Not Broken

Powerful image and words...

One day... God willing... I will merit a relationship like this

Caffeinated Pax

Wow - that was a quick week. Seemed to fly by, what with the 10 hour working days and then home to go "Flub" in front of the computer.  Very few interesting things on the free-to-air channels either so I have finally organised to get Cable TV installed as of tomorrow.  I am justifying the expense on wanting to watch the Olympics in all it's 8-channel glory. I have even taken some leave from work end of July into August so I can happily watch hours upon hours of really fit people do amazing things.

And then a few weeks after that I will very happily watch the Para Olympics and cheer on all the Aussies and USAian teams. Oh and *this* amazing Japanese sprinter - if she manages to fund her way to attend [Maya Nakanishi - she has released a tastefully done partial-nekked calender to help raise travel costs. ***WARNING - PROBABLY NOT SAFE TO VIEW AT WORK - SOME PARTIAL NUDITY***  The Calender seems to be available only via Amazon.JA (Japan) - HERE]

I had wondered how many of the USA team may be wounded warriors and did a bit of a Google search.  Lovely to see that the U.S. Paralympics website has a whole area dedicated to the Military

And in Caffienation... :D -  I like to send off "Cup of Joe" donations via the Green Bean Coffee group.  With every donation I send (be it $30 for 15 vouchers or $60 for 30) I get to write a short letter - usually thanking the unknown recipient for their service and telling them a little about myself and my country (..."It is Winter here in Australia - which means that up here in Queensland we are all wrapping up in our woolens and moaning how cold it is (which means it is less than 20 degrees Celsius with a wind chill:D - we're a bit thin skinned up here in the sub-tropics [you would probably love it!....")  It isn't the wittiest of writing but sometimes I get the nicest of replies back from those that get my coffee donations. 

If you are looking for something to do for your deployed service people, but aren't sure about how to contact them or what to send - *this* is a wonderful way to start.

And sometimes you make a connection with the Trooper* on the other end.  I have made some of the Best of Friends from ticking the "Yes I am happy to be a penfriend" box whenever I donate more coffee vouchers.

In other troop treating news - Soldiers' Angel store has packs of Girl Scout COOKIES for sale! 9 packets of biscuits (cookies) per parcel.  I have ordered a parcel each for my three adoptees and I hope they will really enjoy them when received.

Later this month I need to arrange a water balloon launcher for Cpl TT (ooh the inner Pax-Joy of sending a watery ballistic "toy" to a Marine to play with - Bwhahahaha!) and possibly more snack or hygiene packs to the other two adoptees.  I try to vary the items so it's always a surprise and occasionally useful :)

Oh and you recall I was Medievally Dreaming last weekend?  Sadly that trip failed to occur.  We had really heavy rain throughout last Saturday night and by Sunday morning things were super soggy and not optimum for travelling.  So next year for sure....  Actually I may even be there as one of the re-en actors by then [need to get a tent first - oh and a bed that is off the ground since my very awful knee problems mean that the less strain on them the better. (yes yes... one day I may bore you with the Ice Skating accident I had when I was 20.... or not... maybe just take it as "Pax was a klutz and caused life long damage to herself) :D]


*I tend to use the word "TROOPER" as a generic military tag since calling Marines Soldiers or Soldiers Marines or Air Force/Navy anything else gets confusing. Plus some of them get a wee bit upset if I get it wrong

Momma needs your votes!

A blogger that I follow and admire very much - Momma Fargo - is up for contention in the "Battle of the Blogs" competition.  The Winning blog will receive US $200 to donate to their favourite charity.

Please go read Momma's post on this - and if inclined - go add your vote to help her win

http://mommafargo.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/battle-of-blogs.html

Medieval dreaming...

Just a very quick post to wave and say hello (and disprove the "abducted by aliens" rumour that seems to be going about :D)

The last few weeks have been super busy at work - clocking up 9 & 10 hour days - and trying to prove to the new boss that I am one of the essential cogs that make our Departmental Library work.  Not quite sure how successful I have been so far but willing to keep plugging away at the concept till it (hopefully) sticks.

And the downside of my working such long days that are filled with stress?!? - I am sleeping only a few hours a night and my health is going wacko again (unexpected vertigo attacks mean that the world really does move for me - no partner required!)

My weekends seem to turn in to a marathon of "catching up on the lost sleep / staving off major dizzy fits (so many little tricks I have learnt to try to keep them at bay) and generally being Mushroom like in my inability to face the world and have a social life (I keep telling myself - "I'll be sociable *next* week").

Luckily this weekend is a long one - Monday being the locally designated "official" Queen's birthday holiday - so I know I can expend just that bit extra energy tomorrow and have Monday to recover.

And what am I doing tomorrow you ask?

Of course you wouldn't guess from this flyer that the event has groups that reenact from the Dark Ages up to the 1900's (there is even a group of American Civil War reenactors - super funny when the Aussies in their group try to sound 'Merican (heh)

My BFF belongs to a 14th Century group - and she will be there with her Oh-so-beautiful-tent

During the day Coz is all in armour - and fighting in the tournament (Foot battles only)

During the rest periods and at night - she dons her lovely gowns and dazzles the gents

At some point (my hectic work life and stress factors not withstanding) I hope to make my own 14th Century clothes and tag along to some of their fun events [and then re-make my 16th Century Elizabethan clothes [the current set being over 10 years old and not quite fitting anymore] and actually attend my local S.C.A meetings].  So my future will have much Medieval Dreaming once I am again on top of things.

As for all other things - I have half a blog post written about one of my very first Soldiers' Angels adoptees (whoops... it will get finished - just as soon as I find where I have stored the rest of the photos of him in Iraq); and I have plotted the next parcels for my three adoptees (Airforce R went home so I acquired another adoptee... this one is a Cpl in the Marines and I hope has a good sense of humour) - waiting on payday to order those.  Oh and I was frivolous and bought myself some socks :D

http://www.sockdreams.com/products/sock-collections/novelty-socks/sitm-unicorns
http://www.sockdreams.com/products/sock-it-to-me-starry-night?back=search

Should see these arrive from the USA in a few weeks and they will give me something to smile about in the long work meetings.