Empowering Women (Please excuse me while I puke…)

Posted on May 23, 2012 by civilwarrose5

Yesterday I was forced to attend a seminar for work. Typically you would think that a company would be sending their employees to training such as ‘How To Be More Productive Without Working Overtime’ or maybe ‘Work Smarter, Not Harder’ (what does that mean, anyway??). Not my company. Oh no! Apparently they felt that it would be good for the women in the company to attend training on female empowerment. Yes, I am serious. You’re probably wondering why I’m not jumping for joy at this opportunity. First off, I HATE touchy-feely seminars of any sort. Actually, I hate anything that takes me away from my job and that I feel is a waste of my time. And secondly, out of everybody at work my coworker, the Asshole, would have gotten more out of this seminar than I did. He’s basically a teenaged girl anyway and I can intimidate him with the glare from one eye. Seriously. I’ve done it before. Hehehehe…

Actually, the thing that irritated me the most about this seminar is that it was mandatory. Here they are demanding that we go to this stupid feminist seminar and I don’t want to attend it because I’m already smart enough to know how to empower myself. It reminds me of the Dilbert cartoon where the Pointy-Haired Boss gives Wally and Asok buttons to wear that say “I’m Empowered” (or something similar to that). Asok tells the PHB that he doesn’t want to wear the button and the boss tells him too bad, he has to. After the PHB leaves Wally makes a comment along the lines of, “That’s all you need to know about life right there.” I wish that I could remember it exactly, especially since I have it hanging up in my cubicle at work. Either way, Wally is right. You’re empowered, but only when we aren’t telling you what to do.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m far from being a feminist. I WANT to be spoiled (Jay… are you reading this?? lol). I WANT to have doors held open for me and to get the special treatment that women are often given. With that being said, I have no desire to burn my bra. After all, the girls do NOT need to be freed! That’s a sight that nobody should have to witness. lol. I want to be given the same opportunity as a man would be, but I know that there are limitations to what I can do as compared to a man. For example, I could work my hardest and do a lot of strength training, but when it comes down to it men are able to be more effective fire fighters than women. That’s not a fact, it’s just my own opinion. Yes, there are plenty of strong women out there, but in general a man is going to be able to pull an adult out of a burning building a lot faster than a woman. There are also things that women are better suited for than men. For instance, men should not model hosiery. Women usually have better legs than men, although there are exceptions there as well. For instance, Patrick Swayze had a much better body in women’s clothes in the movie ‘To Wong Foo’ as compared to me. lol. If you think that I’ve just been a little sexist, then too bad. It’s just how I feel. I could be completely wrong, and that’s fine. I’m just being grumpy about having to take four hours out of my day to attend a seminar that I had to bite my tongue so that I wouldn’t make any smart remarks.

To be fair to the instructor, she did a very good job. She had a lot of enthusiasm and love for the topic. Plus, who wouldn’t love to be paid the big bucks to tell women how to handle life’s stresses and how to be more effective at the work place. I didn’t want to tell her that as long as upper management consists of men, that very few ideas from women will actually be acted upon. The instructor told us at the beginning that the seminar would not be an ultra-feminist message that would have us storming out of the room and ready to run over the first man that we saw. However, some of the material that she presented had me wanting to question her motive.

One of the statistics was that women make up the majority of university graduates, and this was said very proudly. The cynic in me wanted to raise my hand and ask, “But in what course work? Is it in anything that matters or are they just throw-away degrees in areas such as psychology, sociology and philosophy? Are they getting degrees for jobs that they can actually go out and do?” Who cares how many women are getting degrees if they are all in areas where they can’t actually use them, so they end up going on welfare or food stamps (which is another article that I’ve read recently and we’re supposed to feel sorry for these idiots who spent all of this time in college getting degrees in NOTHING and then being surprised when they realized there’s no market for them).

The point of this little jaunt down the feminist path was to point out that most women get jobs out of economic necessity and not necessarily to fulfill an aspiration. In other words, most women get jobs but aren’t really satisfied with what they are doing because they want to be doing something different. They work, so they don’t get to spend much time with their family. Yet some women don’t want to spend all day with the kids. I’ve known of a couple women who were on maternity leave and couldn’t wait to get back to work because they were tired of being home. It is expected that a woman can’t truly be satisfied if she is merely a housewife. Again, I wanted to stand up and ask “Why not??” I honestly feel that I would be completely satisfied to be able to stay at home and raise my children (if I had some). Think about it, being a mother or father is a more important job than almost any other in the world. How many people in this world are messed up because they didn’t have good role models at home? How many women have ‘daddy issues’ because they didn’t have a father at home? How many men aren’t taught how to be a man because they didn’t have a father at home to guide them? How many women walk down a path of destruction because their mother didn’t care enough to teach them another way? A parent is the most influential force in their childrens’ lives. When you’re asked to name somebody whom you admire the most, do you automatically name one of your parents? I know that I do. Don’t tell me that being a CEO of a company is more powerful than shaping or molding your child as they grow and develop. I refuse to listen to that kind of an argument.

As the seminar went on the instructor made a comparison of the movie ‘The Wizard of Oz’ to how we live life; when we are home we always want to leave, but then once we are away we always want to return. She was explaining the various points along the way and she wanted to know who the person was who was represented by the brainless scarecrow. I knew what was coming, and yet I cringed anyway when most of the women shouted out, “My husband!” I understand that there’s the generalization out there that husbands are dumb and wives are nags. I get it, but do you always have to play into it? What does that say about a woman who brags/complains about her husband’s stupidity? Obviously she wasn’t bright enough to realize that he was a moron before she married him, so who’s the dummy here? That’s one promise that I’ve made to Jay; no matter how angry we might be at each other that I would never run him down to others. That’s not fair nor respectful to him. Just because he forgot to put the toilet seat down again doesn’t mean that I need to run around telling people how stupid he is and what a brainless idiot I am married to. Since when did the feminist movement give us the okay to bash men?

Before I go off on a tangent I will steer myself back to the topic at hand. We then had to go through and do an exercise where we rated various topics and what priority they were to us. Then we went back through and rated the actual priority that we’re giving to them. Basically what that was supposed to show us is that we may not necessarily be giving the greatest priority to the things that are most important to us. What it taught me was that I already knew this and yet again I felt like my time was being wasted. I know what’s important to me and I make it my priority. Right now my relationship with Jay is high on the priority list, and my job is way lower down. As soon as I can on Friday afternoon I am out the door and headed to Jay’s with work left in my dust. I give so much to my job during the week that I refuse to give it anymore on my weekends. Is that the wrong attitude to have? Maybe, but I’m empowered, remember? lol

Ready for some irony? One of the things she had in the presentation was that we needed to use food as energy and make sure that our body was getting the right nutrition, etc. What did she have in the middle of the tables for us to snack on? Chocolate, candy and peanuts. I was glad that I didn’t have a peanut allergy! She was giving us this plan that is supposed to be wonderful for us and on every slide for the different meals was yet another food item that could kill me. I wanted to tell her that the meal plan would definitely relieve my stress because you can’t be stressed if you’re dead! However, I didn’t make a scene. I behaved myself… unfortunately.

I really tried to find something that I could take out of that seminar so that I could feel like it wasn’t a waste of my time. It didn’t work. I was completely bored. I guess that my parents did a very good job instilling in me the ability to empower myself when needed. They raised me to be independent without relying on others for anything, including telling me that I’m empowered. lol. I didn’t even enjoy it for the social aspect because I’m not a social butterfly. I enjoy my solitary time, or time spent one-on-one. I would much prefer being in Jay’s basement with him as he works on a project, than to be out shopping or clubbing with a bunch of girlfriends. At work I prefer to sit and do my job rather than socialize with a bunch of people who I really don’t have anything in common with them. Why should I waste my time like that? These stupid mandatory seminars do not help to bring me closer with my coworkers, either. It just makes me resent the company for forcing me to do something that I have no interest in doing. It’s stupid and it sucks. So there. lol

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Fun Fly 5-20-12

Posted on May 21, 2012 by civilwarrose5

This past weekend Jay’s RC club, Thermal G, had their first fun fly of 2012 at their flying field. It was gorgeous weather, and since Jay has been working a LOT, we made sure to get there early with lots of planes. I’m not kidding about that, either. If there had been an award for the guy who brought the most planes Jay would have definitely taken it home.

Yes, Jay flew every single one of these planes on Sunday. Starting from the left you have his MiG 15 (the red one), an F16 jet, the LT25(? I think that’s the number) the yellow and blue trainer, a plain white combat foamie, the recently completed Sig Kobra in green and blue, Jay’s new Stryker that he bought after watching them at SEFF, and then his yellow Edge. The Edge doesn’t have its wings on yet. They were in the silver bags that are in front of it.

Here’s another view of this group of planes. You can see the combat foamie in the back between the two yellow planes and a better look at the F16. In fact, take a second look at the F16 because when you see it later in this post it will look a little different…

 

 

After a lot of chit chat a couple of guys finally got some planes up into the air.

 

 

 

 

 

What you are looking at is the wings of the first crash of the day. There would be three in total. This one was Cliff’s “back-up beater.” He had wrecked his beater not too long ago, so this was the back up one that he’d bought cheap at an RC auction. Well, let’s just say that when it came to Plane vs Trees…. the trees won.

 

Here is the aftermath. Not pretty. Its poor guts were hanging out all over. This is why it’s not a good thing to become a tree hugger. Liberalism will get you into trouble every time. 😉 It’s too bad that this one bit the dust because I thought that it looked nice in the air considering its age. And also considering it wasn’t my sweetie doing the flying. Have I mentioned that I’m a bit biased? lol

 

 

 

I was going to delete this picture, but then I decided that I had to keep it. I was trying to get a picture as Jay was doing slow fly-bys with the F16 and this was the best that I managed to get. You can barely see the gray spot against the trees at the edge of the circle. The reason why I kept this picture?

 

 

Because this is what it looked like less than a minute later. It happened so quickly that I barely looked away, and when I looked back it was erupting into pieces. Jay was excited about it because it really was a spectacular crash. The debris field was quite long. I asked what had happened and it seemed that there was a bit of a flutter and that nosed it down. This jet crashed at SEFF so it’s not like it was in pristine condition. I should also mention that Jay has about six more of these kits sitting in his basement.

 

 

Here are the pieces as we were collecting them. Luckily we found all of the electronic pieces. The last time Jay caused a foamie jet to explode we searched for the battery for a long time and never found it.

 

 

 

We definitely didn’t have to worry about finding this battery. It had embedded itself right into the ground. The foam protected the battery, though, so it is still in good working condition. How do I know that the foam protected it?

 

 

 

Can you see the foam that is embedded in the pit? That cushioned the crash. lol

 

 

 

 

The jet hit so hard that the canopy folded into a concave shape. You know, maybe it’s that blue on the tail. That was the same paint that was used on the F16 that was torn apart by the power line last Labor Day. lol

 

 

 

Right before lunch Jay got the trainer ready to go up. That’s the yellow one with the blue wings in the middle. He brought this specifically so that I could get some time on the sticks. I want to learn how to fly, but until this weekend we hadn’t really had time to get out to the field together. He brought the buddy box, put it up in the air, and then handed control over to me. Can I tell you how nervous I was?? Most of the guys who show up to the fun fly never actually end up flying anything. They use it as social hour, so they were standing around watching. It was my first time on the sticks out at the field and I was afraid that I would do something that would really give the guys something to tease me about. Also, it’s hard for me to get it into my head which way the stick needs to go in order for me to get the plane going the way that I want. I will be very happy when I can just make turns and keep the plane at the same altitude. The trainer was in the air for 18 minutes, according to Jay, and he was keeping count of how many times he had to take back control to save the plane. I don’t know if he was exaggerating, but he said that he only had to save me maybe 5 times and supposedly that’s a really good number for a person’s first time flying. I wasn’t nervous to be flying with Jay because I trust him completely and know that he wouldn’t let me get into too much trouble. Sam, one of my favorite guys in the club, teased that I was flying better than him. It was fun, but I hope that the next time I get the opportunity to fly that there isn’t as much of an audience! lol

We broke for lunch, had a 50/50 raffle, and did some more chatting. Then it was time for some more flying.

 

 

 

 

The wind kept moving around so the flight line got moved after lunch. More guys hauled their things up to the flying area after lunch, so it started to feel a little busier. Although, after attending SEFF this doesn’t feel like much congestion at all! Somehow I managed to earn the respect of the guys in the club because Sam came up to Jay, when I was standing right there, and announced that they’d been talking and an idea had been tossed around. They are going to chip in to buy me a membership to the AMA and then make me Field Marshall. That way I would then be the one who enforces the field rules. lol. I’m pretty sure it was all said tongue-in-cheek, but it was amusing. I told them that I would do it as long as I was allowed to carry a whip. I bet that you can imagine where the jokes headed after that!

Unfortunately, it was getting late in the day and Jay had to work that night. He wanted to get one more flight in and chose the Kobra. This was the first time that I saw it fly and boy, was it gorgeous in the air! It really is such a sleek little plane. I would love to fly it once I am able to fly on my own.

 

 

Overall, it was a great day. The weather was gorgeous and Jay managed to get a lot of flying done. I had time on the sticks and I know that I will slowly gain confidence as I get more practice. In the meantime I really enjoy watching Jay fly and spending time with him out at the field. I feel really privileged that he’s allowed me to get as involved with his hobby as I have. Most guys want to keep their hobbies to themselves so that it’s something they can do without having their girlfriend or wife hanging around all of the time. Not Jay. He seems to enjoy having me around, even if it’s just sitting with him as he works on a project or standing behind him as he’s screaming through the sky with his latest purchase. I wish that more couples could enjoy their time spent together like we do. It’s the one thing about this hobby that upsets me. It’s rare that you see any women accompanying their men when at the hobby shop or an RC event, and if they are then they aren’t being hands-on. Come on, ladies! Support your men! Take an interest in it, but not in an annoying way. Also, if you don’t want to go to the flying field with your man then PLEASE don’t call him a million times while he’s there. I can promise you that he’s not getting into trouble or flirting with strange women. Yes, I’m strange and I’m at the flying field, but they don’t flirt with me so you’re safe! 🙂

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Yard Clean Up

Posted on May 21, 2012 by civilwarrose5

This past weekend I was dog sitting, and thus couldn’t be at Jay’s, so I took the opportunity to get my dad down to my house and do some yard maintenance that I’ve been chomping at the bit to get done. With the weather being so nice lately I’ve been trying to go out at night after work to do things, but I needed my dad and his chainsaw for a couple of projects.

For some reason I never took a picture of the pine tree that was in front of my house. This used to be my grandma’s house, so when my one cousin was little he was given one of those pine saplings at school for Earth Day (or some such nonsense) and he wanted to plant it at grandma’s. She probably never thought that it would survive, so they chose a spot out front. You can see it in the upper right hand corner of this picture. I didn’t like it there because it was about 15 feet tall and was quite big around. It blocked a lot of the house and you couldn’t see around it from the window. So this pine tree was on my list of things to cut down ASAP. Plus, if you have pine trees near the house you know how dirty they are between the sap and the needles, they are horrible.

Here is a somewhat similar picture that I took on Saturday. Wasn’t it gorgeous weather on Saturday?? It’s amazing how much difference two months will make. The picture above was taken in March, and this one was taken two days ago. Anyway, if you notice in the upper right hand corner of this picture there is no longer a pine tree!

 

Here is the view from the front. This was before we trimmed the hedges. See how bright and beautiful this picture looks? That pine tree really cast a lot of shadow on the house. I like brightness and light. The dank, dark dampness doesn’t do anything for me.

 

 

The next spot that was on my list for attention was the back deck. My uncle had planted these trees for my grandma, but he’d planted them RIGHT NEXT to the deck! You can’t tell because I didn’t take a picture when the trees finally leafed out, but they completely shadowed the deck and the branches were really starting to take up space on the deck itself. I couldn’t walk very close to them without being poked by a branch. When I’m out on the deck I want to enjoy the sun, except where the awning sits. Because the trees held in the dampness and kept the sun from shining on the deck there is some damage from the wetness. In fact, this deck looks in worse shape than the deck on my parents’ house (which was built two to three years prior to my deck). Also, there’s a viney bush on the corner of the deck that the hummingbirds supposedly loved.

And now they are all gone! Wow. I just can’t get over the difference in the pictures. In March when I took the ‘before’ pictures it had been a beautiful day, but it just can’t compare to the weather now. I love seeing the green again after a dull winter. Having the trees gone really helps to open up the back yard, too. My dad and I were upset to discover that the hummingbird bush had actually done damage to the deck. One of the vines had grown up and managed to push a huge gap between the boards on the corner of the deck. Since my dad did the majority of the  building it was a bit disappointing to see that the deck hadn’t properly been cared for.

It’s not a huge deck, but it’s nice. This summer I will need to power wash it and then restain and seal it. Like I said, the trees held the dampness in and really did a number on it. Oh, and that stupid 4×4 frame that you see in the picture, leaning against the railing, will be gone at some point. It’s a bird feeder holder that my uncle built and I don’t care for it. My aunt wants it so she can have it. As it was we had to take my uncle’s deck furniture over to my aunt’s house on Saturday to get it off my deck. It was all metal and had never been put away in the winter, so it was rusty. I definitely didn’t want to use it. I won’t get any furniture, though, until I’ve resealed it.

This is a view of the deck from the other side. It’s a cute little deck. Once I get a grill to put out there it will be a lot nicer. 🙂 As you can see I have the bird feeders hanging off of the awning frame and the cats love it. They spend a lot of time sitting at the kitchen window watching the various birds empty my feeders.

 

I am just so happy to have those trees gone by the deck that I had to take another picture. This place makes a cute little house for an elderly couple looking to downsize, or a newly wed couple looking for their first home.

 

 

Since I’m in the backyard I will stay here for a while. This is the shed that is at the back of my property. In fact, I was standing almost in front of it when I took the picture of the deck above. See all of this stuff beside it? We took the chainsaw to most of it, but discovered some wire fencing buried in it. We got what we could, but I have to go clean it out some more. I had an idea about this area. I will have two raised garden boxes for my vegetables, but I would really like to grow some zucchini this year. I’m thinking about maybe asking my dad to build a frame for the zucchini to grow on, much like what I had at my parents’ house. Then I will plant the zucchini here so that it doesn’t take up the space in my garden boxes.

You can kind of see the shed at the left of this picture. You can’t tell very well, but it definitely is cleaned up. Also, you will note that the dead stump is gone as well. Oh, and did I mention that the trees by the back deck are gone, too? 😉 Yes, straight ahead those are my vegetable garden boxes. They are currently growing a luscious crop of weeds that I intend to harvest once I get my new bed boxes built. These ones are made out of landscaping timbers and are falling apart. My dad is going to make me some new ones out of rough cut, but I have to get out there and measure what size I want. I need to do that soon, but I’ve been kind of waiting to make sure that we’re not going to have anymore killer frosts.

Here’s the ‘before’ picture of the back yard back in March. My aunt has been dismayed about all of the things I plan on ripping out or cutting down, but I don’t care. I think that a less-cluttered look makes the house look that much nicer.

 

 

Speaking of ripping and tearing, I did a lot of that in this area last week. This was filled with maple saplings and all kinds of weeds. I spent an hour working on this area and I still have a little more to do. I need to figure out how to remove that fence, first. It’s really annoying and is in my way.

 

 

 

 

This was the other area that saw a lot of ripping and tearing. It was all filled with ground cover and who knows what else. My theory was that if I didn’t recognize it as a nice flowering plant that I wanted to keep, then out it came. I did make exceptions for the rhubarb and leeks that I found. There are also four rose bushes there. Kind of a weird combination, don’t you think? What I want to do now is get some pansies to plant in there. My two favorite flowers are roses and pansies. I have some buds on the rose bushes so I hope to get pictures of them in bloom in a few weeks. I did some pruning on them to encourage healthy growth so we’ll have to see how they do.

If you have any suggestions or helpful comments I would greatly appreciate them. 🙂

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Kobra Project Completed

Posted on May 20, 2012 by civilwarrose5

It has been a while since I last updated you on the build of this plane. Unfortunately, May has been a very busy month for me and I have not been taking pictures like I should. Needless to say, in my absence, this plane has been completed. In fact, I saw it fly today and it looked gorgeous! It had such a nice sound to it. Is it sad that I’m now complimenting the sounds of planes?? lol

This is what it looked like during the third week of this build. It was ready for covering and we were trying to figure out the color scheme.

 

 

 

Here it is completed and covered. Isn’t that a beautiful plane? The retracts work perfectly, too. Jay had to do a bit of redesigning to fit them in because the plans originally called for fixed gear. But let’s be honest, some planes just look silly flying about with their gear down.

 

 

For some reason I must have really liked the tail on this plane. I had taken this picture before it was covered.

 

 

 

 

And here it is covered. I love the American flag detail. Did you notice that Jay used my lucky number, too? Isn’t he so sweet to me? 😉

 

 

 

Here’s a view from above so that you can see the color scheme on the wings. That is really sharp looking, don’t you think?

 

 

 

 

The bottom of the Kobra. It’s got such a stark contrast because that way you shouldn’t lose orientation when flying. Maybe. Give me a chance and I bet that I could!

 

 

 

Here is Jay, hooking up the battery to prepare it for the only flight that it managed to get in today. This was the first time I had seen it fly and I was impressed. There were other guys there who were taken aback by it as well. They recognized the aircraft right away and it really brought back some memories for them. Everybody enjoyed watching it fly!

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Cross Stitched Warthog

Posted on May 17, 2012 by civilwarrose5

My latest cross stitch project is one that my Sweetie asked me to make for him. He found a picture and thought it would look neat cross stitched.

Pretty cool, eh? So I purchased the software that was needed to convert this into a pattern and I’m hoping that it turns out okay. I’ve never converted a picture into a cross stitched pattern so I’m anxious to see how this turns out. If you notice, though, there’s a LOT of blue. I mean, a LOT of blue. On the pattern the first thirty rows are just sky.

That is approximately twelve rows so far. Only eighteen more to go! This is why I haven’t updated the blog with my pictures. There’s really not much to show. Yet.

I was looking at the calendar today to see what the date was when I started this piece. I keep track of my starting and ending dates of the pieces that I stitch. Well, I remembered that I was down at my sister’s during our trip to SEFF in April. That’s when I realized that the date I started this was April 23rd. Since today is the 17th it’s been almost a month since I was on vacation! It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long. It makes me sad to think about, too, because I had such a great time. I wish that I was still there…

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Trying to Catch Up…

Posted on May 14, 2012 by civilwarrose5

This squirrel perfectly exemplifies my current state of mind. I feel like I’m completely exhausted and am unable to catch up with anything. I made supper, put my Udi’s stuff away from Saturday, did dishes, and laundry is currently in process. Oh, plus I scrubbed the tub and cleaned the bathroom sink. With all of that being said, I feel like I have a million more things that I should be doing, yet all I want to do is go to bed. I might after I get this next load of laundry into the dryer.

I know that part of the reason why I’m so tired is that I’m not getting enough sleep. Averaging about 5-6 hours a night is not a good thing. The last several nights have not been my fault, though. I went to bed at a reasonable time Friday night, but there were some obnoxious teenagers across the street who insisted on yelling and screaming far into the night. My bedroom is as far away from them as I can get, physically, and yet I could still hear them. I then had to get up at 5:30 a.m. so that I could get ready to head to Buffalo for a Celiac walk.

Saturday night I went to bed at a decent time, but I had a hard time getting comfortable. First I was too hot, then I was too cold; I couldn’t find a happy medium. Then I had the most horrible dream that woke me up at 5:30! I woke up shaking and trying to catch my breath. It had been a really horrible dream about Jay getting hypothermia and falling into an alligator pit. I was trying to get him warmed up when the paramedics finally came, but I was so worried about him. It had been very scary. You have to feel sorry for the poor guy because when I woke up from that dream I rolled over and clung to him tightly. I couldn’t fall back to sleep, though. 😦

Last night I had a hard time falling asleep. Don’t you hate that? You’re tired and all you want to do is drift off into dreamland, but it doesn’t happen. I was trying not to turn on my mattress pad so that I could train myself to sleep without it. Yeah, that wasn’t working. I finally turned it on a little bit and as soon as it started warming up I fell right to sleep. I then had strange dreams about work and toys and other unrelated things.

So as you can see, my poor body is really being put through the wringer. It hasn’t really seen anything yet, though. Why? Because tonight after work I stopped and renewed my membership at the local gym. I had forgotten how expensive it was! I paid for the summer special, though, which is quite a bit of savings so I’m hoping that will be enough motivation for me to start really working out. I hate the way that I look and feel. I want Jay to be proud to call me his girlfriend and want to show me off. He says that he already feels that way and that he thinks that I’m hot. 🙂 You have to love a man who is honest like that and you know that he’s not lying to you because it’s what he thinks you want to hear.

Speaking of lying and such, today on the radio program they were asking men what blanket statements they could use when deciding that you can’t trust a woman. For example, one guy said that you can’t trust a woman with a tramp stamp bigger than a business card. I have often teased Jay that I’m going to tattoo ‘Property of Kerry’ on his butt, but I would never actually do it. lol. Just as I could never bring myself to intentionally mark my body up like that. The only thing that I wonder is what will the nurse think when you’re 98 and she’s changing your diaper. Can you imagine this tramp stamp being old and wrinkly?? EWWW.

Anyway, that got me to thinking about what blanket statement I could use when it came to guys. The one that I used when going through my last bout of serial dating was, “Never trust a guy who says that he writes poetry.” I’ve found that those who write poetry often live with their heads in the clouds and are unable to actually function at a decent level out in society. I’m not saying that every guy does, but I won’t date anybody who writes poetry. Before you ask, no, Jay does NOT write poetry. I would be happy just to have him write me a note once in a while. 😉 As long as it didn’t rhyme. lol

I apologize for not posting any plane photos recently. It seems like I haven’t had much time with Jay, and so when I do we spend the time enjoying each other’s company. The last time I even went flying with him was at SEFF. My problem is that I just have too many things that I have to do, and so while I’m gone doing that he is out flying. I need to get some time on the sticks, though. One of the guys in the club doesn’t think that a) Jay will be able to get me to fly and that b) I’ll stick with it. So I have to prove him wrong. There’s no other way around it. That and I really want to learn how to fly. Jay has told me that I can have one of the jets that is sitting unassembled in his basement. All I have to do is figure out a paint scheme. I think that I know what I’m going to do, but I want to keep it a secret until I’m ready to reveal it. Let’s just say that probably nobody else has EVER thought of painting a jet up like this, and it’s a bit of a witty way of doing things. When I told Jay my idea and how I would do it he was skeptical at first, but then when he heard how I had thought things out he was a bit impressed. I think that he’s looking forward to seeing just how it comes out.

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Gluten Free Diet

Posted on May 10, 2012 by civilwarrose5

Tonight was my monthly support meeting so I decided that maybe I should do some preparation for it. I haven’t had a lot of time to keep up with the Celiac Community or the latest gluten free products, so I did some searching online. I found some rather disturbing things.

I have titled this post “Gluten Free Diet” in the hopes that somebody searching those words online will come across my blog and actually read this post. Maybe it will teach them something, or perhaps just reinforce what they already know.

First off, the gluten free diet is NOT a weight loss diet unless you are strictly sticking to fruits, veggies and proteins. The gluten free cookies, breads, and cakes actually contain more calories, and usually more sodium and sugar, than the “normal” products. Why? Because the grains that are gluten free are the ones that have more starch and contain the “bad” carbohydrates; grains such as rice, tapioca, etc. I would guess that rice flour is the number one flour used by most gluten free bakers. Do you want me to prove that a gluten free diet won’t help you to lose weight?

This is what I looked like approximately two weeks after being diagnosed with Celiac Disease. I had lost around 30-35 pounds in 6 months without trying; I had no energy; I was constantly nauseous; plus I was VERY grumpy. I was so grumpy that I didn’t even like being around myself. My hair started to thin out and I was losing a lot more of it than I was used to. It actually started to scare me. All of this was happening due to Celiac Disease and being unable to absorb the vitamins and nutrients that my body needed. Why? Because my body sees gluten as the enemy and thus it attacks the gluten, plus my intestine, whenever it is present. My friends and family hate this picture because I look so sickly. I can see it now, but I still think about how I was wearing clothes sizes that I hadn’t seen in years. It was so nice! It was being sick that sucked. lol

Here I am after being on the gluten free diet for five years. Yes, I grew out my bangs, but you can also see in my arms and my neck that I’ve gained the weight back, plus some. My doctor likes to see me heavier because it means that my body is healing and my intestine is now correctly absorbing nutrients. I suppose that I could forego my pasta, bread, and cereals so that I can lose some weight, but I have a hard time with that. I already have to deny myself so many of my favorite foods that I used to love, it seems unfair that I should have to deny myself the versions that I can eat just so that I can attempt to mold myself into a shape that society says I should have.

The gluten free diet is not a fad diet. I can’t just decide to stop eating gluten free nor can I “cheat”. Even if I ingest the tiniest bit of gluten I get sick. Each time it’s different, but I can always tell when it happens. In fact, this past weekend I was glutened at a restaurant that I frequent. I typically don’t have problems there, but somehow my food was cross contaminated. It was more than likely spices that did it, but I definitely paid for it. Within 30 minutes my stomach started to churn and bubble… I started to feel bloated. Then as I was driving back to Jay’s I suddenly developed a stabbing pain in my temple, almost like a migraine. That was bad enough, but when I started to feel dizzy I knew that it wasn’t a good thing. If you’re on a gluten free diet because you think that you’ll lose weight, then it doesn’t matter if you get cross contaminated food. In my case, however, the rest of my evening was shot because I ended up sleeping for a few hours in the hopes that I would be better when I woke up. My body has to have a chance to settle itself down, and even then I’m still dealing with the effects five days later. I’ve had a slight headache all week and I’ve had zero energy. I really had to motivate myself just to vacuum and wash my quilt earlier in the week. I’m lucky that when I do get glutened I don’t have to stay in bed for four days like some of my friends in my support group.

Why am I bringing up the diet and gluten free food? You might have heard recently that Dominoe’s pizza has a new gluten free pizza crust. They expect that this will be a great addition to the company and help those who have been unable to eat pizza to finally be able to enjoy it again. The problem? The company has come out and made a statement that those with Celiac Disease should NOT eat their crust because even though the ingredients are technically gluten free, they make the dough and the pizzas in the same kitchens where the “regular” crusts are made. Therefore, they can not be guaranteed gluten free because there’s a HIGH potential for cross contamination.

There is also a local restaurant in my area that has included a gluten free menu on its regular menus. The manager has told one of my friends that they are printing up new menus, with separate gluten free menus, because they’ve had a lot of people ordering the gluten free versions of their dishes even though they can eat the gluten filled versions. Why are they doing this? Because the media and celebrities have brain washed them into thinking that just because it’s gluten free means that it’s good for you. That’s not the case at all. Gluten free ingredients are more expensive than the “regular” version, and thus the restaurant is losing money on these customers.

I suppose that I should be grateful that the celebrities are bringing gluten free into public awareness. I just wish that it was being done in a way that won’t end up back-firing and hurting those of us who need to be on the diet. Some people think that it’s just a fad diet and that since Miley Cyrus decided to cheat and have a regular piece of pizza, that it will be okay for a person with Celiac Disease to cheat, too. When the whole thing is just a fad diet, nobody takes it seriously. Do you remember me writing about the chef in Colorado who used to make whole wheat pasta for the customers who had ordered gluten free pasta because he said that it was all in our heads? Those are the people whom you can never convince that a little truly will hurt you.

So when I read that somebody has a gluten free crust, but yet it’s not safe for me to consume I have to wonder a couple of things. One, are they attempting the gluten free option in order to just make money off of the stupid people who are following the fad diet? Or two, are they really just not informed enough to know that in order for it to truly be gluten free they need to take measures to make sure that it doesn’t come into contact with other gluten either? It was very nice for Dominoes to give us the heads up about their crusts, but it’s just mean. My wish is that I could sit in front of my coworkers and eat a delicious, mouth-watering pizza in front of them while all they have to eat are salads. It’s not nice to have the prize dangled in front of you and then snapped away before you can grab it.

I apologize if my post seems rambling and incoherent. Again, I’m still struggling against the brain fog (inability to concentrate fully on something) that happens after I’ve been glutened. If you don’t believe me then do a search on symptoms of celiac disease or symptoms of being glutened. You’ll be amazed at the various reactions people can have.

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Passport Cover Finished

Posted on May 7, 2012 by civilwarrose5

About a month ago Jay’s mom asked if I could make a passport cover for her. I had no idea what kind of passport cover she wanted or even where to start. I did a search online and found some instructions for a book jacket-like passport cover. Then I looked through my cross stitch patterns to see what I could find that would work. I found an alphabet booklet that had a really pretty ‘K’ that was about the right size. So, using some opalescent evenweave that I had on hand I got to work.

I believe that this is the last picture you saw of this piece. You can see how the fabric sparkles. Isn’t it pretty?

 

 

 

 

 

This is what the finished ‘K’ looked like. It turned out rather nicely, don’t you think? I don’t have my sewing machine right now (it’s at my mom’s house getting oiled and checked over), so I asked my mom if she could sew it all together for me. She did and I think that it turned out quite nicely!

 

 

 

 

As you can see, it’s not very big.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is how it opens, and then it has enclosed ends so that you put the passport in it like the fabric is a book jacket. When I found the cross stitch pattern I knew that my mom had this butterfly material and that it would look great together.

 

 

 

 

Finally, here is a picture of the back. The material has a bit of a gold sheen to some of the butterflies, so it sparkles as well. Jay’s mom’s favorite color is purple and I knew that there was a lot of purple in this material. I think that it came out beautifully. I dropped it off to her on Sunday and she was tickled pink. Hopefully it fits! lol

 

 

 

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Andersonville Prison Camp

Posted on May 3, 2012 by civilwarrose5

When Jay and I decided to go to SEFF I knew that I was finally going to have the chance to visit Andersonville. Many years ago I’d read the novel by MacKinlay Kantor that was based in the prison of war camp and decided that I wanted to visit it some day. The novel does a very good job of making you feel like you are there in the middle of the prison camp, experiencing all of the same horrors that the men faced when they were there. You hear about the inhumane treatment of the detainees in Guantanamo, but they are living in a luxury spa as compared to most prison of war camps.

There were quite a few prisoner of war camps during the Civil War, on both sides of the Mason-Dixon. Andersonville has become quite notorious, but in the North we had Elmira prison in New York. Many people don’t even realize that it existed. A good example was when I attended college about an hour away from Elmira. I asked my roommate, who grew up in the area, if there was anything left of the prison camp. She insisted that there had never been a prison camp there, and she didn’t believe me until I showed her the proof in my Civil War books. From what I can remember the only thing that remains in Elmira is a little cemetery and a flag pole. That’s it. Not even the residents realize that it’s there or what it meant. Good or bad it was part of our history and should be remembered.

I’m going to assume that you, dear reader, are not at all familiar with Andersonville nor its history. As I tell you the story I will insert pictures of what it looked like back then and what it looks like now, along with my own personal reflections of my visit. This is going to be a depressing and somber ride through history so please be prepared. I will do my best to soften the edges without taking away from the truth.

In 1863 Lincoln and Grant decided that they would stop the prisoner exchange because this would hurt the Confederates more than it would hurt the Union. One thing that the Union had was plenty of men, unlike the Confederacy. Confederate prisoners would no sooner cross back over the Mason-Dixon before they were back in the ranks of the army doing their best to kill them a Yankee. It would also put a greater strain on the Confederates’ resources due to having to feed, shelter, and care for a growing population of Union prisoners. The Confederacy now had a problem on their hands. The prisoner population was growing in their Virginia prison camps to the extent that they were worried about the proximity to the Union lines, plus there wasn’t much food in the region for the citizens and the army, let alone Union prisoners. Something had to be done.

It was decided that they would build another prison camp, but this time in a more remote spot where it wouldn’t be so easy for the Union army to interfere.

In southern Georgia a spot was found, cleared, and a stockade began to go up that would hold 10,000 prisoners. At least, that was the original plan. The stockade originally encompassed 16.5 acres, including a stream that ran through it. There was a railroad line that ran by Andersonville so prisoners could be quickly escorted from the depot to the stockade. Also, with the location being so remote and the chance of a Union raid being less likely the Confederates could use fewer men to guard the encampment. Construction began and in February 1864 the prisoners began to arrive despite the fact that the prison wasn’t completed and they had yet to receive adequate supplies for the number of men that it was meant to house.

Keep in mind that this prison was located in Georgia where it gets hot, humid, and even hotter. Not to mention the giant insects that wonder the country side looking for their next prey. The occupants of Andersonville would be northern boys who grew up in colder climates and weren’t used to the summer heat of the south. When the prisoners arrived at the stockade they didn’t have any shelter. None. The first guys were able to fashion shelters out of debris left over from the construction of the stockade. As that dwindled, though, the rest of the men had to come up with other means, including the use of blankets, tarps, and even digging holes in the ground to give them a little more relief from the relentless sun.

They made use of what they had, which wasn’t very much. If they were available, they could buy poles from the guards to use with their blankets or tarps. The men would often buddy up so that they could make a slightly larger shelter by putting together two blankets. Doing the math, if the stockade had held the number of prisoners it was originally built to hold, each guy would get roughly a 9’x8′ area for himself. That doesn’t sound too bad considering they were in an open stockade and were able to roam about. Except, there were a few factors that you have to figure into the equation. First off, there was the creek running through the stockade that took away a bit of the available land on which you could build a shelter. This creek was used for drinking water, and at the other end was where the latrines were located. It was a bit marshy around the creek as well. Secondly, it didn’t take long for the population to increase even more. By May 1864 there were 12,000 men living in this stockade. That brings the square footage per prisoner down to approximately a 9’x7′ area.

In the picture to the right the more open land is outside of the stockade. The bottom half is the interior of the stockade. In June 1864 they expanded the stockade to 26 acres, but the population also increased to 22,000 prisoners. If we keep doing the math, this brings the square footage per prisoner down to around 7’x7′. By August 1864 there were more than 32,000 prisoners in Andersonville. Just the number of people alone is almost incomprehensible to me, but then when you stand there and see the actual size of the property where they were located it’s just absolutely shocking. You would think that 26 acres would be a huge piece of property.

You probably can’t get a very good idea from this picture, but when you’re standing there it doesn’t seem as large. It’s quite hilly, so that has something to do with it, but to stand there and imagine 32,000 men in that area just baffles me. That concrete pillar in the foreground is were a guard’s tower was located in the corner. The outer white posts represent the stockade wall, and the inner white posts represents the ‘deadline’. So, not only did the men have a giant piece of land that was marshy and wet where they couldn’t build shelters, but all around the inside wall of the stockade was 19 feet of space that they weren’t allowed to occupy. If you crossed it the guards were ordered to shoot you dead. Thus, the deadline.

Currently there is one corner of the stockade standing and the parks service has done their best to replicate some of the shelters that were used. Even with this I still had a hard time comprehending what it would look like to have 32,000 men in that area. What did it sound like? Did it look similar to an ant hill that is swarmed and crawling with ants? What did it smell like with all of those unwashed bodies? Not to mention the fact that disease, starvation and malnutrition were decimating the men. At one point about 100 men a day were dieing. There were buried in unmarked graves, which later Clara Barton and some other volunteers went down there to help identify the dead.

It’s hard to tell, but I believe that this is a picture of the prisoners within the stockade. At first I thought it was a shot of the woods that surround the area, but as I looked closer I could see faces, arms, and torsos. Unbelievable. As the summer wore on resources started to get harder to come by, even for the Confederate army. Sherman’s army was marching through Georgia, limiting the resources that were making their way to the Confederates. After Sherman captured Atlanta in the fall of 1864 it was decided to ship the prisoners who could move to a prison in South Carolina. This way if Sherman managed to liberate the prison he wouldn’t have healthy men to put back into the army (not that you could really call the ones who had left ‘healthy’). Once that danger was past, though, about 5,000 prisoners were returned to Andersonville. These prisoners found that conditions had somewhat improved, which really isn’t saying a lot. Andersonville held, in total, around 45,000 prisoners when it was only meant to hold 10,000. Of these 45,000 men it is estimated that 13,000 died.

When the prisoners were finally freed many were unable to leave due to health issues. This is a man who survived Andersonville despite the fact that he’s essentially a skin-covered skeleton. It amazes me that somebody could survive looking like that. What must they have endured? What thoughts ran through their heads? Which treatment is more inhumane, to be starved or to be tortured and beaten? I suppose that none is ideal, but are both horrible in their own right. Maybe we can look a little more favorably upon the Confederates because the starvation issue wasn’t completely their fault. When you have a limited number of resources you have to prioritize who gets what, and anybody is going to put the needs of their military above the needs of their prisoners. It sounds horrible, but that’s how it goes. Should the Confederates be held blameless for their treatment of the Union prisoners? No, I don’t think so. However, do you weigh the circumstances and compare that to what happened in the north? The Union had vast resources and really weren’t hurting for anything except lack of victories on the battlefield. Yet, they allowed conditions to be horrible in Elmira so that they were considered to be the Andersonville of the north. There was no excuse to deny the Confederate prisoners their basic needs and make them suffer even if they were on the ‘wrong side’. As General Sherman said, “War is hell, boys.” Yes, it is, and everything that goes with it.

Knowing the history as I do, it was very hard to reconcile this peaceful place that I visited with what I knew actually happened there. Looking at this gorgeous scenery you would never guess at the horror that those trees witnessed. How can something so ugly and horrible be placed in such a beautiful spot? It really is hard to picture. The markers represent the spots where escape tunnels were found within the stockade walls. There were very few, if any, successful escapes from Andersonville. I think that there might have only been one where the prisoners were not found and dragged back. You would think that there would be more markers. The men should have been trying to escape at every possible moment, but they didn’t.

It was a great visit, though it left me sad and depressed. I couldn’t even bring myself to visit the cemetery because it would have been too much. We really do need to see the ugly side of war so that we learn from it. It’s part of our history and should be taught along with the victories of war. War isn’t nice and tidy with skirmishes and clean uniforms planning the next campaign. It’s dirt, blood, gore, horrible scenes, and unimaginable horrors. Perhaps our politicians should have to experience it first hand before they send our military into battle, just to make sure that whatever the cause that it’s justified by the expense of life. Please thank a member of our military for their service to our country. The men in Andersonville fought so long ago so that we could live as we do today. Just as the military today fights to keep us free and to help bring freedom to others who are living in oppression around the world. Please thank them for their sacrifice.

 

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SEFF 2012 – Day 3

Posted on May 1, 2012 by civilwarrose5

Friday was our last day at SEFF 😦 Due to the fact that we had a 16 hour drive ahead of us, we knew that we would have to leave early Saturday morning. I didn’t want to go. Jay reminded me that we both have savings accounts and could last a few months on that, but I knew that we needed to do the responsible thing and go back home. *sigh* Sometimes being responsible is not very fun! Especially when it means that you’ll be leaving wonderful 80 degree temps for the colder, snow-laden climate at home.

The nice thing about Friday was that the wind had died down! Woo-hoo! There was all kinds of flying to be done, and boy did we do it! Friday was also the start of some other events, such as demos and a parachute drop.

 

 

 

One of the highlights was the show put on by Mr. Hodges, the guy who owned the property and the hobby shop. He had built a B29 bomber with four gas engines. It was huge! It had a 30 foot wingspan!

 

 

 

They started up the engines and it was amazing how much it sounded like the real thing. Even though this was an all electric event, Mr. Hodges owns the property and can do what he want… including flying his gas-powered plane.

 

 

I really didn’t know what to expect, but I knew that just watching this aircraft take off was going to be exciting! Jay told me later that if this was the only thing that he had seen the entire three days, that the trip was definitely worth it.

 

 

 

It took off and started doing a bunch of different moves that were absolutely amazing!

 

 

 

 

There was the flat spin… the rolling circle (which REALLY impressed Jay)… they HOVERED this beast just like the “3D flip flop” guys (that’s a quote from the announcer that day… lol)… and numerous other things. It ended with the B29 going into a loop and then landing upon completion of that loop. It really was quite amazing.

 

There was also a parachute drop. Instead of candy, however, there were prizes like CA glue, etc. Yes, those were grown men running around the field in the hopes of catching one of the parachutes that were dropped out of an RC plane. Just like at the airshow that Jay’s club puts on.

 

 

They held Combat every day during the event, which you saw in my post from Day 1. I had to take pictures on Friday because there had to be twice as many pilots as before. There were so many that they turned and had them facing away from the crowd just in case one of the foamies had an accident.

 

You can’t see it very well in this picture due to the size, but when I pull it up on my computer it’s the most interesting picture. There are already a ton of planes in the air, waiting for Combat to begin, but if you look closer you will notice that only half of the pilots have launched their planes. There were still more to go up!!

 

It created an even larger mass of swarming ‘bees’. A side note, even though there were more planes on Friday it took even longer for the swarm to really thin out.

 

 

 

One of the pilots had entered a glider into the fray and I thought for sure that would be one of the first planes on the ground. Boy, was I wrong! That dumb glider ended up being the very last one on the ground! I expected that such a large target would get a lot of attention. Apparently not!

 

 

Now comes the part where I get to do some bragging. 🙂 With the wind at a more manageable speed Jay was able to fly one of his newer jets more often. This past winter he purchased a MiG 15 from Hobby King, did some structural strengthening, and added a 12 blade Change Sun fan. That fan makes all the difference in the world. It makes the jet incredibly quiet.

 

The first time he flew the MiG at his home field the guys who own the property made him prove to them that it didn’t have a turbine in it. This jet doesn’t have the typical whine that is associated with EDF jets. Thus every time he put it in the air he attracted attention. Guys wanted to know what the secret was to making it sound so great. Even the Horizon guys were paying attention.

 

After another flight a guy came up and asked Jay if he could do an interview. We really weren’t sure what the guy was interviewing for, but Jay said okay. I think that it was for some kind of video about the event, but who knows. He didn’t ask Jay to get naked for the interview so we weren’t too worried. 😉

 

 

The guy clipped a mic onto Jay and had him state who he was, that this was his first SEFF, and then he had to explain about his MiG and what was so great about it. Jay did a really good job. I was so proud of him! Not everybody at the show was interviewed, so this was really a great thing for Jay.

 

 

Jay never got tired of talking with the other guys about the MiG, either. I can’t tell you how many different pilots came up and asked specifics about the jet. Heck, by the end of Friday I could have told them about it. lol  Jay was always patient and was more than happy to share with the guys what he did to modify it. This jet definitely made Jay the talk of the event… yet again.

 

Unfortunately, the day had to come to an end. We packed up the car and took one last walk along the flight line. It was such a bittersweet moment and I tried to soak it all up. We’d had a great time over the past three days and I was sad to see it end. Jay said goodbye to various people he’d met, made sure to let the organizers know what a fantastic job they did, and then we walked back to the car. I have one more picture to share with you, one that I took off of the message board where Jay frequents for his RC stuff, but you have to hear the story first.

As we walked back to the car, hand-in-hand, and tried to take in as much as we could in our remaining minutes left at the field, there was suddenly a loud bang. It came from the paintball area and I thought that maybe somebody had shot off a rifle or gun of some sort. We rounded the corner to approach the car and that’s when we saw the smoke! Well, we couldn’t just leave without finding out what had happened. As we got closer we could see a group of guys putting out a little fire. What in the world had happened?? That’s when one of the guys picked up two pieces of burned-up something. It took a few seconds before we realized that it was a glider thing. Out where they had been shooting paintballs the Horizon guys were now tossing up these gliders that you launched like a discus. That’s when I noticed how close to the power lines they were, and that’s when Jay and I both realized at the same time that one of the gliders had hit the lines and that was the bang we’d heard. I was a bit confused because I didn’t know why it would have created a spark since it wasn’t grounded, but Jay informed me that these particular gliders have a carbon rod and that they are highly conductive. Thus the spark, bang and fire. It just so happened that somebody was filming their flight up above the field when the glider hit the wire!

Thus ended our SEFF trip. We had such a great time that we’ve already discussed going back next year. It usually takes place around the same dates every year so it might become a standing birthday gift for Jay. Next year, though, Jay will be spotting for me! 🙂

 

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