Thanksgiving in Florida

Thanksgiving just isn't the same when you're not overloaded with relatives, stuffing, and pumpkin pie!  It also doesn't feel like Thanksgiving when it's still 70+ degrees out and you don't see blaze orange & camo on every corner.  Definitely missing family this holiday season!

Today was the start of UN-traditions. We woke up and all of us went to Wal-Mart to get some last minute Thanksgiving supplies.  It was Ryan's first Thanksgiving and he got to eat his Sweet Potatoes & Zuchini (baby food) with his one tooth -- it came in on Saturday!  Nov. 19th.  Exactly 1 day after he turned 7 months!  I took a 2 hour nap with the boys which was very refreshing and when I woke up Christopher and I went to Wal-Mart...AGAIN...this time to get stuff to make Fall / Christmas crafts.  I couldn't believe that people were already hovering over the saran-wrapped aisles, waiting for 10pm when Wal-Mart's "Black Friday" officially started.  So sad!  Pure craziness, if you ask me.  I was going to attempt to hit up the Destin Commons (BATH & BODY WORKS!) but we'll have to see!  It would be a great time to BLITZ, though : )

All-in-all it was an interesting Thanksgiving.  Rob did the turkey and I made homemade pumpkin pie which turned out pretty delicious!  We ate dinner and then Rob and the boys went to bed at 8 so I stayed up, had a couple glasses of wine, and made candle holders, fall decor, and snow flakes all by my lonesome!  Now I'm thinking about heading to bed... especially if I am thinking about braving the crowds tomorrow....

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  I'm grateful for:
-- My faith & a God that never gives up on me!
-- A husband who cooks & my 2 beautiful boys
-- My family.  I love how active they are in our lives despite the fact that we're halfway across the U.S. MISS YOU GUYS!
-- Friends.  Couldn't keep my sanity without you  :  )
-- Our troops & their families.  Thank you for serving and we're thinking of those that are deployed and unable to be together this holiday season.
-- My job: such a blessing to our family financially! 
-- Food on our table, a house, and a warm bed to sleep in.

Settling In

The past month has been a blur of boxes, laundry, lunches, and diapers.  I will be the first to admit that I had a terrible attitude for awhile due to a combination of alot of the above things as well as trying to juggle my own needs and still doing stuff for my business.  Oh and add the fact that I also wasn't exercising which made me feel extra crummy! But I've shaken out of that because it wasn't doing anybody any good at all!

HOW'S FLORIDA??
-- I hate it. It sucks.     ...... JUST KIDDING!  It's FLORIDA!  I love the beaches -- I'm a seashell junkie.  I also love the fact that it's almost November and I'm still out sun-bathing during the day!  I know all of you up in Wisconsin are reading this right now and contemplating flying down here just to punch me for bragging!  We took Ryan and Christopher to the Ocean for the first time at Postal Point on Eglin AFB and Ryan loved it and we actually got Christopher in the water finally; although he preferred sitting on shore playing with the hermit crab he named 'Bug'.  It was adorable!  

I won't lie, though... the beginning part of Florida kind of sucked.  I got some weird rash all over from the Temporary Lodging we stayed in and the Palmetto Bugs down here (among many others) were really grossing me out.  If you don't know what a Palmetto Bug is let me help you out.  It's about 3 inches long and looks exactly like a cockroach.  As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter if it is or isn't a cockroach.  Who cares?!  If it LOOKS anything like a cockroach I'm still going to scream bloody murder at 3 am when I go to flip the garage light on and see this thing on the wall. The moving company was and is a nightmare.  We're having to file a claim on at least 20 items that were carelessly damaged during the move.  (And in case you think I'm exaggerating let me hit you with an example: they individually wrapped my tea lights and fridge magnets yet put the Xbox and antique on the bottom of a 5 foot high wardrobe box that wasn't filled with clothes but was stacked full of heavy fish tank equipment!?!)  Oh and did I mention that we had a Black Widow in our backyard?  EEK!

PS: Live Laugh Wrap business is going great!  I'm so excited!  It's taken off since I've been here and I now have Distributors in TX, CA, KS, WI, and hopefully AZ (and FL of course!) My last wrap I lost 3.75'' --- I'm a wrapaholic! Wait til you see my Halloween costume....

My Journey and It Works Experience



The Hardest Part of PCS'ing

PCS: (verb) Permanent Change of Station - - -  (in non-military terms)...TO MOVE FAR FAR AWAY FROM PEOPLE YOU LOVE!  Ok.... but seriously.  It means to be re-assigned to another base.

So today has been a rough day!  I can't put off the fact that we're moving any longer . . . it's really hitting me hard today.  I'm going to miss my friend sooo much!  I like the military lifestyle because I've always wanted to travel and see different places...but there are downs.  And getting so close to people that they become your family and then having to leave them behind is definitely a down.  That's where I'm at right now.  It's going to be an all-nighter!  I ordered an Ultimate Cheese Lover's pizza from Pizza Hut (Jennifer's favorite and now she's got me hooked!)  I'm going to jam the blues out with Pizza and Classic Rock  : ) 

                                            

True friends are hard to find, and even harder to forget!

  

It's love!

                                                  

Calli talking to her baby!

 


It's not good-bye...It's "I'll see you later".....

                                        

So excited!  We're moving in less than a week and the movers get here on THURSDAY!  Which...is 2 days from now.  I really need to get my butt in gear because it's going to go so quickly! AGH!!!  Mildly freaking out....

9/11 Tribute - - - Always Remember

 

NEVER FORGET       9.11.2001     United We Stand . . .













   7:59: American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767, departs 14 minutes late from Logan International Airport, bound for Los Angeles, California. Five hijackers are aboard

8:13: Flight 11 has its last routine communication with the FAA's air traffic control center in Boston

8:14: United Airlines Flight 175, another fully-fueled Boeing 767, carrying 56 passengers and nine crew members, departs from Boston Logan airport, also bound for Los Angeles. Five hijackers are aboard.

8:19: Betty Ong, a flight attendant on Flight 11 alerts American Airlines via an airphone, “The cockpit is not answering, somebody’s stabbed in business class—and I think there’s Mace—that we can’t breathe—I don’t know, I think we’re getting hijacked.” She then tells of the stabbings of two flight attendants

8:24: A radio transmission comes from Flight 11: "We have some planes. Just stay quiet, and you'll be okay. We are returning to the airport." It is believed Atta mistakenly held a button directing his voice to radio rather than to the plane's cabin as he intended. A few seconds later, Atta's voice says, "nobody move. Everything will be OK. If you try to make any moves, you'll endanger yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet." Air traffic controllers hear the transmission.

8:42: United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757, takes off with 37 passengers and seven crew members from Newark International Airport (now Newark Liberty International Airport), bound for San Francisco International Airport, following a 40-minute delay due to congested runways. Four hijackers are aboard. Its flight path initially takes it close to the World Trade Center before moving away westwards.

8:44: Flight attendant Amy Sweeney, aboard Flight 11, reports by telephone to Michael Woodward at the American Airlines Flight Services Office in Dallas, "Something is wrong. We are in a rapid descent... we are all over the place." A minute later, Woodward asks her to describe what she sees out the window. She responds, "I see the water. I see the buildings. I see buildings..." After a short pause, she reports, "We are flying low. We are flying very, very low. We are flying way too low." Seconds later she says, "Oh my God, we are way too low.” The call ends with a burst of very loud, sustained static.

8:46:30 Flight 11 crashes at roughly 466 mph (790km/h or 219m/s or 425 knots) into the north face of the North Tower (1 WTC) of the World Trade Center, between floors 93 and 99.

People below the severed stairwells start to evacuate—no one above the impact zone is able to do so.

8:48 to 10:28: At least 100 people (some accounts say as many as 250), primarily in the North Tower, trapped by fire and smoke in the upper floors, jump to their deaths.^{[citation needed]} One person at street level, firefighter Daniel Suhr, is hit by a jumper and dies.

8:49:34: The first network television and radio reports of an explosion or incident at the World Trade Center. CNN breaks into a Ditech commercial at 8:49. The CNN screen subtitle first reads "World Trade Center disaster." Carol Lin, the first TV network anchor to break the news of the attacks, says:


“ This just in. You are looking at obviously a very disturbing live shot there. That is the World Trade Center, and we have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. CNN Center right now is just beginning to work on this story, obviously calling our sources and trying to figure out exactly what happened, but clearly something relatively devastating happening this morning there on the south end of the island of Manhattan. That is once again, a picture of one of the towers of the World Trade Center." .... 


 

                                                                                                       

... I remember seeing this come on when it happened.  I was sitting in class when our teacher walked out into the hallway and rushed back in and turned on the television.  Our entire class fell silent.  The only sounds we heard were sirens, people screaming, and confusion echoing through the hallways of our whole school as we watched the tragedy unfold...

8:50 to 8:54 (approx.): Hijacking begins on Flight 77

8:52: Lee Hanson receives a phone call from his son Peter, a passenger on United 175, who says "I think they've taken over the cockpit-An attendant has been stabbed- and someone else up front may have been killed. The plane is making strange moves. Call United Airlines-Tell them it's Flight 175, Boston to LA." Also on Flight 175 a flight attendant aboard calls a United Airlines office in Chicago, reporting that the flight had been hijacked, both pilots had been killed, a flight attendant had been stabbed, and the hijackers were probably flying the plane

8:54: Flight 77 deviates from its assigned course, turning south over Ohio

8:55 (approx.): Announcements are made over the building-wide PA system by officials in the still-undamaged South Tower of the World Trade Center, reporting that the building is "secure" and that people should return to their offices. Some do not hear it; others ignore it and evacuate anyway; others congregate in common areas like the 78th floor sky lobby

9:00: Lee Hanson receives a second call from his son Peter, aboard Flight 175: "It's getting bad, Dad. A stewardess was stabbed. They seem to have knives and Mace. They said they have a bomb. It's getting very bad on the plane. Passengers are throwing up and getting sick. The plane is making jerky movements. I don't think the pilot is flying the plane. I think we are going down. I think they intend to go to Chicago or someplace and fly into a building. Don't worry, Dad. If it happens, it'll be very fast. My God, my God." The call ends abruptly, as Lee Hanson hears a woman scream

9:03:02: Flight 175 crashes at about 590 mph (950 km/h) into the south face of the South Tower (2 WTC) of the World Trade Center (after flying undetected on a deviated course for 36 minutes), banked between floors 77 and 85. By this time, several media organizations, including the three major broadcast networks (who have interrupted their morning shows), are covering the first plane crash—millions see the impact live. Parts of the plane leave the building from its east and north sides, falling to the ground six blocks away

A massive evacuation begins in the South Tower below its impact zone. One of the stairwells in the South Tower remains unblocked from the top to the bottom of the tower, but is filled with smoke. This leads many people to mistakenly go upwards towards the roof for a rooftop rescue that never comes.

9:39: Fox News Channel reports, "We -- we are hearing -- right now that another explosion that -- has taken place. At the Pentagon

9:57: Passenger revolt begins on Flight 93

9:59:04: The South Tower of the World Trade Center begins to collapse, 56 minutes and 2 seconds after the impact of Flight 175. Its destruction is viewed and heard by a vast television and radio audience. As the roar of the collapse goes silent, tremendous gray-white clouds of pulverized concrete and gypsum rush through the streets. Most observers think a new explosion or impact has produced smoke and debris that now obscures the South Tower, but once the wind clears the smoke it becomes clear that the building is no longer there.


10:03:11: United Airlines Flight 93 is crashed by its hijackers and passengers, due to fighting in the cockpit 80 miles (129 km) southeast of Pittsburgh in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.[19] Later reports indicate that passengers had learned about the World Trade Center and Pentagon crashes on cell phones and at least three were planning on resisting the hijackers; the resistance was confirmed by Flight 93's cockpit voice recording, on which the hijackers are heard making their decision to down the plane before the passengers succeed in breaching the cockpit door. The 9/11 Commission believed that Flight 93's target was either the United States Capitol building or the White House in Washington, D.C.[20]

10:24: Two men who were being evacuated through the underground shopping mall below the South Tower when it collapsed on them are able to climb up through thirty feet of debris to safety

10:28:25: The North Tower of the World Trade Center begins to collapse. Due to the destruction of the gypsum-encased stairwells on the impact floors (most skyscraper stairwells are encased in reinforced concrete), no one who was above the impact zone in the North Tower escapes the collapse. The Marriott Hotel, located at the base of the two towers, is also destroyed. The second collapse is also viewed live on television and heard on radio. The North Tower collapses 1 hour, 41 minutes and 45 seconds after the impact of Flight 11




Firetruck coming out of the rubble

343 Firefighters gave their lives on 9/11

 


Remember those that rushed up the stairs while everyone else was running down. Remember those that found the courage to take back a plane.



Remember those who volunteered to serve in Afghanistan and Iraq and never returned. ♥


Remember the families that will never be the same.


Remember that real heroes don't have capes or super powers. . . .

 

♥ For the husband who told his wife I love you one last time before his plane went down in a field
♥ For the wife who stopped in the stairs to call her husband to say I will love you forever
 ♥ For the mothers and fathers who kissed their kids goodbye the morning they died
♥ For the policemen who rushed in with the firemen to help get others out only to die themselves
♥ For the soldiers who fought back and lost their lives.
♥ Today, tomorrow, ten years from now, we will remember!!

Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.

America was targeted for attack because we are the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.. ....  - - -President George W. Bush September 11, 2001



                                              



My heart goes out to my friends who's husbands are deployed right now fighting for this cause in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I'm so proud of their families and of my husband!  I'm lucky to be married to a man who's my best friend and my hero. . .



** All images displayed are images that are un-copyrighted and / or for use by the public under a Creative Commons license.
Timeline was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_for_the_day_of_the_September_11_attacks