**We are going to Paris the first weekend in March. If you want us to send you a postcard, send me your address.**
***************************************************

1. I was inthe Army for 5 years.
2. I spent 2 of those years in Germany, at the largest US hospital outside the US.
3. My best friends are those I met while in the Army.
4. I am a single parent.
5. Legally, I have 4 names.
6. Legally, my daughter has 5 names.
7. She is my favorite person in the world.
8. She will be an only child.
9. Crazy Dog is really a crazy dog.
10. I paid more for Crazy Dog than I did my 1st car.
11. I am from St. Louis.
12. Yes, I have been inside the Arch.
13. Yes, I know Nelly.
14. I've been to 11 European countries.
15. I work full time.
16. I love my job.
17. I am a full time student.
18. Yes, it's hard, but it takes dedication.
19. I am a snowboarder (150 K2 Luna).
20. I have snowboarded in 5 countries.
21. I love IKEA.
22. I have 4 sisters.
23. And 5 brothers.
24. I have never been in the same room with them all at once.
25. I have 7 nieces and 1 nephew (I've only seen 4 of my nieces).
26. I am the oldest grandaughter on my dad's side.
27. My brother owes me $500 (I think he 'forgot').
28. I have lived in Germany for 8 of the last 10 years.
29. I love Europe.
30. I haven't spoken to my Ex-Stepmother in 10 years.
31. She was my stepmother for 20 years and 11 months.
32. My parents got divorced when I was still a toddler.
33. The courts severed all of my real mom's parental rights at that time.
34. I call her by her first name.
35. I do not have any kind of relationship with her.
36. My favorite TV show is Any Day Now.
37. I speak enough German to go shopping.
38. I speak enough Italian to go shopping.
39. Mahogany and Beaches are my favorite movies.
40. My favorite song is 'When Will I See You Again' by the 3 Degrees~everytime I hear it, I think about my mom.
41. I am a confessed blog lurker.
42. I expect the worst in EVERY situation.
43. For a time, I went to the club 7 nights a week.
44. Many times, I came in from the club just in time to get dressed for work.
45. I once drove 4 hours to go to a club in Rotterdam, Holland.
46. My favorite place to snowboard is the Jungfrau region of Switzerland.
47. I hate being late.
48. I arrive at least 20 minutes early for EVERYTHING!
49. I broke my arm in 1996.
50. I broke it rollerblading~I didn't know how to stop (still don't).
51. I no longer have an appendix.
52. I have 3 tattoos.
53. I have not had a hair cut since 1989.
54. I am an impulsive shopper.
55. I don't plan to move back to the US before August 2006.
56. My birthday falls on a holiday weekend.
57. My favorite city in the US is Chicago
58. My favorite 2 cities in Europe are Geneva, Switzerland and Rotterdam, Holland.
59. I am going to St. Lucia before the end of this summer.
60. I had a brother that drowned (on Christmas day) at 7 years old when I was 12.
61. I had only seen him once in his life~he was my mother's son.
62. At the place that pays me, I am the keeper of millions of $$.
63. I compare it to babysitting.
64. I'm addicted to blogs.
65. My favorite desert is cheesecake.
66. No matter what time I go to sleep at night, I wake up before 7am.
67. I take too many digital pictures.
68. The last hard copy picture I have of my daughter was taken when she was 2 (she's 4 now).
69. I'm a FIRM believer in random acts of kindness.
70. If I find an address on a blog, I WILL send something to the blogger.
71. I REALLY want an iPOD, but I don't need one.
72. I've given rides to strangers who were too drunk to drive (to the barracks).
73. I have an Uncle who served 32 years in the Army, and retired as a Command Sergeant Major.
74. In the Army, I worked for people who knew him, and they to helped me just because they knew him (the Army is smaller than you think).
75. I waste a lot of $$.
76. I moved to Germany in September 1999 with 3 bags of clothes.
77. And my Snowboard.
78. And my passport.
79. And $378.00 in my pocket.
80. In 1996, a co-worker dared me to pierce my tongue in Savannah, GA.
81. I did.
82. I kept it in for 6 months.
83. I was the first person who had my tongue pierced in my Army unit.
84. Those in charge didn't know how to 'deal with it'.
85. I feel guilty when I buy something for myself.
86. I have NO idea where I will live when I return to the US.
87. I've worked for Uncle LeRoy for 4 years.
88. I have advanced VERY quickly in my career.
89. I repaired hospital equipment while in the Army.
90. I spent 11 months in Aurora, CO, in Army school, learning how to repair the equipment.
91. It was the hardest thing I've ever done.
92. I've been told that my daughter is gifted.
93. I have NO idea what to do for her.
94. Rather than tell my daughter no, I tell her 'not right now now'.
95. If my daughter asks for anything (within reason), I'll buy it for her.
96. I don't get enough sleep.
97. I don't drink enough water.
98. I've been anemic since I was 9 years old.
99. I've got 100 gmail accounts to give away.
100. My favorite foods are Greek and Indian.

Posted by Margaret      8:06 PM      |

To the Dictator of My Crazy Life~~May your day be filled with LOTS of Gameboy playing (after school, of course!)

and

To Grayse~~Hopefully you can shake the cooties you have and make the most of your day!

Posted by Margaret      6:24 PM      |

About 2 weeks ago, P informed me that of ALL the food on her shelf in the pantry (enough to feed a summer camp), she was still missing something:

P: Mommy, I NEED something
Me: What do you NEED?
P: I need some rainbow bread with pink stuff on it.
Me: What is that????

It took me 12 days to figure out what she NEEDED. What did she NEED? I'll tell you what she was talking about after the weekend wrap up.
************************************************************

Saturday:
P's birthday party was great. I had it at an indoor play place on base called the Kids' Zone, and about 20 kids showed up. I would have had her party at my house, but I have a rule: no more than 3 people under 4ft tall in my house at any given time (Crazy Dog counts as .5)

Even though I told P's invitees not to bring her any presents, they graciously ignored my pleas. Before the birthday party, P had enough toys to stock a W.I.C waiting room, and now she can stock two waiting rooms.

Sunday:
P finished opening her presents and played her computer games, rode around the house on the new scooter, and watched new DVDs. I did laundry.

Monday:
P's friend J came over to hangout, and give her mom some free time, since her dad is away, on Uncle LeRoy's Subsidized Vacation, to the Land of the Sand. Even though it was a holiday, I still had class, so P went to J's house to give her mom a dose of what I got in the afternoon.

All in all, a GREAT weekend
***************************************************

**What did P NEED?**

A sliced bagel, cut in half again (the rainbow), with strawberry cream cheese (the pink stuff) schmeered on it.

So, off to the commissary we went.

Genius, pure genius...hey, she DID crawl early (at 4 1/2 mos).

Posted by Margaret      7:00 PM      |

I spent 100% of my pregnancy here in Germany, more than 5000 miles away from my nearest family member. My pregnancy was a 'surprise'...a surprise that if I were given the choice to do it all over again, I would.

I never thought I'd love someone as much as I love P. Even on my roughest day, when I feel like I'm breaking under the pressure of work and school, it takes one look at P and I remember why I push myself the way I do.

***************************************************

To my Favorite Girl...Happy Birthday...I love you!

19 Feb 2001

17 Feb 2005:

In 1999, when I came back to Germany to visit my friend Rose, who at the time was a single parent (of a toddler) and in the Army, I remember asking Rose how she does it all, by herself. Her answer to me was basically 'Because I have too. If I don't do it, no one will'. No truer words have been spoken. When people ask me how I work and go to school full time, take care of P and appear sane, all at the same time, I ALWAYS give them the answer Rose gave me:

Because I have to

In no way am I complaining, but it is sort of a justification as to why I do what I do, all for my Favorite Girl.

Posted by Margaret      5:30 AM      |

You never know you are addicted to the internets until your DSL server goes down, kicks your router clean off the little set up, and although the computers could 'feel' the router, you can not connect to the internets, and you start making lists of blogs to catch up on as soon as you are back online. I'm back online now~~~I don't know how I survived!
*****************************************************************
For those who are interested...I asked P what she will name her 'puter, and she said 'Tinkerbell'. Since she names most things she thinks are girls Tinkerbell, I told her to think about it and we'll decide on a name by Friday (and it won't be Tinkerbell).
*****************************************************************
P will be 4 on Friday...it seems like just yesterday she was a tiny, tiny baby. It makes me cry just to think about it. A great party is in being planned. I wish I could just tell someone what she wants, and pay them to make it happen. Life would be so much easier.

I must get to my pseudo homework for my blah, blah, blah database class. I have plenty to blog about, and hopefully I'll find time to do it.

Posted by Margaret      9:56 PM      |

Posted by Margaret      7:37 PM      |

This past weekend, I had class in Heidelberg again. Yes, I stopped at the same gas station to get Red Bull and gas, but there was no altercation this time. The class I'm taking in Heidelberg is about E-Commerce and Security. We sit around for 6 hours discussing how unsecure the web is. I told my instructor how much I shop on the internet, and he told me that by the end of the term, I'll stop shopping online. All I have to say is I have 4 days of classes left and I'm not a believer yet...at least not to the point that I would stop shopping. Plus, if I do, I'll have P to contend with.
****************************************************

As usual, P and I had yet another one of our 'conversations'. P stayed with a friend, R, while I had class last night. P went with R to church for Bible Study and to take R's two teenagers (C & J) to chior rehearsal. After class, I picked P up from the Chapel on base, and in the car, P was singing a song.

Me: What are you singing?
P: A song C and J were singing at the church.
Me: Can you sing it for me, loud so I can hear it?
P: Hannukah in the highest...Hannukah in the highest...
Me: That's not right, the correct words are Hosannah in the highest.
P: No, it's Hannukah in the highest.
Me: I know the whole song, and I learned it when I was little. The correct word is Hosannah.
P: Mommy, you wasn't there, the word is Hannukah.
Me: OK.

I might want to add that church is a Gospel church, and I'll bet no one in the church was Jewish. Once again, I picked my battle, and gave up. Needless to say, she sang that wrong song the entire 15 minute ride to the house.

What does P know about Hannukah, you say? I think she saw something about on the Rugrats.

Posted by Margaret      9:49 PM      |

Since I extended my time here in Germany to August 2006, I needed to update P's and my ID cards before the middle of February, or we would be banned from all things military (like Chili's, Cinnabon, Taco Bell, Subway, Popeye's and the Commissary). I also needed to update our Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) stamps for our passports, and I decided to get it done all at once, since the offices were right across the hall from each other. I decided today was the day to embark on this adventure.

I picked P up at after lunch, and we headed to the dreaded ID card section and signed in on both waiting lists (one for ID cards and the other for the Passport dude). There were 2 soldiers ahead of us, so we waited, and I suffered through 4 episodes of The Jetsons. Once we were seen and had new ID cards in hand (P's picture is so cute on her card~I would post a picture of it, but Uncle LeRoy frowns upon things like posting official IDs online, and we don't want to get the Uncle mad), I asked the ID card girl if I just wait in the waiting room for the Passport dude. She told me to have a seat and he would be with me next.

We waited.

And waited.

And watched The Jetsons. Again. And again. And again.

After 1hr 10 minutes, I went to the Passport dude's door with a pseudo question about needed paperwork.

Me: Mr. W, is there any more paperwork needed for the SOFA thing?
Mr. W: I'm sorry, this office is closed after 1300. (1pm to all you non-military folks)
Me: What??? I've been waiting, AND I watched more episodes of The Jetsons than I've watched in my ENTIRE life, and now you are closed??

Why didn't the ID card lady fail to mention that the Passport office was closed?? I think it was a secret attack on my mental state, to see how many episodes of The Jetsons I could tolerate.

Thank goodness Passport dude felt sorry for me and gave us the new stamp, because I was NOT going back there again and waiting. And watch the Jetsons. Ever.

After stopping by McDonalds, where they are giving away Smurf (are they still alive in the US?) figurines in Happy Meals, P and I went back to my office do do a little work.
***************************************************

The first day I set P's computer up, I ghetto rigged the speakers since the electricty here is 220V and the speakers were 110v. The speakers worked for about a day, until I bought a REAL power strip. I plugged my ghetto speaker set-up in the new, EXPENSIVE power strip and turned them on and......

BBBBBUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZ

That's the sound they made while ON and OFF. I blew up the nice, new Gateway speakers that came with the computer. Don't worry, I replaced them today.

When it was bedtime the first day P played with the computer, I asked her to let me turn it off.

Me: P it's time for bed. Let me show you how shut down the computer.
P: I'll do it, let me do it.
Me: You don't know how. Just let me show you one time.
P: Let me do it, it's my 'puter. *while having a minor meltdown*
Me: Fine. You try to do it first, then I'll finish it when you mess up. *I've learned to pick my battles*
P: There, it's off. *After successfully shutting the 'puter down~the RIGHT way*
***********************************************

Look at what I got in the mail yesterday:


Only 7 more classes until I get my Bachelor's degree!!!

Posted by Margaret      9:02 PM      |

My brother, H, was here in Germany this past weekend. He lives in Dallas, and works as an IT consultant. He is working between Paris and England for about 3 weeks.

I have been here in Germany a total of 8 years, and he is only the second family member that has come to visit. Although he was here for only 2 days he said he really enjoyed his stay.

We really didn't do much, but I showed him all the stuff he sees on CNN during the war coverage about the injured soldiers (the flight line where they arrive in Germany, the hospital that takes care of them, etc.). Overall, he was really impressed, and mentioned more than once that he understands why I live here.

Instead of calling him by his name, P kept calling him 'Mommy's brudder'.

During the drive to the train station downtown, somehow we got on the subject of his daughter (E is 15), child support (which I don't think he pays) and his daughter's mother. He mentioned that he doesn't like to pay E's mother because he thinks E's mother 'doesn't use the money for E'. He thinks E's mother should justify to him every dime she spends of the child support. I tried in vain to explain to him that no matter what the mother does with the money, he should still send the money for his daughter~he thinks a pair of shoes for Christmas/birthday is all he has to do, when she eats EVERYday, and is still growing.

It really baffles me that he chooses not to be financially responsible for his daughter because he doesn't like what the mother does with the money. I also blame E's mother for letting him have a choice in the matter, because she doesn't have a choice to clothe and feed their daughter. If she doesn't do it, it won't get done.

I'll admit that although P's dad and I don't see eye to eye on everything, I'm glad he does what he is supposed to do, and I don't have to ask him to do anything for P~the MOST I ask him to do is to feed her dinner and bathe her before she comes home in the evening during the week.

H said he would come back to visit, maybe this summer. We'll see...
****************************************************

Between yesterday and today, P got her computer (I wish my parent's bought me my own computer for my 4th birthday!). It's pretty nice, and she LOVES it:


I still need to find her a computer chair (she's sitting on a stool on top of a chair). I would like to find a mini chair, with arms. I think that means it's time to go to IKEA!!!!!!

Posted by Margaret      8:45 PM      |

Name: Margaret
Location: Kaiserslautern, Germany by way of St. Louis, MO

100 Things About Me...

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MARCH 05 PARIS, FRANCE

APRIL 05 KEUKENHOF, HOLLAND

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JUNE 05 DISNEYLAND PARIS, FRANCE CHARACTERS AT DISNEYLAND PARIS, FRANCE

JULY 05 SANTORINI, GREECE CRETE, GREECE

APRIL 06 HEIDELBERG CASTLE

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