Zacky Boy is Coming Home!

I am so excited that my brother will FINALLY be close to us again. I still remember the day he left for boot camp like it was yesterday. I was working when he came by to say good-bye before he left for Kentucky. It was all I could do not to cry my eyes out right there in front of my customers. Zack joining the Army was a bit of a shock for all of us. I don’t know if I ever really stopped to consider what exactly he would do after school but never did I imagine he’d want to go into the military. Now looking back I think it’s a good fit for him. It has sort of forced him into maturity in a way. Zack will always be a kid inside with his fast shiny toys. I don’t think he will ever grow out of that, the military did help him to mature and grow in other ways though and I think that shows.

It was tough the first time he went to Iraq, I felt something unlike anything I’d ever really experienced. I felt proud and terrified all at the same time. Proud that my little brother was putting his life on the line to fight for our country and terrified for the same reasons. Calls from him were always welcomed and exciting while he was in Iraq. I also enjoyed the pictures of him “playing” on the machines they worked on. When he came back it was so exciting to see him after so long! We made the long drive to Texas to see him return and it was well worth it! Unfortunately I didn’t get to welcome him home after his second tour but I got to visit shortly after in Virginia Beach.








So he’s been all over the place for the last 6 or so years. After boot camp he lived 10+ hours away. First at Ft. Hood Texas and then to Ft. Story Virginia Beach, both of which were one heck of a drive. The long distance made it hard to see him every holiday or to go visit very often. But……..now he’s going to be in the very same state for the first time since he joined the Army!!

I am so very excited that he will be a short 2.5 hours away! That’s just a hop skip and jump compared to Texas or Virginia! I’ve missed my little brother and I couldn’t be happier to have him practically right down the road now. I’m looking forward to seeing him on holidays and hopefully when that special day comes for J-dawg and I to make little ones, Uncle Zack can be there to watch them grow up! This assignment is pretty much the best thing we could have asked for, no more tours to Iraq or Afghanistan, which is where he was headed if it weren’t for this recruiting gig! At least for awhile anyway! We are so blessed that God has kept him safe while away and that he can finally be home again.

State Fair

We actually had a chance to go to the fair this weekend! You're just not a Hoosier if you don't get to the State Fair to check out the array of heart stopping fried treats, hillbilly festivities, giant boar's, and stables filled with more smelly wonderful animals. Actually, I love seeing the animals at the Fair, although I may need to reconsider the whole flip flop thing next time I go into the barns. My favorite animals are the baby piggies they are just too darn cute. I really want to have some land some day and have baby farm animals! I'd like to have a goat, a pig, a cow, and a horse. I want babies only though can someone arrange that for me? Ooh and I want a chicken that lays eggs. I did have a baby chick once, actually two of them Henry and Henrietta. Henry would follow me around with that cute little chickie waddle. Enough of that. So these giant boar's, can someone tell me what the purpose of making your animal that fat is? Do they eat them? Do they breed them? Maybe this is me being a stupid city girl but someone help me out here. They just don't look like they could possibly be comfortable. My second question is this, what in the world do you do when that thing decides it doesn't want to pick it's giant butt up and move?





Prior to seeing the animals we went to the tractor pulls. I love that my husband like these things I think it's adorable. He's so funny how he gets excited about a truck pulling a giant trailer down a dirt track. I will have to admit though, this being my first tractor pull and all, that I was quite amused. I do give him a lot of hell for being from Kentucky but it's all in good fun and only because I love him. It's not like I've not had my fair share of country living. I mean we had to pull the groceries up the hill in a sled one winter because the car couldn't get up the hill in Brown County. It was pretty fun, I do enjoy loud trucks and there was even a woman competing so I thought that was neat. He got a real kick out of the Mack truck named the "Killer". To our knowledge it won but we didn't stay until the end.





Next we visited the "He ate WHAT?" exhibit. Here they showed us x-rays of animals that had eaten crazy items and explained how they were removed and what kind of harm they may have done to the animal. No worries though, all the pets in these x-rays lived. My favorite was the Labrador puppy that ate the 9 inch skewer off the grill. This poor guy had half the skewer in his belly and half of it in his esophagus! We saw a kitten with a needle in her belly, lots of coins in the bellies of dogs, and a bottle cap, just to name a few. The vet said that even a full grown dog is like having a toddler because they chew and eat everything. Not all dogs are this way but we do have one. My little guy Oly is way past the chewing phase but Dozer on the other hand would eat a grenade. Daily he comes to the bed in the morning with something in his mouth. Usually it's one of his daddy's socks, a receipt one of the cats has fished out of my purse, or my favorite...something he's dug out of the trash in the bathroom. I'd be curious to see an x-ray of his belly as I'm sure there is more than a few items in there on a daily basis. Luckily for us he's never been ill from anything he's eaten. I do feel somewhat prepared for a toddler though after having this big boy in the house. With his giant tail we can't leave anything on the table that is breakable and anything that is on the floor ends up in his mouth.





Last but not least, let's discuss the food at the fair. It never ceases to amaze me the concoctions that they come up with at the State Fair every year. If you can fry it, consider it done. If you can't fry it, they'll will inevitably find a way. A few things that stand out in my mind being fried Kool-aid (WTH?), fried butter, fried snickers bars, and fried brownies. Those are just a few I saw on the sign. I'll be honest with you for a second I thought....fried brownies, but I stopped myself as I imagined how much gym time that would add up to. Come on people fried butter? Burgers on donuts?? Bleck. Maybe it's delicious but I'm not even going to go there for fear that I may possibly enjoy it. Instead we got the standard lemon-shakeup and some kettle corn. I just can't leave the fair without my lemon-shakeup. There were also some weird meat parfait type things, some sort of meat sundae, and several stands that fried vegetables and fruit. So if you are heading to the fair, have gone already, or have eaten any of these things in the past, feel free to lend me your thoughts. I'm just not brave enough.





http://www.wave3.com/story/15094774/deep-fried-kool-aid-available-at-indiana-state-fair

Oh how I loathe going to the dentist

I had to have some fillings Saturday at the dentist since apparently at some point my teeth decided not to be as great as they've been my whole life. I hardly ever had cavities as a kid. In fact I had only 1 for the longest time with the second being about 2 years ago. Well this last time I went in, let's just say I had a couple. I was so bummed out! Apparently the lemonade and sweet tea have not been good to me. In fact the dentist asked what I liked to drink and I told him I'd been trying to drink tea and lemonade because I wanted to quit having diet sodas. He tells me I was better off with the diet coke. Well that's just great. Needless to say I've been drinking a heck of a lot of water lately.

Anyway, I was absolutely terrified to go to the dentist because J-dawg had gone just a few weeks ago and told me what an AWFUL experience he had. This was in no way a reflection of the dentist we see because he's actually very very good but my hubby had decided to go in on an empty stomach which created problems. Shortly after he received the shot to numb him he decided he was going to toss his cookies. That's the last time he'll ever look at that needle as it's coming at him for sure. He recounted his horrific experience of puking and being put into some horror flick contraption to keep his tongue out of the way. I'm thinking of this seen in the movie SAW .....

Well, turns out it wasn't so bad. No pain in the process and only mild discomfort after the fillings since my jaw was a little tender. I'm no longer afraid of the dentist! I also found it quite humorous that only half of my face smiled for the next hour. In fact I had to take a picture just to remind me to laugh at myself once in awhile.

Jump off the Judgment Train

“People hasten to judge in order not to be judged themselves." — Albert Camus (The Fall)

"Never look down on anybody unless you're helping them up." — Jesse Jackson

"So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another." (Romans 14:1-13)

Something was said today that made me heat up a little. I’m usually not very quick to respond to people who make broad statements that are insulting to one or more people but I felt compelled to do it today.

Today I feel really good about my accomplishments. I finally finished my 4 year degree and plan to continue taking classes to prep for Grad school. It took a heck of a lot of work to get there, many hours of studying late into the night, staying in on the weekends when my friends were out having a good time, I even did homework on my honeymoon, that’s how dedicated and crazy I was. Now before I get flack from people, I only did a couple Chem assignments while in Jamaica and let me tell you the connection isn’t great so I didn’t get far. Why didn’t I do it before I left you ask? Well I was sort of busy planning a wedding that’s why. Anyway, that is neither here nor there. The comment that was made was broad and to my knowledge not directed toward me but still, it pissed me off.

I don’t appreciate when one person decides that their efforts warrant more praise than another’s. Who are you to judge and feel so self righteous that you have to put others down. Personally I think it is lame. I’ve since removed this person, because well, I have no backbone. There I said it. To be honest this person is very good with words and although my response to his ignorant post was fully warranted I do believe he could have made me feel like a fool, despite the fact that I’m not. So I just shut up right then and there. I do wish I was one of those people who was fully able to speak my mind and not feel a shred of remorse, but I’m not. It really gets my goat when people feel as though they are better than others. I’ve had my days where I feel like something I did was pretty great and yes sometimes I want to brag about it because I’m proud of myself but I try not to put others down in the process. If you feel I’ve put you down for my own gain then by all means let me know because I need to have a better attitude if that’s the case.

With all that said, this person had made a remark about how easy college was for him. That’s all fine and great for you dude but just because it was easy for you doesn’t mean you have to make others feel like crap. Not all of my classes were hard, nor did I struggle with all of them so this wasn’t something I took personally it just rubbed me the wrong way. I will say that there were some courses that gave me a run for my money and I studied my ass off for them. I didn’t always get a perfect grade but I worked hard and I think my overall college experience has shown that. Yes it took me ages to get through what should have been 4 years of college but if you want to judge me for that then you are just as bad as this guy.

So, what I am getting at here is don’t judge people when you don’t know the extent of their situation and even if you do know their situation, who are you to judge? Am I saying that I am perfect and have never judged a book by its cover or made an assumption about someone based on their actions? No, because I know I have and I’m not proud of it. I’m just saying that maybe, just maybe we should make an effort not to post self righteous, pat-yourself-on-the-back, a$$hole comments on facebook. You are free to say what you want, when you want, wherever you want, as I am doing now, but for the love of all things good can you think before you speak….or post.