Ha ha

Ryan would kill me if he knew I put this picture on here. But he looks so silly and cute. I love how he has his 'morale wall' with all the cards and pictures sent to him. At least those things made him smile I'm sure.

Sillyness

Ryan claims this stemmed from heat and boredom, but he decided to build a french fry pirate ship and a french fry rocket. They later had a war together at the table. And here's a picture of him with his hair growing back (YAY).

Ryan was recently given an award and sent me this picture. Then he told me that people from Langely (who are in Qatar) found the picture on the Intranet and have been congratulating him. He asked me to post the picture here for everyone. He's doing allright, really tired of the same food. He's run about 350 miles so far since Jan, he gets a shirt for every 100 miles he runs.

Milestone

So an update on my running - I went to nike.com/nikerunning. They have this cool training log - you can record what you did to work out each day. It color codes the workouts, calculates the distance, makes graphs and everything. So cool for someone like myself who loves organization. Well, it also has programs to help you reach different running goals. I started my program on Sunday. Today I did my longest distance yet - 4 miles. I was so amazed that I could do it! I got a package from Ryan with his 100 mile t-shirt. He's already up to 302 miles since he left. He's beating me for sure!

Annie

Today I went to see the musical Annie with a friend from work and her kids. It was really good! Here's a picture of how cute we looked!

Signs of the Times

Here is a recent e-mail I recieved pertianing to the Standards of Learning tests given at random grade levels to support No Child Left Behind:

Good afternoon HCS personnel,
It has come to my attention that some staff members in our schools have
read and discussed the SOL Writing prompt. Be advised that this is a severe
breach of test security. All discussion must cease immediately. At no
time is it ever permissible to read or discuss any SOL question.

Worse before better!

Update! Also, Ryan shaved his head again...nice tan line!

T-Shirts

I want to have a ban on annoying t-shirts put in to effect at school. They just reflect the poor attitude of students and parents. Here are some that I see on a regular basis.

"I'm just here for recess"
"My sister is the brat, I'm the good one"
"BORED of education"
"I look bored because I did it right the first time"

Teachers already struggle to get support and respect. These 'values' are not making it any better!

Leg Pics

Well Ryan is back to work, he sent some pics of his leg (ew).

More Ryan: Brag and Sad

Yay for Ryan. Sad for Ryan...

Now for the story you've been waiting for. So, work was good. I was
doing an awesome job today. Sgt. Tarte told Sgt. Trav to put me in for
the 'hard charger' award since I am doing 'a job far above my paygrade'
to put it in Tarte's words. Mainly he was saying that I am doing the
job of Rover (the other shift Rovers are not below a SSgt) and that I am
pretty much in charge of how Rover is operated on all shifts and that
should get some recognition. It was nice to hear from someone on
another shift that he thinks I am doing a terrific job.

So I continued to work after that comment since I had stuff to get done and I was
loading an air compressor onto a trailer when I slipped and had the
'kickstand' (about a half-inch thick, one inch by three inch piece of
steel attached to a leg) land on my inner thigh. Now this air
compressor weighs about 300 pounds. So having three hundred pounds
crashing on my inner thigh from a height of about four feet did not feel
good at all. It scratched me up really good and I immediately started
bruising. With that happening I couldn't really walk all that well so
they took me to the hospital. So I showed up there and they said
nothing major happened. Just some scratches and a pretty deep bruise in
the muscle. So they gave me some extra strength Tylenol and sent me on
my way. It hurts really friggen bad.

Ryan Pic

Here is the latest picture of Ryan. He claims he is using sunscreen, but he looks like he is getting pretty tan to me!!! I like his half-smile!

Brag on Hubby

Here's some new from Ryan, gotta give him his 'words of affirmation'

I found out today that TSgt.
>Travaliagante (Trav, my supervisor) wants some bullets from me during
>the month of March so that he can put me up for Airman of the Month in
>April. He feels pretty confident that I'll get it. He is also writing
>my paperwork for my Letter of Evaluation/Excellency, which I get when I
>leave here and he is also writing another letter recommending me for an
>Air Force Achievement Medal. Apparently he thinks I do a superb job.
>Especially since I took on some of the upper level (SSgt/TSgt) duties
>like monitoring service inspections and keeping track of certain numbers
>for them. I do extra to make me look good, which in turn makes them
>look good. So I get rewarded for going above and beyond. It's pretty
>nice. So...come in April we'll see if I get that award.

Way to go Ryan :-)

Weekend Away

So this weekend I went to MO to stay busy on a long weekend from work. I had drinks at home with my mom and Susan. Aren't they pretty? I got to see my niece Madeline who is turning 1 this week. I was so sad that she did not want to come to me at first because she doesn't even know me. I guess I better start spoiling her so she loves Aunt Kim and Uncle Ryan. Last, there are pictures of my cousins' girls, Madeline (blue) and Kaelyn (pink). They had a lot of fun playing with my parent's toy corvettes!

Hair

This is my new hair cut and hot rolling combo. Ryan always wants me to send pictures of myself, and I feel dumb because I'm not doing anything interesting...

V-day, A-day

Happy Valentine's Day to all and happy anniversary to me! If you are one of my friends or family who celebrated my marriage two years ago, thank you for being there to support Ryan and I as we started out life together. I can't believe it has been 2 years already. Time goes fast in the military, especially with him going crazy places! I miss him but I know he'll be thinking of me today. Well, everyday, but you know...

These boots are made for walking!

So Drake has been pulling a Bambi and sliding uncontrollably all over the floor. So I talked to my mom, who has real wood floors, and her dog wears boots in the house. So I went to Petsmart and Petco to find some. He is leaving them on, but I think his feet sweat, and when I took them off to let him outside his feet are turning pink! I think he's mad.

Rug: Keep or Return

What is your opinion? I think it blends nicely, I was worried about the reds clashing. Let me know what you think!

All done!

So it's all done! I am so proud and excited! And glad it's over. The only thing I (we) have to do is put up the white quarter round trim around the edge, and figure out how to hide the cable. I tried having it under the floor, but it was making a bump that annoyed me! I hope you like it, I think it looks fab!

Cute!

Oh I love this picture! I think he looks so cute. It's 90 there, and will be 120-130 by the time he leaves in mid-May. Crazy! I had to mail him lots of sunscreen!

Good and (maybe) Bad News

Straight from Ryan - btw, AGE (his job) super is a Staff Sgt job, and Ryan is 2 ranks below. I'm so proud of him for being asked to do that job, they must really trust him!
----------------------------------------

I feel like I've been working non-stop for a long
time. Being AGE super is kind of hectic at times. There is a lot of
stuff you are responsible for. Stuff like making sure other people
(there are eight on my shift) are doing their job. Making sure that
everything is taken care of during turnover from shift to shift, stuff
like the toolboxes and anything else that is of importance. And making
sure that any problems that arise on the flightline with equipment
issues (like people not getting what they asked for or stuff breaking or
not having a unit available) that it is taken care of. I does get a
little crazy but I feel like I handled everything really well and TSgt
Traviligante (Trav) was watching over my shoulder and said he couldn't
have done it better himself. He's a pretty cool guy. Always cracking
jokes. Calls people 'Easter Bunny' and 'MSgt'. It gets pretty funny.
'Here you go easter bunny' or 'Way to go MSgt'. He cracks me up.
I don't want to make you worry although I know this is going to
anyway. Everyone here has been keeping a close eye on the news with the
whole Iran issue. Hamas is now running Pakistan or something like that
and Iran has never really gotten along with Pakistan before Hamas was
running it. 'Hamas' by the way is considered a terrorist organization
to the U.S. So...if something should break out into melee before my
time here is done then my time here may be extended. So everyone is
keeping a close eye on it. No it hasn't happened yet so don't worry,
but there is a chance it could. I know you don't really want to hear it
but that is the case. I'd rather you know something about it before all
hell breaks loose and I call you up to say 'hey, I'm not coming home for
another three months'. And yes that is how long they would probably
keep me here for. More than likely up to 179 days like I was saying
before. So another two months, unless it was absolutely necessary and
we couldn't switch people out fast enough, which I doubt seeing as when
the GWOT kicked off it was twenty-four hours later and we fully
stationed here and dropping bombs.
I don't mean to worry you but I love you and want you to know
everything that is going on. You might want to start watching the news
and keep an eye on it yourself.