Fallen Marine

October 1st 2006, I can remember it like it was yesterday. It was just over a month into our unit's deployment to Iraq. I got a call from the Key Volunteer Coordinator, Christina Zupich on Sunday evening. Her first words were, we lost our 1st Marine. It was her duty to inform all the Key Volunteers so we could pass it on to the families before they heard it from the news media. My heart dropped and my selfish reaction was to ask if my son was ok. She assured me he was.

It was the most difficult phone call I had ever had to make to my families. I have never had to pass on this type of information before and thankfully I never had to repeat it.

I was so sad and so proud to be able to attend this brave Marine's funeral. He will always be my Hero.

Feeling Fit

Week 8 since I quit smoking. It is getting much easier, but I noticed the pounds stating to creep up on me. At 5'2 I can't afford to gain anymore weight. I decide last week to walk a little each evening, and to switch from diet coke to iced tea. My goal was 30 minutes a night after supper. I found that after I walked, I didn't have cravings for sweets in the evening. Last week I walked every evening for 30 to 35 minutes on the Clay High School track. Saturday I up it to 45 minutes, and over an hour on Sunday. I have dropped about 5 lbs. I am beginning to feel better. My breathing has improved enough that I was able to run for a short distance on Sunday. 2 months ago I wouldn't have even attempted to try to run. I am hoping by this time next year I will be healthy and fit. I have 2 years until my 50 birthday. I guess it is time to take my health seriously. No more living life like a kid......

Breaking Up is Hard to Do..........

It is always sad to see the summer come to an end. The first sign of the winter to come, is when I have to throw away my hanging plants. This picture show just how lovely they were mid-summer. Last Thursday I decided it was time. They were dying fast, only a few small flowers left on them. I had to force myself to take them down and place them with the Friday trash pick up.

My potted plants and the flowers in my flower bed are still doing well. Maybe if we have an Indian summer they will last another month.

JT piled his new toys up around him. He wanted me to take his picture. Being the second grandchild I don't have as many pictures of him hanging in my house, as I do of Mercy. He will come in and point to a picture of Mercy when she was a baby and say it is him. I have done better. I have more pictures of him out on display.

Mercy on the other hand, I have to beg her to pose NICE for grandma. Then I have to tell her to smile and show some teeth. She had a camera in her face all the time after she was born and is VERY tired of having her picture taken. She had to dress herself on this morning, and in this picture she has her shirt inside out. She would not let me fix it.

Louie and I had such a nice time Saturday night. Sam (1st Sgt., retired) and his wife Tammy invited us to the retirement party for Mike Rohans and Nano Santos and Dave Zupich. They are all retiring from the Marine Corp. We had dinner at the Matzitlan Mexican Resraurant. Then we went to the Clay Democratic Club to watch my friend Patty's husband' band play and have a few more drinks. We all had a very nice evening, and have promised to do it more often, not just retirement parties.

WALL-E

I have not seen the Disney movie Wall-E, but my grandson has. This is his favorite thing now. I bought him a Wall-E comforter and sheet set last month. He was so happy, he kept saying, Wall-E, Wall-E, Wall-E. Since he was still working on his potty training, and had some accidents at night, his mom told him that Wall-E doesn't like to be peed on. He has not wet his bed since that day. Last weekend the kids spent the night with me. I took them to Toys-R-Us. JT saw the Wall-E display of toys and went wild. He had to get a Wall-E figure, but also wanted an Eve toy figure. She is the egg looking thingy. They only had a $40 remote control Eve. I was not going to spend $40. I ended up at the Disney store and was able get him an Eve to go with his Wall-E. He also got a Wall-E plush pillow for his bed. Not to mention 2 DVD's of cartoons.and a Lighting McQueen car. Mercy was not left out. It was an expensive weekend. Glad I only have twoe grandkids. I don't think I can afford any more.

Born control her Grandma.

I have such a difficult time telling this child no. Yesterday at work, while I am conducting an orientation class, my receptionist sticks her head in, and tells me my mom is on the phone and needs to talk to me. Now I am in a panic because my mom NEVER calls me, and for her to have Tena interupt my orientation, there must be something wrong. I get on the phone and my mom tells me my granddaughter called and was crying because she hasn't seen her Grandma in a long, long time and needs to talk to me.

It has been 2 weeks since she has seen me and that is forever in granddaughter & grandma time.

I called her back and told her I was at work and would call her when I get home. I walk in my house and my mom tells me that Mercy just called for me, that she is carrying her dad's cell phone in her pocket waiting for me to call her. I couldn't help but laugh. Of course I called her back. She tells me that she NEEDS for me to come over to her house tonight. Now comes the hard part, how do you tell a 4 year old NO, grandma can't tonight or tomorrow night? She turns on the tears and starts to cry, then I give in and tell her I will pick her up Friday night and we will go shopping at Toys-R-Us so she can show me the things she wants for Christmas. Amazing how fast she can turn off her tears. Guess, I have a date Friday night.

1 MONTH

It has been 1 month since I quit smoking. I am doing pretty well. The medicine the doctor gave me has helped alot. I do have the dreams every night. I am lucky because they are just dreams and NOT nightmares as some people experience. I haven't had any real bad cravings.

I am starting to feel better. I have noticed that I do not breath as hard when I climb stairs, I am not coughing, and I do not stink of cigarette smoke. I have also noticed that I can smell aromas better, which depending on the smell of something can be a good or bad thing. They say you're food will taste better, but I haven't noticed a change in that. I have always been able to taste the flavor of food. Which by the increase in my waist is a bad thing!!

The other good thing is the inside of my car stays cleaner. I vacuumed it a month ago and it is still clean.

I will be glad when the 6 months of taking this medicine is over. That will be extra money in the bank. It is still cheaper than the cost of the cigarettes.

Texas rode out Hurricane IKE. Here in South Bend, where we have had enough rain to last for months, die hard football fans rode out a downpour the 2nd half of the Notre Dame game to see an outstanding Notre Dame team hand Michigan another loss. 6 turnovers, and ND did want they should, SCORE TOUCHDOWNS.

It was totally awesome!!! This was not the same team I witnessed last week from the stands. Charlie may just have a team this year. I sure hope so.

I think we have a "Golden Boy" in Golden Tate. This is a player to watch. To add to the game they had the WHOLE 1988 championship team & Lou Holtz in attendance. Lou had a statue dedicated.

I sure am glad I am going to be the one to be able to rub in the WIN this year to those annoying Michigan fans. :)

BIG GAME

Notre Dame vs. Michigan, how can I discribe the rivalry between these two teams?
I can't. So I will tell you how much Michigan and Notre Dame fans love to rub a win into each other's face.
The state of Michigan is a stone's throw away from the Campus. All you have to do is cross the border and you are in Wolervine territory. It will pit friend against friend, family against family.
If we lose this game it will be a year of hell. Then again if we win, I will have no problem making it hell for any Michigan fan who happens to make the mistake of telling me where their loyalty lies. I even HATE the look of that big M on their jackets. When I see it, I think Hillbilly Bob from Michigan. I am glad Notre Dame stuff is classy.

I am sure I will be screaming and yelling this weekend. I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!

Remembering 9/11/2001.........

I had hoped that I could get through today without crying. I blew it at 7:15 am.

On 9/11/2001, Louie & I were getting ready to spend the day in Chicago, and fly to California on the 12th to see my 18 year old son graduate from Marine Corp bootcamp.

I can barely remember the motions I went through that day. At first, all I knew was I wasn't going to able to see my kid, and they would send him off to war. Then my wonderful husband said " I promised you that you would see him graduate and we will. Get your suitcase and lets get the SUV packed up". We drove 2 days to San Diego. I had never experience people being so nice to each other the way I did that week. We made it time to see JT graduate. The minute they released them, I grabbed onto him and cried. I honestly did not want to ever let go of him. I don't have any pictures of his graduation, because we were not allowed to have cameras on base due to security reasons.

I was correct about him going to war. He did two tours of duty, his 1st in Jan to June 2003 and his 2nd, August 2006 to March 2007. I want to thank him and all our military who work so hard to protect us from terrorists.

Most of all I want us to remember those who gave didn't make it home that day, and those who died fighting for this country.

I have come across my NEW favorite TV show. It is totally stupid, but I laugh through the whole show. They have their own web site and you can purchase Corner Gas stuff, like shirts and mugs. It is on Wednesday nights at 8:00 & 8:30 pm on WGN, but it is on everyday, late night times. It is life in a small town, where everyone knows everyone elses busniess. Kind of like Mayberry & Sheriff Taylor.

SATURDAY'S CHANGE OF PLANS

I was to be tailgating Saturday in our neighbor's garage. Gary has a party every game. Around 10:30 am my brother Brad called me to see if I wanted to go to the game with him. He has had season tickets for the last few years. Seems he couldn't get anyone to go with him. Of course I went with him. When I took my dish of food over to Gary's, he said "Brad said he was taking you to the game as his last resort." I would rather be his last resort in the beginning of the season, than in November when it is rainy or snowy. That is when he always calls me to go, when no one else will sit out there and freeze their butts off with him. He has GREAT seats, section 14, row 21, located at the southeast corner of the field, just above where the San Diego cheerleaders were. His seats are located on the end of aisle, one step up from the entrance. They are perfect. The seats in front of him are almost was emtpy, which makes it great for us. I will take a win no matter what, but I hope to see improvements this season.
Of course I forgot to take my camera.

Only a day away. I will be tailgating in my neighbor's garage. We have 2 big screen TV's and lazy boy recliners, the grill and tons of food and beer. I will say a prayer tonight that the Irish win.

Another Summer Behind Us

Louie's friend Kevin summed it up yesterday, 3 days of screwing off goes by faster than 3 days of work.

Friday evening I babysat my grandkids. We had a good time together as always. They love to play outside. It was so nice out, we spent the evening playing on the swingset. Mercy wanted to push JT on the swing and do an Underdog. I had to stop her from doing that, our swingset is to small for Underdogs. She argued with a squirrel up in a tree. It was so funny because the squirrel did not move, he was talking back at her. Then Mom & Dad pulled in the driveway. They were upset, they were not ready to go home.

Saturday we spent the day shopping for a sweater I need for the Business Expo at the Century Center this month. Of course, I had to shop the whole mall before I found the one I wanted in the store I started out at.

Sunday, Kevin, Kevin's sister Jackie, Louie & I and two other couples went to the Blueberry Festival. We all met for breakfast then left early for the festival. We had a good time. Of course, I had to get the last of the summer fair food consumed. I did find a Christmas present for Kelly. I got the kids some cute crafts for their bedrooms, but I know I will give it to them before Christmas. It was hot and a long day. By the time I got home I just wanted to shower & take a nap.

Monday, I spent my day doing my chores. Laundry, yard work, cleaning the house. I think I should have a 3 day weekend every week. I like that extra day to get the chores done.