Amazing

I found, yet again, another depressing story about women combat veterns and the sexual trauma many of them have faced while in a war zone. It is really disgusting. However, while reading it, I found one of the most beautiful and amazing websites I have ever seen. A former Navy nurse who served in Iraq was raped by Iraqi men at a store in Hillah in 2003. She dissolved into depression and upon returning felt numb. During her therapy process, she begin illustrating her pain. It is some of the most striking and vivid art work I have ever seen. It just drips with raw human emotion. I encourage everyone to tour her online gallery and please, browse each tab or hit "next" toward the bottom of the first page to read what she has written or quoted. It is absolutely amazing: http://www.dianepickelplappert.com/index.html

The story of the day is about a soldier, a medic. It is just heartbreaking. He volunteered to go to Iraq to help his friend, a newly single mom. He was the centerpiece of one of the most famous pictures of the war. He was a true hero. His tour landed him in hell. Truly tragic.
We did manage to go to the Air Expo yesterday. It was pretty miserable. Trying to keep two small children in line at a place that huge was not fun, for anyone. The children's activities (slides and bounce houses) had lines that ran about 15 minutes each. It was warmer than expected and Jameson hated the noise. Not fun. Note to self: do not try to do things like this without another adult around! We left earlier than planned, but it took us 45 minutes just to get out of the parking lot. So, we watched the Thunderbirds from the car. They were awesome.

The World's Most Dangerous Place

So, according to this article, my husband is in "The World's Most Dangerous Place". And I was worried about the window frame in my house that I found bent today. Peachy. And what am I doing on a Friday night? I am sitting here, with an ice pack on my ear where my little cheeky monkey threw a tape measure at my head that the other cheeky monkey pulled out of the drawer where he wasn't supposed to be. But, at least I had a showing today. So, I go to sit outside to enjoy the night air, only to be exposed to the conversation of the neighbors three houses away. These idiots are bragging about their combat tours and one in particular is bragging about his three year old that knows how to differentiate different beers. This child evidently also starting drinking the beer and got falling down drunk. The guy then proceeded to bitch about how people were complaining to him about his drunk three year old and how mean that was. His response? "It's my f*cking kid". So, then he bragged about how the child then fell off a trampoline and got hurt (but that was ok because there was an Army medic present). But he gave him another beer and he was fine. WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?????

Customer Service is Dead

I am pretty sure I am not the only person on this planet that has noticed a severe decline in customer service. Whether it be your fast food cashier or your car dealership, customer service seems to be some sort of lost art form. I feel that I have a pretty good sense of "good" customer service because I started working with the general public at 16. In fact, I put myself through college as a "Customer Service Manager" at Wal-Mart. These days, it seems that people that are in the "customer service department" don't even care enough to treat you with respect as a human being. The "customer service department" of Ford finally called me back. Not only was "Mike" completely unhelpful to me, he didn't seem to care how upset I was. It was like talking to a robot. Once again, I told him my MAIN concern involved the fact that I still haven't gotten an answer about my car and why I have to keep getting new rear brakes. He, of course, can't answer that question. He isn't trained to do so. I told him the mechanic couldn't answer me either and he said that NO ONE CAN HELP ME then. Brilliant. I told him I didn't understand how a company would charge someone 30k for a vehicle and just screw them. He didn't understand how I was being screwed. Evidently I do speak Chinese. He never apologized. He merely stated, "I can understand your frustration." No, I really don't think you can. You have no idea. So I told him, I am going to put a sign on my car that says, "Ford treats military wives like crap". He wasn't concerned in the least. Evidently, Ford's vehicle sales have hit an all time high and they can afford not to care about their customers. Good to know.

"...uses her child's disability as a crutch for her parenting inadequacies."

Wow. This story is unbelievable. Seriously. It is the comment at the bottom that truly is unbelievable, i.e.: "If you were a good parent you would know that having a screaming child in a public restaurant, where people PAY to have a nice meal in a NICE ATMOSPHERE, is absolutely inexcusable. I personally find it disgusting that this woman uses her child's disability as a crutch for her parenting inadequacies."
So, a mother takes her autistic child into a restaurant and then gets kicked out, by the Chef of Police, no less. "Gail says Chief Rushton yelled across the restaurant again. "He said, ‘You need to pick her up and you need to get out of here now,'" Gail said. "
Let me get this straight. A grown man is upset by a four year old autistic child, so he yells across the restaurant.... The Chef of Police is disturbing the restaurant by yelling across and that is ok, evidently, but the four year old's yelling is not ok. I am so glad to know that grown ups can throw temper tantrums and children are not allowed, regardless of the fact that the child is Autistic. And this restaurant is called Buckhead Café in Jackson, SC.... Never having been there, I can't really judge. But my guess is, with the Cafe in the name, it isn't a 5 star restaurant. Next, we will be kicking kids out of McDonald's because people are paying to have nice meal. This one just kind of made me sick to my stomach....

We had a very fun day at DJ's birthday party. My little darlings were in this pool for nearly four hours. Although the temperature was quite warm (edging toward 90 degrees), the water was pretty icy and they were shivering violently, but still refused to get out. They were very cute and all the children got along remarkably well. I hope the birthday boy had as much fun as we did. (Thanks again for inviting us Jennifer!). I found out today that Amanda's baby came yesterday, four weeks early. Our thoughts and prayers are with little baby boy Nipper. For those of you with prayer chains or take requests, my uncle had a heart attack on Thursday and isn't doing very well. We are still waiting for a date for Matthew. I went into the office yesterday and they told me the date they have is 1 Oct. That can change at any time, of course. That gives him very little time to clear. I can do most of the legwork, but that is a quite the time cruncher. For my moment of zen today, I put the children to bed and was able to mow. I then proceeded to sit outside in my Adirondack chair and enjoy the half moon and the smell of fresh cut grass. Ahhhhhhh!

I wouldn't buy the Olympian if it were the last newspaper on earth.

So, I have had a bit of a rough week. I am exhausted. It's Saturday and I just want to sleep. The kids got up earlier than normal, so I let them watch some tv in my room so I can lie in bed a bit longer. I also haven't heard back from Matthew and I am anxious to hear from him. The phone rings at 8:20, so I jump up to answer it. It is the Olympian newspaper. I can't tell you how many times they have called asking if I want to subscribe. I was nice, the first three times. Then they started calling me at 9:20 at night while I was putting my kids to bed. They are flat out harassing me. Each time I tell them I am on the national do not call list and to remove my number. Does this do any good? NO. The have called 5 other times this week and I just didn't answer. Why do people feel the need to bully me? Do they think this will make me want to subscribe? Did I change my mind from yesterday about millions of pounds of paper waste that many people don't recycle? Why would I want a subscription to a newspaper at all? I don't really care about the poorly written local news and I can find everything I want on the internet. WHY CAN'T PEOPLE LEAVE ME ALONE?????

Today, Jameson went on his first field trip without me. I was originally told that no siblings were allowed on the field trip, only to find out today, that we could have actually gone. So, instead Ian and I headed to the gym to see if there were any classes that I could take. I stopped by the free daycare service to see if there was a waiting list. I found out instead that my registration had expired and I needed to fill out paperwork. I decided to go ahead and fill it out, so that if or when I wanted to come back later, everything would be ready to go. Instead, I had some stupid daycare worker yelling at me about Ian's bare feet. I told her I wasn't going to leave him there, I was just trying to fill out the short form and would leave. She lectured me about the safety hazard I was imposing and told me I had to hold him as I filled out the paperwork. Right, I am going to hold a squirming 2.5 year old while I fill out paperwork. I mean after all, I didn't just spend the last FOUR months registering the two boys through Child and Youth Services, so they needed more paperwork. And wow, I was really putting these people out with my barefoot child in their stupid child care room for 2.5 minutes. So, I left. I guess the Army wants the wives to stay fat.
I was able to get haircuts for both boys today. Ian shook the entire time, like it was excruciating. That was very sad. But his hair is adorable.
So, today's news? Among the tragic and sometimes stupid (like the Mormon getting in trouble for his shirtless calender) I found this story about a brother and a sister that have be reunited after being seperated in 1942. I will warn you, I got pretty emotional reading it. It is another reminder of what is really important in life.

And the verdict...I went to the dealership because they never called to tell me what was going on. I got there, the car was outside and finished. I went in, so angry that I was shaking. I mean really shaking. I stood there for almost 10 minutes waiting for someone to help me. One the service tech asked if he could help me. I went over and started talking to him. He asked if I was dropping my car off, and I said, "No, my vehicle has been here for 27 hours and I want a status report." He then looked at me and said, "I don't like your tone of voice or your attitude. You're going to have to find someone else to help you." And then, he walked off. I swear, I can't even make this stuff up!!! I was so upset at this point that one of the other people asked if I wanted popcorn for the kids while I waited for the mechanic. I was shaking so badly that I couldn't even get the popcorn in the bag. Basically, no one could help me, no one could explain why I needed breaks AGAIN, and no one wanted to do anything for me. So, I paid my $537 and went outside. I put my kids in MY car, turned the AC and a movie on, walked back down to the rental to unload it. Two Britax carseats (not small, mind you) and all the stuff I had packed for the day and walked back to my car (half a parking lot away), no one offering to help me at all. I got in my car, cursing Ford. I was fighting back tears by the time I got back on base. Meanwhile, it had taken so long, that Jameson was 30 minutes late for school. I went to the squadron to talk to one of the vehicles maintenance guys who agreed with everything I told him. I finally got home around 4:30. After putting my already sleeping kids down and unloading the milk and yogurt, I called the customer service line for Ford. I started telling him calmly about why I had a complaint and then he asked me to hold because "my personal information wasn't showing up in his computer". I held...and held..and held...and then was disconnected. I immediately called back. "We're sorry, our office is now closed....". I guess the FORD MOTOR COMPANY's car sales are so great right now that they can afford to treat there customers like horse manure. Next time I am in the market to buy an expensive vehicle, it will be a car that is actually worth a damn. I bet Toyota would be happy to see me. In fact, when I bought my little Saturn a few years ago, I was treated like gold, regardless of how much money I spent. Too bad all car companies aren't like that.

Am I speaking Chinese?

Today was a unbelievable. I had to have the car to the dealer at 9:15, meaning I needed to leave at 8:15. Fine, not a big deal. Since I was out, we decided to go to the free movie, but when we got there, it was full. So we went to Wall-e instead. It really was a cute moive. I wanted to take my awesome friend who was driving me all over Western WA, so we stopped at the Taco Del Mar in Hawks Prairie. After ordering 4 kids meals and two adults meals, all the while trying to keep the kids in line, the guy behind the counter says, "So, how are you today?" to my unsmiling face. I answered him honestly, "I'm tired", and continued ordering. He says, "Why are you tired, are you working? Do you actually work?" If I didn't have four hungry kids and a pregnant woman with me, I think I would have jumped over the counter and and knocked him out. So, I still hadn't heard anything about my car, it is now 2:30. I call and of course, they need to call me back. They call right in the middle of Ian's therapy at 3:30 (keep in mind, they have had my car since 9:15). "There is a problem with this... and that is under warranty...blah blah blah, but your breaks have actually worn through and scored your rotors, that is going to be about 500 dollars and we are going to need to keep in over night....blah, blah, blah...". So I asked again, "Why are my rear breaks needed to be replace after 28,000 miles AGAIN???" I told her I would call back when my son wasn't in the middle of ABA therapy. So I go to the dealer. What is going??? Well, you know...blah, blah, blah. I finally looked at the guy and said, "That's nice, what I want to know is WHY ARE THE CHEWING THROUGH TWICE IN ONE YEAR. THAT ISN'T NORMAL AND YOU NEED TO FIND OUT WHY BEFORE I REPLACE THEM AND HAVE TO GET NEW ONES IN ANOTHER 20,000 MILES!!!!" "Oh, I see, yes, no, that's not normal...blah, blah, blah. I have asked this same question, I can't tell you how many times, to how many people. Evidently, I have been speaking Chinese and no one understood me. So, off to the rental car place, where I am given a really crappy car, full of animal hair. I drove ALL the WAY HOME and realize, I don't have a key to get in my house. Luckily, I had instictively grabbed my gate key. I drove the HOUR back, calling my friend from Germany who works on FT Lewis to head that way before me. I have one hour until the close...and it takes me an hour to get there. She got there and I told her where I had left my car parked so I could give her my code to get in and snag my spare before they locked up the parking lot. She calls and tells me my car isn't there. They had pulled in the bay and only sales people are left and they can't get in the bay. And it is on the lift. Seriously. We found the manager and he was able to get in the bay. But no one was authorized to bring the car down. I looked at him and said, "I have two small kids, I live an hour away, and I have NO WAY into my house!" (Keep in mind that, yes, I called the realtor to see if they could help...I am still waiting for them to call back and they only live 10 minutes down the road). So, I said, "How sturdy is the side of that lift, because you can turn your back and I will climb up there and go in through the window." He pulled up a stool and climbed in himself and got the key for me. So, I fly, an hour home to my other friend's house were I had left the kids (Jameson had to pee, so I stopped by and the generously kept them while I drove my two hour rampage). Finally, I get home, just shy of 10pm. I checked my messages, just as I noticed a card sitting on my counter. My house had been shown. Fantastic, I have been sorting the boys clothes, you can't even walk down the hallway upstairs. Stellar. The other message? I have another showing first thing tomorrow morning. Now...back to cleaning....

Today's cool link is a video about a man with Autism that has the most unbelievably ability to see things and then, with his photographic memory, draw them, down to the most minute detail. It is quite amazing. Tonight's dinner was a little bit more successful than last. I got Ian to eat a plate full of brown rice pasta, pan fried with lots of spice. Jameson only nibbled his carrots, but licked the plate clean of peanut butter. I have been making quinoa burgers (I used the Martha Stewart recipe, doctored it a bit to be gluten free, and added more spice). I found this makes a very tasty salad topping and I can keep the excess in the refrigerator for days until I pan fry another "burger"). I use romaine lettuce, kalamata olives, homemade tzatziki (Greek yogurt, lemon, dill, cucumbers, garlic, salt, and pepper...most of the liquid removed), tomatoes, and brocco sprouts. It is quite tangy and it makes me feel better about myself. Tomorrow, I have to take the Freestyle back to the dealership. I have having the rear breaks replaced AGAIN. This will be the second time in about a year. I don't understand why the rear breaks on a front wheel drive vehicle are chewing through that fast. The first time, it was a recall. Now, I don't know what is going on. I am not looking forward to dealing with a bunch of guys that think I am stupid and spending my day waiting for them to call me. Luckily, an awesome person offered me a ride back and her other car so I can take Ian to ABA. (I guess the dealership thinks I am a stay at home mom, with nothing better to do). Hopefully, it won't cost an arm and a leg. One more thing to do with my spare time and my spare money. Geez.
It is interesting to me that as I was talking to Ian today, he seemed to really understand what I am saying to him. Not that I didn't think he could understand my language, it just seems that he really understands what I mean unlike a 2.5 year old normally would. I reasoned with him and he understands. He seems he listens more to what I am saying. He is so sweet and so cute.

We finally got out of the house for the 4th. We met up with Hobie, Serina, Sarah, Dan, and his girlfriend and his sister. There wasn't any jumpers this year, which was disappointing. We had a little shower before hand which made the ground quite wet. We went to dinner before, and as I was talking to the other adults present, Jameson suddenly fell out of his chair. It was the strangest and funniest thing! I think he just wasn't paying attention and just fell over. He was fine. He has come to love taking pictures, almost as much as I do. He took this picture of me (top right). He was very happy because the Army band played the theme to Indiana Jones. Ian didn't move a muscle during the fireworks. He was completely enthralled. I am glad we decided to go and to top it all off, I was able to sell on of my chairs on Craigslist! Hopefully I will be able to get rid of lots more stuff and soon! Matthew is supposed to find out approximately when he will be able to come home, soon. It will be good to have at least an idea. Meanwhile, I will be continuing to sort and make trips to Goodwill. As long as the children let me!!!

And yet another story from Afghanistan, adding to the horror that I already see behind my eyelids. The world, it seems, gets a little more callous everyday. I bought Tapioca bread yesterday and Ian won't even touch it, except to push it as far away as possible. I will keep trying. I also bought some dried, sweeten Hibiscus flowers at Trader Joe's. We will see how they are. Last night, we had a thunder storm and I have never heard thunder quite like what occured at 2am. I am not sure if the west coast experiences a different kind of thunder storm, or if I was half dreaming. The thunder rumbled on, rolling, for quite some time. It also did not contain the same characterist boom, falled by the rumbling roll. It did not, however last very long. I am exhausted though, from the constant disruption of sleep. I just wish I would hear some news. Tomorrow, I will contemplate taking the boys to the fireworks. I have absolutely no one to go with or meet and I am afraid it may be more trouble than it's worth. We will see what the day brings.

ABA was canceled today and I feel like a slug. We did nothing, all day. But then again, it was kind of nice. It was the perfect temperature outside, staying in the lower 80s. It was so hot the other night that Jameson took his underwear off claiming that it was too hot for underwear and it was going to give his butt a heart attack if he wore them. I haven't heard from Matthew since he went out again. I did see the three guys that died from 7th Group on iCasualties. It makes me quite literally sick to my stomach. We haven't had anyone look at the house in about four weeks. That really worries me too. Gas is up, most places it is between $4.39 and $4.49 for regular. I am really hoping I just paid the last propane bill for this place. So much to do, so little energy. I did get a steal on bananas yesterday: 5.12 lbs for $2. That means the aroma of banana bread will soon be permeating the walls of the house.