momma said

they’d be days like this momma said momma said. I have about two stories sitting in queue waiting for you, but because I am in the midst of changing locations, my software needed to be updated, eeek stress out but still have wonderfully obnoxious people who still smile and hug and love you regardless..yea, we had a little fail issue. Never you mind, I am not one out for failure. So I fixed my blog partway this evening and I’ll just have to wait till tomorrow to finish blog installs and allow you to read what’s been on my mind.

I have this new song. It’s called “Josh Brown on my mind”. That’s what you’ll be reading first, but not because he’s on my mind. You’re on HIS mind. With that, we have two ALL NEW newsletters from our county commissioner that offer some great reading. Just what does a county commissioner do and what would he possibly have to say? You’ll find that out very shortly.

Anyways, I love you all and I’ve missed you. We’ve got so so much to discuss.

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in the inbox

..is much spam I need to clean up. I haven’t had time to write as much as I’d like because I’m in the process of moving. One of those things about moving is that you find yourself extremely exhausted at the end of the day, to the point where you’re falling asleep listening to some of your best friends discuss matters important to you. It’s not because you don’t like them or what they have to say, it’s that you’re literally exhausted. I’ll get caught up I will.

Let’s have a picture in the meanwhile, taken by one of my dear friends Jim Sizemore. Jim, thanks for this beautiful picture of me with one of the most amazing women in Kitsap I admire not only for her positive attitude, but the countless hours of volunteer time she puts forth in Kitsap County.

Happy weekend everyone and if you can believe, you can achieve. Sometimes, albeit hard to do, you need to ask your friends for a spot of assistance. True friends are those who can see past what you can see for yourself and give you a fresh outlook on things. I’m proud to say I’ve met many people like that this year and oh how extremely blessed I am.

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Chocolate, the gift of LOVE!

I love chocolate sometimes. Being as I am sugar challenged, I can only love chocolate sometimes if I expect to stay standing and enjoy the rest of my day. So I have to say, when I stopped by Carter’s Chocolates located in Towne Square Mall in Port Orchard, I was treated to some tasty chocolate and some great news as well. Let’s hear about that! Read more »

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the official hannie bedtime story

Long ago, in an new yet oddly familiar place, our Hannie approached a democrat from King County. She accused him of not knowing what Kitsap County was about, what our strengths were and where we had our challenges, and she wasn’t sure he was qualified to tell a bunch of Kitsap people anything. He blinked back at her and asked her how old she was. Funny, they were the same age. And funnier yet, they grew up in opposite ends of Kitsap County. That’s just the beginning. Read more »

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Memorial Day

Just the other day, I ran into some people I know, as pictured above. I show you this picture because I feel on Memorial Day that no, we should not be at war with anyone and our troops should come home. Am I any less patriotic than anyone else because of this view? I think not. Read more »

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foodie confession for Angela Dice

However does one start a “foodie confession”? We’ll start with my research assistant Manda and my other half enjoy Iron Chef America on Food Network. I’ll take it one step further and say that I enjoy pretty much anything “Food Network” because I watch recipes prepared and ponder how I could improve/modify on it. This last weekend, my other half and I viewed this episode of Iron Chef America and I was inspired to make something similar to Laurent Torondel’s Goat Cheese Croque Monsieur. As a tribute to Angela Dice and her food blog, I’m bringing on my own version of Croque Monsieur (toasted sandwichy type thing) and tasty it was. Matter of fact, I’ll call it the “hannie heart attack in a sandwich special”. Let’s go. Read more »

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Thank YOU South Kitsap

Thank you to all our voters who got out there and voted yes for our SK EMS levy. Current election results can be found here and you can see the overwhelming majority who took the time and effort to support our SK Fire District 7. Again, thank you so much South Kitsap for giving support to those who help us twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Let’s celebrate and thank all of our South Kitsap people. Why not?

Hannie sends her love and gratitude to YOU!

Interestingly enough, last night I had the opportunity to meet and talk with Darla Hartley, who is not only a SK Fire Commissioner, but I believe the first *female* fire commissioner in South Kitsap. (Please feel free to fact check me on this if you’d like, but I believe this is correct.) She gave a most interesting and fascinating speech and I have to say, I admire her spirit, determination, strength and dedication to our community. Outstanding! I’m fairly sure that she too would thank all of our South Kitsap people as well. Let’s have a picture of her to honor her as well.

Darla Hartley, SK Fire Commissioner

One more time, let’s hear it for South Kitsap and let’s hear it for Medic 7!

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didya vote yet?

Today is May 19 and surely it’s a busy day at the Kitsap County Auditor’s office, home of Walt Washington and other awesome friends of mine. “Why?” you ask. (Thanks for asking.) It’s the day YOU need to get that ballot in for voting for our EMS and here in my parts, we call it the SK EMS levy. Read more »

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where were you 29 years ago today?

(quick edit: And I guess we need to thank Josh Farley for all this excitement from yesterday that my blog died over a missing tag. Josh says we should give original credit to Brianne Pruitt (@briannepruitt on Twitter) as she mentioned it first. Thank you lots Brianne! One more time, with a little more html correction!!)

I will have to thank Josh Farley at the Kitsap Sun for this entry. On Twitter this morning, he reminded everyone that today was the 29th anniversary of the big eruption of Mt St Helens. Our question to you is, “Where were *you* that day?” Here’s my answer.

I had gone on a Girl Scout camping trip to Carnation, WA. It’s situated on the Snake River, right by Remlinger Farms (best fruits EVAR), and there is a wacky suspension type bridge that wobbles when you walk over it. It was made by the Army Corps of Engineers, and it takes you from one portion of the campground over to the actual campsites on the other side of the river. I really disliked this bridge as a youngster, I did. The bridge would wobble to and fro (because of design) and I always thought I was going to hurl into the river or fall or both. Hurl yes, fall, no…again, it’s the design of this bridge.

I’m on the bridge and it’s early in the morning. I want to say I was up because I had to go get something from the other side of the river. I’m on my trip back and I hear this loud “ka-booom” It sounded sorta far off and distant, but whatever it was, I was quite taken aback at just how loud it was. There was an old man on the bridge with me and he had one of those little transistor radios to his ear. “DIDYA HEAR THAT?” he yelled. “She blew, she finally blew…OMG the mountain blew!” he was screaming.

Now remember I just told you I disliked that bridge. The man jumping around on it screaming about Mt St Helens made it wiggle more. But I’ll tell you what, I put all that aside and ran to the campsite and my parents and told them all that Mt St Helens just blew. Every last one of them discredited me. They told me it was a shotgun blast of some sort. (We were in a park that prohibited firearms of any sort).

They stopped laughing when we came home and were greeted by huge headlines screaming that Mt St Helens did indeed blow and that half the mountain slid into Spirit Lake. I say that because, as you’ll recall during that time, that’s where Harry Truman lived. He lived at the base of the mountain (yes, I do know it’s actually a volcano) right on Spirit Lake and he refused to leave. I loved watching him nightly on the news go over why he was not leaving..it was his home, and he wanted to be there no matter what. When I was young, I could not understand that. Now that I’m older, I understand it all too well and had I been in Harry’s shoes, I probably would have sent the children packing and had been the same way, and my children would have totally understood.

How am I going to end this? Rest in peace, Harry Truman, because you *are* and always will be a Washington State hero to me. You “gave ‘em hell” (every news organization) till the end and your last wish was granted to you. Each time I pass by Mt St Helens, I think of you and I think of how you weren’t being a crabapple, you were standing up for what you believed in and what you believed was just and fair. Here’s to you sir.

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your weekend update

Just when I think I am done catching up on all those entries worth mentioning, well, I got more on the plate I need to catch up with. Okay, so I am doing this with severe abdominal cramping, a back that feels like it’s going to give way at any time, and maybe I’m 39 going on 80. For those of you who know I am the self serving arrogant princess of Port Orchard, I will be 40 on July 1. My dear friend Pasha would have been 41 the next day. This year’s party, we’re going to throw it down in honor of Pasha and do something spectacular. I’ll get back to you on what the plan is for that. At any rate, let’s hear more about that “Jan, Jan, Jan”. She excites me to no end, and here’s another loving spoonful of our Jan. Please read here.

Let’s not throw total blame to Jan because we all know that every now and again we have Charlie and those strict press guidelines he must follow as staff of Port Orchard Independent. OMG, stop the presses. Charlie himself *did* write the original story in question. Here’s a thought. I think I learned this long ago in journalism class. Shouldn’t journalism be “impartial”? And no, you’re not allowed to count *me* in those ranks because I run a truly independent blog and I left the semi real world of journalism long ago. Don’t bother answering that, because I’m sure it will be some cool “fire and brimstone” journalistic moment that will inspire me to write more. Just say NO.

Back to Jan though, because truly, this is about Jan and me and not my little “tit for that” moment with Port Orchard’s finest. (Disclaimer: I say “finest” with only the most sarcasm I can must considering how I feel right now.) Okay, to the representatives who wrote the letter.

I apologize. I did not elect Ms Angel into office. Actually, to be honest, I think I voted for me. At any rate, as a constituent of the 26th legislative district, I’d like to say that three times I have had the pleasure of writing Ms Angel and voicing my opinion being as I am living within the boundaries of her district. Those three times, she has not responded to me or even acknowledged that I wrote her. Could it be that I am cuter than her? Could it be that because at the tender age of 39, I don’t hit the senior demographic that she serves so well and of course, knows SO MUCH MORE about the 26th than I do myself? Is it that my name is Johanna Baxter, I am a democrat living within the 26th district and therefore my thoughts and ideas are crap unless I do a strange switch of parties after losing my mind and becoming a Kitsap Republican? If you could get a quote from Ms Angel herself on this, that’s great. If not, let’s leave with a little picture like this so I can get onto real news.

don't ask what that rep can do, ask why she ain't listening to you.

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