Happy Birthday, Mom!!! Today is mom's b'day - I hope it's one of the best ones yet! Jack and I are taking her out to dinner, and we're supposed to have cake at my house, but the heat and humidity might put the kibosh on that... Maybe we'll do that another evening... Mom will talk to C and let me know later today.

So the plumber came on Sunday to look at the work that has to be done. While we are putting a tub in the new bathroom, no one will ever use it - we're shower folk. But I really wish I could put a real tub in the space, not one of those hotel tubs that are only 14" deep... But because of the space restrictions and the places where the beams/floor joists are located, we're sort of stuck when it comes to running the drains and water pipes. So I suppose I'll have to decorate the bathroom with a full shower curtain, rather than just frame it, so you can't see the mini tub we're being forced to put in... Of course, if we wanted to delay the bathroom work until they ordered another tub, we could do that, but really, according to DH that's "NOT AN OPTION." Now, he really didn't say that, but I know that if I even mention delaying the work, his head will really and truly explode on his shoulders and I'll have to clean up all that gray matter. We have to have it done before the end of August 'cause he goes back to school and no one will be there to have the work done unless I take off and if I take more days off now I won't be able to take days off when we want/need them in November for Teachers' Conference or in December for my birthday or Christmas or even for Christmas shopping...

I visited one of my favorite blogs the other day: http://phopecj.blogspot.com/
I hope Miss Hope doesn't mind if I cut and paste the pertinent info here - to those of you who say the media isn't biased: WHY HAVE WE NOT HEARD ABOUT THIS HERE IN NJ? [Note from my mom: It was mentioned on whatever TV station she was watching, but no follow up story, and they don't know why these guys had the stuff they had in their car and there was no mention of the Naval base or the jail...]

We sat in silence when the story turned to two guys who were taken into custody for allegedly having bomb fixin's in their vehicle. Location of this incident? The local anchor stated it was Charleston, South Carolina. The banner on the bottom stated Goose Creek, South Carolina. A standard roadblock interceded and stopped these fellows. Now, here comes the good part. I'm not going to tell you any classified information. That's probably because I don't know a lick of it to begin with. But, do you pay attention? I mean, REALLY pay attention? Because if you did, you would know that we have the Navy Nuclear Power Training Command in Goose Creek, South Carolina. I know this because my husband was an instructor there for three and a half years. This is where we have a few thousand kids that are fresh out of boot camp. They are cramming so much knowledge into their young brains in a short amount of time so they can go out in the fleet and protect our country. I've had the honor of being on this base and, believe me..it's loaded with our smartest and brightest. It holds our hope for a generation that will love this country and continue to protect it and serve it well. I will give you the link of the article that I found online so that you may gleam more information. Plus, it'll save me alot of typing.http://www.abcnews4.com/news/stories/0807/444994.htmlHow about that? Are you surprised? Truly? This worries me. Of course, it worries me. I wouldn't have taken the time to write about it if it didn't. Let's just talk hypothetically now. Let's just say these boys were seriously thinking of doing harm. (Remember, it's supposed to innocent until proven guilty here in American...so for now...we'll just do some "suppose this or that" talk). Let's just say they managed some how to get on base. Let's just say they even managed to get as far as the school where our young men and women are sleeping in barracks....or even the building where they attend school. Let's just say they blast this rolling bomb of a vehicle and take out the school.Have you any idea what this could do to our Navy? Any idea at all? It could have the potential to severely damage an entire generation of sailors. I can't even fathom what the repercussions could be in the long run. But, I'll be more than happy to let you stew on it for a few.Because I have another concern I need to address.Again, I'm not giving out any classified information. My husband doesn't tell me stuff and I don't ask. I respect his job and duties and would never in my life ask him to betray an oath that he has taken. So, do you know what else is at our Goose Creek, South Carolina Naval Training Command? A brig. That's a jail. And it's a jail that holds some of the worst bad guys that threaten our country. Take for instance:http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/06/10/dirty.bomb.suspect/If you hung with the article long enough, you would have seen where Mr. Muhajir is being held. Yeah, scary, isn't it? It's enough to make a person wonder. Were Two Bomb Suspects harboring thoughts of taking out some of our kids? Or were they thinking about breaking out this Muhajir character..or even taking him out so he can't rat on anyone? Will we ever know?Now comes the good part. This is where I once again spout my love for this country because I am getting ready to state some of my very own personal opinions.All you tree hugging jerks who keep talking out of your butt about stopping this war and cutting funding?Shut up.When you know every single little detail and get a full complete picture of what's going on? THEN, open your mouth to speak and just shut up again. You don't know it all. You seriously don't. The media will only show what is guaranteed to boost ratings and if that's something that slants against our troops and defense plans, what do they care? Anything to stir up controversy and keep viewers tuned in to their stations. Let the people do their jobs. Let them keep us safe. Let them keep OUR CHILDREN safe. Let them work to keep our country a "free" country for future generations. I'm all for everyone having an opinion. Unless it's a stupid one and I've heard too many stupid ones on this subject to last me a lifetime. If we are to survive in any capacity, we must remain diligent. We have no choice. We have to have surprise roadblocks. We have to have someone standing watch at all times. I welcome any and all comments and arguments. For or against. I reserve the right to delete stupid stuff. Cause I'm crazy like that. I love living here in the U.S.A.