No winter for Germany

This is the second year in a row that Germany has not seen any snow. I find it very alarming. I don’t believe in Global Warming–at least not the way that politicitians talk about it. I don’t think that there is enough evidence out there to justify that global warming is happening. I clearly remember that hairspray was damaging the environment, but I seriously doubt it there was anything really to it.

I think it’s great, though, that car manufactors have started producing vehicles that are less dependent upon petrol.

As I was trying to get at. I don’t know what is going on with the weather these days, but I do know that it’s very disconcerting. It feels like a cold spring day. Fall came early last year and it feels like spring and it’s only February!

I guess I should clarify this: It has snowed in Garmisch, but not in Heidelberg or Hanau, the two places I have lived for the last three years. The snow that we got in 2005 was nothing to write home about, but at least we had a few flakes! It’s absolutely crazy!

Oh well.

Nothing’s going on

There’s absolutely nothing going on, but I wanted to write a little bit. Rob is in the field. He came home this evening because we had a meeting to attend. Today has been a hard day, in terms of quitting smoking. I have constantly wanted a cigarette today. I’ve been good. I didn’t have any. I was tempted to get one, though.

One of the things that you should do is have a goal when you’re quitting smoking. I’m looking at getting a new camera phone or a new ultra-compact camera. Rob’s really not thrilled that I’m going to get one, but I can’t take the Nikon with me all the time. I LOVE my camera, but it’s impractical, at times. Then, there are the times that there are pictures that are begging to be taken and I just have to photograph it in my mind because I don’t have my camera with me. There are several that I am looking at, but I think I may have to decide between two: The LG KU990 Viewty and the Sony Ericsson K800i. I haven’t quite decided yet. Rob has real no opinion about this.

I do know that my phone contract is almost up. It will be up in April or May. I can’t remember. Anyway, I can probably get a good deal if I get a new contract. I know that I won’t be here for a two year contract, which is the norm in Germany, but I think that it might be worth losing the deposit to get a great phone at a reduced price. I know that the phone will work when we go back to the states and I seriously doubt that I will want another phone. What I want is a portable camera–something that I can have for everyday stuff-not journalist stuff. Anyway, just thought I’d update you. Still having trouble quitting, but I’m still truckin’ along. I haven’t had one! Yeah me!

Oh dear Lord…

Where in the heck did I pick up Mono from? The doctor called me this morning and said that I did test positive for mono! I’m going to be sick for weeks now! I tried to eat some chocolate this morning and it made me so sick to my stomach that I felt like vomiting (but I didn’t–I just felt like I could)! I’m not used to being so ill.

I was a sick child growing up. My mother claimed I was never sick, but my aunts said that every time they saw me, I was sick with something. I have been a relatively healthy adult and whammy! Rob picks up this and brings it home! I feel extremely tired, but I have to pack Rob for the field. He leaves tomorrow morning. Poor guy. He’s as me. I hope he feels better soon!

Well, I think I’m gonna go for now, I’m feeling like crapola and I need to finish cleaning the living room and get the laundry folded.

SuperBowl Sunday :)

Yesterday, Rob and I watched Groundhogs Day with Bill Murray. It was appropriate because yesterday was Groundhogs day! Haha! I hadn’t heard the news, but I just found out that the US is doomed for another 6 weeks of winter. Sorry for you guys, I know that you’ve been hit pretty hard this year, but not as hard as last year. Here in Germany, it actually frosted over. It had to have been the coldest night in Germany in 2 years! Seriously, it hasn’t snowed in 2 years. There had been talk that it was supposed to snow this weekend, but I have seen no signs of snow and for the first time in months, the sky is blue!

I’m starting to work on the blanket that I’m making for one of the babies that is supposed to be born in April. Hopefully, I’ll have it finished by the end of the week. I’m still waiting to see if they stuff I ordered online will be here next week. I ordered tons of yarn. It was on sale. 🙂 The stuff I bought for my friend’s baby was kind of expensive and it cost me almost as much for the yarn for the baby blanket that it cost me to order 24 balls and that includes shipping charges!

I’m waiting on blood results to see if I have mono, but the doctor said that I probably do have it, based on my symptoms.

Today is the Super Bowl and we’re going to watch it. It comes on here at midnight. Everything here is closed tomorrow morning and many more places are closed on Mondays anyway. The only thing open are the banks, the Shopette, Subway and Taco Bell. Rob’s unit doesn’t have to go to work tomorrow because they are making up for the 4-day weekend that they lost last week.

Currently, Rob is playing The Witcher. Rob’s unit is going to Normandy over Valentine’s Day weekend for a re-enlistment ceremony and I’ve been invited to go 🙂 I’m really excited. Rob asked me to write the presentation of the history of Normandy. That’s my European War Specialty! When I studied Nazi Germany history from Dr. Wall, he required a paper on the D-Day invasion. I read the book, “The Longest Day” and while I completed the assignment, Dr. Wall said, “Human interest stories are all well and good, but aren’t you even going to mention that Normandy was the largest successful amphibious assault to date?” C- 😦 I was allowed to re-write the paper and the two grades we averaged together and I received a B. It was one of the toughest classes I’ve ever taken, but I probably learned the most out of it. Who knew that I would be living in Germany? So, anyway, I’m really happy that!

Well, there are no other updates for now. Thanks for reading and have a great day 🙂

Day 7

Well, I’m one week smoke-free and things are going pretty well. I’m disgusted by the way that cigarette smoke smells and I can IMMEDIATELY smell when someone has recently lit a cigarette or has just come in from outdoors that smoked one. As a matter of fact, I went over to my neighbor’s house for just about an hour yesterday. I wanted to chit-chat with her, find out when she was due and what the gender of her baby is. It’s hiding. LOL Anyway, so I walked back into my house and I was like, “Who’s been smoking in here?” Haha! That was me a little under a week ago. The smell seems to have disappated a little bit, as it doesn’t smell as bad as it did yesterday. Luckily, we’ll have a new house and it won’t smell like smoke after we move. That’s a good thing 🙂

Rob and I went to a Hail and Farewell tonight. Mandatory fun. yeh! Yeah, not too much fun, but a couple of good laughs were had. I was laughing so hard, I started crying! HAHAHAHA. I’ve got an appointment tomorrow to see if I have Mono. yeh. Other than that, nothing is going on here. Oh, the good news…I got one of my photos put on the front page of the Herald Union from the Welcome Home Ceremony for one of the units that came back from war! What’s even cooler is that the local German paper got ahold of my pictures and published a few of them, too! Ute, my colleague, has a copy of the paper for me to keep as a soveniour. I will put it in my portfolio. 🙂 Well, nothing else to really talk about. You can check out the photo here. Thanks for reading and have a great day! 🙂

Day 6

Well, I’ve made it through day 6 and it was an easy feat. Rob and I are both sick as can be. Rob went to the doctor’s office today and they think he’s got mono. I pretty much have all the symptoms of it, too. I’ve never had it before, but Rob has. He’s gonna find out tomorrow and I probably should go have my blood drawn and checked to see if I have it. I feel like crap. It almost feels like the flu…achy muscles and headache, no appetite and I feel incredibly tired. I slept okay last night and I was up at 7 with Rob and when he left, I fell asleep again on the couch and I slept until 11. We went to bed at 8:30 and the phone rang and so I woke up. That’s the only reason I’m on the computer. Thought I should give you guys an update. I don’t know, this is awful. Well, I can barely hold my eyelids open anymore, so I’m going to bid you a goodnight. Sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite.

TTFN

Day 4

It’s been a good day. I’ve wanted a few cigarettes, but I’ve fought the urge and I won! I’m doing this for our soon to be baby (the one that only exists in God’s eye right now!) Rob and I are getting really excited to make a baby! This is the reason that I continue fighting the cravings.

Casey had an Episodic Falling seizure again today. He’s had several since we’ve had him and the first couple of times that he had them, we thought that it was just a fluke. He had another one at Christmas time while we were at the Tree Lighting Ceremony. We hadn’t seen any in a while and we were thinking that it might be okay to breed him. I don’t think so. I would hate to pass this on. It doesn’t seem real harmful to him. He just get really stiff and shaky. This episode lasted a little more than 5 minutes. Rob and I held him. Rob said he was really scared. I was calm. I just pet him and said it was going to be okay. Rob said that if he wasn’t so scared for Casey, he would have thought it was funny how Casey was slipping all over the hard-wood floor. I didn’t think it was funny, I just thought he was playing. He must have over-stimulated himself. Poor Casey. I’m having him neutered when we get to K-Town after he’s a year old. I want him to have all the male hormones etc…

Rob has got the flu and he hardly ate dinner tonight. He went to bed early and I am getting ready to go to bed shortly myself. I don’t feel especially tired, but I know that I need to keep myself on schedule.

I really do appreciate my readers and I just want to say thanks for reading! Have a great day and we’ll talk soon!

Day 3

Today was not as hard as it was a year ago. Day three all I could think about was smoking and today…well, I’ve thought about it, but it didn’t bother me much today. As a matter of fact, Rob took me to Burger King for dinner today and there were a couple of people there that were smoking. I had to hold my breath as we walked by. The smell was just too much for me. It was almost naseating. So, another day down. Woohoo!

Well, thanks for reading. TTFN

Day 2

God’s sending His mercies to me as I go through this day. Yesterday night I was in actual physical pain. As if someone had kicked me in the chest and I lost my breath. It was almost like a panic attack, but much worse. I was walking and I my eyes started to well up. I just prayed that God would take the pain away. He dried my tears and helped me deal with the pain. The pain DIDN’T go away. He just helped me get through it. I felt more relaxed afterwards and then I went bowling. I bowled a 164, 108 and 154. My team members said that I’m not allowed to smoke anymore! Haha!

Anyway, I guess I better go. There’s warm pizza and a movie waiting for me!

Thanks for reading.

Day 1–again!

Well, I did it again. Feeling alright. Got lots of prayers. Got a really good reason to quit. Little stressed. Doing it for Rob and I’s (hopefully) soon to be conceived child and it’s totally worth it. After meals are the worst times for me. I just had a sandwich. It was good, but the after-meal cigarette signals the end of a meal. I am typing this blog instead of smoking. I flushed the 3 cigarettes that I had left down the toilet last night. I got home late and didn’t get to bed until like 3 am. I was working on the pictures from the Welcome Home Ceremony for the unit that just came back from Iraq yesterday! I got the pictures turned in this morning and there is a possibility that one or two of my pictures might get featured in the Stars and Stripes–that’s the local newspaper here in Germany! I’m really excited. I think I am finally coming into my own when it comes to photography. It only took me 7,000 pictures to get there…actually probably quite a few more because I’ve been into photography for quite sometime now. LOL

Casey is doing well. He found is Foosball and has wanted to play catch for a while. Need to get stuff done around here and I have bowling tonight. Wish me luck. I usually smoke between games. Hopefully, I don’t feel the urge. I am quitting for my baby. That’s what I have to keep telling myself. It’s worth it. It’s just the first week that is uncomfortable. Once I get past this part, in the 2nd week, I’ll be completely disgusted by the mere smell. Or at least that’s how it was when I quit in May of 2006. Must go get some grape soda and do a few crochet stitches before I get the dishes done.

Talk to you soon. Thanks for all the prayers and the wonderful support that you’re all showing me!