Ok.. enough is enough already.

I got pulled over last night.... Again...by the MPS... Again.

I get up(on an average day) between anywhere where from 5:45-8am. If I open I 'm out of the house by 7 and don't get home til around 7pm. If I close...I'm still up super early.. I leave my house by 12:15 the latest and usually don't get home til about 11:30pm/midnight.

My days are long.

Yesterday I closed... suprisingly the store wasn't trashed so we got out decently early. Now it takes me about a 1/2 hour to get up this end... then I have to go on base.. pick up my kid from the sitter then get back off base and drive out to my housing. I go through the gate usually between 1030-midnight every night. This is the shift they give all the boot Mps. Everytime I've been pulled over it has been some yut yut private who needs to me to be his guinea pig on how to give a warning, right a ticket etc. Yesterday was no different.

I'm so tired of these boot Mps harassing me because they get a shitty shift.... and I'm one of the few cars that come through the gate that they can bother.

Last night I'm on the road into housing. I don't speed on this road.. the Mps are always there so I know better. I see this car coming at me ,as it passes me, I see it's an MP...it decides to turn around.

Ok weird.... then his lights go on. Then a second MP.
Then the punkin wakes up.

I was not speeding.. I'll be the first to admit it if I was but I wasn't.. not last night.

SO i pull over and get all my info stuff and am half way out the window waiting for the cop.
This is 11:09

AS he gets to the window.. I'm like.. I don't understand I wasn't speeding.
~I clocked you doing 44.
NO way... I never speed up this road.. I know you guys always sit here so there was no way I was speeding.
~You were.. I have you locked in at 44. (he was so like neener neener neener I got you)
I go~ Whatever. do what you have to do.

I'm like super pisst, first off there is no way I was speeding and secondly..how could he clock me going 44 when he was driving at me in the other direction. .. but whatever.

He starts walking back to his car and towards the other MP when I stick my head out the window

" Hey could you at least turn your spotlights off, I have a 19 month old in the back seat who WAS asleep when you pulled me over. So could you be alittle considerate for her sake." I'm so tired of them all thinking their shit doesn't stink.

They look at each other and when they get in the car they turn the spotlights and flashing lights off. Score for me.

So I wait for them to come back and issue my ticket. ... and wait and wait and wait. I waited so long.. first I shut my lights off.. then I shut my car off.

At 11:41 They finally come back to the car. I sat there on the side of the road with the baby in the back.. awake... for over a half hour. What? Did they make the paper to write the ticket on.

So he gets to the car and tells me he is issuing me a ticket.
I go Whatever.. it doesn't matter.
He then continues -you're getting a ticket for your registration being expired.

HOLD ON! My registration is not expired.
~ Yes ma'am it is.. it says here 2008.
At this point I'm like.. It's not . I have the right one in here somewhere. I turn the lights on open the glove compartment and proceed to go through everything in my glove box. once, twice.. 3 times.
I say to the MP... I know it's here I just paid $157 to get this stupid car registered.
He goes yes ma'am that's this one you gave me but it's 2008.

I take the registration back from him and look at it.. Then i look up at him and read him the little paragraph above where it says 2008.

"This registration is valid until the last day of February 2009." (yup folks 2009)
I show him the little 2009 # and look at the other MP . The other MP has that oh shit look.
The boot takes the thing from me.

As he looks at it, everything that has just transpired gets to me, it's been a super long day and I'm so tired..........I completely break down in tears.

Like beyond break down, to the point where I am almost hyper-ventilating in the front seat.
At this point the MPs don't know what to do.. they look at each other, walk to the back of the car and start talking on their little walkie things. I hear them reading my license plate # into the walkie .. but I'm still crying and don't really care.

Finally they come back over... and the boot is like~ are you ok ma'am.
I'm still crying- Yea, I'm fine.

We'll ok.. here's your info back. We're just going to let you go, just slow down next time.
OK- I put everything on my carseat and continue to cry. He goes back to his car

The punkin must've thought I was crazy.

I finally compose myself enough to put my stuff away and I apparently in my watersoaked eyes I misplace my insurance card. SO now once again I am going through everything to find the stupid insurance card. I'm about to give up and go home.. the Boot is at my window again.

You ok ma'am.
Yea, I just can't find my insurance card.
He hands it to me through the window.
He had it the whole time~Thanx.
~I'm sorry about the confusion with your Registration ma'am.
It's fine.
~We're gonna block traffic so you can get on the road.. whenever you're ready.
(It's midnight... block what traffic)
Thanx.

I get myself together and start to drive home. The one follows me all the way through the gate and almost to my house. I guess he wanted to make sure I didn't crash the car with the baby in it since I was so upset.

I finally pull into the driveway .. It's midnight.
I just sit in the car and cry.
My kid must've totally thought I was insane.

After I stopped crying....
All I could think was.. thank goodness I didn't get a ticket on base.
Hubby would've killed me.

Celebrating life.

Today is the one day that we are supposed to remember the dead that fought for our country. Personally they should get more than one day... but every day is a Memorial to those who get left behind.

I know there are tens of thousands of servicemen and women that were killed.. but there are 2 specifically that I want to mention in this blog.

The first is Army Sgt. Trevor A. Blumberg
I didn't know this man... no one I know knew this man but here is the story of why I mention him.

When the war first started my mom became obsessed with the Casualties page at CNN.com. She's always read the obituary page in the newspaper, so the fact that she did this never shocked me. She would look at all the pictures and google their names, read all about them in their home town paper.

That day in Sept 2003, she stumbled across Trevor's picture. She started to google. There was something about this young soldier's death that pulled at her heartstrings. She said part of it was that he was so young . The other was she couldn't believe that he had been in Iraq only 3 days before he was killed. 3 days... that's it.

She had a bracelet made for Trevor.. she never wore it and it sat on the dresser for a while before I said.."Aren't you ever gonna wear it?" She said no she just wanted to honor his death. That day I put it on and wore it for a long time, honoring some young soldier that I had never met.

The second is Army Sgt. Gary D. Willett aka Calvin
This was ASM2 boyfriend.

Calvin was a kick ass dude... I had met him on only a few occasions but he was always entertaining and funny. Him and ASM were an eclectic couple... and loved each other so much. She was crushed by his death yet still kept up a good attitude and spoke of him still everyday. I am so sorry for her loss.

I truly wish I would've gotten to know him better and wish even more that he hadn't of died.

Trevor and Calvin...you will forever be in our hearts.
You may be gone but you will never been forgotten.

Jack in the box... so good so bad.

So i ate one of those Jack in the box Bacon BBq sirlion burgers today. As soon as I was done I totally thought I was going to puck.. and I had completely clogged an artery.

I had to toss my fries... I was bummed. I love Jack in the Crack fries.
(I did put my shake in the freezer for later though).

I've decided not to really play complete catch up with my life at this point.. I'm just gonna take it from here.

I do wanna show 2 pics.
One is my attempt at making a baseball cake for Sports themed Parents night out. It's a devil's food ice cream cake that I layered myself. I'm getting good at this baking thing.


The other is the pic of my mother's day flowers that arrived without incident. I think they are scared of me now. I'd be scared of me if I was them. LOL




I've been in a really bad funk the past few weeks... I hadn't really wanted to write. I really haven't had anything positive to say. Lonliness totally set in after the hubby left and we've spoken like 3 times. All his emails were basically him asking for things. I seriously considered packing up the punkin and I, quiting my job and heading back to Jersey.

Then I thought I was pregnant which made me really depressed. It's not that I don't want to have a baby, but the thought of being here alone, pregnant, with the punkin ,working and then actually having the baby here alone since he wouldn't be back in time. I was a complete mess. Thankfully, for now, we are back on the ORIGINAL schedule for baby #2.

Needless to say...I'm not a quitter and I'm feeling better. No drugs needed,lol.

I pitched a fit and am getting better emails. Then the other day season 1 and 2 of Friday Night Lights showed up via Amazon.com.

My best friend and my parents have booked their trips to come visit. *D* in August for my birthday (the big 34) and the folks in September. That will totally break up the upcoming months til the hub gets home.

Then yesterday was the best kicker ever. The president of our company came yesterday to visit. I'd never met her before and she is one KICK ASS chic. She stayed for like an hour.. we did the chit chat thing and talked about business.. then she left. About an hour later my boss calls and tells me Pres was super impressed with me, my team, the store .. the whole kit and caboodle.

VALIDATION! All my hard work isn't in vain.

Last night I rented "P.S. I Love you" on PPV. OMG I cried like a little girl through the whole movie. It was so good. I recommend for everyone who hasn't seen it.

Finally I feel like things are falling back into place.
(I should be back consistently on the blog radar again...hopefully)

Let's play catch up... part 1

So things have been all sorts of crazy around here since the hubby left.
This is a long one.. so grab a cuppa coffee, some cake and pull up a chair.
Don't worry I'll break it up in parts if you wanna take a break,LOL.
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We are past the 5 months down mark and under the 300 days left mark.
I guess that's good.
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Last Saturday the Food Network was having a Wedding cake food challenge marathon. I decided I can do that and I want to start a career making wedding cakes.

Now if I could only figure out how to make that fondent stuff... I'm good.
(I'm sure this is just a phase)
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I once again had issues with 1800-flowers.

Hub sent me flowers again. The girl walks up the walkway with the arrangement thats not mine. Before she can even get to the door I'm like "Those aren't my flowers, I'm supposed to get 2 dozen roses." She goes back to the car and gets the right flowers but there are no balloons. She says she'll check on it when she gets back to base. I get inside and open the card and it was some dude name Rick. My husband is not named Rick. I go outside and catch her before she gets in the car, she takes the card and goes "Is your husband's name Drew?"

Oy vey.

Needless to say, I never got the right card and called 1800-flowers. They credited the balloons.
This was my..."sorry I had to go back to Iraq bouquet".

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Then I found out the President of the company is coming to my store, so that's just a wee bit stressful.
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(This is the LONG part)

Last Tuesday when I picked up the punkin from the sitters house, she felt really hot. Not super hot to worry about but a little on the warm side. I get home give her some children's tylenol and put her to sleep.

At about 130am she wakes up crying. I pick her up and she's burning hot, I get the ear thermometer and stick it in her ear. For some reason it's on celcius, I don't know how to read that and can't figure out how to change it back ... but the thing has one of those sad faces... so I know that's not good. I go online and try to find a conversion table but everything I find is in French so that doesn't help me. I call my house in Jersey. It's 630 am I know everyones awake.

My stepdad answers the phone.." You're up early?" I tell him the situation, he goes online and pulls up a chart. Turns out she's running a 103 degree fever. At this point I start freaking out, am getting dressed and debating whether or not to take her to the hospital. My mom gets on the phone and talks me down from the ledge. I give punkin more tylenol and try keep her cool. Mom says wait a little while see if the tylenol helps.

It does, her temp drops a little and she falls back to sleep. Needless to say I barely sleep, keep checking her and basically am waiting til 630 when central appts open so I can take her to the doctor. I call get an appt and we are off to the Docs for 9am.

Everyone in there knows her because of when she had her leg cut open and they call her "the warrior". It's very entertaining. The doc guy comes out and calls her name, realizes its her and goes "It's my little warrior". I love the peds clinic here.

He takes her temp. 102.7. Does the rest of the basics and puts us in a room. The doc comes in and gives her an exam, punkin's being her normal happy self like she's not even sick. Doc can't find anything wrong with her except the fever. She says... there's definitely something manifesting, it looks like she's got Roseola.

(Rosie-what?)

Apparently it's a childhood virus that is a few days of a very high fever that abrutly stops and then your kid will break out in a red non-itchy rash from head to toe. She said it's common so not to worry, make sure she drinking and stays hydrated. That day she was fine... she slept alot but all in all was ok.

The next day still the high fever and I couldn't get her to eat or drink anything. (I partially think she was doing it for spite cuz she knew it was freaking me out) I tried everything, different juices, water, different sippy cups, bottles. She's not peeing and hasn't pooped in days, mostly just wants to sleep. Finally by about 4pm, I start crying convinced she's going to dehydrate. I call my mom...... again.

She says don't panic. Take her for a walk in the stroller with some juice, maybe she'll drink while she's out for the walk.... no dice.

I call her again. She tells me go to the store and buy ice pops. The coolness will be good and since they are basically frozen juice, that'll help too. I do. She eats one ice pop. I felt a little better. Mom calls me back and asked if it worked. I said yes... but I'm still freaked out.

Hubby calls... I had emailed him after the first doc appt so he wanted to see how she was doing. I tell him everything and she's not drinking. So at this point he plays backseat Medic.. telling me to try this and that. I completely lose it.

"Yes, I tried that and that and that. I even tried smashing up ice cubes and giving her ice chips. I've tried everything.. trust me. So don't tell me what to do.. it's not like your here to help me or anything"

OOps.. Probably not the best thing to say to someone in Iraq. I could tell right after I said it, he was none to pleased.

"Ya know hone, it's not like I choose to be here"
Needless to say I felt terribly. I apologized and he knew I was stressed. He told me to keep him posted.

Thursday morning I call out of work and I go back to the docs. She has a low grade fever, but still not eating, drinking, etc. Punkin doesn't do much, just lay on my shoulder this trip. The doc looks in her mouth apparently she has a virus that has caused swollen gums. It's the 3rd case this week the doc had seen. Which is prolly the reason why she hadn't been eating or drinking, cuz it just hurts too much... she said.

I had never heard of that, neither had my mom or my mom in law.

The doc says she's not dehydrated and it's normal to be sleepy when your sick... keep trying to give her drinks, the ice pops especially cause her mouth.. if the fever doesn't break or she continues to not drink by saturday bring her in to the ACC. As long as she's still having wet diapers.. that's a good sign.

We go home, she lays down and takes a long nap. She wakes up about 3 hours later... no fever.. and drinks a whole sippy of juice. Just like that.... it's over. She still won't eat but we are back to the drinking!

Friday she starts eating again.

Saturday morning.. she breaks out in the rash.....by Sunday night the rash is gone and the whole thing is over. She's perfectly fine.

Happy Mother's Day to me!

(Part 2 tomorrow.)

Yay for us!

It's about time we get some appreciation!
There's been a lot going on this week so I'll blog more later.

Life is a Highway.....

and mine cost me 147 bux.

That's how much my speeding ticket cost me.

Now I'm from Jersey... so I like to drive fast. I have driving in my blood.. my grandpa was a NYC cab driver when he was younger and my Dad used to race cars... so let's just say I'm a bit of a speed demon.

The speed limit is ridiculously low here (55, I didn't know people were still allowed to drive 55 anymore) and they have minimum/maximum speeds. There is definitely something wrong with a place where they have minimum speeds.. but I digress.

I was cruising in my car on my way to work... like I mentioned before I drive fast.

sidenote* I never drive in the left lane. It's a little speed racer trick my Dad taught me when I was learning to drive. Always drive in the middle or right lane, it makes you look like you are going slower than you really are. Also, I don't speed with the baby in the car.*

I've been a little distracted since the hubby left. .. I didn't realize that I was still in the left lane when all of a sudden there was the little motorcycle cop with the radar right on me.

He knew I was busted ........I knew I was busted.

I pulled over infront of him.... he got on his motorcycle and drove all 50 feet to my car, and walked over to the window with the Radar gun in hand. It said 73.. but I knew that already cause I looked at my BIG BRIGHT DIGITAL numbers on my dash as soon as I saw him.

"Do you know how fast you were going?"

" I didn't even realize I was going that fast, totally my fault"

I had nothing, I couldn't think of anything whitty to say, I just shrugged.
In hindsight maybe I could've offered him a donut or something.

He was a nice though, he looked surprised that I wasn't gonna pitch a fit.
So there's $147 down the drain.

That is the first speeding ticket that I wasn't able to get out of in all my years of driving.

Note to self: remember no driving in left lane