Charlie graduated from doggy school today. Overall, I'd say he's improved a lot in the past two months. We need more work getting him to stop jumping on people, but once we master that, I think he'll be a pretty darn good dog.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:25 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 45 words, total size 1 kb.

Update on the knitting re-dos. Those of you who know me in person may know that I have had half of a sweater back sitting in my knitting basket for, oh, two years now. I started this sweater while the husband was in Iraq, and then I realized that it looked ridiculous. It features vertical stripes of stockinette and seed stitch, and apparently I do those two at vastly different gauges. Seriously, my seed needed size 6s and my stockinette probably needed like 4s or something. So I let 16 inches of a sweater sit for two years. Well, today I set aside the urge to start a new project and decided to do something about this stupid project that I dragged across the Atlantic. I tore out the whole danged thing and started practicing my seed stitch. I'm fairly sure I can start over and try to get the two sections closer in gauge. I hope so, because I like the pattern and want to have the sweater, minus the big gaping panels of stockinette. More as it develops.

Posted by: Sarah at 02:57 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 184 words, total size 1 kb.

P.S. My husband thinks it's wildly funny to keep telling me to bring my "big ol' sour cream ass" closer to him. Heh.

Posted by: Sarah at 02:42 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 27 words, total size 1 kb.

Man, how come I find someone I want to be friends with and she lives in a different state? Yesterday I found an Army wife knitter who loves Alton Brown.

I've had a couple glasses of wine, so bear with my crush here. But I love Alton Brown. Numerous times I've asked my husband if we can marry Alton Brown. I can't get enough of Good Eats, and I tear up every time I watch Feasting on Asphalt. I often toy with the idea of driving to Marietta, GA, and just camping out at grocery stores until I see him.

Seriously, if you haven't seen Feasting on Asphalt, you should. No one breaks down the charm of America like Alton Brown.

I think celebrity crushes are ridiculous, but I swoon every time Alton is on TV.

Posted by: Sarah at 02:37 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 140 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Any time you want to come down to Marietta come on! I'm not far away lol (ok so I'm a total stranger, but who cares!)

Posted by: Jill at September 09, 2006 04:22 PM (EOWoo)

2 tee hee!! I always scope out his locations... especially that Kroger where he always seems to be. Alpharetta, I think? He & Rachael Ray need to do a Food TV special together. I think it would be hilarious.

Posted by: The Girl at September 09, 2006 08:20 PM (yuPDN)

3 I just followed your link... did you see the movie she was watching?!

Posted by: The Girl at September 09, 2006 08:22 PM (yuPDN)

4 Hee. I know now what a brain sandwich is, and that I don't want to eat it!! :-) Maybe it's Alton's hair? Or that he's goofy smart? Or that he's got a stand mixer with flames on it?!

Posted by: Princess Jami at September 14, 2006 11:45 AM (0gPLe)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

At the doctor today (another speedy and awesome visit), I was reminded of the ABCD's of skin cancer detection. I listened to the lecture and thanked the doctor, but what I really wanted to say was, "Thanks, dude, but we had AFN."

Posted by: Sarah at 09:30 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 44 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Now THAT is funny! Hubby and I still comment to this day about AFN and sometimes we even miss it!

Posted by: LMT at September 08, 2006 11:11 AM (DhMbx)

2 Alas AFN...I get misty-eyed thinking of the commercial where they are trying to throw the paper in the garage, but calling their shots first. I should also give an honorable mention to "Click it or ticket, don't be a dipstick, when you get in your car just click it".

Posted by: Vonn at September 08, 2006 12:42 PM (zn1zt)

3 You're totally missing it now... apparently, AFN got more funding 1 September. There are all KINDS of new "commercials" out now. Even 2 new ones with Kay haha

Posted by: The Girl at September 09, 2006 08:40 AM (yuPDN)

4 I actually grew to like those gooofy things. We'd try to guess where the location was before the other person. Oh the days of AFN.....*sigh*

Posted by: Household6 at September 09, 2006 11:02 AM (AJdDU)

5 It would only have been funnier if your appointment was good old "Doc" Foglesong (sp?) You just gotta love AFN!

Posted by: Angie at September 09, 2006 11:19 AM (SA3c9)

6 was *with* good

Posted by: Angie at September 09, 2006 11:20 AM (SA3c9)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

You know what's scary about parenting? I think sometimes you can do everything you're supposed to do, and things still don't turn out the way you want.

I've spent the last month playing Gregory House to our dog. When we moved here, we decided he was old enough to start trying to sleep out of his crate. He loves being under our bed, so we started letting him sleep there. He began throwing up occasionally in the middle of the night, but I read online that this can be normal if it's not too frequent. I didn't think too much of it until I started feeling like it was happening too often, so I started marking the calendar every time he threw up. Turns out it was happening every other day. Our dog trainer suggested switching to a sensitive tummy food, but that didn't do any good. Finally I made a vet appointment, but the earliest we could get in was in a week. We decided we were tired of getting up at 0400 to clean up puke, so we put him back in his crate. No barf for a week.

Today was our vet appointment, and though the vet was super-nice and super-cheap, I don't feel good about the visit. I wanted tests run and MRIs and sonograms and pushing 100 cc's of something. Instead, the only thing we can come up with is that we crate trained Charlie so well that he is neurotic about sleeping elsewhere.

I really think I did a Houseworthy job of diagnosing the pup. He can't be allergic to the carpet because he naps on it all day and only throws up at night. I know he's not getting into anything because we sleep with all the doors shut, and anyway I'm such a light sleeper that I wake up every time he rolls over and his collar jingles. It doesn't seem likely that he has acid reflux or something that only affects him at night because he would've gotten sick at least once in his crate. So that leaves us with two possibilities. One, he's allergic to something or has a stomach condition, but there's no way to figure out what it is without a major investigation that the vet didn't seem to think was necessary, and so he can't sleep with us. Two, we turned our dog into a nervous wreck and now he can never sleep with us. Either way, I don't like the way this turned out.

We did everything we were supposed to do. You're supposed to make the crate a happy place for your dog. You're supposed to crate train them until they're responsible enough to be left alone. And now that we want to feel close to our dog and let him sleep with us, he yaks every night. How utterly sad.

How could we not want to sleep with this stinker?

Posted by: Sarah at 10:07 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 490 words, total size 3 kb.

We got orders yesterday. It's official: we're going somewhere hooah.

Posted by: Sarah at 05:44 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 12 words, total size 1 kb.

Powerline writes about a Connecticut sports committee decision to suspend high school football coaches who win by more than 50 points. He then links to another article called Rising when we fall and learning when we lose:

I reminisced about this last week with my son, now a college sophomore. What was the greatest memory of his sports career? His answer was prompt: the soccer team his junior year in high school. I was astounded. Their record was a dismal 0-15.

Usually it's not the winning that sticks with you. When we were home on leave in May, I visited my track coaches after ten years of being away. Their memory of my team is a special one for them, one they discuss frequently, because they were embiggened by a decision we girls made.

There was a girl on my team who was a phenomenal athlete. She could run faster than anyone we'd ever seen and barely break a sweat; in fact, the first time she ever ran the 400m, she qualified for State. But with her incredible talent came a personality that was truly the pits: she made teen-movie witches seem like Pollyana. She was arrogant, spiteful, and mean, and she believed that the only purpose of the rest of the team was to help her win.

In her senior year, she was awarded a college scholarship in basketball, her favorite sport. As soon as she was certain of the scholarship, she quit our track team, right in the middle of the season. Unfortunately for her, her new college coach found out about it and was not impressed. He didn't want someone who lacked commitment on the team and told her she needed to rejoin.

Our coaches held a team meeting so everyone could discuss what we wanted to do; the choice to let her back on the team was now up to us. Few of the young girls wanted to say anything; heck, most of us were scared of this girl. But those of us who had already been running with this monster for three years knew what we had to do.

We didn't want her anymore.

We knew it would mean that we wouldn't win as many meets, and that we'd have to work harder to make up for the enormous advantage her talent had given us, but we didn't care. Winning wasn't as important to us as being a team was, and now that she was gone, we were a team instead of one star. We politely declined to accept her back, and that was that.

The coaches are impressed to this day that we chose the quality of our team over the ability to win. I'm sure a part of them wanted to keep her and keep winning. But it was a no-brainer to us; we had learned the lessons our coaches had taught us. Why did we have t-shirts that said "Winners make a commitment" and signs that said "Winning isn't everything...the effort is" if we weren't going to take it seriously?

And so high school track taught us more than winning. Ten years and bad knees later, all I care about are the bigger lessons I took with me.

But I still think that a football team should be allowed to kick someone's tail by 50 points if they can.

Posted by: Sarah at 11:01 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 559 words, total size 3 kb.

Interesting discussion going on about oil and the future of our energy. Also found via Hud, who always finds the good stuff.

Posted by: Sarah at 06:38 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 24 words, total size 1 kb.

Holy crap. If you're a fan of Parker and Stone (ahem, CaliValleyGirl), then you have to check out this "employment orientation video" they did for Universal Studios. Apparently Universal decided they hated it, but it had me in stitches this morning. Thanks for finding it, Hud.

Posted by: Sarah at 04:30 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 56 words, total size 1 kb.

Yes, Jack Bauer is a fictional character. But what is the purpose of our modern day tales and legends if not moral instruction? Don't we invent heroes because we wish to emulate them in some way, because their exaggerated traits are our ideal? We don't watch 24 because we want Jack to wimp out and take the easy way to appease the enemy; we watch it because we want our inner heroes to strive to measure up to our fictional heroes.

I wrote this a year and a half ago, and I still firmly believe it:

I'm also convinced that Flight 93 would've crashed into the White House or whatever its destination if the passengers on board hadn't been raised on good old fashioned Hollywood movies. If these men and women had never seen Passenger 57 or Air Force One, they might never have thought that they could've overpower the hijackers. One of the men on board even had a Superman tatoo; they were steeped in American culture and taught from day one that they can do anything they put their minds to. I honestly believe this is what brought Flight 93 down in a field instead of in D.C., and I'm ever grateful for the bravery those passengers showed.

But would they have had the guts to do it if they hadn't seen Wesley Snipes do it first?

I'm well aware that life isn't a movie and we don't always get a happy ending. But Fabrizio Quattrocchi had a fiancee and family too, and he still had the courage to defy the enemy. I'm saying I hope I'd do the same. You don't have to agree with me, but don't insult my intelligence by reducing my very serious and heartfelt post into pretending I don't understand the difference between TV death and real death.

Posted by: Sarah at 12:49 PM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
Post contains 311 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Look up from your comic book and realize that reality must be granted at least a little creadence.

Posted by: Jimdennis at September 04, 2006 12:57 PM (+TF9w)

2 Youcan keep thinking that, but in my heart I know the government would have authorized the shooting down of this airliner. There were already F-15's and F-16's scrambled and armed. This plane would not have made it another 100 miles, and since they crashed about 150 miles from DC I think you are to put it mildly delusional.

Posted by: BubbaBoBobBrain, at September 04, 2006 01:00 PM (8ruhu)

3 I wonder about the motivations of people who post comments like the two above. Isn't the purpose of political dialogue to try and change people's minds? Could anyone think that a comment like "look up from your comic book" would contribute to changing Sarah's thinking, or the thinking of any of those who visit here? So what's the point.

Posted by: david foster at September 04, 2006 01:35 PM (/Z304)

4 David Foster, You have me exactly sir. All appologies. Nobody changes anybody's mind.

Posted by: jimdennis at September 04, 2006 01:41 PM (wn3bo)

5 Well, "nobody" is too broad-brushed, but folks with winning personalities like yours and the lab mouse's aren't too convincing, jimdennis.

Posted by: Patrick Chester at September 04, 2006 01:55 PM (MKaa5)

6 Almost nobody then. Almost nobody changes almost anybody's mind.

Posted by: jimdennis at September 04, 2006 02:02 PM (wn3bo)

7 Silence... glad to see that I've prevailed in this struggle of the Titans... now,I'm going hooome!

Posted by: jimdennis at September 04, 2006 02:25 PM (Dix1f)

8 Oh look, a comment leech! Usually you can just burn those off with a match, they let go right off and fall to the ground. No need to worry about infection, this species simply has a head up the cloaca of the previous leech, creating a charming circle of regurgitated excrement that goes round and round, each one feeding themselves the same shit reflexively without hope of any new input. Pay it no mind.

Posted by: Deskmerc at September 04, 2006 03:04 PM (7efBj)

9 Screw you guyths.

Posted by: jimdennis at September 05, 2006 01:43 PM (vEWGl)

10 Sarah, you're right in one way, television and movies are todays fables. In earlier times these were the stories told round the fire. The brothers Grimm told tales (the real original hair raising tales - not the Disney pap) to make children stop and think about the consequences of their actions. What might happen if you do "this"? What might happen if someone you know does "that"? But I also think the American way of life has much to do with how Americans react and jump in to "do" instead of sitting back and accepting. On thinking about this, I wonder if you had a plane load of "welfare raised" people, would they have done anything at all or would they have been shouting into their cell phones that the government better get up there and save them... (and while it would be a stretch to imagine a plane full of welfare people - I do know most of them have cell phones) I hope I would be able to stand up for what I believe in if I was confronted by these people. I will never know unless I am confronted though - but I do think about it.

Posted by: Teresa at September 05, 2006 05:33 PM (o4pJS)

11 Wellfare-raised people have no spines. Only the wealthy have heart enough to lead this country to victory. If a hijacked plane reaches its target, it's the fault of the poor and their enablers - the liberals.

Posted by: Will at September 05, 2006 08:41 PM (H4u2c)

12 I find it funny that so many complain that there are no role models in current society and that children have so few to look up to. When Sarah chooses two people with admirable behavior (one real and one fictional) sheÂ’s slammed and told that her opinion that these models of human nature are just some sort of delusion she's created with her head stuck in the sand. Fictional or otherwise, behaviors as well as people can be looked upon as a source of encouragement and ones you would like to adopt for your own. Is there really something wrong with hoping that you would be as strong as Superman when standing up for the safety of your family? Or maybe as smart as another superhero in resolving something with your government? If it makes you act better, or hell take action at all then thereÂ’s nothing wrong with really wrong with a comic book character or TV or whatever.

Posted by: Household6 at September 06, 2006 07:14 AM (40zEu)

13 Yes, it's all good and whatever to look up to heroic archetypes. But just remember that facists tend to create mythological heroes and villains (scapegoats) in order to rally the people and realize their skewed visions. Mythology is an important for the fabric of any society. WIthout myth we are lost in a world without direction. But the danger lies in fusing the fantasy with reality - in creating 1 to 1 comparisons like Sarah has done with Baur and Snipes and the people who fell from the burning towers. Allegory is on a higher plane of philosophy. You can't shape it into current affairs because it is bigger than that. And that's important, or else petty liberals and conservatives would start claiming it for themselves, and that ultimately leads to genocide. I think that's what gets me so angry when politicians invoke religion. It's inappropriate of them to do so because they don't speak for everyone - not nearly everyone. So what gives them the right to speak on behalf of myth or speak on behalf of God.

Posted by: Will at September 06, 2006 01:47 PM (H4u2c)

14 Wow, Sarah. Congrats on attracting such wonderful people! OVER and OVER! I am amazed that the simple themes of your posts are drown by exhausting rhetoric! I, too, wonder if I would maintain myself and my beliefs!? It's a scary thing....

Posted by: Allicadem at September 06, 2006 03:36 PM (hozcp)

15 It's scary because no person of great character can have their beliefs swayed, and those who aren't great are afraid to admit that they could be better.

Posted by: Will at September 06, 2006 10:52 PM (H4u2c)

16 Hmm, so either Will was born a "great character" or he is afraid. Interesting. I'm going with "afraid" for Will, since he demonstrates repeatedly that he is not of great character. The reason the persons on the plane were heroes was because the terrorists shut off the locater once they entered the cockpit. Thus, the plane showed as any other plane on the screens of the air traffic controllers. If you look at the technology at the time that day, the planes could not be identified until all other planes had been grounded. "Let's roll." How can anyone be so jaded and small in spirit that they can't appreciate the actions of persons on that plane in the face of insurmountable odds? Your posters - Billybob, Will and others - are the types that skulk off the battlefield and return later to rob the corpses. And BRAG about how much brighter they are than those poor fools who fought for something other than their immediate family and cretinous existence. A pox on them.

Posted by: Oda Mae at September 08, 2006 03:03 AM (A+GMh)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

From Mark Steyn's newest on Centanni and Wiig:

[F]or the Fox journalists and the Western media who reported their release, what's the big deal? Wear robes, change your name to Khaled, go on camera and drop Allah's name hither and yon: If that's your ticket out, seize it. Everyone'll know it's just a sham.

But that's not how the al-Jazeera audience sees it. If you're a Muslim, the video is anything but meaningless. Not even the dumbest jihadist believes these infidels are suddenly true believers. Rather, it confirms the central truth Osama and the mullahs have been peddling -- that the West is weak, that there's nothing -- no core, no bedrock -- nothing it's not willing to trade.

We saw Jill Carroll on TV yesterday talking about how like totally weird it was to play along with terrorists for three months. How she was introduced to a woman whose goal was to be a suicide bomber, how she constantly reminded her captors that they were such good, wholesome people that they would never hurt her, and how she played their game until she was released.

As we watched, I grew frustrated. I told my husband that I really don't know what the survival instinct is like. Maybe the will to live can make you do things that you swear you wouldn't do when you're sitting comfortably on your sofa. But my husband and I share a thought that comes up every time someone is abducted by jihadists: "I love you more than anything in the world, but we don't negotiate with terrorists." I don't know how Carroll kept a straight face when a pregnant mother of three said she can't wait to give birth so she can become a suicide bomber. Could I play along with that, or would the look of disgust rise on my face and give me away? And is that something I would ever want to play along with even if I could suppress the disgust?

I have never forgotten Fabrizio Quattrocchi, and I keep him as an example of how I hope I would react if I ever found myself in this situation. I hope I'd stand up for what I believe in and show the enemy how an American dies. I'm saddened that Quattrocchi's family wishes he would've played along instead of giving his life for what he believed in. I know it would be far easier for me to give my own life than my husband's; I wept when Ken Bigley's family pleaded for his life because I knew I would not do the same. I wouldn't be invited on TV because they couldn't air the foul things I would have to say to my husband's captors.

I've really gotten into watching the show 24. I can't get enough of Jack Bauer, and I think I've recently come to understand why. Jack Bauer sees the big picture. He is willing to sacrifice anything -- his life or the lives of those he loves -- to do what he thinks is right to protect the US. He does what it takes to stop the enemy because he constantly keeps his eye on that 24th hour. His country matters more to him than anything else, and he's a character I have really grown fond of.

We in the West can't understand how a Muslim woman can hide explosives in her baby's bottle, but I'm starting to understand. They value their religion and way of life over any individual person, the same way Jack Bauer values his country. I hope we have many Jack Bauer Americans out there, because we in the West have to decide if there's anything worth dying for. We need to ask ourselves what we value, and how much. What is our way of life worth to us? Because I don't think we're going to get anywhere in this War on Terror if we can't find a good answer to that question.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:12 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 663 words, total size 4 kb.

The other day the doorbell rang, and UPS handed me my copy of The Blog of War.

Blackfive did a wonderful job of pulling this anthology together, and the finished product is a wonderful slice of history. The best part of the book, in my opinion, is how no one knew he would be published. We wrote our entries for our blogs, not for a book, so the writing is spontaneous and honest. We expected our friends and blog family to read our words, not the whole world; there's no pretension or feeling of "this is literature" in The Blog of War. It's just servicemembers and spouses describing deployment.

I've been reading it this week, and I must say I can only handle its intensity in small doses. Reading this book brings back deployment feelings that I honestly had forgotten about, and I find myself reliving the anguish, the anxiety, the loneliness, and the fear. I've been laughing, and lord, I've been crying, and with every page turn I've been wishing that every person I know would read this book.

But whatever you do, don't try to read the chapter on The Fallen all in one night. You won't sleep, trust me.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants a glimpse into OIF and OEF. At a mere ten bucks, it's a steal on Amazon. My mom bought six! So far, I know our friends from Poland and Sweden have also bought copies, and I'm anxious to hear their responses. But it's a no-brainer if you're reading blogs and if you've ever visited MilBlogs; this book is definitely for you.

Buy the book. You won't be sorry.

My only regret is that this story didn't make it in. I didn't think to suggest it until I started reading the book and knew how perfectly it would've fit.

Posted by: Sarah at 02:37 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 312 words, total size 2 kb.

My husband is pretty sure he knows what his next job will be. But there were a few weeks in there where he was confused, so he decided to turn to the assignment officer who might be able to help him. Know who it turned out to be? MAJ Patti.

Of all the people in the Army, a blog spouse needed help from another blog spouse. The world is a small place.

Posted by: Sarah at 06:04 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 74 words, total size 1 kb.

In college I was friends with several Bulgarians. They used to constantly bring new things home from the grocery store that they'd never seen before. You should've seen their excitement when they discovered frozen juice concentrate...and watching them try to open it with a can opener was priceless. One day they brought home a tub of sour cream and asked me what it was. As I was trying to describe it, they opened the tub and ate a huge spoonful. Now, I'm the first person to enjoy a dollop of Daisy, but watching them eat plain sour cream directly from the tub kinda grossed me out.

I remembered that story today when I read the comments from yesterday. I've taken a lot of crap here on my blog for politics, and I fully understand that this comes with the territory, as much as I hate it. I'm prepared to hear people insult my intelligence and worldview, but I'm always amazed to find someone take insults to a place I never imagined.

Lest we forget what an ugly, ugly place the internet can be, here's the comment for all to read:

Yeah, look at you. You're fat because you sit around knitting, watching tv, reading, and eating sour cream by the gallon. You can't expect your husband to come home from a hard day at the government teat and drag your big butt away from the computer to do some exercise!

I guess I should just be relieved that he just called me fat and lazy; another blogger got a death threats directed at his toddler. When I read stuff like this, I am reminded of why Tim left blogging: the death of civility. And I'm reminded of how nice it would be in many ways to just quit.

Incidentally, the Bulgarians decided that sour cream made a good spread for toast. I don't get it either.

Posted by: Sarah at 05:53 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 324 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Civility is easily forgotten when you are mask by distance and cable wire. Don't dispare over it. They are what they say.......A??holes.

Posted by: Dr Gno at September 01, 2006 11:00 AM (YiUIK)

2 Eh, just ignore the punk or ban him. You wouldn't let a belligerent little miscreant do that in your living room, right? Sure he'll probably go back to his l33t loser friends and proudly proclaim how banned and oppressed he is, but really, does that matter in the long run? Prediction: he'll pretend he was as brave as the protestor in front of the tank at Tiananmen Square. After all, you've been in a tank before!

Posted by: Patrick Chester at September 01, 2006 12:11 PM (MKaa5)

3 My boyfriend has a thing for sour cream too. He got all excited when the commisary had the "good" sour cream. I wasn't aware that there was a "bad" kind, but oh, nevermind. Then, we got home, he opened the tub, stirred it all with a spoon, licked the spoon clean, and then dipped tortilla chips in there. Plain sour cream. And yeah, I love it how people who disagree with your politics, resort to personal insults. Yes, personally attacking a person is waaay easier than making an argument. Just like scaring people in submission is way easier and more probably than actually convincing them to see things your way.

Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at September 01, 2006 02:25 PM (gmIQP)

4 Interesting how the moron skewed your post about personal responsibility into you being fat and lazy. Maybe the idiot was self projecting. *grin*

Posted by: Teresa at September 05, 2006 05:41 PM (o4pJS)

5 It's a sad thing to realize that there's just some really ugly people in the world. I recently got a good lashing from my ex-mother-in-law that was so obnoxious and distorted it made me laugh! And I agree with Teresa....

Posted by: Allicadem at September 06, 2006 03:17 PM (hozcp)

Hide Comments | Add Comment