It's getting closer!

I'm getting really nervous!  I go to the promotion board this Friday.  I've been studying for the last month but I don't feel very confident.  I abhor public speaking and answering questions infront of high ranking people isn't any better.  I've got a lot of support coming with me on Friday.  There's this E7 that I work with who said he would come with me for support.  I had never met him until I started working here in Baghdad.  He's been the one helping me study. I'm sure I'll do ok.  I just want to get this over with!!

 

Cory and the kids are up in Omaha this weekend.  My mother-in-law drove down from Minnesota so everyone could exchange gifts and whatnot.  Kevin and Haylie had no idea she was going to be there.  What a nice surprise.  My father-in-law also made an appearance.  Kevin now has the complete Guitar Hero game series.  Thank you, Doug.  :)  I think there's like 7 or 8 of them.  Cory would know right off the bat how many there are.  I counted Guitar Hero 1, 2, 3, Rock the 80's, Aerosmith, Guitar Hero for the DS and the last one I counted was Guitar Hero on Tour.  I'd be pretty impressed if I named them all.  How did I do, Cory?  :)  Kevin also got a remote control helicopter.  Haylie got MORE Polly Pockets.  She got some from both of Cory's parents.  I don't think she has enough Polly Pockets.  :P  

 

My grandma's memorial is tomorrow.  I wish I could go but I'm glad Cory and the kids will be there for me.  They have never met this grandma yet they are still going.  

 

Well, I think that's about it for now.  I'll leave you with some recent pics of  the kids. Oh, and Miley in a box.  So cute!!  Love and hugs to everyone!

Kevin at Grandpa Doug's for Thanksgiving.

Haylie at Grandpa Doug's for Thanksgiving.

I have no idea how Miley squeezed herself into this small box without it falling onto the floor.

Haylie chatting with me.

Kevin chatting with me....actually if I remember right I believe I did most of the chatting.  He doesn't say much in person let alone on phones.  :)

Christmas and Candlelights

Merry Christmas everyone!!!  Today was definitely an up and down day as I knew it would be.  I started out being happy but then I talked with Cory and I got really depressed.  It really sucks being over here for the holidays.  It didn't feel like Christmas at all this year.  It wasn't even cold!  It's been chilly the past few days but today it wasn't.  My LT at work was really cool the past couple days when it came to giving us a bit of time off for Christmas Eve and Christmas.  Last night a few of us went to Al Faw palace for the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service.  It was really neat!  I got some amazing pictures.  The service was really nice too.  The Air Force band was there to play music for the service as well as afterwards for some caroling.  A choir sang a song during the service that gave me chills, it was so awesome!  I also got to go to the Christmas Day service at the church here on Slayer.  Once my work was all done my LT let me go for the day so I could Skype with Cory and the kids to watch them open their gifts!!  Oh, I finally get to start my half days this week.  On Saturdays I don't have to be into work until 1300.  I get to sleep in!!  Here's some more good news....I'm just full of good news today.....I've lost 20 pounds since I've been deployed!!!  I'm now lighter than I was when I first met Cory.  I feel really good.  People in my company that I haven't seen since we got to Baghdad can see a huge difference. I even got a compliment from this E6 who scares the bejeezus out of me.  

 

Kevin and Haylie really enjoyed their gifts this year.  My dad and stepmom sent Haylie a really nice stuffed cat and some socks...I think.  The video quality on Skype wasn't the greatest today given the high amount of people calling home today.  Kevin got a neat long sleeved shirt that had a dragon on it.  It's going to look really nice on him.  And then they both received a gift card to go pick out something they want from the store.  From Cory, Haylie got a karaoke videogame.  It's got a variety of Disney songs from most of her favorite Disney shows like Hannah Montana, High School Musical and Camp Rock.  From me, Haylie received two necklaces.  One is a blue topaz stone in the shape of a heart and the other is a gold crown with a pearl in the center.  From what I could tell she really liked them.  She was just sitting in front of the camera staring at them.  Of course she wanted to put them on right away.  Kevin got only one gift from the both of us.  We got him a new guitar.  I think it was a Fender.  He's been showing a lot of interest in learning how to play recently.  I think Cory is going to look into getting him enrolled in some lessons.  I think Kevin can get a few months of lessons for free since I'm over here.  Haylie will get to take some classes too once she finds something she's interested in.

 

The fam is heading up to Omaha this weekend for more Christmases.  My mother-in-law is even coming down from Minnesota.  The kids don't know yet so it'll be a surprise for them. Also this weekend, well, monday morning, is my grandma's memorial.  Cory and the kids are going to go for me.  I really wish I could be there.

 

One more thing before I end this, I want to thank everyone who sent me a card and/or a care package.  Aunt Linda and Uncle John, mom and Roger, dad and Kathy and of course all of my mom's coworkers.  Thank you all so very much.  To mom's coworkers, I've got something in the works for you guys.  Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!  Enjoy the pictures! Love and hugs to everyone!!

 I think this is self explainatory.

About the palace

Part of an outside corridor

These plaques were all over the place.

The main chandelier from the third floor.

From the second floor

From the main floor.  This thing took my breath away!

Even the mosaic celing above it is amazing!

Looking down one of the many hallways

Looking up......

......looking down.

During the candlelight service

That's my LT in the center.  He's freakishly tall.....like my husband.  Love you hunnybear!!

Some coworkers and I

Just me.  This chair was given to Saddam Hussein by Yasser Arafat.

Not much going on.

I finally got my computer a couple days ago!  I was so excited!  I LOVE it!!!  I stayed up way past my bedtime playing around with it.  

So, points came out yesterday and I don't have enough for Sergeant.  Once I go to the board on the 2nd I will have about 500 points.  Hopefully the points go back down next month.  They are sitting in the 630's.  

I don't really have all that much to say today.  I'll put up a couple of the pictures I took of Kibbles just before we had to take him inside the vet.  I still catch

myself looking for him when I walk into the shack where we keep our phones.  

He stayed there almost the entire time I was driving around.

Goodbye, Kibbles.

Hopefully I'll have more to write about tomorrow.  Love and hugs to everyone!

Can it get any worse?

This week has probably been the worst week I've had since I deployed. Remember Kibbles? Well, my higher ups found out we had him and were feeding him so they told us to get rid of him. We were conflicted on what to do and what the right thing to do was. I felt that we should just take him somewhere like a field and let him go. He was a stray and I thought we would be fine. I wasn't alone in that thought either. Then there were others who thought it would be more humane to put him down. I don't agree with that unless the animal is deathly ill and there is no hope of recovery, in a lot of pain and won't recover or is a threat to anyone. So, we let him go inside Flintstone on Monday. It was sad, but we thought he would be ok.

On Tuesday morning (Monday night for folks back home) I called my husband, like I always do, and right away I could tell that something wasn't right. He told me that my mom had called earlier and, since I called him at the same time everyday, had wanted him to let me know that my grandma, Sharon, had died. She wasn't ill so it came as a surprise. A circuit overloaded in her bedroom and it caught on fire. She didn't make it out and died from smoke inhalation. One of the hardest things about this (at least for me) is that she had been found in the hallway, which to me means she was trying to get out. I can't imagine what had to be going through her mind. The other hardest thing about this is that I can't be there with my mom to help her through this. Sharon's relationship with everyone wasn't the greatest, but that doesn't make it any less difficult to go through.

And I thought my week could only get better from there. Boy, was I wrong! I've always had a soft spot when it comes to animals....especially cats. Kibbles was brought back to the hill today. One of the people who let him go went back to see if they could find him and when they did, brought him back. We were all thinking that he was going to stay around outside and not be aloud in the shack with the phones like he was before. My commander was coming to the hill for an inventory so we actually put him in the SUV and I was going to drive around for an hour with him in the car. I had to pick someone up along the way and she thought it would be best if we just put him down. She didn't want everyone to get into trouble should the higher ups find out about him again. Had I known I would be driving Kibbles to his death I would have made someone else go, but as I was already driving I didn't have much of a choice. Once we got to the vet I told her that I was staying outside. I couldn't watch Kibbles go through that! Poor thing thought he was back home with everyone only to end up euthanized. I got some really cute pictures before she took him inside the vet. I'll put them up when I get them on my computer.

Needless to say this wasn't a very pleasant week. And I still haven't received my package from home that has my new laptop in it!! My husband sent it last Wednesday. All of the other packages I've received have been here in a week! It's driving me nuts!!!!

Ok, I think I'm done. I just want this week to be over and done with......AND I WANT MY PACKAGE!!

Love and hugs to everyone! :)

Kibbles and Bits

Up on the hill where I work we have a little visitor. Actually, he's probably more like a tenant. He's made himself at home and he thinks that everyone who works up there is his personal servant. He has become so spoiled. We used to have a second tenant but something happened to her. One day she was following the other around and the next we couldn't find her. That was about a week ago. We think a wowie or a snake got her....poor thing.Here is Kibbles. He's about 7 or 8 months we think. This one is a whiner. He whines for food and then he whines for attention. He likes to cuddle against your neck and tries to get inside your ACU top to keep warm. If you don't pick him up when he wants to be picked up, he will climb all the way up until he's right under your face. It can get very annoying.

And here is Bits. We think she was about 8 weeks old. She was very fearful of us. If she saw your hands she would take off. She would get close but only if you didn't show her your hands. She would follow Kibbles around everywhere. If she could find him she would meow until she did. She freaked me out a bit. Her and Kibbles would be standing in the concertina wire, like she is in this picture, and she would start playing with his tail. She would be flipping all over the place trying to get it. She would even land on some of the wire. That stuff is sharp and I was afraid she was going to get stuck and start freaking out. Thankfully it never happened though.


Here they are together. Someone is just walking up and you can see how scared she is. If she had followed Kibbles into the shack she'd probably still be with us. People are constantly walking through there so she wouldn't go near it. Kibbles sleeps in there every night. We have the heater on so he's just living it up in there.

Love and hugs to everyone!

And the craziness continues.....

Here are a few more pictures from the tour:

This was Saddam's mistress' house. See how it's shaped like a bunch of hearts? It's kind of hard to see but between the hearts going around the balcony are Saddam's initials.

This is Flintstone. I have no idea what it was used for....but it looks really neat!

The dirt that that hill is made out of came from the man made lakes that surround the entire presidential complex.

Half of the huge chandelier in the Ba'ath Party house

Here is the other half....Nice skylight. I wonder who the architect was? :P

One of the 4 hallways in the house. The other three look exactly the same.

Well, that's about it. I don't really know what else I can put in here. OH!! I forgot to say that when Saddam met people (or should I say when people met Saddam) you were not allowed to kiss him on the cheek as per the custom in this country. Instead he made them kiss both of his armpits! Yuck! No thank you! Ok, that's all. Love and hugs to everyone!

I played hookie from work!

I got to take a tour on Sunday of the Victory over America palace and the Ba’ath Party house. I learned some crazy things on this tour. Camp Slayer (which is where I live and work) was originally the Abu Ghurayb Presidential Grounds and was home to the Republican Guard and the Iraqi Military Academy. The camp was a recreational retreat for Iraqi leaders, much like our President’s Camp David. Before the US forces started the attack on the Hussein regime, President Bush gave an address and told them they had 48 hours to surrender. The next day the President gave another address when he told the world that US forces had started the attack early because there was reason to believe the leadership was gathered in one place….the Ba’ath Party house and the Palace (Abu Ghurayb Presidential Grounds). The building was used as a meeting place for the political and military leadership of Iraq. About 200 members were in the building the night of the air strike in March 2003. Dan Rather interviewed Saddam Hussein just prior to the start of the war.

The Victory over America palace is actually the Victory over Iran palace as well. The Iran palace was built first. Saddam went to war with Iran and it ended in a tie….so to speak. He considered it a victory….hence the name Victory over Iran palace. Then, Saddam invaded Kuwait and now we have Operation Desert Storm/Shield. That war ended quite quickly but he was able to successfully mug an entire country. He took all their money and burned the oil fields on his way out. He considered this a victory over America. So, he built the America palace to connect with the Iran palace. Picture a fist and then take the other hand and grab the fist and you have the basic concept behind this whole palace.

There is an artificial lake that surrounds the palace and the Ba’ath house. All the dirt from the lake was made into a hill that had trees growing all around it and had a playground on the top for his children. That hill is where I work now. Where did Saddam get all the water to fill this artificial lake, you might ask? Well, he diverted and entire city’s water source to fill it. And whenever the lake got too low he would divert it again. The residents had no clue what was going on. There is a farmer that lives about 400 yards from all of this and he didn’t even know the lake was there. He thought the Americans did it. He started to cry when he was told the truth.

Ok, now for the crazy stuff….the Ba’ath Party house. This is the place where Dan Rather interviewed Saddam. Saddam was a major germophobe. When Dan was introduced to Saddam, Dan shook his hand firmly and patted him on the back. Saddam was so anxious after that that the interview was postponed for a half hour so he could calm down. There is a pool in this place, but it was never filled with water. It was used to torture and kill people. I didn’t take a picture of this because it would have been disturbing but you can still see where the last execution took place. Saddam had a movie theater put in. This is where all the leaders were when the area was attacked in 2003. That entire side of the building collapsed and for 150 of the 200 members, that is there final resting place. The other 50 bodies were recovered. The movie they were watching…..Pretty Woman. This house also housed the world’s longest and largest chandelier. Half of it is on the floor now.

This is for my sister, Erin...I hope she knows why.

On the second floor of the palace

On the roof of the palace. That dome looking thing in the background is called the Perfume Palace. It used to be a brothel.

I'll add more pictures later. It's getting late. I just wanted to get this out so everyone could read it. With what little time I have to myself these days it took me two days to write this and download the pictures I DID manage to put on here. More later. Love and hugs to everyone!

Promotion, Rubiks Cube, Asperger's......oh my!!!

I’m finally going to bite the bullet and go to the promotion board. I have to go to the Soldier of the Month board first, which I’m not very happy about. I am scared to death of doing this. Not of becoming a sergeant, but of sitting in front of high ranking people answering questions, reciting various creeds and singing a couple songs. Learning and memorizing is not my problem. Rank, for whatever reason, scares the bejesus out of me. I could sit in front of specialists and even buck sergeants all day but the minute you put me in front of first sergeants and sergeants major I become a shaking ball of nervousness. This board is the whole reason why I am not a sergeant already. I’ve been in the military for 9 years!! I’m almost half way to retirement! I just need to get it over with, so I’m going to the Soldier of the Month board next month and then the month after that I’ll be going to the promotion board. My points are really low, too, so I would be retarded if I didn’t take advantage of that. For all of my non military friends and family, there is a point scale for every job in the military. You receive points for various things like civilian education, military education, PT, weapons qualification scores, awards and even for going to the board. For every job the point scale varies. The lower the point scale the easier it is to be picked up for the rank of sergeant. You don’t need as many points. The higher the point scale the more difficult it is to make sergeant. My points right now are 350, which I believe is the lowest the points can go. The highest is 798. Once I go to the board in February, if I make points, I will be an E5/Sergeant on March 1^st. Wish me luck!

On a different and somewhat random note, I have mastered the Rubiks Cube!! I always thought those things were impossible to solve. I was so excited when I could finally solve it without the guide book. It’s Rubiks Cube mania in my office at work! Everyone is learning how to do it. Cory even sent me a Huskers rubiks cube! He’s so sweet.

Haylie has officially been diagnosed as having Asperger’s Disorder. I’m still learning about what it really is so I can’t tell you much. Asperger's Disorder is a milder variant of Autistic Disorder. People with this disorder tend to lack nonverbal communication skills, demonstrate limited empathy with their peers, and are physically clumsy. To an outsider it just sounds like she’s being a kid, but it’s much more than that. Wikipedia gives a good definition and explanation but it’s more on the scientific side. I haven’t had a whole lot of time to look for a simpler version. I just ordered three books from amazon.com so hopefully they will help me understand this disorder and ultimately help me understand Haylie.

It’s bed time. Love and hugs to everyone!