Lotsa stuff......

goin on these days. the best part is that we finally got a letter from the military man. lol. What an eye opener this has been for him. he started his letter like this....

to the best parents ever, mom and dad... and then went on to tell us about his new experiences. I think its a little more than what he had in his mind. we kept trying to tell him, but he knew more than us, as usual. he wasn't worried, he could handle it. and he is, its just a miserable experience. time for another one of those growing up things. like a giant slap in the face, it just hits you. oh well. its part of growing up and learning to get tough. Ive written him three letters. they had to earn the right to write home.

I have a surgery date. I don't know if you remember, but a few blogs back I wrote that I was gonna probably get my gallbladder removed. Ive been having these horrid pains in my right side. one night at work I was in tears from the sudden pain. that was enough to make me want to keel over and die right there on the lunch room floor. OH MY GOD that was painful. it only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like hours, or at least a few minutes. I didn't leave work, but i did feel it for the rest of the night. anyway, after a few doctor visits and a few tests, we decided it was best to remove the damaged organ. So, on July the oneth, at way too early o clock, i will be going into surgery. it will only take a few hours. I may even loose a few more pounds when this is all over with. Then, I will be off work for a few weeks to heal.

Which brings me to our next adventure. Alex will be graduating from Lackland Air Force on July 9 and 10. we will be heading out that way to watch the whole thing and see our new Airman.( Did you happen to notice the great timing of the surgery and the travel time. I wont have to use any vacation time). That is what he will be then, an airman. Pretty cool. we decided we are going to stay in one of the places on or near river walk. its very pretty there and there is a lot of things to see and do. Ill do my research and try to hit destination spots. John wants to make this part of our anniversary thing so he said it really wont matter how much it costs. Lets just do something nice. Hey, that's fine with me. he did want to go to vegas for our anniversary, but this is good too.

Were going to the in-laws this weekend. brother and sister in law. its john brothers 50th. we got a room this time for the first time. its better for us, cus then we can just leave in the morning and we wont have to stay and help clean the hall in the morning. we always stay and help clean. this time, we get to leave, go back to our room and go home in the morning. the party should be fun. most of johns family will be there. I'm sure the same people that are at every other party we go to out there will be there.

But, before we go, i have to get up in the morning and do my relay for life walk. I was gonna walk at 2 pm, but since we are leaving town, i will do it first thing in the morning. I was a little worried about raising the money for it. we are supposed to raise at least 100.00 so far I have 220.00. pretty good for a lean year. I was ready to write a check for the amount, but my friends and family came through.

I just noticed this is getting long. I will go for now, but i do check in on you more than i do my own writing. see on your side.

Sunday Morning again

Well god morning, afternoon, or good evening to you. I hope your all having a great weekend. Mine started out pretty good. for the first time in three weeks I wasn't crewed in to work on friday night. I'm not supposed to work on Friday, so that is a good thing. I went and did mu workout, then came home and took a nap. set my alarm for 230  so i wouldn't sleep all the day away. I had a plan. I was gonna get stuff done. Yep. well, when that bell started ringing, I reached over and turned it off. then, i went right back to sleep. guess i needed more sleep. I finally woke up at 6. there went the day. OH well.

The vfw rebuilding is coming along pretty good. They are hoping it will be ready for the fourth of july. i have decided I would print out all the pics I have from all the functions I have been to and taken pics. well, yesterday I started downloading them to the costco site. that took for ever. longer than I figured it would anyway. there were more pics than I thought I had. then, for some reason, somehow I ordered them three times. I didn't need three sets of these pictures. I kept looking for the little button to empty the cart, but i couldn't find it. so I started deleting pictures. Every once in a while the page would freeze or go to a cropping page that I couldn't get out of, so I would have to reset and start again. i deleted the same pictures two or three times I'm sure. anyway, its gonna cost me 70.00 just for  the pics. I also had two of them blown up to 8x10 for the finished walls. I hope they like this gift. it will probably take a while to get them organised in an album, but that will be for another day. OH, and the empty cart button was at the very bottom of the page.

We haven't heard from Alex yet, except for the little address card he sent out. when i get done with this I will write him another letter. I sure do miss him. cant wait to see him in his uniform looking all sharp n stuff.

My blackberries are starting to come in. I have picked three times, just enough for a small pie. yesterday I made the most spectacular pie I have ever made. I had some pie crust in the freezer from the last pie I made so i thawed that out. I rolled it out and only had enough for a bottom crust. after I mixed the berries with some sugar n flour, i decided to add a little cinnamon and then I grated some nutmeg into it. then i looked up how to make a crumble top and what a great decision that was. after it was all cooked and cooled, i had a small spoon taste of it. OMG OMG OMG! i wanted to snarf the whole thing down right there. that really was the best pie I have ever made. I went and got some french vanilla ice cream to go with it and yummmmmmmm it was good. I bet I couldn't do that again if i tried.

don't know whats in the plans for today. waffles for breakfast, john requested them last night. I have to work tonight. it will be triple time for me, but i would rather have the night off. I even have to go in at ten to set up. so it will be an early nap. shouldn't be hard. its three am right now, couldn't sleep. maybe alex will call again at four. or maybe i will go back to sleep.

remember our fallen soldiers this weekend. if it weren't for them, we couldn't do this. have a great weekend.

4 am wake up call

I ended up sleeping on the couch last night with the back door open and the ceiling fan blowing down on me. It was 103 yesterday here, supposed to be 105 today. that is unusually hot for this time of year. Anyhoo, I was sound asleep on the couch, when the phone rang. I jumped up and grabbed the phone from where ever it was sitting and said hello. My son Alex was on the other end barking at me to grab a pen and paper. Hurry mom, just grab a pen and paper, I only have three minutes. So I ran to the kitchen table Knowing there was a pad of paper and pen there. Then he started speaking in super fast speed my direction for getting hold of him on the phone. Then he started in with the address. What a really long address.  Then he told me he has been getting yelled at and doing push ups and exorcising a lot. then the phone went dead. I told the silent phone I love you, and was happy I got to talk to him. about 90 seconds later, the phone rang again and he said sorry about that, Ill call when I can and i love you. then I cried again and wrote that letter him.

Ok, I'm good again. for a while. Like I said earlier, it was 103 yesterday here and its supposed to be 105 today. pretty soon we will close up the house again and hope we did it in time to not let in all the heat. it normally doesn't get that here in the valley for about another 2 months, so we are kinda unprepared. It wont even be worth blowing up the pool, cus if we get in it right now, we will fry. too hot even for a pool. So, its inside stuff for today.

 what else??? hmmmm............ I'm here so i may as well get everything off my brain. I added the link to my page here for the Relay for life and there is also a link on my face book page if you would like to donate.

Ok, i cant think of anything else, So I guess this is it. catch ya all later.

Lisa's Relay for Life Walk

http:// http://main.acsevents.org/goto/LisaMCarlson
If that other site doesnt work, hopefully this one will. thank you all

The American Cancer Society:

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY09National?px=4239726&pg=personal&fr_id=13659
This is the link that hopefully will take you to my site to donate. I know things are tough this year for everyone, so I truely understand if you cant. And if you can, bless you so very much.

Didn't sleep last night

For the last few weeks, I have been crewed in on Friday night. I don't normally work on Friday night, its not my regular night to work. Last Friday and last night and a few weeks ago, I have been crewed in. Its really getting on my nerves. About a month ago, the company installed six automated lines, which meant six packer lines were eliminated. If every line were running, I hardly ever had to work on Fridays. Since the installation, I have been crewed in three times. WTF!!!!! Its not that I hate working on fridays, I do, but the thing is, I sleep all day. then, about ten thirty pm, I get a call saying i don't have to come in. Then guess what, I'm wide awake and can only get cat naps in to fill in the night. this sucks. I need to get this one figured out. i want my days off to really be days off. its getting old. Ok, that is my rant for today.

I haven't mentioned this yet to anyone really. I'm walking in the relay for life again this year. I haven't raised one dime. I don't know whats wrong with me this year, but for some reason i cant seem to get into the money raising thing. We had a silent auction at work to raise money and i made two quilts, a 49er and a Raider quilt. My friend also made a quilt with the pink breast cancer ribbon theme. It turned out very nice. there was a lot of other very nice items donated. a total of $2075.00 was raised. I don't know yet if that is with the pepsico match. I don't think it is. I think that is the amount before th match. that's pretty good for the first silent auction we have ever had. Last year we had a bake sale and raised 1600.00. the walk this year is on memorial day weekend, hope there is a good turnout. If you want the link to the site to donate, let me know and I will put it up.

its saturday and we haven't heard from alex yet. I hope its today. i got a call from him as he landed at the airport in Dallas then a text when he was on the bus heading to the base. he said he would call when he could. every day i think he will call. i just have to wait. just want to know he is surviving ok and what his address is. I haven't written a real letter in such a long time, it will be different.

AND FINALLY.................

I was weighed and measured at Curves again yesterday. Woo Hooo! I lost 5 pounds, 5.5 pounds of body fat according tot he BMI measuring tool and 3.5 all over inches. there is along summer dress I bought a few years ago and grew out of it. I want to shrink back into it by the time we go to Alex's graduation. I have about nine weeks to loose a few more inches. I'm gonna work at it. I also decided what my reward is gonna be for loosing my fat. for every 25 pounds i loose, I'm going shopping. I only have about 6 pounds till i can go on my first spree. yea meeeeee.

Ok, that's it for today. do your best to have a great week.

Sad Good by's

This morning i got off work at 8 am, on time for once. I waited all night for that night to end. I really didnt want to be there last night. It was the last night my baby would be home. Its not like anything different was gonna happen with me there, but that really doesnt matter. its was my sons last night at home and i had to sleep through part of it, then go to work.

Then, this morning I got off and came home. John was allowed to have the day off, so he was up andhad breakfast on the stove when i opened the door. The coffee was hot, I was tired and the food was a welcome aroma. I was so freaking hungry. alex was still sleeping and the house was quiet. it seemed like you could hear a pin drop except the tv was on and john was talking  and the food on the stove was steaming, but to me, the house was still quiet.

I had breakfast, then took my shower and washed off all the smells from work. In the mean time, alex got up, had breakfast, showed his dad what to do to make his next two payments on his car. gave explicit instructions ans wrote two checks to put in the mail when the time came. His insurance is already set up to be paid.

This is a little tmi, but to me it now seemed like it was in slow motion. Then, it got closer to leaving time. alex had to be at the recruiters office by noon. he had his bag packed and his BF was here. another friend showed up to say his good by's. he ended up following us to the recruitrers office. again we semed to jump between fast and slow motion. when we got  to the office, alex had to come back home and get a pair of long pants, he only btought shorts. I mean, he's going to texas, who wears pants in the summer in texas? The Air force does.

We stood around in front of the office until Alex finally told us he had stuff he had to do. This is when time went really really fast. alex gave the hiugs to his friends, and his dad then i grabbed him and held on as tight and as long as i could I cried, just cus i was gonna miss my baby. he was ready, or so it seemed to me, for what he ws about to experience. how can a seven year old boy be ready for the Air Force. I know, he is actually 22, but in my mind, he is still seven. I cried all the way home, and right now. Tomorrow i will write him a letter and put it in an envelope. then I will wait for his address and mail it. I want to make sure he gets a letter and the first one is mine.

If you have made it this far, your pretty good. this was very theraputic for me. my baby has taken his last baby step in front of me and he is a full grown man. he has been for a long time, but to me, he is still my baby.

Im done now.

Happy Mothers day To You....................

If you happen to be a mom, or if you happen to know a mom. you deserve to have a wonderful day today. I hope that your children and spouses treat you like the Queen that you are. You are special. You have taken care of them, and worried unnecessarily for them every day. If they even have a sniffle, you have been there with the softest tissue and with every heart break, you have sat there with them and let them cry if that is what they wanted to do. You love them every minute of every day, no matter what. For all that you do as a wonderful loving mom every day of the year, I truly hope that today, and every day actually, you get everything you want. If your children are of the four legged variety, they love you every day no matter what.

I really do mean all that. I have said this every time I start a new blog post, but i need to try and get on here more often. nuf of that for this time around. A few weeks ago, my sister gave me a pair of those dollar store glasses. They worked just as good as the expensive version you get at the doctors office. I have started to use them when i got on here cus I am having a hard time reading peoples pages if the print is left at the standard size. Now i know why she  buys so many of them and puts them all over the house. I have looked every where, and I cant find them anywhere. so i am squinting a lot this morning as I write this.

A while back, I think I wrote about this pain I was having in my side. I had gone tot he doc and they told me I had a small hiatle hernia, but nothing to worry about. I said ok, and figured maybe it was the hernia that was making my side hurt. I didn't know what to do about it, so i sorta lived with the pain for a while. Then, one night at work I had an attack that had me crying. it hurt so freaking bad it felt like I was being stabbed. The folks at work wanted to call the ambulance, but i said no, it should go away. it subsided, but hung out in the background and let me know all night it was still there.

My friend told me to ask my doc for a nuclear study on my gallbladder, cus she was sure that was the issue going on with me. Well, long story short, guess what. I had the test done and it came back that my gallbladder is only working 21% of normal. I went to see my doc last week and she told me we will be taking the thing out. I go on the 26 to talk tot he surgeon who will do the slicing and dicing on me. I will be off work for a while again. Don't know the dates yet, but if it stops this almost constant reminder in my side, i will be happy to get rid of this thing. its supposed to be just a few small cuts. I am going to try and really work on my ab muscles to try and make it easier for the doc and hopefully it will heal faster.

Well, my boys (John and Alex) are taking me to brunch this morning. they are still asleep. I am looking forward to it. Tomorrow we have to take Alex to the recruiters office for him to leave for basic training. I will write about that. through the tears.

For all the rest of you, have a wonderful mothers day.

Alex leaves for the Air Force

Start:

May 11, '09

49er and Raider Quilts

I will have to bring my camera to work and take another picture. this isnt what if ended up looking like.

Giants Padres Game

What I've Been up To

I know its been a long time, AGAIN.  I do get on here to comment on your pages every few days though, just not on my own. 

So here is what I/we have been up to. If you rememeber a few weeks back, we went to the Giants game in San Francisco. That is my son Alex and myself. It was a beautiful day.

We had never been to this park and spent the first 30 minutes after we got there just taking in the views from every angle and watching out for fly balls as the players took practice hits on the field.

There wasnt a bad seat in the place. even if you sat on the top deck, they had seats and you could see the bay and ships and boats below. Im gonna have to post a whole album cus placing these pics in the correct spot is really a pain in the tush. Anyway, the game was pretty uneventful, it stayed 0-0 until the 10th inning when the Giants finally had two on base and one of the players hit a ball off the back  wall and it was an automatic two base run and one guy came in. Talk about a grand finally.boy did it get loud in there. I had to work that night, and I was totally exhausted, but it was worth it.

I figured out why I havent had much time any more to blog the way i used to. not that i was ever really consistant. Since I started working out and walking every day, i am just too tired when i get home. I really just want to sleep by that time. I used to get on here while I watched Regis n Kelly and the View and would wind down. Im gonna have to figure out how to work this back into my day, cus it really is important to me. you guys really do mean a lot to  me.  

Ok, on to the next thing I have been doing. Its that time of year again. Relay for life and I have again signed up to walk. For the past two years we have had a bake sale to raise extra cash. Pepsico will match all cash donations, so this usually is our big fund raiser for that cause. This year because there are so many other things going on at work right now, they decided to have a silent auction. I was asked if I wanted to donate anything. I of cource said yes without event thinking of what it would be. What kind of quilt anyway.

I decided I would make a 49er quilt and a Raider quilt. If you are a  football fan at all, you realise how spazzy fans get about their teams. They are not just TEAMS, but more like very special family members that are held in the highest regards. If we just have one more piece of their logos on us, they for sure will win. If you have that special piece of something, everyone else will want it. And if you have a one of a kind item, OH YEAH! So, I  figure these two items hopefully will sell for a good amount. I started them last weekend,and worked on them all weekend, then, after working out worked on them some more. on my walking days I worked on them. One day I just came home and passed out, didnt work on them at all. Yesterday i finally finished the Raider Quilt.

Now they are both finished. I gave the 49er quilt to the lady at work who is handling the  event and forgot to take finished pics of it before. I will post an album of those also. I also figureed out how much I would charge if i made a quilt for someone. the cost of the materials plus $100.00.  That is what most people can handle if they want somehting like that. Two people at work asked me to make them their team quilts and that is what I told them. They both said OK. That really is a good price. Its less than minimum wage to make it.

OK, this is really getting long. I better go post those two albums before the boys wake up. i woke up early again so no interuptions. Hope you all are doing great.