Thank You, Norwegian Cruise Line!!!

We military spouses love an organization/company/business that makes our lives easier. Everyone has to make money and so we can't expect that every o/c/b will be able to go out of their way to help us out when the military decides to change its schedule and thus ours as well. However, a little understanding and flexibility never hurt anyone.

Stonewall informed me last night that his drill schedule has been changed and he is now required to be with the Army on the weekend we are to be happily sailing towards Bermuda with alcoholic beverages in our hands and not a care in the world. Needless to say, I was not happy to hear this bit of information, but I had been smart enough to purchase the travel protection insurance for such an occasion.

In the past, when its been necessary to use the "My husband is in the military and dates have changed, blah, blah, blah," the o/c/b has required us to provide them with orders indicating the change. Fine, no problem, completely understandable. Even then we've sometimes had problems and they want to reimburse us only a portion of the money already spent and only if his Orders involve actual deployment overseas to Iraq. However, most of the time a little piece of paper that has completed f'ed up our plans is all that is necessary to change/cancel said plans.

Norwegian Cruise Lines, however, was another completely different experience.

Me: Dial cruise line 800 number. Phone rings once...twice...and...

NCL: Hello, NCL. This is "a wonderful super nice NCL customer service rep." How may I help you book your cruise today?

Me: Unresponsive for a few seconds as I try and figure out why I'm not being asked to press a button for English followed by another 3 or 4 menus until I finally just press 0 repeatedly until menu lady get so frustrated she puts me on hold until the representatives are no longer helping other customers. Then realizing an actual person has answered the phone: Hi "WSNNCLCSR." Actually, I've already booked a cruise.

NCL: Great! We go through the process of locating my account. What can I do for you?

Me: My husband is in the military and he found out last night that his drill schedule has changed and his new drill falls on the first weekend of our cruise. I purchased the Travel Protection Insurance and I'm just calling to find out what I need to do to reschedule our trip.

NCL: We'll actually have to cancel this trip and we'll reimburse the money to your credit card.

Me: We still want to sail with NCL though. Not completely cancel our trip.

NCL: Oh, that's fine. Its the same process though. We'll cancel the first trip (I can do it now if you prefer) and then after you get a chance to find another cruise you can call us back and book the cruise then.

Me: Okay. Do I need to send his orders to you? Can I fax them?

NCL: That's not necessary. We can cancel right now and you can book again at a later date.

Me: So...you don't need any orders or anything?

NCL: Nope. I'm so sorry this had to happen. You and your husband just take care of yourselves, okay? And thank you.

No, NCL, thank YOU for making my life that much easier!! You managed to take a crappy situation and make it less crappy. I wish all o/c/b were like you. You understand that s**t happens and sometimes there is nothing your customers can do about it and you work with them to make things as simple and hassle-free as possible. I have yet to actually put one foot on any of your cruise ships, but already you have convinced me that I want to sail with you again!

President Bush: America's Funny Man

So, for all the anti-Bush peeps out there I'm sure you were not the least bit surprised to learn that Bush's popularity is at an all new low (or maybe you were surprised that 30% of those polled actually do approve of him).

I do not entirely disapprove of Bush, however I will not be discussing that issue any further here. President Bush just so happens to be my husband's boss and I do not wish to piss him off and make Stonewall's job any harder than what it has to be.

Whether you like or don't like Bush, one thing is for sure, the dude is funny. Most of the time he's not trying to be funny, but the things that come out of his mouth make you laugh you ass off.

Here are a few videos that highlight these moments. The final video is a speech he gave that was apparently written by the new White House comedian.







Disclaimer: This post is not a Bush bashing post. Any comments made that are rude and/or downright mean towards the President will not be published. All comments are published at my discretion.

We Are Going On A CRUISE!!!

We're going on a cruise! We're going on a cruise! La-la-la-la, we're going on a cruise!

Yeah, so, we're going on a cruise. We'll be sailing with Norwegian Cruise Lines to Bermuda. Neither of us has ever been to Bermuda, so we're both looking forward to going there together for the first time.

I'm so excited!!!!

A Horse's Ass

This is a picture of a horse's ass. I feel sorry for the animal she is riding. This is also the picture she posted on her MySpace. I have no idea why this would be the picture one would chose to "showcase" themself. However, it could have to do with the fact that the front end looks even worse then the back end.

She also abuses her husband. At least, she did before she left him and took everything that belonged to him (including the horse).

He deserves better than her. He's a good person. I hope he soon realizes that.

I Got A New Car!!

I got a new car yesterday and I am sooooooooooo excited!! It's a Toyota Rav4 Limited in Pacific Blue with gray leather interior, heated seats, a moon roof and all sorts of other nifty features like Bluetooth and steering wheel radio controls. Consumer Report named it the best small SUV in its price range!!

This is what the limited looks like.

And this is the pacific blue color. Put the two together and you have my pretty new vehicle.

Photos from Toyota.com

Code Pink Is Right!!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you this moment of saracsm and facetiousness:

Code Pink is absolutely right! What our military recruiters are doing is wrong! Recruiters are misleading and manipulating our children, so they will join the military. It is just wrong, I tell you!! Lying to our children and practically forcing them to join the military at the young age of 18 and in some cases 17 with parental consent.

18?! Is that old enough to know the difference between right and wrong? Is that old enough to be able to ask questions of our recruiters and research on the Internet for the facts and speak with other soldiers? NO! 18 is too young to do these things. When you are 18 years old you are not old enough to make a well informed decision. You are not able determine if what the recruiters are telling you is false or not. You are 18. You are not an adult!

.....What's that? You can vote at 18?

18?! Is that old enough to know the difference between Republican and Democrat? Is that old enough to be able to read the news and watch the political candidates on television and research their political backgrounds and platforms on the Internet? NO! When you are 18 you are not old enough to make a well informed decision on who who should run our country. You are not old enough to play a role in the future of our country because you are a child.

.....I'm sorry, what? You're going to college after high school? So you're, like, what? 18? But you applied for college your junior year?!

17?! 18?! Is that old enough to be able to choose between Penn State or UCLA? Journalism or Engineering? Is that old enough to be able to actually go to different colleges, read their brochures, listen to their current students and faculty recruit you for their school? Is that old enough to fully examine the thousands of career choices that exist in the world today and choose the one you will spend $60,000 on to study for the next 4-6 years, so that you can get a job for the rest of your life in that chosen field? NO! When you are 18 you are not old enough to fill out a college application and send it in even though no parental consent is required. You are not old enough to decide how to spend thousands of dollars to educate yourself for a career because you're only 17 or 18. You are stupid.

(And college recruiters, tsk tsk. I'm boycotting you as well.)

.....Ooooohhh. Your parents gave your their consent to join the military because your only 17.

Parents?! So how old are you? 35 if you waited until you were 18 to have a child (which as we are accomplishing here is much too young to be having children, married or not (which as we are accomplishing here is much too young to be deciding to get married, in love or not (which as we are accomp....oh, you get the point)))? 35, most likely older? Is that old enough to know the difference between right and wrong? Is that old enough to be able to ask questions of our recruiters and research on the Internet for the facts and speak with other soldiers? NO! You are a parent, for pity's sake. When you are 35 or older you are not old enough to make a well informed decision. You are not able determine if what the recruiters are telling you is false or not. Your life experiences have taught you nothing. Let alone the abilities to raise a well educated, fine young adult who has the intellectual capacity to make their own decisions at the legal adult age of....well, it is 18, but I think I'm making my point very well here.

18 year olds (and well, let's just go all the way back to 14 year olds since legally they can hold a job and would have to pay taxes and therefore contribute to the "adult" world/economy) you are simply too young to make all these decisions. I mean, even parents who are in their 30s and even older can't make a good decision regarding joining the military. If they can't do, how can you expect that you can?

This war is wrong. It is bad. It is causing billions of dollars and putting us in debt. Support our troops and bring them home. So, I've come up with a plan. A good plan. Don't join the military. They lie to you. They force you do things you would never actually do. Instead, don't pay your taxes.

As Code Pink promotes on their official website, "Don't Buy Bush's War." The plan, little tykes: resist paying your taxes. Don't join the military, since legally you don't have to if you don't want to, instead break the law. Join the convicts, the lawbreakers, the cons, the hooligans and don't pay the taxes you are legally obligated to pay.

The government, children, is wasting our money on this war. And we will fight back. We will allow the government to waste even more money on man hours and the supplies that they will use to send us notices that we have not paid our taxes. When we continue to not pay we will allow the government to pay for any court costs our illegally and superduper plan will incur. And, in the worst cast scenarios, we will allow taxpayers (or at least the ones that support the war) to pay for our minimum security jail time. So, "In yo' face, Bush! Talk to the hand cause the tax payer ain't listenin'."

And finally, my dear babes, by doing all this we will be supporting our troops. We will not be funding this horrible war. We will not pay our taxes and we will not help the government pay for supplies, such as armor, ammunition, food, water, medical supplies, that our servicemember need to survive overseas. We will NOT help to keep our troops in this war and so, we will not pay for the items they need to survive while in Iraq because we support our troops.

As you can see, 18 year olds, you are not old enough to make the decision to join the military. 18 is just too young to make any decisions that involve your future or the future of our country. Unless of course you're helping me. Then 18 is just the superist age. Obviously, you're old enough to make your own decisions. Just as long as its not in their favor. It has to be all for me and my stance. And I'm not a hypocrite. Because I said so.

Thank you. We now return to our regular show.

My List of Goals to Accomplish Before I Die

I've read about people that make a list of things they want to do before they die. I have a list. It's pretty short though. I want a lot of things to be spontaneous and I want to live in the moment, however there are some goals that I've set for myself. This is my list of 15 (although it will probably grow as the years go on) things I want to accomplish before I pass in to Care-A-Lot.

1. Live in another country.

2. Own my own business.

3. Own a house on the beach in the Caribbean.

4. Drive an Aston Martin.

5. Ride in a real gondola and kiss Stonewall under every bridge.

6. Watch my children get married and have babies.

7. Search for the end of a rainbow in Ireland.

8. See every piece of art in the Louvre.

9. Visit every state in the USA with Stonewall. (We are at 5.)

10. Have my very own dressing room with a special closest just for my shoes. (I have a dressing room, but no special closet.)

11. Build an English garden and host tea parties in my backyard.

12. Learn to play Guitar Hero Aerosmith at expert level. (I'm still just a beginner on Guitar Hero III.)

13. Read the entire works of Shakespeare...in England.

14. Star in a Shakespeare play. (Completed!! I was Rosalind in As You Like It. I want to star in another one though.)

15. Make my children's Halloween costumes.

Do you have a list?

The Rainbow Connection

I forgot one of my all time favorite songs in my previous post which really surprises me because I even had a this song quoted on my wall in college. So I feel the need to add this song to my Top 10 list of favorite songs. This song would take the place of Total Eclipse of the Heart.

Rainbow Connection by Kermit the Frog

My Top 10 Favorite Songs

In no particular order....

1. At Last by Etta James
This was the very first song Stonewall and I danced to. It was also our wedding song. (Except for messing up the artist's name, this video is cute.)



2. If You Want To Be Happy by Jimmy Soul
This is the song my sister and I jam to on any and every road trip along with every other song from Mermaids. (It's also my ringtone.)



3. Dancing Queen by ABBA
Maybe its that this from the era of funky colors and disco balls, but this song makes me think of pink and sparkles, 2 of my favorite colors. Plus, its super fun to dance to and sing along with.



4. You Are My Sunshine
My mom used to sing this song to me when I was a kid. I still love this song and can't wait to sing it to my kids some day.



5. Some Where Out There by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram
Yes...this is the song from American Tail, but I still love this song...and the movie.



6. Collide by Howie Day
This is the song I associate with meeting Stonewall. When him and I met, this was my ringtone, so every time he called me from Iraq this song would play. The more I got to know him, the more this song seemed to fit us.



7. Over the Rainbow by Judy Garland
Love the song, love the movie, love Judy Garland. If you aren't Judy Garland just don't even bother.



8. What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong
This is the song I share with my pap. When I was in high school we discovered that we both listened to this song every morning on our ways to school/work. We danced to this song at my wedding. This is one of the only songs that makes me cry from happiness.



9. Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler
Such emotion, such drama, such freaky s**t!! Music videos don't get any better than this. However, this is so much fun to sing along with in the car. Just don't smoke whatever the director of this video was smoking while you're driving.



10. Hey Mickey by Toni Basil
When I was younger there was a Disney version of this song about Mickey Mouse. I loved that song so much that it carried into my adulthood with this version. But serisouly, I do heart Mickey Mouse.