Thankful for.......

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I skipped out on the turkey because I didn't want to stand in line for over an hour. Based on the lines the other day it would seem that half the base doesn't eat....at all!! I really missed my family on Thanksgiving. I guess that would be what I am thankful for the most. They had a nice day. A friend of Cory's invited him and the kids over for some turkey and fixins. Cory hadn't planned on doing anything special so I was really glad he was invited. Thank you, Cory for being a wonderful, loving and patient husband. Thank you, Kevin for your thoughtfulness, kindness and love. Thank you, Haylie for your kind heart, creativity, love and making everyday an adventure. Thank you to the rest of my family back in Nebraska for your words of encouragement, your thoughts and prayers and of course the care packages, letters and e-mails. Last, but certainly not least, I am especially thankful for my mom. You are the most amazing person I have ever known. I hope to one day have half the courage, strength and wisdom that you possess. Whenever I need to talk to someone, you are there with no questions asked with an ear to listen, words of comfort and support, and a shoulder to cry on if need be. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being my mom. Love and hugs to everyone!

I didn't realize my mother deployed with me??!!

I had an alright day at work today. I can't talk about most of it but the part I can talk about is annoying. Dinner time rolls around and half of those that work where I do will head down the hill with someone else order written down....since we all can't leave at once. Well, I hadn't gone down the hill all day because I had stuff already up there to eat for breakfast and lunch and I wasn't hungry at all by the time dinner rolled around so I wasn't planning on going or giving anyone an order to pick up. My LT asked me if I was going to go and I told him no I wasn't hungry. My section leader told me to go but I reiterated the fact that I wasn't hungry. In a stern voice he told me, again, to go. I know that being in the military means that you might end up having to do things that you really don't want to do, but when it comes to eating......I think I'm old enough to know when I want to eat or not. I could understand if I had been skipping meals for days, but I haven't been. This was the first time I hadn't wanted to eat dinner in a month! Anyways, I went and to prove my point, I came back with NOTHING!! When we got back our office was bustling so I didn't get a reaction out of anyone. That sucks too because I was really looking forward to one.

I've been really tired lately. I get about 7 hours of sleep a night but it feels like I get maybe 4 or 5. I'm not sure what it is. I sleep through the entire night. I'm waiting on one of those thick pads from the PX but so is everyone else here. The beds are a nice commodity but they are really hard. That's probably what it is right there. I also hope to start my one half day off a week soon. Everyone before us started them at their 3 month mark. If it's 3 months from when we started working, then I won't start getting them until about the end of January. I know a half day off a week doesn't sound like much but take my word for it....it sounds very appealing right about now.

I'll end with this....Kevin sent me a really cute picture of Kitty laying down in one of the bathroom sinks. I miss my kitties! :( Love and Hugs to everyone.

Liam George Coleman

My cousin and his wife had a baby boy on the 25^th of November. Liam George Coleman was born at 0926 and weighing in at 8 pounds 11 ounces and 21 inches long. Liam is named after both mine and Myron’s grandpa and Chrissie’s grandpa. Our grandpa’s name was LeRoy Moss but he went by Lee M at work…hence Liam. Both grandpa’s middle names were George so that one was a given. I’m so excited for them both! I can’t wait to meet him!! Here he is!

Liam and Layne

Mush and Blah

I looked at my blog today and realized that it has been awhile since I wrote anything. To me it feels like it’s been a couple days since I wrote. My days seem to mush together but I guess that can be a good thing. It will make my time here go by much quicker.

I recently moved into what they call here “permanent housing”. Before I was staying in a trailer type thing with 8 people. Now I’m in a trailer type thing with only one potential roommate. I say potential because as of right now I’m by myself….which is really nice.

Work is work. We finally have the mission to ourselves. The people we replaced finally went home. The workspace was really crowded and loud which made it hard to concentrate. Now it’s quiet with a lot less stress.

I’ve been working out like crazy. I’m trying really hard to lose the weight I gained when I got out of the Army back in 04. I was making really good progress until I got here. I’m sitting in an office all day and I’m only able to work out once I get off shift. I do cardio for an hour but it doesn’t seem to be making up for sitting down all day. I think I’ve gained about 5 pounds back! Very disheartening. I’m going to start doing push ups and sit ups once an hour during my shift. Hopefully that will help. I’ve been eating healthy too. I know I’ve got a year until I come home but I’ve never been a very patient person. I want to see results now, not later. I know it’s not going to happen right now and I’ve got to keep telling myself that.

My kids are doing ok. Cory was kind of slacking for a bit and paid the price for it. He’s got footprints up and down his back from letting them walk all over him. He seems to have gotten up and brushed himself off and now knows why I never really let up on them. I think he truly understands the phrase, “give them and inch and they will take a mile.” In Haylie’s case I think it’s more like taking 52 ½ miles but whose counting? She’s a sneaky one. You really have to keep your eyes on her. Kevin is Kevin. He doesn’t really get into a whole lot of trouble. School is going well I guess. I ask them how they are doing and all I get is “fine”. I ask them what they are learning and they will only mention one thing.

Ok, I think that’s all for now. I’m tired so I’m going to bed. I hope to get a camera soon so I can put some pictures up here. It looks kind of blah. More later. Love and miss everyone.

Hey everyone! I thought blogging would be an easier way to let everyone know what I'm up to and how I've been. I don't have a lot of free time here so sending e-mails to everyone would leave me with absolutely no time for myself. I suppose I should start at the beginning. I left for Kuwait on the 2nd of October and arrived very early in the morning on the 4th. It was very weird to skip an entire day. I think the whole trip, to include the bus rides, took about 20 hours. When we finally got to Kuwait I was relieved to hear that they were going to give us 2 days to adjust before they made us do any training. The training consisted of firing our weapons (which we only got to shoot 10 rounds), roll over training where they put us in a Humvee and made it roll over a couple times before stopping upside down and making us try to get out, and training on IEDs and all the various groups of people in Iraq and what not. In all the training lasted about 2 days. I was in Kuwait for 3 weeks. Needless to say I had A LOT of down time. I think I watched the same two movies 10 times each at least! I also got a lot of reading in. I got a Kindle for my birthday, which was only 5 days before I deployed. I didn't receive the Kindle until the day before so I didn't get a chance to put a lot of books on there. I had two books and the bible. Those two books didn't last me very long so I moved on to the bible. There are some very interesting stories in there. I haven't finished it yet. In fact, I'm not even close to finishing it. I don't even think I'm close to the New Testament! I made it to 2 Samuel before I left Kuwait. Another thing I did a lot of while I was there was go to the gym. I am determined to lose the weight I gained when I got out of the Army back in 2004. In the 3 weeks I was there I lost 10 pounds! I've lost a few more since I've been here in Baghdad. I'm almost down the weight I was when I met my husband. My goal is to be back to 135 pounds by the time I come home. I think it's do-able. So I left for Baghdad around the 27th of October. It was only a 50 minute flight but I got really motion sick. I had to ride in a C-17 and I was sitting on the side of the plane not facing forward. That may not have been so bad had there been windows that I could have looked out of. I don't think I've ever been that woozy. It stayed with me the entire next day. I started working the day after I arrived in Baghdad. I work 12 hours from 0700 to 1900 7 days a week. When I get off work I go to the gym for an hour to an hour and a half. After I shower I maybe have an hour of free time for myself before I have to go to bed. And then I do all that again the next day. I can't tell you what I do here or I'll get in A LOT of trouble. I do enjoy it most of the time though. The people we are replacing are leaving in a few days so any questions I have must be asked and answered before then cuz once they leave....that's it, it'll be all up to us. So, I spent all my free time catching everyone up. I hope you enjoy reading about my life here and I'll do my best to keep you all up to date and informed. I love and miss everyone!