"Severe Winter In Germany"

"Elsewhere in the world, a strong winter storm is pounding Germany.Heavy snow and high winds reportedly caused more than three hundred car accidents in just *one* day.At least one person was killed... And over forty others were injured in the northern part of the country.The severe weather has also shut down major highways and public transit systems in parts of the region.The storm dumped about 12 inches of snow in some areas."

Yeah...that's the news. It's really not as bad as all that but it has been cold and snowy here. Not much fun for outdoor activities, well...that is unless you like to play in the snow. Which I don't! My off days have been spent inside as much as possible and off the nasty roads. I think that I am starting to get a little stir-crazy here. I'm certainly ready for Spring!!

I did get out of the house a little.....watched Avatar 3D last week, awesome movie! Maybe I need to go see it again? I also ventured to the MALL yesterday. In Neunkirchen, about a 30 min drive from me. Fortunately, it's mostly driven on the Autobahn so the major part of the drive was on good roads. Neunkirchen is an old industrial town and from what I saw, it isn't a very pretty town, you can certainly tell it's industrial history on arrival. I spent the afternoon at the Mall, window shopping. There is also an old water tower that has now been converted to a 4 screen movie theater. I've got to check that one out....soon!

Plans are being laid for a trip to Paris while Mom and Dad are here. I promise to take pictures. It's been a difficult trip to plan. As silly as it sounds, I am not at all interested in going to Paris. I know that my parents will love it though so that will make it worthwhile. Me....? Where do I want to go? Crazy places like Krakow, Poland.....Bucharest, Romania.....Budapest, Hungary....Capacidocia, Turkey. Yep, they are all on the list! I'm actually hoping that I'll be 'pleasantly' surprised and actually like Paris. Not holding my breath on that one though.

I'm still dealing with bullshit paperwork with the DOD. It's annoying. I was screwed this week for payday as the reimbursements that I was supposed to get weren't in my paycheck. Come to find out, the employee that told me I would have it this week, simply didn't submit it. Would have been nice to have known this in advance. Really screwed up my budget. Which sucks double since Mom and Dad are going to be here before it gets straightened out! Enough about that.....

I'm looking forward to seeing Aco. It will be nice to be reunited with her. Maybe things will start to feel like normal once she is here with me.

Work is going good. I'm on nights now and starting to feel like my normal self again. Days was going to kill me! I'm going to be trained for charge RN next week. Seems with all the Navy leaving (we are losing 5 by the 1st of March), I will be the ONLY permanent person on nights. The rest will rotate through, so it's looking like it's going to be up to me to keep it running smoothly. No pressure there.....wish me luck!

Scheduling is a little better on the new schedule. I have one stretch of 4 days off in March and am trying to figure out where I am going to spend it. Need to find a sitter for Aco so I can do some traveling without her. There are just certain places that aren't going to be good for her to go with me.

Working on Trinity's flight for Spring Break. Yes, more government paperwork, but if I can get them to cover her flight then it's worth the paperwork. I cant wait to see her and have been trying to get her room put together so she will feel 'at home' when she gets here.

Guess that's all for now....

Stories and pics of Paris coming soon!