Skinny Bitch

My girlfriend Kari, who also happens to be one of my old neighbors from North Carolina and a dear friend, called me the other day and told me that I HAD to read this book. The name of the book is Skinny Bitch. You see we are on the same diet...one that is working for both of us. So she tells me if you really want to get into this whole diet thing read Skinny Bitch. So off I went to Barnes and Noble and of course they didn't have in stock so I ordered it online and finally got here last Saturday. I picked it up on Monday and decided to start reading and man did it open my eyes. Now some of the stuff was a little far fetched. I am a carnivore and will not give up meat....even if it just decaying flesh, but you know what bye bye soda and bye bye most dairy. The book also has references through out so when your one eyebrow raises at some of the info you can actually go look it up.....its scary what we are taught and what the effects are. To each his own I say but weather you feel like changing your habits or not its an interesting read. And to tell you the truth I haven't had soda in about a week and I kinda miss it but feel good that I am over it. I can give up milk no problem...I think its gross YUK.....its the cheese and the ice cream that will be hard but you have to start somewhere right. Now one of the thing that I liked about the book was the frankness...and when I say frank I mean it. There is no sugar coating what so ever, it's blunt and to the point. I loved it!!

I also just started reading the Blog of War. This one is much harder and I am only a few pages in but it really hits home. I can't begin to count the number of close friends and comrades that we have lost. The one that left his wife and two boys behind that are the same age as ours. He gave it all and did it proudly and we are forever thankful to him......I often think about his wife and two boys and my heart breaks. I think of the soldier that would come to our house in Germany and want hot wings and then I think of his wife and three little children that will never hug him again. I think of the man that went off to war and thought that he would make it back and retire and enjoy it....he never got to turn in those retirement papers. I thank them all, for their honor, duty and in the end their ultimate sacrifice. When I look at my husband I thank God that he is here. That every time he faced danger that he faced it with courage and determination and because of that and the grace of God he can still have the joy of tucking our boys in at night. I don't know how long this book will take me to read. I find myself putting it down a lot even though I have the need to keep reading because I want to know but in the same instance I already know the out come so I know the pain that comes with it.

Frustration and Self Control at its Best

I can not STAND companies that pride themselves on customer service and then turn around and hire tweedle dumber and tweedle dumbest to work for them. As most of you know Donte and I moved to Chicago on military orders...yup that's right we didn't just decide to move we had to. So we get here and lo and behold the cell company that we had is not available in this area and after a few months of dropped calls and missed text messages I called and complained and the rep for the said cell company told me I would be better off to disconnect and go with a carrier that had local towers. OK made sense so off we went and found Verizon. I then call old cell company to disconnect. I get a rep named Lisa and she is as sweet as can be and says "please just fax your military orders and it will be done within 24 hours".....Great I think....this will be easy. Well 48 hours later I call back and they say "no ma'am no orders please fax again". So I call Donte ask him to re fax and to make sure that he gets a confirmation letter out of the fax this time. He does this I call and they say 24 hours again. So I call back ....this time its dumb as rocks one

DAR1 (Dumb as Rocks One)...."No ma'am we don't get faxes"

Me..."WHAT??????I just spoke to two people in three days that said fax to this number and now you say there are no faxes."

DAR1..."no we don't get them."

Me..."Please put me through to your supervisor"

me on hoooooooooooooooooooold forever.

G (Supervisor)....."yes Mrs. Slade we have received both your faxes but our faxes go straight to email and the person that it went through to is out."

Me...."OK well cant someone go and get them. It has been over three days and two faxes later and you still have not closed out my account."

G..."let me see what I can do"

Me.....on Hooooooooooooold again

G..."OK we will have it taken care of in 24 hours."

Me..... "Great Thank you do I get a confirmation?"

G....."someone will call in 24 hours."

72 hours later.......................................

I Call in the morning cant remember what time. Get in touch with another supervisor (this company has way too many supervisors)O

Me....I explain the situation

O....."I will get it done." (in his best superman voice)

Me....."good thank you."

O....."I will call you back in 20 min."

Me.......(slight hope that this will work) "Thanks."

45 min later I call back

Me......"O, this is me, can you tell me the status?"

O......"the lady that has it is out until 1130 so I will have to call you back at 1200 this gives me the time to get it all settled."

Me. Annoyed but still polite... "Thank you"...I hang up the phone and whisper dumb ass he should have called and at least told me that

One o'clock comes and I call back....notice that I am the one doing all the calling back

Me...."I have called three times today. You give me time frame for a return call and do not call. I would like to know whats happening with my account....I am getting a bit frustrated."

O...."yea ma'am I am still waiting on the fax...we are really busy."

Me..... "I know that you are busy (I wanted to scream, how busy would you be if I put my foot up your ...but alas I didn't.)but its ridiculous that I have been dealing with this for days and no one there can seem to figure it out."

O..."I apologize ma'am as soon as I get the fax I will call back." ( at this point he sounds like Charlie Browns teacher and there is steam starting to come out of my ears)

Me..... "OK and just to make sure that we are on the same sheet of music we are military they are military orders so the one phone still under contract we are cancelling with no penalty."

O..."ummm I don't think so. Its a case by case." ( CASE BY CASE IS HE KIDDING???)

Me...."I talked to the supervisor before you and the statement made to me us that if you have military orders and you are moving to a place where you do not offer service we can cancel that contract without penalty."

he then proceeds to give me some mambo jumbo and I calmly state through my gritted teeth that "there is no fee...call me when you get the fax."

Called for the 4Th time by this point I am highly aggravated. They patch me through to stinky attitude, I need a life girl who thought that she was the cream of the crop. "We cant patch you through to O you will have to deal with me." ( Is she for real, I may sound sweet but hell I was raised an Army Brat, am an Army Wife and my parents didn't raise a sissy...yes I am respectful...but I have a limit.)

Me......I state that I have been working with a specific person and would like to keep working with him as I do not want to have to explain myself for the 100th time.

SAINALG (stinky attitude, I need a life girl).…unreasonable and rudely said that she could not get o on the line and I could hang up and call back if I wanted another supervisor.

Me....CLICK!!! You guys just don't know how close I got to screaming but I had to get my account straight and hey she has to live with herself right?...Right now I am so not liking being a mature grown up and just want to bring her down a few notches.

I call back for the 5Th time at 2:55. I get a Rep who is trying to locate O (who I would like to throw a pie at) and here I am on hold again!

Finally I get another supervisor, we will call him "L" who actually had some brain matter that worked and thanks to him and me scanning what he needed. We are now out of our contract, with no early disconnection fee!!

Me...."Thank you for getting this resolved, but what happened to O?

L...."hes standing here but was a bit confused, I am so sorry that you have had this much trouble." .....uhhh you think!!

Me.."Thank you again L have a nice day."

Now what I really wanted to say was......I better not they may suspend my blog due to the violence and profanity. I am all calm now after taking the boys to swim practice, cooking dinner, washing the dogs, doing a load of laundry (I really miss my cleaning lady...do you think I could get her a visa to the states...she probably wouldn't come...I wouldn't leave Germany either)Cleaning the kitchen and tucking the boys in.

so if you ever have a problem with ALLTEL....who I have to say were great until I had to disconnect....drop me a line/ L gave me his agent ID and direct line ....in case I ever need it. Trust me I wont but if you do and would like to cut through the crap to get your problem solved....drop me a line.

Photoshop

Well I went out and bought Photoshop a few weeks ago and have been playing with it ever since. Well I went to Barnes and Noble yesterday and on the sales nook guess what I found.....




Yup I was happier than a kid that didn't get caught in the cookie jar. PS is harder than I thought it would be and this book that cost me 9.98 tells me all the little secrets that I need to know. I started working on some pictures last night and tried out many of the different techniques and before I knew it, it was 1100 and time for bed.

I am working on the pics from the promotion and as soon as I get them done I will post them.

The boys have two weeks of swim left. I am sad in a way but glad in a way as well. Swim four days out of a five day work week was a lot of driving for me but well worth it. Donnie is now a Flying Fish and Daniel is a Fish. I am very proud of my little men as they worked really hard this summer to reach their goals.

Well I have a Computer/Game Room to set up so I better be off to it. But before I leave here is the first picture that I created with layers in it. A bit remedial I am sure but never the less I was proud of myself.

Here's the original the boys hanging out in the back yard by the Pond.


And here is the masterpiece....the boys relaxing in Bavaria overlooking a lovely lake and mountain.

CONGRATULATIONS Sergeant First Class Slade

Yesterday was the big day. Donte was promoted to Sergeant First Class, E7 and I am so very proud of him. As usual the day started off hectic as I scrambled to get the boys ready for Soccer, by the grace of God we made it and I explained to the coaches that they would be leaving early. No problem they say. I get a few errands done and go back to pick the kids up. The situation goes like this. I go to the soccer field...ummmm where are my kids....in fact where are all the kids? I turn around trek back to the building in the 198978735 degree heat.....OK high 90's but it felt like 198978735. There they were in the middle of the huge indoor track in the nice air conditioning playing with a ball the size of Jupiter. No kidding this ball was like a huge blowup beach ball that would crush you if you got caught under it. I stand at the door and try and wave my kids down...the little one saw me and then acted like he didn't. The coaches are all so enthralled with laughing at the kids that they don't notice me either. So now I had to debate....do I walk in and chance getting smashed by this ball.....Ummmmmm NO just ain't worth it. I finally get the coach's attention and he gets the boys. I tell them to come on we have to get ready and get this they are upset......why......"we didn't get to play with the big balls"!!! I almost fell down laughing at this. Oh the things that come out of kids mouths. As soon as I get them home and into the shower I hear the front door open. Donte is home and now all four of us are getting ready. I specifically tell the boys to shower, get there undies on and put lotion on. I get showered and start getting ready. Now my husband is in the room with me but I am moving at warp speed so he could have been 10 states away for all I knew. I got my clothes ironed, the boys pants ironed......and then noticed something...in the midst of all the excitement my loving husband is fast asleep on the bed. "UH HUM" HONEY I say, "can you iron the boys shirts while I finish getting ready?". "Sure" he says like we have all the time in the world. I explain to him that we women have to pluck, primp, blow dry, curl, and do 1001 other things in the effort to look great for the cameras at these events. He in turn looks at me like I have 4 heads and nods his head in agreement. So off to the ceremony we go. We get there in plenty of time and sit around while everyone else arrives. Donte has always had a good bunch of fellow soldiers but these guys and the poor lonely gal are hilarious. Never a dull moment. They read his orders and then they yank his E6 rank off and I very carefully place his E7 rank on and punch in square in the chest as hard as I can. It was very different from when I pinned on his E6, back then you had rank with the prongs and you made sure that the dammits were missing because what is rank if you cant cause pain right....ahhhhh the Army way. Donte then said a few touching remarks about God, his wife (that's me) and the kids. His fellow recruiters had the local store make cupcakes with E7 rank on it (was nice because this is nowhere near a military town) and with a little coaxing they all dug in and got there sugar fix for the day. The big party will be next weekend, here at the house. We will be having a good old fashioned southern style BBQ with all the fixin's and of course the beer.....yuk dont like beer but I know a few soldiers that will. I will post pics either tonight or tomorrow.

Lazy Days of Summer

Wow I cant believe that July is almost over. I swear this year has flown by and I have no earthly idea where it went. I still remember New Years Eve at our house with Chris, Ron, Alyssa, Jordan, Kari, Charles, Kaylee and the four of us. We had fun setting off the firecrackers in the rain LOL and Charles was making make shift mortar rounds in the ditch. Oh the joys of living in the country. I wish I would have taken pictures. I miss having them right next door. I have always been lucky enough to be friendly with my neighbors but a few times I have been even luckier to become friends with them. It was so nice last year this time.Our kids would play outside until we dragged them in to take their baths and then we would have to make them get into bed but after that it was just a few moments before they drifted off into a deep, peaceful slumber. Then it was time to hit the porch with Chris and Kari until our eyes just couldn't stay open anymore.....of course the large quantities of wine that we consumed had nothing to do with it. I really enjoyed going over to Kimmies too. Kimmie is such a dear friend and one of the sweetest people I have ever met in my life. I miss her and so do the boys. Her kids are the greatest and between them and Jordan the boys always had great babysitters at reasonable prices. Now I am a little anal about babysitters. I had NEVER let a teenager watch the kids until these three wonderful young people came around. You see I was always afraid that the boys would be plopped in front of the TV and be bored but with these teens there was no chance. They were playing board games, basketball, football, jumping on the trampoline and doing crafts. they watched the occasional show or movie but were always exhausted after a day of play. I wish I could have packed them all with me and brought them here. The summer days here have been good in a different way. This is the first summer in a long time that I have had off with the boys. I have really gotten to know what they are all about. They in turn keep asking if I am going to be off next summer too. I really hope that I am. I thought that I would go stir crazy but we have had a jam packed summer, starting off with out trip to Sri Lanka, swim, basketball, Soccer, Hip Hop and just doing things together. So here we are August starts tomorrow and we have 3 precious weeks left. I am excited in a way to get back to work and sad in another knowing that the lazy days of summer are going to be in the past until next year.

Is It Really Sunday Night?

We had a lot to do this weekend. Diggy had a vet appt on Friday and we had to find a new cell phone plan since there is no Alltel here in Chicago. I had been researching all the phone companies and narrowed it down to Verizon and T-Mobile. So Saturday Morning we got up and headed out to check them all out. First we went to T-Mobile and the guys was nice and knowledgeable but the plan and phones that we wanted were way to expensive. So we headed out to Verizon. Let me tell you....Great Salesman, Great Plan, and Great Phones. We were really happy and got a great deal. With our military discount its even better and I wish that we would have switched from Alltel a while ago. After all the cell phone shopping we decided to take the boys bowling. It had been forever since we had been and it sounded like a nice change from the usual movies that we end up at. Well we had a BLAST. The place was a little pricey but it was well worth it. They had couches for you to sit in while you waited your turn and a waiter could by and bring you pizza and drinks. The most fun part though was the Psychedelic Bowling where they turned the lights off and had strobe lights and fake smoke coming at you. We bowled for 2 hours and were completely exhausted. I had taken my camera so we played around with the settings and got some GROOOOOOOOOVY pics. Today we ran a few errands and had to update our new phones, and here we are Sunday night and Monday is right around the corner.....the only good part is that in 2 days and a wake up Donte will be getting pinned his E7.....YIPEEEEEEEE!

Getting Ready for School

The time has come to start getting everything ready for school. You know what I am talking about the book bag, the supplies, the clothes and to my two the shoes. When I was a kid it was Nike's and Keds but that was later down the line. Not elementary I honestly can't remember caring what brand my shoes or clothes were as long as they were comfy and cool. But in today's times our kids are so very aware of brands and not just for shoes but for clothes and what seems like everything else. When I was nine I had no earthly clue who Dolce and Gabbana were (don't think they were around then but even if the were)my parents would have admitted me and my brother to the psych ward if we had ever asked for a pair of jeans that cost over $100. Because back then you could have gotten a ton of stuff for $100. Now don't get me wrong there were certain things in the 80'sand 90's that we wouldn't get caught dead in but I don't think it was half as bad as it is now. We do dress our kids nicely and trust me they earn it. Both boys were Academic All Stars, they are both excelling in sports and they get compliments all the time for their manners. I will splurge on shoes but I do hit the sale racks for jeans and shirts. So yes they get the name brand stuff but trust me when I say that I get it on sale. Why pay full price when you can get it for half. I get this trait from my Mom....in fact it's a running joke in our family...when I come home from shopping I come home with bags not a bag and I used to always say "I saved XXXXmuch money today" so now my Dad will say "soooo how much did you save today?" So Come Aug 1st we will trek out to all the lovely stores to stock up on everything. The only difference from this year to last is that the boys will probably steer away from getting the same stuff and veer towards their own sense of style....it just isn't cool to have your clothes match your brothers. Hopefully I will get some pics of all the stuff we rack up on and I will include the prices as well. I am curious to see how much getting ready for school actually costs. One last note I am giving in and ordering the boys the L.L. Bean Deluxe Book Packs (Back Packs). I have friends that have had them for years and one of my friends bought on for her son in elementary school and he still uses it in High School. So there is the first expense. 2 Book bags + Shipping and handling = $97.75

The case of the missing goggles.

Kids......oh where oh where do I start. As most of you know the boys have been taking swimming this summer and are having a blast. They are actually really good at it and are excelling in all of their classes. I am trying to teach them responsibility so I make them responsible for their swim trunks, goggles and toweles. They do pretty good but for some reason they can not keep their goggles in one place to save their lives. I tell them time after time but God only knows what they are thinking. :) I have to laugh at this because you would think that the water would turn to cement if they didn't have these goggles. I truely believe that they would swim naked or just drip dry but dive in without goggles NO WAY. So I am sitting here writing this post and they are searching franticly......wonder if they have checked on top of the washing machine yet......would make sense since thats where they stripped and put their trunks in the wash. Well I have 25 min to go I think I will let them wait it out a bit. Oh they joys of being a Mom!!! :)

Bloggers Block

For the last few days I have come to the new post screen and pretty much just looked at it. I guess I have bloggers block. Everyday life is relaxed and simple and thats just the way we like it. Hanging out, Swimming and just being with each other is the best part of the summer. I have less than a month to go before it's back to work and back to the everyday grind of the boys being in school. It's hard to believe that I will have a 3rd and a 4th grader next year. It really doesn't seem that long ago that I was jammin' along to Elmopalooza and folding tiny little clothes and those adorable baby socks. I miss those days....the days that they were so excited because they discovered that they had feet or that they could scream. They have grown fast and I know that the years to come will go even faster. I am proud of them. My two young men that drive me absolutly NUTS sometimes but who know their manners and genuinly care about other people and things. They are both smart and funny. Even though the share the same DNA they are truly day and night. One is outgoing and the other a bit shy. One likes to be the center of attention and the other likes to fold into the crowd. But the amazing thing is that they can't seem to do anything without each other. I know that the day will come when they become more independant and do their own individual things but for now I will enjoy seeing them so close and hope that they remember the closeness as they become young men.

So I guess the secret to getting over bloggers block is to just write......:)

Sergeant First Class Slade

Donte made the list for E7 back in March. We were extremely happy and began the long wait for his sequence number to come up. His number is 16 so we guesstimated (that is a word)roughly 6 months. Well on Aug 1st he will be pinned. YIPEEE, HOOOORAH and all those happy party sounds. He works really hard and is very dedicated to what he does and in my eyes no one deserves it more than him.

The weather here has cleared up and we have had the chance to enjoy the outdoors a bit. It isn't as hot as it was before the rain so it's absolutely beautiful. We have about a month left before school starts and we all go back to the grind of homework, working and all the daily joys that happen during the school year. In a way I am ready but in a way I am enjoying the summer with the boys so very much that I don't want it to end. The boys are growing up so fast that soon they will be more interested in doing their own thing instead of hanging out with Mom. So I am treasuring every moment.

RAIN, RAIN GOOOO AWWWWWWAY!

Yuk!!!! Thats the best way to describe it. Its pouring rain yucky cold, dark and LOUD rain. But I guess it's OK since I went to Michaels and picked out some scrapbooking stuff. If it's still raining tomorrow at least I will have something else to do......MOOD FOR THE EVENING BLAAAAAAAAAAH

Reconnecting

In my lifetime, my all 31 years of it I have moved 9 times...wow I had never counted it up before but theres that number......9. Now this is not house to house or dorm room to parents house but real moved like packed up everything that I owned and moved. It hasn't really bothered me especially in the last few years with email and messenger and all the joys of our super technical world that we so joyously cohabitate in. I mean really what I ever did before my cell I don't know...(well I do? Anyway getting back to my post....I am horrible at staying in touch. It's not that I don't care or that I forget about the friends that I had, it's just that I really SUCK at it. Well I had a girlfriend in Germany, Gabi. I love this woman like a sister and her hubby is a hoot and her kids were always so polite. We went on many a day trip together to Nuremberg and Poland. We had dinners and get togethers and phone calls. And through the years I have thought of her often and in my mind said I have got to call or email her and then life happened and it was another 6 months gone. Well after I decided to start this blog up again I emailed my friends and her email came back returned.....WHAT OMG I could have passed out!! You see even though I hadn't talked to her I took for granted that she was right there...just an email away....so what did I do I looked her hubby up in the AKO white pages (Thanks AKO) and swiftly emailed him and he passed on her email. So I emailed her this morning and she emailed me back and even though it has been literally years since we have spoken her email started out like this......

"Shanez, old Girlfriend"

and just like that I felt like no time had passed. That's the greatest part of the military no matter how far, how long or how hard it is for one to keep in touch, we are all connected. So with the promise from both of us to be better at keeping in touch and my heart feeling good and full I will continue to enjoy my rainy day that is just a little brighter with the words from an old friend.

Rainy Days

I woke up this morning expecting to see sunshine and lo and behold what do I see but RAIN,RAIN and more RAIN. I can now hear the thunder and see the lightning (since I opened the blinds). I so dislike rainy dreary days when I have 1001 things to do.......why?.....you ask well because days like this have an effect on me. It sends me to that lazy state of mind that I just can't afford to have, especially today. Well I guess I gotta get my hiney in gear and start the day......Maybe just 5 more min.....naaaa I gotta get this rainy day started!!!

Doggy Training

We have had the dogs in Puppy training at pet smart for three weeks. Let me you tell you its worth every little red penny. It was $109.00 for 8 weeks. Now we have two Jack Russells, they are very smart and easily trainable dogs, even though that is true a puppy is a puppy and potty training is potty training. We have them baby gated in the kitchen and nook so if there are any accidents they are easy to clean up with an enzamatic cleaner (Kills any residue of the accidents). Well the trainer told us to hang a bell by the back door and everytime we take them out to ding the bell with their paw and take em out....after three days of this he got it. Diggy would let you know by crying at the door but Murphy would be hit and miss well now he dings the bell and sits by the door and waits for you to take him out. I am so proud of our little farts. And on another note Diggy is doing much better with trying to kill other dogs. He is fine with Murphy but would get irate at the sight of any other animals. He seriously went after the ducks in the pond at first but now they can walk by him and he doesnt care. He is ok with most dogs but has problems with shaggy dogs for some reason. Anyway I just wanted to share the bell secret with you. We tied it with fishing wire and found the bell in the bird section of PetSmart.

Doggy Trials

Well Diggy got neutered on Friday and did really well. He actually lost 7 ounces before the surgery and now is close to what his weight should be. The doc said that hes nothing but muscle and a very healthy dog. So we did his paperwork and went on to get Murphys shots done. Well did that and got everything we needed and headed to the car.

Donte realized that there was a sports store right next door to PetSmart and wanted to check out the flippers they had so Donnie and I decided to hang in the car with the dogs while Dannie and Donte went into the store. Suddenly Murphy started crying and heaving, I got him out of the car in the nick of time and he started getting sick all over the place and crying by this time Donte was coming back to the car and I told him to get Murphy and take him right back in. Donnie and I stayed in the car with Diggy and Donte and Daniel ran back into the vet. well long story short, 2 steroid shots, a couple of hits of benadryl, and a few hours later Murphy was OK to go home. He had an allergic reaction to the Distemper vaccination. Thank God he was OK. Both puppies are home now and doing fine.

Diggy however does have one of those cones on his head and it is comedic relief in itself. Poor baby is knocking into everything and anything and is ready to take it off now but he has 12 days left before he is fully healed and we don't want him messing with his stitches.

The humans in the family are doing fine and are enjoying a nice and lazy weekend. The only thing that we have really done is go swimming. I love lazy weekends like these and wish they would never end.

Speaking of Lyrics

The boys and I were watching "Singing Bee" tonight on TV. It is truly funny how you think you know a song and then someone comes along and bursts your little bubble of happiness. You see I know that I can sing.....hahaha OK well I didn't say sing well, I just said sing. Now if you live in my house you know that I do this when I clean, cook, do laundry and if you have ever worked with me you know that I sing along to the radio. This is just my way of making work fun. Now my loving husband puts up with it for the most part until I get stuck on a song. when I do this I press that tiny little button, what button you ask......the Repeat button. And yes I go to town. But back to the Lyrics. I was speaking to my friend Shannon who has four little munchkins of her own and she had watched the Singing Bee with her oldest daughter as well and we both agreed that some of the words that we had thought for years were the words to the songs were actually not. When I was about 13 or 14 I really like Aerosmiths song "Dude Looks Like a Lady" but I only caught it when it was on the radio and never paid much attention to the name of the song. Well I would sing along because at that age well we all know that we can sing and I used to run around the house singing "Do the Funky Lady" until one of my friends was like "Uhhhhhh Shanez, it's Dude Looks Like a Lady". Now 18 years later I still remember that like it was yesterday. So I suppose I know deep down inside that I probably sing many songs with words that are to my own making but really whats worse my interpretations of the words or my singing?

Moving....I orginally posted this on my MySpace in April

Well here it is Friday the 13th, our beautiful house that was once filled with all of our little treasures from near and far now sits empty......awaiting the painters that are coming bright and early tomorrow morning. It was sad these last three days packing everything up and watching the packing and moving crews taking everything and putting it all in that huge moving truck. Its funny how you kinda forget all the emotions that hit you like a ton of bricks. You have the excitement of moving and by the way I feel pretty lucky that we are going to Chicago....never in a million years did I imagine that we would be going there, after all theres no Army post there. But then you have the sadness of leaving the familiar,cozy, safe place that you have called home for the last three and a half years. I will miss so much as I know that Donte and the boys will as well. Donte will miss coaching here the most. His face always lights up when he heard that familiar ring of "Coach Slaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaade". I told him that he could always get into coaching in Chicago too but he says it just wouldn't be the same. He truly does have calling for it and I know that he made an impression on all the kids and parents as they did on him. The boys will miss everything that kids usually do. There school, friends, sports teams, I could fill this page up with tons of things that they wish that they could pack into a bag and take with them. But I honestly think that they will miss the endless summer nights in the neighborhood playing with Kaylee and Alyssa. If you heard them you would swear that they were siblings. They play all day and argue all day too...but God forbid if they couldn't get together for one reason or another. I took Alyssa with me one day to a jewelry party and mind you I had Alyssa and both the boys and the lady hosting it asked me where my daughter got her blond hair......I think I actually stuttered on that on :). I will miss a lot too. I have made dear friends in the short time that I have been here Kimmie, Tracy and Vokie have been there since the start...my good old ITT days. Then you have the tried and true sports Moms, both Jenn's, Alexis, Michelle, Becky (Ok so shes the Grandma but trust me she didn't miss a thing, she screamed with all the rest of us:)) and Janay. I know that I have only known Jenn and Janay for a short while but I had a blast with both of them....that included some awesome appletinis. I cant believe that I am going to miss the birth of Jenn and Toms son, after all I was one of the first to know I never imagined that I would move before little Jaysik Boston would be born. Then theres Kari and Chris. Never did I think that I would be lucky to have two great neighbors that have become my close friends. In fact I am sitting on Chris' couch writing this, since she and her hubby graciously let us use their home for the week that the packers would be tearing mine apart. I have enjoyed all the endless nights sipping wine on the front porch and talking for hours about everything and absolutely nothing. What will I do without the two of you. We have seen each other through alot and I have tons of precious memories. All in all I will miss so very much but cant wait to make more memories in our new home!!!

Sweltering Hot Days and Rainy Nights

I swear the days here are getting just as hot as the ones down south and for the last couple of days the thunderstorms have been rolling in right around dinner time. I know I should be glad for sunny days.....I am, I promise but they spoiled me here with the picture perfect days and the cool nights with the breeze blowing in through the windows. It reminded me of Germany.....those of you that have lived there know what I am talking about. When we were in Vilseck we lived in front of Big Mike (Big Lake) we had a two story three bedroom and there were those nights that you could open all the windows upstairs and it would feel down right GOOD. The breeze would blow through the house and almost lull you to sleep. Well that's what I was enjoying here, we do after all have the huge pond in our back yard. But BOOOOOO on the rain Gods I actually had to turn my air-conditioning on due to the fact that my windows have to stay tightly shut.

And yes I do feel blessed that the weather is the only thing that I have to gripe about :)

Pictures from last Saturday

As promised....

7 July 2007 Grant Park, Chicago Illinois

Yesterday Donte had to work the taste of Chicago so the boys and I decided to tag along and make a day of it. It was a blast. We got up pretty early and met with another Army family and took the train. I was only 5 little bucks per adult for a train pass that lasted the whole weekend. Yup that's right folks you could go back and forth 5000 times as long as you did it Sat and Sun and it will only cost you .....5 bucks.....and to top that off kids under 13 are FREE. Now you know that FREE is one of my favorite words. We got off at Union station and walked a couple of blocks over to Grant park and hung out. I personally think that the Taste is over rated you have a bunch of restaurants that will sell you little portions for a HUGE price. We ate lunch there and hung out while Donte did his recruiting thing. The boys had a blast!! They did everything from playing Football to pulling up on the chin up bar. They were soooooo happy. The atmosphere was great, there were people riding bikes, and hanging out on the lawn. We found ourselves a bench right by where Donte had to work and relaxed and took it all in. They had a few street performers and bands going, the energy was awesome. Now the weather here has been pretty mild but yesterday it was down right hot. We were dressed for it but after about 6 hours in the sun you start to feel it. At around three thirty Donte was off and we decided to go to the cheesecake factory. Well we decided to walk because come on how far can it be....ummm...we walk for about 40 min through the crowds, past the Sears Tower, the Burberry Store, La Perla, NBC Studios Chicago, The Chicago Tribune and mind you the suns beating on your head and the crowds are thick. Since it was 7-7-07 we saw about five weddings taking place. By now my head is pounding!!! Thank God for Walgreens.....Tylenol and Gatorade and we are on our way again. We walk for about 10 more min and lo and behold theres our beloved Cheesecake factory. We found the family we were with and ate. Now if your familiar with the Cheesecake Factory you know that there portions are huge. Donnie and I split a Burger and the four of us split one piece of Cheesecake and were STUFFED. By then my headache is gone and we are down right pooped!! So instead of walking back we decide to take a Cab. Donte found one that was big enough to fit 8 and we loaded in....Now I have never ridden in a cab other than in Europe so all I know is what I've seen on Sex and the City and other programs like that. Well I'm sitting behind the cabbie and guess what his name was....Ahmed Aljazera.....I had to stiffle my laughter as he made his way through the traffic. Now let me tell you he was good at this. NOT just kinda good but extremely good. We get to Union Station and we just missed the 6:30 train so we hung out until the 8:30 one came along. We enjoyed our train ride back and after a nice hot shower we all crashed for the night.

On another note the people of Chicago are so Pro Military. I can't begin to tell you how many times people have stopped Donte and said thank you. It's funny how a hand shake or a hug can make such a difference but it does.

I will post pictures as soon as I charge my camera so I can transfer the pics.