A moment in time.

Afghans from the village of Khakeran in Qalat Province line up with their sheep and goats for de-worming medicine, provided by Cpl. Latchie Reginald (left) and Sgt. Jared Cross, from the 10th Mountain Division.
(Photo by Spc. Leslie Angulo)

Army 1st Sgt. William Wilder (center) gives a handful of candy to an Iraqi girl during a break in foot patrol in Mahmodyah, Iraq, on April 12, 2006. Wilder and his fellow soldiers are attached to Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division.
(DoD photo by Senior Airman Desiree N. Palacios, U.S. Air Force)

You're it.

Eeeck! I've been tagged. Never liked the game of tag; however, I will go forward gracefully and try to come up with something about me that's remotely interesting. Heh.

I've been tagged by Shooting Parrots.

Okay, let's see, these are the rules:

1. Go write weird facts/things/etc. about yourself on your blog, then tag six more people!

2. Then leave a comment that says 'You are tagged' in their comments telling them to read your blog.

My weird and wonderful facts are:

1. I have no sense of direction. I can literally get lost in a round room.

2. If I am ever found at the bottom of a tall building, a steep incline, or anything that is high or tall, call the cops because I will have been pushed. I wouldn't have jumped. I hate heights.

3. I can get sea sick in a bathtub. Enough information there.

4. And please, don't put me in the backseat of a car while it's moving. You got it, I have motion sickness too.

5. When I was little, I almost drowned in Yosmite National Park. My dad saved me, cutting his leg on a sharp rock, a scar that remained for the rest of his life.

6. I sang "Davy Crockett" on a stage at Disneyland (in California) with my older brother when I was about five years old.

The question is, who to tag back? I've decided on Krip, MonicaR, Mo, Alison, Birdy, and Poosh.

Happy Birthday, Ma'am.

Let's give three cheers for Queen Elizabeth II on her 80th birthday:
Hip, Hip, Hooray!
Hip, Hip, Hooray!
Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Happy Birthday, Ma'am.

The landscape is a changin'.

The person who owns the land behind us is having the trees cut down. It's eerily quiet out there. The birds are gone. The squirrels are gone. I'm very worried because many of the birds have started their nesting ritual.

He's planning on building a five bedroom house behind us. Krip, along with other neighbors, has fought to keep him from doing so for the last six years. The battle was long, looks like we lost out; however, we made damn sure how that house would look. No windows facing us. The line of his roof cannot disrupt our sun. And like Krip said, every single time we contested, he had to pay through his nose to get it resubmitted. Small victories. Sad.

R.I.P. to the lovely trees.
R.I.P. to the wildlife we see and hear everyday.
R.I.P. to our privacy now.

It does look like the one oak tree out there will remain standing tall and proud. One can only hope.

I have to revise this post. They have cut down the old oak tree. What a beauty it was. I always thought that oak trees were suppose to be preserved in this country. Guess if one has enough money to grease enough palms, even something as lovely as the oak can fall in one mighty swoop.

I miss it already.

No ringing in my ear.

I am a bit upset. For some reason, my oldest daughter is able to call me; however, when I try to call her home number, all I get is nnnnnnnnnn. It's like it won't go through for some reason. It's been like this for the past three days now. And I haven't a clue why. I did try her cell phone, and that got me through her "Leave a Message..." type of thing. Obviously, it was turned off. But why her home phone?

See how we take things for granted? Picking up phones. Making calls from anywhere in the world. It's only when you can't, is when you realize how large the world can be, and how far away you can be from a loved one.

*sob*

p.s. Happy Easter everyone.

A flower grows in Afghanistan.

I don't know who she is. She is just someone's daughter. But, as Stevie Wonder sings, "Isn’t she lovely...Isn’t she wonderful."

Happy Friday.

Pressing the flesh.

Hm, for anyone out there that thought I bought my brand new swimsuit for some exotic trip to some enchanted island, think again. No, I decided I've gotten tired of using the weights down at our local gym and changed my routine. Now I'm walking on the treadmill; using the cross-country thingamajiggy (and what a bitch that is!); and using the rowing machine. And after all that, going into that lovely pool to start building up my laps. It's nice to reward yourself for that work by going into the steamroom, then the sauna, then the jacuzzi, and back into the pool.

The one thing I haven't done is let our trainer know that I've changed my routine. One of the personnel at the gym last night let me know that I should let my trainer know this, as he can change it all and set me up with a new one. Well, I don't want him to set up a routine for me. That's the trouble, I don't do well with someone telling me what to do. I have decided, that I will rotate when I wish. And right now? I'm enjoying doing what I'm doing.

It was getting to the point that for the last three months or so, I wasn't enjoying the gym. Now Krip and I are going together and we've teamed up with some friends of ours who have also joined the gym. Which is great; however, going out to a pub around ten o'clock for a couple of pints, kind of defeated the whole previous two hours of calorie crunching. Hm, maybe we will have to work on that bit.

After the next round.

Biting the bullet.

Well, ladies, yesterday I did the one thing that I dread the most this time of the year. No it wasn't any kind of Spring-cleaning, you know scrubbing floors, doing the windows - nothing even along those lines. That I can deal with. It wasn't even going out and scooping up the dog's poop. Even that isn't as horrible as what I set out to do yesterday afternoon.

So what is it I set out to accomplish that was so damn depressing? Why, I went out looked for and bought a new swimsuit. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't have a model's figure. I mean, it's not bad, but it's not the best either. After trying on approximately ten suits, I finally chose the one that looked the best on me. Or rather the one that I looked the best in. The piccy shows the suit I chose (with straps). Comparing prices, it was also the most expensive. Go figure.

Anyway, I am at the stage in my life where black is really starting to look good. If you have to wear something like a swimsuit and you know deep down in your heart that you didn't do enough over the winter to keep yourself in shape for when that time comes, then black is best. So I'm browsing through the swimsuits, and I come across two racks of what appeared to be pink and/or lime-green lizard printed swim suits. Lizard. Most of the sizes left in that rack were on the larger size. I'm sorry, but all I could think of while gazing at those suits were giant lizards sunning themselves on rocks after a nice dinner of whatever lizards eat. Trust me when I tell you this. It was not pretty.

So after dragging my sorry arse down to the mall, buying my new black swimsuit, I actually volunteered to try it on and show it to Krip. He told me I looked great. I hugged and kissed him and told him what a wonderful liar he was. Krip said he didn't care what anyone else thought, he said I looked good enough for him. And that was definitely good enough for me.

*sigh*