Labels, Labels, Everywhere, But Not A Single One For Me.

For Christmas, my friend bought me Boston’s Gun Bible and I finally had the chance to sit down and read a bit.

I skipped the first two chapters that, I will, of course, get back to, but I have been pretty obsessed with the whole sheep, sheepdog kind of thinking that is very prevelant in the gun world.

Chapter 3 piqued my interest in this area.

Not too far into the chapter he, the author, Boston T Party, declares there are only 3 kinds of people: predators, prey, and those who refuse to be either.

He says that if you do not have the will or training to defend yourself, then you are, by default prey.

I agree that if you know the facts and the dangers and you willing decide to do nothing to make yourself less of a victim and/or do nothing to defend yourself in the event that you are in danger, then you are prey.

It’s not an opinion, it is fact. Bad guy after bad guy will tell you, they look for unprepared, defenseless people to “prey” on.

I was the perfect prey, but it was not that I decided not to prepare. I truly did not believe that I needed to. Well, believe is to strong a word. I didn’t think about it at all. I bought into both the liberal propaganda and the religious rhetoric. Be a good person, don’t go into “bad” areas, lock your doors, pray and you will safe.

I was never ever afraid to go to a grocery store in the middle of the day.

While I might have been prey, there was no conscious choice to be prey. Granted, there was no conscious choice not be prey either, but I didn’t say, “Hey, this is dangerous, but I am going to do it anyway and leave it up to some “sheepdog” to save me.

The author, says, in order to avoid being pray, you must embrace the warrior spirit.

Now, that I can buy.

He says, as I have said, and as many others have said, “At some point in our lives, we all must fight.”

It may not be a bad guy coming after you demanding money or your body, it may be cancer or other hardships, but regardless, at some point we all have to decide our life has value and consciously decide to fight for it.

Unfortunately, too many people live in a state of true ignorance and by the time the wolf comes knocking at their door, they are completely unprepared.

That was me. Once I knew the facts. Once I was staring the predator in the face and could no longer live in that dangerous state of bliss, I had a choice to make.

Being a victim was easy. Sticking my head in the sand and doing nothing takes no effort at all and there is an odd kind of security in living that lie.

Facing my fears and not turning away, took effort and work.

Lying in my husband’s arms crying was easy.

Miserable.

Torturous.

Limiting, but comfortable.

There is comfort in what we know. As awful as the status quo is, change or the idea of it, is more awful.

It is often said, “The first step is the hardest.”

A lie.

The first step was hard, but no where near as gut wreaching as the second or the third, which almost killed me.

Second guessing your choices can be a bear.

Once I decided to fight, I felt relief and thought it’s over now. The fear and pain will be over, but they weren’t.

Sure, there were moments of peace and I felt good about moving forward, but the fear and doubt kept coming back, again and again.

The daily struggle to continue to face those demons sucked, and I can’t count the number of times I almost gave up.

Not giving up, that was the hardest step. Probably about 100 steps before, I no longer felt afraid, ashamed, guilty.

About a million before I could say, without an ounce of trepidation,

I will fight and you will lose,

and to believe it.

When I read…

“Mothers defending their offspring can exhibit terrifying ferociousness, but they must be trained to become ferocious when protecting themselves.”

I actually lost my breath for a minute.

That about sums it up for me.

The old me.

I wonder what would have happened if my daughter wasn’t with me that day. I bought some time by doing things to distract the guy while I tried to get her to a safe place. I never one time thought about myself. In fact, for weeks, she was the only thing I thought of.

I wonder, if I had been alone, if I would have bothered to fight at all or if I would have just given up the second he approached me.

I instinctively knew she was worth every effort to protect, although I was totally unprepared, I didn’t just hand her over to the creep. I didn’t have to be taught that she was worth my life.

What I had to be taught was that “he” was NOT worth MINE.

I am not sure if I am a sheepdog or a warrior. I don’t know if any label fit me before or if any of them fit me now.

What I do know is that I no longer have to be taught to be ferocious.

I Have A Friend

I am on vacation with my family and I am not suppose to be on the blogs or FaceBook and pretty soon I will be too busy hanging with everywhere to be, but I got an email from a friend this morning and I wanted to share.

My friend, let’s call her Mary, forwarded me an email to a basic pistol course. I sent back a reply you should go since we had yet another bank robbery yesterday and a convicted murderer is running around town, envading the police.

She returned an email saying “where?”

Me- “our town” and said, “don’t you read the newspaper?”.

Her- “no, to depressing and scary”.

She looks up the info and says “interesting”.

I said, “yes, interesting in a girl needs to know how to protect herself kind of way”.

She recently lost 100lbs and she said, well when I was bigger I never worried about that, who wants to move that kind of weight, but now maybe I need to think about it.

My response was bad guys don’t think like that and your life has always had value.

Now to be fair, I think she was partially joking, but I think she was also partially serious.

Let me say this lady has always been beautiful and weight is not the determining factor for anybody.

But, lets be clear, rape and other crimes against women are not about beauty. They are acts of violance. They are committed by bad guys and all of us are at equal risk.

Regardless of size, we all matter equally. All of our lives are worth fighting for and defending.

The bad guy is looking for money, power, control, the thrill of harming, and how we look has nothing to do with it. He does not see you or me has a person with worth, so you and I darn well better.

You matter. Whatever your flaws or mine, whatever we think we maybe lacking, we are valuable and you better face the fact that world is ugly and if you don’t make up your mind to fight, you are at a higher risk. Not of being attacked, but of losing if you do.

There are lots of people who can help you prepare, but you have to look in the mirror and say, “Not today” “I am to valuable and you picked the wrong girl cuz, I will fight you til one of us is dead if I have to, but rest assured it’s not going to be me.”

I love you Mary and I hope you decide to fight.

LEO, LEO, Everywhere

We are traveling through Indiana and my husband is speeding right along, and since he was speeding, one of the state troopers pulled us over.

I am sure you all will be shocked to learn, I have never been pulled over and don’t have much experience with the police, so I was not happy with my man.

I did not need to worry.

The officer approached my side of the car, but did not come all the way up to the window. I rolled down my window, he peaked around the door frame, checked things out, then came up further and asked for license and registration and said we were going a bit to fast. 81mph to be exact.

He went back to his car and returned a few minutes later saying, no worries, just a warning, slow it down. He asked us where we were going, then said Have a Merry Christmas!

Hubby no longer in the dog house.

Merry Christmas

We are on the road, so I might not get to post much. I just wanted to say…

Many, many times this year…


I may have….
Disturbed You,
Troubled You,
Pestered You,
Irritated You,
Bugged You,
Or got on your Nerves!!
So today, as we enter the holiday season, I just wanted to tell you…

Suck it up, Cupcake!!
Cause there
AIN’T NO CHANGES
Planned for 2012

The Remora

A while back I saw this video and thought it was interesting.  I had never seen anything like it and it intrigued me, but I never thought to buy the holster because I was just starting out and in the beginning all I wanted to do was work with my one gun and one holster and becoming very, very comfortable with both.

My goal was self defense and my focus was working, daily with what I would be wearing all the time.  I wanted zero variation because at that time I was doubting not only my skill, but my ability to make good choices.

I was counting on muscle memory to kick in and I wanted to give it every advantage by always carrying the same gun, in the same holster and in the same place.

As, I got more comfortable I experimented a little with the Ruger LCP and the Chic Holster, but until recently, I have stuck to the Glock 27 in a Crossbreed.  Very happy with both, but a few weeks ago I read That Texas Lady’s review of the Remora No Clip Holster.  Reading her review I becoming very interested because she said she wore hers to the gym.

When I go to the gym, I am not armed and I don’t like it, so to have a holster that would give me the ability to carry, caught my interest. Her review was favorable, so I headed to their site to check them out.

The price was well within my budget, so I figured it was worth the risk the order one and see if it would work for me.

As with just about every single thing on this journey, it has been a series of trail and errors and learning from the choices I make.

Without thinking it through I ordered a holster to fit my Glock 27.  That is the gun I carry and so not thinking about the gym(you know the whole reason I was buying this holster) I hit buy.  In hindsight I probably should have bought the holster to fit my Ruger LCP because it is small and therefore more concealable in workout clothes.

Also, I bought the one that is designed with a reinforced top to make for easier reholstering.  Again, not really thinking that, that feature would add bulk in a place I am trying to be discrete.

Anyway, last week my package from Remora arrived and to my surprise it included their regular holster without the reinforced top and 3 magazine pouches.  One single and one double.  I have no idea why they included these extras, but there was a hand written note, so I know it was not a mistake. 

For the past several days I have been wearing both holsters, practicing my daily routine of drawing and dry firing with each one and also just wearing them as I go about my daily activities.

I don’t dry fire the holsters, but everyday I try to practice drawing from my holster and dry firing and various other things to improve my skills.  I have been wearing the Remora for these little sessions.

The holster with the reinforced mouth that keeps it open is great for this.  It does not move.  I pull and pull and out comes my gun, but the holster does not move.  I love that and reholstering is easy.  One handed, not looking, no issue.  Not really good for concealing in just a shirt or sweater.  too bulky for the kind of clothes I wear.  Now, it is winter, so under a jacket, of course, it’s not a problem.  I could hide a dead body under my coat.

The regular holster without the reinforced opening is very concealable.

Even with my Glock in workout clothes, it is very hard to detect anything is under there, let alone a gun.

Now, since I am a new, I did what I am used to doing.

What is it they say about experience?

I put on my holster, loaded it and tried to holster.  After about 2 seconds I stopped and was thought, I am going to blow my finger off trying to get this thing in this holster.  Literally, 2 seconds,  I did not fumble around for 10 minutes before I realized this was not a good plan.

Instead, I put the gun in the holster and then put the holster on.  This I love.  It is so easy to position this thing exactly where I want it and it is so easy to take off.

When I say on and off, it is more like placing it and removing it.  There is no clip. There is nothing to put on or take off.  Go watch the video and you will what I mean.

One thing I am not super fond of about the Crossbreed is that it is a pain to take off and forget about moving it.  That is good, of course, who wants a holster that moves around, but it can frustrate me from time to time.

Again, the more comfortable I have become with the holster and have learned exactly where I want to place it, that has become less and less of an issue, but still I very much enjoy the ease in which I can put on and  off the Remora.

I was hoping that I would not have to wear a belt with this holster.  I hate belts.  I think they are uncomfortable and they make me look chunky.  Add a big holster and a gun and now my world has just become a nightmare.  In addition to look lumpy, it seems like I can never have the hole in the place I need it.  Either the belt is to loose and therefore my pants sag to one side, or way to tight and I look and feel like I am about to explode. This I don’t like.   I have found 2 belts, just 2 that seem to work with most of my pants, but not all, so the idea of no belt made me very happy.

Unfortunately, for me, my shape and clothes, I still need to wear a belt.  It might be the size or weight of my gun, but my pants still seem to travel down if I don’t wear a belt.  The only exception to that is if I wear spandex.  It works fine if I am working out and I wear spandex under my running shorts.  Gun did not move, holster did not move.  I run fast.  I have long legs and I still didn’t have an issue.

Traditionally, I do not carry a spare magazine on my body unless I am at the range and I need for training; however, since they sent me some, I tried them out…love them!

So, so comfortable and they disappear on me.  I don’t even know I am wearing one.  I am sitting at the computer with my Glock in the Remora(not reinforced mouth) on my left hip and the single magazine pouch on my left.  I honestly can not feel either one of them.

I did discover that if I chose to wear the magazine pouch on my other hip, that enough tension is created for me to not have to wear a belt, but that is only in jeans and spandex.  It didn’t work with my comfy sweat type pants or dress pants.

I am actually glad that I didn’t buy the holster for the Ruger LCP.   I am not a big fan of that gun to carry, so I rarely do and the way these holsters are made, I can conceal the Glock no problem.

I am really happy with this purchase.  It fulfilled the need for which I bought it at a very affordable price plus I discovered a few other things like magazine carry in my day to day life.

Remember I am not a holster reviewer.  I am only sharing my experience with this holster as it pertains to my real everyday use of it, like everything else on this blog.

If you are looking for specs and hard core details go back to Lima Life’s You Tube video or Falia Photography’s  You Tube page.

Woman With Her Gun-

Here are 2 stories of women who have come to hand guns in different ways.


I think you will enjoy reading about them.


The first one can be found at My First Time Part 1 and My First Time Part 2

The story below is from a lady who follows my blog. We have been emailing back and forth for a few weeks and I think she is one neat gal, so I asked her to share her story…

 
My “gun” story.  That sounds rather ominous, doesn’t it? LOL  There is not a LOT to my story really, no close call with danger, no epiphany on personal safety, just a spouse that started going to a range and a wife wanting to join in.

I grew up in a hunting family.  Guns were not something that was viewed as “taboo” in my home, but I really had no interest in them.  I remember shooting one of my dad’s rifles when I was about 10 and it leaving a big bruise on my shoulder. LOL  

Fast forward many years and now I am a wife and mother.  DH was a semi-regular hunter with rifles and a couple handguns locked away at his mother’s house.  They were kept there most of the time since she had a cabinet with a lock and we did not.  I was never anti-gun or even squeamish to have them in the house with kids, because we always taught our kids that guns were NOT toys and to respect them.  We just never had the room at our old townhouse to safely store them at the time.

After moving out to a more rural area, where we had a larger home with some land, DH started hunting more with our neighbor.  Started hunting with a bow and really embracing a more “outdoor” lifestyle.  So, when DH decided to start going to the local range in the spring of 2011, we eventually all went with him.  I became pretty proficient with a 22, but never really liked any of his 9mm’s.  I just was not comfortable with them.  I did not like the way they handled for me.  After months of trying out different guns, which included the new Glock 19 my DH purchased for himself, I finally found my Springfield Armory XDm 9mm.

That was in August of this year (2011), since DH wanted me to get my CCP.  I told him that I needed a gun that I felt comfortable with, if I was going to carry it around from protection.  So… I am now the proud owner of my own handgun and a conceal carry permit.

That is my story.  I am just your average mom who is proud to exercise her 2nd Amendment right to carry the means for personal protection, almost, every where I go.  (The places I can not carry are for a whole post of its own. LOL)

Anyone feel like explainIng

Single Action ans double action to me?

Every time I think I understand it, I don’t. I have read and read and still not getting it.

I am going to use basic term here because that’s all I know.

I thought single action meant the gun did one thing, and I did two. Like a revolver that I had to cock and then pull the trigger, but double action meant that with a single motion of pulling the trigger the gun could both fire the shot and cock the hammer.

However, I often hear people say SAO on a gun that all I am doing is pulling the trigger.

I do not know why this concept is so hard for me. It does not seem to confuse anyone else, but, I am special that way.

After My Day At The Range, I Am DONE With Guns!

Ok, not really.  Just trying to get your attention:)

In fact, while at the range today with Newbius , he asked me how I like the XDm, that I had just finished shooting and I said I “l LOVE IT” and he said, “I think that is just your default response to any and all guns you shoot.”

Ha, yes it is!!

I just love, love, love them ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

Let me start at the beginning.

A few days ago Newbius left a comment on one of my posts saying he would be willing to meet up with me and let me shoot the guns he has, thinking that might help me make my choice on a new carry gun.

I got a little giddy as I read his comment and I emailed him right away.  A little back and forth and today I met him at our range.

First, let me say, I was nervous.  Why, you might ask.

Well, cuz that is what I do.  I get nervous.  What I don’t do is email people or meet people or go places by myself.  My husband has always been my safety net/buffer, so if he doesn’t email, call, text and go with me, I don’t go.

I am not shy.   I just am not assertive and I don’t make the first move. 

I have been making great strides in this area, like when I got myself dressed and headed to the rescue mission for Robbie where I didn’t know a single person and without a clue of where I was going or what I was doing.

These are the intangibles that training with a gun have given me.  It’s not just that I carry a gun and know how to use it, it is the confidence that comes from facing a fear and over coming it.  There is a freedom of spirit that comes with that kind of self courage and I crave it now.

I am sure everyone here knows what I mean by that.  I certainly do not mean being reckless and disregarding the warning signs.  Fear can be a very valuable tool to alert us that something is not right and nudges us by saying lets pay attention here.  I am not talking about ignoring that.

Anyway, the time that Newbius could meet did not work for my husband, but without much thought, I knew I was going.

I am so glad I did.  He is truly a gentleman and he was very kind to me.

The guy brought 500 rounds of .45 ammo and he just let me play and play.  He gave me helpful hints and suggestions and he was very encouraging.  And even though I tried, he would not accept a penny.  That is fine by me because it just means we have to go again and next time I can pay.

Lets get to the good stuff.

I shot his XDm 4.5″ .45 first.

Do I even have to say it…I was nervous which led me to anticipate a bit which may have led my shot to be just a b-it outside.

I actually am not an anticipator and never have been, but today I was.   Fortunately, after a few rounds, I relaxed and did much better.

I was so surprised that the recoil appeared to be less than my Glock .40.  Well, not less, but different.  I have never understood what people’s problem with the .40 caliber is until today.

Since he was trying to help me make a decision on guns, after I shot for a while, he suggested I shoot my Glock then the XDM, then the Glock and then the XDM.  Just to compare recoil and check accuracy, that kind of thing.

I have never felt a sting when shooting my Glock before.  Today my gun felt different when I shot it.  After shooting the .45, I felt more of a snap kind of recoil with my .40.  I was starting to understand what JD was saying about the difference is calibers.

He also let me shoot his wife’s 1911 and even though it was also a .45 it felt different to shoot.  It was heavier to me and I felt more of the recoil, but it didn’t bother me.  I was not accurate with this gun, at all.

I am blaming the sites.

Actually, he said one of the reasons he brought the gun was to check out the sites and he felt they were off to, so I am going to go with that.

I took pictures of both of those guns, but with the lighting the pictures didn’t turn out, but the pictures of the targets did.

We both shot at this target with different guns and different distances. The grouping off to the left side is mine.  I was actually aiming there. I was shooting the XDm at 7 yards.

This is the bad guy target.  This is all 3 guns at different distances too, but I was pretty impressed with this over all.  I shot with 2 guns I had never shot before using a caliber I had never shot and he had me do a lot of different things, like a rapid fire of an entire magazine.  Every single shot was on the bad guy.  Not one outside the body.  I did shoot his arm once, but hey, I was trying to get the gun out of his hand before I blew his head off.  I like to challenge myself a little.

One of the neatest things we did was shoot a paper plate.  I had never done that and that was cool.  Newbius said it is a great target to use with new shooters because they don’t have the fear that comes with shooting something that looks like a person or the stress of trying to hit the bulls eye.  If they hit the plate at all, they feel  successful, which, of course they are.

Heck, I think if you can get them to the range and they shoot the gun even if they don’t hit anything, that is a success and a very big step in the right direction.

I loved the plate so much I kept it. I will absolutely use that strategy the next time I take a new shooter to the range.

The other thing I did for the first time was shoot at 25 yards.

Not, so good and I can’t even blame the sites.  It was just hard for me to see.  He stood behind me and said 9’oclock, or just outside the circle.  I tried to make that compensation even though I couldn’t see, but lets just say, significant work needs to be made in this area.

I had a blast!  I met a very fine person, learned a ton and shot and shot and shot.

Can not ask for a better day!!

Thank you so much Newbius!  You are awesome!!

Real Quick

Today, Newbius invited me to the range.  I really don’t have words to explain how crazy fun it was, but since this is a blog about guns, I will sure as heck try to find them, but I have this crazy day, so not now, but soon,

However, I wanted to take a quick second to say, that apparently I have been a bit neive in my internet interactions(you would think with the extent to which I go to protect and prepare myself, I would have though this through) and in the past two days have had things happen that made me have decided to be a bit more annomous then I have been.

I realize that I have made some mistakes that might be hard to pull back, but I did remove some comments, some posts and some pictures.  If you read a post that seems like it should have a picture, but doesn’t, it is because I took it down.  I hope to be able to edit those and get them back up, but it wont be before January.

One more quick thing, if you happen to know my real name, please do not use it on this blog or my FB page and please help me by speaking of where I live in much more generic terms, ie the state of Virginia and not much beyond.

I have no intention of living in fear, but there are certainly things I can do, to add another layer of awareness and protection.

Thanks for your help in this.

I Must Have Been A Very Good Girl This Year

We are having a unique Christmas this year and it required us to open our gifts before the 25th.  Of course, Santa will still be visiting, but all other gifts were opened up this past Saturday.

This is what I got…

 A range bag.  This is large and I have no clue what some of the compartments are for, but I am looking forward to figuring it out.

This is my Bug Out Bag!! I think this is awesome.  I have wanted one for a few months now which is funny because I honest to goodness, I had never ever heard this term before.  I think I saw a video Lima did when I very first started on this journey and I kept saying what is she talking about.  I asked my husband, who laughed and explained.  Then I laughed and said, all you people are paranoid…lol  Now, I am kind of obsessed with getting myself and my family prepared for whatever may lie ahead.

I have been looking for a while for the right backpack to fit my needs and just haven’t liked anything out there.  When I went on the search and rescue team for little Robbie, I took my husband’s backpack.  His backpack is actually for a computer, but I love it because the straps have so much cushion on them, no matter how full I fill that thing, it is comfy on my shoulders.  Plus, it has every kind of pocket imaginable and for what I carried during that time, it worked great.  I didn’t want to us it for a Bug Out Bag though because I wanted to be able to use it for daily things.  Not that I use it daily, but I want my BOB to be stocked and ready to go, not something I pack and unpack.

The bag that my husband found is actually another computer bag and it’s perfect.  It is currently empty, but again, I am looking forward to it filling it up.

 Love this book.  Already have like 3 posts I want to write about it.

 Speed loader.  It is probably one of the first purchases most new shooters buy, but I am a bit of an odd duck.  I like cleaning my gun and I like loading my magazines by hand.  It doesn’t hurt my fingers and the time doesn’t bother me, except for when I am training and or my hands are cold.  This will help a lot for those times.

This is my favorite gift!!

My husband got me these things, I think to just make sure I remember I am a girl.  He likes that about me.

My kids got me this because they think it is fun to annoy me:)

All and all a pretty good year for me!

Hope all of you have a very safe and Merry Christmas!!