"I'm Tired"
Two weeks ago, as I was starting my sixth month of duty in Iraq, I was forced to return to the USA for surgery for an injury I sustained prior to my deployment. With luck, I'll return to Iraq to finish my tour. I left Baghdad and a war that has every indication that we are winning, to return to a demoralized country much like the one I returned to in 1971 after my tour in Vietnam. Maybe it's because I'll turn60 years old in just four months, but I'm tired:I'm tired of spineless politicians, both Democrat and Republican who lack the courage, fortitude, and character to see these difficult tasks through.I'm tired of the hypocrisy of politicians who want to rewrite history when the going gets tough.I'm tired of the disingenuous clamor from those that claim they 'Support the Troops' by wanting them to 'Cut and Run' before victory is achieved.I'm tired of a mainstream media that can only focus on car bombs and casualty reports because they are too afraid to leave the safety of their hotels to report on the courage and success our brave men and women are having on the battlefield.I'm tired that so many Americans think you can rebuild dictatorship into a democracy over night.I'm tired that so many ignore the bravery of the Iraqi people to go to the voting booth and freely elect a Constitution and soon a permanent Parliament.I'm tired of the so called 'Elite Left' that prolongs this war by giving aid and comfort to our enemy, just as they did during the Vietnam War.I'm tired of antiwar protesters showing up at the funerals of our fallen soldiers. A family who's loved ones gave their life in a just and noble cause, only to be cruelly tormented on the funeral day by cowardly protesters is beyond shameful.I'm tired that my generation, the Baby Boom -- Vietnam generation, who have such a weak backbone that they can't stomach seeing the difficult tasks through to victory.I'm tired that some are more concerned about the treatment of captives than they are the slaughter and beheading of our citizens and allies.I'm tired that when we find mass graves it is seldom reported by the press,but mistreat a prisoner and it is front page news Mostly, I'm tired that the people of this great nation didn't learn from history that there is no substitute for Victory.
Sincerely,
Joe Repya,Lieutenant Colonel, U. S. Army101st Airborne Division

Military Men and Women

You stay up for 16 hours

He stays up for days on end.
_________________________

You take a warm shower to help you wake up.

He goes days or weeks without running water.
__________________________

You complain of a "headache", and call in sick.

He gets shot at as others are hit, and keeps moving forward.
__________________________

You put on your anti war/don't support the troops shirt, and go meet up with your friends.

He still fights for your right to wear that shirt.
__________________________

You make sure you're cell phone is in your pocket.

He clutches the cross hanging on his chain next to his dog tags.
__________________________

You talk trash about your "buddies" that aren't with you.

He knows he may not see some of his buddies again.
__________________________

You walk down the beach, staring at all the pretty girls.

He patrols the streets, searching for insurgents and terrorists.
_________________________

You complain about how hot it is.

He wears his heavy gear, not daring to take off his helmet to wipe his brow. __________________________

You go out to lunch, and complain because the restaurant got your order wrong.

He doesn't get to eat today.
__________________________

Your maid makes your bed and washes your clothes.

He wears the same things for weeks, but makes sure his weapons are clean.
__________________________

You go to the mall and get your hair redone.

He doesn't have time to brush his teeth today.
__________________________

You're angry because your class ran 5 minutes over.

He's told he will be held over an extra 2 months.
__________________________

You call your girlfriend and set a date for tonight.

He waits for the mail to See if there is a letter from home.
__________________________

You hug and kiss your girlfriend, like you do everyday.

He holds his letter close and smells his love's perfume.
__________________________

You roll your eyes as a baby cries.

He gets a letter with pictures of his new child, and wonders if they'll ever meet __________________________

You criticize your government, and say that war never solves anything.

He sees the innocent tortured and killed by their own people and remembers why he is fighting.
__________________________

You hear the jokes about the war, and make fun of men like him.

He hears the gunfire, bombs and screams of the wounded.
__________________________

You see only what the media wants you to see.

He sees the broken bodies lying around him.
__________________________

You are asked to go to the store by your parents. You don't.

He does exactly what he is told.
__________________________

You stay at home and watch TV.

He takes whatever time he is given to call, write home, sleep, and eat.
__________________________

You crawl into your soft bed, with down pillows, and get comfortable.

He tries to sleep but gets woken by mortars and helicopters all night long.
__________________________

You sit there and judge him, saying the world is probably a worse place because of men like him.

If only there were more men like him

Layouts

I've done just a few layouts this afternoon and am adding a few I had already done into this slide show. Enjoy!

Inspiration!!! (at last)

First go look at this layout from Michele Skinner from Memory Maker's Master's 2007.
It's ok... I'll wait.

Don't you love the simplicity of it? The beauty of her children's eyes? The fantastic story she told? Ok now about the layout I have forming in my head... I want to do actually a two page spread (my usual style) and compare all the little nuances of Chaiilynn that she got from either Jonathan or me or both of us perhaps. She got her eyes from her Daddy and her nose from her Mommy. Things like that. And take pictures of each feature on her and whoever she got it from. Only I don't want to stop there. I want to do one of my mom and dad and me and my sister. They would have to go in the album right next to each other so people can see that Chaiilynn actually got her nose from her Grandma. It's making me tear up just telling you about it (inspiration often makes me cry... who knows why and don't you laugh).

I not only got one layout idea from that one I got TWO!!! I want to take photos of Chaiilynns parts as she gets older. Her eyes, her hands, her smile. The same thing every birthday. And show that on a growing up page. Yeah! Have you ever seen that in an album?

Well I must go clean off that nose and smile I intend to photograph as it's covered in chocolate brownie. Yummy. Until then...


Holli

Engagement Album

Right now I'm working on finishing an engagement album for Jonathan to take with him when he deploys. I'm about half way finished with it. I've got some not so great pictures of it to post. When I get it finished we'll take some better photos so you can check it out. Until then here are the not so great ones.

When I got out the pictures and started working on them Jonathan had the audacity to complain that they are five years old. He didn't want an album with pictures that old in it. Well honey it's all the pictures we have of you and me together so you better suck it up and deal. How many other wives are putting together two albums for their hubbies to take with them when they go to the desert? Answer me that darlin'! You just better be thankful you're getting anything at all. I'd so much rather be working on Chaiilynn's birthday album. Or the album I'm doing for Nana to carry in her purse. I hate pictures of me so just count your blessings. And tell me that on those lonely nights over there you won't have this out thinking about home! That's what I thought. Now shut up and love it.

A comment was left on my blog by a David Richards. So I hopped on over to his blog. He's got tons and tons of Easter ideas posted there. You should deffinately go check it out.

Sale Stuff

So we went to Wal-Mart the other day just for like deoderant and razors and stuff like that. Well I had to wonder into the scrapbook isle and they have all kinds of stuff on sale. Their stamps to name the biggest thing. I picked up all four sets along with a ton of Easter stuff that I needed for last years Easter pages. I'm excited. Here is all the stuff I picked up.

Gas Man

So the gas man shows up at 10:00 this morning. I was sleeping in the back bedroom and apparently he was knocking on the back door. He almost left without turning my gas back on because he came to the back. Why would you go to the back door? That seems so silly to me. Then he had the audacity to yell at me for not answering. I couldn't hear him knocking on the back door. So he leaves a notice on the back door and I didn't know it. When my hubby came home he finds the notice and rushes to the phone to call the gas company to see if they can get somebody out before 5:00 (it was 4:30) to turn the gas back on. They look through the notes on the account and are like Sir your gas is already back on. Did you not check it before you called. So he feels like an idiot and the woman laughs at him. I think it's rather funny myself.


I have an all day crop tomorow that I'm so excited for. Maybe that's where I left my mojo last time. It starts at 10:00 and I have to leave at 3:00 for a much deserved massage. I'm still thinking about what to take. My Cricut is a must. Other than that I don't know. I'll post anything I accomplish.

Oh she has an album waiting for me that I'm going to put our engagement pictures in. I think all I'll take is my cutter, some adhesive, my Cricut, and the pictures. Hopefully I can finish the album in five hours. It's only a 7x7.

Goodnight for now...

Tool Kit # 2

I FOUND MY TOOL KIT!!! It was under and behind my shelves next to my desk. Hubby just shrugged at me and said he hadn't seen it. What a huge help he was right? I'm going to make for it a special place for it on my desk and if anybody moves it they are going to have to get their hands cut off like in Aladdin when Princess Jasmine swiped the apple. I have a cutter that would do the trick. Don't tempt me.

We had another crisis yesterday. They cut off our gas because the stupid gas company credited our payment to our old address. Intelligence abounds in call centers. Finally after I jumped up and down and insisted that we had made the payment did they bother to even look for it. And on top of the last payment that we made that was credited wrong they found a SECOND pay,ent that had been credited wrong. So a total of over $250 was sent to the wrong place. But they are still going to charge me a reconnect fee of $65 even though it was their fault. And my gas has been turned off for at least 24 hours. Unfortunately we have a gas stove and I wanted to make some ham and beans today. Oh well. That's what slow cookers are for right?

Enough of my bitch fest. More updates when the gas man actually comes to turn it back on.

Tool Kit

I'm absolutely tearing apart my scrap room looking for my Cricut tool kit. I can't find it anywhere and I need it really badly. I'm trying to finish up a project I should have had finished two days ago and I'm having a heck of a time because I don't have my scooper. I NEED MY SCOOPER. Or a large shot of tequilla. I just know Chaiilynn has sneaked in here and snatched it and taken it somewhere in my messy house. I just don't know where and I need it now. Or it's right in front of my face and I can't see it because I need it. I'm just going to breathe deeply and wait for Jonathan to get home. He'll either know where it is or be able to see it right in front of my face on my desk. That's what husbands are for. Oh then he'll make fun of me for not being able to see it for weeks and weeks. That's alright. As long as he finds it for me.

No Mojo

I can't figure out where my scrapping mojo has gone. It's been weeks since I've come up with a good LO. I hardly even participated in the crop last weekend after I cleared our schedules so I could. I just had no inner inspiration to get anything done. And let me tell you I didn't get anything done. Nothing at all. Well I finished four layouts and only one of them is halfway decent. I think it was because I was so absolutely bummed out because of my pictures not being here. Shame on your Creative Memories. I did go ahead and print out all the challenges from the crop and I'm going to do them soon. When my mojo decides to come back. I went through all those pictures last night and put them in a power sort box. But I have to make another order here shortly. I have to get Circus pictures and playing in the front yard pictures and there were a few other sets I needed to get... I just can't remember what they were. Update on that soon. I am going to give CM Photo Center another chance. They did have a legit reason for not getting my prints out as fast as they would have otherwise. And it's just easier to upload from Memory Manager to CM than it is anywhere else. I don't want to spent hours searching my Memory Vault for the pictures I want to print.

One Minute... Hubby needs me...

I had to help him find his birth certificate for his passport. We're already getting ready for his deployment in August. At least this year he won't miss Chaiilynn's birthday. The bad thing is he will miss my birthday, our anniversary, Christmas, New Years, and his birthday. This is the longest deployment he's going on as of yet. It's scheduled for six months but six months means 8 or 9.

We have to get his warm up gear before the 27th. That's a little over $100 bucks we weren't planning on yet. What in the world does he need warm up gear in the desert for? It's 120 degrees every day and he needs long pants and a jacket? I don't think so.

I wonder if he can see my blog from where he's going. They have computers with internet access over there but it's heavily restricted. When he was there last time they said they were going to work on getting wireless access up and running for everybody. He just happens to have a laptop with a wireless card. The good thing about them not having internet access over there was that he could call me two or three times a day if he wanted to and I could call him six times a month. I don't think there was a single month that I used all my six calls because he had unlimited calls to me. Several times he even called through to me while I was trying to dial him. Yeah. That's how connected we are even when he's 10,000 miles away. Ok I'm going to stop talking about this now before I cry.

Here are a few pictures from his return last time.

Up Late!!

Chaiilynn and I are up late because Daddy let us both take a long evening nap tonight. The good thing is I got these adorable pictures of Chaiilynn laying on her tummy on my desk and writing Grandma a letter.

Yeah how cute is that? Totally worth the sleep deprivation. Oh great. Now she's writing on my print out of Julie's Use your Stash challenge and the cat is sleeping on my mini power sort box. Yuck... he's getting hair all over it. Oh well. Hopefully we'll get some sleep before dawn.

Prints

As I was writing my last post somebody knocks on my door. Yeah we don't have a doorbell. I hate that. Guess who it was? It was the UPS man deliver the 1400 photos I ordered back on March 2nd. And what's today? The 21st. I ordered them from the Creative Memories Photo Center. I would not recomend ordering from them ever. 19 days to get to me. They had some excuse about their vendor just shutting it's doors on the 6th and losing everybody's files. Which is crap. Everybody's files are uploaded to the CM server. They have them. Just getting everybody out their prints was not the top issue on their priority list. Oh well. At least they did refund my money and upgrade my shipping to 2nd day. But it took two weeks of calling every day and harassing them to do that. ~shakes head~ I know they have lost a lot of business because of this and that makes me sad because CM was just starting to get some really good stuff. I can't justify in my mind spending my money with them ever again. Be it photos or regular product. I'm so sorry Heather. I know it's not your fault. It all makes me so sad.

On a happier note here is a picture of my angel playing with her daddy in the front yard with a huge ball.

Lil' About Me

I've been scrapping for about 10 years now. Ok I started out with construction paper and rubber cement when I was about 12. Does that even count as scrapping? My mom thought it did and she still has all those things I did way back when. I can't get her to hand them over so I can spray them with Archival Mist and put them in a real scrapbook.

I married my best friend and the closest to perfect man I've ever met three days before I turned 19. We're working on being married five years now. Unless you don't count the time the military has taken him away from me. Jonathan joined the military seven months after we got married in June of 2003. He's been in the Air Force going on four years now. He has a love-hate relation with the Air Force. So do I... Grrrr! He's deployed twice already. The first time when I was pregnant with our daughter and the second time right before her first birthday. He's made some sacrifices for his job but he loves it. Hopefully we make it to 20 years.

When Chaiilynn was about three months old a guy that Jon worked with, his wife had a Creative Memories party. I went and got hooked on modern scrapping again. I use everything. I think my favorite embelishment is metal. I love the way metal looks on the page. Oh and ribbon. I can't collect enough ribbon to use. I love it. And ribbon mixed with metal just makes me drool.

This is an 8.5x8.5 album I did for Jonathan to take with him the next time he deploys.