poke - poke - poke

I haven't had a medical history taken in that depth in years! we went through everything. and then...the needles! I'll confess, I closed my eyes (I'll maintain I was tired... but you and I know the truth, I HATE getting a shot). The first one she put in "oh holy cow" that one hurt (in my right palm, at a "fire"/headache point) the others on the right side of my foot hurt too(my neck and headaches, all on the right side). The ones on the left side - I didn't feel more than a little prickle. The ow was momentary... then I lay there (gotta bring in my own music... didn't like hers) for 20 minutes (no burning, LM..) then she came in and tweaked them, and another 15 minutes. Today - no headache and my neck is feeling better too. So we'll try a few more sessions... and keep the fingers crossed.

Booked the R&R trip and got trip insurance (through USAA, deployment and leave cancellations are covered events!) wow... the flight was not too bad, but the fees/taxes.... ouch.

time to get some sleep before I head out tomorrow.

later. LAW

Pins and Needles

Today - my first appointment with the acupuncturist. When I reminded Chief of that, his emails became riddled with needle humour.. he just loves to poke at me that way - [right back atcha, dear!]

Started into my new group at work - this is either going to be interesting, or I'm going to want to just scream in a month. One of the reasons I was told I would be moving, was that I wouldn't "wilt" under the pressure. This, my friends, is code for "this group is full of either crazies or arrogant, misogynistic jerks (what, attorneys?.. no, you can't be serious {snark}) and because you are an old broad who won't let them reduce you to tears, or work until 3:00 am to satisfy their ridiculous last minute requests [really, one of the younger paralegals did that, and then slept at the office!], we will put you in this group and know you won't quit." I keep telling myself it's a job, it's a job, and I'm grateful to have one.

This weekend I set off to the midwest to check on the house, get some eyes on the place and see what really needs to be done, meet up with a few old friends... and while I'm flying get some writing done.

talk to y'all later.

LAW

Memorial Day

Yesterday - He held this salute for over 3 hours.

XPosted from Left Face


The launch for Beyond Tribute that I went to Thursday, and the Memorial Day weekend coming up, combined to bring it to the top of my list.

Beyond Tribute is - to quote one of the founders - not a charity, not an organization, it's an idea! The idea is to make the holidays that should be devoted to veterans and those who gave their lives, mean more again. To those in America who don't know anyone in the military - honestly, right now Memorial Day is the day for a good sale - and none of us will turn down a good sale! But wouldn't it be even better if the business doing that great sale on purses (that's for Pam Eggleston the purse maven, the milspouse who spoke at the launch about her life with Charles, her husband and wounded warrior) was going to contribute part of the profits from that sale to programs for vets? General Wesley Clark said at the launch that we need to transform Memorial Day and Veterans Day back into a holiday of more meaning.

So - if you haven't taken the pledge yet - go over and do it. Then send the link to the businesses you use - big and small. Send the link to your family, send the link to your friends and co-workers. Let's put the memories back into Memorial Day, and by Veteran's Day - make the rest of the country remember the veterans.

LAW

MSRRA - one more time! CALL

OK - guys - time to really buckle down and call the VA Committee. The Markup hearing - in which the committee can delete wording or leave it alone - is Thursday morning! The Facebook site is here.

Chairman Sen. Daniel Akaka [D-HI] (202) 224-6361
Sen. John Rockefeller IV [D-WV] (202) 224-6472
Sen. Patty Murray [D-WA] (202) 224-2621
Sen. Sharrod Brown [D-OH] co-sponsor (202) 224-2315
Sen. Jim Webb [D-VA] (202) 224-4024
Sen. Jon Tester [D-MT] co-sponsor (202) 224-2644
Sen. Mark Begich [D-AK] co-sponsor (202) 224-3004
Sen. Roland Burris [D-IL] co-sponsor (202) 224-2854
Sen. Arlen Specter [D-PA] co-sponsor (202) 224-4254
Sen. Bernard Sanders [I-VT] (202) 224-5141
Sen. Johnny Isakson [R-GA] co-sponsor (202) 224-3643
Sen. Roger Wicker [R-MS] co-sponsor (202) 224-6253
Sen. Mike Johanns [R-NE] co-sponsor (202) 224-4224
Sen. Lindsey Graham [R-SC] (202) 224-5972

They can make changes - some rumblings about deleting some language. We need to ask them to leave in every word!

Call - call NOW. The Markup hearing is May 21, at 9:30. Get those fingers dialing!

LAW

x[posted on LeftFace

Happy Military Spouse Appreciation Day

To all the milspouses I know and those I don't; the ones who lean left, and those who lean right; the ones who have their service member home, and those who are alone because of deployment, TDY, school or whatever; the women and the men (Hey Chris, Hey Toad); To Us - a Happy, peaceful, healthy and wonderful Military Spouse Appreciation Day.

May we have the strength to keep going when it just crashes down around us; may we have the joy of seeing our spouse, our children and our families happy and contented; may we kick some serious PCS butt when we move; may we show those who are near and dear to us that we care about them.

I'll wish us all peace, love and happiness.

LAW

Quite a week!

It's been a while, here on my own personal little site. Busy out there in the rest of the world. Work - well, it's feast or famine, I'm either so busy I don't have time to think, or so bored I could cry. A friend congratulated me on my moving to a new division, after she heard about it at a training meeting - huh, funny, I hadn't (still haven't) heard anything from anyone who actually is in "command"...

The other blogs - Left Face, Parents Zone - they are going well, I think. My co-authors on LF are absolutely amazing. And the new authors on ParentsZone are fantastic, more than making up for those who decided not to write anymore, or so I assume, since we haven't heard from them in months.

I went up to the Hill for the MSRRA hearing in the Veterans Affairs Committee of the Senate - report here on LeftFace. If you are a member of the military family - call your Senator!

Whilst sitting around here one early morning (sleep - not happening lately) I came across a "letter to Obama".. you know the kind, the usual crap about him driving us into bankruptcy etc (of course, the past 8 years of tax breaks for the rich, two wars, etc... had NOTHING to do with it....) but one line just made me furious.


*You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.*

Do you believe this crap? Let's see, how many military kids does this describe? How many State Department kids, like me, does this describe? How many immigrant kids, who are now proud American citizens does this describe? Talk about closet racist - pretty close to coming outa the closet there!

Time to clean the pit I call an apartment, do the commissary run etc. Take care!

LAW

MSRRA - The Surge!

I was asked to put in a link for this post - this is the Facebook link to the MSRRA Facebook site.

DC Area Spouses Are Invited - Senate Bill 475, Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, which provides the option of a home state to Military Spouses, will be heard in a Senate Hearing, Wednesday April 29th. The time of the hearing is 9:30 to 10:30am in the Senate Office Building Dirksen, Room 562. Please be there by 9:20am. Please allow 30 minutes to walk from the Metro Capitol South stop and get through security.

See you there! Let's work for something REAL!

LAW

MSRRA - time to get loud, Y'all!

From the MSRRA site: From Monday, April 20th to Friday, May 8th (Military Spouses Appreciation Day) we are launching a campaign to inundate the Senate with calls from military spouses urging their Senators to sign on as Co-Sponsors of this bill and show their support of Military Spouses. We truly believe in the power of the Military Spouse network and need your help in order to get this legislation signed into law."

Now, from me - call the Senator from your home state, call the Senator from the state you live in now, call the Senator from the state you lived in before you PCSed...CALL - Email - if you see one of them in town, talk to them. Call the local office, call the DC office, ask for the Military coordinator, ask for the Veteran's coordinator, the Women's issue coordinator - We need to be heard! Call your friends, tell them to call. There are thousands of military spouses out there - let's just call this our ultimate phone tree.

LAW

It's the little things that help the most

Chief emailed me today and alerted me to this group. Now he loves music - plays guitar, is trying to learn the bagpipes (oh, the dog LOVED that one... howled in a descant!) and the mandolin, plays harmonica... and when he saw Operation Happy Note, he was intrigued. Then he saw - they are from Fergus Falls Minnesota, so there's a "home state" connection for us.

The Baker's, from Fergus Falls MN sent their son and a friend of his guitars when they were deployed in 2005. Since then, they set up Operation Happy Note, and have been sending all kinds of instruments, guitars, violins, banjos, mandolins, harmonicas to deployed troops. They have help from manufacturers, but the shipping costs - are up to OHN and can be quite high (as you and I know from sending our care packages!) It's hard to know that there are instruments waiting to be sent to someone who could use that escape that can be found in making music, because of postage!

If you are feeling in the giving mood - think about Operation Happy Note Oh - Pass it On!

Never judge a woman by her looks

Or a book by it's cover. For those who haven't seen this - you need to go, take about 5 minutes and watch a woman change a lot of people's perceptions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

LAW

That BLOODY Cat!

I've been worrying, the cat is going through one of his phases of "I don't want to eat this... or that.... and not that either".. (which is why my kitchen cupboard is full of different cans of cat food) He first decides on one, then after a few days he refuses to touch it, and I get a few different ones, till he chooses another kind to be the favourite. But right now, he only wants treats and won't touch the food. I checked his litter box - Nothing. So I'm worrying he's not - let's find a nice euphemism - voiding at all. I checked around the apartment, no little piles or wet spots... I'm thinking the vet, ya know?

THEN I checked out on the balcony. A large pot that did hold a tomato plant last year, that I hadn't bought a plant to put in yet was sitting there... and I wondered what on earth.... Yeah. the little brat has been using IT for his litter box! So that soil has to be emptied out. I have the pot covered. covered all the other pots too - and I suppose I should be glad he's not sick, that I don't have to take him to the vet, but this is the first time I've had box problems with him.

That BLOODY bloody cat!

*** After a full day of his stubbornly standing by the balcony door and yelling, with me not opening it... the sweet sound of the automatic litter box proved, once again, the woman with the opposable thumbs WINS! ****

LAW

How to be a good milspouse

OK, now I didn't believe this the first time I read it... and I still don't. When I described it to someone, they wondered if it was copied from some book in the 1950s... You be the judge.

Try This

Military Spouse Employment - A Series

No, not here - it's on Left Face. We are talking about employment for milspouses, what kind of job can we find, discrimination in hiring and pay, job satisfaction. Please come over, join the conversation. We love to hear from you!

Click HERE and drop in for some thoughtful conversation, and please add to it, it's about all of us who move, and move, and move, whilst trying to hold on to the career we trained for, make enough money to keep our family happier (or in some cases, to pay for the house you still own at the LAST duty station) , use the degree we are still paying for... all of it.

LAW

A wounded National Guardsman

This family needs our help - our support. This story hit me very hard, SFC Kevin Dupont is a 52 year old Massachusetts National Guardsman - he was VSI in Afghanistan and is now in an induced coma at Brooke Army Medical Center. He's our age! He could be home, in Massachusetts, with his family but he volunteered to go. His wife is also Guard, an MP and did her tour in Iraq. This brings back so many memories of our time in the MN Guard and for me, this is what the Guard is, a family affair and now one of our family needs support. A fund has been set up - the address is on Blackfive - the link is here. Please, drop by and read the full account. Send his wife Lisa a note of encouragement - she reads everything to Kevin.


LAW

Wounded Warrior Project

So... I just sat and bawled like a 2 year old watching the CMA's - and saw Trace Adkins and the West Point Glee Club sing for the Wounded Warrior Project.

Normally, I'd put a link in right about here... but I can't. The page won't load, the traffic seems to be so heavy that there isn't a way to get through. And I'm so happy about that! I'm hoping every single person who goes to wounded warrior project.org buys that download. I'll put the link in as soon as I can get it!

I was so impressed with the wounded warrior chosen to introduce the piece - he said it all - this is about the warriors, not the war. If we can all remember that!

**** I managed to get on this morning - but be patient, load time takes quite a while, due to increased traffic! That's wonderful!

LAW

Go Vote!

Left Face- another blog made up of left leaning military spouses -

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2009/03/contest-spouse-blogs.html

Unfortunately, one milspouse has decided to get inappropriate - ignore it please.

LAW

The infamous IPod

For those who don't know me, I am an Anglophile - I'll freely admit it. I've been reading about the gift the Obamas gave Her Majesty yesterday, and for some reason many people are SHOCKED that they would give her an IPod and a rare book.

First, HM loves her present IPod, and has been seen listening to it while walking the dogs and there are rumours that she listens to it when on trips. She loves music, especially musicals. So the gift, which had musicals already loaded and the pictures of her recent trip to the US, was a thoughtful, personal gift. The rare song book? Her library collection is one of the largest "private" collections (it belongs to the head of State, and will be passed on intact upon her death" and is one of the treasures of the State. She takes an active enjoyment in it, so a rare book, signed by a great American Songwriter - very suitable.

What do these people want to give her? another framed picture? GWB gave her a statue - not exactly a personal gift - although the box of letters from the archives was a nice one. Another sterling silver box? a little redundant, don't you think? These gifts are supposed to be personal, not an exercise in "look what I'm rich enough to give you"... She, one of the richest people in the world, gives a picture in a frame.

As for those who talk about the President's answers to reporters being stuttering and stammering - please, remember last year... GWB making up words and babbling inanely. Even you, the faithful, cannot say the man could actually parse a coherent sentence.

LAW

I got this from a PAO at DOD.

"Writers Needed for Washington Times coverage of Military: Base News

The Washington Times will soon launch a community journalism Web site devoted to reporting all the news about the military and their families, from the perspective of those who are most familiar with the issues. We need volunteers to write both for our weekly coverage that will appear in the print edition of TWT and for the daily coverage on our Web site, BaseNews.com. Writers need simply to follow the guidelines and accept to write without monetary compensation. Our mission is to transform the way the American media portrays the military community. We need to hear from as many different sources within the community, in bases all across America and around the world. If you want to be a community journalist, contact Grace Vuoto: 2026363165 or gvuoto@washingtontimes.com."

I like the idea of educating the public/media about what/who we REALLY are! and for those who are overseas it would be a good fit... unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any $$$$$$$$ involved, but then most of us write for nada anyway!

LAW

And the nutjobs keep on rollin'

Michelle Bachman - the one who wanted members of Congress investigated for unamerican activities, and when confronted with the evidence of her saying it twice claimed it was an "urban myth" has done it again.

bachmann-bill-would-prohibit-global-currency/

Now, the President said he would NOT sign on to a global currency... But hey, Michelle Bachmann - twinkie extraordinaire who hung on to GWBush at the State of the Union address like he was her long lost boytoy... knows better!

Then we have the poster child for whiny pain in the butt - garsh, golly gee, wink wink...

palins-prayer-remark-angers-former-staffers/ Supposedly, she couldn't find anyone who wanted to hold hands and pray. Well, dear Governor P, I think praying by yourself is perfectly satisfactory if you believe - however if you are trying to proclaim oooh ooooh look at me, I'm praying I guess that's not good enough, huh?

Hey - I have the best ticket I can hope for - Palin/Bachmann.... wheeee.