Theme Week Fourteen

On a typical day I got ready to go to class. As I left the house with my three year old in my arms, I said goodbye to my fiancee who was taking the day off to sleep in and help his grandfather with some last minute yard work. I dropped my son off at daycare and headed the forty five minutes to class. After my first class I had over five hours to wait until my next class. I thought it would be a great idea to place my completed homeowrk in my instructors mailbox and head home to surprise my future husband with some time alone together. When I got home I opened the door quietly hoping that I could just crawl in bed with him and wrap my arms around him. I walked into the house and stood outside our bedroom door. I heard a woman in a pleasurable state and immediately got pissed. I waited a second wondering what I was going to do and how I was going to control my physical reaction. Then I swung the door opened and saw my fiancee jump and cover himself with a blanket. His eyes bugged out of his head as he said a few choice words. I then noticed that the woman did not stop moaning. To my joyful surprise I noticed that a pornography movie was playing on our tv. I couldnt help but start laughing as I walked out of the room saying "I will let you finish!"

Theme Week Thirteen

At the far edge of the blueberry field sat a large yellow house. The house was built just last year and is quite the beautiful site to see. It gives an onlooker driving by the breath taking views everyone wishes they had in a home. It starts at the bottom with a day light basement and right above is a porch that wraps around the entire main floor. Which is where people are seen enjoying the day on the large patio. From the back side of the deck I see windows going up the entire house, allowing all the morning sun to shine in and give the good morning mood. On the second level is a balcony coming out the center of the second floor. It contains enormous flower boxes with ivy and some sort of drooping pink and blue flowers. The flowers are a symbol of how much the owners care about appearances. From a distance the house looks like a modern day castle in yellow. Up close it is a dream house for any family to live in.

Theme Week Twelve

In April of 1997 I joined the Maine Army National Guard to become a medical specialist. On June nineteenth 1997 I left for basic training at FT. Jackson, South Carolina. I expected to learn about marching, physical training, and basic rifle techniques. I never expected to be told how to wear my clothes, or that I would pretty much live in two types of uniforms for three months. One of the uniforms that I wore on a daily basis was my Battle Dress Uniform. I take these three steps to prepare my battle dress uniform. The first step I take is to prepare my uniform. I start by gathering all the things I need to press. I will need my BDU (Battle Dress Uniform) jacket, trousers, brown shirt, and one large can of Niagra spray on starch. Pressing my uniform correctly and with proper creases that will last through an entire training day requires major amounts of starch. I first place my BDU jacket on a metal hanger. I then spray the starch all over the jacket, spraying extra on the collar, pockets, and sleeves. Once the jacket is soaked with starch I place it in another area to dry a bit but not completely. I then soak my trousers with starch in the same way I do the jacket. While the jacket and trousers dry a bit, I iron my brown t-shirt and make sure there are no wrinkles. I iron the t-shirt first due to the fact that I don’t need to starch it. I have two separate irons that I use, the first one is for things without starch and the second one is for the things being ironed with starch. I have learned that if I mix the irons up I end up with starch marks on my khaki dress pants and no creases in my uniforms. Once the jacket is close to dry I iron along the sleeves to create a crease along the outside edge of the sleeve. I add more starch throughout if needed. I then move to the back of the jacket which is the easiest part to iron. Then I iron the pockets. I have to use high heat and a lot of pressure to make sure that my pocket tops are not going to flop up half way through training. I save the collar for last because it has to be perfectly creased. My lapel edges must be exactly two inches to the side of the top of my jacket. Next I go onto ironing my BDU trousers. The trousers are not as difficult as the jacket. I first make the crease down the front of each leg. I then move to the pockets and repeat the same technique as I used on the jacket pockets. Second I move onto my boots, I get my black Kiwi polish, one small cup of water, my buffing rag and brush, my combat boots and one lighter. I first set the Kiwi polish on fire to bring it to a liquid state. I soak my buffing brush in the liquid polish quickly before it dries and gets hard. I lather thick layers onto my right combat boot. I then take the lighter and light the thick layer of wax that is on the boot. This allows the polish to get into the pores in the boot. After about three seconds I blow out the flame on the boot. If I don’t blow it out quick enough the flame will burn the leather and I will have to repeat the process several times before I get the boot to a point where I can achieve a perfect shine. After I blow out the flame I then take my buffing rag and wet a corner with the water. I then place my pointer finger in the wet corner of the rag and make tiny circular motions on the polished part of the boot. I make sure not to put to much pressure because it will only take off the polish that I have already applied. After about fifteen minutes of buffing I then place another thin layer of kiwi polish on the boot and repeat the buffing process adding water to the rag when it seems to get dry. I take approximately thirty minutes on each boot and once the kiwi is absorbed into the boot it gives a shine that allows the boot give off a mirror effect. This is actually done for the use of a mirror in a battle scene. Men have used their boots as a mirror to shave as well as in battle to possibly see an enemy from behind or in the air. The third step I take in preparing my uniform is the placement of rank, unit badges, American flag, and name tapes. I first place my rank on each lapel on my BDU jacket. Rank must be placed exactly one inch from the corner of the lapel and exactly centered from each side. This allows another soldier to see the rank, identify the rank and salute if needed. Once my rank is placed I go on to placing my unit badge on. The unit badge has to be exactly two inches from the right shoulder seem on my BDU jacket. The unit badge allows another soldier or superior officer to know where you are from and what unit you belong to. This also allows officers to know where to go if a soldier has broken a rule or disobeyed a direct order. The America flag is placed in the exact same spot on the left shoulder of my BDU jacket. When I first joined the army the American flag was not worn unless the soldier was deployed during war time. In 2004 the American flag became a part of the battle dress uniform worn by any member of the army. Next I place on my name tapes. The first name tape goes above the left breast pocket. This name tape is the one that says “U.S. ARMY” and is placed on the left side to be over my heart. The second name tape is placed above the right breast pocket. This name tape says “DRISKO” on it to display my last name and what I am called in the Army. The rank and name tape combined tells other soldiers that the proper name to call me is Specialist Drisko. I wear my uniform with pride and take pride in preparing my battle dress uniform. If one crease is not perfect or one measurement is off centered, I redo it to make sure that my uniform makes a good statement about the kind of soldier I am. I have been in interviews for awards and soldier of the year contests and won due to the fact that the soldier I was running against did not take the pride in his uniform that I do. I apply the same pride to my daily life.

Theme week eleven

The ten year old boy worked really hard while sobbing about being in trouble. He didn't feel like he should be in trouble for doing something to protect himself.

Joshua was sitting in the truck minding his own business and trying to block out his brother Sam's annoying screams and noises. After about ten minutes of trying his best to block him out he finally said "Sam please leave me alone and be quiet." Sam didn't listen to his big brother as he usually didn't anyway. Then Sam realized that his big brother had the book he wanted. He tried to grabbed the book from Joshua's hand, but Joshua wouldn't let go. Sam decided that if he bit his brothers arm hard enough then Joshua would let go of the book and he could have it. But Joshua didn't let go of the book he instead took his other hand and smacked his two year old bother across the face leaving a large red hand print on his cheek. Joshua's step father put Sam in the naughty chair and told him about not biting. He then took Joshua outside to the land that was being cleared. He said to Joshua that "you have the right to defend yourself... However you never have the right to use all your force on a child that is much smaller than you. You never have the right to hit your brother in the face. You do have the choice to move away, tell an adult, or defend yourself with the right amount of force. Now you will go and work on cutting crush and carrying it to the fire pit to be burned, and if you work hard enough today then that will be your only punishment for your actions."

Joshua was sweating as he brought each limb that had been cut to the fire pit. With small breaks for water and snacks, Joshua worked for five hours straight. And without being prompted he went to his brother and gave Sam a hug and said "I'm sorry I hit you but please do not bite me again, and if you want something I have then just ask nicely. I will share with you."

Week Nine

When I look around the room the first thing I notice is the small piles of toys all over the black and white checker tiled floor. I sometimes think that my kids are setting small landmines as a trap for their father and possibly myself. My advice to anyone that might enter is to step softly or take the chance of an explosion. The saying “its all fun and games until someone loses and eye” was made up for this exact reason. To the left of the couch is the very messy closet. It holds all the odds and ends that I might never need to use. The top of the closet is the only organized area in the entire room. It holds all of the fifty three board games that my oldest son Joshua and I play on a daily basis. Battleship seems to be his favorite at the moment. I think it is because of the cool packaging that the game came in. It is the limited edition of battleship and it came in collectors tin. The tin has an aircraft carrier on the top that reminds Joshua of the tour we took on a navy ship out in Coronado California. He can change his mind about which game is his favorite at least twelve times a month To the left of the bookshelf is the kid’s toy box that can be hazardous to my health so I will keep my distance. The toy box would be compared to a pot of water boiling over. There is Pokemon cards falling out onto the floor in front of the toy box. Then if I look on the right side of the toy box I see My son Samuall’s stuffed animals looking at me, they are caught between the lid and the toy box itself. I think they might be trying to commit suicide just to get out. If I follow the room around to the left I come to a white bookshelf that is three tiers high and full of easy read books. The books are organized by the level of reading, from level one to level eighteen. I bought a lot of these books at flea markets, one of which I bought nine years ago, when I was pregnant with my oldest son. Another book is a Dick and Jane book that I purchased just last year for my son to start school with. Next to the largest of all the land mines is a huge, beautiful, blue, fake velvet couch that was given to me years ago. So I guess I’ll take a break and have a seat. Oh my goodness, this feels so good. As soon as I sat down I felt like the couch had taken full control of my body. I sink in like I'm in quick sand; my body is forced to completely relax in the cushions. On the left side of the couch is a black lever. So of course I pull it gently. Up go my feet like a karate expert doing a high kick. Oh how I love to recline on this couch, although it is a bit of a hassle to get the recliner in the up positions without being launched into the other room. The other downside to the recliner is that if it gets left in the up position, my youngest son Samuall will crawl under the couch. Yes I know it’s funny, but not funny when I’m the one that has to crawl under to pull him out. He bites! So Welcome Please have a seat and make yourself at home.