Intermittant posts for the near future.

Hi everyone.

I hope you are all ready for the upcoming holidays. I am. My family had agreed several years ago to only give presents to the kids because of financial issues. This was back to just before the recession was hitting. I have the presents all done with the exception of Morgan. I haven't gotten his yet. I am waiting to see if I can find a better deal on Black Friday, yep I am actually going to brave the madness of the masses and search for a deal. If there is nothing to be had then I will go with the original choice. Teenagers are expensive with their gadgets and I am giving them one big one this year for each of them instead of a bunch of little things.

Example of a boat in the parade

For Thanksgiving this year I am alone because of work. My sis is going to be in Hawaii, the brat, with her family. My mom will be in California celebrating with grandma for the last time in her house since it is for sale. Will be sad to see it go. We have spent many family celebrations in that home for many years and have tons of memories there. Plus having it so close to the beach was convenient for all of us to use for family vacations. If you are in the area, go to Newport Beach/Balboa Island for the Christmas boat parade. It is a sight to see, I have many awesome memories of them growing up. My brother's family will also be there. Should be a fun gathering for grandma. Dad's family will be at his ranch in Reno. He has a big spread there, which I have yet to go see, and all of his family get together for a big dinner there. Yeah, I am a naughty daughter and haven't made time to go check out the place. Need to do that soon. Should make that one of my new year's resolutions.

Bootcamp graduation

Max is currently in training again. He will be shipping back to Afghanistan again. I am not happy but he is a Marine and must go where he is needed. I haven't seen him since he graduated boot camp. He was supposed to come home for Christmas but that has been cancelled. They moved up the date his unit ships out. I figure I won't be seeing him till he comes home, which will be at least a year from now. Guess I know what to wish for on new years.




As for the posts, I will be intermittent in posting because I am finishing up on a project that I have been working on since my surgery. I will tell you all about it when it is done. Between the holidays coming up, work, and the project I just wanted to ask you to be patient and not forget about me.

100th Post

I never believed I could come up with enough stuff to write 100 posts. Much less have 21 one followers so far. I extend a heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you for following my stories and for all of your comments and support.


How do you celebrate such a milestone......


This way?

Nah!!!!!!!!


This way????

Nope...


This way??????

Not really.

Maybe just this.....

...................jumping for joy at the accomplishment.

Just a simple thanks to you all for listening to my rants, raves, laughter, joy, sadness, and reflections. It has been a crazy year since I started my blog on October 20th. Wonder what the next 100 posts will bring?

My little girl.

My youngest and only girl, Nicole just turned 14. I can't believe how much she has grown. The kids are growing up way to fast. It seemed like yesterday when I was sitting in a hospital bed with my first son in my arms. My how time flies.

A friend just discovered she is pregnant, not planned, with twins and it got me thinking about my pregnancy with Nicole. My daughter was an ooopsie. She was a waaaayyyy biggg oooopsie. I had been having problems and the doc said it was just hormones. We were insured with Kaiser at the time and so I didn't have a regular doc. The next time I went to see a doc was months later, which was a different one, I told him I was still having issues. We went thru the same questions and he decided to run some lab work.

He came back and sat down with a smile "Well, the good news is that you are pregnant."

"What!!!! Oh crap. Okay."

"Ok, lets check and see what is going on and how far along you are."

"Well I have good news and bad news."

What is he talking about now? "Okay, what is it."

"Good news is your pregnant and already 4 1/2 months along. So your halfway done. Bad news is that you need to be on bed rest."

"WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What do you mean bed rest. 4 1/2 months along. But. But. But I have 3 boys running amok at home. I. but. I. Huh. Bed. No. I can't. How did this happen?"

"I don't know. Mistakes happen and somehow you tested negative when you were last seen. Now we need to send you down immediately for an ultrasound to see how the baby is and see what is causing your problems."

I went for the ultrasound and when she asked if I wanted to know the sex of the baby I thought for a moment and decided yes. For all three of the boys I never knew what they were until the day they were born. Because of the conversation with the doc and his warning that I may not go to full term with the pregnancy based on the symptoms I had I wanted to know what it was. She said it was a girl and I asked her 3 times to make sure. I didn't believe it since I had 3 boys and had always wanted a little girl. Plus my sis had been told her baby was a girl and was surprised in the delivery room to see a boy.

Back in the doc's office again we went over the results of the ultrasound and it was worse than he expected. It was going to be in a battle to stay pregnant. He was surprised that I hadn't miscarried or hemorrhaged already. I left the office in a daze and was wondering how I was going to break the news to my then husband. Needless to say he wasn't very happy. The bed rest was torture. Back then we didn't have internet. Just books, VHS movies, and TV. If you want to drive a person insane that is one way to do it. I hated it but knew it was needed. We lived almost an hour away from the hospital and doctors office and I spent tons of time driving back and forth for frequent ultrasounds and checkups to make sure she was okay. We scheduled for her to be delivered on Sept. 6th. I could have had her on my birthday a few days later but I wanted her to have her own birthday. She was delivered cold turkey with no drugs, not by my choice, since she came so quickly after they started induction. That was pure hell and I give kudos to any woman who does it.

She was one hard earned bundle of joy.

Nicole on the Right

Never Forget

Never forget what we have lost.

 

Never forget what we are fighting for.

Never forget what we have.

photos courtesy of: kymtnrebel,webshots,sodahead,natureofthemind.

Memories of old calls.

I was reading some old posts of Schmoe, and it got me remebering some old calls that I have gone on. So I figured I would regale you with some of them over the next couple of days.

It is late afternoon and we are just sitting down to dinner at the station when we get a call for assistance across town. It is not a regular dispatch call but one called in by a captain. Looking down at the Italian feast that was prepared by the best cook in the station my stomach grumbled, bummed that it was going to miss that meal. Off we went to find out what surprise was in store for us since there was no information other than the address.

We pulled up to a 7-11 store with an engine parked in front. Sitting in a wheelchair was an obvious transient in a hospital gown. Even more quirky was the fact that there was a hospital across the street. Yep, this was going to be interesting.

My partner and I knew the captain of the engine and he explained the situation and after transferring paperwork information they went back into service and left for another call. My partner, Lucy, and I started talking to the guy to get his story and figure out what to do with him.

Mr. Bob: They kicked me out.

Lucy: Why?

Mr. Bob: Because they don't like me.

Lucy: Well, why would they not like you.

Mr. Bob: I don't know.

After 15 minutes of conversation we figure out there is much more to the story than what we are being told so Lucy takes off to the side of the building while I continue talking to Mr. Bob to keep him distracted and get more clues. She calls the hospital across the street for more information and gets the real story. He was discharged because he refused treatment. This turns out to be a psych call. Because he has some existing medical issues, I decide after checking him out, he should go to county and not with the local psych services.

Me: Well Mr. Bob we are going to take you to another hospital. Is that okay with you?

Mr Bob: Okay. As long as it is not County. I don't like county and I don't want to go there.

He started getting all agitated, ranting and raving about county hospital. Oh crap. We can't take him to anywhere else other than county. Then I take a chance and tell an itty bitty white lie after I calm him down.

Me: Okay, Mr. Bob. We will take you to XY hospital instead of county hospital. Is that okay with you?

Mr Bob: Okay.

I get up and hustle around the corner and warn Lucy to what I have just done. XY hospital is the actual name of county hospital. I told her what Mr. Bob said and to not say county around him at all or he will go nuts and refuse to go. We can't blow our only chance to get him off the streets.

After some more calls and getting things set up we call up a rescue unit to come transport him to county. We are a specialty unit and because of his medical and mental issues we are not allowed to transport him. When the guys show up I pull them aside and quickly give them the warning about not saying the word county and that he may freak out in the ambulance when they get to the hospital if he recognizes it. They looked confused but didn't question it, just got Mr. Bob loaded up and said see ya there. The guys were awesome and could have grumbled about the problem we were dumping on them but didn't.

County hospital is across town from where we were and on the way we were taking bets on if he would freak out or not. Surprisingly enough when we pulled up the paramedics already had him inside and Mr. Bob was sitting there happy as a clam. I talked to him some more and asked him to promise me to do what the nurses told him to do. After some grumbling he promised me to behave and do what he was told.

We spent quite a while there with paperwork, talking with the nurses, and setting up things with social services. I hope Mr. Bob behaved and got the care he needed.

As much as I love the job there are times I wish I could follow through and other times I am glad we are finished and off to other calls...

Life is busy when you have two teenagers!



Morgan at 4yrs. old

 
I have been a busy bee. Had the kids over for a short vacation. They were only able to visit for a week because of track, camp, football pratice, and other plans for the summer. I hated only having a short time with them but I enjoyed every minute of it.

Nicole at 3 yrs. old

I have slowly realized that having teenagers is sooooo different then kids. They are harder to please and only expensive electronics keep them happy. I had ordered a new Xbox 360 from a discount warehouse only to receive it the same day they left. Bummer since I had gotten it for them to enjoy when they were here. They did have fun but spent more time online facebooking and texting friends than swimming in the pool. When they were younger I had to bribe them to get them out of the pool.

16 and 6'4" tall already!

A couple of friends of theirs had moved away to another complex and after a lot of pleading and begging I let them go over to visit and stay overnight. They promised to come back the next morning since it would be our last day together but I was a nice Mama and let them spend the day there so they could spend more time with their friends. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices to make our kids happy. If it made them happy than I was willing to do that for them despite my missing time with them.

14 already! Geeze, I'm
gonna have to buy a shotgun soon!

During the last month or so I have been working on a project. I have now finished the first part of it and sighed in relief when it was done. It was a labor of love and I am nervous as to the response to it. It will update the blog and let you know more details as I get further along.




Figured I would keep you all guessing as to what it is.

Sunday's Army Wives episode

Years ago I got hooked on watching the series Army Wives. Over the next couple of years I watched it and Max would give me a hard time about it. I kept telling him to just watch it and he would love it to. Finally one day he was bored and watched it with me. I asked him what he thought and he said it was ok. The next weekend he watched it again. I asked him why he was watching it with me and he said that he was bored. After the third time of him watching it with me I accused him of being hooked on it. He flatly denied it. I wasn't easily fooled. When the series ended for the season he asked me when it would be on again. Ah ha, you are so totally busted dude. After giving him a hard time he admitted that he was hooked on it. It became a Sunday tradition of us watching it together.


When he came home on leave after bootcamp the first thing he asked me was did I remember to record the show. When he had finished all of his visiting with relatives and friends we sat down one night and watched all of the episodes that he missed. It was just the two of us and it was like old times with us laughing and enjoying the show.


When Max left for Afghanistan I promised to send him DVD's of the show so he could have something to watch during downtime and he wouldn't miss it. He flatly told me not to. He didn't want anyone in his unit to know that he was hooked on the show and was embarrassed about it. I promised him that if he had them watch the show with him then they would get hooked on it too and watch it with him. I haven't sent any yet and it will be interesting to see what happens.


Megan, Max's girlfriend, had been giving him a hard time about watching the show. She would constantly goad him every Sunday when he would stay home and watch it with me. He kept telling her to watch it but she never did. Finally, one day a week ago she was bored and watched some episodes on Netflix. She texted me later and said that she was sorry about giving Max a hard time and she was totally hooked on it. Can't wait till Max hears about this. He will be razzing her for ages.


This Sunday's episode hit a bit too close to home. It stirred up feelings and emotions with Max being in Afghanistan. I have lost a few friends there and it brought back memories of them. Plus my emotions being in chaos lately didn't help.

NAS Alameda 1985-87

In thinking about the past the fondest memory I have is at Alameda,Ca during the 1985/87 years. I would hang out at the beach and base EM club every weekend. I made tons of friends but to this day can't remember their names. Most went by nicknames, like Sarge or Gerber Baby, or last names. I remember faces though. Go figure.

I made friends with the marines when I met them on the beach one day when my friends and I were hanging out there. Of course being young, single, and skinny as a rail helped. My mother and I eventually got a condo on Shoreline Drive. Our place, The Willows, was on the main drag and had a view of San Francisco and the beach. When we moved in I had several Marine buddies help us move and they only wanted the payment of beer and pizza for the help. Cheap labor, not quite. Those guys could drink and eat a ton....



Club today.


We partied and had a ton of fun. We would be able to flirt our way on the base to go to the club and have one of the guy's escort us inside the club. Shhhh, don't tell anyone. Everyone knew my friends and I because my white camaro was well known. I would also sometime drive there on a motorscooter. Miniskirt, heels and all. The guys loved it.

"Mom" and "Pop" were the two main people that ran the place and even though they came across as tough they loved the guys and wanted everyone to have a great time. Mom was even famous for her chili that she would make special for some of the guys. There was a section of the club just for the Marines and the rest for the navy and other guys. Of course I hung out with the marines because they were the most fun. Before the DJ started we would go upstairs and play pool for free drinks. I was a pretty good pool player then so I never had to buy anything.

I went the Marine Corps Ball in 1986 that was held in Jack London Square. It was a blast and I had so much fun dancing and hanging out with my friends. I don't have any pictures but I found this one. I am the one on the far right of the picture. In typical 80's fashion I had the brown permed hair with the off the shoulder black dress.

I saw the filming of the movie "The Principal" with James Belushi at a local bar. That was a big thing then and if you watch the movie the bar scene was filmed there. I got to see him but didn't get to meet him in person. I wonder if the bar is still there.

I think of the days cruising the main drag, going to Tillie's for a midnight meal, hitting Taco Bell after the club closed, dancing for hours, parties in a hotel room, a quiet town when the ships were out, a noisy lively town when the ships were in, diving out the barracks window when patrol came around (no girls allowed), and generally a fun time in life. I miss it.


I would love to find the guys again and see what they are up to. I heard that there is a reunion planned for those stationed there during then but of course since I wasn't active duty I can't go.

Effects of having too much time on my hands.

I actually went out for a short venture today. I needed to take out the trash before it got over my weight limit (only allowed to carry 5 pounds) and decided to go out on a drive.

Megan, Max's girlfriend stopped by the other day with one of the kids that she babysits. We talked about things and one of them was ice cream. I have been craving ice cream since then and decided to go treat myself. I dumped the trash and then headed down the road to Baskin Robbins. I got a quart of chocolate/peanut butter ice cream and while waiting in line I saw some bubblegum ice cream. I think it has been at least 30 years since I had that stuff. On a whim I decided to get a child's cup of it for fun. It tasted funky but brought back memories.



Lately with so much time on my hands I had been having strange mood swings. Don't know were it is coming from but it is strange. I am suddenly missing Max terribly and I have been thinking about life that I have lived and what I was thinking about how my life would go when I was younger.




When I was 18 I figured that I would end up marrying a Marine because I loved a man in uniform and hung out with them more than the other branches at the base. Before you ask, I tried to steer Max away from the Marines but he wouldn't have it. It was either Firefighting or Marines. The economy tanked and with no firefighting jobs for a while it was choice number 2.

I figured that I would eventually marry, see the world to a point, have a bunch of kids, and be happy at home with the kids and working to have the extras since military pay sucked back then. Where I ended up is no where even close to where I thought I would be. Don't get me wrong I love my kids and wouldn't change a thing when it comes to them. As for everything else, I would have wanted a different out-come.





Megan and her nephews


When Max said that he wanted to get married I was hesitant. Not because I don't approve of Megan, I love her, but because I wanted him to go and experience life with the freedom of being young and single. In short, sow his wild oats. You are able to do so many things and have a type of freedom before life's handcuffs get you with responsibilities. Basically didn't want him to be my age and regret anything. I married much younger that I was expecting and before I knew it had kids and the typical responsibilities. I don't regret the kids, just regret that I didn't get to achieve the things I wanted to do before marriage and kids came along.
That's what I get for a shotgun wedding.

I recently got back in touch with an old boyfriend. We talked for ages and got caught up with everything our kids are doing now and how we are not where we thought we would be now in our life. Got me thinking about the people I dated back when I was younger and where they are now.

Have you ever looked really deeply into the life you lived and if you are happy with it now. I am doing that and even though I am happy in general I am not happy with where I am in life now. I think this calls for some major changes and I am not sure how to do that. Financial responsibilities being the major consideration and roadblock. Plus where would I go and what would I do. Wish I could go back in time and redo some things.

If you have had the same feelings what did you do about it???????????

Chocolate Heaven

I spent the day doing errands and ended my day with a trip to a special store. It is Cerreta Candy Company in Glendale, Az. I haven't been there in ages but I needed to bulk up my chocolate stash for next week.

I love chocolate and this is by far the best stuff I have had since I was a kid. The only thing that even comes close to it is some mint candy that was sold in Hallmark stores. I don't remember the name but it was yummy. The other one is fudge made in Solvang, CA. My family is Danish and we would go there every year for
Danish days.

I needed to get a stash made up because I know that I am going to have an ugly time next week and needed something to smoooooooooth out the edges. Nothing does that better than some oh so yummy chocolate.

When you walk in the door you are hit with the wonderful smell of chocolate. Think of a mini-version of Willy Wonka's factory. They have tons of different kinds of candy, popcorn, cactus candy, and on, and on. They also have tours to show how they make their candy. The kids love the tours. Glendale also hosts a Chocolate Lovers festival. I seem to miss it every year but hope to attend this year.

I stroll through the bins looking at all of the choices. So hard to just pick some instead of everything. I also notice new stuff that they carry from local merchants like chocolate covered jalapeno peppers. Ah, not my thing.

So I restrained myself and only got 1 bag full of goodies. See the pic. The best ones are the green ones. Smooth, melt in your mouth, minty goodness. Of course I had to test a few of them out on the way home.

So if you are ever in the Glendale, Az area go check it out. Forget about that diet, it is soooooo worth it! 

Jealous????? You betcha.

Jealousy, the green eyed monster is back. I haven't seen him in ages and wasn't sure if what I was feeling was him or some heartburn starting. I was catching up on facebook since I haven't been on there in ages and I read a post from Max to his girlfriend about his upcoming leave (vacation). His unit is taking a break and going to Okinawa for a couple of months to replace some members injured during an IED attack. He is taking leave during that time before they go back to Afghanistan.

While reading the posts I saw a message from Max to his girlfriend about him looking forward to seeing her. I wrote a note about it and found out she is going to Okinawa to see him. I had a funny feeling in my chest and wasn't sure what it was at first. Then memories slowly started to kick in and I realized I was actually jealous. I am a pretty easygoing person so being jealous was a feeling that I haven't had in ages.

One, I didn't even know about the trip and had to read in on Facebook of all places. Two, I love to travel and have only been overseas once on a cruise. That was just a western carribean cruise and since I was on a cruise ship and my passport is still empty I don't think it really qualifies. Three, I am not going to get to see him for a year since he is taking leave there and not coming home.


I have tried to plan a couple of trips but life kept getting in the way. For example, I was going to meet a boyfriend in Paris for New Years 2000 but because of the Y2K hype everyone at my hospital was banned from taking vacation from Thanksgiving to February. I seriously considered quitting just so I wouldn't miss a once in a lifetime opportunity. Someday I will get that darned passport filled.

So what do I do with this monster. I haven't dealt with him in ages and not sure what to do. Strange, weird, and not a good thing.......

Mom's Cooking.

When mom visited me on Friday we got to talking about different things I ate when I was younger. Her favorite thing to serve us during the summer was pita bread with alfalfa sprouts, avocados, and just a sprinkle of onion salt. Yummy. Sometimes we would even have a piece of bread with avocados spread on it and the onion salt. It was simple but yummy. Thinking about it now, I haven't had it since I went out on my own. I think I will try to get some and have it again.

My mom was an interesting cook when I was growing up. She liked to try new things and sometimes it didn't turn out so well. There were lots of nights when we would end up eating PB & J sandwiches. But it was funny to see what she made and we got to experience some pretty unique food.


One of her disasters was Beef Tongue. Ewwww!!!! When I saw that on the butcher block I ran to the phone and was calling all my friends to try and get a dinner invitation because it looked creepy and icky. No such luck!

It was a very long dinner because it took all of us kids forever to choke that stuff down. Tough, chewy, and no flavor. Today my friends tell me it really is good and she probably didn't cook it right. Well, no thanks. I will stick with regular meat cuts.


Another thing my mom taught us was table manners and how to eat in different settings. One of those lessons was how to eat a formal dinner. She showed us all the different place settings and what all the different silverware pieces were for. This paid off one day when I went to the Marine Corps Ball.

Here I am at a table with a bunch of Marine buddies and their girlfriends. They were looking at all of the different silverware and looking mighty confused. It was funny seeing a large marine holding a tiny escargot fork with a puzzled look on his face. I told him that it was for the snails that they would be serving for appetizers. Now mind you these are big burly, macho Marines dripping with testosterone. ALL of them had a scared look on their faces. It was too funny. They never served it, but I wish they had. It would have been priceless seeing them try to eat that. I don't like them.

I spent the night teaching them what each one was for and it led to stories of dinner with mom and her lessons.

Being a Marine Mom

Early this morning (3 am) the phone rings and I ran to get it because I knew of only one person who would be calling me at that ungodly hour. My son, who is a Marine, was calling from Afghanistan. He just graduated from boot-camp in June and is already in country. He was calling to let me know that he finally made it after a very long journey compiled of some long plane trips, a boat ride, and another long plane ride. He said that he is still in shock over the jet lag and the culture shock of being there. He knew what it would be like from talking with my friends and his recruiter, who had become a close friend, but was still not prepared for the reality of it. He said that the desert gave him a welcoming party in the form of a huge dust storm. Talk about getting a rude awakening..

It was surreal talking with him and picturing him in my mind still as the baby that I fought so hard for. Not long after he was born he contracted a long term illness and was in and out of hospitals for over a year. We almost lost him a couple of times. I stayed with him in the hospital day and night and would only go home every other day to shower and get a change of clothes. I became an expert in sink showers and sleeping in a recliner.

Later when I got divorced the kids would go back and forth between their dad's house and mine. When I moved to Arizona the kids decided that they wanted to stay with their dad because of their friends. I hated not having them with me but my primary goal was whatever made them happy despite my feelings.

Later on Max got into the usual teenage troubles. One day his dad called me and said "I am done. He is your problem now. He will be at the airport tomorrow morning" WHAT???? Well I was shocked and not at all prepared for that. I picked up at the airport a VERY ANGRY teenager. He and I fought and darn near killed each other the first year. I just kept thinking somewhere in there is that sweet boy that I raised. After a couple of wake-up calls he changed into a wonderful son. He made up his classes he failed and went to online school to get extra credits. He ended up graduating early from school and enlisted into the Marines. We fought about that to but I knew that his happiness came first despite my wanting to protect him.

We became best buds and went on many road trips together. We had tons of laughs and I made him try new things. I have so many fond memories like the time his eyes bugged out when he saw firecrackers for sale in New Mexico. He was like a kid again. Yes, we bought some and he had a ball setting them off in an empty field. The first road trip without him was hard. Way to quiet and I kept remembering our trips together.

It was actually harder for me than I expected when he left overseas because all through training and boot-camp he was still close enough that I could bail him out if he got into trouble. There I have to leave him to the care of his Master Sergeant. Talk about feeling helpless.

We talked so much about everything and he was unsure about a lot of things. By then end of the phone call he was feeling much better.

Guess he still needs his Mama...:-)