reminiscing...

This time last year I was posting about bad news that Gary got passed over for promotion. Well, deja vu - it happened again this year. There is no "next time". In rereading those posts, I relied on I Thess. 5:18 - and curiously enough, that exact verse is what I've relied on this time. We just did it in our after-school Bible class. I even made a "give thanks" cake, because this means we are going to embark on something different in our family. And God always has the most interesting stuff planned.

So we have to face the future. That means I'm going to start digging into our finances and figure out how much house we can afford! Woop-te-do. I'm so not looking forward to it. Househunting - yes, I look forward to that. Being in debt, no. We are a frugal family and have no debts. A couple of years ago I swiped a book from my parents, one of those For Dummies books about buying a house. I'm going to fill out the charts and learn all about the intricate world of mortgages and negotiating.

So anyway, we have to move this summer. Gary talked to the placement people and we have a few possibilities. Notice I didn't say choice. It's never our choice. Hah! (gotta push the bitterness down) We're looking at 2 jobs a Ft. Monroe, VA (very near where we lived last time), Charlottesville VA at the JAG school, Atlanta, and Ft. Sam Houston San Antonio. Of course, I've been spending my time online researching schools and houses. The list needs to be narrowed down more, because these are just too many areas to research fully.

Oh, and if he finds a job and wants to retire? They need 9 months notice. How fair is that? What employer is going to wait 9 months for a new hire?

So, to lighten the mood, I decided to post a picture of me when I was 13 and in braces. Give me a break folks, I was 13 and this was the 70's! LOL!

back to the usual routine...

First off, I'm going to post Halloween pictures.

Jake as a gangster (I need to talk to him about not pointing weapons at people!) and Ryan is a forensic crime investigator (in other words, a CSI, but I dare not call him that in his range of hearing) Basically, they are cops and robbers.

These are some friends they went trick or treating with. We went to a little party beforehand where we attempted to ply our children with goulish yet healthy foods before the candy frenzy.

It seems like there has been very little school the past month or so. First, there was the week of fall break, then a week and a half of half-days due to parent/teacher conferences. BTW, they went very well. The boys are doing great except their handwriting is atrocious. It's going to start affecting their grades, and I told the teachers to do whatever they needed to do to drive the point home that they needed to take the time to write neatly. It's bad folks. It would be unreadable if I weren't the mama.

Oh, we had off monday and tuesday for waiver day and election day. Then they get Veterans day off and two days for Thanksgiving. Not to mention we get 3 weeks for winter break which is coming up way too soon. Christmas shopping? It's so hard to even think about when it's in the 80's. The room I'm sitting in right now reads 88.

I'm about to scream. My printer is flaking on me. I just bought a new ink cartridge and now nothing is printing. Oh, there's ink in that thing all right. Can we not manufacture a printer or pc that actually works?? This is so frustrating. We seem to buy new ones every other year! That's just not green people! If I had a shotgun I'd rip this thing a new one, ya know.

Okay, in this no politics zone, I must mention that I'm glad the elections are over. I may not agree with the politics of the president-elect, but it is wonderful to see a black man going to the office. Let's face it, race is important in this race. It may not be what the race was about (for some I'm absolutely sure it was), but it is a major earmark for this particular election. I fear for some of the changes that will be coming, but I do embrace the change that having a black man in office will incur (is that a word?). This is huge folks. Huge. It will be normal for the newest generations for a person of color to occupy the highest office in the country. An office of respect. I think this is a turning of the tide for greater gains in race relations. (of course, I pray he does a great job and doesn't pass bad legislation) I love that this will be the norm (as it should be) for my kids. When I think back again to that book "Elijah of Buxton" - how it reminded me that slaves were treated as animals, or really less than animals - possessions, not even prized possessions. This is a good day. Maybe not so politically, but a good day morally.


Gosh, I wonder if this will end up being another post I have to unsave...

pictures from today and more race pics

First, I took a couple of pictures on my walk today with my camera phone. It rained for half my walk, so it's really cloudy, and well, the quality and composition are just not great. But I wanted to share what I get to see on my walks. The ocean was really roaring this morning.

The first two are along the ocean, actually looking across the top of Kailua Bay. You can see the Mokes in the distance (the two tiny little humps on the left - the other big humps are part of Oahu) in the second picture; and the little island in the first picture is dubbed "bird poop island". It's usually shining white - with, well, you know. They seem really far away in these pics, but they are larger IRL.

Had I left 15 minutes earlier and were it not cloudy, there would be a spectacular sunrise. I want to get that photo.

This next picture is alongside the stinky pond I walk around. It's stinky for a few reasons. It's right next to a water treatment facility, and the flow of water in and out is limited. I hear it's very briney. I love to watch the fish jump when they are feeling frisky. The crater in the background is on the Marine Corp base. I walk along the base of that crater. That's enough hill for me without having to go straight up it!

This is team Pokemoms - the ones who attended the race who are female, that is. Disclaimer, Jenny, the tall one, is not a deranged killer. She didn't want me to post this photo, but then later gave me permission. I guess it was early and she had too much coffee. Just kidding!

This is my favorite photo. Heh, heh. Job recruiters, please don't hold it against him! I made him do it!

regrets...

I "unpublished" that last posting. When I was typing it up, I knew it was the wrong thing to do, but I just wanted to get it off my chest. I'm so totally over it. I just use this place to blow off steam, and it usually works - unfortunately, this is such a public forum, casualties are bound to happen. I really didn't want to confront you Krisanne, so that's why I didn't. I figure that the 3 readers I have don't know you and I didn't name names, so it wasn't really a big deal in my mind. Unload and move on. I'm passive-agressive I guess - big shocker there. LOL!

On an interesting side note, the school had a kids vote on Friday. My boys' votes cancelled each other out. Gary is shocked - because he was the one who explained to them the differences between Obama and McCain. He, of course, expected them to fall in line. He shouldn't be shocked, this is Obama country. Ryan said the kids in his class were making fun of McCain's age.

Meanwhile, I'm saving up a big vent about HFCS and a related article I read in the newspaper. I have a little pantry research to do first. (this whole this is a form of procrastinating my FRG duties) Exciting, I know...

more Komen photos - all pre-race

somehow, didn't get post race photos, that's all for the best I'm sure, but the lei I got was really pretty.

Komen race for the cure

This is what I did this morning ...

Excuse the gray hair and glasses, after all, it was 5:30 in the morning! This doesn't even begin to show what I looked like at the end of the race. Imagine bright pink shoelaces on my serious running shoes, and energizer bunny ears atop my bright pink cap - and a lei. Like my t-shirt? Had I known there was a t-shirt contest I would have bought another one to enter. But we know in our hearts that we won that contest. (no one was willing to strip off theirs to enter it) Ryan and I won door prizes. I won a Chevron pink car (toy), a team Chevron t-shirt and a Komen candle. Ryan won a pink Chevron car and a pink folding chair. Our team raised $390.

cryin, but not about me

I've cried out all my tears about me. That's done with. But now I'm bawling. I just finished the book "Elijah of Buxton" that I mentioned briefly before. It's a book that Jake is reading. It's a MUST READ. It's easy to read, yet hard to read. But I think it's important. I'm glad that my child is reading it, to get just a taste of the ramifications of slavery in America. I think the further and further we get away from those times, it becomes unreal - just an aside in history. That would be a shame to forget or minimize.

Jake asked me this morning, when we were walking to school, "would you rather be dead or a slave?". I couldn't answer him. Think about it. It's a hard, hard question.

I'm just so sorry that such a horrible thing as slavery existed, and even more horrible, it still exists in the world and the prejudices still linger here.

I can't help but be reminded that people are capable of anything. Usually rotten things. I'm not one of those who think people are basically good. That never flew with me. *sigh* oh how we need Jesus.