Sometimes crying can be for a good reason.

Take, for example, last night.

Ranger calls me and asks how I’m doing.
My reply — “Well… currently I’m blubbering like a baby.” *sob* *hiccup* *snuffle**sniffle*
“Babe?? What’s wrong?” the concern evident in his voice.

So I tell him this story +++++++++++++++++

Last night I stopped at the “Atlanta Bread Company” for a hot drink and some free Internet.
(budget cutbacks caused me to cancel my home Internet…sigh…)

As I was tapping away on my laptop, busy with projects and what not, I noticed an “Army Guy” walk in.

I was up and out of my chair, wallet in hand, before I could even think about it and standing behind him as he ordered.

When the sales clerk told him the total he started to pull out his wallet and I laid my hand on his arm and said very quietly - “Your money is no good here.” and proceeded to pay for his dinner.

He tried to protest.
I told him it was the LEAST I could do.
He tried to say it was too much because it was dinner for his family.
I told him that was okay because THEY were just as much a part of this.

Eventually, he shook my hand and simply said “Thank you”.

By this time, the tears were streaming down my face.
“No…THANK YOU!!” I said emphatically.

I packed up my stuff and got out of there before I completely lost it.
(**sniff**  heck…I’m crying right now, just trying to relay this story!)

I don’t know if he was an officer or an enlisted man.

I just know that his last name was “Cooper” and he had two little girls (who liked turkey and cheese with nothing else!) and a wife, waiting for him at home.

I know that “Cooper” serves so that people like you and I can have the freedom to sit in the Atlanta Bread Company and surf the free Internet while drinking a mocha latte.

I know that “Cooper’s” wife and two little girls watch him walk out the door, each and every day, not knowing if he’s going to be sent to war, perhaps to never come home again.

$19.77  —- that’s certainly not the cost of freedom.
But it’s what I paid for a few sandwiches and salads for a man who risks his life so that I can live free.

And it’s NOT NEARLY ENOUGH.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ranger was silent for a moment and then finally said to me “Babe, I’m **SO** proud of you.  This is a good cry.”

I won’t be posting anything else until after the 4th of July weekend so I wish you all a very happy celebration of our Independence.

Whoooo… hooo… I got a GREAT DEAL today at my local used book store.

Yes.. that’s right.. “Hi.. my name is Kitty and I recycle my books!” 

I only collect one or two authors (LKH mostly)….but I read a TON of authors.

Buying new books is EXPENSIVE and waiting for the library to cough up new releases takes WEEKS… so I have a local “used book store” and I love it!

Today — during my lunch hour — (does anyone actually EAT during their lunch break?? I’m always running errands…) I picked up (drumroll please….):

SUH-WEET!!!

(in hardback no less!)

You all know I’m addicted to this book series and, of course, you also know that my very own guy is lovingly nicknamed after one of the characters…

Should I admit to you all, here and now, that I actually took the book with me when I had to go potty?  And let’s face it….I pee at least 6-7 times a day so I knocked out at least a few pages (hey.. it doesn’t take that long to pee and staying longer to read… on the toilet…at work… just feels… WEIRD) ha..ha.ha..

Now — here’s the really cool thing.
This book retails for $27.95 — yeah I know… crazy huh??

BUT… it was used (as in read once.. ONCE I tell ya!) and marked down to $9.99.
AND… I had a $5.80 store credit ready to use.. sooooo, I got my newest addiction for… that’s right. $4.19!

Whooooo…. freaking… hoooooo!!!!

Now, if I could just get a copy of LKH’s newest novel for the same price — sigh —–

p.s. — for anyone interested, I would LOVE to collect the Stephanie Plum series in Hardback but haven’t gotten around to it, but I’m keeping #14… (hint.. hint.. hint…)

My bird feeder and some of my “regulars”. 

Aren’t they cute!

See why I get so mad at those damn punkass little kids??  grrrrr…..

Well — I’ve owed you this post for quite some time now, huh?

The trip to Florida to meet Ranger’s family.

Let me be up front in saying that I was NERVOUS as hell!!

I mean, I haven’t met a guys family in like — 8 years or so.

And let’s face it, the LAST family I was involved with due to a man was …uhhhhh… less than stable.
(family get togethers always resulted in screaming, fighting and crying — by members of the FAMILY!)

But not Rangers family — oh no!

I had a pretty good clue how his family got along the first time I saw Haywood (littlest brother), Hoo-Rah (oldest brother) and Ranger interact together.

There was a lot of good natured teasing and fun to be had.  No tears, no mean/snarky comments meant to hurt. Just lots of love and joy and laughter. I’m *all* for that!  

So  — I agreed to the 3 hour drive to Florida and the 3 day stay at his parents house!

The drive down was fun.   We took my car because:
A) it gets better gas mileage
B) it has a sunroof, which just tickles Ranger
&
C) it has my iPod hookup

I had created an entire playlist of 80’s and 90’s music for the drive.  Ranger and I spent the nearly the entire drive singing songs like “Tainted Love” and “Total Eclipse of the Heart” at the top of our lungs and laughing the whole time.    fyi — Ranger has a short attention span when it comes to music.. thank goodness for the fast forward button. ha..ha..ha…

We drove non-stop and hit “The Farm” (as he calls it) around 8pm on Sunday night.

Immediately, I was welcomed with open arms and friendly smiles by “Mom” & “Dad”.

They plop me down in a rocking chair, flanked by the two of them, while Ranger flees the scene brings in the luggage and the grilling friendly conversation begins.

Actually.. it lead off with “Dad” saying to me “So Kitty.. tell us ALL about yourself.” and before I have a chance to speak, he quickly follows up with “Oh, and by the way, we *never* liked our son’s ex-wife.”

Wowzers!!!

Lucky for me, I’m NOTHING like the ex-wife. 

I chatted for a few minutes with “Mom” & “Dad”. Ranger was conspicuously absent busy putting away the luggage.   I get the feeling he was doing the “sink or swim” method with me. ha..ha..ha..  Then, when “Mom” learned that we hadn’t eaten dinner, we quickly bundled into my car and headed to the local Chinese buffet.

A note on this dinner…. I managed to surreptitiously snag the check but before I could get to the cashier Ranger grabbed me up close and whispered VERY strongly into my ear “DON’T!”. He knew I would pay for dinner for everyone and he gently pulled the check from my hand and said “It’s family tradition that the guest never pays and it would go poorly if you tried to.”

Interesting.. and not something I’ve run across before (that I was aware of).

As I mentioned earlier — Ranger and I slept in different bedrooms, but we had a shared bathroom, which was a novelty to me.  :)  And of course, I asked him for a little cuddle time each night before we actually went to sleep.  meow! (by “cuddle time” I mean cuddling.. geez people get your minds out of the gutter.. ha..ha..ha..)

On an extremely sweet note – Ranger had found a sound machine in the bedroom I was sleeping in.  Each night, he would turn on the sound machine, pull the covers up around me - tucking me safely in, and then kiss me good night, before retiring to his own bedroom.    awwwwwwwww……..

“Mom” took it upon herself to single handedly feed me SO MUCH FOOD that by the last morning there, I wasn’t able to eat another bite!  But she’s a darn good cook, I will say.

Monday there were some quiet moments for me:

After all — I’m not used to being around “family” that much, so it was nice to sneak away for a few minutes here and there.

And, of course, there was the “blowing stuff up” time:

This is what was LEFT of his brother’s cell phone after he and Ranger shot it up with the rifle.
yeah.. boys just LOVE to blow stuff up, don’t they??
(this would be sibling #4 — code name Cyclops)

Tuesday was the day at Saint George Island, whereupon Ranger bought me my first gift!   A t-shirt from “The Blue Parrot“, his favorite beach side dining place.   He was concerned that I didn’t have enough coverage and would get sun burned.  Again… awwwwwww….

This is the view from the deck of The Blue Parrot, where we had Red Stripe Beer, peel and eat shrimp and shrimp po’boys. 

Ranger with his “Toes in the Sand”

I was up early on Monday morning, to find “Mom” cooking and cleaning up the kitchen.  I quickly offered to help and spent the morning chatting with her while we bustled around the happy, homey kitchen.

I asked “Mom” to tell me how she and “Dad” met and she regaled me with a tale that had me crying from laughing so hard.  “Dad” made a TERRIBLE first impression on “Mom” when they first. So bad that I would have used the term “Jack Ass” to describe him. (I’m not going to say what term “Mom” used.  ha..ha..)  and yet they have now been happily married for close to 50 years (I think).   Even funnier was that “Mom” told me to ask “Dad” to tell me how they met and she assured me that he was *insist* that he was a good guy in the story.   *******I did ask “Dad” and he actually corroborated “Mom’s” story…he actually described himself as MORE of an Ass than she did******* ha..ha..ha…

Meals at the Ranger Family house were an “event”.
There was a different set of dishware (sometimes even china) each time.
There were real linen napkins and even napkin rings.
There was hand holdings and blessings said before each meal.
There was polite conversation and even politer (is that a word?) table manners. 

Monday night was the “meet and greet” with the Family!

“Mom” had ordered 40 pieces of fried chicken from *Clarence the Fried Chicken Guy* and kept telling us that it was THE BEST fried chicken in the county.   She spent nearly the whole day cooking up a storm.   She let me make the deviled eggs! (have I mentioned that Ranger LOVES deviled eggs?  I’ve watched him eat an entire dozen in one sitting and *then* eat his dinner!!!!)

By this time I had met “Cyclops” (sibling #5 in the family tree — Ranger is sibling #4).
Next up was BIG SISTER!
That’s right.. I was finally going to get to meet the woman who had not only been born FIRST in this family, but was the ONLY girl of 6 kids!!!
I figured she had to be one of a kind to grow up with 5 younger brothers and still be sane!
Her husband (code name “Darling Man”) and her son (code name “Z-boy”) floated in and around my periphery but it was big sister who had my full attention.  Her code name shall be “stitches” (because she was having gall bladder surgery in 3 days!).

Stitches did *not* disappoint me.   She was funny, witty, articulate, well grounded and incredibly friendly.
I had a lovely visit with her and “Mom” while the boys wandered off to talk or play on the computer.  (go figure).

Huge quantities of food were consumed and conversations flew everywhere.  Gifts were given for a belated Father’s Day and a good time was had by all.

Me, being my usual “Kitteh self” did my best to help out around the house, clearing the table, washing dishes, straightening up, etc… but by FAR the funniest thing I did to help around the house was to collect the eggs!

That’s right.. “The Farm” had an actual chicken coop and “Mom” & “Dad” were raising chickens and collecting the eggs each day.  ha..ha.ha.. Imagine their surprise when I gladly volunteered to snake my hand under “Mrs. Peck-Bottom” and collect her eggs.   They were quite tickled to learn that I was not only a reformed farm girl, but that I was also handy with a needle and thread AND new a good spot of European History.  Even better…. “Mom” & “Dad” are both Eddie Izzard fans.   bwa…ha..ha.ha….

As the evening wore on we had gathered in the living room and while “Mom” & “Dad” watched BBC television (I *did* mention that “Dad” is English, right?) I sat on the couch as Ranger used my lap for a cushion and contentedly snored away.  Stitches and I were giggling over the variety of slumber type sounds emitting from my boyfriends body! 

Eventually, the FINAL sibling showed up!!   Sibling #3 (aka Tow-Mater.. because he drives a tow truck and affects a red neck personality).    Ranger managed to sleep through the majority of Tow-Mater’s visit. ha..ha.ha….

So, let’s recap:

“Mom” & “Dad”
Sibling #1 - Oldest Sister - Stitches, married with one son
Sibling #2 - Oldest Brother - Hoo-Rah (Ranger’s house mate), divorced w/ 2 sons and 1 daughter
Sibling #3 - Elder Brother - Tow-Mater, single w/ no kids
#4 - Ranger, divorced w/ no kids
Sibling #5 - Younger Brother - Cyclops, divorced with no kids
Sibling #6 - Youngest Brother - Haywood, single and batting for the same team

Talk about a big family! Especially for someone like me who has ZERO family. 

One last note about my visit with The Family.
On Tuesday evening, as we were driving back from Saint George Island, I saw a florist near The Farm and despite the fact that we had already passed it by, Ranger was sweet enough to turn around and take me back when I mentioned that I would love to take a bouquet of flowers to “Mom”.

I picked up a lovely bouquet of daisies and a thank you card to express my gratitude for “Mom” & “Dad” being so kind to me.

When I gave “Mom” & “Dad” that bouquet of flowers, you would have thought I had just presented them with an entire English garden.

They were so thrilled by my thoughtfulness and Ranger told me that I was “very classy” for such and act.  It seemed odd to me that such a simple gesture on my part would be such a big deal on theirs.   It makes me wonder about the rest of the women that had been brought to this house before me.

Tuesday night found the four of us crowded around the breakfast table going through an old photo album.  While I’m sad to report there were *NO* pictures of a naked baby Ranger on a bear skin rug (hee..hee..hee..) there *were* some amazing photos of his family history.

Almost all of them were black and white, some of them so old they were actually “sepia” and all of them were breath taking.   Pictures of his English family — actors, actresses, quaint English cottages, heather lined paths, Uncles serving in the RAF… it was absolutely wonderful and “Mom” and “Dad” took the time to tell me so many stories of their family history, as well as some cute stories from Ranger’s childhood that I was nearly overwhelmed with emotion at being so… so… INCLUDED in their little world!!!

It was extremely touching and I was quite blown away by the experience.

Wednesday morning – we packed up early and headed out the door with a dozen farm fresh eggs each (hey, I helped gather those!) and promises to return soon.

The drive home was quieter than the drive down:  we saw a very large fire along the way and Ranger snapped this photo while he drove (yes.. HE drove my car… after all, he wanted to go 80-85 mph and if we got stopped he was less likely to get a ticket from a fellow police officer!)

I thought this photo really extremely well done because he captured my reflection in the window. 

And, of course, you all know that we stopped at the Ranger Memorial at Fort Benning!

Well, apparently, Ranger got a couple of “self-portraits” in when I wasn’t looking, so for your viewing pleasure, I finally give you an unaltered photo of the man I adore:

hee…hee..hee….

***note — “Mom” & “Dad” are in parenthesis because..well, they aren’t MY parents but it seemed silly to give them nicknames…

]]> http://pinkpiddypaws.com/2008/06/30/welcome-to-the-jungle-we-got-fun-and-games/feed/ cinnkitty Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket http://pinkpiddypaws.com/2008/06/28/die-fcker-die/ http://pinkpiddypaws.com/2008/06/28/die-fcker-die/#comments Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:31:47 +0000 cinnkitty http://pinkpiddypaws.wordpress.com/?p=668

Randi asked me a while back “Why do you hate kids?”

Well — TODAY provided me with one really big reason WHY I hate kids.

I caught two of the little juvenille delinquents SHOOTING the birds gathered around my bird feeder.

Luckily, they both SUCK as sharpshooters and no birdies were harmed.

I raced out of the house and chased the little F*CKERS off.

But here’s the thing…

There’s nothing I can do about this.

Those little shits are going to keep coming back and eventually they will probably kill a bird.

But if I call the Leasing Office, they will do nothing.

If I call the cops, they will do nothing.

WHAT am I supposed to do?

I’ll tell you what I WANT to do…

#1) Beat those little bastards within an inch of their lives

#2) Take a pellet gun to THEIR little asses and see how they like it

#3) Have their parents arrested for being absolute useless tards and not teaching their kids right from wrong

PLUS take the pellet guns and shoot their PARENTS for being so moronic as to give  8-9 year old boys guns in the first place!!   These kids live in a damn apartment complex!  They have no business having these weapons!

JESUS!  It’s like watching the next generation of ciminals grow up before my very eyes.

+++++++++++++++++

Speaking of criminals — my Apartment complex has turned into a HOTBED of crime.

I went to my local online newspaper and searched the Apt. Complex name…this is what came back –

Woman found dead in apartment

Originally Published Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Police have begun a several state manhunt for 24-year-old _____ who is wanted in connection with the shooting death of his wife, 21-year-old _____, according to local authorities.

Two arson fires set at apartment complex

Originally Published Saturday, June 21, 2008

Good teamwork among county and state investigators helped apprehend 23-year-old ——after he allegedly set two arson fires at —- Apartments Thursday and keyed two cars in the parking lot — all while hell-bent on retaliation and under the influence of alcohol.

Robbers targeting apartment complex

Originally Published Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Since October 2007, there have been five armed robberies at —- Apartments, located at —– in —- — four of which have taken place since late March, investigators say. A cash reward is now being offered for information that can lead to a resolution.

Defendant pleads guilty in slaying of 17 year old

Originally Published Monday, March 31, 2008

——-pleaded guilty in —–Superior Court Monday to voluntary manslaughter, six counts of aggravated assault and two counts of armed robbery for his involvement in the violent shotgun killing of 17-year-old ——- in ——– Apartments.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Ummmm… that MURDER was just last Wednesday people!

GEEZ!!!!