Deployment Journal-30 Jul-5 Aug 07

30 Jul 07:  Let me apologize ahead of time for the randomness of todays entry.  I have a lot of stuff running around in my mind and for my own amusement later on when I go back and read this, I’m going to put some of those things down here.    Every day, the first thing I do when I get into work is set up my IPod and turn my music on.  Ever since I can remember, music is what soothes me.  I can’t function very well in life without music.  Well a Kenny song came on and it reminded me that last time I was here, he had a CD come out and now, when I’m here again, he has another one coming out (11 Sep for those curious).  I remember sitting on the old swing we had where I used to work here and listening to “The Woman With You”.  Anyway, thinking of that reminded me to finally write in here that I’ve been asked to sing again for another function.  The same commander that was taking charge when I sang the last time (the same one that gave me the coin), is leaving and I’m singing for his change of command ceremony for him outgoing on 11 Aug.  It is in the middle of the morning (when I’m normally sleeping) so they’re going to try to give me some time to catch up on sleep because I also have practice for the ceremony on the 8th.  There was another Fallen Comrade ceremony today and unfortunately, our kid that was injured had to fly on the plane with the fallen soldier.    It is all just so sad.

**Meal of the day was leftover chicken strips.

31 Jul 07:  So much for a nice relaxing day off.  We got woken up and called into work.  Obviously I can’t go into details but life just got a little busier here and days off are on hold until further notice.  That made my morale want to just go in the toilet but it’s war so I’m just going to suck it up and deal with it but I need some serious sleep!  Oh well, life goes on right???

**Meal of the day was spaghetti.

01 Aug 07:  Today was both a good and bad day.  I’ll start with the bad news.  We just had a vehicle accident.  The bus was coming back from lunch and smacked into the back of a forklift.  I don’t know about the forklift driver (not military, it was a contractor) but we had some people get a little banged up on the bus.  Thankfully I don’t go to chow so I wasn’t on the bus.  No one has anything seriously wrong with them (or at least that we know of yet) but it was just more attention that we sure didn’t need out here.  This is what happens with the hours that we work and how tired everyone is.  I’m just glad no one was seriously hurt again.  Speaking of people getting hurt, we got an update on Jeremy today and he’s in good spirits.  The e-mail we got says that he has a tray of brownies and a “spunky Navy nurse” taking care of him and that made us all laugh.  I actually got to go out and do some real manual labor today.  I asked everyone to let me know when they’re building rockets again because I like building them and we had some to do tonight.  I even got a picture.    Also, they know that we’re all beat down from the long hours and heavy work load lately so I am getting my day off tomorrow.  I am just going to lay in bed and watch movies.  There will be no BX run, hanging out on “the roof”, chow, or anything else this week.  Just rest and relaxation.  I need it.

**Meal of the day was fried chicken and mashed potatoes.

02 Aug 07:  Sorry I didn’t post this yesterday.  I had my day off and my internet was too slow to post.  I couldn’t even send e-mails.  I laid in bed and watched movies all day and got caught up on sleep.  It was nice.

**I just snacked today since I wasn’t getting out of bed. 

03 Aug 07:  Today was a busy work day.  I had enough stuff to keep  me busy until it was time to go home but I was exhausted.

**Meal of the day was shrimp.

04 Aug 07:  I had a good day today.  I was surprised by Chris stopping in at work to call me so I could finally talk to the kids.  Our phones are still down to dial out which means I haven’t talked to the kids in 3 weeks.    Chris can call me from work but not from home yet because he needs to get a control number from the Family Support Center (which he just found out).  They went to a birthday party in the vicinity of the base so he stopped in his office and called me.  It was so great to hear their little voices.  I miss them so much!  Thank you honey for calling!  I love you!  I want to say thank you to Rachel and Robbie as well.  Rachel sent me postcards from Cali!  I got 5 of the 6 so far so I haven’t read them because I don’t want to get confused and miss something since they continue.  Ha ha!  It is so great to see pictures of Cali!  Robbie asked me online the other day if I still needed earring backings and I told her that I did.  Today, I received her card and in it was an entire little baggie full that said “This should hold ya woman”.  I got a good chuckle out of that one!  I think she sent enough to last me the rest of my life!  Thanks Hun!

**Meal of the day was enchiladas.

05 Aug 07:  Today is yet another busy day in the life of Bagram Ammo.    That’s good because that means it’s nice and quiet in my office, just like I like it.  I can get so much more done when I don’t get, “Sergeant Naylor, can you help me with…?” or “Sergeant Naylor, how do you…?”  Don’t get me wrong, I treat these “kids” just like I do my “kids” that work for me back home but sometimes I just want them to attempt to figure out how to do things on their own.  That’s how I learned.  I guess when you’re the mother figure, that’s going to happen.  It’s nice to still feel needed.  We took a break from walking into work and home from work for a couple of days because we were so busy at work but we’re back at it again and I didn’t realize until taking a break how much energy walking gives me.  I feel more awake today than I have in weeks and I didn’t get a very good night of sleep.  One thing I have realized that I’ve been meaning to mention but haven’t is that I found it ironic that weekends are the lonliest time for Chris.  He says he’s got a lot more down time (which we all know is thinking time) because he’s not distracted by work.  The same is true here though.  Even though I don’t get weekends off, I notice that the weekends are lonlier because people don’t e-mail on the weekends.  That’s just an observation I’ve made.

**Meal of the day was chicken strips.

Deployment Journal-22-29 Jul 07

22 Jul 07: Today was another boring day. I got a package from Chris with a bunch of stuff that I asked for so that was great. Kelly and I started walking to and from work and it’s great exercise. I am bound and determined to get this weight off me. I am down a considerable amount finally and just want to keep going. It’s also great at the end of the day because if we’ve had a bad day, we can vent on the way home and get it out of our system. I am feeling a little under the weather though and I hope it’s nothing. I’m just feeling a little sick to my stomach. I’ve been pretty fortunate with my health here so far. My back still bothers me almost daily but I guess I’ve just learned to deal with it. Also, the best news of the day is that my a/c is FINALLY fixed. It was a cool 72 degrees in my room!

**Meal of the day was chicken strips.

23 Jul 07:Believe it or not, I actually woke up cold this morning! Thank God for a working air conditioner!! I got a package from Katie today too! Thank you Katie!! She sent me some fruit punch, Wheat Thins, gum and Pringles (all the good stuff I asked for)! She also included a 4th of July card with Nicholas and Ella’s picture on it that is absolutely precious (Katie, I’m assuming that was done by the same person that did your Christmas cards??) and a card with a birthday note. I can definitely handle this birthday that keeps on giving! I had an interesting time sitting outside for a couple of hours tonight. There was some activity in the mountains and we were watching it. We were sitting on the 6K variable reach forklift and I made a joke about just needing some popcorn to make the scene complete. We had another nice walk into work. I’m learning to walk a little more comfortably with my backpack on and carrying my weapon in front of me. It is a little painful on my back but I figure I will get used to it and I need to strengthen my back anyway. We’re going to hang out on “the roof” for our day off again so that will be nice. Hopefully I can get some more good shots of aircraft. (Mom, just so you know, I was going to try to call you today but our phones have been down for 2 days so when they come back up, I’ll try to call.)

**Meal of the day was fried chicken and mashed potatoes.

24 Jul 07: I had a nice day off. We got some sun and a got a lot of stuff done in my room. I have a very small space and the majority of what I own is under my bed. Things weren’t organized like they should have been. I had bags that I never got in to that were easy accessible and then other bags that I got into more often that were a pain to get to. Not anymore. I watched Alpha Dog and S.W.A.T. and then went to bed. Kelly and I went to midnight chow which is something we don’t usually do and that was nice. I actually slept in too. It was probably the most lazy day since I’ve been here and I needed that.

**Meal of the day was some chicken strips and an enchilada.

25 Jul 07:Talk about a great day. As soon as I walked into work, I saw 3 packages at my desk! Whoo hoo! I got packages from Rayne, KT and Shawn! From Shawn, I got a coloring book, crayons, a card, some artwork from her adorable son Austin and some awesome Hershey’s 100 calorie packs. Those are yummy! KT’s summer camp sent me artwork and a neat little book they put together with their drawings! It was so sweet!! Then I got another huge package from Rayne. Wow! She knew about me needing a hobby to fill my time over here and boy did she take care of that. I got puzzles, more cross stitch, magazines, scrapbook stuff. She also sent more goodies like popcorn, Pop Tarts and my favorite Sweet & Salty granola bars. Along with all that (if that wasn’t enough) I got lots of girly stuff like brushes, hair ties, nail polish, face mask, shampoos, etc. It is so nice to get the girly stuff here. That does not happen often. Thank you so much to all of you. I have been truly blessed with such wonderful people in my life and it is so amazing to still feel all this love from home in a place like this. Thank you!!

**Meal of the day was a burger.

26 Jul 07: Today started out interesting.  It was definitely windy today and blowing sand everywhere.  That made our walk into work very interesting.  Yikes!  I took baby wipes to my arms and legs when I got in and they were caked with sand.  Yuck!  Anyway, I had to play mom today and it was gross.  I’ll spare you all the details but one of the kids at work got a fleck of something in his eye and begged me to get it out for him because it was hurting him really bad.  I couldn’t say no to him because he was in pain but I hate messing around with anyones eyes!  I got it out quick though and he was grateful.  On the way home, Adam was getting on the bus and tripped on the last step and fell on to “Tree” who happened to be driving the bus (we didn’t walk home today) and smacked him right in the back of the head with his weapon.  It was one of those “you had to be there” kind of things but after we knew he was okay, we all had a good laugh at that one.  Another day down…

**Meal of the day was chicken strips. 

27 Jul 07:  Today started out as boring as it could be.  I was fighting to stay awake because I was woken up multiple times throughout the day.  Finally, I had some work to do so it got better but it was still pretty boring overall.  Our e-mail has been down for 3 days and we still cannot dial out from the phones here.  Boy am I starting to appreciate DM a lot more than I used to.

**Meal of the day was a burger and some “wanna be” hot wings.

28 Jul 07:  People are becoming more and more disgruntled here.  I thought we were over that cranky hump but apparently we’re not.  Thankfully, I’m one of those people that are easy to work with I guess.  It wasn’t always that way.  I’ve been told on more than one occasion that I wasn’t the most pleasant person to be around until I had Miles.  I have to admit, that my attitude wasn’t always the best but I did have a lot going on in my life back then.  Now, life is good so I don’t have anything to be grumpy about.  I just get to sit back and kind of take it all in and be thankful that it’s not directed at me.  I don’t have very many people to tell what to do and when I do, they just go do it.  No questions asked.  I like things the way they are and I just hope that all this negativity around me doesn’t start getting to me.  I’ll just be glad when it’s all over and I can get back to my loving family.  There’s really no place like home and you sure learn that (or are reminded of that) when you come to a place like this and have so many different personalities thrown into one place.  All the walking I’m doing is really great for keeping my mind clear.  I get it all out of my system just walking and being silly.  Kelly and I laugh and mess around doing silly stuff on the way home and could care less who is watching.  It is definitely a great kind of therapy!

**Meal of the day was baked chicken and rice.

29 Jul 07:  This has not been a good day for Ammo troops at Bagram.  The guys were out building bombs and one of the airmen got too close to the forklift.  We have to walk next to the bomb and make sure that it doesn’t spin when it’s suspended in the air.  Well, he got too close and the forklift ended up running over his foot and part of his leg.  They said the poor kid was crying and screaming because it hurt so bad.  He is at the hospital now with a leg broken in 3 places and a foot that they can’t even x-ray yet because it’s too badly swollen and will be flying out early this week to Germany to have surgery done and he will not be back.  I feel so bad for him and I can only imagine the pain that he experienced.  Please think of him and hope for a quick recovery.  His name is Jeremy.

**Meal of the day was chicken strips.

Deployment Journal-15-21 Jul 07

15 Jul 07: Today was a great day. Not only did a great night of sleep, I got 2 packages!! One was from Kristin with some Crystal Light packs, some cool lip stuff and some adorable colorings and drawings of dinosaurs from her son RJ. Thank you so much Kristin and RJ! The other package was from my mom and dad and that thing was huge! I had no idea what they would have sent that was so large. When I opened it up, I could not believe my eyes! (Mom, I would have known you were reading my journal if you hadn’t told me previously.) They sent me all kinds of cool stuff for my birthday. I got Starbucks drinks, beef jerky, some neat things from my friend Cheri’s wedding, an adorable butterfly that you plug in and the wings flap and, best of all, they sent me a “Fiberbed”. I am going to sleep like a baby with that thing on my bed! Wow! I was so shocked to see that and I have been dying to get it on my bed and get to sleep! You cannot imagine how soft and plush that thing is! Thank so so much to both of you!!

**Meal of the day was chicken strips.

16 Jul 07: Wow! Boy did I get a good night sleep with my new fiberbed!! That thing rocks and I think that everyone in every deployed location should have one of those! I am really going to look forward to sleep every night. Of course, when the contractors here messed with our air conditioning yesterday, it doesn’t work right now and it was almost 80 degrees in my room when I got up. I realized that I was sprawled out on top of my covers and then looked over at Leah and realized she was doing the same thing so I knew it was hot in there. I e-mailed our first sergeant so hopefully she can get them to come take a look. Of course, that means that we will get woken up in the middle of our sleep again but it’s better than trying to sleep in 80 degrees! Either way, my “new bed” is so comfy I could hardly believe it. I was already trying to figure out how to get it home because I definitely want to have that thing with me always!! Thank you again Mom and Dad! I am really looking forward to my day off tomorrow. We’re not going to hang out on “the roof” tomorrow. We’re going to take another break and hopefully catch up on some more sleep.

**Meal of the day was leftover chicken strips.

17 Jul 07: Today was the loneliest day that I’ve had here yet. I had way too much time to myself. I was wondering how long it was going to take before I started dreading days off. The time has finally arrived. I got really homesick yesterday and cried for quite a while. I know that I am just over tired and it’s so hard being away from my family. Our air conditioning has now been out for 3 days which is why I’m not getting sleep now. I’m able to count the amount of sleep that I got in minutes instead of hours now.

**Meal of the day was Burger King.

18 Jul 07:  Still no a/c in my room and this was the absolute worst night of sleep I’ve had.  They had better come fix it soon or I’m going to sleep outside!!  We’re supposed to be getting a new unit put in.  I got a package today but it was insured so I have to wait until tomorrow to pick it up.  They are only open from 3-6 p.m. which I find a little strange but I’m excited to see what it is.  It’s a birthday present from my friend Lori! 

**Meal of the day was chicken wings and rice.

19 Jul 07:  Today was a much better day.  I finally have a/c though it’s not working all that great, it’s worlds better than what it was and I was so tired, a bomb could have gone off in my room and I wouldn’t have known.  Anyway, I picked up my package from Lori today before I came into work and let me just say, I love that woman!!!  Wow!  What a great birthday package!  That woman spoiled me rotten.    She sent me some beautiful blue sheets with stripes, pretzels, beef jerky, Crystal Light, lip balm, purple pens (my favorite color), peanuts and some gorgeous journals and some adorable pens to go with them.  I was telling her in an e-mail today that I’d love to someday just have a library filled with journals full of my ramblings.  Ha ha!  What I forgot to mention, Lori, was that there’s not really room for trash cans in our rooms so I just use shopping bags and then throw that in the big trash can outside when it’s full.  Anyway, I was running low on bags but not anymore!  I figured you’d get a kick out of that!  I also got a package from Chris today that had some stuff I had been waiting on.  He sent me some more PT shorts (now that I’m working out more, I needed more), some hooks so hopefully Leah and I can set our blankets up a little more permanent, a SD card reader which I asked for so I can download pictures at work and get them on our website quicker, my favorite Ritz chips, and an extension cord.  Leah and I were just talking today how amazing it is that we have nothing separating the two of us there in our “rooms” and yet we don’t ever bother each other and the girls behind our blankets and theirs annoy us half to death some days.  I guess some people are just compatible in close quarters like that and some aren’t.  Thank God I got “stuck” with someone so tolerable!    I also got a card from Robbie today too!

**Meal of the day was chicken strips.

20 Jul 07:  Today has to be the most boring, slowest and the most windy days I’ve had since I’ve been here.  The wind is not allowing us to get as much work done so everyone is in the building and watching TV.  Fun huh?  I finally finished my book.  I was reading “Deception Point” by Dan Brown and now I’m on to “The Presence” by Heather Graham.  It is so nice to have time to read.  My a/c was replaced but still does not work and it was 82 degrees in my room when I woke up.  Ugh!  I wonder if they’re ever going to get it fixed.  It would sure be nice!  Nothing else to report today.

**Meal of the day was Subway.

21 Jul 07:  I finally found what I’ve been missing for the last week or so and that was the early morning giggles.  I didn’t realize what a release that was for me until I got them and felt 100% better.  It started this morning when we were getting ready for work.  I said, “I forgot my foundation.” and Leah whipped around and asked me, “Did you just say you forgot your dalmation?”  I was dying laughing at that point.  That’s the second time she’s heard something random like that.  The first time, she sat up out of a dead sleep and asked me if I heard a duck.  That girl just cracks me up!!  Anyway, later on this evening, Matt came in and asked me if I could do him a  “Flavor Flav” meaning he needed a favor.  Without skipping a beat, and I’m going to date myself because some of you “youngens” won’t know who that is or why that is funny, but I replied with “Yeah Boyeeee!”  The look on his face was priceless!  Everyone in the room started laughing.  It’s been a great night.  My a/c is STILL not fixed in my room but I think I’m learning to deal with it.  We just opened the window today and left it open because it was cooler outside.

**Meal of the day was chicken and cheesy mashed potatoes.

Deployment Journal-8-14 Jul 07

08 Jul 07:  Today there is nothing to report.  It is one of the most boring days since I’ve been here and though I got plenty of sleep, I’m fighting to stay awake from lack of work to do.  Ha ha!

**Meal of the day was chicken and rice.

09 Jul 07:  There isn’t too terribly much going on today either.  I’m hyper today for some reason though.  I always like Monday’s because I know I’m that much closer to my day off.  It’s a PT day for me too so I get to leave work at 5:30 a.m. instead of after 7 when we normally get out of here.  We’re going to go home, change and then walk back out to work to go hang out on “the roof”.  Even though Huff is gone, we go more for ourselves to get some sun but it still won’t be the same without having him around.  I still haven’t heard if he’s made it home safely and I’m assuming with him that no news is good news.  I’m sure he’s been busy with the wife.    Anyway, Joe got a package from his grandma and he gave me a box of Crystal Light Fruit Punch out of it and that stuff is great!  I think that has got to be a new favorite (although I still really enjoy my pink lemonade).

**Meal of the day was leftover chicken and rice. 

10 Jul 07:  I had a great day off!  I didn’t do much of anything but I was able to get my room straightened up, my bed remade and my wall rearranged.  I put my IPod on and cranked some music all night and enjoyed just having some time to myself.  I also got a birthday card from my parents and a nice letter from Rayne!  Thank you very much!  Michelle was so sweet and brought my mail home to me!

**I just had a bagel today.

11 Jul 07:  Today started out very sad.  They were having another Fallen Comrade ceremony at shift change so I stood there in formation while yet another body of a fallen soldier passed in front of me.  Someone was filming this one from a media crew in a vehicle driving along with the formation so I don’t know if that will be shown or what it was for but I just can’t help but be sad to see that happen as often as it does.  I always wonder who it is and what happened to them.  It makes everything else that gone on seem so trivial.  I was complaining while getting ready for work that I think half the girls in our room were off today because it was rather noisy but all of that went away as soon as I stood in that line.  It just happens too often.

**Meal of the day was some strange beef mixture and rice.

12 Jul 07:  We are officially at our halfway point as of today and it shows.  This is the time that people start growing tired of it all and start getting on each others nerves worse than ever before.  I’ve been in a pretty good mood for the last 4 or 5 days but today, it’s finally getting to me.  I miss my family and I’m so ready to be home with them.  I know will be fine, I just wish that some people would keep their negativity to themselves.  I’m trying to make the best out of being here but some days, it just gets old.  Six months is a long time to be in a place like this, that’s for sure.  Oh well, tomorrow is a new day!  I do have a bit of a funny story to share though.  I was pretty restless last night and I actually woke myself up yelling.  I can’t remember what the dream was about but I remember waking to the sound of my voice yelling Harmony’s name.  All I remember is that she got in trouble for something (bless her heart).  I’ll have to ask Amanda if she heard me because it didn’t wake Leah up.  I realized that had happened while I was eating dinner tonight and couldn’t help but laugh.

**Meal of the day was chicken strips and fries.

13 Jul 07:  My funk continues today.  I don’t know what it is but I just can’t seem to shake it for some reason.  It’s probably just because of my birthday and being over here (it’s after midnight here so for me, it’s already my birthday).  I did get a card today from Michelle.  She left it in our desk which I thought was super sweet of her!  I am sleeping a lot more lately but it’s not good sleep.  I wanted so much to talk to Chris and the kids yesterday and then for some reason, his Yahoo was off and I guess he didn’t know it.  Then I was supposed to call today but he got busy.    I hope whatever this is eating at me goes away soon so I can get back to my normal 2 a.m. giggles.  I did get a package today that was kind of cool.  I had received some Blistex from Travis in the mail and enjoyed it so much I wrote to the company about it.  They wrote me back saying that they would send over some free stuff and thanked me for my comments on their products.  That arrived today so I thought that was pretty neat.

**Meal of the day was a burger and a cookie.

14 Jul 07:  Happy Birthday to me!!  Ha ha!  Some birthday over here but hey, I can’t expect to have it all every year!  I got 3 cards in the mail today from Grandma Bechetti, Grandma Louise and Vernie.  I also had quite a few “online” birthday wishes on MySpace and e-mails from Chris, Ginger, Stephen and Nicole!  Plus, everyone here knew it was my birthday so I got all kinds of birthday hugs today.  I also got pizza and coffee from Leah!    I guess it was the best birthday I could have expected over here.  I also got some foam from Gabe for my bed so hopefully I can get some sleep.  It’s very thick foam and he brought enough to cover my whole bed.  I got 2 hours of sleep last night between the painful bed and the noisy girls.  Thankfully, the noisy girls woke up the other noisy girl and they’re friends so she said she was going to talk to them about it because none of us in that room got much for sleep today.  I am definitely looking forward to trying out my bed tonight with the foam on it.  Hopefully I will sleep better than I have since I’ve been here.  If it wasn’t for the sleep issue, this whole thing wouldn’t be so bad.  I got to talk to Mom and Dad today which is always a treat.  I figured that since they couldn’t call me, I would call them.  It’s important for me to talk to those who gave me life on my special day!    I also got to talk to Chris and the kids so that was nice as well.  It was a good “family day” even though I’m on the other side of the world.  Harmony got to go school shopping today since she starts 2nd grade on Monday!  She got some cute stuff and the pictures are on our website.

**Meal of the day was pizza and coffee!  Yummy!

Deployment Journal-1-7 Jul 07

~*~  I decided to break this down by week so you don’t have to scroll so far.   ~*~

01 Jul 07:  It is finally July! Whoo hoo! I am almost to my halfway point (and almost my birthday ). I actually got a full 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night and I feel fantastic today! I wish I could feel like this every day. Work has been busy tonight. I wish I could talk about all that goes on here but I can’t. All I can say is that we’ve been busy with swapping some things out tonight. It gets a little frustrating to have things change but that’s the nature of our job I guess. I got to talk to Chris and the kids tonight so that always makes me have a good day. They just got a new water toy. It’s a rocket that goes way up in the air in a water stream and they are really enjoying it. I talk to them one at a time starting with Miles (because as soon as he knows it’s me on the phone, I can hear him asking to talk to me) and all 3 of them told me about the rocket. Chris posted a picture of it up in the air on our website.

There was a great article on the Bagram website a few days ago that I think everyone should read. http://www.bagram.afnews.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123058415

**Meal of the day was a grilled cheese sandwich and some chicken strips.

02 Jul 07:  I had a great day today!  I got another full 8 hours of sleep which just feels amazing!  Then, when I came into work, I had another package from Lorraine from PA.  I am amazed at how much she does to show her support for the troops.  Along with all of the books, snacks, cross stitch, stationary, etc, she sent me a copy of a newspaper article that was about her and I was thrilled to put a face with the name.  She’s a beautiful lady!  I sat down and took some time to write a nice long letter back to her.  She also included a copy of a letter from President Bush and a copy of a certificate that she got when someone had a flag flown for her.  I am doing the same thing for her so I thought it was neat that someone had done that already for her.  She truly deserves all kinds of nice things for those things that she does to support us over here away from home.  She is truly an angel!

**Meal of the day was chicken and rice again.  I think they need to bring the chef back that puts pepper on everything because whoever is in there now doesn’t use any kind of seasoning.  Everything is bland.

03 Jul 07:  I had another great day off!  Kelly and I had to go to commanders call and then after that, we had PT.  We decided we’d walk again because it was really great to get out there and not be cooped up in a stuffy gym.  Well, we decided to walk the long way out to work and then around the bomb dump and then the long way back.  I don’t know what we were thinking but that was 10 miles!  It felt great to get out there and get some sun and exercise at the same time.  We saw all kinds of cool things!  I took a picture of a huge lizard that we saw.  It’s a little hard to see in the picture because of the brush around it but it was still neat.  We saw a mom and two kids (one was probably about 3) out in the mine field with sheep and I just stood there and watched the little one for a while.  I miss my babies!  Then, we saw a huge jack rabbit run across the mine field as well but I couldn’t get a picture of it in time.  When we got to the end of the runway, we saw 2 helicopters taking off so we stayed there to watch them.  They were fairly low and the guys from both of them waved at us because they saw us standing there watching them.  It’s the little things like that which remind me why I do what I do.  There is nothing like watching aircraft take off to go take care of business.  It is an awesome feeling!

Nice article in the news about us:  http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123059677

**Meal of the day was Burger King.

04 Jul 07:  Happy 4th of July!!!  I hope that you are all having a wonderful day with your families.  My day is busy for the most part because the power was out all day so that means we’re left to do what dayshift couldn’t get done as far as computer work goes so it’s nice to have some extra work to do.  While I was waiting for the bus today, I had a locust fly at me and hit me in the neck.  That thing was big and gross!  I immediately swatted it away when I heard it and saw it and the 2 people that were standing there saw it as well and were looking at me with huge eyes.  Then, while I was at my desk working, I saw something move across the floor and just as soon as I got up to see what it was, it was halfway up the wall.  It was a huge camel spider and all I could do was stand there and yell for someone to come get it (Yes I know, I’m such a girl!).  Thankfully Leah isn’t bothered by stuff like that and she knocked him off the wall, stepped on him and took him outside.  Bugs, bugs and more bugs!  Yuck!!  Let’s hope that the rest of the night is uneventful as far as critters go!  I got a package from Chris today with some jerky, loofahs, some artwork from Miles and some more PT shorts.  Thank you Honey!

**Meal of the day was fried chicken and rice.

05 Jul 07:  I am having a less than happy day today.  I went to sleep at 8 a.m. and woke up at 10:00 a.m. because of a nightmare I had.  I know it had to do with back home but couldn’t remember what it was when I woke up but was in tears.  I guess some days, it just gets to be too much.  I miss my family and long to be home with them.  Chris posted the pictures from the 4th of July so I was looking through all of them.  He did post a video of Miles dancing along to the music that had me cracking up but other than that, I just miss them terribly.  I finally was able to pass back out at 3:00 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. when I had more strange dreams.  There were also 2 noisy girls in the room on this day instead of the normal one.  Needless to say, I am beyond tired today.  However, when I got into work I did have mail which always helps lift my spirits.  I had a card from a woman named Jane from the U.K. who found this journal on the internet somehow and I thought that was really neat that she sent me a card.  If you’re reading this Jane, thank you so much and I truly appreciate your kind words.  You will be getting a reply from me in the mail!  I also got my first birthday package from the Bunco gals today and it was awesome!  I got a ton of magazines!!  (I had previously told them no magazines because we were told that they were being confiscated but thankfully that was not the case so they sent me a bunch.)  I also got some Nerds, some Moonlight Path stuff from Bath & Body works which is my favorite smell from them with some moisturizing creams, beef jerky, two very interesting looking books to add to my collection, a copy of the Tucson Moms newsletter (thank you Jen!), a cooling bandana that you get wet or put in the fridge to stay cool (definitely a plus over here!), a sampler candle (without the wick of course) from Sheree’ (Thank you Sheree!) and a very nice card signed by the girls.  Thank you so much Bunco ladies!!  I miss you all too!!  For those who don’t know, my friends Rich and Sheree’ make awesome soy candles and I didn’t realize how much I’d been missing them until I got to smell one again.  Their website is still in the process of being built (Ahem… Rich! ).  Anyway, I am just looking forward to going home in the morning and getting some much needed rest.

**Meal of the day was chicken strips.

06 Jul 07:  Thankfully all those around me, I got a full night sleep again.  I made it through the whole night at work which surprised me.  I crashed as soon as I got on the bus (as I was being lulled to sleep by Kenny Chesney on IPod ).  I was asleep by 8 a.m. and I woke up wondering what that annoying sound was at 4:30 p.m.  That sound was my alarm!  Ha ha!  Anyway, I got to see some flare being fired off this evening which was pretty cool.  It was very bright!  Anytime we can see our work in action, it excites us!

**Meal of the day was leftover chicken strips.

07 Jul 07:  What a boring day today!  There is nothing going on.  I just finished my book (Perfect Nightmare by John Saul)  in 2 days.  I’m getting ready to start on Deception Point by Dan Brown.  I serioulsy think I need a hobby over here beyond reading.  Some days are just so boring that I can barely keep my eyes open.  It’s not like I can sleep at work and sometimes I just don’t feel like reading.  I’d love to be able to scrapbook over here but I don’t have a color printer to make pictures.  If anyone has ideas, please share them.  I’m going to start on the cross stitch that Rayne sent but I know I will need more than that!    Today was the windiest day I think we’ve had yet.  I woke up this afternoon and heard the wind and it made me cold so I decided to snooze for another 30 minutes.  I still didn’t want to get up then.  This would have been one of those days to stay curled up in bed.  Unfortunately, there’s no doing that here!  My arthritis is huring me really bad today too.  I tried to write a letter tonight but I just couldn’t do it.  It hurts too bad today.

**Meal of the day was Subway.