Confessions of a Pirate Wife

Merry Christmas

2009-12-21T13:43:00.001-08:00

I am blessed to have our daughter Blondie, her boyfriend and his sister, our son Curly, my husband and Spider with me for a festive dinner late on Christmas Eve. Our daughter Brownie and Airman 1C will be on their own at his duty station. I am excited for them as they have been married almost two years and finally have a place of their own. I wish you all (well anyone who reads this) love,

Crows, crows, crows

2009-12-04T15:47:00.000-08:00

Every day around 4/dusk, hundreds and hundreds of crows pass my office window. It is something of a joke among my coworkers - there are lots of references to "The Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock. It is an amazing sight and lasts about 5 minutes. It is kind of spooky, too.

Emptying the nest plus Apples to Apples

2009-12-03T13:32:00.001-08:00

Our son Curly left today on the train to a nearby city. Only two hours away. There is a curious feeling in my heart. Hope that things work out and he is able to start college for winter quarter. And already I am missing his smile and his wacky humor. Plus he is my DVR remote operator – now I have to do it for myself. WTH? Who will I watch the food channel with? Who will read me news stories from

Friends - One of God's Blessings

2009-11-08T16:51:00.000-08:00

I have been sitting here trying to put into words the joy I feel right now. Moving and then the whole breast cancer ordeal made it difficult to make friends or to keep in contact with old friends. I am also skittish – my family and I were burned so badly by a “friend” that keeping to myself seemed to make sense. I felt the lack of friends fiercely though. God has His own timing and He led me

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Part 5

2009-11-04T12:56:00.000-08:00

Big hospital room dimly lit. Oh hey, there is my friend. She is arguing with a nurse. Something about if they don’t leave me alone I can never rest. The nurse goes away. I go back to sleep. I wake up and say, “Hi”. She gets me some food and I think she feeds me. Back to sleep. I am awake now more than asleep. They give me the diabetic meal plan and I complain. They don’t change it. I am too

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Part 4

2009-10-29T17:27:00.000-07:00

What came next was chemo brain… a documented condition which leaves you in a pleasant fog but also quite the stupidest person in the room. Not so good if you are a working woman. I was very blessed in that my manager was understanding and flexible throughout my treatment. My company stood by me in this fight. I had a laptop to be able to work from home, Friday chemo day half off and compassionate

Twenty Wishes Update

2009-10-26T16:11:00.000-07:00

List of wishes in no particular order with plan to make them come true (if I have one yet) 1. Closer relationship with God: pray nightly with rosary 2. Write a blog that expresses my creativity and experiences: Already have a blog, now learning how to make it great 3. Rent an apartment with bedrooms for everyone and washer and dryer, dishwasher: Set up savings for first last etc. 4. Buy a

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Part III

2009-10-25T15:05:00.000-07:00

I could feel the chemo drugs slipping into my arm, like a cold, wet weight. The feeling traveled down to my belly and grew. My months of nausea and diarrhea began then. At my next treatment, the veins on my arm were still elusive. I decided to have a port placed in my chest. The port was inserted during a short outpatient surgery. Although I was given twilight sleep, I felt the implantation as

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Part II

2009-10-20T16:16:00.001-07:00

It has felt good to get this all out. Clear out my brain for new and happier things. I spent days with ice packs clutched to my breast. Any bump or jostle caused me pain. Accidental brushes against my husband’s arm or body were jarring and scary. I developed a bubble around myself augmented with pillows whenever possible. I still sleep with a pillow around my chest. My husband while

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

2009-10-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

I have heard it said “write about what you know”. I know breast cancer. Cancer has always been a specter in my life. My mother, Betty died of colon cancer when I was 16 years old. Most of her eight siblings died of one type of cancer or the other. One morning I woke up with pain in my right nipple. It felt like I had been nursing a baby. Not a bad pain, just noticeable. This happened for

Writers Block

2009-10-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

Talk about frustrating! I had no sooner started this blog than I was overcome with writers block. I can't decide what to put in and what to leave out... I searched out a resource to help me and I have been successful in finding a very good one. Blogging in Pink: A Woman's GuideI found it here: http://scribbit.blogspot.com/I am reading it now and will be back soon with my new efforts.

Twenty Wishes

2009-07-30T15:46:00.000-07:00

I am going to let this book Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber change my life. The premise of the story is to make a list of 20 well thought out wishes and then act upon them. Seems simple but it is very powerful.As I approach 50 years old, I see that there are things I may never have the opportunity to do. It has felt like I am on a treadmill that has no off switch. I have a good job that I enjoy

Self Improvement - Take 2

2009-07-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

My complete lack of pictures and posting may have led some of you to believe the hair-coloring did not go well.You would be correct in that assumption.(That is supposing there are any of you out there)Blondie tried very hard – it was not her fault. I picked out an all-over hair color with highlights. Too tricky for DIY. My skunk line is blurred somewhat but the highlights look just like my gray

Self Improvement

2009-07-22T16:35:00.001-07:00

As I get older there is more upkeep required to just stay even. My natural hair is peeking out, no, blazing a skunk line down the center of my head.It has turned drab and boring. The color on my hair is reddish littered with gray.Not the professional hair I need for work.My darling Pirate went out today and bought new hair color for me. I decided on it by using http://www.lorealparisusa.com/. Now

Some Snippets of Life

2009-07-16T15:56:00.001-07:00

After my first post I got writers block or rather OMG-what-was-I-thinking. I have not written for public consumption in ages…The last time was a help file for a product that never was released.No, the help file was *not* the reason for product failure!I decided today to just write. I will get better as I stretch my writing muscles. And if I don’t, no one has to read it!We are a military family

2009-07-10T12:52:00.001-07:00

My first post! History in the making!So, the other day I inherited a Sidekick Slide from Blondie. Up to this point I have used phones for :::wait for it::: making phone calls and telling time. Every text message sent to me required a tortuous 20 minutes to reply as there was no keyboard. I frequently said, “If you want to tell me something, call me!”Now before you burn me at the stake, I will