Posts (page 2)

"Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism."

"When things turn weird, the weird turn pro."

"A word to the wise is infuriating."

Hunter S. Thompson

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

Mahatma Gandhi

The next time I catch myself feeling sorry for myself, I will think of Suthkaren, James friend from Qatar.  While working in Qatar Suthkaren received news that his parents, wife and children, two small boys were killed by rebels in his home country of Sri Lanka.  That's him on the your right.  As John said "You know Mom I see things like that all the time on the news but now I have a face to go with it and it makes it real."  So when you're complaining about how much you have to do, the job you have or the things you don't have, please remember this young man who has lost everything and say a prayer for him and those who aren't as fortunate as you and me.

James in Qatar

We went on our first camping trip while James is in Qatar.  Clay was in charge of getting the tent and sleeping bags together.  John and I were responsible for the little bit of food we were going to bring.  Since the troop always fixes the meal for everyone I didn't think we needed to bring our camp stove but I bought a thermos and filled it with coffee.  I can't be without my coffee.  Nope I forgot it full of coffee on the counter.  As we headed out of town we realized the first thing we forgot, the camera.  We were too far to turn back, we had cameras in our phones and we could always stop to buy a disposal camera.  When we got to Stephen F. Austin State Park, Clay and John set up our tent.  It was pretty wet so it was hard to find a good spot and we forgot to bring a tarp to put the tent up on.  While they did that I caught up with Sally Kubiak who I hadn't seen since last spring when John and Zach were playing baseball together.  Then it was time for supper and we realized that we didn't bring any dishes, so we headed out to the stop and go to buy some plastic ware. 

It started getting colder, Clay and I whispered between each other about the aspect of sleeping in the back of the Durango.  In the end we toughed it out in the tent. We had three sleeping bags with us and that sounds like enough.  Each of us had one but one didn't have a working zipper and guess who got that one.  MOM.  But Maddie slept next to me and she was really warm so it wasn't too bad.  Even with all the rain the ground was really hard and we didn't bring any kind of extra padding to sleep on.  Dad would have. 

In the morning Clay and I got up and Mr. Parker asked me if I wanted coffee.  Well I would have loved some but alas I didn't have a coffee cup.  I shouldn't have had Clay clean out the truck before we left.  There were a couple of coffee cups rumbling around in it before he cleaned it.  So we acted like we were going to the bathrooms and just kept going to the stop and go.  The reason for going there was two fold, 1) to get some coffee 2) find out how Dulles had done at the state championship.  We got coffee with extra caffeine (Woo Hoo) and sadly we  found out that Dulles had put forth a vialant effort but had lost the game.  Then instead of driving right back to the campground, Clay and I drove around looking at the scenery, cows and bikers training for the MS150.  When we got back Clay took down the tent and put everything in the Durango.  Then it was time to go and do the service project.  We went to another side of the park and picked up all the sticks we could find that were bigger than our little finger for an hour.  Then it was time to head back to Meadows Place.

It didn't take long to get home and after taking the perishables out of the Durango I changed into my sweatpants and took a siesta and really enjoyed my soft bed. 

I'll post more pictures later.

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John took this picture last night.  In my book this is just wrong I don't know what he did wrong to do deserve this kind of treatment.  But I think he liked it!

Well March might have come in like a lamb but on it's heals there is a lion a knocking.  This morning when we were getting ready for work and school I thought about turning the air on.  It was warm (not so hot) but really sticky outside.

Tonight when I left work I could hardly push the door open the wind was blowing so hard and driving home I had a hard time even in the Durango keeping it on the road the wind was so strong.  I decided we wouldn't go to Scouts, John had homework he hasn't finished and Clay locked his keys (both sets) in his truck AGAIN.  It hasn't been a week and already we're using Triple A. 

We're having Minnesota Chili and Texas Cornbread for supper tonight.  Wish you were here Daddy. 

I had good intentions this morning of taking the boys to church but we got up late so it didn't work out.  I really wish we had it seemed like we just sort of floundered (is that a word?) through the day.  John and Clay tore apart John's bed and I mean tore it apart with pieces of it strewn all over his room.  We went to Sam's and bought him a full size mattress, box spring and bed frame. It wasn't hard to set it up but he wanted to move everything around and that was hard with the television having to be accessible to the cable wire.  Clay went and washed his truck, otherwise he spent the whole day with us.  It's my usual Sunday night, staying up washing clothes and watching the Sopranos. 

When James was in China/New Jersey when the boys were small I didn't think about it being easy or hard, it was just something we had to do.  So when the idea of James going to Qatar came up, I thought well I did it before, I can do it again and I can but it's totally different now.  Then the boys were 7 and 2, now they're 13 and 18, I'll take the diapers and 1st grade homework over this.  John was in a bad mood all day today but I think it was just because he was tired.  Clay is good and a big help but he's so busy with school, work and the gym, I can't depend on him for too much. 

Clay tried to repair a lamp that Maddie had chewed the cord on but it didn't work out.  He was going to try and scare John by plugging it in and both of them ended up screaming like girls when the bulb blew.  The lamp is now in the trash.  They also surfed down the stairs on John's old mattress a few times till I reminded them of the promise they'd made to their dad that there would be no calls to Qatar about broken limbs. 

2007 Tomahawk Eagle Scouts

Today we went to a banquet honoring the 2007 Tomahawk Eagle Scouts.  There were 99 Boy Scouts in the Tomahawk District who had earned Boy Scouts highest honor but there were only about 30 boys who were able to attend the banquet.  Clay was the only one from Troop 103 but we saw Andy and Chris Clark and Cathy McFarland there.  Troop 301 was well represented.  We had entertainment which was different from other years.  Helen Soto, C.J. and the group that they dance with were there and put on a show while we ate.

There were two speakers and I'm ashamed I can't remember their names.  One was a judge in Fort Bend I think and he was great.  He told the boys how being an Eagle Scout was going to be harder than all the merit

badges they had earned.