|
|
| Monday, 6-Dec-2004 00:00 |
Email | Share |  | Bookmark |
|
Who I am -- a brief bio
|
 |
|
HarperCollins put together this bio for me this fall.
|
|
|
Andy called today around 9:30 a.m. He seems to be doing okay now that he's busy working cases.
BUT instead of writing more of nothing tonight (as my days seem to vary very little from the day before), I'm going to tell a little about myself.
I'm a West Point graduate, the same class as Andy (which is Class of '89). I was an active duty Army officer for a couple of years until I had my first child. Little did I know the trend I was starting in my life!
Which leads me to the next bullet comment -- I'm also a mom of 5 kids: Alexandra (13) aka "Alix"; Anastasia (11) aka "The Staz" or "Sassa" or "Sassy (rhymes w/ "bossy"); Arianna (9), Andrew (6), and Kat (4) (real name Aimee Katerina, but she is just such a Kat).
I'm also a published author; I write for teens, and HarperCollins is my publisher. My first book came out in 2000, entitled BATTLE DRESS, about -- what else? -- a girl who goes to West Point. "They" say that first time novelists should write about what they know, and after 4 years of that place, I def. knew about West Point. Right now, I'm under contract for a second novel (not West Point related) -- but I've been under contract for this book for 3 1/2 years. Too many kids and not enough hours in the day, I guess. I have a very patient editor, who also happens to be one of my closest friends (after working on a book together, I think people either become good friends or bitter enemies. I thought it would turn out to be the latter  but thankfully, it has become the prior). But Alix (my editor) is leaving publishing very soon, so my next book will have to find another mommy (or daddy).
I'm also a "soccer mom." Four of my 5 play soccer now, so during soccer season, I spend more time behind the wheel than I do in the kitchen (and that's saying something as most days I practically live in the kitchen).
I also homeschool my kids. Well, some of them. This year, because of unforeseen issues, I find myself schooling Anastasia and Arianna, though they started the school year at a public charter school here in Denver. But that saga will be told in another post. I had already planned to school Andrew this year for Kindergarten. I just love teaching my kids to read. I schooled Alexandra for a total of six long years; Anastasia will be for 5 years; Arianna will be for 3 years; and this is Andrew's first year (I did pre-K stuff with him last year some). So, I've been at this a long time.
I'm also an Army Reservist. Fingers crossed I don't get mobilized. But right now, I'm not in any reserve unit, so my chances of deployment are slightly reduced. I am, however, in an IMA slot (translated: not quite a reservist, but not quite a civilian, either); I drill for retirement points, not pay. My job is to recruit for West Point by going into the high schools when I'm invited and then monitor candidates' files for the admissions office. In Colorado, each MALO (which is what I am, a Military Academy Liasion Officer) has an assigned congressional district, and he/she is responsible for all those candidates who live within that district. This is right up my ally because I love teens, and I love West Point (well, most of the time!).
Let's see . . . what else? I love to run, and I used to be really fast. Now, I'm just moderately fast. I kinda put serious running on the back burner for a number of years (but I did run through all those pregnancies), and now I'm slowly getting back into it.
I've done other things, too. While Andy was in law school, I babysat a 3rd grade girl (through her 5th grade year), so I could help defray expenses of law school but also be able to take my kids along with me. I also wrote as a freelance journalist/reporter for some daily and weekly papers in the Philadelphia area (where Andy went to law school), finally ending my stint doing freelance work for the Philadelphia Inquirer. I think sans kids so early, I'd have become a reporter. I love interviewing people, then forming a story out of what I learn through talking to them and the facts I glean. I've taught youth group and/or Sunday School -- and even played piano! -- in the various churches we attended over the years. I've been part of Army Reserve units, mostly as a Civil Affairs officer, but I also had a slot as a Public Affairs officer, putting my journalism experience to use for the Army.
Okay, it's now getting later and later, and I promised myself I'd be in bed before midnight. It's 11:55 p.m., and I intend to keep that promise.
Hasta.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Sunday, 5-Dec-2004 00:00 |
Email | Share | | Bookmark |
|
Not of much consequence
|
|
Today nothing of note happened. Except that I got to go running -- finally. And I'd gotten about 8 hours of sleep last night (Anastasia got into bed w/ me at some point, and she told me in the morning that I was laughing and snoring in my sleep. That I would scratch my chest and laugh, then scratch and laugh. What I was dreaming about I cannot imagine!).
We went to church, and of course I was about 25 min. late. I almost didn't go at all, but then I decided that I'd just sit behind the partition things where there are a bunch of tables, at least until the greeting part started. When I was walking up to Tivoli Center (where our church is meeting) who should be crossing the parking lot toward the building but Leann (the pastor's wife) and her 4 kids! So, I didn't feel that bad. She said that she was late because she just didn't feel like rushing. Alexandra commented to me as we were speeding toward church (still in the car), "I guess we'll always be late now that Daddy's not home." I hope not, but I'm afraid she may be right.
We had a BBQ catered lunch after church (this occurs, some kind of catering at least, about once a month). An interesting change from those Baptist potlucks I've experienced for years. The lunch was very yummy and went on while the church held a business meeting/"fund drive (as Bruce called it, and I gave him flak for sounding like an annoying NPR commentor). Then I talked to a couple w/ 3 boys who are moving to Denver in a month. They were picking my brain about schools in the city, and since I have made myself an expert on the topic recently, I blabbed and blabbed on about it for a while. About a minute after we were finally driving toward home, I noticed that my cell phone was nowhere in my purse or the car. So, back we went to the scene of the lunch. Still no phone, not on the floor or on the tables or anywhere. When Sam (the pastor) tried to call it, no ring anywhere either. Alexandra finally found it on the asphalt of the parking lot, right where we'd been parked. I must've dropped it somehow (it most likely dumped out of my purse) as I was getting into the car. One small miracle, but it really saved me lots of aggravation and time replacing my sims card and phone.
Got home, ran 6.5 miles w/ Rowdy and felt like I was flying. It had been 3 days since I'd run, and I sure needed my fix. And it had been a week since Rowdy ran, poor dog. Since the temps climbed to the 50's today, much of the ice and snow melted, but I discovered enough icy patches to make me cautious. Rowdy was pretty disciplined today though, so no face firsts in the pavement for me.
And my good friend, Erin, called me from Washington state (where we lived for 3 years while Andy was an Active Duty JAG officer for the Army, 3 1/2 years ago) very late tonight, like close to midnight. So, once again, I'm sliding under the sheets at 2 a.m. But that's okay -- I prob would've found a way to do that anyway.
Now I'm wide-awake. Hmmm. Which book piled under the bed will I select tonight?
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Saturday, 4-Dec-2004 00:00 |
Email | Share | | Bookmark |
|
Andy called for the first time!
|
|
Andy called me today around 2 p.m. my time. The caller ID says "Out of Area," but it also does for telemarketers and other unknowns, so often I don't answer. Glad I did this time! He was calling from an AT and T trailer. He sounded like he could've been calling from the Qwest bldg. downtown. But after about 15 minutes, our conversation abruptly ended (the lines went down over there or something), and Andy didn't call back.
He's exactly 10 hours ahead of us, so it was around midnight his time. I'd been watching Navy stomp Army on TV (Army Navy game), so no loss pulling myself away from that mess to talk to him!
He had lots to tell, but thankfully I'd gotten an email from him earlier, so we didn't waste time w/ "old news." He talked about the turf war some of the soldiers wage in their nasty bay style barracks (if they can even be called barracks) -- I guess when you have no place to really call your own, your cot and wall locker are your world. He finally found his bags -- they had been w/ the Signal BN he came over with -- like no duh! He had asked various signal people about them a number of times. I guess the BN Commander had grabbed them and kept them safe and sound for Andy . . . without letting him know. But at least he got his stuff back.
He also said that he was issued some new "gee whiz" stuff. Translated: he got some cool high speed gear that only those going "up north" (into the combat zone) get -- new nicer combat boots (they told him just to toss his "old ones" (old being a week old that he got issued in Ft. Bragg), and a lightweight helmet that had these velcro pads inside that can be rearranged to fit the head better (kinda like in a bike helmets do), among other stuff. He also got linked up with the Trial Defense people, and it looks like he may get some cases from those reservists who refused to do that fuel run that we heard about 6 weeks ago. He thinks he'll prob leave Kuwait in about a week when his boss comes down there for some trials. Andy will go back up with him.
I was feeling pretty sick today -- very tired from lack of sleep all week -- and kind of achy (hopefully NOT from the flu that's been lurking around my house and infecting my kids all week, but more probably from the monthly friend we women are plagued with), so I didn't run as I had planned. The temps outside were really warm -- I think it reached 50 -- so I was bummed I didn't run. We watched the Army Navy game, even tho on the station that played it here, it didn't go on until the middle of the second quarter, which is so annoying! Instead, the 5A highschool football state game was on.
Around 6 p.m., the kids went to the Parade of Lights with Bruce and some people from church. I drove them down to the Qwest bldg., then went back home to hang out with Anastasia, who felt too sick to go. We snuggled on the couch watching this Dolly Parton Christmas movie done by Hallmark. It actually was kinda cute. Then Bruce came back w/ the kids and Sara, the new children's minister staff person at church, and we all ate the chilli and cornbread and drank limeade that I'd made.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Friday, 3-Dec-2004 00:00 |
Email | Share | | Bookmark |
|
Living on Fumes
|
|
I haven't heard from Andy in 2 days. At least it seems that long. By "heard from" I mean email OR phone. I haven't heard his voice since he called me from Germany late Tues night.
Last night (Thurs) I stayed up to 2 a.m., washing ski clothes so that Anastasia (11) and Arianna (9) would have the proper attire to snowboard today. I was going to put in an entry for yesterday, but I stayed up far too late as it was. And one major reason that I had to stay up so late was because I was consumed w/ email while the clothes were washing. When I finally tore myself away and went down to the dungeon I call a laundry room, the washing machine had stopped because of an uneven load. Had I checked on the wash earlier, I would've caught that it had stopped earlier, and, well, I 'm sure you know where I'm going with this!
So, this morning, I got up at 5:45 so that I could cattle prod those 2 girls into getting out of the house on time (they had to be at the Aurora Mall parking lot near JC Penny's mall entrance at 6:45 a.m.) We left about 5 min. later than I had wanted to ), so that gave us less than 25 min. to get there, and 25 min. is what it would take on a perfect day. Well, this morning, the roads were still very icy, and I almost collided w/ the rear ends of cars too many times to be comfortable. But I got the girls there at exactly 6:45, so it was all good.
Did I mention that I had gotten only 3 and 1/2 hours of sleep last night?
Once I got Alix to her school and Kat to her's, I was exhausted, but it was only me and Andrew, so I was determined to make the most of the time we had. We did school for just under 2 hours, and in that time we knocked out 1 math lesson, 3 phonics lessons, and 2 history lessons! Pretty good!
After picking up Kat and making a lunch of Kraft mac and cheese with chopped up hotdogs mixed in, I made those 2 monsters "rest" in their room so that I could catch a few zzzz's before I had to hit the road again to pick up Alix from school. I got about 45 min. and felt like I'd been pounded all afternoon when I cracked my eyes open.
Then the whirlwind began again. On the way to picking up Alix from school, I skidded again on the streets in my 'hood and lost control of the car, ending up smashing into the curb at the stop sign at the intersection of Pecos and 40th. Now my steering wheel shakes (due to the now screwed up allignment of my wheels, I'm sure) and my passenger side hub cap is cracked and broken. I picked up Alix and zipped home, giving myself 30 min. to shower and beautify for Andy's firm's family Christmas party, which started at 4:30. But first I had to battle the horrific traffic to Aurora Mall to pick up Anastasia and Arianna from their snowboarding trip. I was to be there no later than 4:45. I was only 15 min. late. The traffic back and to the Quest Bldg. (where Andy's firm is located, on the 35th and 36th floors) was even worse. I didn't get to the party until 6 p.m. The party was sort of winding down at that point, and most of the food was already devoured. And that had been my plan for dinner!! The kids scarfed up food while I blabbed, so I got nothing to eat. Santa also gave the kids gifts (from suggestions I emailed in to Mary, Andy's secretary and a fun, cool person). Alix was stressing in the car on the way because she was adament that she was "way too old" to sit on Santa's lap to get her gift,and she just wasn't going to do it this year. And Kat was a little resistant and teary-eyed until the moment when she had to approach Santa, but once she was on his lap, it seemed like she wouldn't have minded chilling there for the rest of the night!
I got home and made tuna melts (to supplement the lack of food we had at the party) and watched CSPAN . . . instead of sleeping like I promised myself every five minutes all day that I would the first second I had to do it, and then I got distracted emailing my West Point candidates for status checks on their applications. Now I find myself still awake and tap tapping away at -- gulp -- 12:45 a.m. What in the world is wrong with me???
Tomorrow is the Army-Navy game, and my plan is to make "Beat Navy bean soup" and have the game on while Anastasia and Arianna make up all the schoolwork they blew off this week. Then Bruce (Erin's "ex") is going to take the kids to the Parade of Lights downtown. I don't have to go, but I'll prob tag along in the end anyway.
Now I'm for real hitting the sheets. And I'm not getting up until I'm ready, no matter what kind of war is being waged by my 5 little insurgents.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Thursday, 2-Dec-2004 00:00 |
Email | Share | | Bookmark |
|
Hair on fire as per normal
|
|
Technically it is Thurs., but to me it's late Wed. night. Yesterday (Tues) I spent lots of time shopping . . . again. Don't get the wrong idea -- I am not a mall rat. I actually can't stand the mall. But when you have 5 kids, and 2 of the 5 need winter coats, like, yesterday, you gotta hit the stores. So, I went to Kohl's and bought a coat for Kat and a lot of clothes for Alexandra. She's really been hurting on clothes, so since I was out, I decided to break the bank and get her some things. I'm not even going to discuss the amt. of $$ I spent. Not pretty. But everything WAS on sale . . .
I went to bed around midnight, tho I swore that I'd get to sleep early-ish because I was tired all day. But I just had to finish a YA novel I'd been reading -- THE HOUSE OF SCORPION. It won a load of awards a couple of years back. It was a good read -- about clones. Lots of food for thought (sorry about the cliche).
This a.m. I did school w/ Andrew and the girls. Everyone is healthy today -- amazing. Andrew did 10 math lessons. Each lesson is *supposed* to take an hour, but we did all ten lessons in less than an hour. That's cuz he's pretty much a whiz at math. Didn't get that from me! I went running a little over 5 miles; it's still really slick. The temps warmed to about 35, so the ice and snow started to melt -- sort of. That's the most dangerous, really, when the ice gets wet. It's so slick then, but it doesn't look that way. I felt sooo badly because Rowdy saw me sneak out of the house to run without her. She howled and bayed like the hound dog that she is. I could hear her four blocks away from my house. But I just can't run w/ her when it's so slippery.
Arianna had an hour indoor soccer training today w/ her friend Casie and a pro soccer player (he plays for the New England MLS team, but he lives here in Denver). Then I and the kids stopped at a Pho (Vietnamese beef noodle soup) restaurant on Federal on the way home -- one of our haunts. The owner who's always there asked if my husband was coming, and I told him that he just flew to Iraq yesterday. After I told him that, he kept bringing the kids marachino (spelled wrong) cherries to put in their cokes. You could tell that he felt badly for us. After I got home from that, I had to rush off to a grant writing mtg for Alexandra's middle school. The school basically requires parents to volunteer, and I had signed up for this the first week of school . . . before I thought I'd be homeschooling Anastasia and Arianna. So, I have really no time for this, and I really wanted to bail on it all together, but I didn't. I think it's going to be fun, actually. My task is to try to get (or at least research about) some sort of grant to start a school newspaper.
Well, I've been cleaning house since I got home from the mtg -- around 9 p.m. My sister-in-law (Andy's oldest sister, Robin) with her little girl Olivia (4 1/2) is coming over tomorrow (they live in Fla., and are visiting for about a month and staying w/ Andy's parents), so I'm trying to get the place look under control . . . somewhat. It's 10 min. to midnight, and I have to scrub some stains out of the carpet on the stairs and clean the downstairs bathroom. I got maybe 5 hours of sleep last night, so this is prob a mistake to stay up cleaning. My plan is then to get up around 6:30 or 7 to run. Or maybe I'll just get up to grade school work at that time and run around 9:30, seeing as I blew off grading tonight. I guess it'll depend on a) how cold it is when I wake up, and b) how much i feel like I've been beaten all night.
I didn't get a call from Andy, but I did get 2 emails. Very brief ones. The first one said that he got to Kuwait safely, but is in the wrong camp and that things are once again chaos. The second was about a half hour ago, and it said that he had tried to call home earlier at the AT and T trailer, but all the phone lines went down as he was waiting. I've heard that's pretty common. He said things are "iffy" and that he lost all his bags. Sadly, I was sitting at the computer when his emails came in. It's weird to think that he's tap tapping on some keyboard on the other side of the world at the same time that I am. A little like it used to be when we were first married and one of us was in the field doing Army training, and we synchronized our watches so that we could look at the moon at the same, pre-arranged time. Except this is much more techy and much less romantic.
Hasta.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Tuesday, 30-Nov-2004 00:00 |
Email | Share | | Bookmark |
|
|
|
Today is NOT Tues. Must figure this out. Anyway, it's Monday, Nov. 29th. I woke up to my dog Rowdy prowling downstairs (heard her tags jingling). This was 4 a.m. While I was letting her out, Kat starting crying (she had been sleeping in my bed. Have no clue when she crawled in bed w/ me), then I heard Andrew howling. Andrew said his head hurt "really really bad" and Kat had just puked in the toilet. Amazing -- 4 yrs. old and made it to the toilet! So, I cleaned up Kat's mess that sloshed out of the toilet (not bad, really) and gave Andrew some kid Tylonel.
I woke up a second time to Alexandra telling me that she felt sick and shaky. This was around 7 a.m. No school for her. So, I had all 5 kids home today, 3 of whom were sick, and one (Anastasia) getting progressively sicker as the day wore on.
I did minimal school w/ Andrew because he felt so badly, but Arianna and Anastasia had a full day of academics. Arianna went swimming w/ me around noon -- she swam laps for 45 min. I swam a 1/2 mile and was happy w/ that as a workout. I went swimming because it was sub 20 degrees, and I didn't think running was a good idea. Still lots of snow and slushy ice on the sidewalks and streets.
Andy called a number of times today. It looks like he's actually going to fly tomorrow -- to Kuwait. He had a day of "banging [his] head against a brick wall" (his description), but finally got his orders (there was some annoying mistake on his orders that had to be fixed) and a flight (space available basis, so still it may not work out tomorrow). He leaves from Pope AFB. He told me tonight that he'll prob sit on the tarmac for 4 hours or more before he actually flies. So, I'm expecting some final calls from him.
I can't believe it's really going to happen. That he's really going to be gone and out of the country for over a year. No cell phone commo. I won't hear his voice for days and days, maybe weeks. I really hope email commo is good.
I spent the late afternoon/evening driving around to a bunch of places looking for a decent winter coat for Arianna. I ended up at Galyan's and spent a bunch on a Columbia coat ... and other things. Ain't that always the case?
It's now past midnight. Just finished grading the kids' school work. I did some Pilates earlier (like at 10 p.m.), so I'm really wide-awake. Now I'm going to hit the shower and read a little before hopefully falling asleep.
I bet Andy will call me around 6 a.m., giving me an update on where he is and if he's actually going to be leaving the U.S. Cross fingers the kids stay healthy tonight, and I get some decent sleep!
~Hasta
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Monday, 29-Nov-2004 00:00 |
Email | Share | | Bookmark |
|
Andy's gone
|
|
Today is actually Nov. 28th (Sunday), and I have no idea why this log says it's Monday, but oh well.
We woke up around 9 and waited for Andy to finish packing, then went out to breakfast in LoDo. We had to make it quick because Andy wanted plenty of time, it being the busiest day of travel. We got to DIA in about a half hour, even tho the snow was billowing down, and the roads were starting to get bad. The temp was cold! 28 degrees or so.
Strangely, the airport was pretty empty. Weird. Andy was all checked in about 3 hours early, so we milled around, listened to some band of oldies play big band tunes. Pretty neat -- could've been during WWII when the airports were filled w/ soldiers flying back to duty after Thanksgiving break. Finally, around 2 hours before Andy's flight was to leave (2:30 p.m.), we walked Andy to security and watched him go through and watched him walk away until none of us could see him anymore. Only Arianna and I cried, and Arianna cried a lot.
On the way home, we stopped at the commissary and BX at Buckley AFB. The snow was really coming down then. Got a bunch of groceries and a few things at the BX. I really wanted to find a good coat for Arianna, because she's been running around without one, but I failed the mission. After we got home, I braved the weather again and went to REI and Gart Sports to find a coat. I bought 2, so I know I'll be taking at least one back.
Now it's time to get ready for the week -- grade school work and organize school for the week. Vacuum. Etc.
Kat had a headache and was whining way too much while we were in the BX. When we got home, she puked on the upstairs bathroom floor. Anastasia cleaned it all up, and then Kat took a long nap.
So goes our first part-day of Daddy being gone.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Saturday, 27-Nov-2004 00:00 |
Email | Share | | Bookmark |
|
Gearing up
|
 |
|
The five kids in Oregon before Andy left.
|
|
 |
|
Andy on the beach contemplating the future.
|
|
 |
|
Isn't this pic cool? Andy and Kat at sunset.
|
| | View all 6 photos... |
|
Okay, so in one day, my husband Andy is leaving after Thanksgiving break back to Ft. Bragg, NC, en route to Iraq. He tells me that he's supposed to fly to Kuwait on Tues., but that may not happen, judging from the fiascos over the past couple of weeks that he's been in Bragg. He's a JAG (Judge Advocate General -- aka "Army Lawyer"), and because he's not part of a unit going over (but just one guy joining Trial Defense once he gets there), he's had to jump in on training and various requirements for leaving with whatever unit he could. He's knocked it out in record time, tho. He wants to get there, so he can get back. He's supposed to be on the ground in Iraq for a min. of a year. Time doesn't start ticking until he's actually there.
Tomorrow (Sunday) we take Andy to DIA (Denver International Airport) around noon. We've done this once before, and it wasn't fun. But we're so happy that he could come back for Thanksgiving before leaving for a long time. The last time, Andy took each of the 5 kids off by themselves so he could say goodbye in a more personal way. Doing that, he almost missed his flight!
But today, our plan is to go get a Christmas tree and put it up. I know that I'll procrastinate doing that solo, and I don't want to disappoint the kids by not having a tree this year. Maybe while the kids trim the tree (yay! I don't have to do it anymore -- the kids are big enough and so eager to do it themselves!), Andy'll make gingerbread men as is our fam tradition.
Gotta go! Andy's getting antsy to get that tree.
|
|
|
|
|
