Memories of California

Photo by TaGurit(SS/NB) ><>.

Wow, this was a long time ago. Hard to believe it was 6 1/2 years ago. I was only 19 here (that's me, sitting front and center) and a new mom. My cousins (going counter-clockwise from the left) were 16, 16, and I think 14. You wouldn't know it just from looking... the gals in my family always look older than they are as teenagers... then we seem to get stuck there as we get older. I'm 26 now, but people still think I'm in high school at times... or more commonly just out. You wouldn't believe the way people treat me or the things they say to me when they don't know how old I really am. And then they find out and boy, are they surprised. I think that's why the doctors I take my children to also treat me like a young näive girl who doesn't know much about health care. Little do they know how much or how long I've read up on medical advances, general information, or issues pertaining to my family's particular medical history/problems. I could go on a rant about that itself for hours... but I'll save it for later. Got a pizza in the oven right now, husband's watching the Chiefs and Broncos game (go Chiefs!) and girls need a nap. Poor son is trying to interact with daddy, but *someone* gets really absorbed while the game is on... so I need to get off the computer and find something for him to do until the pizza's done.

Some other photos from when I was younger...

I was 15 here, I think. At the Alameda County fair with my sister and cousins.


I know I was 15 here. A friend of mine, his name was Jerry Ehlers, took this without my knowledge. I was helping him with a project for his photography class, and he said he needed me to stand there so he could get the right focus. Well, he took this surreptitiously while looking through the viewfinder. I was utterly surprised when he presented us with the 8x10 print.


Tthis one was taken during the same trip as the Gun-toting Girl Gang one. The border is hideous, I know. My mom had Microsoft PicureIt! Publishing, and it was a horrible program. Plus, I had horrible skills - so it came out horribly. ;) But man - we had fun. We'd gone to Raging Waters, and we were sunburned and tired.


Man - this is what I looked like 8mos. after having my son. I didn't look like this after having my daughter. It sure makes a difference when you're working as a lifeguard, in the water for at least 2 hours a day, working for around 35 hours a week... vs. being a stay-at-home mom, in a mold-infested apartment where you struggle just to take a full breath. (The apartment we moved into after I got married, had black mold all over the inside of the bathroom - and it spread over the entire apartment. When we moved out, we found black mold had completely grown through our bathroom wall into our bedroom [they had a common wall] and we had to throw out a bunch of stuff - and use rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide on a bunch of others - because mold had grown on them. Wherever anything had been up against a wall, the wall was moldy and the back of the furniture had mold on it. The entire time I lived there, which was when I got married in May '04 and got pregnant, till the end of Dec. '04, I had severe asthma problems. I lived off of my inhaler - and didn't take a deep breath the entire 8 mos. I was constantly wheezing, and couldn't sleep more than a few hours at a time. My blood pressure was sky high the whole pregnancy - about 30pts higher than normal [and even when I was pregnant with my other 2 it's been low.] That place was horrible. Oh, it was the Outlook Apartments on Ridgetop in Silverdale, if you were wondering. DON'T RENT THERE - EVER!!!)


This one was when my daughter - that I'd had the hard pregnancy with - was 5mos. old, on my first trip to Cali since I was 19. Look a bit different, huh. :) The photo is with my beautiful Great-Grandma Foster. She is the sweetest, funniest, fun-loving woman I've ever known. Most of our family is crazy - but she's just a whole lotta fun.

And how do I look now?

;P

Baby, it's Cold Outside!!

Lately we have had some cold weather!! The other night, when I took this, everything was frozen over. I walked outside to get some photos, and the entire ground was covered in tiny sparkles, like it had been sprinkled with glitter or diamond dust. It was so cold, the air was almost painful to breathe.

I wish I could show how everything glittered. There was a thick white coating over everything, and the edges of leaves and blades of grass looked like they had been frosted. One of my flickrite friends who lives in Western WA also, took this amazing macro of a leaf he found:


I've been hoping for some winter weather; we were supposed to get a bunch of snow the other night according to the National Weather Service's Seattle office... and it did actually snow a little. I went out and took some photos while I could; like this one, using a long exposure and flash

and this one looking straight up at the sky with my flash.

I have more, but they're still sitting on my computer waiting for me to go through them.

I really wish we'd get some good winter weather now. It's been nice to get all snuggly in warm coats and scarves and hats. After a long, hot summer, I was actually looking forward to this. Even though there are parts of winter I dislike (mostly after it's been around for a good while, and especially when it consists of nothing more than grey skies and rain) there are many things I love about winter. I love when it snows. I mean, how fun is it to watch the soft white flakes fall from the sky? If you sit there long enough, you can almost get dizzy from it. And the snow covers everything like a soft blanket, hiding the ugliness of the earth and mud and smoothing the jagged edges of rocks and sticks. Kind of like what God does for us, when we come to Him... smoothes out our rough edges, and covers up our ugliness with His beauty.

I can't wait to see what we get tomorrow. According (once again) to the NWS-Seattle we've got a "Winter Storm Watch" for Thursday. Doesn't sound like much though:
"...WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 7 AM PST THURSDAY THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING..

A WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE PUGET SOUND AREA FROM 7 AM PST THURSDAY THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING.

RAIN AND SNOW WILL BEGIN THURSDAY MORNING AND CHANGE TO MOSTLY SNOW BY AFTERNOON. ONE TO THREE INCHES ARE POSSIBLE DURING THE
DAY...WITH ANOTHER INCH OR SO POSSIBLE THURSDAY EVENING. SOUTH WIND IN THE EVENING WILL WARM THE AIR ENOUGH TO CHANGE ANY
PRECIPITATION TO RAIN.

A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR SEVERE WINTER WEATHER."

We had a Severe Winter Weather (or something like that) warning for the other night, and it only snowed for a couple hours... and then a bit more in the morning when my husband left for work. By the time I got up though, all the snow was melted, and it was clear and sunny all that day. (Which, I think, was yesterday. ;) So who knows. I've heard that the chance the forecast is accurate is something like 48% (or maybe it's 52%) - so it's not like I'm holding my breath. But I can still hope, right? ;)

You can be sure if we do get snow, I'll be right there with my camera, snapping away! And hopefully this time my kids'll get to play in it. They were really looking forward to building a snowman... this time, I hope they can.

My first video post - here's hoping!

Well, I've decided to try vimeo.com, since I've not figured out how else to upload clips to my blog. If anyone can help me there (with the whole uploading thing - or maybe I should just do a search on blogger ;) I'd so appreciate it!

Anyways, I'll consider this my test-post. We went to Chuck E. Cheese's for my son's 7th birthday last night (it wasn't his birthday last night, but we weren't able to go the day of) and my youngest and husband were goofing around. Here is the evidence of their goofiness. ;)

edit: Anyone able to see the video? I sure can't. I wasn't able to earlier either, here or on vimeo. I'm not sure how long I'll stick with them, since it appears that nothing works over there right now... if I can figure out how to delete my account over there maybe I'll check back in with them in a couple years. :) I'll give it another day, to see if the video appears (their forum has a topic on this very issue dating back 3 weeks with no response from the creator. A second thread about the same issue stated it had been fixed about 12 days ago.. but since then, nothing. Who knows?) but I'm not planning on sticking it out very long. I'm way too busy managing my photos on flickr (which btw is having a massage right now, since something broke big time over there, it seems!!) and taking photos, and everything. Plus, now that I've sorta figured out one way of loading my clips into my iMac, I'll be trying out iMovie and see what I come up with. Or at least, iDVD and create some fun stuff. Oh well...

edit#2: I deleted the video and the info. on my profile, and I'm trying to decide whether to email the creator "Jakob" or just forget the whole thing, period. It never worked for me, and the help just doesn't cut it. I understand they're in their early stages, but I guess right now I just don't have the patience to deal with it. What's the point, if I can't even use it, at all?? So, forget vimeo. If anything, I'll just look elsewhere. Or see if .Mac allows videos...

Camera-Toss: 1st Attempt

Yes, I've joined the ranks of Camera Tossers. :) Funny, I don't remember how I came across the group, but a couple days after I joined, they got FlickrBlogged and apparently popularity has just skyrocketed. Funny, I still hadn't tossed my camera yet... until about 5 days ago. All of a sudden, I thought - hey, why not just "do it" - so I did, in my living room. Turned the setting to "Night Shots" (long exposure) and turned off the flash, then just started hitting the button and tossing the cam. This was a shot from among my first attempts.

I cannot believe how popular this shot is. In the 4 days since I've posted it, it has surpassed my previously most-viewed photo (below) by almost 1000 views!!



And it has been faved almost as many times! I am so continually amazed. I mean, I like the shot too... but I never expected this to be so popular, considering the rest of my photostream photos stay around the low hundreds at most. But the rest of my CameraToss photos have also surpassed that mark within a couple days. Maybe it's just the idea of someone tossing their camera being such a novelty? Who knows. But I don't mind. :) It's sure alot of fun... as long as you don't drop the camera on its' way down!

More Waterful stuff, and Six Word Stories

I finally decided to try out some more high-speed shots of water - and look what I got! I'm so proud of this one. It was pretty hard to get it just right - but I love how the entire stream was captured in the frame, with that little droplet on the end. :) Check out the other photos in my Waterful set for some other shots I'm really proud of. :)

Another fun thing I've been doing lately is Six Word Story which is a whole lotta fun! Trying to come up with some kind of title or caption containing only 6 words, and tellling some kind of story about/within the photograph is quite a creative challenge. So far, I've only done 2 - this one ("In defense, the fish spewed venom") and another one

Oh no! We're having another earthquake!!"



I need to go through some of my old pics and see what I can come up with - both of those are new, but I'm sure I can find some old goodies and add something! At least, I hope so!

My Squircle Obsession

Photo by formerly TaGurit.

Yes, I admit, I am a Squircaholic. WHAT?? you say. Yes, I'm addicted to squircling. SQUIRCLING?? you ask. What the heck is a squircle?

In short, it's a squared circle. :) Now, before we get off on an existential tangent trying to figure out just what "squared circle" really means, I'll tell you. It is simply, a perfect circle, contained within/framed by a perfect square. That's all.

At first, I thought - ok, what's the big deal? I totally didn't get why so many people were obsessed with this whole squircle thing. A circle in a square? C'mon! How difficult could that be? And how boring and common the shots probably are. Right? Well, partly. Yes, it's easy to create a squircle (though you'd be amazed at how many people in the group post photos that are nowhere near the stated guidelines) and yes, there are tons of manhole covers, mirrors, bowls, and balls but there's also all kinds of great unusual creative ones in there too! To be honest, it really just kind of hit me one day. I began to notice circles all around me, thinking "Hey, I bet that'd make a cool squircle" and stuff like that. And so began my obsession.

Now, I won't say it's an everyday thing - I'm not constantly taking photos of everything circular to crop a square around it. Nor am I particularly scouting for things which could fit the criteria (though I did for a little while at the beginning) - but there are times when the inspiration hits and I begin once again to see potential squircles all around me. Is there help for someone like me? Would I want/need help? Just because I go around snapping 10-15 shots of the same thing to get the circle "just right" does that mean I need intervention? ;) Nah... I'm not even close to the level some have reached - like the submissions by Leo L30: 2378 in all - and I bet he's got even more lurking on his home computer :) Now, that's impressive! I don't think I'll ever reach a spot in the top posters, but that's ok. I'm happy in my obscurity. I do it cuz I like it. And that's the way it should be. :)

At the Fair

Well, the Puyallup Fair's been going on for a while, and we just went this past weekend (on Sat. and again on Monday - the ride braceletes weren't for sale on the weekend, and we'd promised the kids rides - at $17.50 for a bracelet, that's less than 5 rides-worth [$4 just for a kiddie ride??? That's insane!!] so it pays for itself pretty quick.)

It was alot of fun. Saturday we just walked around mostly. We looked at the animals, and I took the kids in the petting area. There were pygmy goats (whose coats are extremely soft!!!) and sheep, and a little tiny baby bunny only 2 (or was it 6? I don't remember ;) weeks old. So soft you could barely feel it. So sweet. My 2yr old loved it. We took them on one ride each that day; Greg went on the bears (you sit inside them and they spin... I get all nauseated nowadays on those - after being pregnant with my oldest girl, my equilibrium seems all messed up - I can't even swing on swings for very long!) with our oldest girl, and I went on the swings with the son. Gregoreo (my nickname for the hubs) took the kids on the train - it winds around the kiddie area, and goes thru a short tunnel - the kids absolutely loved it! He took some great shots too, but I've yet to upload them... will soon. He was reluctant to take them (he's not big on non-thrill rides) but I convinced him that their enjoyment of it would be the rewarding part... and when they came back, he had a big ol' smile on his face and said that he'd had fun. I was so glad.

So Monday was a rough day in general, but we did have fun at the fair. 'Specially the kids. The 2yr old went down the Giant slide for the first time (in between my legs of course - you can't hold them on your lap; it's a safety issue) and the son went down by himself for the first time. What a big boy he's getting to be! Almost 7yrs old... and over 4ft tall!! I got to take them on the train that night (I'd gotten a bracelet too - Greg wanted me to rather than him... he had fun with the baby though :) and the kids went on all sorts of other stuff. Near the end of the night, Bryant reeeeally wanted to go on the huge Ferris Wheel; pictured here. He's asked to go every year - and so this time we actually got to go! I'm not fond of big slow-moving high rides that you're not exactly strapped into (this one you sit in a basket that hangs underneath the arm) - I prefer fast high scary thrill rides (the scary part is tolerable because you're strapped in and it moves so fast you don't really have time to ponder how high you really are - except at the beginning... whereas the slow ones are scary because you know exactly how high you are the entire time)

Bryant loved it though... and after a minute or two I enjoyed it as well. I'm really glad for him that he got to go... :)

After that, we ran to the swings before the bracelet expired, and flew around in the cold night air... then found my hubs and the girls - and went home. Fun, fun.

Finally, Again!

Well I finally dyed my hair again. I first dyed it when I was 19; using the Special Effects brand, Atomic Pink color. Man I loved it. I did it the night I went to a Battle of the Bands, on Bainbridge Island; to support a friend's band (no longer in existence, sadly - the band I mean. It was called Dred.) It was so much fun...

Anywayz, I've dyed it a few times since then, mostly darker colors (burgundy, dark/bright red) but I've always wanted to go back to pink. Except Hot Topic didn't carry the Atomic pink anymore.. only a couple lighter pinks and one more of a purple color. But when I went in a little while ago, I found it!!! So I snapped it up, and a few nights ago finally took the time to bleach (but ran out- I've got so much hair!! So the blonde is a little uneven) and color. The only problem is... my hair grows so fast, i'm already seeing a tiny bit of roots!!! Ack! And the unfortunate thing is, the pink is only a semi-permanent... so it washes out with every shampoo (and turns the entire shower pink!) But it's fun while it lasts... and I've got a huge bottle of the stuff, so when it does start to fade, I can re-do it easily.

I just love having pink hair! I feel like "myself." :)

What's my sister doing?

Photo by formerly TaGurit.

What a sweet big sister she is. My oldest daughter just loves to play with her sister, and she loves to be a big girl. The other day, we went to the park, and while I was helping my mom get Aidan into his swing (he's my little brother - 8 mos. younger than my youngest) I turned and saw Rose getting ready to push Carlon. She did a good job too! They had alot of fun, and I am so glad I captured it on "film." It's definitely something I want to remember.

I'd Say So!

Photo by Katie Bug.

Yep, pretty much sums it up! Craziness no? 'Round here it's still 'bout $2.89/gal for the basic 87 octane, but I heard it's closer to $5/gal in Atlanta - and elsewhere over $3. My mom was saying something about prices going up 65¢ by this weekend - if that happens, Greg's gonna hafta start taking the bus to work - and we won't be making any long-distance drives in the near future. Too bad we have to drive to get anywhere in town - one disadvantage of living on an enclosed base. Ah well. Funny though, you'd think gas would be cheaper here on-base... but it's just as expensive as out in town, and 13¢ more than at Costco! Thank goodness for Costco.

Anyway, I just love this shot. Says it all, huh? I don't really know whether to laugh or cry at the irony. Maybe both. Heh.

The Newest Coolest Thing

So recently on flickr, fd created this really cool new app for creating "magazine covers" with a flickr photo! Omygosh I am so loving it! I've always loved writing and photography, and I've wanted to take journalism courses and create my own publication for just about ever. I've thought about creating a family newsletter just for my family to keep up with each other (we're spread out everywhere!) and all sorts of different things. Well, now I can "pretend" to have my own magazine; or at least create fun covers with silly article titles. My first creation was for the Catchy Colors group. !efatima created the group, and admins it beautifully (it's alot of fun!) and she started a thread specifically asking for Catchy Colors magazine covers. Omygosh the creativity and fun some of those covers showcase - I think it's one of my fave threads in any of the groups. She even publishes them all on the Catchy Colors Publications blog. This was my first contribution:

Isn't that fun? ;) This app creates so many different opportunities for fun. I got all excited about the different ideas/issues you could create, and started an actual "magazine" of my own. ;) Actually, it started out as just a tribute. One of my contacts, thehomsar is a soldier stationed in Iraq, (actually alot of my contacts are Military, mostly stationed in Iraq or previously have served there) and his face was a perfect cover-photo for the magazine. I get so tired of all the anti-USA/anti-Military crap that is all over flickr unfortunately (I've actually been very surprised and appalled at the things people have said... I seriously can't believe there are people so ignorant, hateful, and venomous! No wait, I take it back. I can believe it, but I'd never personally come into contact with it before) and I wanted to do something, in my own little way, to try to combat the images the anti-Military people try to flout around the web. Our men and women need encouragement, support, and respect. Not the stuff they get from the majority of media and especially the left-wingnut ignoramuses all over the place on flickr. Some of those people are completely crazy! I am not kidding. It's like they have no rational brain cells anywhere in their head! Try to carry on a conversation, a rational discussion of some topic or other - and all they can do is rant and rave and call people names and go on about this and that (stuff I don't want to repeat) and spout their lies, propaganda and hyperbole. *sigh... There was one group I absolutely loved - called Delete me! - where all the sarcasm that lies beneath my calm exterior was allowed, encouraged, and prodded to come out. Granted, there's alot of users who use pretty foul language - almost burns my eyes! - but other than that, it was a whole lotta fun. I was one of the "gang" and really enjoyed the rapport I developed with some of the members. The goal of the group was basically trash each others' photos with as sarcasm, wit, and creativity as possible... while sometimes offering a tidbit of actual critique thrown in amongst the withering comments. It was the one place I could vent all the pent-up tension of the day, and have others enjoy it - and some of the comments I read other people making absolutely would have me bent-over laughing my head off. Or at least shaking my head. (By now you're probably going "what the heck does this have to do with that new magazine?") Well, there was this one particular user in there who would take every single opportunity (and even create some) to trash the US and our Military and the war in Iraq and G.W.B. et al. It made me so sick. And then he got all upset because someone made a negative comment on a photo of his (ok, I can understand getting upset about someone negatively commenting on a photo of yourself - but the content/context of the photo was what really was causing the comment) - apparently he'd gone to some sort of anti-war protest, with a strip of cloth around his head that apparently said "Hamas" in arabic - and he wore a button on his shirt that said "We are all Palestinians." The kind of comments this guy was throwing around completely made me sick to my stomach and heartsick as well. I never said anything, because I know confronting people like that only inflames them and creates a huge flamewar - plus I didn't want the group to be all about politics just 'cuz one person had that agenda. So I did my best to get along with him and the other members of the group (although one person there I completely made no effort to get along with - after he personally attacked my views of the USA and the country in general, I'd had enough and made a very adamant reply back (it all happened on this photo.) Anyways, I just couldn't stand it anymore, so I left the group. But those couple people are only the tiniest snowflake on the tip of the iceberg. That mentality (that the military is over there "occupying" and warring against the people, and a whole load of other crap) is all over flickr - (there are tons of awesome people on too, and pro-Military, patriotic groups and people, I'm just focusing on why I wanted to actually start the mag itself ;)

So anyways, I'm totally all for showing the truth about what our Military men and women are really like, what it is they're really doing every day (in our country and 'round the world) to better the lives of US citizens and other countries' people, and to have some fun and drum up support and enhance morale of the fighting men and women of the Armed Forces. (I'm so tired right now, plus I've been trying to get this written for some hours now, in between taking care of the kids/house/etc. I feel like I'm all disconnected and rambling somewhat...) Anyways, here was the result:



I even went so far as to create a group for the creation/collaboration effort (my goal/dream would be to get a new issue done weekly; with input, articles, photos etc. contributed by a bunch of people - though if it doesn't end up happening, I'm still going to do what I can on my own) and created a Freedom Fighter blog where the issues will be posted along with the articles and stuff. I'm really excited about it. In fact, if you want to help out, I'd love to have the help! Leave a comment, and I'll get back to you; or better yet, join the group on flickr! ;)

Well, I'm finally ending this post. I promised my daughter I'd read her some books, and it's time to do that. Later on, I'll post some of the other mag covers I've run across that I absolutely love! ;)

Life, life, life

So, now that the iMac is virtually new again, I'm able to once more post on my poor neglected blog. Third repair in less than a year - not just any repair... first we had the midplane replaced earlier this year. Then in the beginning of July our house took on a curious acrid smell... like melting plastic. It got worse and worse - chokingly bad. We finally figured out it was coming from the back of the computer. Which is the monitor, on a G5. Which is the problem, I'm beginning to figure out. Took it in, and took those "genuises" over a week to replace a little ol' fan. Then what happens? I take it home and plug it in... within minutes the air is filled with the same - yet somehow worse - smell of burnt plastic, and this time I hear an odd hissing sound... like when something liquid is dripping onto something hot and sizzling. Hmm... need to investigate this. Listen, move around, listen more - discover the sound is coming from the right bottom corner of the monitor. Not only that, but the same area is so hot I almost burn my fingers when I touch it. Bad sign. Turn it off before it explodes... and calmly call Apple the next day, wanting to actually scream at someone in frustration. But I keep my cool, even laugh about it... and tell them to call me when the part gets in, and then I'll take it in to get repaired. Of course, I get a call past 6:30 pm to let me know it's in, Thursday. Did I mention I live almost 2 hours away from the Apple store? Oh, and try getting 3 kids in the car for that ride, in the blaring, glaring hot sun (it's been awesome summer weather for lying by a pool lately - over 80deg. - too bad we don't have a pool to lie out by ;) and then getting back in the car to go back home - 3 times in a week. I don't think so. So we went and dropped it off, but thank goodness for my mom watching the kids for me when I went back to pick it up. It was sooo hot, and of course I wasn't thinking when I put on my black jeans and black Harley tank top that morning... whew! In an ol' '80 Buick Regal, no a/c, and only one working window (other handle broken due to someone's outburst a while back - we won't go there) Thank heavens it was my window that rolled-down. Even still, that traffic... omygosh. My kids would never have lasted. I've filled my gas tank 3 times in the past week it seems.

Anyways, so now the computer has basically had its insides completely replaced. And if anything goes wrong again... well, supposedly we get a new one. Though I'd rather just have this one up and working if it's all the same. :)

And there's other stuff going on too. Stuff I'm not at liberty to talk about, but I just want to say that stress sucks. I have hardly been able to eat or sleep for the last few weeks. My stomach has been in knots constantly... and just trying to get through the day and function has been a task. The kids are doing ok, we're managing and everything alright. I'm leaning so heavily on God right now that if He weren't there I'd literally be on my face in the mud. I don't know where anything is leading to, all I can do is pray for direction and guidance and wisdom. And more than anything, that His perfect Will be accomplished - in my own and my family's life. If you want to pray for me, I would so appreciate it. Things are really hard right now. We will get through, and we will be stronger, but it will take who-knows how long and it's probably going to get harder before it gets easier. All I can do is read the Bible and pray continually and go one day at a time. My heart is totally breaking every day. But God is good. I stand on His promises, and take to heart the verses in Romans that I feel God has given me:

Romans 8:18: "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." I know it's talking about martrydom and suffering for Christ, but I believe other sufferings which are out of your control can also be applied here, if you take them to God and use them for His Glory.

8:26 "Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." How many times I've just cried, and not even known what to pray... and yet the Spirit prays for me in those times when I cannot even form an intelligible sound, nor a single complete thought. Groanings which cannot be uttered... but you feel them deep within.

8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." This is an oft-quoted verse, for good reason. It does well to remember this; because it doesn't matter how dire or dreadful the circumstances seem - somehow, someway, someday it will turn for our benefit. Even if we could never imagine how.

8:35, 37-39 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution or famine or nakedness, or peril or sword?...Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

15:13 "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."

Too long between posts! (Too much flickr? Nah...)

Ok, so it's been forever since I've posted here... I really hate that! It just seems that I don't have much time to write... or maybe I'm just not taking the time. I've spent most of my time on flickr and I just get so absorbed, I stay there too long to have time left over to post here! *Sigh... Flickr is totally my addiction. I've loved photography since I was little... it gives you a glimpse into a world you otherwise might never experience. Not only that, but it's just fun! I've never really been able to decide what I wanted to photograph - I've always been amazed by wildlife photography, and would soooo love to travel to remote places and get beautiful shots of wild animals - preferably in the African savannahs or the rainforests around the world. I'm not big into woodland creatures... sure, they're cute and all - but who hasn't seen tons of squirrels and deer and what-have-you in their lifetime... booooring! In my opinion at least... What I especially love is the vibrant warm colors so prevalent in the Savannahs, and the gorgeous patterns on the animals there - God's creation continually amazes me with it's complexity and beauty! What an Artist! And the rainforests are so cool and green (but not the mossy green so common up here in the Pacific Northwest... I mean the vibrant emerald and chartreuse colors in the leaves and ferns and such) and the animals so bright and varied... what an experience that would be! Just once to catch a photo of a Toucan in flight, or a closeup of a Macaw - what a dream!

And with flickr, it gives me a chance to find photos like that, because there is such a varied community of people, that it's practically guaranteed you'll find at least one photo close to what you're looking for. Plus the talent is so amazing, I just keep finding more photos that inspire me and push me to try new things! I've so enjoyed finding new ways to look at my environment and photograph ordinary objects in extraordinary ways - one photo with a surprisingly positive response was my Spring Shower photo:


It was just a moment of inspiration - that's all I can say about it. I was getting ready to take a shower, and I'd had some success with previous photos of water in motion (I have a great camera with a super-bright flash, and a super-fast shutter speed, so I was able to capture some really cool shots of water splashing on the edge of my daughter's little bathtub) and wanted to see what else I could get. So I hopped in, pointed my camera up at the stream (thank goodness for weatherproofing! My camera has little gaskets to protect it from splashes - it's not waterproof for underwater shots, but spray won't damage it) and snapped a few photos. Afterwards, I chose the best one, and tweaked the contrast levels a bit. I was totally pleased with how it came out - but didn't expect the overwhelmingly positive response it received within the first couple days. It's already becoming one of my most-favorited photos!

Not only that, but flickr has given me the opportunity to share my photos with other like-minded photography-obsessed (or maybe just impassioned) flickrites, and the feedback is amazing... it's part of what keeps me clicking the shutter button. To know that my photographs have put smiles on others' faces, or impacted them in some way, or inspired them to try something new - what more could you ask for? (except maybe an offer to get published or something ;) Especially when it seems that I'm the only one in my family who understands the passion photographers have for their hobby/art/profession. It was very hurtful recently, when I was asking someone in my family if he'd seen my pictures lately, and another person near and dear told me I sounded like a salesperson. Just because I'm proud of my "art" and would appreciate if my family actually provided some feedback on this pursuit of mine... of course I would like them to look at my pictures and tell me what they think. Doesn't everyone want approval from the people closest to them? Especially when it's so personally meaningful? But to hear that insensitive comment... comparing me to someone who - in my mind, is usually classified as pushy, rude, and only looking out for their own interests (i.e. making the sale and getting more money) - it was one of the most hurtful things said to me in recent memory. Especially from one who claims to support me in my pursuit of photography. Of course, this same person has no clue why flickr is so important to me either... it doesn't matter what I tell him about it - if it's something he's not interested in personally, or something he doesn't "understand" then, well, it doesn't matter. He'd just rather not hear about it. It honestly makes me want to cry...

Well, it seems flickr is back up now... and my taquitos are waiting to be popped into the toaster oven... so I'm off! I hope to write more soon. There's alot going on right now, and so much to write about! Ok, well, ta-ta!

Flickr being Yahoo!'ed

GRRR! I have to be honest, even with all the massages and everything, I really really would rather have flickr stay exactly the way it is right now, than to sell out to Yahoo! I have no idea how much hard work they do at flickr (though I know it's alot) but selling to Yahoo!?? NOOOoooo.....

I have never liked Yahoo. A few years back, my USS Nevada (blue) family support group had a yahoo group, and to be a part of it you had to sign up with Yahoo. I thought, ok that's alright. But to sign up, you had to input your existing email address as an alternative, and after that the spam started FLOODING in!! I ended up getting so fed up, I started a new email. I've never gone back. I can't stand Yahoo! As alot of other flickrite bloggers have expressed, what's going to happen to our photos and groups? How much is flickr going to be infiltrated? Will I now get Yahoo spam to my email address I had to provide for flickr? If so, I'm outta there before you can sneeze! I have 2 email addys on my flickr account... what is Yahoo's privacy policy for that? Are they going to now provide those to outside companies? You know Yahoo, anything to make another buck in the fight to gain ground and catch up with Google (I so wish Google would've acquired flickr... they started up as just a little company too... they know where flickr is coming from and I think would work harder to keep the integrity and vision of Ludicorp than Yahoo will...) Please tell me this is a bad dream that I'll wake up from tomorrow...

If not... *sniff sniff :( .... I'll be watching sooo closely. They better not become Yahoor...

And what about my beloved Daily Zeitgeist? Will that now have Yahoo ads as well? *sigh... all the questions....

I'm freezing, Mt. St. Helens Erupted, and other stuff

It is freezing!! After setting record highs today now it's so cold! That's the paradox of the Puget Sound. I still fondly remember weather in Cali, where it's warm during the day, and cool at night... here it gets warm at times, but the clear sky is like an open window that just lets all the heat escape when it gets dark. I almost hope for clouds just to keep the heat in! And lately I've been praying for rain. We haven't seen a drop of precipitation since it snowed during the Pats game. That was ultracool. Too bad my husband was/is out to sea and missed it. The Pats are his team. While my Niners sucked hard core (who knows what the future holds, but more promise than the dismal past with Dennis "I ruin every team I coach" Erickson) Greg got me hooked on NE. Funny, I never thought I'd like an east coast team... AFC at that. Whatever, they're an awesome team, and I'm officially a fan. Can't say that about Boston per se, although it was superduper that they finally won the Series... my hubby was ecstatic! He ran around the house yelling "Go BoSox!" and had to call up his family to cheer the win. Such a cutie. I remember the last time my team was in the series (the SF Giants)... funny how no matter how bad they do, I've never given up on them... I always believe, I always hope, I keep the faith. They say Giants fans are among the most loyal in baseball. Well, I'm a testament to that! The fact is, I know they can make it, I know they can win! Just because I haven't seen it happen...
----- So back to the original topic, today. I had to turn the heater up and throw an extra shirt on just cuz our house isn't sealed up so well. My poor bird, she must be freezing. I really should go close the laundry room door; that's where most of the cold air comes in (somehow, it goes thru the dryer hose, and emanates from there throughout the house) You can almost feel a breeze... What I should really do is laundry, period. I've got a loveseat full of clothes to fold, a washer of clothes to dry, and a basket full to wash. So why the heck am I sitting here? Who knows... I guess I get a bit lonely at night, sitting on my comp (usually flickring) and listening to the TV in the background. I don't feel like doing anything, even though I need to. Ever have times when you just really really feel like cleaning... and you do it for hours, and feel so good afterwards? Well, now isn't one of those times. I'm exhausted. Staying up till 4am cuz you just can't fall asleep really sux. Bryant's at my mom's tonight, so that's nice. A little break. I'm looking forward to next week, when I finally get some more (adult) human contact. Being around 3 small children all day, and not much chance to hang out with (what) friends, I feel like my social skills are deteriorating rapidly. I haven't made it to the Nevada's family support group meetings at all this deployment. Next week though... oh shoot!! Well, my friends (ok, I have 2) Carrie and Jessica were gonna come over Tues. and have a movie night after our kids were in bed (well, Jessica doesn't have any; Carrie's got 2, that her hubby will be home with) but that's my very last FSG mtg. This is our last patrol with the Nevada (thank God) and I've met some great women over the last few years. I really don't want to miss the last meeting. Durnit. I'll hafta call my friends and cancel. Hmm. Maybe another night... Oh, and our GRNN dinner is coming up too... the last event b4 the guys come home. (Should I say what it stands for? ;) That's always fun. I've decided not to buy tix this time for first hug/kiss. We won first hug last time, and I spent so much $ ... I don't need to do it again. Let somebody else get that priviledge... 'tho it'd be sick to get to ride on the boat back thru the canal. My hubby's not a chief, so lemme guess... not gonna happen. But a girl can dream...
------- Wow, it's gotten really late... but before I go, Mt. St. Helens... it erupted again... well more like a really big burp. No lava, rocks, or anything, just a huge ash cloud. Went up 36,000 ft. And they don't have a clue what this means. Will there be another eruption? Is it likely to mirror the one in 1980? Well, they don't seem to think so... right. Did they think the '80 one was gonna be so big? *sigh... I'll do a bit more research on this when I'm not so tired. I promise I'll start blogging more, so there aren't these circuitous entries that kind of just ramble on about nothing. I sure hope to get an email soon though... my husband sent one but I received it about 6 times today. That's submarine email... sporadic, unreliable... it's like they've taken your emotions on a ride with the boat, up and down with the swells of anticipation and the troughs of disappointment. They're not coming home when they're supposed to... that sucked to tell the kids. Add more hearts to the whiteboard... well, we've at least erased the ones we added, and a couple more by now. And was supposed to be getting a call soon... not gonna happen. Their only break taken away due to the uncertainties of the job... such is navy life. Well, we can always take a trip ourselves later... hopefully.-------For now, I'm going to bed. Still need to fold clothes too....

Up Late... or Early?

Well, it's past 3 am, and I'm still awake... again. It's so hard to sleep when my husband's out to sea. Thank God this is his last patrol... at least for a while. We're not sure if we'll do the obliserve or not...

So I can't believe how long it's been since I've visited my own blog. I found an awesome website/photo-sharing community called flickr. That's now where I've been spending most of my online time. Wow, it sure is fun, but sucks up alot of time. I've gotten some of my friends and fam. to join, but I never know if they actually visit, or anything because I've only ever gotten 2 comments on any of my photos (one from my mom, one from my dad) and nobody has uploaded any photos! Makes me feel a bit lonely... I know my father-in-law looked once, and my hubby's grandpa has looked, but I have no idea how often they do. His family is all on the east coast, so I figured it'd be a great way to show them the latest photos of the kids, and keep in touch. Well, it was a good idea anyway. And the pics are there, whenever they decide to see them again. :)

So this summer, I'll be going back east for the first time since I moved away when I was 7. It'll be the first time to New England and poss. Florida. Anheiser Busch is giving away tix to their theme parks for military families, and Greg's grandparents live in FL, so it might just work out perfectly. The kids have never been to Sea World. I used to live in so. Cali when I was little, and it was my fave place to be. I especially loved the dolphin tank. And everyone loves Shamu... even though there's been... who knows how many? :) I would love to take them for the day. I'm sure Greg's grandparents would love to come along too. But whether we do that or not, we'll def. be visiting the rest of Greg's fam. in New England. I've heard so much about there from him, but never seen it... and only glimpses in pics from his childhood. I'm a little apprehensive. Oh, it has nothing to do with his family, I love them all and they're so nice and welcoming. His mom is the sweetest woman I've ever met. And I can't wait to see his little sisters again. His father is so funny and corny, and his step-mom is really helpful and fun. They're all great to talk to. But it'll be wierd going to his "home" seeing where he grew up and all. I mean, cool... but I guess because I've never known what it was like to grow up in one place. I guess you could say I'm worried about being jealous? Not envious, but well, it may sound pathetic, but whenever he talks about all his great childhood memories, and his friends and stuff... I dunno. I'm glad he has such great memories... but so many are tied up in someone else, and experiences I want to share with him he's already done with someone else. Or should I say, A someone else. And I think that's what most frightens me... the chance of meeting that someone else. Ok, frighten is a bad word. Dreading, maybe? Not sure why, I guess there's a few reasons. Well, first of all, how many people want to meet their spouse's "highschool sweetheart?" I mean, they only dated for a short time his sr. year, but he didn't date anyone after her, so that's what he considers her. And you always hear those stories of someone down the line getting divorced and finding love again, with their "old flame." Do I think that could happen? Well... things happen. All I can say is I really really hope not. I hope that Greg and I can work out our differences, that we can start to work together and be like a married couple should be. I def. know I don't want to go back east if our lives continue the way it has been going.

So what really scares ... I mean, worries me about meeting her? I guess one thing is, I'll have a face to put with the name. I really don't want that face haunting me. I have a name, I have stories. I don't need a face to put with them. The thing is, they stopped talking not too long before he met me. He claims to have been completely over her, but he used to talk about her all the time. Now, he has apologized for that, he apparently didn't realize he talked about her so much. Which worried me even more... that it was so natural to just talk about her. The funny thing is, she was totally using him. She didn't really care about him, and when he tells me all the things that happened between them, and how she snubbed him so many times (I mean, the whole reason they broke up in high school was cuz she wanted to date someone else) in some ways I feel bad for him, and in some ways I just want to say "HELLO!!" I mean, he still doesn't get what was going on. But he's a guy. They are pretty much clueless when it comes to the communication part of relationships, or the subtlety of blowing someone off. Well, she didn't so much blow him off as lead him on. I mean, she wasn't very clear. I can see where she was stringing him along. And I know she knows it too (probably flattered her that he was so into her, and she didn't want to let it go completely) but I don't think he ever will. Maybe it would just be too painful. Or maybe he just doesn't want to admit it.
Anyways, I really don't want to meet her. I don't want that awkward "I'm the first one he thought might be the one" and "Hi, I'm the one he did marry" moment. Just me, but I'd rather not see the girl he was so close to emotionally. Sometimes I thought (when we were dating, and first married) that he was still closer to her in his heart than he was to me. That's a hard place to be in.
So hopefully that meeting won't happen, and I'll just have happiness and joy at seeing where my husband grew up and went camping, and running, and everything. At the very least, I'll get to see his family again, and the kids will get to see their grandparents that they haven't seen since the wedding and Rose's birth.

Let's just pray that we get a minivan before summer...

Does "Niner" stand for 9 wins? (in 2 seasons?!)

So, they did it. They got rid of Dennis Erickson (did I spell his last name right?). They did it the day after I posted my "Down with Dennis" entry... not that THAT had anything to do with it of course... I'm not sure anyone's even actually read my blog entries, other than my husband... cuz I asked him to. But that's neither here nor there, other than to point out that I've been remiss in keeping up with 'Niner news on here. But they did it! Dennis is HIStory! When I heard the news, WOOHOO! I was ecstatic... and shocked to hear he'd been their coach for 2 whole stinkin' years?! See, told you it's hard to keep up on stuff going on in Cali, up here in sucky mucky washington. Of course, I guess if I actually got the paper here, it'd be a little easier... or maybe if I started using the internet to keep up on stuff... now that we have it. We've only had it here at home like a week, (only because of... well, I won't get off track here). So 2 years!!! No wonder every time they played the Seachickens they got "beat like they stole something!" (to put it in the words of Cheryl from Remember the Titans) Wow, 9 and 23. What a record. I'd just like to know why the heck they got him in the first place. I mean, c'mon! Like did someone say, "Hey why don't we get one of the worst coaches in the NFL, so we can suck really bad, lose our loyal fans, make ourselves a laughingstock... and get the top draft pick"? And now there's talk about getting another coach that doesn't have the best record as an NFL coach... what's going on? Seriously.
Up here, in the Puget Sound, they keep saying Mike Holmgren would be a great fit in SF. I agree. But it makes me wonder, what, is Seattle so fickle that they're already giving up on him? Hey, if Mike Holmgren went back to SF, do you think he could convince Jerry Rice to come back too? Hehe, as they say, "If wishes were horses..." I always thought Rice would retire in SF, I mean he started out in SF, played there 20 years or so... it really sucks he decided to leave. I don't blame him for leaving Oakland, I mean when someone says you're too old and tries to put you out to pasture, whaddya gonna do? But you can imagine my shock when he ended up here! First (that I can remember) was Merton Hanks... one of my fave SF guys... not just for his disjointed victory "dance" either. Seeing him in a Seattle uniform was a little disconcerting. Then Miracle Mike comes to Seattle ... from Green Bay, but once he was in SF as well. And now, the best wide receiver ever, EVER! is here, in blue and green.... weird. Playing with ... the Seahawks. I'm glad they're actually utilizing him, but to be honest, this was the stuff of my nightmares (well, sports-themed ones anyway).
So now, Seattle is doing better than I can remember (ok they lost the playoff game... how much can you expect.. it IS still Seattle remember?) and there's talk of Holmgren going back to SF. Hmmm. Well, I think it would be the smartest decision the 49ERS have made in a while... SOMEONE rescue them!!! Puh-lease!! It's not just Candlestick park sinking in the quicksand over there... and yes, I will always call it Candlestick. That's what it is... 3COMM or no 3COMM or whoever the heck the latest sponsor is. I'm sorry, -no, wait, I'm not- I don't think sponsors should get naming rights to stadiums. Not the whole thing, anyways, geez! Thank goodness at least at PacBell park (which I'm sorta okay with, because of the fact that they're like THE major phone provider in Cali... when I was younger I didn't know there WERE other phone companies... haha) they have McCovey field. But I know alot of people agree that commercialism in the sports industry is way out of hand. Name the seats. Name the entrances! Name the parking lot! But not the flippin stadium! I mean, what used to be the Oakland coliseum (the name makes sense, after all it is in Oakland) is now the Network Associates coliseum. Say WHAT? Talk about a mouthful. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Next thing you know, it'll be like NASCAR, with players running around with sponsor's stickers all over their uniforms. Free Agent will take on a whole new meaning.
Ok so I've gotten waaayyyy off track here, but hey, then it wouldn't be random would it? (I'm at least staying in the same realm of thought). So I'm no authority when it comes to the Niners anymore, like I said, but I know enough that somebody needs to get their head out of the sand underneath Candlestick and start making some good decisions... or they're not going to have anybody coming to their games unless they're cheering for the other team. Seriously. I know I'm not going to another SF/Seattle game unil they've got something to show for themselves. There's only so much a young team can do with a horrid coach. They've made the first step in the right direction. Now let's hope the fog stays in the bay and outta their heads, and they find a coach who can actually make something of this team. I have a dream, of a SuperBowl contender.... they once were and they can be again... I believe!

A Day in My Life

Well, today was interesting. It all started about 3 am when I woke up to my older daughter crying in her room... usually I wait a minute or 2 to see if she just goes back to sleep, but I guess she had some urgency in her voice because all I remember is getting up to get her. She was really upset, and I think I smelled something in her bed, so I took her to my room. She definitely had gotten sick, I could smell it once I was back in my room. So I wiped her with some baby wipes, and I think I fell asleep for a few mins... cuz next thing I know she's getting sick all over me. I felt so bad for her, I don't think she's gotten sick like this before!
Once she was finished, we got into the shower to get washed up, and I woke up my husband long enough to be able to get the sheet off the bed. I don't think he even remembers what was going on. He's funny when he's sleepy; he tends to say things that make you go "huh?" and start talking about the most off the wall things... and he doesn't remember any of it. Frustrating sometimes, but mostly funny. At least I was able (after a bit of shaking) to wake him up; sometimes he's so out it's like he's unconscious. Or if he wakes up he practically jumps out of his skin. That kinda freaks me out.
Anyways, so Rose wanted to snuggle with Greg but couldn't get comfortable. And he was so out, that he didn't realize she was trying to lie down with him. She kept trying to get comfy but we stayed awake for at least another 2 hours... during which time she got sick twice more. Thankfully I'd gotten smart and kept a bowl nearby, but she hated that. Of course, getting sick was no fun either, poor girl was so shaky and upset.
Then Greg has to get up, to catch his ride. He's got duty today so one of his buddies picked him up. Duty days suck, he's gotta be outta the house about 6am to get to the boat in time. And knowing us, we never get to bed before midnight... although he's wont to fall asleep on the couch sometimes at 9pm or so. :) I try to get him to go up to bed but he says he'd rather be asleep on the couch to be near me... so sweet huh? Sucks too cuz I feel like I hardly saw him yesterday; he got home after 4:30 and the way things went... well, the way they've been going lately.
So he got up and Rose started again... but nothing. So once she was calmed down again, we finally fell asleep. Until Bryant woke up at 7:30 and we all got up. We went downstairs and everyone (but Rose) was hungry, so I put in a VeggieTale video for the kids, gave Bryant a yogurt smoothie (the ones by Stonyfield Farms are so yummy, and totally organic) and a baggie of Life, and fed Carlon. Rose kept asking me to hold her, so when I was done w/the baby and put her back in bed, I picked up Rose and we fell asleep to The Toy that Saved Christmas.
The rest of the day pretty much consisted of me alternately holding Rose, feeding Carlon, and telling Bryant to get dressed (he sat in his room for like 2 hours today, just looking at books and stuff... I'd have gotten more on his case- that usually doesn't happen- but for Rose and all). Thankfully my mom went ahead and took Bryant for the night, so that he could get some one-on-one, and I could manage Rose and Carlon. Not that I can't otherwise, but it's just nice for Bryant to get to be with my mom- they're really close- when Rose is really needy.
And Rose finally took a nap today, she was asleep this afternoon when my mom picked up Bryant. Then I finished with Carlon, and Rose woke up. That's kind of how it goes, see-saw with the girls alot.
Now they're playing on the floor, I think Rose needs to be changed, and it's definitely time for her to go to bed. She didn't eat much today (obviously) but tonight she had a couple crackers, a banana, and some juice. I haven't heard from Greg yet, he usually calls sometime on his duty day. Usually right before he goes to bed, so I don't get to really talk to him alot. Oh well. Such is life. I'm not sure how it's going to be this time with him gone. Things have been a little weird between us lately. Not sure if it's the stress of the Navy or what. At least now we have internet here so I don't have to go to my mom's anymore. That will help with her and my relationship. :) And I can check email more often... even though it's pretty sporadic with the silent service.
We had a really fun time the other night though, Greg and I. It started snowing Friday night, and I was hoping it'd continue all night, cuz it was really coming down. He had duty Sat. and I was (selfishly) hoping that the snow would prevent him from getting to the boat. It happens... though not very often. They were gone last year when the base got shut down for a few days. I remember hearing people in the middle of the night out playing in the snow (though technically "quiet time" is at 10pm on weekdays) and wishing he could be here to enjoy the snow with me. We've never really been in a snow together. So when it was coming down Friday, I took advantage and asked him to play in the snow with me. I tried to videotape a bit, but the batt. went dead... so I just have the video of my memory.
It was sweet, Greg being just like a little boy. His snowball aim though is dead-on. He always says he should be a sharpshooter because of his 20-10 vision.. well if his aim was like it was with snowballs... he 'bout knocked my glasses off! My right eyesocket was sore for ... well, it's still sore actually!
So we tossed a couple snowballs at each other, and threw this little foam football back and forth, and he threw some snowballs onto the carport, just to watch them get bigger as they rolled off (hehe, just another example of how guys and girls think so differently!) and we had fun. It was also really romantic... we kinda forgot all the other stuff that's been going on, and were able to be completely in the moment... it was nice. The kind of memories you revisit over and over when you're up late at night, and missing each other... and wishing for better days. I hope we can get things straight again. After this patrol, there'll be 3 yrs of shore duty. We'll see how things go when we no longer have duty every 3 days, and he gets off in the early afternoon every day. Oughta' be interesting...

Dangerous highchair needs to be recalled!! (Is someone trying to keep this a secret?)

Has anyone ever heard of J. Mason, or MTS Products? Do you know someone who owns a J.Mason highchair (available at Target stores as well as elsewhere)? Then you need to read this!!!

*To see the highchair in question, you can go to www.jmason.com/highchair.htm
It's the Deluxe model (mine is with the Ellie design)

I bought a J.Mason highchair in June '04. The kind you have to assemble. It comes in 3 pieces (well 4, counting the removable tray): the main piece consisting of the seat, the arms, and the upper portion of the legs; and the 2 lower portions of the legs- the front and the back. The legs are tubular steel, the bottom portions shaped kinda like a "u", and they have a small piece of metal protuding from the ends which fit inside the upper part of the legs. I'm not really sure what purpose this metal piece is supposed to serve... unless... well, first things first.

Everything was fine, sorta'... till November. I had noticed for a while that the legs didn't stay together all that well. They seemed to somehow work themselves apart, so that I would have to push the pieces back together before putting my daughter in. They didn't seem to separate all that much (sometimes up to an inch; the lower piece fits inside the upper piece about 3 inches or so, not including the other piece of metal attatched to the lower legs), so other than thinking "what the heck", I didn't do too much about it. My mistake. I just figured that with the way the legs are shaped that they just didn't fit together all that well. I never would've guessed that that particular feature would end up endangering my child.

I have 3 children (as referred to in my profile); 2 are under 2 yrs. old. My older daughter was (thankfully) the one in the highchair when the incident happened. Had it been my infant daughter (who was about 5 1/2 mos. old at the time... the same age as many babies who sit in highchairs and have started solid foods), she undoubtedly would've been seriously injured, or worse. Then I would be telling a much different story.

So my older daughter was 21 mos. at the time, about 24 lbs. or so, a normal weight for that age. It was lunchtime, and so I went to put her in the highchair. As she was sitting in it, I went to get her food... "CRASH!!!" and crying!!! I ran over to my daughter, and found her on the floor with the chair on top of her! I rushed to pick her up, and checked her over for any injuries. She was terrified of course, but seemed (thankfully) to be more shaken up than anything else. I looked at the highchair to figure out what happened and, lo and behold, the lower portion of the front legs had completely separated from the seat part! She had not been doing anything in the chair, other than sitting, when this happened.

The other thing I'm grateful for, is that it was the front, rather than the back, legs. Being that she fell forward, she was able to somewhat brace herself. Just think if she had fallen backwards... well, I'd rather not thank you. But I can guess I'd have been treated differently by the company in question... but read on.
Of course, I notified the company right away, by calling the number on the chair itself. I got the voicemail and left a msg... not to hear from them for a few days, when finally Joselle called to "follow up". She informed me that she was staying late to call me about this issue (oh, the inconvenience she must've been experiencing). Of course, the first thing she asked was whether or not Rose had been injured (read: Do we have a lawsuit on our hands?). Then she informed me that the legs were supposed to "click together" to keep them from coming apart, and mine must be defective. She offered to send me a new one, and asked if I would send mine back for examination (by whom? She didn't say).

Now here's where it starts to smell a little funny. She took down my address (after I had to tell her a few times... mostly that the "E" in my address did not stand for "east" but was part of our house #) and said that they would call with a tracking number for me. Ok, but then I don't hear from them... for 2 weeks or so. And so, I call. And then begins my nightmare.

Once again, somehow, Joselle was the one who picked up the phone. (Eventually I got the idea that she is the only one who actually answers the phone when you ask for the "juvenile products" division. She must be pretty busy!) So basically I asked why I hadn't gotten a new highchair yet... that I'd been expecting a phone call, blah blah blah... and that's exactly what I got back from her: "blah blah blah." Well, that and the information she apparently forgot to tell me before: that they wouldn't send a new highchair unless they had received the old one! (And what did they expect ME to do in the meantime?? Go rent one or something?) So she re-took my address, to see why I hadn't received a box yet... and, lo and behold!!! The address was WRONG!!! Big surprise. Hmm... I remember telling her before, explicitly, that the "E" in our address was NOT FOR "EAST" but was "just 'e'" as part of the house number. Whew!

So somehow she extrapolated that it was FedEx's fault that the box hadn't reached me (don't know who's fault it was that J.Mason, or more correctly Joselle, had never called me with the tracking # in the first place!!) So she promised that "the box" would arrive Friday (this was like, Tuesday) and went ahead and so generously "ordered" me a new highchair. (Why use quotation marks? Just wait). Well, what a surprise. Friday, I see the FedEx truck go by, whoosh!, and then it was gone! No box.

Here comes Monday. Here comes a box! For a completely different highchair. A smaller highchair. So I called them back (cue Twilight Zone theme music) and *gasp! Joselle! Of course, she didn't identify herself at first (and yet, working at Albertson's you could practically get fired for not identifying yourself when you answered the phone) but I knew it was her. I immediately asked for a supervisor. *Gasp! again, when she identified herself as such!!! And just to make sure, I asked her name, and yeah. Dead on. So I asked for her supervisor. And some guy named Jeff got on the phone. It's too bad, because I really like that name. My best friend growing up had that name (though he spelled it Geoph for a while... pretty koo). Anyhoo, it was about this time that I got the idea that I wasn't talking to Americans. In fact, I'm pretty sure the call center is in the philippines (just for the record, I don't have proof... just an inkling). If you wonder how I came to that conclusion... well, let's just say I've spent most of my life living on Navy bases. And if that makes no sense to you, well... never mind.
So of course, I explain the whole thing to him. (I apologize if this story seems particularly long and drawn out... try actually being the one to go through it! Better yet, don't!) So he tells me that it's "standard procedure" to not order a highchair for replacement till they have the other one back. (I should've just taken it back to Target! I would've gotten less run-around!) But he reassures me one is ordered "anyway" and should be there within days. His solution for the box problem? "Send a piece of the chair fabric back to us." And that solves the problem, how? Do they have some kind of seers that can peer into the fabric and tell you what went wrong with the chair? If it's actually defective or a problem with the actual design??? Whatever.
So basically I ask him what that would solve. And he puts me on hold. *Gasp! *Choke! NOOOooooo!! Joselle!!! How did she get back on the phone?! She tells me that ("poor me") whenever they send out the wrong box, she's the one that hears about it from the customers. (Um, excuse me, but is that not PART of the job of being a "supervisor"?) So she says they'll send another box. Ok whatever.
So I finally got the replacement, a chair that you didn't have to assemble - the legs are one solid piece. Kinda funny though (here's one for the Consumer Report's "Selling It" page) on the box it said "No Assembly Needed!" and then elsewhere on the box it said "Must be assembled by an adult only". Just an interesting observation. Another observation; my mom also has a J.Mason highchair (similar to the one I bought)... but it is all one piece, yet comes with the removable seat pad. But it isn't listed on the J.Mason website. Hmm... why don't they just sell those instead of the ones that come apart? Makes more sense to me. Legs that are one-piece obviously have no chance of coming apart!
And the missing box? Oh yeah, coupla weeks after I got the replacement highchair, I did get another box... for a SWING.
And just FYI I also did call the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) and notified them of the problem. I have the report that they sent me, and I have to send it back so they can know whether or not they can release my name to the mfr., (I said yes) but it also says on the cover letter that they receive so many complaints about products, that they can only investigate a handful. So they usually just send the report to the mfr. and let them decide what to do about the issue. Considering what I've listed here, as far as J.Mason goes, I don't think they're too eager to do anything about it. Also the fact that the highchair in question is still listed on the website. Hmm....
Well, I couldn't just let it go, so I did also call the local Target where I bought it, and let a manager (Melissa) know exactly what happened. And that's why I'm writing this. That hopefully, someone, (if they're able to stand reading through the whole morbid ordeal) will bring this to the attention of someone who can do something. Or at the VERY least, that it will prevent someone else's child from being injured, or worse, by a similar incident. I don't think my highchair was defective, I think it's a faulty design. They can sell their lower-end compact highchairs as "Deluxe" models by adding the seat pad and the mesh bag (that hangs on the back). And then the whole issue would be moot.

My Niners Suck! -or- Down With Dennis!

So I don't know how many 49er fans there are, but I used to be the "Die Hardest" of them all... at least that's what I thought. I mean, I'm a very loyal person. I've stuck with the SF Giants through the years, never losing faith in them, and you know I was ecstatic when they made it to the World Series a few years back. Finally a chance to show the world that the whole '89 series loss was a fluke, you know, being flustered from the earthquake and all. (I was there when it happened too, right on the Bay Bridge!!)
And you know, even living in a completely different state, where I hardly get to see my teams play, I still stuck by them, loved them, cheered them on (Not a cheerleader... I can't stand cheerleaders... ok anywayz), and wore their "stuff". Borrowed my son's Terrell Owens jersey (hey, it fit!) to see the niners play the Seahawks (yuk)... and for a while, even when they kept going downhill, I didn't give up. Hey, they were my team!!!
Now, call me ignorant or whatever, but remember I don't get much news about my team up here in WA... but when I found out at the beginning of this season who exactly the Niners head coach was.... Remember how the seahawks used to totally suck? Like hardcore? My husband calls them the seachickens... anyways, so who do they have - Mike Holmgren, of course, and who did he USED to be with? My Niners. Just on a sidenote, how many Niners have eventually ended up here? Merton Hanks, now Jerry Rice, and I'm too tired right now to think of others but I know there were more. Back to the point... I don't remember a seahawk ever going to SF. Who used to coach Seattle when they sucked hardcore??? Who sucks hardcore now??? Think there could be a parallel??? My big question is, WHAT THE HECK IS DENNIS ERICKSON DOING IN SF??? Until they get rid of him, I have given up on the niners. I have been disenfranchised!!! They need to disenfranchise the big loser! I mean, really, what possessed whoever to hire the worst NFL coach in recent (and possibly not so recent) history??? Am I alone in thinking this? *sigh, for the good ol' days of George Seifert (I hope I spelled that right), and Steve Mariucci (I hope I spelled that right too). I am despondent. They were dead last this year. Surprise surprise. All I can say is, I hope they get their heads back where they belong, and do something different next year (I mean the front office). I just honestly can't believe it. They coulda' been contenders...

What about the Submarines?

Ok, so first of all, I just watched this armed forces tribute that my father forwarded to me, and now I'm sitting here with tears on my cheeks. *sigh Those things always get me... by the way the url is www.armedforcestribute.com it's pretty cool. I know there's alot of different good ones out there. I so appreciate all the support the military gets from civilians and others who may not actually be a part of the service, but know how important it is that they're out there doing their jobs.
Now, this is something I've been wondering for a while... ok well not really wondering, because... I already know, but it still irks me a little. What about the submariners? Well, Navy in general, but especially subs. Have you noticed that every where you look, (well, where I am anyway, surrounded by military bases in the Puget Sound) there are "support our troops" signs, magnets, etc.... but do you ever see "support our sailors"? Now this is not to downplay our soldiers at all - my bro-in-law is in Iraq as we speak, in an especially volatile area. But how often do you see our boys in blue mentioned? Maybe I'm a little more sensitive to this issue, being that my dad is retired Navy (he served onboard aircraft carriers) and that my husband is a submariner. But sailors are not "troops" and they're out there just the same. As far as the surface guys and fast-attack subsailors go, they're out there patrolling and doing ops in dangerous waters too. They face dangerous tasks and jobs everyday. Not just the pilots either. And their families are suffering just as much when they're gone. I know that whenever my dad went to sea, you didn't know what was going to happen, and unfortunately they always seemed to come home a few hands short. But how often do you hear about the sailors and what they're doing?
And especially the trident sub sailors, like my husband. I know they're the "Silent Service", which is why there's no fanfare, no publicity, or anything else like that. For good reason... the whole point of their patrols is "strategic deterrence", meaning they're out there, no one knows where, and that in itself is a deterrent. And I guess in some ways, for those men (a very special breed... who else could go out in a 500ft long metal tube and stay underwater for weeks at a time??? Not me!) the glory and honor comes, not in the public's eye and the people's appreciation, but in knowing how important their job really is, and doing it well.
But for them, peacetime or wartime, nothing changes. They still have to go out, patrol the deep, and keep us safe. Living side-by-side with weapons, underwater, for months... and doing it with no recognition, save in the sub community itself. And us wives, who never know when we might hear from them, when they'll be home (we only get approximations that we naturally aren't allowed to speak about)... our children go without any contact from daddy as well. Email is sporadic, phone calls are rare... and without being able to speak about it, you become very lonely. Only other sub wives have any idea what you go through. Sub and surface are very different worlds. I've been a part of both. They both have pros and cons... but back to my basic point. I think it would be nice if finally someone would recognize the huge contribution the navy makes to the wartime effort, and the submariners make every day, war or peacetime. My husband's job involves working on the weapons themselves. Every day. And you can't exactly "bail out" of a sub when there's a problem at sea. (I actually swore when I was younger that I'd never marry a submariner... God had other ideas) So next time you see something that says "Support our Troops", please remember the ones who aren't mentioned as often... those brave men of the sea.