monday monday...i start the thread

[~PalmTreeGurl~ 154]

I just remember when I was about 6 or 7 and I found out there was no such thing as Santa, I went to Sunday school and told all the little kids the "truth" I had found out from my mom and dad. It started a huge war in sunday school with all the little kids calling me a liar and I was going crazy trying to tell them the truth. No Santa!! Needless to say I gotta big butt spanking for spoiling the fun for all the other little kids. I couldnt understand why I was wrong to give them the right info. But it was fun and worth the memory!

[amal 4]

I knew santa didn't exist when I was about 8 but I lied to my parents for another 4 years so the tradition would last a little bit longer. "Santa" always left 1 present out for us. If it was still in a box, our names were written in glitter in great big letters on the box. It was the coolest thing to wake up to. I didn't want it to stop.

Then when I was 12, I had a conversation with my dad. We decided that Santa, as a person, didn't exist but the idea of Santa, ie giving, loving, sharing, etc...was what santa really meant. Added to the fact that the REAL meaning of christmas always got lost among the ribbons, bows, and wrapping paper. I had a very easy transition. I hope my son does as well.

amal

[sara535 15]

Amal, what a sweet good boy you have. Give him a big ole hug

I have a feeling its going to be a sparse Christmas in a lot of homes this year, it sure will be less than usual around here but its alright, in some ways its kinda nice to try to have a more mellow less commercial holiday season.... (making the best of it, anyway )

[♥JP♥ 5]

Hello Everyone..I hope you are all doing well. I am doing ok, baby is doing great now. She was sick for a couple of weeks but feeling better. She went on her first airplane ride this weekend. We went to Boise, Idaho to visit my brother. The visit went well but I am highly bothered by something that happened during that visit.

We took the kids to toysrus to pick out their christmas gifts. In the parking lot there was a huge army tanker and families were lining up to take photos on it, does that seem strange to anyone else? Something like that would never fly here in California but it was so strangly populuar there. My husband stood back in amazement wondering if that tanker had been in Iraq or Afghanistan and how many people had died because of it.

Do you think I'm overreacting to this?

[HLM 1]

Hello Everyone..I hope you are all doing well. I am doing ok, baby is doing great now. She was sick for a couple of weeks but feeling better. She went on her first airplane ride this weekend. We went to Boise, Idaho to visit my brother. The visit went well but I am highly bothered by something that happened during that visit.

We took the kids to toysrus to pick out their christmas gifts. In the parking lot there was a huge army tanker and families were lining up to take photos on it, does that seem strange to anyone else? Something like that would never fly here in California but it was so strangly populuar there. My husband stood back in amazement wondering if that tanker had been in Iraq or Afghanistan and how many people had died because of it.

Do you think I'm overreacting to this?

Hope ur lil angel get better and stays healthy always well i dont think u re overreacting at all! do ppl really think these wars did succeed and it was really for a good cause?!

[Staashi 371]

Hello Everyone..I hope you are all doing well. I am doing ok, baby is doing great now. She was sick for a couple of weeks but feeling better. She went on her first airplane ride this weekend. We went to Boise, Idaho to visit my brother. The visit went well but I am highly bothered by something that happened during that visit.

We took the kids to toysrus to pick out their christmas gifts. In the parking lot there was a huge army tanker and families were lining up to take photos on it, does that seem strange to anyone else? Something like that would never fly here in California but it was so strangly populuar there. My husband stood back in amazement wondering if that tanker had been in Iraq or Afghanistan and how many people had died because of it.

Do you think I'm overreacting to this?

Hi JP - I think you might be reacting just a tad much...not to think of where it has been, but the idea that seeing a real live army tanker might be a true sight to see for someone, especially in Idaho. I'm not sure of how many military bases there are there, but I can imagine that it might be a treat for a kid to see something like that. I grew up in L.A. and was exposed all my life to warships in the Port of Los Angeles, went on a submarine in San Fran when I was 13, an aircraft carrier at 14...been to military bases allover CA - Edwards Air Force base, Miramar, Fort Ord and now living in Tallahassee, I see fighter jets in the sky from Eglin Air Force Base all the time. I guess I'm immune to it, but I can imagine for people who might not be that exposed to it it can be an awe-inspiring experience.

[~Jackie~ 30]

freakin below zero wind chill and guess who has to take out the garbage? Me. And why you might ask. Because it's just me and the cat and for sure she's not getting her paws cold. So let me find my gloves, put on shoes and a jacket and hike a few plastic bags to the curb. grrrrrrrr and brrrrrrrrrrrrr

If you never hear from me again, I am frozen in place. (and icing on the cake, 5 inches of snow to cover my winterland tommorrow)

My weather rant is over for tonight.

[anitacastillo 0]

In the parking lot there was a huge army tanker and families were lining up to take photos on it, does that seem strange to anyone else? Something like that would never fly here in California but it was so strangly populuar there. My husband stood back in amazement wondering if that tanker had been in Iraq or Afghanistan and how many people had died because of it.

Do you think I'm overreacting to this?

Hi JP - I think you might be reacting just a tad much...not to think of where it has been, but the idea that seeing a real live army tanker might be a true sight to see for someone, especially in Idaho. I'm not sure of how many military bases there are there, but I can imagine that it might be a treat for a kid to see something like that. I grew up in L.A. and was exposed all my life to warships in the Port of Los Angeles, went on a submarine in San Fran when I was 13, an aircraft carrier at 14...been to military bases allover CA - Edwards Air Force base, Miramar, Fort Ord and now living in Tallahassee, I see fighter jets in the sky from Eglin Air Force Base all the time. I guess I'm immune to it, but I can imagine for people who might not be that exposed to it it can be an awe-inspiring experience.

There are parts of this country which worship military and there are parts which do not.

Staashi - its funny, I grew up/still live in CA and have never set foot on a military base here. (I did once in Maryland to visit a cousin) Instead, my first protest at UC Berkeley was against ROTC.

JP - I don't know what part of CA you live in, but outside of the San Diego military area, I cannot imagine a tanker in a ToysRUs parking lot here.

Peace to all!!

[charmintales 0]

It was in the 50s here today which was nice though I stayed inside watching movies with my husband and doing house cleaning. I'm off work for the next two weeks but we have some things to do tommorow. I hope everyone's Monday goes well.

Thank you for the message you sent me,

I have been trying to stay away from this site since there is nothing I can begin to do yet and it just keeps me positive not to think too much about it now.

''CONGRATULATIONS''

and may you both be blessed, thank you so much for sharing part of your life here, it gives us hope, we know now it's possible, it's a long road, but possible...

[KHPerfectMatch 1]

Hello Everyone..I hope you are all doing well. I am doing ok, baby is doing great now. She was sick for a couple of weeks but feeling better. She went on her first airplane ride this weekend. We went to Boise, Idaho to visit my brother. The visit went well but I am highly bothered by something that happened during that visit.

We took the kids to toysrus to pick out their christmas gifts. In the parking lot there was a huge army tanker and families were lining up to take photos on it, does that seem strange to anyone else? Something like that would never fly here in California but it was so strangly populuar there. My husband stood back in amazement wondering if that tanker had been in Iraq or Afghanistan and how many people had died because of it.

Do you think I'm overreacting to this?

Yep that's Idaho.... please don't think all of the Northwest is like that though... Here in Portland Oregon we don't even allow the military to step foot in a public school... no Jr. ROTC here... I'm not even sure if they allow them on college campuses... I think Berkeley might be a suburb of Portland.. tehehehehehehehe

Idaho is home to the Aryan Nation... and chock full of white supremists, and seperatists. Many of whom have joined the military in the last few years to gain updated weapons training and learn more about Urban Warfare tactics. They feel that getting to kill "rag heads" is just a bonus... what they really want to do is prepare for "cleansing" the USA someday. I heard they have started seeing Aryan Nation Graffiti in Baghdad!

It's the only time in my LIFE I've had a police man point a gun at me during a routine traffic stop for which there was NO TICKET GIVEN. My ex husband (Egyptian) was driving behind a car going 30 mph on a 55 mph road for miles... finally he had clearance to pass and started to pull out to go around the car and saw deer in the road ahead. Before he could even start to ease back into the lane behind the slow car the siren was on and we were being pulled over and the officer was banging the barrel of his gun on the back window of my subaru wagon and telling both of us to put our hands out the window. He never asked for proof of insurance but questioned my husband about his employment.... etc. shouted at him and then when my husband asked what rule he had broken he had to back off and ended up letting us go...

For too many people war is like a sporting event or a TV show they watch... Go TEAM USA... SMASH those Insurgents!!!!! TRASH those TALIBAN!!!! RAH RAH RAH... SIS BOOM BA...

Maybe getting your photo taken by a Military Rig is like getting it taken with the bat mobile, or an NFL Player, well at least in Idaho...

I think war should go back to being like the battles in Braveheart... we'd see how long people kept joining up for THAT! It's all too sterile and faceless these days... Bombs dropped from miles above that kill thousands of people in an instant... and there aren't DEAD CHILDREN AND WOMEN, there is "collateral damage"... all so calculated... all so statistical... and all so well "spun" by the media... and the Industrial/Military Complex...

I will stop ranting now..

K

[HLM 1]

I recommend "why we fight?" real good documentary by Eugene Jarecki to everyone who wants to know more about wars the US got involved in. To me it was very emotional and depressing unfortunately.

[doodlebugg 10]

Hello Everyone..I hope you are all doing well. I am doing ok, baby is doing great now. She was sick for a couple of weeks but feeling better. She went on her first airplane ride this weekend. We went to Boise, Idaho to visit my brother. The visit went well but I am highly bothered by something that happened during that visit.

We took the kids to toysrus to pick out their christmas gifts. In the parking lot there was a huge army tanker and families were lining up to take photos on it, does that seem strange to anyone else? Something like that would never fly here in California but it was so strangly populuar there. My husband stood back in amazement wondering if that tanker had been in Iraq or Afghanistan and how many people had died because of it.

Do you think I'm overreacting to this?

That would NEVER fly around here either. I guess it's just a sign of the different culture within each state of the US. We do have a big electronic sign upon entering our town welcoming home various service men/women but between that and a few war memorials that's the extent of our military recognition.

A tanker at toys-r-us? nuh uh. That would prolly be popular during the WWII days but not in the least bit after Vietnam.

[♥JP♥ 5]

See I just took as a form of early recruitment.....