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as told by the History Channel. You may know it as the movie treatment seen in the major motion picture "300."
Check out the TRUE Battle of Thermopylae
The Battle of Thermopylae Part One
The Battle of Thermopylae Part Two
The Battle of Thermopylae Part Three
Happy Thanksgiving to one and all. I hope your day is everything you want it to be and your Turkey comes out golden, moist and delicious. My day started with an unexpected twist .. the damned turkey was to big to go on the grill! God thing we got all that cooking done yesterday. Anyway, have a great ones and take a nice nap this afternoon, I know I zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....
A couple of things on this Thanksgiving eve.
First, we have decided to spend Thanksgiving at home this year. Last year, this holiday put me on a downward spiral of depression that ended up with me losing about 50 pounds between Thanksgiving and my birthday in January. This year, I am on meds that are damned sure making a difference in my life and I have my family back. I can tell you having the family together again is definitely working better than the meds.
We started cooking today and so far, the green bean casserole (yuck, but it is Ryan's dish) is done as are the sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs (Josh's dish), Jello and three pies: pecan, pumpkin and cherry. The giblets are cooked, the cornbread for the dressing is baked and the turkey (a 17 pounder) is brining. I am cooking the turkey tomorrow using the rotisserie on the gas grill. My dad has been doing turkeys like this as long as I can remember and they are the best I have ever eaten. Wish me luck. Oh, have you noticed the amount of food for FOUR FUCKING PEOPLE? Yeah ... me too. When Danna gets home from work, we will put the stuffing together and get it ready. Tomorrow, we should just have to roast the turkey, cook the stuffing, heat everything up and make the rolls and gravy. Should leave lots of time for football! WOOT!
This year I am thankful for having my wife back and that my job gave me a second chance when I wigged out last year. I am also thankful to you, faithful readers. I love you and really mean that. I am also thankful for rough men and women standing ever vigilant that I might sleep safe at night. Not getting political here but you know I work for the U.S. Army. I love my job and I love the men and women I come in contact with on a daily basis. I also read a lot of blogs when I get a chance. Today, I had a chance and came across this story. It is from Michelle Malkin, a conservative blogger, author and political TV pundit. It is not political, though. It reminded me, again, how much I have to be thankful for. And when I feel like whining or griping about how bad I have it, I will think of this family and shut my fucking gob. I invite you to read their story and think about how lucky YOU are too. Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
So, what are you having?
We are, for the first time in years, just ... staying home. We are going to just spend some family time together this year which is TOTALLY something we aren't used to. The menu (for the freaking four of us, mind you) is turkey (I'm doing ours this year on the gas grill. First.Time.Ever. Wish me luck!), cornbread dressing, sweet and mashed potatoes, gravy, green been casserole, whole berry and jellied cranberry sauce, rolls, cranberry bread, and three kinds of pie: pumpkin, cherry and pecan. We will cook the sides and start brining the turkey Wednesday. I am also off Wednesday through the following Monday.
You know what's funny? I'm more looking forward to the cranberry, dressing and turkey sandwiches we will make the next day than the feast of the actual holiday.
Speaking of work, it has really been a bitch lately, which is why I have been in short supply around here. Sorry. This week, Tuesday is our layout day so it isn't gonna get any better until I get off Tuesday night. Hopefully I will be able to blog a bit more after that.
We had elections Saturday, like most of the rest of America and the fucking mudslinging was HORRIBLE! I even heard a state school board candidate tied to "the same liberal groups that supported John Kerry!"
I mean, what the FUCK? If I hear "Why is [insert politicians name here] lying to you? Because he doesn't want you to know [he's a baby killing satanist, who boils kittens in Halliburton oil while that liberal slut Hillary and conservative prick Karl Rove look on cackling right before they go to the KKK meeting of NAMBLA members, Neo-nazis and people who listen to Air Supply and plot the overthrow of democracy as we know it]" one more time, I'm gonna puke. Thank God it's over till next year.
I did hear one thing that impressed me, thought. One politician came on the radio in response to another's ad saying the first politico was a pro-abortion liberal, a big no-no in this part of the south. I know the politico in question and he isn't that at all. He is a Democrat though and a former governor of the state. His radio spot didn't say a damned thing about his opponent, but it did say this is who I am "If I lose this race, I can live with that because there is more to life than politics. I just don't wanna lose because you believe what someone else is saying about me." I voted for him just on that commercial.
He lost ... but he can live with that and so can I.
... to have a number of beautiful women as friends. I have been extremely busy at work lately. Also, my wife and I are working on putting our family back together. That means I haven't had a lot of time to post and I really haven't had much to say anyway. That doesn't mean that I haven't been reading you all. (Have I mentioned I really, REALLY love Bloglines? Well, I do!) This week I came across two posts from two of my best friends and I wanted to share them with you. The first is from Rose Princess and is the re-post of an e-mail she received from work. It is from a non-military woman that really tells what it means to be a military spouse. Rose Princess is a military spouse whose husband is getting ready to redeploy to fight the war on terror. That's right, I said RE-deploy. He's been there before and is heading back. She is my best friend here at Camp Swampy and I understand and appreciate her sacrifices more than most might because I know what those sacrifices entail. If you want to know, hit the link above and check it out.
The other lady that touched me this week is none other than Lime, my best internet friend. Michelle has been there for me at times that I though I was just going to throw in the towel and give up. She never let me feel sorry for myself and never let me quit. My life is improving by leaps and bounds and it's mainly because she wouldn't let me sink into self-pity. She posts a Flash Fiction 55 and also posts a count every Friday. What is a count you ask? It's kind of the anti-Fuck You Friday where bloggers count their blessings or something they are happy about in their lives. Lime's this week was about three little words and it touched me deeply. Go check it out.
It may be too late to do a count this week, and I normally don't do them anyway, but if I did, I would count these two strong, beautiful women. I am proud to have them as friends and hope that I can be as good a friend to them as they are to me. I love you both.