots comes from across the hall is all like "what do you need me to do?" So he holds onto the ball while I lure the hamster out. We get him into the ball and he starts pitching a fit because he wants to run around the apartment some more. We get him into the cage and he is trying to climb up the sides of it to get out. Not this time buddy. I make sure everything is secure. This hamster has lost all freedom priveliges for a while. Operation Hamster Freedom is hereby closed.

At least someone from across the hall was nice enough to help me. I was starting to get ticked with them.

Well, i got a few errands to run today. I wish I was my mom right now. Laying in the sun in freaking Cabo Mexico. She soooooooooooooooo owes me!

I don't know about you....

2006-03-20T22:55:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you but I happen to think that this is the most adorable thing EVER...

This is picture of Hunter and Mabel together. They are only a couple of weeks apart but look how big Hunter is compared to little Mabel. Too freakin' adorable.

I just want to take all of my nieces, line them up and squeeze the heck out of them all. I love them all so much. Anyways, I am getting ready to go to bed right now. It is 2 o'clock in the morning. I have a very funny animal story to share with you all but I am too tired to try and type it right now. So it will have to wait until morning. I just couldn't wait to get this picture up for all of you to see. This also proves to all of you that yes Michelle did actually have a baby. We weren't making it up. The picture I posted in the last entry was not another picture of Hunter. It was actually a picture of Michelle's baby. Dude, I still can't believe that my baby sister has a baby. Life is CRAZY! Anyways, I am going to go to bed now. See you all in the morning!

Oh and just in case you wanted to see it. Here is a side by side view of Hunter and Mabel close up. So you can all see the difference.

<--Hunter
Mabel---------------------------------->

Wow what a crazy life.

2006-03-17T19:25:00.000-08:00

Well I decided it is about time for another post from me. I was waiting on things to kind of calm down before I posted again. I am sure that you guys didn't miss me that much. I bet that you thought that I had just quite posting all together. Now you are thinking "Dang it, we were soooo close to getting rid of her." The exact same thing people at my work are thinking. JUST KIDDING! Anyways, I am still alive and well. Just having one heck of a couple of weeks.

My mom has already posted about this but I thought that I should post something about it as well. Mostly because I have a couple of pictures to provide along with the news. So anyways...

As most of you know Amber had a baby on February 16th. Hunter Marie is doing well. Gaining weight and growing more everyday. I love her to death and wish I could spoil her more. However, I can't spoil her more seeing as I have another little one to spoil now. No I did not have a kid! There are no babies coming out of me until I am married or 30. Either way it will be after I am married, but I am not planning on having kids until I am at least 30. So no I didn't have a kid but MICHELLE DID!!!!!!!!!!!! SURPRISE!!!!! That is correct. On March 5th, my baby sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Mabel Rose. She only weighed 5.5 lbs. Such a tiny little thing compared to Hunter. It was a surprise to all of us. Mom called me at work on the 5th to inform me that my sister was giving birth and I had to find something to grab a hold of because I thought for sure that I was going to pass out. So yeah, my baby sister now has a baby. It is taking a lot to get used to.

So now I am an aunt times 2. Actually times 3 seeing as Amber now has two kids. I am loving every minute of it though. Both babies are so wonderful and Alexis is just so much fun to hang out with.

Oh yeah, I said something about picutes. I almost forgot. So here she is Mabel Rose......

Well I will have to post more later. I have got to get moving. Got to go out to mom and dad's and I have to go to work today as well. So I need to really get moving. Hope you all had a great St. Patty's day. I spent mine working and then sleeping. Well, i am out! Have a nice day!

Here is what you have all been waiting for....

2006-02-17T07:21:00.000-08:00

I know I said that I would not be posting any pictures on here. However, my roommate was nice enough to let me borrow her digital camera. So I documented the day in pictures. Aren't you lucky?

My mom, my grandma, the new big sister and I went to Bob Evans for lunch before we headed to the hospital. Here is a picture of my mom and Alexis at Bob Evans. And just to let you know, I am addicted to the pot roast hash sandwhich there. It is absolutely amazing. That and the chedder baked potato soup...I am in heaven!

This is some random picture of Michelle and Alexis at the hospital. Not really quit sure what was going on here or why I took the picture.

This is a picture of Amber. She was opening up a gift that I brought here. I got here some Winnie the Pooh binkies, a Playtex newborn bottle starter set, and fuzzy pink bunny rabbit, and two bibs. One said "I love my big sister!" and the other one said "I love my Auntie!" I thought about taking a marker and writting April on that last bib!

Okay, the next couple of pictures involve a story so get comfortable.....Are you comfortable yet?.....How about now?.....Good! Okay, Hunter was moved to the special care unit since she was having breathing problems. The breathing problems were due to the fact that she was born c-section and so not all the fluids got pushed out of her lungs when she was delivered. The doctor was a little concerned about the nose flairs and the shallow breathing so they put her in the SCU. Well, she was delivered at 7:37 in the morning, we got there at 2 and at 3:30 they final told Amber and everyone that we could go see the baby. Now this was the first time that anyone had gotten to see her all day. So we are all getting excited! Amber, Justin (Amber's husband), my grandma, my mom, Alexis, Michelle and me all head down to the SCU. When we get down there the nurse tells us that she is going to let Amber, Justin and Alexis go in first, then the grandparents can go in and that is all. Now I was getting ticked. If I wasn't going to be able to see my new niece there was going to be hell to pay. Especially since they told us that the earliest that the baby would be released to go back to Amber's room was after 5. There was no way I was going to spend all day at the hospital. I wanted to see my niece NOW! So Amber and Justin and Alexis go in. Then my mom goes in. Justin's mom shows up and she goes in. Then the nurse comes out and says "okay everyone back to the room!" I give this look like "you better not be telling me that I am not going to get to see my new niece, because if you are, you better be glad that we are already in a hospital that way you can get care faster after I pound you into the ground for not letting me see my niece!" Now trust me people, i wouldn't actually beat anyone up I was just a little ticked that they weren't going to let me see my niece. Well, the nurse then explains that they were going to release Hunter back to her mom's room because she had been doing well with her breathing. Anyways, these are the pictures that the nurse took while Hunter was still in the SCU. The first one is of Justin, Amber, Hunter and Alexis.....

This one is of Amber feeding Hunter....

Now the really cool pictures. These were all taken after Hunter got back to Amber's room. This is a shot of Amber holding Hunter:

Here is a close up of my new adorable niece Hunter Marie Collins (she definetly takes after her Auntie April):

Here is the new big sister Alexis holding Hunter:

Here is a very tired Michelle holding Hunter. Michelle had been at the hospital since 5:30 in the morning. She was present for the c-section. I played it smart and showed up after everything was all closed up and the baby was all nice and clean:

Here is a picture of the proudest Aunt in the world holding her new niece. I kept telling Hunter that I was her Auntie April and I was going to be her favorite.
Isn't she adorable? And Hunter is quite cute herself!

Here are some pictures of Justin's mom, Cindy, holding Hunter. People should know by now that whatever picture I take of them (good or bad) will get posted. It is all part of the picture sharing process.
Here are a couple of my mom holding Hunter. She should have known as well that ready or not I was going to snap the picture and post it:

This is my Grandma holding Hunter:

Here is another picture of big sister Alexis and her new My Little Pony:

Justin refused to hold Hunter for some reason. I think it was because she is a lot smaller than Alexis was when she was born. But after some encouragment we finally got him to hold her. So here is Justin
Well, that is all the pictures I have for now. Maybe I will take some more and post them up here. Hope you all enjoyed them.

Welcome to the world Hunter Marie. Be prepared...your family is a little crazy but you will learn that all in time!

IT'S A GIRL! (just A girl)

2006-02-16T06:19:00.000-08:00

Well it's not twins. My sister had her baby this morning and it's a girl. They sort of named her after me! (I am sure that that was not intentional). They named her Hunter Marie! She was born at 7:37 a.m. and weighed 6lbs. 11oz. She is 19 inches long. Right now they say she is having some trouble breathing but that it is nothing worry about. It might be due to the fact that she is kind of small. When Michelle called they were checking that out but I am sure that everything is okay.

So yeah, I have another niece to spoil. Well I am going to get ready to go out to the hospital and spoil my new niece. I will talk to you all later. Just thought I would spread the good news! I will let you know more later!

Guess what? IT'S BABY TIME!

2006-02-15T20:46:00.000-08:00

Sorry once again that i haven't updated in while. It seems like I have to wait a while to update on anything because if i don't then i don't have anything to talk about. Life is just really boring at times. So let me update you now on everything that is going on....

First off, I am completely done with the apartment in Fairborn. I NO LONGER HAVE TO SEE THAT PLACE AGAIN!!!! Thank God. I will only have to drive up there like once a week to check the mail until I am sure that the address change is complete. Yesterday (Valentine's Day) was spent getting up at 5 in the a.m (running on about 4 hours of sleep) and heading up to Fairborn to get the last of my stuff and clean the apartment before I went to work. I left Fairborn at 11:30, went and got some lunch, and then went to work. It was nice. Not really but what can I say? I would have rather been doing anything on Valentine's Day besides that but whatever..

So the soon-to-be-ex didn't show up until around 9:00 and I was a little ticked because there was a lot of stuff that needed to be done to the apartment before the 4 p.m. inspection. I really don't understand why he showed up so late. I mean seriously, if I can get my ass up after working the night before and only getting 4 hours of sleep, then I am sure that he could have been up there early as well. Especially for someone who called me at work the night before and kept bitching at me about how much stuff still needed to be done and how I needed to get up there a.s.a.p in the morning. Most of the crap left there was his so yeah...he should have probably gotten there before 9. I am sure that we would have been a little less rushed. Anyways, so I get there and pack up the last of my crap, loaded it into the car, and then proceeded to scrub the bedroom-bathroom, vacuum the floors in the bedroom, hallway, computer room, dining area. I cleaned all the vents and made sure that all the marks on the wall disappeared. Then I decided that I needed to leave at 11:30 in order to be able to get something to eat before I went to work. So I just hope that the soon-to-be-ex and his sister got the rest of it done before 4.

So now I am completely done with Fairborn and I couldn't be happier.

Now for the most exciting news......

My sister is having her baby in about 6 hours!

yes, that is right. My sister is having her baby tomorrow (or today since it is midnight)! I am sooo excited! She has to be at the hospital at 5 in the morning! I was going to go at that time, but I decided not to because...1. I can't get to sleep and I want to be well rested since I have to watch Alexis tomorrow. 2. Well, there really isn't much I can do until after Amber has her c-section and the baby is out. So instead of waiting around until the c-section is over, i figure that I will just go in the afternoon when I can see and hold my new niece (I still swear that there will be more then one! Amber will kill me if that comes true though). So tomorrow mom, Alexis, my grandma, and I are all going to go and get lunch and then go out to the hospital. I think Michelle is going in the morning because she is going to be present for the c-section. NO THANK YOU MA'AM! Ain't happening. There is no way in h e double hockey sticks that I am going to be in the same room when they cut open my sister and take her insides out. I am sorry but there is a reason that your guts are on the inside. They were put there so the rest of the world wouldn't have to see them. And also to protect from infection. But mostly so that the rest of the world doesn't have to see it. Plus, if I am not the one being cut into then there is no way that I am going to be in the room. Heck when I have kids they are going to have to knock me out if they do a c-section because I don't even want to see my own insides. The only thing I care about is seeing my niece AFTER she is born. I don't want to be there WHILE she is in the process of being born. Ain't no way in h e double hockey sticks that you will find me anywhere near the birthing room ESPECIALLY at 5 in the morning. Now had this been the first child of Amber, yes I would be at the hospital at 5 in the a.m. But seeing as how this isn't her first I think I can wait until after the little booger is born and then I will go and spoil her at the hospital. Then I will take Alexis home with me and spoil her. Alexis is soooo excited about getting to come and spend the night with me Thursday. All I have to say is that my roommates cat better watch out because Alexis will squeeze the thing to death. Not to mention that she will follow it around because she has this thing about knowing where the animal is at all times. So Shelby (my roommates cat) will probably be hiding underneath my roommates bed for most of the day trying to stay away from Alexis.

I will not be posting pictures of the new addition to the family seeing at the soon-to-be-ex took the digital camera. I am sure my mom will though. So just keep posted to her site to see if she puts any pictures up!

So anyways, tomorrow is BABY day and I really should be getting to bed. Plus it will take you guys so long to read this that I might not have to post anything for a while. Well, i really need to be getting to bed. The next time I post I will have a new niece (or two!)

~April~

Just a note...

2006-02-02T20:12:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to have everyone go send some love Erik's way. That is all I have to say. I am going to go to bed. I am freakin' tired. But if you get a chance just go send some love Erik's way. Update to come soon!

name change?

2006-01-31T07:36:00.000-08:00

So what am I going to have to start calling this site "Conversations With ~K"? Seriously, she is like the only one who posts comments on here anymore. A Military Mom made a comment but com on....what is wrong with the rest of you people? Let's get a move on here people!!!

I am going out to lunch with my mom today. That should be a good time. We haven't done that in a while. It will be nice just to sit down for a while and talk with mom.

As far as I know I have today off. My little informate has yet to call me and tell me to come into work. So I am just going to assume that I still have today off. I will probably get a call around noon though telling me I have to go into work. That is the way it usually works. About an hour before they want me to come in is when they usually call. Well they can do that if they want. I will be out with mom at that time and I will just not get the call. If they think that I am going to call them to see whether or not they want me to come in well...they are NUTS!!! Although I would really rather work two more days and have another day off and then work two more days and have two off. It would be a lot better then having today off and then working straight through until Monday or Tuesday. But whatever.

So I have not much going on today besides lunch with mom I will let you all know how that goes. Wait let me refraise that... I will let A Military Mom and ~K know how that goes seeing as they must be the only people who read this anymore! Sadness :(

So did I?

2006-01-30T09:51:00.000-08:00

At least one person out there left me a comment to make sure that I did my laundry saturday. So did I you ask? Yes, I did! I got all of my laundry done and my room organized and all the camping crap out of the dinning area. Everything is organized in the new apartment and it actually looks like two women live here. Instead of like a whole football team ran through it. Speaking of football all I have to say is GO STEELERS!

Well, i am going to keep this entry short because I got to get ready to go to work. Supposed to have lunch with mom tomorrow. Although work just called and they might switch my days off. So mom if you are reading this. I may have to work tomorrow. But i will have thursday off. So maybe we can do it Thursday. I will let you know for sure later today when I get to work.

Man sometimes I really hate my job! Here's to finding a new and better job. For those of you looking for employment I highly suggest not putting an application in at Meijer's. That place sucks. (maybe someone at work will read this and i will get fired for talking smack about my place of employment. One could only hope!)

well i got to get ready for work. I will post more later!

fun fun

2006-01-28T07:18:00.000-08:00

Amber is having her baby shower today. So that is where I am headed. She is having her baby on February 16th. I can't wait for the baby to get here. Seems like it has taken forever.

Right now I am watching as my roommates cat tries to get on my bed. Earlier she figured out how to get into the closet and got herself stuck in there. She does that an awful lot. I have to watch out for my toliet though. If you leave the bathroom unattended the cat will figure out how to get the lid up and drink out of the toliet. It is kind of funny.

Sorry that this entry is so boring but I am working on another entry and trying to get ready to go to Amber baby shower. This day is pretty much filled. It should be interesting. At least I have today and tomorrow off. Maybe I will actually be able to just relax instead of having to run places. Seriously, everyday that I have had off in the past three weeks I have spent running somewhere or another. Mostly back to Fairborn to try to move more stuff. I am sure that this whole moving thing would be much easier if I would just break down and actually rent a U-Haul or something.

Right now I am dealing with insurance angencies trying to get my car fixed from my latest accident. If you guys haven't heard about my two-accidents-in-three-months world record, I will explain it all later.

Well, I got to go get my jeans out of the dryer. I really need to do all of my laundry instead of just what I need for the day. But unfortunatly I just have no energy to even do it. Grrr. I will do it when I get back from the baby shower. You guys hold me to it.

Well, I am sorry for the boring entry. I am slowly trying to get back into this whole blogging thing. When more interesting something happens, and when I get my big entry done, then you all will have something more interesting to read. In the meantime this will have to do.

My apologies to all of you who actually sat there and read this. Hopefully the next one will be more interesting. Okay...jeans out of dryer...off to baby shower. I need to get my butt moving.

I'm back

2006-01-25T13:03:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. Long time no post, I know. I am sorry about that. A lot has been happening in my life lately. But suffice it to say that I am back now. I am going to try to post more. But I am back to blogging for all of you who care to know!

SHE'S HOME

2005-11-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

Okay, as you all know, Michelle is finally home. She came home on Monday, November 14th and I have enjoyed every minute of having the little booger home. I have missed this girl soooo much it is not even funny. I played the PR person all day on the 14th making sure that I kept calling mom to see how far away from the house they were. Michelle was warned ahead of time that there would be some people at the house when they arrived, but she didn't realize that we were actually going to have everything decorated. Well, she might have had a little clue because my wonderful niece Alexis told her one day on the phone that we were decorating the house for her. Great going Alexis. Anyways, I spent hours making two signs to welcome Michelle home. And then spent a majority of Monday, with a bunch of help from my older sister Amber, getting stuff put together for the big homecoming. Here are some pictures from when we finally saw the car coming down the street to when Michelle was finally HOME!

This is the banner hanging outside the front of the house:

Here is the little bity welcome home sign that was in the corner of the front yard (we live on the corner of a street. It is the best place to be when you want everyone to see that your sister is coming home from Iraq. ):

Here are the flags that we put out front in the strip of yard next to the road:

Here is one of the two signs that I made. This is the best one. It was also the first one I made. I spent 3 hours working on this thing and then decided not to be so elaborate on the next one. It simply says "Welcome Back From Iraq Michelle. We are proud of you! (on the left). We missed you! (on the right)"
Here is sign number 2. It was original on the back of dad's jeep but then we had to move it when we realized they were coming from the other direction. I wished someone would have warned me which direction they were coming from before they were 5 minutes away. I would have had time to move the big banner from the front porch to the side porch. But anyways this one just says "Welcome Home Spc. Pfister" Don't you love the army suit, hat, American flag, canteen and tank stickers on the bottom?
Here is the side porch all nice and decorate. That is the Pastor and a friend of the family on the porch:
here is the crowd anxiously awaiting the car that should be coming down the road any minute. See my very pregnant sister Amber (she isn't due until February people) :

Here is the car right as it rounded the corner. Alexis started running for the car screaming "Auntie Shell, Auntie Shell. She's home. She's home.":

So of course the first picture I get of Michelle is Michelle with Alexis. Notice the "I am so freaking glad to be home" smile :

here is michelle hugging Great Grandma Rice:

So since it was freaking cold outside, we moved inside. This is what was awaiting Michelle in the kitchen:

Here is the crowd inside the house:

Here is the proudest mom in the whole world and another friend of the family:

And here is the typical Michelle thing. Sorry if I offended any of you by posting this picture but this is what Michelle does when she doesn't want her picture taken. I have missed little things like this from her. Dang it is good to have her home:

I know, I know.

2005-11-20T00:55:00.000-08:00

Okay i know that i have yet to post about michelle's homecoming. I have been so busy with work and spending time with that little booger that I have just not had time to post. So today, after I get home from work, you will all finally get to hear my side about the homecoming. You will even get to see pictures from when she arrived at the house. I PROMISE! Now, everyone just calm down. I will get to it all tonight. I figured I would let you hear the homecoming from Mom's perspective first and then from Michelle and then i would give you my perspective. Yeah, that's it, that is what i was waiting on! LOL. Anyways, I will post about it when I get home from work tonight. So just look for it tonight after 11 p.m. Ohio time. Or just look for it tomorrow morning for those of you who go to bed at like 8! See ya all later!

Oh and one more thing.

2005-11-12T20:20:00.000-08:00

I am sad to say that Miss Gracie Bubbles Shah had to go to the Animal Shelter today. I took her to the Animal Shelter this morning because Amber and her family are moving in with her husband's parents. Her parents didn't think it was a good idea to bring the cat along because they already have one that has been the only cat since it was a kitten. They have had the cat for years so it is used to being the only cat in the house and they didn't think it would adjust well to another cat, especially a kitten. Hubby couldn't take the cat either and I definetly can't keep her here due to my father's allergies to cats/hatred for them. So I had to make the tough decision this morning to take the cat to the Animal Shelter. I realize that it is all for the best because she was being shipped around from house to house and she also was overdue for her vaccinations. Plus she was a little sick. So the Animal Shelter will be able to get her healthy and find a very good home for her. I had to have Amber take her into the Animal Shelter because I was crying in the car. She was my baby and I loved her very much. I will miss her but I realize it is all for the best. One day I will get another kitten but I am sure that none of them will be as good as Gracie Bubbles was. It was a difficult thing for me to do. I held her in the car and loved on her all the way to the Animal Shelter. She will be missed.

Monday Monday Monday

2005-11-12T20:17:00.000-08:00

Okay everyone here is the latest instalment of Michelle Comes Home!

The current news is that Michelle will be able to come back with mom and dad on MONDAY! She should arrive home around 1:30 or 2:00, or sometime shortly thereafter. I spoke with her today and she said that as long as everyone gets all of their crap done Sunday then she will be dismissed Sunday about noon and then she will be on her way HOME! I can't wait. I am working on decorating the house. I am taking pictures but i have to find the cord to plug into my computer in order to be able to post pictures from my camera to my computer. So pray that I find that soon! So Michelle will be home MONDAY and I simply can't wait. I am getting very impatient. I don't go to bed until like 4 in the morning and then i can't really sleep. I just want her to be home so bad. So work is being rather nice and giving me Monday off. So I will have Sunday, Monday, and Friday off this coming week. It will suck with the paycheck but it will be good to spend some time with Michelle. Dang I can't wait.

Mom and dad have been able to spend plenty of time with Michelle the past few days. They have allowed her to go and hang out with the parents after she gets her work done durning the day. So she has to be at the Fort in the morning, does work until mid afternoon, and then she gets to go off base with the parents and spend the night with them. Just as long as she is back on base in the morning. Which my parents make sure of. Because I am sure that if Michelle was even one minute late someone or multiple someones would be coming to get her. So let's just hope that things continue to go smoothly and that they all stay on schedule. I want this girl home so freaking bad. Well only one thing left to say...

HURRY UP MICHELLE AND GET YOUR BUTT HOME!

I spoke to mom!

2005-11-10T09:55:00.000-08:00

Mom called this morning about 9:30. She said that she had talked to Michelle. Michelle saidd that they had to make a stop in Germany to refuel and then they had to make a "quick" stop at JFK before they would be in Wisconsinn. So that means that Michelle will be "home" at around 2:00 Wisconsinn time. Which means she will be in Wisconsinn about 3:00 our time. Aren't you guys all glad that I am keeping you updated on Michelle progress. Since my mother obviously doesn't have internet connection or whatever. So that is the news so far. Now as to when she will actually be able to come home home. Well, that will be determined later today or tomorrow. Mom said she would call me as soon as Michelle stepped off the plane and was "dismissed". So that should mean that I will get to talk to Michelle today! If they have bad reception then mom will just call me as soon as her and dad get back to the hotel. So here's to hoping that it won't be too much longer and Michelle will be home! I will keep you all updated! As soon as mom/michelle/anybody of any importance at this point calls me, I will post the news for you here! Keep your eyes glued to my site so that you don't miss any exciting homecoming news.

For those of you wondering. Mom will be posting the pictures from Michelle getting off the plane. I will be posting any pictures I get from when she actually returns home! OMG SHE IS ALMOST HOME! I am sooooo freakin excited! I will be sure to keep you all posted! Have a nice day everyone!

It's getting closer

2005-11-09T15:25:00.000-08:00

I am soooooooooooooooo excited today. I just realized that in a few short days my sister will be HOME! Fina-freakin-ly! I can't wait for her butt to be back home safe and sound. I am kind of bummed that I was not able to go and see her off the plane but life kind of throws curve balls at you sometimes and you don't always hit one out of the park. So I just have to deal with it I guess. Now I just have to make sure that I have the proper days off next week so that I will be here when she arrives home. I can't freakin wait to see her face. I have missed her so much over the past year. I was really bummed when she was home on leave the last time and she was getting ready to go back and I didn't take my driver's license with me to the airport. Had I taken it I would have been able to go through the gate and see her get on the plane. So i missed her getting on the plane and I will miss her getting off the plane. But the one thing I will not miss is her being HOME! Did I mention that she will be HOME! HOME HOME HOME HOME HOME HOME HOME! I have waited for so long to be able to say that. Now I can. And with all the crap going on I am glad that I have something to look forward to. I am totally excited about this if you guys can't tell.

About my car issue... Apparently Smedly's (the place that is fixing my car) called two days ago and left a message on the hubby's phone. They NEVER called me. So I was getting all ticked off because it had been like a week and I had heard nothing on the condition of my car. And this is something important for me to know. Like is my car totalled? Will I be needing to start looking for a new one? How much damage was done? Will insurance be able to cover it all? What the h e double hockey sticks is going on with my car? So anyways, the hubby came over last night and he informed that they had called like two days ago. So I was kind of ticked because i have talked to him since then and he not once mentioned that they had called. But I got over it realizing that he thought that they would have called my phone since they only left a message with my hubby. So anyways, there is $4,300 worth of damage to my car. Hubby called them today and they said that they got all the parts in today that they need to fix it and it should be done either next week or the week after. They couldn't just bend some of the parts out, they actually have to replace all the parts. So i will have a brand new looking car (hopefully) when they are done. Yeah for me! Even though I am enjoying driving the KIA Rio a little too much. I am thinking that if my Ford Focus ever bites the dust then I will get a KIA. However, it doesn't sound like my car will be biting the dust anytime soon. Especially after all it has been through the past week. It just keeps going. So that is the deal with my car so far. What else...

Oh yes, my freaking sister is coming home! I can't wait until she gets here. There is so much that we need to catch up on. There is so much stuff that I want to do with her. Like go to the movies, go out to celebrate her 21st birthday (since she was gone for that), play video games with her until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, stay up late talking about nonsense and watching movies like we used to do. I can't wait until that little booger is home. I miss her so freaking much. And even though i didn't write her that much while she was away, man do i ever miss her. I just can't wait until she is home and I don't have to worry about her anymore.

HURRY UP MICHELLE AND GET YOUR BUTT HOME ALREADY WILL YA?!?!?!?!?!

(I think i might explode with excitement)

Welcome to my life!

2005-11-02T00:11:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know i haven't posted in a while. I have been busy moving stuff into my parents house. If you didn't read the last post, well sorry, I deleted it. I realized I said a lot of hateful things in that post so I decided to delete it. The basic rundown is this... me and the hubby are splitting up for a while. I am moving in with my parents until we get things figured out. So that is why I haven't posted in a while. Because I am working on moving and two, I have to share a computer with my mom....enough said there!

Michelle has FOUR more days until she will be on her way home. Yes you heard that right people FOUR DAYS! In four days I will:
1.) No longer have to worry about her everyday.
2.) Be completely excited because I will get to see her shortly.
3.) Be ready to take vacation from work for a while to go see her.
4.) Be a complete mess because I will be anxiously awaiting her arrival!
5.) JUST PLAIN BE EXCITED THAT SHE IS COMING HOME!

I talked to hear for almost an hour this morning. She called to make fun of me. For those of you who haven't already heard or read it on my mom's site, I was involved in a rather lovely car accident yesterday afternoon. It was my first car accident and hopefully my last. For those of you who are anxiously awaiting the details of what happened here it is:

My older sister in on bed rest for a while because she has been having some pain and stuff with this pregnancy (I doubt she makes it till February.) So I called my sister to see if there was anything that she needed at the grocery store because I had to go to pick up a couple of things myself. So I decided that I would just swing by my sister's house, pick up my niece and go to the grocery store. I decided to take my four year old niece with me so that Amber could get some rest. Anyways, I was about a block away from the grocery store sitting at a stop sign. I looked both ways to make sure that nothing was coming. There were a couple of cars in the turn lane but no one coming straight and so I decided to go. The next thing I know this car comes plowing into my front drivers side. She hit me in the front, driver's side light. At first I just sat there a little stunned, trying to figure out what had happened. Then it hit me..."Holy crap, I just got hit by another car." I immediatly look in the back seat to make sure my niece was okay. I didn't care if I was okay or not. I just wanted to make sure that she was okay. I asked her how she was and she said fine. Then she asked me what happened. I told her. The I got out to make sure that the lady in the other car was okay. She seemed fine until the cops got there and then they had to take her away in an ambulence because she was complaining of chest pain. Alexis started crying when the cops got there because she was afraid that we were going to go to jail. I explained to her that we weren't.

So after everything gets taken care of at the accident scene and they tow both cars away because they were pretty heavily damaged (mine more than hers), I head to Amber's house to make sure that Amber wasn't freaking out too much. I had to call the hubby to drive me because of the fact that my car had just been towed away. When I got to Amber's house I realized that my head was hurting and my back and neck were hurting as well. After everyone got done chastizing me for not telling the paramedics that I had hit my head I finally decided to go to the hospital. Only after a phone call to my mom to find out if I really should or not. I do not have a concussion and I will be fine. I am just a little sore. I didn't even know I had hit my head or anything until after everything settled down. I was too concerned about my niece and the lady in the other car.

Right now I am driving a rental car (thank God insurance covers that) and my car is being looked at. It is going to take quite a while to get my car fixed. Hopefully it will be done shortly after Michelle gets home. I still can't believe that she only has four more days!

Well, I am sorry that the details got a little less descriptive there towards the end but I don't really feel like writing about it now. I may write some more later. Right now I am going to go soak in the bathtub for a while. I am hurting so bad and I have to go back to work tomorrow. So I will see you all later. Just pray that everything gets taken care of smoothly. Just to let everyone know, the lady in the other car was okay. She was leaving the hospital right as I got there. So lets just hope that this all gets settled nicely. I got cited because I was the one at the stop sign and in control of the situation. Plus, there were no witnesses. So the cop just had to go by the fact that I was the one at the stop sign and if I wouldn't have pulled out there wouldn't have been an accident. So there is 94 dollars gone. Got to pay that by the 15th or else I have to go to court and I really don't want to do that. Then I got to pay the 200 dollar deductable on my insurance in order to get my car fixed. I have feeling I am going to be spending a lot of time sitting at home and also trying to get overtime at work! I will write more later. Right not this computer chair is not helping the back any!

I've been tagged (and am finally getting around to doing it!)

2005-10-17T09:16:00.000-07:00

Okay so yesterday I was tagged by Five Little Ducks and I was going to post after I got off of work but was too tired to do it. So now I am finally getting around to doing it. So here are the rules:

Rules -
1. Go into your archives.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or the closest one to it)
4. Post the text of your sentence in your blog along with these rules.
5. Tag five other people.

Okay So my 23rd post was titled "Tragedy In London" on Friday July 08, 2005. I am sure that all of you know what that post was about.

The fifth sentence of that post was "I just can't believe that this happened to the British people."

Man, that brings back memories of just being in shock of what happened in London with the bombings. It was just terribly sad. Especially because it brought back the feelings of the September 11th tragedy.

okay, well I won't depress you all with talking about that. Umm... I guess I got to tag five people. So here we go:

1.) Erik Holtan- because it will be funny to see what his 23rd post, 5th sentence will be. It is probably something that will mentally scar us all.

2.) My Mom- well for her I am going to say her third post, fifth sentence.

3.) A Military Mom- because I just want to!

4.) Assumption of Command- because he didn't do my last tag and I will continue to tag him until he actually does it!

5.) Some Soldier's Mom- just because!

So there we go guys! I did my tag now you better do yours! Just follow the rules! I am sure that some of you will kick my butt later for it! OH WELL!

Tagged

2005-10-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

I have been tagged by Five Little Ducks! GRRR! I will do it later as I have to get to Sunday School. So look for my post tonight after 10 p.m. I got to go to church and then straight to work afterwards so I do not have time to post it now. But thanks for tagging me! One day I will get you back! Anyways, i got to finish getting ready. I am running behind like usual. But I just wanted to acknowledge that I did see that I got tagged. I will do it trust me! Unlike someone who I tagged a while back and he never got to it. And I will do it normally unlike someone who I tagged a while back and he gave the worst answers ever just to make me never tag him again! I just don't have time to do it now. See you all later!

okay here's the deal

2005-10-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated in about a week because I have been fighting a horrible head cold that has made me not want to do much of anything. I was going to blog on Thursday last week but felt like crap and just wanted to sit around all day and do a bunch of nothing. So I did! Friday, Saturday and Sunday I felt the same way. Well, actually Friday, Saturday and Sunday the cold got worse and so I really couldn't do much of anything except cough and sneeze and let my eyes water. Monday it was to the point that my eyes were watering sooo bad that by the end of the day it had looked like I had done nothing but cry all day. Which I felt like doing because I had a headache so bad from my sinus' that I wanted to cry. My eyes were so swollen and puffy and red that it just looked really bad. Tuesday things started clearing up. And today I feel a lot better. Just a little bit of a cough left. The nose is a little stuffy but not to bad. No headache and no watery eyes. So I think I will be over this thing by tomorrow.

Sunday I was feeling so bad that I had to call my mom at 8 in the a.m to let her know that she needed to let the pastor know that I wasn't coming to Sunday School or Church so he needed to find someone to teach my Sunday School class. I know, short notice, but Saturday I had every intention of going. I woke up Sunday, got in the shower, got out and felt like I was going to puke (you all needed to know that right?) So I decided that I would rather not pass whatever I had to the rest of the kids in Sunday School. So I stayed home.

Now, seeing as I didn't want to spread this cold monster, I decided that I shouldn't go into work Sunday as well. I work in the Meat and Seafood department, which means that I handle other people's food. So I really didn't want to chance going into work and making everyone else sick. So I call work and this is the conversation (MIC stands for Manager in Charge for those of you who don't know store lingo)

MIC: "This is ******* can I help you?"
Me: "Yeah *******, this is April! Umm, I won't be able to come into work today. I am really sick and I just won't be able to make it into work."
MIC: "Oh man, you really don't sound good. Sounds like you got a nasty cold. Umm, hold on."
Me: "Okay"
1.5 minutes later
MIC: "April, I am sorry but could you please try to come into work. You are the only one working on second shift and well, there is no one else to cover for you. **** took the day off and an unpayed day off and I don't really want to call them in. So could you just try to come in."
Me: "Well, I could try to come in but you see, I am like really sick. I mean I am sneezing, coughing, my eyes are all watery, i am about to throw up. I work around other people's food and I am sure that they wouldn't want someone who is sick handling their food. But if you would like me to spread this around to everyone else then sure I can try to come in."
MIC: "I understand that you are sick, but you see, you are the only one working tonight and I don't want to make someone come in on their requested day off. So just please try. If you don't come in I will have to consider this as a no call no show."
Me: "But I called in well over an hour before my shift. So you can't count it as a NCNS."
MIC: "yeah, I will have to if you don't show up."
Me: "Fine whatever, i will infect everyone else in the store. I will try to be there."
MIC: "Thanks. Bye"
Me: "Whatever" -hangs up phone.

Now I am sorry but that is a bunch of bull crap. MIC just basically wanted to make sure that their butt was covered. So I ended up going into work. I run into MIC and they tell me that I really look sick and whatnot and I just ingnore them like "what you thought i was joking." Then MIC passes by me later when I am sooo busy that I can't really keep up with everything. Tells me that it should die down in a little bit and tacks on three more tasks for me to do once it dies down and WALKS AWAY! Doesn't even stop to help at all, knowing dang well that I have no one there to help me. GRRRRR! I hate my job! But that is how they are! Always looking out for themselves. So I left at my appointed time, my department look like crap and I just didn't even call MIC to tell them I was leaving, which is what you are supposed to do every night before you leave. Why the heck should I call someone who doesn't even really care about me to let them know that i am leaving. Let them come down and see that my department is a mess themselves. They didn't want to help me when i was swamped earlier and had no help. So they can find someone to fix it. I know not very christian of me, but i was sick and grumpy and wanted to go home and sleep. They have been complaining to us about over time. Saying that we can't have any over time, even 15 minutes, so why should I bother to call. If they tell me to stay I will just be like "hey, we can't have overtime." Because if I do stay then I will get bitched at by some other manager the next day because I had overtime. So yeah, ummm....RANT OVER! I hate my job, end of story!

So, I am hoping that I am over this whole cold thing by tomorrow! I hate being sick. I just want to get back to my normal self. So if you were wondering where i have been...there you go. That has been my week. Now I have to go tonight and deal with the demon spawn at A.W.A.N.A's. I know that i keep calling them names, but really they are fun to be around most of the time. It reminds me of how I used to feel when I was their age.

Well, i will update more later. Everyone have a nice Wednesday!

Serenity

2005-10-05T08:55:00.000-07:00

So Monday night me and the hubby went and watched Joss Whedon's "Serenity". Let me tell you that it was AWESOME! I absolutely loved it. It was actually one of the few movies that I could sit down and watch the whole thing without taking my eyes off the screen once. For those of you who have not watched the series, I highly suggest that you go out and buy the whole season on DVD. There was only one season of it. If I remember correctly it isn't too expensive to buy. Then after you watch the series, go see the movie. Reason being, because it will help you understand some of the movie.

I was really surprised with how the movie ended. For those of you who have seen the movie you will understand what I mean. I actually cried during a couple of parts because I just couldn't believe what happened. I am glad that we finally figure out the whole situation with River though. Part of my theory on her was correct but not completely. And let me tell you that Reevers are like the scariest looking things ever! All I have to say is that the movie was absolutely wonderful and everyone should go and see it. Also I would like to say... "Oh Buddah, I would like a dollie." -For those of you who have seen the movie you will understand that as well!

I will probably post more later. Right now I am watching my niece! So I got to get going! Have a wonderful day!

New Site

2005-10-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that i have started another blogsite. You can visit by clicking here. Go check it out and tell me what you think.

Happy Birthday

2005-10-03T02:00:00.000-07:00

Well today is me and Michelle's birthday. Go over to Michelle's site and wish her a happy birthday when you get a chance.

Yes, me and michelle were born on the same day but, no, we are not twins. For those of you wondering, we are two years apart in age. I am now 23 and michelle is now 21.

Today is kind of a sad day as well. I wish michelle could be home to celebrate her birthday with me. However, she did call. She called me at 10:48 and we talked until 11:20. So a good 30 minute conversation. I sang happy birthday to her and then she sang to me. It was kind of funny. I miss her being home. This is the third birthday she has not been at home for. The third birthday in a row. The first one she was in Basic Training and the next two were spent in Iraq. I was okay with her not being home for her birthday when she was in Basic Training. I knew that she was safe and sound and sort of enjoying her birthday while there. Eventhough she might have had to do some push ups and maybe run a little. However, I know that missing another birthday because she is in Iraq has to be hard on her as well. I know she wants to be home to celebrate and it just makes me sad that she is in a not so friendly place on her birthday.

When we talked on the phone she seemed to be doing okay. She said that she was swimming at the pool, eating hotdogs with sourkraut on them, and eating Baskin Robbins. She also said she got a bit of a suntan and that she hasn't had to buy anything because everyone has been buying stuff for her. So okay, maybe I don't feel too bad for her because the pool at my apartment complex is CLOSED, and it really isn't all that sunny/warm out, and I don't have any Baskin Robbins to eat. But I still miss her bunches and just hope that she has a wonderful birthday. I really wish that she could be home to share in this occasion with me. I especially am sad because it is her 21st birthday and she should be home doing what most just-turned-21-years-old people do. But I promised her that when she gets home we will definetly have to go out for that 21st birthday drink. (Ignore that comment mom)!

So we had a nice conversation and it was just nice to hear her voice. She sounded really good and really rested.

Tonight me and the hubby are going to watch "Serenity"! I have wanted to see that movie since I saw previews for it. Yesterday we went to the Olive Garden with the hubby's parents, sister, nephew, uncle and my mom. Yes, I had my mom tag along. It was just a nice day. So tonight is movie night, the hubby skipped worked in order to stay home with me on my birthday. Don't freak out though because he is still getting paid for the day because he is supposed to be working on flyers for work. So they said that they would still pay him for the day as long as he got the flyers done. So that is good thing.

So all around the birthday has been pretty good. Got to talk to michelle, the hubby skipped work to stay home with me, my mom called and wished me a happy birthday, michelle's boyfriend tony called to wish me happy birthday, I am going to go see Serenity, I talked michelle in to wanting a kitten for her birthday, and I am getting paid for it because I on VACATION!!!

I want to thank everyone who has already left me birthday messages (if you leave me one later i will add you to the list):
A Military Mom
FCC@V
My mom
Erik Holtan
Stacy Lee (Keep My Soldier Safe)
The Mudville Gazette (under supporting the troops...or not) (who will also be added to my blogroll)
~K
Righty in a Lefty State
Basil's Blog
Thank you all so much. Now I have to go clean the house! Yes, I am cleaning house on my birthday because right now I am bored out of my mind!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE! I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU! SEE YOU SOON!
(Oh and the hubby/brother-in-law says Happy Birthday Punk!) And Gracie sends you a Meow Meow Meow which in kitty talk means HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Real quick

2005-10-01T21:05:00.000-07:00

This might be the shortest post that you ever get from me. Everything went splendid with my mom, my sister, and my niece. I got some cool new cloths and had fun! I just wanted to let you guys know that everything went a okay. I will update more, probably tomorrow. I got to get my Sunday School lesson done now. I have no clue what the kids are learning tomorrow. So I figure I better get started on it now at 9 at night! See you all tomorrow!

Good Morning Everyone

2005-10-01T11:17:00.000-07:00

Well, it is Saturday and I finally have a weekend off. Only because I am taking vacation but still, it is nice to have a weekend off. Five whole days to do whatever I want and not have to worry about doing it in time to go to work! SWEET!

Wish me luck today! I am going shopping with my mom, my older sister Amber and my niece Alexis. It should be fun. But like I said in the previous post, my mom might kill me for comments made on her site. It is bad enough that I skipped out on her Wednesday and made her take care of the demon spawn at AWANA's all by herself! I still owe her for that. I just wasn't able to make it Wednesday. Now she knows how I felt the first Wednesday of AWANA's when she decided that she would convienetly be out of town that day! So pthhhh to her! But I do owe her some chocolate or something because she did have to put up with one particuarly difficult demon spawn that night. There is just this one kid that doesn't seem to care what he says or how he says it. He is just out to make everyone miserable. Hopefully he will get better though. He actually told me the first night that he wanted nothing to do with me and that he hated me. Now, don't get me wrong I wasn't too terrible upset by this comment because I was hoping that maybe he wouldn't come back. However, it is church and I should really try to get along with him. I just don't know what to do. He has some form of ADD and that tends to make things a little difficult for all of us. The rest of the kids are just fine. Except for the two the egg this kid on. I actually enjoy working with kids and everything but it just seems like the three and four year olds listen better then the JV. No one wanted to teach this class and that is how I got stuck with it. I felt bad because everyone was backing out on the Pastor. So I decided to suck it up and teach the JV. Well, now I am starting to understand why the rest of the adults quit. It is a battle every Wednesday with this boy. I just don't know what to do. If he doesn't get his way then he is a bear for the rest of the evening. When he listens he is wonderful. But that is only for like the first five minutes of AWANA's. Then we start game time and tell him or anyone else something and he take offense to it somehow. The other Wednesday we just told him to put his shoes on a get ready to go inside because we were running late for devotion time. This prompted a conversation about how he now knew how the Hebrews felt when they were sold to the Egyptians. I just told the kid to put his shoes on, dang. It wasn't like I made him dig a trench. So for the rest of the evening he just kept telling me and my mom that we were horrible slave drivers and whatnot. GRRR! So I guess I owe my mom big time for putting up with them Wednesday. Okay rant over....

Well, i got to finish getting ready. I will post more when I get home. Everyone have a wonderful Saturday. Pray that my mom doesn't beat me too bad! LOL!

well it was nice knowing you all..

2005-09-30T22:35:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to warn you that i might not be around much longer. I made a couple of comments on my mom's site and I think that when i see her tomorrow she might kill me. So it has been nice knowing you all. I hope you can all make it out to my funeral.

Anyways, I just got home from work. So that means that I am offically on vacation for the next 5 days. I am going to go take Gracie to see my mom tomorrow. And me and my mom are going out shopping for my birthday. Just remember to go over to my sister's site on Monday and wish her a happy birthday as well. I wish that she could be home so that we could share our birthday together but I know that she is doing what she has to do in order to get home in a timely manner.

So if you come to my site on Monday, i will just appoligize now. I might be a little sentimental and weepy on Monday and you might get a nice post that will make you cry. But I miss my sister and wish she could be here to share our birthday. Especially an important birthday like turning 21. I wish she could be home to celebrate that milestone. I don't really care about my birthday. I am just going to be plain old 23. Nothing important or special about that. See that weepyness is starting already.

Well, I just wanted to say that it was nice knowing you. If you don't hear from me for the next five days then please call the police! JUST KIDDING! My mom wouldn't really kill me! Anyways, I will blog more tomorrow morning and then I probably won't blog again until tomorrow night. I will let you all know how the day with my mother went. See you all tomorrow. Have a wonderful night/Saturday!

SPF and more!

2005-09-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

Wow two fridays in a row I am participating in SPF! Aren't you so proud of me? Anyways...

Katy wanted us to show pictures of us coming and going. Well, she is just going to have to deal with what i got because:
1.) I live around a bunch of crazy college students. So there was no way I was taking a picture outside because of the bazillion beer bottles and cigarette butts lying around. And...
2.) The outside of my apartment just doesn't look very good.

So I took pictures of me standing in front of both of my entrances. So this will have to do! Of course you know that I have to include Gracie in my SPF! And you thought that you were going to get one cat-free post! Well you were wrong!

This is me and Gracie by the patio door, my husband took these pics so sorry about the poor quality. If I would have done it myself it would have been better:This is picture of me and Gracie standing in front of the front door. My hubby thought it would be funny to take a crooked picture. What a dork:
And here are some pics of Gracie playing/sleeping by the patio door. This was before we found out that she was sick. So that is why she is looking tired:

Oh and if you didn't notice. Yes, Gracie is wearing an Ohio State Buckeyes collar. I wouldn't have it any other way. She is obviously an OSU fan (and a spoiled brat). She has been one from day one:

Okay does anyone notice either of two things:
1.) my hips are freaking huge and...
2.) I look like my mother (if you haven't seen pics of her recently you probably wouldn't notice that one) SCARY!

Well, today is my last day of work and then i am on VACATION for 5 whole days. So i will be blogging more within the next 5 days. See you all later! Have a wonderful day! Oh and if you get a chance go over to my mom's site!

Much to Update on

2005-09-29T10:55:00.000-07:00

Okay where to start...
Well, Tuesday morning I got work up at 4:20 by the sound of a ringing phone. That would be 4:20 a.m. not 4:20 p.m. So I tried to get up to get it but the hubby beat me to it. Mostly because we couldn't tell where the phone was at. So he picks it up and starts talking away. I eventually figured out that it was Michelle. So I was trying to get him to hurry up so that I could talk to her. Well, finally he says "Well, she is still asleep." What? I am not asleep. So he hands the phone to me and Michelle says "Hello" We talk for a little bit about how she is doing and then she tells me "Hey I just wanted to tell you Happy Birthday in case I don't get a chance to call you on Monday." So I tell her happy birthday as well. She said she might not be able to call because she is going out on a mission that could take them up to 10 days to complete. It will also take them through a very bad part of the country, which I am not going to say because I am not sure if I am allowed to say. So please just pray for her and the rest of her unit. If you didn't already hear about it. A couple of weeks ago when she went back out on the road for the second time, they were travelling with another unit. The truck behind them, which was carrying members from another unit, hit and VBIED and it killed on of the soldiers in the truck. I am sure that had to have been hard for Michelle and probably brought back alot of memories, but she is still "truckin'" along (no pun intended). Michelle actually sounded really good on the phone. She said that they had an awards ceremony on Monday evening (our time) and said that she got pinned. I asked her what went on and she explained the following:

She said that a four star general came and pinned her with her purple heart and that she recieved a couple of coins from other commanders and generals. She said that it was kind of a bittersweet thing because she realized what happened in order for her to recieve that purple heart. She said she would have rather given the purple heart back in order to have Gavin back. She said that she was also embarrased the whole day because the generals and everyone made her walk around with them all day. Then when it was time to eat lunch they made her go to lunch with them. She said she just wanted to eat her lunch at the end of the table, by herself, no conversation, and get up and leave, but instead they made her sit in between them and she had to talk to them forever and she said it just really embarrased her. I told her it was all a small price to pay for being pinned with such a special award. I also told her that Gavin would have been proud of her and that she just needed to remember that she got her purple heart because Gavin protected her. She seemed to feel a little bit better about the whole thing.

I am so proud of this girl. She has been through a lot and just keeps on going. She had to option of doing office work for the rest of the time she is over there and she chose to go back out on the road. It just amazes me how much ambition this girl has. I am proud to call her my sister. If you get a chance go over to her site and send her well wishes. Also, if you remember, go there on Monday and wish her a Happy 21st Birthday! Yep that's right people, me and my sister share a birthday. We were born on October 3rd. Only we were born two years apart. So if you remember stop by her site on Monday and wish her a happy birthday.

Okay what else...

Oh yes, yesterday I talked with my older sister Amber. She had a doctors appointment yesterday and found out that her actually due date it February 28th. Apparently they know what the sex of the baby is. Well, correction, Amber didn't want to know so the doctor only gave her ultrasound pics of the head and feet and stuff like that. Her hubby wants to know what it is, so the doctor gave Amber and sealed envelope that contains the ultrasound picture that shows the sex of the baby. Now I am just praying that her hubby can keep his mouth shut until after the baby is born. I don't want to know what it is as does the rest of the family. That is mostly why Amber doesn't want to know because she knows that she wouldn't be able to keep a secret long enough. I am kind of leaning towards it being a boy but, who knows, i have been wrong before. Although when Amber was pregnant with Alexis I kind of had a feeling that she was having a girl. Mostly because i could come up with a bunch of girl names and no boy names. This time it is the opposite. I can come up with boy names but not any girl names. I came up with the name Emerson Brian if she has a boy. We will see if she uses it or not. So let's just hope that Alexis gets the brother that she has been asking for and that Amber's hubby can keep his mouth shut until the baby pops out!

Yesterday, being my only day off, I planned to relax and do nothing for the whole day. Well, that didn't quite happen. I spent most of my day worrying about my kitten. Tuesday night when I came home, I noticed that Gracie's right eye (if you are looking from behind her) was swollen. I had made a vet appointment for today at the Airway Animal Clinic a couple of days ago and was just planning on waiting until Friday to take her to see a vet. Well, yesterday when I woke up, her eye was looking real bad. So the hubby decided that we should make a vet appointment for yesterday for her and just cancel the one for Friday(which reminds me that I forgot to do that). So we made an appointment for Gracie at the Piqua Animal Hospital. So my husband didn't have to be at work until late in the afternoon and because of certain circumstances, he decided to take the cat to the vet. Which I am glad that I didn't go. The poor kitty had to have to temperature taken in a place where no one likes to have their temperature taken. She had to have blood drawn to check for Feline Leukemia (which she doesn't have). She had to have saline solution sprayed into her eye and medicane gunk put into her eye which she didn't like either. So the verdict was exactly what I thought it was. My little miss Gracie has kitty pink eye. Now don't start freakin' out. It isn't contagious. Her eye looks a lot better today since she has had two doses of the medication. The hubby won't put the stuff in her eye because you have to take this tube that look like an Orajel tube (with the little needle thing on the end) and stick it up inbetween her eye lid and eye ball. She sqwirms when you do this and cries. It is so sad. But it has to be doen in order for her to get better. Then starting today at 6:00 p.m she has to have .25 mL of medication given to her orally. I don't know how she will take that but the hubby gets to do that one since I will be at work and the doc said not to start until 6:00 p.m today. She has to have that done twice a day, so I will probably give her the next dose before I go to bed. So the kitty had a rough day yesterday and I was stressed out waiting for a phone call from the hubby to find out what was wrong with Gracie. In 4 weeks I have to make an appointment to get her vaccinations done. Oh what fun. This time I will be present for the needle sticking. So just pray for little Gracie, that she will get over her pink eye soon. The good thing is she is a little more active now. When we first got her she would play and run and eat all the time. But for the past four days she would barely eat, she would drink fine, she quit playing and she would just lay around and sleep all day. Now that she has been to the vet she is a little more playful (not quite back to her normal self) and she is eating a little more. So I feel better now.

Well, now that I have completely bored you all, I am going to get going. This post is getting too long. I will post some pics later. But for now I must leave. I got two more days of work (today and tomorrow) and then I am on vacation until next Thursday! Yes, you read that right. I work today and tomorrow and then I have Saturday, Sunday, Monday (Me and Michelle's birthday), Tuesday and Wednesday OFF! THANK FREAKIN' GOD! That place is starting to drive me nuts! So I will post pics later. Until then... have a wonderful Thursday!

Are you sick of it yet?

2005-09-24T11:18:00.000-07:00

So tell me...are you sick of posts about my new kitten yet? Well, if you are TO DANG BAD! I can't tell you how much I love having the little booger around. We are giving her the offical nickname of attention whore. Why? Because she follows me around all day when I am home whining at me until I pick her up so she can fall asleep on my lap/shoulder/neck/anywhere uncomfortable for me at the time. And when I am gone she picks on my husband until he plays with her. So that is how she got her nickname. She thrives off of attention which I guess I am mostly to blame for that one because I have this thing spoiled rotten. We had to go out yesterday and get a spray bottle so we can work on training her not to do certain things and I just can't bring myself to spray her with water. My husband did it to her twice last night because he doesn't like her lunging at him to get on his lap. I thought it was mean but my husband thought it was necessary. I am guessing that this is why we still don't have children.

Last night we went out and got Gracie a thing called a "Kitty Barn". While she has played with it a little, she is still fascinated by her stuffed mouse toy tied to a shoestring. When placed close to the "Kitty Barn" she will jump all over the "Kitty Barn" to pounce on the toy. She also drags the toy through the "Kitty Barn". You can't see the mouse toy in the pictures because she mostly plays with the end of the shoestring that is not attached to the mouse. The mouse it basically a distraction because it has a bell on it. So whenever she pulls on the shoestring she hears the bell and goes nuts!

Anyways, Gracie has this thing about if no one is around to show her attention. She will go and hide underneath the blankets on our bed. Yes, she crawls all the way underneath the blankets and hides until someone comes to find her. So this morning, the hubby was away at work and I was in the shower. When I came out of the bathroom this is what I saw...

If you look closer you can see that it is Gracie hiding underneath the blankets with her head poking out just enough to be seen....

If you look real close you get the following picture. Now tell me how can you say no to a face like this...I swear this kitten is going to be a model one day!

Michelle wants my kitten but I don't know. The hubby is starting to get attached to her as well. Michelle- you can come over and visit Gracie anytime you want. When I need a kitty sitter I will definetly let you know :)

Well, I got to get ready to go to work! See you all on Monday! (where I am sure there will be more cute Gracie pictures for you all!)

SPF!

2005-09-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

Okay I know it is a little late to be posting this. But my morning was filled so I had to wait until after I got home from work to post my SPF portrait! So here it is.... My kitchen!
Here is a view of it from the laundry room at the back of the kitchen...
And here the cabinet that has Gracie's cat toy hanging on it. This is below the sink..notice I will not show you the sink. Why? well, because it is a mess that's why...
And here is Gracie's "kitchen"...
So there you go. There is my SPF. A little late but at least it is done :) See you all tomorrow!

Introducing the new additon to my family

2005-09-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

Well, now that almost everyone knows, I guess I can now tell the rest of you. I am proud to announce that I am...

the proud owner of the cutest kitten ever! Yes as part of my birthday present, my husband got me a kitten. It was free which makes it better. It's name is Gracie, yes it"s a girl. This thing absolutely loves me as well. Whenever it wants to take a nap it will come and find me and purr until I pick it up. She loves to sleep on me and she even follows me around the house some! Right now I am having to blog one handed because she is sleeping on me and Gracie doesn't like it when I take my one hand away from her. As seen here...I just got out of bed so ignore the hair! Just look at the cuteness of the sleeping kitty!

Here is a picture of the two of us taking a nap together yesterday after we got home at 11:30 at night...

And here is a close up of the cutest kitten ever! Welcome home Gracie!Isn't she just the cutest thing ever! Now all I have to do it get her shots, declawed and spayed/nuetered (requirement of our apartment complex)! But none of that will happen until she is a little bit older. She is only a couple of weeks now. Right now i just have to worry about shots.

Oh and if you look closley in the first couple of pictures you can see that I got a hair cut as well yesterday! Man yesterday was a good day!

Well, I have to go get ready for work now. I don't want to leave my little Gracie but it must be done for now! Hope you all enjoyed looking at my newest addition as much as I enjoy having her around! See you all tomorrow for SPF...yes, I am going to play Self Portrait Friday this week! Surprised? Yeah so am I! See you all later!

I am still alive...

2005-09-20T17:00:00.000-07:00

For those of you wondering, yes, I am still living. I haven't felt like blogging much lately and I haven't had much to blog about. But I decided that I would stop by today to say that I am doing okay. No need to worry about me. I am just fine, just lazy. I am really busy with work and teaching Sunday School and Wednesday night AWANA's. So there hasn't been much time to get my blogging in. Also, with my birthday coming up (October 3rd, same as Michelle's), my husband has decided to give me one present a week until my birthday. I got my first present last week and it was the complete first season of CSI on DVD!!!!! Oh, I was so thrilled to get that! That is my favorite show. I am not to thrilled with CSI-MIAMI and CSI-NEW YORK. I like the original, plus George Eads is hot! You know the guy who plays Nick. And for those of you who do not know who I am talking about here is a little bit of eye candy for you...Can't get much hotter than that! Dang he is good looking. If only i were a few years older and not married...

Oh wait...you are still here? Sorry I was daydreaming. Anyways...George Eads is hot and so i have been spending a lot of time watching CSI on DVD. I am just starting disk five! yeah, it is the only thing that I have been watching for the last week! Other than that i haven't been up to much.

I took my mom out for lunch today! It was for her birthday. I know that her birthday was in August but neither of us had time until today to do it. It was nice. I was also trying to help her upload pics to her blogsite but her computer was being a piece of junk so we will have to work on that some other day. Hopefully tomorrow! Umm....let's see...anything else.....oh YES...
GEORGE EADS IS HOT! (Just had to add that in there again)! Well, that is all i have for now. I will try to update more later.

FCC@V-You need to email me your address. I sent you a card and it got sent back to me. So if you could email me your address that would be great. I don't want you to think that I forgot about you. Just that your card got sent back to me. I think I might have wrote your addy down wrong. So whenever you get a chance email me your addy!

talk to everyone later! Have a good Tuesday!

I know...I KNOW!

2005-09-06T14:05:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while. I haven't really had time. Hubby started school today (YEAH!). Seriously it feels like sending a kid off to school after having them running around the house all summer. I am sad that he isn't going to be home as much and that i am barely going to see him but, i am glad that he isn't going to be spending hours and hours in front of the computer everyday!

I am getting ready to go pick up my niece. Since i don't have to work today or tomorrow, my niece is coming to stay the night with me. I will take some pictures and post them up here to show you all how our time went. She has been begging her mom to come and stay with me for weeks and this week I finally got a chance to have her over. She was so excited that she called my mom and had to tell her all about it. I can't wait to have the little booger over, i miss her soooooo much.

In exciting news..... I was cleaning out the fish tank today (I know doesn't sound exciting but hold on). I took everything out of it in order to really clean it. I stressed the fish out a little but they will be okay. One fish got stressed out more then the rest of them. As I was putting all the plants back into the tank I felt water hit me in the nose. I didn't really think anything about it until i noticed that there were only 7 fish in the tank. where was the 8th one? I thought maybe he had got squashed by some of the plants that i had thrown in there. So I took everything out...no Rasbora. Then i realized that that water that had hit me in the nose early did seem a little hard. So i start freaking out!!! What if the fish jumped out of the fish tank? Can Rasbora's even do that? OH MY GOD it has been like 3 minutes. Do you think he would still be alive? Holy hell...what if he is dead? Where did he go?

So I start searching the floor and surely enough there he was flipping around underneath a piece of paper that had fallen on the floor. So i pick him up and just throw him back in the tank.....please still be alive....please still be alive.....oh my gosh he's got fuzz from the carpet on him. So i take him out and put him in the little reserve tank and get the fuzz off of him and stick him back in the big tank. Where so far, so good. He is still alive. He is actually acting like nothing ever happened to him. I just hope I don't wake up to find him dead! I was seriously freaking out about it. He freaking could have died! I will give everyone an update on him later and let you know how he is doing!

In other news... head over to Thunder 6's site. His site is titled 365 and a Wake Up. This guy is currently serving in Iraq and I have been reading his blog for some time now. We got really freaked out when he didn't post for like a month. But anyways, this guy is an excellent writer. His blogs are always good. I don't think I have ever read a bad one. On September 3rd he posted a really excellent post about a Roadblock. It really makes you understand that not every Iraqi thinks that us American's are mean and evil. There are actually some Iraqi's who would risk getting in trouble with the AIF (Anti-Iraqi Forces) in order to save our soldiers from death. When I read this post I was just blown away by what this community did to keep Thunder 6 and the rest of his unit from getting killed! Hopefully they didn't get in too much trouble. So go over and check out this post. It will warm your heart to read about Iraqi's working together to help protect our soldiers!

So that is all for today. Know that everything is well here. I haven't heard from Michelle since my last phone conversation but I am sure that she is doing just fine. I am trying to stay positive about everything and not worry about her too much. I just pray for her every night because I have realized that only God can watch over her. There is nothing that I can do that is going to keep her from getting hurt or not getting hurt. The only thing that I can do is send up a prayer for her and just keep trusting that she knows what she is doing and that she will be JUST FINE!! I am so freaking proud of her! Just pray for her as well!

I almost forgot

2005-09-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot that today is SPF. Yes, Self Portrait Friday. So I need to get my pictures posted up. We are supposed to show everyone where we do our relaxing, watch our t.v, whatever. So here it is...

This is my very messy living room! This is picture of the couch where i do my t.v watching (very rarely anymore)

This is my t.v

Yes, there are shot glasses up there. Can you tell that i have no children?

This is me doing my television watching...

Anymore, instead of watching t.v I am playing around on my new computer. I am addicted to this game called World of Warcraft. This is my character....

This is me playing WoW...

Yes, I got a new computer. Hubby decided that it was time because he is tired of having to fight to get to the computer before i do. So we went from this...

To this...

So there you go guys. Hope you enjoyed Self Portrait Friday. I am going to have to get my mom in on these!

Now go over to Katy's site and see who else played!

Happy Anniversary

2005-09-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to wish my parents a happy 26th wedding anniversary. My mom said that she read my post about her birthday I think I might be dead later. So I just wanted to wish them a happy anniversary. They are the best parents a kid could have (yes, i still consider myself a kid). So anyways, wonder over to my mom's site and wish her and my dad a happy anniversary. I got to go to work now. I will try to post more later!

Michelle called...

2005-08-31T08:50:00.000-07:00

At 3:08 this morning the phone rings. I nudge Dev (my husband) and am like "Honey the phones ringing it must be something important, you should get it!" Meanwhile I start falling back asleep!!!! WTF! I realize what I just said and I race out of the bed to answer the phone. I look at the caller I.D and it says "Unknown Name 312-730-****" Now if you try to call that number back it will not work because it goes to a calling card system! Anyways, I almost didn't pick up the phone because everyone that I know that actually calls here, there name pops up on the caller ID. Then, somewhere in my unfunctioning brain, something clicks and I am like "Maybe it is Michelle!" So I pick it up:

Me: "Hello"
Michelle: "Holy hell, you actually answered your phone"
Me: "Huh, um, yes"
Michelle: "What are you doing?"
Me: "Um, (yawn), well, um, besides sleeping....nothing."
Michelle: "Well I just wanted to call you real quick. I am headed to Mission Rediness"
Me (Finally waking up enough to hold a conversation): "What are you doing?"
Michelle: "Going to Mission Rediness"
Me: "What's that for?"
Michelle:"To get me ready to go on a mission" (Insert duh here)
Me: "Oh, when do you go?"
Michelle: "Tomorrow morning" (Iraqi time)
Me: "Oh, is this your first one?"
Michelle: "Yep"
Me: "Well you will do just fine. It will be okay"
Michelle: "Yeah, well I just wanted to call real quick and say that I love you guys and I will call later today before I head out"
Me: "Well what time to do think you will call?" (like that is really any concern for her. She doesn't know this stuff. But remember guys I am on like 2.5 hours of sleep trying to hold a conversation with someone who is thousands of miles away)
Michelle: "Well, I don't know"
Me: "I was just wondering because I got to be at work at 1" (Why the h-e-double hockey sticks did i even say that)
Michelle: "Well you will definetly be home by the time I call"
Me: "Okay"
Michelle: "I already called mom and dad today. So I got to talk to them."
Me: "Cool"
Michelle - proceeds to tell me an interesting story about seeing someone and told me not to mention names, kind of keep it hush hush (I think you know who you are if you are reading this!)
Me:"That's cool! What did you guys talk about!"
Michelle: "Nothing really they just knew that I was having a bad day. I thought I was in trouble at first. I had no clue who that person was."
Me: "That's funny and cool that you got to talk to them."
Michelle: "yeah it was. Well hey sis I got to get going. We are getting ready to head for Mission Rediness"
Me: "Okay, you stay safe!"
Michelle: "I will. It will be fine."
Me: "I know"
Michelle: "I love you sis and I will try to call later today!"
Me: "Love you to. Night"
Michelle: "Night"
*End Conversation*

I then go back to bed and cry for a bit knowing that later today Michelle will be on her way on her fist mission since her accident. I send a huge prayer up to the Lord asking Him to put His hand over her and keep her safe and just to protect her and everyone else who is going on that mission. I ask Him to give her the strength to do it (eventhough I know that Michelle is one strong chicka) and then I cry some more and look over at the clock and see that it is only 3:10, seems like the phone conversation was longer then that. Then I cry some more and fall back to sleep and wake up at 7:30!

Man it was so nice to get to talk to her. Especially before she goes out on her first mission since April. I just pray that everything goes okay. I will let you guys know if I talk to her tonight.

Happy Birthday to you...

2005-08-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

Today is my mom's birthday! Michelle already let the cat out of the bag a while ago, so I don't feel bad telling you that she is now 44. My mom looks really young for 44, I think she looks like she is in her early 30's. So anyways, today is my wonderful mom's birthday. She is on vacation in Michigan with my dad until the 7th or 8th of September so I am sad that i won't get to see her on her birthday but I already wished her a Happy Birthday via phone.

I called my mom this morning and sang "Happy Birthday" to her over the phone. Once she unplugged her ears she said "thank you". I just told her that I was sorry that she had to hear that first thing in the morning and then warned her that she would have to hear it again later when she checked her voice mail because i couldn't get ahold of her the first time on her cell phone, so I had to call dad's. She sounded like she was going to cry from the agony of knowing she would have to hear that butchered rendition of "Happy Birthday" again. But anyways my mom's birthday is today so go over to her site and leave her a Happy Birthday message! When my mom gets back from vacation I am taking her out for supper and then we are going to go watch a movie together for her birthday! Why? Because I think things like that are better than getting presents. Plus, me and my mom have never went a watched a movie together, just the two of us. So it will be nice.

My mom is kind of bummed because Michelle might not call. For some of you who don't know, Michelle made the very brave decision last week to go back out on the road! No, her commander did not tell her that she had to, this brave little chica decided, BY HERSELF, that she was going to do this! My mom called me on Tuesday to let me know and I just cried. I know that she is safe where she is at now (in camp) and I was just sad that she was going to be risking everything again. I also cried because i was so proud of her for doing it. It had to have taken a lot of guts to make that decision. She hasn't been on the road since April and WOW I just don't know what to say. She was supposed to start back out either this past Friday or sometime this week. So we are pretty sure that she has been out on the road by now. So yeah, mom doesn't think she will get a birthday call from Michelle. But I am sure that Michelle will get a hold of her, if not today then sometime this week. Just please pray for Michelle as this is going to be a tough week for her. Pray for my mom for a wonderful birthday.

So go over to my mom's site (I will leave a birthday message there) and leave her your birthday wishes! You all have a wonderful day! SO...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I LOVE YOU BUNCHES!! Your the GREATEST!!!

Self Portrait Friday!

2005-08-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

Okay everyone,
It's friday! Which means that it is time for SPF. Today's SPF is supposed to be a picture of us and a friend. So here is mine.....
This is a picture of me and my friend Aaron Greer and Aaron friend Jeremy Rowe (who is sort of my friend). Aaron is on the right and Jeremy is on the left. Aaron and Jeremy were in a christian band called The Witness Protection Program. The band has split up and Aarong has started his own band in which Jeremy is playing drums. This picture was taken at their last concert in Ohio. I miss them both.

Here is the first take of that picture.
Here is a better picture of me and Aaron back when i had long hair and glasses

And here is a picutre of Aarong and Jeremy at work at the last concert they played in Ohio...
Have a good Friday. I will post more later!

OH MY GOSH!

2005-08-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

Okay,
I just got out of bed. The first thing I did was get on here to see how mad Erik and Mustang 23 were about being tagged. But you know what that seems unimportant now. I don't care if they do the question thing or not. Because when I checked my comments I get a not from Erik saying that Some Soldier's Mom has been injured by a VBIED!!! What? WHAT? A million thoughts run through my head and I realize that I got to figure out what the heck happened. Is this for real? So i go over to Some Soldier's Mom's website and sure enough...last night her son got injured in a VBIED attack and is being operated on in Iraq! OH MY GOSH! Well, everything that I was upset about yesterday (which I might explain later, might not) seems so miniscule, so trivial compared to this.

So could everyone just take a few minutes and say a prayer (or whatever you do) for Some Soldier's Mom's son, SPC Noah Pincusoff, and for the rest of the family as well. I remember when my mom told me about Michelle getting injured by an IED and while not being a serious at Noah's injures it was still rough to hear about. Just pray for the family and really pray for Noah as he has a serious spinal injury and is being operated on in Iraq. Just lift the whole family up in prayer and go over to Some Soldier's Mom's website and leave her a message to let her know that you are thinking about them and praying for them.

I think that is all I am going to write for today. Why? Because this is important and I want to leave it up at the top of my site as long as I can. Everyone just pray!

HAHAHAHA

2005-08-23T11:39:00.000-07:00

Okay,
So Erik and Mustang 23 are mad at me because I tagged them. Oh well they will get over it! And my mom has started blogging! Could this day get any better?

So yeah, my mom has started blogging. Go check out her site here. And whatever she says about me IS NOT TRUE! My mom has no clue what she is talking about!

Nah, my mom is cool and i am sure that she won't say anything mean about me, because I am her favorite daughter and she loves me alot. And she knows that I would never say anything bad about her *looks to see if mom is reading this*

But seriously, my mom is one cool chick. She has done a lot for me and my sisters. She raised us all to be who we are today (which could be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it). I love my mom a lot. She has put up with so much stuff and she is still semi-sane. She has just always been there for all three of us and I just am glad to have her as a mom. I couldn't think of anyone else that I would want! I love my mom bunches! She's the greatest! So go check out her blogsite and be nice to her!

Talk to you all later!

I've been tagged

2005-08-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

and didn't know it! Guess that is what i get for being away for a couple of days! But I will catch up now!

So I guess I am suppose to talk about where i was 10, 5, and 1 year ago, and yesterday. I am also suppose to talk about my likes and dislikes. So here I go...

10 years ago- I was 12 years old. I don't really remember much about being 12 except for that i was in the 6th or 7th grade. I had just started Junior High at a new school where i still didn't know very many people even though I had been going there for two years. That is about all I remember about being 12.

5 years ago- I was 17 years old and working at a pizza place in my hometown of Pleasant Hill called Bears Pizza. I was thinking about starting college but not really sure where. I had plans of going to Pensacola Christian College in Pensacola Florida (we all see how far I got on that). I ended up going to Edison State Community College in Piqua, Ohio.

1 year ago- I was sitting in shock as my little sister told our whole family that she was getting deployed to Iraq! I had just gotten married about three months prior to this and thought that my sister was never going to get deployed. I still remember that day very vividly. We were camping with my parents and my sister pulls into the campsite, she looks like she has just been in an accident or something because she has this terrorstricken look on her face. We ask her whats wrong and she just says "I got my orders today!" My heart sinks! I really didn't know what that meant but i was sure that it couldn't be good. We ask her what it means and she tells us that she just got orders to go to Iraq. GULP! Not my sister, no friggen way! There were a lot of tears but, we knew that that is what she signed up to do. Man I miss that girl! Can't wait until she comes home in November.

Sorry about the sentimental rant there. You can thank A Military Mom for taggin me (and not telling me about it!)

yesterday- I was well... read my other post! I had the day off, played a computer game for 8 hours (not straight, in 4 hour incriments). I went and got Greek food with the hubby before he went to work. Watched Inside 9/11 (did anyone else watch that, I thought it was very good)! Worked on my Sunday School lesson for next Sunday. Worked on my Sunday School lesson for when I start teaching the 3rd and 4th graders in two weeks! And that was pretty much it!

5 snacks i enjoy- chili cheese Fritos, Take 5 candy bar, popcorn, bananas, cold pizza, and anything chocolate

5 Songs I know all the words to- Amazing Grace, Pray- Rebecca St. James, Agnus Dei- Third Day, Hungry- Joy Williams, Held- Natalie Grant

5 things I would do with $100 million- buy a house, buy a new car, buy my parents a new house, take a trip to New Zealand and to Ireland, and quit my job

5 places I would run away to- this one is way too easy... New Zealand, Ireland, Hawaii, Italy and Spain

5 Favorite TV Shows- 7th Heaven, West Wing, CSI (the original not Miami or NYC), Newlyweds (dumb but funny to see how people can be sooo stupid and not notice it) and Survivor (yes, i am into reality shows).

5 things I'd never wear- anything that showed my stomach, a kilt, knights armour, pants that showed my butt crack, and bright colored pants

5 biggest joys- michelle graduating basic training, my wedding day, my niece being born, my computer, my radio and my camera (I know that is 6 but i didn't know which to put)

5 people I tag this to- Assumption of Command (since he is already doing lists of things), Some Soldiers Mom (because I haven't heard from her in a while), Erik Holtan (because it wouldn't be fun unless I did), Michelle (because i know she is bored) and Keep My Soldier Safe (also because I haven't heard anything in a while from them)

So there you go! have a nice day!

Hello Everyone

2005-08-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

I am sorry that I haven't posted in a couple of days. It is really my husbands fault, as everything tends to be (JK)! Anyways, it is sort of his fault. He went and bought this new computer game called World of Warcraft and I am completely freaking addicted to it. Though of you who are gaming junkies will understand. I went through this when we had City of Heros but then we disconnected that for a while and the reconnected it last week. Well, it was boring because no one plays anymore and i had completely forgotten what I was doing, but i loved the character I had made and therefore wanted to level her up. However, Dev went and bought WoW the other day and I created a character for that, realized how much more fun that was then CoH and decided that it was time to say goodbye to my CoH character (Madame Havoc) and say hello to my WoW character Vrushali (and now Valnar since one of my friends plays on a different server and I had to start a new character so i could play with him and his friends). So yeah, that is why I haven't blogged in a couple of days. I sat in front of this computer, because it was my day off (as is today), and played WoW for 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the evening. Stupid computer game!!! But I am weaning myself off of it and realizing that I have real people who like me and would like to hear from me, at least that is what i am assuming! Right? Guys? Hello? Oh well...

Anyways, now that i have lost about 90% of my readers because i just bored you all or completely confused you, on to something else. For those of you who don't know my sister has started her own blogsite, guess she doesn't like sharing with me anymore, or just doesn't like me anymore...either way you can visit her here. So go and leave her a nice message as she is having a rough time right now! All I ask is that everyone please be NICE! I know that some people leave mean comments but please, this girl, or any of our soldiers for that matter, are already having a rough time being away from family and friends, they don't need complete strangers and people they know leaving them harse messages. Let's all be adult please, rant over... just stop by and leave a nice encouraging message for my sister. I love her lots and miss her bunches but at least I know that she is okay and will be home in a couple of months!

Erik Holtan seems to be completely fascinated by my sister as he as put a post up about her not once but TWICE. Apparently they are emailing eachother and Michelle is Erik hero. Yes he actually said that. And yes it is SCARY!! Just kidding. Erik is a wonderful guy and a great role model. He has offered to help Michelle out and I am grateful for that. She needs someone over there to talk to. Since Gavin's death she has lost the person that she would go to talk about anything and everything. So I am so glad that Erik is helping her out. Erik, even though you called me scary and frightening, I still think you are a wonderful person and I thank you for all you are doing for our country and all that you are doing for my sister.

Erik actually talked about my sister's blogsite before I did. Man, I am a horrible sister! Oh well, i can't do everything right!

Also my mom is making friends on here as well. She contacted A Military Mom via leaving a comment on her blogsite and told her that I would give A Military Mom my mom's email addy. So now all i have to do is get A Military Mom to give me her email addy so I can give her my mom's email addy. *Wink, Wink* *Nudge, Nudge* *Hint, Hint* Okay... A Military Mom, you need to send me an email and let me know what your address is so i can get my mom's email to you. There.....

Man, the people above better be glad that i link to them A LOT! LOL!
So where are my friends... sadness...oh well, back to WoW!

Happy Birthday to YOU!

2005-08-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

No, it is not my birthday! But it is someone's....

I want to say Happy Birthday to A Military Mom. Today is her birthday and eventhough she put her age up on her site, I won't say it here. So anyways....

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear A Military Mom
Happy birthday to you

Now everyone go over and wish A Military Mom (this is a direct link to her birthday post) a happy birthday. She is a wonderful lady who is like my adopted blogsite mom. So you better be nice to her and wish her a happy birthday! Now go and send your well wishes her way!

Self Portrait FRIDAY

2005-08-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

Thank God it is Friday. This week has flown by. Anyways...

Yes folks it is that time again. It's time once again for a thrilling round of

SELF PORTRAIT FRIDAY (Click to go to Katy's site to see the rest of SPF players)

This SPF deals with things that stress you out. So here is what stresses the h-e-double hockey sticks out of me. I don't know if there is enough space on my blogsite to post it all..LOL

Anyways first up... worrying about this girl stresses me out. But I guess in a good way. Can't wait until she gets home.

Second, my bathroom. Me and my husband have seperate bathrooms, and for good reason. My bathroom looks fine from here....

Until you look at the sink....

No matter how many times i clean this thing off, more and more stuff piles up and does anyone else notice that some of that stuff is my husband's? He needs to get his stuff out of there!

The next thing that stresses me out is this one corner in my bedroom (can't believe I am showing this picture)....

This has become the collect all corner. I clean it up and stuff comes back. GRRR!!!

And this is me looking mad at my messiness...

Happy SPF everyone! I will post more later!

It's almost Friday (meaning it's Thursday)

2005-08-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

Gosh the week has gone by fast. Maybe that was because I had three days off of work (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday). I actually hate having that many days off in a row. I hate having two off in a row. I would rather work a day and have a day off and then work a day and have another day off. Did I loose any of you?

So I had trouble sleeping last night. Now I know how Michelle feels. I kept having nightmares about her. Since her accident I have been having these nightmares about what she went through. I don't know if it is because I am wanting to be able to understand what she went through or what. But I hate having these nightmares. Last night I had one about me and her being in the convoy and she got killed. Scared the crap out of me. I had to get up and go read some more Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to get the dream out of my head. I have just been really concerned about her lately. I had a good hour or so conversation with her on Tuesday over IM. When I had to get off to go to the grocery store, I didn't want to leave her. I never want to leave her when I am talking to her. I guess that is because I feel that as long as I am talking to her nothing can happen to her. Yes, I know they have pulled her off the road. But that doesn't mean that something can't happen to her. I know I just need to let it go. Think positive. But, frankly, it is HARD! I just want these nightmares to go away. I worry about her enough without them. Then when i have one of these nightmares all I want to do is talk to her. I think I got online fifteen times last night. I kept logging in, check to see if she was on, log off because she wasn't and check back in 5 minutes.

I know she reads this but I am going to say this anyways. Everytime I talk to her, all I do is cry when i get off the phone or the Insant Messaging with her. I think it is mostly because I miss her and also because I don't know when I am going to be able to talk to her again. There is that little voice in the back of my head that likes to tell me that that might have been the last conversation that I might have with her. I don't like to think about that but I guess sometimes that helps because then I am sure to say everything that I want to say to her before I get offline with her. Plus that drives me to stay up WAY past my bedtime sometimes. Alot of the time when we talk on IM I stay on until she has to get off. But there are a few days when I have to get off before she is ready for me to leave because, well, one thing or another comes up. That is hard for me to say because I feel like she is my sister and she is in Iraq and that should be my whole focus. I should stay online and talk to her as long as she is online because nothing should come before her. Does that make any sense? I don't know, it's hard to explain. I guess i feel like if i get offline before her, like i did the other night when I had to go to the grocery store, that she is thinking to herself "oh, so the grocery store is more important to my sister then talking to her sister who is in Iraq!" I hope she doesn't feel that way but I don't know sometimes those thoughts enter my head.

So I just want Michelle home. I can't stand her being over there any longer. The closer it gets to her homecoming, the harder it is for me to stand her being over there. She has missed out on so much and I just want her home now. I am almost to the point where I will get on a plane or whatever and go and pick her up myself. I know, sounds stupid. But seriously, I just want her home. I miss her so much. I miss our nightly conversation until 2 or 3 in the morning, like we used to do when we shared a room when we both lived at home. I just miss everything about her. Everytime I got to do something, like when my family went to Kings Island a few weeks ago, I just think about how much Michelle would want to be there. Especially when it comes to things like birthday parties, finding out my older sister was pregnant, my dad getting injured, and everyday normal stuff. I just want her to be home. I have so many things that I want to do with her when she gets home. I have like this list in my head of stuff that I want to do when she gets home. Having someone deployed really makes you realize how much stuff you only like to do with that particular person. There are things that I say to other people that are kind of an inside joke between me and Michelle, and when that other person doesn't understand what I am talking about, I just think "Man, if Michelle was here she would be laughing her ass off." So i just want her to be home safe and sound. PERIOD!

Okay, sorry about that first part. I am just having a really rough day today. But it will all clear up, hopefully! Onto something else.

Apparently Erik Holtan thinks that I am scary, fightening and that I might beat him up. Where the h-e-double hockey sticks did he come up with this idea? I told him that I would send Michelle out in the sandbox to hunt him down and make him realize that I am not scary, but I think that that just scared him more. Hmm, what to do about this situation? (Sidenote-I know he is joking but i just thought that I would pick on him publically now)! So Erik, watch out, look around every corner, not for terrorists but for my sister. I will have her on the the look out for you and your posse of spoiled brats won't be able to save you! Everyone visit his site and tell him what a wonderful person I am!

Okay, do you think that that won't make him scared of me anymore? I was seriously joking about all that above. It was just in fun. Erik is a great person. I enjoy his blog and he wacky view on life. And after this little promotion he better be nice to me!

Anyways, I am going to go now. I am physically and emotionally drained from lack of sleep. Sorry for making you all endure this post but, hey, if you didn't want to read it you would have exited my site by now. Talk to you all soon!

Good Cause

2005-08-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

I don't post stuff like this very often but I think because it is helping to support our troops then I should post it. There is a project called Project Valour-IT, which stand for Voice Activated Laptops for OUR Injured Troops. You can read more about it by clicking the link. Project Valour-IT

"provides voice-controlled software and laptop computers to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand and arm injuries or amputations at major military medical centers. Operating laptops by speaking into a microphone, our wounded heroes are able to send and receive messages from friends and loved ones, surf the 'Net, and communicate with buddies still in the field without having to press a key or move a mouse"

One of my favorite bloggers, Chuck Ziegenfuss, better known as From My Position...On The Way is one of the many inspirations behind this project. He was injured in Iraq by an IED and was unable to type due to the extent of his injuries. But with a little help from Voice-Controlled Software he has been able to keep us all updated on his condition through his blogsite. It is just a wonderful thing that the people behind Project Valour-It are doing.

I just encourage everyone, whether you support this war or not, to at least take some time to look at this site and consider donating to a good cause. This is not about supporting the war. This is about supporting injured troops. Making it so that injured soldier's can send and recieve email from friends and loved one. Can type letters to their supporters to let them know how they are doing. To continue to blog so that the people who read their blogsites daily can be updated on their condition. This is about showing support for our troops. Not about if you think we should be in Iraq or not. People who don't support the war still think that we should be helping and supporting our troops. Well this is one way to do so. Whether you donate or not, just at least check it out. And if you have a blogsite,link to it and let other people know about it.
You can go to Argghhh!'s site to find out more about it. Just click the link! I saw it over at Mustang 23's site as well!

For those of you who don't know, on April 22nd 2005, my sister was in a convoy and they ran over two IED's killing my sister's best friend, and brother in arms, Gavin J. Colburn. (Click on the name to read more about it). Michelle was not seriously injured, but had she been, if she would have been injured to the point where she couldn't type emails to family and friends, I know that I would have found a way to get her a voice activated laptop so that she would have been able to keep in contact with everyone who could not have been able to come and visit her. I thank God everyday that she wasn't injured to that point. I am thankful that she survived and will be home soon. But I just ask that you at least check out this site and prayerfully consider donating to it if possible. If you are unable to donate, at least spread the word around!

That is all I am going to say about this. The rest is up to you. Check out the site, decide what you are going to do. The only other thing I am going to say is something that i was told senior year in high school by my goverment teacher....

"It is your life, make the most of it."

Birthday's, babies, and dark chocolate m&m's

2005-08-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

Yep, it's monday and I know i haven't posted in a while. Been very busy the past couple of days. But it has been fun.

We had Saije's 5th birthday party Sunday. Which was great because i got to hold the cutest set of twins ever. They are only two weeks old. Here is the birthday boy holding them!

Here is me holding Tierra, she is the smallest of the two. She weighs about 4 lbs.

Here is her sister Sierra, she is the biggest and weighs about 6 lbs.

They belong to this girl, Leslie. I tried to steal Tierra but Leslie would have none of that.

So I spent yesterday hanging out with my husband's family. It was fun. There were a lot of people at the birthday party. It was a little to crowded for me but it was still fun.

I got the best surprise on Saturday! I was getting ready to leave for work and I decided that I would stop and check the mail. We hadn't checked it in a couple of days so I figured that it would be stuffed full of crappy junk mail, which is what we usually get. However when i opened the mailbox I found this....

What was inside it you ask? Well this is what was inside of it...

And this is where their temporary home is because my husband and I will probably end up eating all of the Dark Chocolate M&M's within a week or two.

If you are wondering who they are from, they are from the wonderful FCC@V. She is Mustang 23's girlfriend, and quite possibly the most wonderful person I know. She definetly moved up on my list of favorite people after I recived that box on Saturday. I really actually didn't expect her to send them. However I got a letter from her on Thursday saying to keep an eye on the mail because she had sent a box my way. I was very plesantly surprised to get that in the mail Saturday. It didn't take very long for it it get to me at all.

So I just want to say thank you to FCC@V for being so kind and thoughtful and sending those Dark Chocolate M&M's my way my husband was getting kind of annoying with they 500 questions about why we couldn't just keep the ones that she sent to me to send to my sister.

I went to church again this Sunday and enjoyed it. I am going to be helping with an A.W.A.N.A.S class on Wednesday nights starting in September. I am not sure which grade level I will be teaching. Then I will be teaching the 3rd and 4th grade Sunday School class starting the first week of September. So yeah, you guys might not hear much from me on Wednesdays and Sundays starting in September. I will be one busy bee. Considering it is a 45 minute drive to my church i won't really have much time to blog on those two days. I don't blog much on Sunday because i go to church in the morning and then leave church, go to my parents house (they live 5 minutes from the church), change close, and go to work (which is 10 minutes from my parents house). So that is why I usually don't post on Sunday's. But I am really excited about getting back to teaching a Sunday School class. Two years ago I was teaching the 3 and 4 year old's. So while this will be a new age group for me, it will still be fun and I am definetly benefitting from getting back into going to church on Sunday's. I have missed it soooo much. I feel a lot better since I have started going back to church. My whole mood and attitude towards everything has changed. I don't really know why I stopped going in the first place. But I am glad to be getting back to it. I actually got up at 5 a.m. this sunday and therefore, made it to Sunday School! That was a big surprise to my mom who had no idea that i was even planning on coming to church this Sunday. Anyways, everyone there is glad to have me back. I have been going to that church since i was born. It is nice to be back. They are like my extended family.

Also my husband got a new hard drive for the computer. So now i do not have to wear the batteries out on my camera by trying to download pictures. All I have to do is take the memory card out, plug it into the hard drive and i am finished. I LOVE THIS THING!

So that was my weekend in a nutshell. I hope i didn't bore you to death. I must be going now. Today is the only full day that me and the hubby have off together without having to be anywhere. We had the day off together yesterday (actually I called in) but we had the birthday party to go to. So today it is just me and him. He was supposed to take his sister to the doctors but his dad decided that he would take her. So me and the hubby went and go some Greek food. It was yummy. I love homemade hummus. So yeah, it has been a nice day so far. I will write more tomorrow! Have a wonderful day everyone!

~April~

Just to add- here is a picture of me that my husband took this morning (he was being annoying)

and here is a picture of me bloggin away (I figured out how to use the timer on the camera, I am so proud of myself)!
Okay I really got to go. I got laundry to finish and house to clean! Talk to you all later! Oh and don't ask why the time stamp on the photos says the 17th. My camera is dumb!

hello

2005-08-14T05:07:00.000-07:00

alright so finally the computers in iraq are up and working for once. so i thought that i would take this chance to say something on here. not to much is going on here we are finally starting the whole packing eventhough we were told not to do it yet because its 2 months early. but i said why wait because if we do it when they want us to start packing then we will be hauling ass to get all the stuff packed that we need packed and then our living areas will be a mess when we leave... because personally i will leave all the stuff that i dont want just laying on the floor for someone else to have. Anyways i am just so excited that my year here i almost done. i cant wait to go home and see all my family...and beat april at racing games on the playstation (yeah thats right you are going to loose i have been practicing over here with those racing games). anyways not much else is going on over here. just wanted to give an update and find out what april and my mom are doing that they cant tell me about....so april come on i will not tell mom that you told me i will blame it on someone else that knows. write more later

My babies

2005-08-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

okay, you guys have seen the rest of my family, now it is time to post pictures of my children. No, me and my husband have not had any babies, but my children are fish! Yes, i consider my fish to be my babies.

We started off with one fish whose name is Magnum, he is a betta.

Then we (actually I) got 4 more siblings for him to play with. I haven't named any of them yet! I got a...

Rasbora

Platy

and two neon tetras (these are my twins)

Yesterday, I went and got three more siblings for magnum to play with. Here they are, the newest addition to my family, the triplets..

they are Cory Catfish. I think I am going to name on of the Cory, one Kat and the other one Corky. Those names are not finalized yet. I am still working on names for the other fish. If you have any suggestions just let me know!

Sorry about the terrible quality of some of the pics. It is hard to get a fish to stay still long enough for me to take their picture.

So there you go. Now you have pretty much seen all of my family. Including my babies. Me and my husband have no actually children as of yet. We have only been married a little over a year, and plus Michelle threatened me by saying that I couldn't have any children until she got back from Iraq. That seems to be working to, because not being on birth control for a year and not having any children yet...well that is pretty lucky. So apparently having a sibling over in Iraq is the best form of birth control.

Well that is all for today I got to get ready to go to work! See you all later!

People are stupid....as proven here.....

2005-08-12T22:25:00.000-07:00

The title of this post does not mean that my sister and I prove that people are stupid because we are....no we prove that people are stupid by linking to articles that show the stupidity of people. Make sense...well let me explain...

I went to go sign into my email, I found this interesting little story on the MSN homepage. Click here to read full story!

Apparently some guy thought that he could get away with having not one...not two...but THREE, yes THREE wives. That was until he had bypass surgery and they all ended up visiting him at the same time. Now he has to pay $126 fine. I have a feeling that after all is said and done it is going to cost him a lot more than 126 dollars. I have a feeling he is going to be shelling out a lot of money to pay for 3 divorces! I know that I wouldn't stick around with him if I was one of his three wives!

Also, some one answer this question for me. He married his first wife in 1966, his second in 1998 and his third in 2003. How in the hell did he keep all these women seperated for that long. And how the hell did he get away with this? I mean, hello, even if he had a job where he had to travel alot, wouldn't you kind of become suspicious if, let's say your his first wife, you are married to him for 32 years or so and he doesn't do a lot of traveling until one day his is gone for like weeks a time, then 5 years later he is gone for longer periods of time? I mean, come on are women really that oblivious to how things around them are? I mean I think I would notice if my husband was all of a sudden gone for weeks and weeks at a time. He must have had to work a hell of a lot to support three wives and three houses and three EVERYTHING! Jesus, this guy is a complete idiot. And frankly the people he married couldn't have been any smarter! I mean geez I would have started getting suspicious if my husband starting spending a lot of time away from the house. I really want to have a sit down chat with these women and ask them how the hell they didn't notice that their husband was married to two other people.

Then to make this article better... the guy MOVED BACK IN WITH HIS FIRST WIFE!! WTF, I would be kicking his ass out on the street. I am sorry but if i found out that my husband not only cheated on me once, but twice, AND MARRIED THEM BOTH!! Boy would I be pissed.

SO what do you think about this? I think that guy should have gotten fined a lot more than $126! Although I have a feeling he is going to be paying for a long, long, long, long, time! Eventhough his marriages aren't valid!

New title!

2005-08-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

So I got an email from Mustang 23 this afternoon. Apparently the army isn't giving him enough to do in Iraq because he made a new title graphic for me. Since I am only partially computer literate i guess it kind of worked out for me. My other title graphic was very boring. Anyways, I loved it so i decided to actually use it. So tell me what you think!?!?!?! Looks nice doesn't it? Okay well I am off to my mom's house to work on the surprise thing that michelle is dying to know about but i will not tell her until much later! MUCH LATER! So I will update when I get home. Lots going on! I am just not having a good week. But i will update later! Take care everyone and go over to Mustang's site and tell him how much you like the new graphic he made for me. If you don't like it then pooh on you and don't go say anything to Mustang. He is nice and well, he is almost like the big brother that i never had. Bet you didn't know that did you Mustang? So I will update later I am running late my mom is going to kill me! Gotta go!

Self Portrait Friday!

2005-08-12T10:26:00.000-07:00

What do I do when i want to relax? I go camping!

That's right! I love to camp and don't get to go too often but when I just want to get away from it all me and the hubby pack up the tent and go camping. It is just nice to get away from everyone and everything sometimes. No phone, no work, no nothing! LOVE IT!

Happy Self Portrait Friday to you all! Go over to Katy's site and check out all the other people who played this week. (When she gets the links up!) Some that I have seen so far are rather interesting to say the least! ENJOY!

Not much to say...

2005-08-10T10:42:00.000-07:00

well there isn't much for me to say today. I have had a rather uneventful day. I came home from work last night and my loving adoring husband, had traded in a bunch of video games and cd's that he didn't want and bought me a new game for my gameboy advance. It is called WarioWare Twisted. It is fun as all get out. You don't use the keys that much to play the game. You mostly turn the gameboy. It is freaking fun. Michelle will have to try it when she gets home. By the way Michelle, did you get a new gameboy yet? I was just wondering. So yeah, my husband is nice because occasionally he does these kind of things for me. He isn't just nice because he does stuff for me...well, okay that is mostly it! Anyways, two more days of work and then i have Friday off. I am going to look for another job on Friday morning before i go to my mom's house to work on that thing that michelle is dying to know about but i won't even acknowlege that i even read anything about her trying to ask me what is going on. Did that make any sense? Probably not, but my goal is to confuse michelle and make her stop asking me about it. I shouldn't have even said anything.

So yeah, I am going to go to AccuSource friday. It is a temp agency. I was going to go apply at Wal-Mart and get paid like 1 dollar more an hour and work closer to home (that would mean that i would be making $10 per hour) but my husband reprimanded me on that one. He said that i should go to a temp agency and take the tests and everything and have them find me a job with like data entry or something like that since i can type like 40-60 words per minute. I am not sure how many words per minute I can type but i know it is somewhere between 40 and 60. So yeah, he said it would be dumb for me to continue in retail when i can type fast, am semi-computer literate, and I hate retail. I agreed with him and decided that maybe it would be best if I tried to get a job in data entry or a secretarial postion. So yeah, hopefully things work out there. That way I can quite my freaking job and actually make some good money. Or at least more than I am making now.

I have always wanted to have an office job believe it or not. I love to just sit in front of the computer and type all day. Granted what i do now is fun and not work related. I understand that i can't be on the internet all day at a secretarial job. I understand that i can't talk on instant messaging and stuff like that. However, i used to be a high school office aide and used to do a whole bunch of typing and stuff for them. And I loved it. So I am just ready to get out of retail. I am tired of dealing with ungrateful customers all day. Some people can just be so rude at times and it drives me nuts. My tolerance for people has gone down considerable since I have started working in retail. I worked at a pizza place for 5 years and I have worked at my current job for almost two years (it will be two years on September 17). So yeah, I am just ready to get out of there. Can't stand it anymore. While I like most of the people I work with. I hate most of the people that come into that place. You try to help them out as much as you can, and they are so ungrateful for it. If they don't get exactly what they want, when they want it, then they start jumping down your throat. And half the time it is stuff beyond your control. GRRR! Okay, rant over.

So yeah, anyways, i am going friday to try to get a new job. Helping mom with Operation Drive Michelle Nuts Trying to Figure Stuff Out. Then I have to work Saturday and probably Sunday. I have to be at work at 7 a.m. tomorrow. Which means I have to get up at like 5 in order to leave the house by 6:15. So yeah, there will be no posting from me until after I get out of work at 3. So probably around 4 or so I will post something. Okay, well I got to get going. I am going to run over to my hubby's work and see if he is taking lunch today. And see if he wants to take that lunch with me. I will talk to you all tomorrow.

Sorry no picture post today. Maybe tomorrow! Have a nice day everyone.

Oh yeah, go to The National Guard Experiance and find out what is going on. I am highly dissapointed. Although I am sure that Mustang 23 is grateful that he won't have to worry about Beef Jerky Wars anymore!

See you all tommorrow evening!

Rambling

2005-08-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

Well I went back to work yesterday, after having the weekend off and surprisingly it went smoothly. I actually enjoyed being there. Big improvment from normal. However, i am not looking forward to the next three days.

Friday I am going over to my mom's house to work on a secret project. I can't discuss it here because someone reads this post and therefore it will ruin everything. But it should be rather enjoyable. I will let you all know about it as soon as someone else knows. Yes, Michelle, I am talking about you.

Mom was supposed to mail out Michelle's package today. So those Dark Chocolate M&M's should be arriving shortly Michelle!

I got a letter in the mail from Michelle yesterday. She was obviously bored when she wrote it. It really had no reasoning behind it. It was just a bunch of rambling, kind of like this blog. But it was nice to get a letter from her. Although now she has figured out my address so I have a feeling that i am going to have to start checking my mailbox before i open it to make sure that there is no ticking noise coming from it before i open it! Just kidding. She would be more likely to ship me a camel spider. If she can catch the one that chases her to work everyday. But i doubt she will because she seems to be pretty scared of them herself. So i guess i have nothing to worry about. Except for the birthday present that she said she mailed me. That she also said I shouldn't open in front of other people. It is probably Anthrax. Once again, just kidding. I don't want a whole bunch of people on my ass for that comment.

Due to the lack of comments on yesterdays post I am assuming one of two things...
1.) Nobody read it or...
2.) You all agree that I was like the ugliest baby ever and couldn't think of anything else to post. So in order to keep my feelings from getting hurt, you just didn't comment.

I will agree with anyone who falls under the number two category. I was a big, fat, ugly baby. However you can not deny the fact that I was the cutest toddler EVER! Point proven by this picture! Oh yes, you cannot deny the cuteness that is me as a toddler! I was freakin' adorable!

So anyways, that is about all that is going on for now. I must get ready to go to work. Hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!

Happy Monday!

2005-08-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday to everyone! I had the weekend off. It was rather enjoyable. Went to my niece's 4th birthday party on Saturday. On Sunday I went to church with my mom. It was nice to be back at my old church. I missed that place so much. It is a 45 minute drive to that church, but it is worth it because all those people are like my extended family. I think i am going to start driving the 45 minutes every Sunday to go to church there. I just really need to start going back to church. Everyone was so nice. They asked me how i had been doing (I haven't been there in probably 6 months or so) and they asked me how my search for a church was going. Everyone was just really concerned about me and my husband and how we are doing. It was just nice to be back in such a pleasent church enviroment. I think i am going to see if i can get wednesdays off at my job so that i can start helping with the A.W.A.N.A's program again. I miss working with the kids. For those of you who don't know what A.W.A.N.A's is, it is like Vacation Bible School. Only, instead of being in the summer it is durning the school year. It is really awesome.

Yesterday, my husband had to work from 5 until 9. So I took that opprotunity to clean the bedroom and rearrange everything in there. He was rather surprised when he came home. We have lived in this place since March and we still haven't got everything unpacked. So while I was rearranging the bedroom yesterday, I decided to go through the box from the old bedroom and put some of the stuff up in our new bedroom. I found a box of old pictures in that box and i picked out a couple to share with you guys today. That will come at the end of this post. It was heck trying to move the dresser by myself because it weighs a ton. But being the super strong female I am, i got it moved all by myself. Although I think I might have screwed up my back by doing so. It is a little sore this morning. I am only 22 and I act like I am about 80. It will be amazing to see how I am in about 25 years or so. By that time I will really be falling apart. So, i got everything moved and situated (well as much as i could in the few hours that I had to do it). I just amazes me how much junk two people collect. So this week the hubby and I are going to spend some time going through boxes and getting rid of stuff that we don't need. If it hasn't been used since March it is out of here. Garage Sale anyone?

So yeah, i had a wonderful weekend. To bad it is over. I got up at 9:00 this morning. Put two posts up on my blogsite and then went and made pancakes for my husband for breakfast. I was just in the cooking mood this morning. Hubby got up at 10. Which is really unusual for him. He is usually up by like 7. It is unusual for me to sleep past 8 but the last week or so I haven't been feeling like myself, and i have been sleeping in later. Hopefully I am not getting sick. I can't afford to miss any work right now. So maybe it is just temporary. Maybe by next week I will be back to my old self.

Anyways, when i was going through the bedroom box yesterday I found a couple of pictures that I thought I would share with you all today. One of them I can't believe I am posting but, what the hey, and the other one is just way to freaking cute not to post. You decide which one falls under which category.

Anyways, the first one i found was of my niece when she was of my niece when she was like a year old. This picture is my favorite of her when she was a baby. I wish she could have stayed this little.

The next one if of me when i was about a year old. Holy cow, i was a fat baby. I had two chins and my mom said that she couldn't find diapers that fit me so she had to use tape to make extentions to the tabs. And remember I was 7 weeks early!
So there you guys go. You decide which one falls under which category. Choose wisely! Anyways, i got to get ready to go to work. I will see you all tomorrow! Enjoy your monday!

Prayer for A Military Mom

2005-08-08T09:37:00.000-07:00

Okay,
I ask all of you to pray for A Military Mom. She is having her wisdom teeth pulled today. Go over to her site and leave her some encouraging messages. She really needs them as well!

Prayer for Chuck!

2005-08-08T09:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday to you all. Hope you all enjoyed your weekend. Mine was lovely. I will get into that more later. For right now i want to ask you to go over to Chuck's site and leave a little encouraging message for him and his wife. Today chuck is having skin grafted onto his eardrum so that he will be able to hear. Carren (Chuck's wife) is having back problems today. So pray that all goes well with both of them. Pray that Chuck comes out of surgery able to hear and that Carren's back get to feeling better. Just stop by and leave them an encouraging message!

Read the full story here!

I will post more later. I just wanted to leave that with you all for now! Have a wonderful Monday!

My Nieces birthday Part II

2005-08-07T00:45:00.000-07:00

Okay,
So i just got back from my niece's 4th birthday party. It was very short but it was fun. My niece is such a cutie. Anyways, I got on the computer to download the pictures and got online while waiting for the pictures to download and michelle had put up a post. She threatened me to get these pictures up a.s.a.p so I decided to do this now. So here is Alexis' birthday party in pictures.

First off I had to make sure that Alexis' presents were properly packaged. Seeing as how I am posting this on my blogsite for Michelle to look at anytime she wants, i decided that I needed to make sure that I got a real good present bag. Knowing how much Mustang 23 loves Strawberry Short cake, and seeing as how he might see this post, i just had to put Alexis' present in this...

Here are a couple of pictures of my parents before we left. My mom hates having her picture taken and my dad had to somehow get a Harley photo in there....

When asked who's birthday it was, Alexis just pointed and said, "It's mine!" By the way, her shirt says, "my fingers might be small but i can still wrap my grandpa around them"

Here is a picture of my older sister Amber...better one of her will come later!
Apparently Alexis new that i was taking these pictures for my blogsite and knew how much Mustang 23 loves Strawberry Shortcake. Her swimsuit says it all. Apparently I didn't need the bag!

Here are pictures of all the kids swimming. The weather wasn't bad where my parents live. Thank God!

Here is the present table and the party set up!

The Disney Princess' cake and dinnerware!

Okay, I am going to have to have a part III to this post because there are too many pics. It will be under this one. So keep you eye out for it.

Here you go Michelle!! It's DONE!!! Well, half done! Michelle was nagging me about this on IM while i was trying to work on it. So now it is half done and she can just calm down. More to come later! ENJOY!

Now look below for My Niece's birthday Part III!

My nieces birthday part III

2005-08-07T00:44:00.000-07:00

After much frusteration with trying to download all these pics (I hope you all appreciate them) here is the final post on my niece's birthday. I also appologize to those people who have slow computers. But this is mostly for Michelle, so i tried to get as many pics as i could. The rest of you can just cry about it later! Just Joking! I don't want any nasty emails. I am probably already going to get one from Mustang 23 for the Strawberry Shortcake references!

Cake Time! The girl in the purple's name is Emily. They just love eachother to death. They hung around eachother the whole time. When I got to the party Alexis saw me and was like "Hey emmy, my Auntie April is here." To which Emily replied, "who is April?" To which Alexis said, "She's my mommy's sister." I want from Auntie April to Amber's sister in like 10 seconds!

Present Time!
Here is her opening my present. I kept having to tell her to hold the stuff up and to move it out of the way of her face so i could take a picture! Emily wanted to play with the dolls. She grabbed them as soon as i snapped the picture! Nothing like Disney Princess AND Strawberry Shortcake!

More Presents!

Alexis and Me

Amber and Me (she looks a lot further along then a little under 10 weeks!)

All the kids! Minues Gabe who kept running away from the cameras!

My mom (with the short hair) and Amber's mother-in-law Cindy (with the long red hair)!

Alexis trying to act cool! I vote for just being goofy!

The final present was a brand new princess tricycle. It came complete with the Disney Princess' bike helmet and elbow/knee pads which she wouldn't wear!

So that is Alexis' 4th birthday party in pictures. Hope you enjoyed all of it. Probably the last time i do a picture post this big until November when I take a bunch of pictures of when Michelle comes home from Iraq! Or as Alexis would say Iraqa!

ok update

2005-08-07T00:43:00.000-07:00

ok sorry i havent said anything on this site very much but i am just really busy. we are so much closer to coming home that i cant contain myself.
april i bought your birthday present today...hah ha ha .... i will never tell you want it is.
anyways just thought that i would really let my sister know that i am still alive and doing well just back to not sleeping again. might have to go back and get some meds for this isomnia and them maybe i will be able to sleep. these nightmares are keeping me awake durning the daytime now which just totally sucks, i am not sure what to do anymore so i am starting to talk to some really nice people from one of the new units over here and they seem to be helping me our better than some of the people in my company... being the fact that some of the people in my company have never seen combat since we have been here and are not sure how to deal with me.. while the people from the new company this is their second time here.
anyways just thought that i would give somewhat of an update.

to my family- love you and miss you see you all soon.
april- enjoy your birthday present when it comes in the mail, and i will try to call you sometime this week. oh yeah i better see pics of alexis on here in the next couple of days because i miss that little turd. you know when see says stuff like..."AUNTIE SHELL IS IN IRAQA AND IS KEEPING THE BAD PEOPLE FROM COMING OVER HERE AND HURTING US" i almost cry everytime someone tells me that she says that.

hugs and kisses miss you and love you all
michelle

My niece's birthday Part I

2005-08-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

Okay so today is my niece's birthday party. I wake up to find that it is raining outside! Hopefully this does not put a damper on the day. My niece has been looking forward to her birthday party everysince she recieved a birthday present from Michelle in the mail a couple of weeks ago. That has been the topic of conversation for the last two weeks. She tells everyone that she is having a Disney Princess birthday party and that she got a present from Auntie Shell. If you ask her where Auntie Shell is at she will look at you and say "My Auntie Shell is in Iraqa fighting the bad guys. She has to fight them over there so that the bad guys do not come over here and get us. She has to keep us safe." It is so cute and yet so heartbreaking. And yes she does call it Iraqa. I have no idea why but that is how she pronounces it.

So since today is my nieces b-day here I have decided to leave you with this:

This is a picture of Alexis, taken last year, when she decided she was going to climb up on the back of my couch and pretend that she was a cat. She is so silly!

This is what i got my niece for her birthday. I hope she likes them!

And here are some pictures of her card. Which I am sure she will love!
1.) Because it is Cinderella!

2.) Because there is a way cool ball room on the inside!3.) There are paper dolls on the back that she can punch out and dress up and play with them on the ball room!

Don't you just love cards that double as gifts?!?!?!?!?! I know I do!

well i got to get moving. It is almost 10! I got to go get something to put my niece's gifts in. Get a shower. And get moving. I will have more pics later! Lucky you!

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY ALEXIS CHEYENNE COLLINS!

Three posts in one day

2005-08-05T12:47:00.000-07:00

wow, three posts from me in one day. Aren't you guys lucky? Anyways, i just wanted to let you all know that today is my last day at work for the next two days!! That's right I have saturday and sunday off. AMAZING!! Anyways, I will try to post something saturday morning before i leave to go to my niece's b-day party. She turns 4 on the 10th but we are having her b-day party tomorrow. I am taking the camera with me so expect photos from the party to be up either Saturday night or sunday afternoon. Sunday my plans are to either go paintballing with my friend David or go to church with my mom (if paintballing is cancelled). So yeah, get ready for more pics.

On another note, i haven't heard anything from michelle in a few days. I hope everything is going well. She hasn't posted on here yet this week. So pray that everything is okay with her. Mom says that she hasn't heard anything either. Maybe she will call tomorrow seeing as how she usually calls on people's birthdays.

I will let you know what happens. I got to get going to work. I am going to be late...again. was 15 minutes late yesterday because of interstate traffic. I am surprised they haven't fired me yet. I wish they would!!!! See you all tomorrow! Or if you are lucky maybe you will get another post tonight after work!

another post for friday

2005-08-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

wow i have realized that i have been posting everyday this week. that is amazing for me. I think it is because i have a lot more to talk about now. Or just because i have finally figured out that it doesn't matter if people read my blog or not, all that matters is that i am blogging what is important to me. I mostly do this because it is kind of my way to vent sometimes.

Anyways, while looking for a picture for Self Portrait Friday, I came across a photo from my wedding with all three sisters together. If some of you are wondering what all three girls look like, here you go...

This is a picture of (from left to right) me, my older sister Amber and my younger sister Michelle, who was my maid of honor. I am still amazed at how much of a girl Michelle looks like when she is not in her Army uniform. This was obvisouly taken at my wedding on May 15th 2004. It is my favorite picture of me and my sisters together. I think it is the only one i have of all three of us together. I need to get more! But this is my favorite for now!

Sorry about the poor quality on this one. But it is another one of those that i had to take a picture of the picture because it isn't in my computer! When my scanner gets hooked up i will scan them all into the computer. And then you all can enjoy pictures from my wedding and everything else! Aren't you lucky?

Self Portrait Friday

2005-08-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

Okay i know that i have posted a lot of self portraits but A Military Mom has convinced me to play Self Portrait friday with her and all her friends. So, until the scanner gets hooked up I don't know how long I will be able to play but for now the theme for this Friday is doable.

Okay the first one is of my husband and i at our reception on May 15 2004. I guess you could count this at eating. I told him not to shove the cake in my face since his friend Marisa had spent an hour doing my make up. But with a little egging on from my lovely sisters (who later i beat up, Just Joking) he went ahead and did it anyways!

The next one's are of when me and my husband took a trip on the week of 9-15th for our one year anniversary, to Pennsylvania. We stopped at the Carnegie Science Museum. My husband tends to take pics of me eating all the time. It drives me nuts.

<-----This is of me eating a pretzle at the museum

<----This is me realizing he took a picture of me eating again!

<-----This is me just laughing about it.

So there you go. I think i did a good job for my first Self Portrait Friday! What do you think? The first picture i didn't have on my computer so i had to take a picture of the picture with my digital camera and upload it to my computer. A lot of work but i think it turned out okay. More pictures to come soon. I am loving this whole being able to post pictures!

Also make sure you go check out everyone else's photos for Self Portrait Friday. Just following the link from A Military Mom's site!

Pics post #2

2005-08-04T09:05:00.000-07:00

So yesterday i figured out that they only way you can successfully post pics and text is by typing your text in first and then adding pics. For some reason if i tried to add text after i put the pictures in it would only save what i did before i added the pictures. Sucky computer. So here is another attempt at posting pictures. I have a lot for today.

First here is a picture with me and Tish's dog (my husbands friend) this dog is the most adorable thing EVER and i want one! This is currently what i look like (only now my hair is shorter)

Here is a picture with me and my niece last year

and another pic of my niece up to no good

Here is a pic of me and my husband on our honeymoon. We went to Tennessee and climbed Clingman's Dome, will never do that again.

Here is another pic of me and my husband on our honeymoon at a Cincinnati Reds Game.

Here is a pic of my husband's nephew Saije. He will be 5 next week. This is him at his 4th birthday party.

Here is another pic of me and Saije at my husbands family reunion

Here is a pic of my older sister Amber and my younger sister Michelle at my wedding. Amber is in front, Michelle is in the back (doesn't she look completely different out of BDU's). The girl to the left is Marisa (Dev's friend) she was one of my bridesmaids, her daughter was my flower girl. I was honored to have Michelle as my maid of honor at my wedding. We have shared so much, it was only appropriate to have her as my maid of honor on my big day. This was shortly after she got back from A.I.T and shortly before she got deployed!

This is her daughter Curran. Isn't she adorable?!?!?!?! I would have had my niece as my flower girl but she was only two at the time and just didn't understand that whole concept of walking down the ailse. She would have much rather ran and show off in front of everyone. She probably would have done the guns or the Cledus (only michelle and my mom will get that)!

Man i have been through a lot of hairstyles in the last year! I never noticed that. Now i just have to find a good pic of my mom. I don't have very many pictures of her. I have some that aren't on my computer and once i get my scanner hooked up i will post them. Now i have to get a shower and get ready to meet my husband for lunch. Then it is another fun night of work. i get to work by myself (running a whole department mind you) for 8 hours! YEAH! (how's that for sarcasm?) See you all tomorrow!

Pics of family

2005-08-03T00:06:00.000-07:00

I have decided to post some pics of my family. I don't have much time today. I am getting ready to leave for work. So i will leave you with a pic of my dad walking me down the aisle on May 15 2004. Followed by a couple of pics of Michelle smiling out in the field. I love to see her smile. These are my favorite pics!

Today was wonderful

2005-08-02T18:03:00.000-07:00

today was a most wonderful day. i drove 45 minutes to spend the day with my mom. She wanted to go to subway for lunch so i decided that since i had some birthday shopping to do for my niece that i would go and visit with her and take her to lunch. I enjoy our mother/daughter times together. I miss living closer to home. Although my husband would say that i waste a lot of gas drving to my mom's house at least once a week. He says that I waste gas because i go and visit my mom when i don't have work. See i work close to my parents and yes it would make sense to leave early for work and go visit my mom, but sometimes it is just nice not to feel rushed.

So today, i left at 10 to go get my mom, arrived at her house at about 10:45. Then we went to Kohl's, Subway, Wal-Mart, and then to Kroger's. I found my nieces birthday present. She is into Princesses now, so i got her a Cinderella doll set. It is a little plastic Cinderella doll and she has snap-on outfits and shoes. It is cute. Plus i got her a Disney Princess' notebook since she loves to draw and a Sleeping Beauty birthday card. I can't wait for her party on the 7th. Actually, i can wait because i don't want her to grow up anymore. She is at the fun age and i just want her to stay that way. She is getting so big. I cried more than her mom when she started pre-school. I feared that she would make all these friends and start calling the up and hang out with them instead of wanting to hang out with Auntie April. Sadness.

So yeah, it was nice spending the day with my mom. We went to Kroger because they had a whole bunch of stuff on sale for 10 for $10. We spent $148.00 on stuff to send to Michelle. Get ready for a couple of big packages Michelle. We bought snack foods, pudding, jello (that doesn't need to be refridgerated), cookies, candy, chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate, Little Debbie snackies, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, handi wipes (anti-bacterial of course, I know that if we sent those to Mustang 23 he would truely appreciate it...Captain Handwash!), and more food then Michelle will know what to do with. But michelle is good at sharing so it will all get eaten.

I took the box of Dark Chocolate M&M's that FCC@V had sent over to my mom's house to include in the next box that she is sending. FCC@V had said something in a comment on my blogpage about telling me that i didn't owe her anything but i seriously didn't remember ever having that conversation with her. Well apparently she had stuck a little blue note in the box for me (along with a card for Michelle) in the box. Well it had apparently stuck to the side of the box when i had opened it at home to make sure that everything in there was okay. So when i got to my parents house and showed my mom what all she sent, this little blue piece of paper falls out. I was like "what is this?" Now this is how nice FCC@V is... the blue paper had the following note on it..

Here are the candies as promised. Hope that Michelle enjoys them.
And don't worry about expenses-Michelle has already paid the debt in full. Infact, all of us are in her debt.
Not much longer until she and Mustang 23get to come home!!
All the best,
FCC@V

Now, that is something. This woman is just simply amazing. This letter for some reason brought tears to my eyes. I mean, she just has such a compassionate heart. I can see why Mustang 23 is with her. He better be dang lucky that he is with this girl. I am still sending her something in the mail and there is nothing she can do about it! HAHAHA!

Anyways, today was a wonderful day off! Yes, you read that right! I DIDN'T HAVE TO WORK AT MY CRAPPY JOB!! But i don't get another day off until Saturday and Sunday! Then after that i will have another day off next week. After that who knows!

Once again, thank you FCC@V for your generousity. It is appreciated by me, my family, and most importantly Michelle. She is dying for those chocolates. However, the M&M deliver has caused pandamonium at my house. My husband is now like "where did you get those? Are they for me? Why can't i eat them? Can you get me some?" BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH! He is going to be highly dissapointed when he comes home and the M&M's aren't in the house. I may have to have FCC@V send some more for him. Just so he will quite whining about them. Hence the reason we still don't have any children. He is to much like a child. I don't think i could raise a 27 and a newborn all at once! She will get paid for sending those M&M's though because they aren't for a good cause. Well, they are to give me some peace and quiet but still, it isn't like my husband is in a war zone. Although he might be if he doesn't stop the whining!! Just kidding!

Well, i got to go! I will update more later!

Take care and God bless,
April M. Shah
~Philemon 6~

Okay another thing to add

2005-08-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

I want to take the time now to properly thank FCC@V, mustang 23's girlfriend. This woman is amazing. I was trying to find Dark Chocolate M&M's to send to michelle. I couldn't find them anywhere. Anytime i would go out i would look at every store, gas station and CVS that i came across to see if i could find these things. But no luck. Then I read a post by Mustang 23 and i saw that he had got Dark Chocolate M&M's in a care package. I immediatly started trying to find out who sent them and where they got it from. FCC@V emailed me one day and said "hey if I can find them I will send them to you!" That was amazing in itself. But one day i get a message saying that she had picked some up and needed to know where to send them to. Well, since me and my mom were getting ready to put together another care package for my sister, i had her send them to me. AND SHE DID! I actually was a work on Saturday when they arrived. So i got a note in my mailbox saying that a package had arrived for me and they are holding it in the apartment office. Well, i didn't get a chance to pick them up Sunday because i had to be at work and the office closes at noon. So i am on my way out the door to pick them up now.

I just want to thank FCC@V for doing that for me. I just need to know how much i owe you for postage and for the M&M's. Mustang 23 if very lucky to have a woman like her. She is just freakin' awesome. So yeah, i wanted to thank her for doing that.

The only bad thing is. My mom thinks that the package cut off date is past. so i might just have to save them for her until she gets home. And don't worry i will save them for her. They are her's and they were sent specifically for her by a very awesome woman. So i will make sure that they are here for her when she returns home, if we are past the package cutoff date. I don't think we are. I think it is the end of August for packages and September 10th for letters.

Thank you FCC@V for doing that for me. You are a very thoughtful and amazing lady. Your support for our troops is awesome. Even for troops that you don't know. I am just amazed by you. Mustang 23 is very lucky to have found someone like you.

Crappy day and it has just begun

2005-08-01T10:23:00.000-07:00

okay,
i got a really crappy nights sleep last night. If you read my previous post you will understand why. I missed my sister, Michelle's, call to my home not once but twice. What kind of a crappy sister am i that i can not wake up to answer the phone. I just feel terrible about it. You see Michelle very rarely calls my house. She usually either calls mom first or her boyfriend Tony. So anytime she actually calls me that is really awesome and just a really special thing. So i am totally pissed at myself that i missed her call twice. I worked until 10 p.m. last night at got to be about 12:30. Michelle called at like 2 a.m. So, i was out when she called. I didn't hear the phone ring the first time but I heard the end of her message. At first I thought it was my husbands sister calling. At 2 in the morning they sound alike. So i didn't even get up to go check on it. I fall back asleep but then i hear the phone ringing again. My husband tells me about it and i try to get up but for some reason i can't. And then i hear the answering machine pick up. And that is when i hear a very dissapointed Michelle on the other end. "Well, I give up, I just wanted to talk to you and to say hi. I guess you aren't picking up. I will try to get up in the morning and call again. Bye" Sadness, i feel like the crappiest sister on the face of the earth for not waking up to get her call. It just totally sucks. And I will probably beat myself up over this until she calls again. I mean it is one thing missing her call when you are not at home. But missing a call because your ass is to lazy to get out of bed and answer the phone is another thing. I should have known that nobody calls at 2 in the morning unless it is important. And therefore i should have gotten up. Why didn't I? GRRRRRRRRRRR!! Anyways, i have started sleeping with the cordless phone by my pillow now. I didn't get much sleep last night because i would wake myself up like every half hour and check the caller I.D to make sure that i didn't miss another call. So the next time she calls I will be there. Make i hate myself for missing that call.

Michelle, if you read this message, i have to be at work at 1:30 so I leave at 12:45 (that is Ohio time). If you call after then you can call me at work. I think you have the number there. I will leave it on your Yahoo messaging for you. I don't get out until like 9 or 9:30, so you can call after 10-10:30. I am so sorry that i missed both of your calls! But i still love you!

Also, today is my older sister's b-day. She is now 25! So i want to wish her a happy birthday!

Yeah, the next couple of months are busy with birthdays and such.

August 1st-Amber's b-day
August 10th- my niece turns 4
August 29th- my mom's b-day
September 1st- my parent's 26th anniversary
September 17th- michelle's boyfriend Tony's birthday
October 3rd- Michelle's 21st b-day and my 23 b-day (it is so nice to share a birthday with her)
October 6th-My mother-in-law's b-day
November- Michelle comes home and Thanksgiving
December- My husband's b-day on the 17th, Christmas and New Year's
Nothing after that until... 2006
April 12th- Dad's b-day
May 15th- Me and my husband 2nd wedding anniversary
July 4th- Obvious
end of july- my great-grandma Rice's b-day
and then the cycle starts all over again... I know there is more in there but i can't remember when my grandma Pfister's birthday is

So yeah, present buying starts in April and end's in December CRAZY!!!

Okay i got to get moving this morning. Everyone pray for me as i am just having a really crappy day, mostly because i missed my sister's phone call. I got up at 9:30 so yeah, it is sad that the day is crappy and i have only been up an hour. I have tomorrow off of work though so that should help.

Tomorrow, i am taking my mom out for lunch in the afternoon. She told me that she has been craving SubWay and even though i am not a big fan of it, i decided that i would take her there tomorrow since no one else wants to go. It will be nice to have some mother daughter time.

I will let you know if i hear from michelle today. Hopefully she calls or something. I miss talking to her so much.

Talk to all of you later.

~April~ (very depressed and very upset with herself)

added* tony's birthday on september 17th

man that sucks

2005-07-31T14:05:00.000-07:00

okay it is 2:00 in the morning and i am up...why? Because i heard the phone ring and by the time i got out of bed they had already left a message. Guess who it was... Michelle! I freaking missed her call. She says that she will call back in the morning, i am assuming in the normal morning. Hopefully she does get a chance to call. I miss her and i really wanted to speak to her. So keep your fingers crossed that she calls again. Apparently she called twice but seeing as how i am a deep sleeper, i missed the first call completely and i just caught the second one as she was leaving a message. That just totally sucks!

MICHELLE CALL BACK!!! I MISS YOU!!!

(Looks like i am sleeping next to the phone)

~April~

update from IRAQ

2005-07-31T01:02:00.000-07:00

ok not much to say today, just wanted to give alittle update. I am finally sleeping longer with out any meds. I couldnt ask for more. See when everything happened in april with spc colburn i went in a real slump , i wasnt eating or sleeping. so i was sent up north for medical evaluation when they diagnosed me with so much stuff, acute stress reaction, anxioty, panic attacks, insomnia... and the lise goes on. so therefore they gave me some sleeping pills to calm down my reoccuring dreams of April 22nd. now dont get me wrong i still dream about what happened i have just learned to coltrol my dreams and not wake up screaming from them anymore. Anyways... so now i am sleeping without all the meds.
but today things kidof set in again. i woke up at 11:30 pm and decided that it was time to go talk to my battle buddy. i walked all the way over to his door and when i went to go knock i relized that he isnt there to talk to me anymore when i am feeling down. that is when i really miss gavin the most.
anyways things are going better and like i said before i just am taking everything one day at a time. i stopped talking to the combat stress unit here because i feel like they dont know what the fuck they are talking about.. which just pisses me off because they are supossed to be there for people/ soldiers who have been throgh a rough time.
i am so ready to get out of this heat and back to the beautiful ohio wheather, and of course be home for the birth of my new niece or nephew... april i am also leaning tword and nephew from the way everyone is talking about how big she already is. by the way when can i expect babies from the shah side of the pfister family.
anyways 100 days or is it less i dont fucking know they keep switching the day everyday.. last count was 103 days so i hope that is the right count.
just thought i would update everyone... almost done cant wait.
ill write more later.

spc michelle e pfister
q-west iraq

For those of you who are wondering

2005-07-30T11:47:00.000-07:00

With all the other blogging i have been doing lately, i almost forgot to update you all on my sister Amber and her prenancy. Anyways, she went to the doctor's monday and, Praise the Lord, she is only having one. So that leaves only one possible explination for why she looks like she is about 5 months along, when she is only like 9 weeks. They must have screwed up her due date right? RIGHT! Well, sort of right. Anyways, her original due date was for the beginning of February. Now, she is due, get this......

THE END OF FEBRUARY!!

WTF? They pushed her due date back! I am guessing that she is having a boy because a girl would be sympathetic and not make her mom gain a whole bunch of weight all at once. So we will see if my boy prediction is right.

I am not really feeling like blogging much today. So my continued post on michelle will have to wait until either tonight or tomorrow morning. I am working on 7 days in a row of work and i am rather grumpy today. I hate my job! I wish i could just quite! Not possible unless i can find a job that will pay me close to the same amount and still give me 40 hours a week.

Anyways, I got to go get ready to go to the craphole that is my job!

talk to you all later!

~April~

My sister

2005-07-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

Okay,
for those of you who don't know my sister is SPC. Michelle E. Pfister (told you i occasionally get your rank right Michelle)! Anyways, she is 20, almost 21, and is currently serving over in Iraq. Which kinda sucks but I am proud of her for taking on such a big responsibility. I know i couldn't have done it. She has been through a lot there. Including the loss of her fellow soldier, friend and brother SPC. Gavin J. Colburn. For further reading on that check out what Mustang 23 had to say about it here. But anyways...on with the post.

So my sister is serving in Iraq. She has less then 100 days until she is done. I just pray that she focuses on the job that she has left to do and not on the fact that she is coming home. I know she wants to come home so bad but she just needs to focus on getting her job done so she can get the hell out of there. In her down time she can think about coming home all she wants but when she is working she needs to think about work. Rant...done!

So Michelle and I are pretty close. We were both born on October 3rd. However I was born in 1982 and she was born in 1984. We shared a room for about 13 or so years. You learn a lot about a person from sharing a room with them for that long. I remember getting in trouble all the time (and i mean all the time, we never listen) for being to loud because we would stay up late a night just talking about anything and laugh real loud and not even think about the fact that everyone else was trying to sleep. I remember when we lived in Bradford, we had bunk beds, and i would sleep on the top, michelle was on the bottom, but for some reason we would never stay there. By morning one of us would be in the other one's bed. It was much easier to talk that way! Or even when we moved to Pleasant Hill and we would go to bed around 9 but we would be up real late playing Playstation (with the sound off of course) until like midnight. We loved to play racing games together. Although Michelle would always win! I still think that she had figured out a way to cheat. I remember when I was about 12 and she was 10. My dad had built a go-kart. I managed to run it into a tree and them Michelle, i think she was sympathizing with me, managed to somehow run it into the jungle gym.

hey michelle remember the Snoopy table set we got for our birthday when you were like 6 and I was 8? Remember trying to play doctor and we used that as the operating table? Then remember how crushed we were when it broke. Like we didn't see that coming. that thing was made out of the cheapest parts possible, I think. I miss the Snoopy table and the Woodstock, Linus, Lucy and Charlie Brown chairs :(

However we didn't always get along. Sharing the same birthday and being exactly two years apart comes with it's ups and downs. I remember when mom was working and I had to cook supper and I asked Michelle to peel potatoes or something. Something happened and we got into an argument and she threw the potato peeler at me. Which preceeded in us running around the house trying to catch eachother so we could pound the crap out of one another. I don't remember if we ever actually caught eachother or if mom walked through the door first. But all i remember is that we spent a lot of time fighting with eachother over one thing or another. 90% of the time it was over stupid stuff. I remember when i was like big into 90210 (wow, there's a flashback) and I had a poster of all the people from 90210 and Michelle got pissed at me for something and poked a hole in it. Boy was I pissed. I don't remember what I did in return but it wasn't good I am sure. We would mostly fight when we had to clean our room and we would just pick up our own stuff. There was no helping the other person, because mom gave you time limits. Well, we would spend most of the time piling stuff up on the other person's side of the room. Yes, there was a time when we actually divided the room into halves. And the doorway was divided in half. And you had to stay on your side of the room. Lest you get the crap beat out of you!

But we weren't always horrible to eachother. A little sibling rivalary is good every now and then. I still remember a couple of years ago Michelle came home with a hamster and tried to hide it from mom and dad (what was his name michelle? I think you named it after someone off of Lord of the Rings?) Anyways, my mom's rule was no more pets in the house! This was after Michelle had finished Basic and A.I.T and we had put our dog, Peaches, to sleep after we had had her for like 8 years. Anyways, Amber and Michelle went to Wal-Mart, mind you Amber didn't live at home at the time and still doesn't, and Michelle had bought a hamster. I had been at work or something. Mom and Dad were out of town. Anyways, I get home from work and Michelle walks through the door with a Hamster! Holy shit, i knew that we were all going to die from this. Anyways, michelle figured she could safely hide the hamster in her room and mom would never notice (yeah right, does anyone else see where this is going? I mean seriously, pets, i don't care what kind, smell!) So anyways, mom and dad come home, they are home for about 7 hours or so (surprised it was that long) Mom goes upstairs and the next thing I hear is "APRIL!!!!!!" WTF? So I go upstairs and my mom is like "why does michelle have a hamster?" I don't know! "Why did you let her get a hamster?" Wait a minute, I had nothing to do with this! So yeah, michelle ended up getting in trouble. She got to keep the hamster! Until she got ready to go to Iraq, then it was bye bye hamster. We ended up selling it to some kid.

Hey michelle, remember when you, me and Dad made a leash for your hamster and et it walk around the garage? Okay everyone don't call PETA. We didn't harm it in anyway!

So yeah, that brings up to Michelle getting ready to sign up for the Army. I will post more about that later! Stay tuned for My Sister Part II!

Michelle if you have anything to add go ahead and post it. I am just feeling sentimental today! I will post more later!

Fun times

2005-07-26T23:47:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
I know i haven't posted in a while. Been busy with work and life stuff...I know I know that really isn't an excuse. If people who are fighting a war can find time to blog almost daily then i should be able to blog like two or three times daily. Anyways... A little update on stuff happening in the Shah/Pfister world....

Well, this first update is more for Michelle because she is kind of being left out of the loop on the whole situation. Not on purpose, but just because there really isn't much to tell about it... Okay.... My older sister is pregnant with her "second" child. Michelle will understand why I put second in quotation marks! Anyways, she is only supposivly 9 weeks along but she looks like she is about 5 months. So yeah, either she is further along than what she is, or... SHE'S HAVING TWINS!!! If the latter turns out to be true then i will be truely pissed. Mostly because this girl can't afford the kid she has. Also, I just don't think that they will be able to handle twins when they have trouble handling one. Yes, they might be able to take care of another one considering that Alexis is almost 4 (Will be on the 10th of August). But i just don't think that they could handle having two kids in diapers and a four year old who is used to having all the attention and now doesn't! Plus if there experiance with pets is any indication of parenting skills, well Michelle can attest to the fact that they fail miserably when it comes to that test!

Amber will find out tomorrow if she is having twins or if they just messed up her due date. So yeah, keep your eyes glued to this blog. Because come tomorrow around 10:30 there might be either one relieved, or one really angry and really long blog on here around that time.

Okay....getting away from that subject... my husband got a new job, closer to home, at Home Depot here in Faiborn. It seemed like a good ideal at first until he actually got the job. He is part time, getting like 16-24 hours a weeks, and to top it off... he only gets paid every two weeks. Which personally SUCKS! It is making it real hard on us because now we are cutting corners in every way to try to make my pay check last until the next week. To make matter 100 times worse, his first week there they didn't process his infomation on time. So he didn't get paid for almost 4 weeks. THAT SUCKED BIG TIME!!!! So it has come down to he either needs to get a new job, again, or he needs to get a second part-time job. Trust me, I am not going and getting another job, did that once while going to school full time. Yeah, that sucked at well. I was going to school full time and working over 40 hours a weeks. NOT COOL!

Okay something postive.... my family is growing. The other week my fishy Magnum got some new friends to play with, plus better living quarters. He moved from a 2.5 gallon tank to a 20 gallon tank. He was by himself for a couple of days and then the new house mates moved in. He now has four new friends to chase around. I got two neon tetras, a harliquin rasbora, and a platy. Everyone says that male Bettas (which is what magnum is) are really agressive. But to my delight, Magnum has only chased the Rasbora and the Platy around the tank. He doesn't try to bite them or harm them, he just plays chase. Most of the time he spends either playing in the new bell that is at the bottom of the tank, or he guards the stream of water that comes out of the filter. He gets totally pissed off if any of the other fish come near the filter. He chases them to the other side of the tank and then goes back to guarding. But yeah, no one is missing any parts to fins or tails. So yeah, so far so good.

Michelle is so much closer to coming home. I am so happy about that. Man, do i miss her. I am not just saying this because i know that she will read it. I miss her a lot. I miss our late night girl talk sessions. When we used to stay up late at night (we shared a room for well, all our lives until Amber moved out, so that would be 14 or so years) and get yelled at by mom because we would be talking to loud, laughing to loud, or just being generally annoying. So yeah she is like 90-something days from being home. It is a great relief for me. I was used to her being over there and then she had an accident in April. WOW, every sense then i have been in a panic. My only prayer is that she focuses on her job now and not the fact that she is coming home. I just want her to get her job done, get it done right and get home safe. I don't want her doing her job but focusing more on coming home and then making a mistake that could get her in major trouble. She just needs to stay focused on her job and then in her spare time she can think about coming home. There is alot more that i am going to post about later on my sister because there is some stuff that I think i need to say about her and about us and everything, and that is going to be a long and emotional post. Look forward to that tomorrow.

As for my dad and his busted up arm. It is healing nicely. For those of you who don't know, on Memorial Day my dad had a little accident with a mini-bike and broke his shoulder blande and his collar bone on his right arm. I didn't post anything about it on here because Michelle had to be notified first. Trust me when Michelle found out about it she made sure he was okay and then basically called him and idiot. How it happened was, he was selling the mini-bike, decided to take it for a spin, the "for sale" sign started to slip off, he tried to grab it, lost control and...well screwed up his arm pretty bad. 12-weeks of healing!!! Or driving my mom nuts, which ever way you want to look at it. Anyways, now he barely wears the sling anymore. He goes to the doctors on the 3rd of August. So pray that we get good news then. He went to Kings Island on Thursday the 21st with mom, michelle's boyfriend Tony, my husband Dev, and myself. I got free tickets from work! YEAH! But yeah, he went and had fun and his arm really didn't bother him that much. He didn't ride very many rides. Just White Water Canyon (twice) and then him and mom hung out at the water park later in the day while Dev, Tony and I walked around. So yeah, he is doing better and I can't wait until he can do stuff on his own. As i am sure my mom is looking forward to as well. A point in time where my mom will not have to cut his food, give him a bath, or listen to him whine to get him stuff. He uses his arm as a reason to not have to do anything for himself sometimes I think!

I can't think of anything else at the moment. As for me, i had the last two days off. Didn't do much. Just birthday shopping for my older sister and my nieces birthday presents, as well as my mom's b-day present. My older sister turns 25 on the 1st of August. My niece will be 4 on the 10th of August (having her b-day party on the 6th) and my mom's b-day is on the 29th of August (I will not say how old she will be, i mean how young she will be. For fear that if she reads this...well, you would only be hearing from Michelle if i posted my mom's age on here). I love my mom!

So that is all from the Shah/Pfister front. I will post more tomorrow! As I am sure i will have lots to say. So yeah, get ready for another lengthy post! SORRY! Until next time...

God bless and take care!

~April~
~Philemon 6~

This is funny

2005-07-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

Okay,
I ran across this in my email and i thought i would share it with all of you.

The most effective form of birth control

Okay, it is funny to me but i am sure the men out there are guarding their "junk" after seeing this! Oh, I needed a good laugh today. Call me demented if you will but this is hilarious! i will update later. Much to talk about since i have been lazy on the posting!

~April~

Just letting you know...

2005-07-25T16:51:00.000-07:00

Michelle has my user name and password so she will know be getting on here and blogging sometimes. when she can. when she isn't busy playing in the sand! Cuz that is all she does is build sand castles all day! (Just joking)

~April~

aprils sister

2005-07-25T13:55:00.000-07:00

hi my name is michelle pfister i am aprils little sister who is currently deployed in iraq. things are going good here and my time here is almost over. i asked april if i could post something on her site and she told me that people might think that it is cool to hear something from over here. these past couple of months have been really difficult with the lose of a close friend, spc gavin james colburn, and of course being by his side when he died, actually being in the same truck with him and watching him die in my lap. anyways i just thought i would let the people that my sister talk to know that i am alright and that i will be on my way home within the next 100 days. i cant wait to come home and see my family and friends its been a long time. well got to go and get back to work. just thought that i would also let people know that this 130 degree tempuratures really suck. anyways have a nice day i will keep everyone posted on my coming home.

Happy Birthday

2005-07-22T00:16:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to send a quick Happy Birthday shout-out to Mustang 23, who is now in the double digits of days left until he is home! Congrats on both occasions! I got to get ready to go to work!

Tragedy in London

2005-07-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday terrorists tried to attack the British. I have one thing to say to them... "Didn't you learn anything from September 11th?" You freaking idiots. None of us are going to stand back and let you bully us... we just take care of the situation. I just can't believe that this happened to the British people. They are handling it extremely well, i think. It just pisses me off that terrorists think that they can just go around bombing public transportation, killing innocent people, and nothing will come of this. All I can say is Remember September 11th? Yeah, you will pay for this as well.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair had this to say:

When they try to intimidate us, we will not be intimidated. When they seek to change our country or our way of life by these methods, we will not be changed. When they try to divide our people or weaken our resolve, we will not be divided and our resolve will hold firm. We will show, by our spirit and dignity, and by our quiet but true strength that there is in the British people, that our values will long outlast theirs. The purpose of terrorism is just that, it is to terrorise people, and we will not be terrorised.

I don't think anyone could have said it better. Terriorists are just a bunch of bullies. And does anyone remember what happened to the bully in elementary/high school? Yeah, he eventually met his match. I think that by picking on the British, terriorism has finally met it's match. In the words of Mustang 23.

The Brits are strong people.

I stand with them, just as they have stood with us

A quick note: I may have to come back and edit this post later. Right now I am letting my emotions speak too much. So if you read this, please don't leave nasty comments about anything. I will more than likely come back and re-write this post when i have a chance to sit down and actually think clearly about this situation. But right now I am getting ready for a four day weekend. NO WORK FOR THE NEXT FOUR DAYS!!! i got a lot of packing to do because i am going camping. See you all Monday!

Something that weighs heavily on my heart!

2005-06-20T09:51:00.000-07:00

Before I got married (on May 15,2004) I used to go to church every Sunday. I would help out with the children's A.W.A.N.A's program on Wednesdays, taught Sunday School, helped in the Nursery, helped with V.B.S in the summer, sang in the choir and, sometimes, sang solo (only took 18 years to get me to do that). I was also very active in my youth group when I was still in high school, then i got active in the women's bible study when i was out of high school, and at one point i even started a Bible Study with one of my friends (this was before we had a youth group for high schoolers). I was very active in the church and I was soooo happy.
When I started dating my husband (in October of 2002), i still did all of these things, eventhough he didn't go to church (yet). We got engaged in March of 2003 and then we broke up in October of 2003. In December of 2003 we got back togetherand on New Years Eve of 2003 we got re-engaged. The reason for us getting back together was because durning that time he had gotten saved. The reason we had broke up was because (among other things) he didn't go to church. I had always dreamed of getting married to someone who would be active in the church with me. It made me happy to help out and participate in the activities of the church. I thought it was great that he had finally decided that he wanted to be a part of something that i cherised so greatly. So we went through marriage counseling with my pastor and everything was great. He would do the Bible Studies with me and would go to church every Sunday with me. I loved it!
When we got married things changed. We went to church every Sunday for about 6 months. I missed a few Sundays here and there because of work, but other than that we were pretty faithful about going to church. We were switching back and forth between my church and his families church just because we thought it would be nice to spend time with both sides of the family on Sundays. Then after about 6 months, we just stopped going all together. No one really decided it, it just happened. I don't know if it was because we were tired of bouncing back and forth between churches or what. I really didn't think anything about it until recently.
We moved to Fairborn in March and we are living too far away to go to church at either one of our churches. I didn't mind at first, but recently I have kind of had a eye opening experiance (i guess you could say)...

I recently read a post on Dadmanly's site that was posted by his wife Mrs. Dadmanly. After I read this I got to thinking : "Man that is how I used to be. Leaning on God to take care of all my troubles and to help me through difficult situations." I realized that my whole demenior has changed. I am not the same person that I was when I was going to church. I used to be happy, less stressed and just a lot more energetic. Now, I have this 'I don't give a crap what happens anymore' attitude towards everything.
When my sister got in her accident over in Iraq. I prayed for her and for her friend's family but i realized how 'empty' my prayers were. There was no feeling behind them like there used to be when i would pray for someone. It was kind of like I was saying "hey God, I know that you probably won't answer this pray but i am going to say it anyways. I mean heck, you pretty much didn't keep my sister safe so why should i even be saying this." I was just basically going through the motions of prayer without actually thinking of what i was doing. I mean I pray everyday for our soldiers and our military who are over in Iraq, but I have just begun to realize that I don't have the same faith backing up those prayers that I used to. Basically I am just talking to the ceiling.
I don't want to be like this anymore. I want to be like I was before i got married. I want to be the person that people would go to for answers to problems because they knew that i knew the scripture to lead them to that would help them through it. Now, i don't think i could point out any scripture to anyone about anything. Personally, this scares me. I don't want to be in this spot anymore. I want to go back to being active in the church and not being such a depressed individual. I have come to realize that I am not as happy of a person as I was when i was going to church. I used to be one of those people who couldn't wait to get out of bed in the morning. Now I dred getting up because that means I got to go to my sucky job or it is a reminder of how I am an hour away from my family and friends, so therefore I am stuck at home with nothing to do. I am just so tired of being like this.
I woke up to 5:30 yesterday morning (this is early for me, i usually get up around 9:00) because I was just thinking about how I needed to get back to going to church. I was thinking about how much of a depressed individual I have become. Sure, I act happy, but in my mind I am thinking about how much I hate my life right now. I am not saying that I hate my life as a wife. I love my husband a lot. I am just saying that I hate the person I have turned out to be. And what is worse is that I am not sure how to change it. I mean I am living an hour and a half from the church that i grew up in. I don't know any of the churches around where I live. Believe it or not, I am actually a very shy person, so it is hard for me to just try something different. But all i know is this:

SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE!!!!

It needs to start today. I need to get back to the happy person that i used to be. I need to get back to being the person who everyone would come to for advice. I know that I need help getting back to that point. I also need the support of my husband. I want to get back to being the couple that everyone loved to see at church. Don't get me wrong I am not doing this for attention. I am doing this because church was such a big part of my life from the time that I was a baby. It is what made me happy. It is what got me through some of the most difficult times in my life. I just want to go back to being happy, energetic, and just back to being ME!

I know it is going to take some time. But i know that I can do this. With the prayers and support from my family and friends I know I can make my life into what I know it can be!

Good Morning Everyone

2005-06-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

As you can see i have changed the background on my blogsite. I was getting tired of staring that the pink. So I changed it, let me know what you think. I am not that skilled with html that i can do anything else but use the templates that this site gives me. So it isn't spectacular but it is at least a change. Although i will probably not be changing this thing again for a long time. It was a major pain in the butt because i had to re-paste everything (sitemeter ticker, blogroll, trackback...). So hopefully this is something i can deal with for a while!

Hmm amazing what you find when you search

2005-06-19T11:56:00.000-07:00

so i was going through and reading different people's blog sites and I came across this site. I decided to just read through and see what kind of posts he has on his site and this is what i found. I had been clicking on the links he had and reading a little here and there from the articles. So i clicked on the words "young lady" and it came back to my site. Wow that was a surprise! Makes me wonder where else i made it to on the world of blogsites.

Thank you to this guy for linking to me. I don't know what the hats off was for but...well thanks!

I will let you all know if i find anything else later. I am seriously not doing anything today. Well, except for going with my husband to his family reunion and then off to my parents house to spend time with my dad for father's day.

I will post more later!

Wow I wish i would have found this sooner

2005-06-19T06:30:00.000-07:00

I am up rather early this morning (I will explain more on that later). Anyways, since i am up so early I decided to kind of see what was out there in Blog world. I started reading posts of Mustang 23's that i hadn't read yet (I haven't really had time to just sit and read anyone's blog in a couple of days). And I came across a really nice post about a female soldier recieving a Silver Star.

So reading on, I found out that someone had actually been at the ceremony and had provided pictures. So i went over to Argghhh! and read what he had to say about the ceremony and everything behind why she recieved the Silver Star.

Then I head over to a link that I found on Mustang 23's site that lead me to the DefenseLINK News on the award. Now the Department of Defense News site is wonderful. I absolutly love going here and seeing what i can find out about various happenings in the war and just other interesting news in general.

I love reading stories about nice things that happen over in Iraq, even if those nice things come out of something not so nice. It is nice that our soldiers are getting recognized for the work that they do. It is a tough job. I mean you are away from your family from an indefinate amount of time. You encounter things that would make a civilan go insane. Not to mention the physical aspect of the whole thing. I know i couldn't carry around 80+ lbs of gear around in the hot sun all day, go on a couple hours of sleep a night, all this while possibly missing a couple meals a day because you are out on a mission and didn't have time to eat. That just physically drains your body. Plus not to mention the fact of going without a shower for a couple of days or more. God, i don't think i would be able to handle that. Hence the reason why i didn't join the army like my sister wanted me to. She tells me stories about some of the stuff that she's been through (well the stuff she is allowed to tell me) and i just think "man, if that were me, i would be in the nut house by the time i got home." But hey, that is what makes a soldier different from the rest of us. They are willing to endure those harse conditions, with very little complaining. To me they are the best role model a person can have. I am completely honored to know a couple of people who are serving, or did serve, in the military. They are just truley amazing people. I am not just saying that because my sister is serving, i truely mean that.

Anyways, back to the reason for this post.....

Why i found this story so amazing is because this is the first time that the Silver Star has been awarded to a woman sldier since World War II. Now that just amazes me!! With all the females out there serving in the military you would think that they would have awarded one of these to female soldier before this. Way to go girl!! You rock!

According to DefenseLINK News. Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester

was shadowing a supply convoy March 20 when anti-Iraqi fighters ambushed the convoy. The squad moved to the side of the road, flanking the insurgents and cutting off their escape route.

and then they did some damage! Man! That is awesome for more than one reason. For one, this woman is part of a Military Police Company. That just rocks! If I were to ever join the military (notice i said IF not when) that is what i would want to do. So kudos to her for actually doing it! And two, this girl kicked some major butt! Along with the rest of her team, of course. That is just amazing!

I should also mention at this time that Staff Sgt. Timothy Nein and Spc. Jason Mike also recieved the Silver Star for Valor. Congrats to all of them!

That is just awesome! I don't know what else to say about it! It is good to see our female soldiers getting the recognition that they deserve. According to Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester

It doesn't have anything to do with being a female. It's about the duties I performed that day as a soldier.

Your training kicks in and the soldier kicks in. It's your life or theirs. ... You've got a job to do -- protecting yourself and your fellow comrades.

Very well said, very well said! Keep up the good work!