I'M OFF!!!!!!!!

I am finally off work. today was my last day of work so I can have my gb surgery. When i went in last night, there wre only three people going to be able to go home, but at the last minute, it was decided I could go home also. that is, after my friend lorrie and myself cleaned a few machines and swept the floor. In most cases, this would have taken taken two people hours to do, but we really wanted to go home so it was done in less than an hour and we were out of there. we hadnt had lunch yet and were starved, so we stopped at Ihop for breakfast. we got to leave at 5 am. we were so happy.

anyhoo, when i got home, instead of going straight to bed, i decided to clean my house. I started with the bedroom and changed and washed the sheets. I do this every week anyway, so it s a good spot to start. I moved from room to room cleaning, then vacuuming, then moping. i dusted in between there also. I want to get all this done before surgery cus i aint gonna do it then. I want to make sure I will be comfortable laying around for the first couple of days. I dont know how I will be feeling, so i better get it done now.

Its done now, and I am sitting here at 10:00 am with a glass of wine. Monte vino zinfandel. maybe it was barbera, i cant remember, I poured the last glass and threw out the bottle. then, when I was half done with the first glass, I filled it up with port. so guess what folks, Im drunk typing now. kinda. maybe after I have one more glass of port, i will officially be drunk typing. good thing I cant get in trouble for this. damn Im tired.

anyway, I am going in for my gb surgery monday morning at 730. that is when I have to be at the hospital. my surgery is at 930. I figure I will be out by 1 pm. I cant wait to get this done. I am getting just a little tired of all of a sudden hurting after i think I was so careful in what i ate. well guess what, I am gonna eat what I want this weekend. i may even have a big ole bowl of ice cream. Im gonna pay for it, but thats the way it goes. i may change my mind after I wake up from my wine sleep today. I just finished my second glass of wine, it was half wine and half port. i think i want some more port. if you were here, i would be talking this. lol.

hold on, I will be right back.

 

 

ok, Im back. got another glass of port and some more peanut clusters. cant drink port without chocolate. i cant remember what kind of port it is. i should have checked. sorry bout that. ok, well, i better get back to what ever Im gonna do. actually that will be take a shower and then take a nap. I am so tired. so good night at 1020 am. see ya all later.

This weeks Update, August 6

I seem to be better at reading your blogs than writing my own. I just cant seem to do this on a regular basis. I dont even know why I hold myself to this standard of when or how often I am supposed to get on here and update. Other people dont do this. do they? do you have a schedule you set yourself to for posting something. I know jan does. she set a goal to post every day with a picture, which she is doing very well. I commend her for finding something to post every day with a picture. I have a hard time with once a week.

anyway, back on mothers day, alex gave me a gift card for a spa day. it also had a voucher for 20.00 I had to use before september 1. so friday, I went and had an express facial and had my brows done. it was so wonderful. there is nothing better than a little pampering.

once again, i am the biggest cheerleader for pamper yourself. we all work so hard, and most times we dont do things for ourselves. I know there are more than a few of us that have never even had a pedicure. i didnt do this until I was 40 something. do it for yourself now. find a day spa or salon that does pedis, or facials or some sort of pampering and schedule yourself some time. you deserve it.

next: remember the nest and baby birds we had last year on our front porch? guess what? they are back. the birds started building a nest and like the next day it was done. we were so surprised at how fast they completed the nest. it is made from little blobs of mud, and they had to carry each little blob of mud in their beaks. there is no way to know if they are the same couple that nested here last year. we do like having therm here though.

and finally: next monday i will go in for my gb surgery. I can not wait. it seems that everything anymore that i eat or drink makes me hurt. yep, at times even water causes pain. I am getting so tired of this. so the other night I met john for dinner and drinks after he got off work. I ordered a plate of appetisers before dinner, which consisted of nachos, deep fried cheese sticks, quesadilas, and chicken wings with blue cheese and ranch dressing. I usually think about what I am putting in my mouth, what is going to cause the least amount of pain. i was really hungry so this didnt happen. I ended up going home without having dinner. i was in so much pain from all the fat in the food. I wont be making that mistake again. I paid for it until the next morning.

ok, that is my post for this week. unless something really great happens or I need to get something off my mind. have a great week.

goin to Vegas

Start:

Jul 19, '10

I dont know if that is really the correct dates we are leaving for Vegas. We are going to meet up with Amber and Chris again. John is gonna show Chris how to bbq properly and Amber n I are gonna catch up, drink and hang out in the pool. I cant wait.

My last day of vacation blog

when we were on our vacation, I had asked my friend Lorrie to watch our house and water the yard and plants. We told her to take the veggies when they were ready. we had six bell pepper plants in the front yard, along with some hot pepper plants and a few different melons. In the back yard was our tomatoes. we have small tomatoes and big tomatoes. they were getting ripe and time to pick and eat just before we left. I picked a bunch of them and brought them over to her a few days before we left. there is nothing better than fresh tomatoes right off the vine. I love the smell of them too. you just cant get that from store bought produce.

so a couple days after we left, lorrie sends me a text and said someone else is picking our produce. WHAT????? She said she had seen a bunch of peppers that would be ready probably the next day, so she left them to pick the next day. When she arrived the next day, there was only a small amount of bell peppers to pick. and it looked like someone had stepped on one of the plants. She tried to make the plant stand back up, but it was broken at the base. this happened the whole time we were gone. She saw the lady next door one day and gave her a bunch of peppers and the lady was very grateful.

Its not like there wasn't enough to go around. She was picking so much produce, she gave it to her neighbors, some people at work, and her husband loved the little grape tomatoes and ate them like candy with lemon pepper on them. the heat that we get allows them to ripen really fast and they are good.

Since we have been home, we haven't seen anyone picking the peppers. there aren't any ready to be picked either. I hope the person picking them isn't getting them before we are and we just don't know it. that sorta sucks. we have had produce in our yard before, and no one has ever helped themselves without asking. I really hope it stops.

Today is the last day of my vacation. I kinda had to use all my time to go to texas this time. We had thought about John driving out there before me and me flying out on wednesday. that would have saved me a few vacation days. the money it would have cost and the timing just wasn't worth it to me. I will have some more time off in August when i have my gallbladder out. After that, it will only be a few months of straight work. I have done this before, I just cant think of not having no time left. In January my time will be restocked. In the mean time, I will decrew every chance I get.

So on that note, i start my vacation ending ritual. when i take my nap before I go to work tonight, i will take off my rings with stones in them and replace them with my wedding band. i will take off my necklace with the pearl given to me by such a special friend and the little piece that reminds me of an angel my mom left for me. I will hang that back on my mirror, so I can see it every day. I will stop drinking alcohol around four and start to wind down and get into work frame of mind.

In two weeks, I will be out again. I will look forward to that. Until then, I do what I gotta do. So that is my plan. and on that note, i will finish this and go read all of what you have to say.

Going to Church with Alex

Let me start by saying I do believe in God. there has to be something bigger than us out there. When I was a kid and growing up, we went to church off and on. When I became of the age where i could make my own decision, I tried many different churches and religions. I came to the conclusion that organised religion just wasn't for me. I couldn't find a church that I felt really comfortable in and didn't make me feel guilty for what ever reason.

So then i had children. I allowed them to do the same thing my mom allowed me to do. I would try to talk to them about believing in God, but since i didn't attend church, it fell on deaf ears. I hold the blame for that, but with no guilt. At times, Alex was going to a church summer program in the neighborhood with one of his friends. I thought that was good, he had a chance to learn something I couldn't teach him. then the summer was over, and so was the program. Alex decided in time that he was an atheist. This broke my heart,  but what could I do.

Fast forward to today in time. When Alex joined the Air Force, i figured there would be changes in him. I heard them every time he called home or when i got a letter from him. In one of his letters he told us he was going to church and really liked it. He still wasn't all religious, but he liked to go because it was something to do on Sunday and get away from the TI's.

When we were making plans to go out there, we discussed what we could do when he has time off base and we looked forward to it. The only thing he asked us to do with him while on base was go to church with him on sunday. He asked us more than once if we were going to go. I said yes, we would go if he wanted us to. I think he was more worried about John going. John was raised catholic and was forced to do all the catholic stuff they are asked to do. Needless to say, he wont go back unless forced.

So we got to the base on Sunday and occupied our time doing stuff until 1:00 when Alex  goes to church with his friends. So we walk in and sat at the back, which was reserved for the graduates and their families. Alex had told us what was going to happen. he told us people really got into it and sang and cried. they handed out tissue to the families and airmen and trainees. I thought I was prepared, until we actually got in there and sat down.

On the front two walls of the huge church, was two screens showing the videos from songs written for soldiers. I was taking it all in, so I cant remember the names of the songs, but one song in particular, Letters from War, I remember. Alex had told me about this song. Most of the songs were country, So this was the part that really got me. As these songs played, the airmen stood, wrapped their arms around each others shoulders and sang along with the tune. the entire church was doing the same thing. then they played religious songs, and the same thing happened. When they prayed, they all stood and prayed together. I was crying off and on.

It really was a very enlightening experience. When we left, after the sermon, Alex asked if we enjoyed it. I told him I loved it. I was just sad i left my camera in the car. I would have loved to have had a picture or two of the brotherhood and faith in each other i saw in there. When i told Alex you have to believe there is something bigger than yourself, he agreed. the sermon was so that the airmen could relate to it, and it was able to draw them in and give them comfort. yes, I loved going to church with Alex. i would do it again if he asked me. I just hope he continues to go and gets some kind of strength from it.

One can hope. and that was our church experience that was so wonderful for me.

Thursday 13

We got home yesterday and i havent even updated since the first time i wrote when we got to texas. Im feeling a little bit of guilt from that. its not like I didnt have something to say. i have no real good excuse, so I am going to put it down in a thursday 13.

1. We got to see our son and about 250 other young adults graduate from the Air Force. after, when they would see each other, they would say congratulations to each other. this went on all day, all weekend.

2. We saw the Alamo. Remember the Alamo? I wasnt there so i had to read about it. it just wasnt the same from what I hear.  It also wasnt as big as I expected. and right in the middle of town.

3. We saw the Riverwalk in San Antonio. it was really cool. it deserved its own blog. I didnt take enough pictures of the walk.

4. we took the boat cruise on the rivewalk. two girls were sitting across from us and one couldnt keep her eyes off Alex. it was so funny. she would look at him, get a big smile then look down. I almost burst out laughing when i saw it happen.

5. I saw a man shake my sons hand and thank him for his service to our country. It took everything i had not to cry. even as i am writing this. talk about bursting with pride.

6. We experienced the 85% humidity of San Antonio. i swear it felt like you could cut the air. HOT!

7. Ate at the famous Dicks on the riverwalk. that was a fun experience. They made a hat for Alex, i think i put it in my album.

8. Saw a young lady buy my son an ice cream when we went to an ice cream parlor. he was about to pay, and she jumped up to the counter and paid for it. there was a longer story to this, but i dont want to go into it here. another moment of extreme pride.

9. Got lost almost every time we went onto the base. yes, we had a map. every brown patch of grass looked the same as did every building.

10. Now we have proof our son can make a bed and keep his area clean. I saw it and have pictures.

11. Got to catch up with Johns cousin who lives in Houston. he drove out to meet us and spent the day with us. it was a fun day.

12. got into Sea World for free cus Alex was military. It cost 59.95 normally to get in. How cool was that.

13. I am almost done, now I hope multiply doesnt decide at the last moment to make me sign in. I keep scrolling up and i dont see a sign in thing. Ok, here is the last one. Went to church with my son and many of the other airmen on the base. it was an amazing experience and deserves its own blog. i cried the whole time almost.

Ok, i did it. and it wasnt that hard this time.

going home

this is just a short note to say we are heading home today. I should have updated last night, but I just wasnt in the right frame of mind. I get a little pissy when i get that sad. its better that i just not talk. so when we get to our next destination, I will do a real update and load up some more pics. if I can get the loader to work for me again on facebook, I will put  all of them on there. that was really nice. OK, John is loading the luggage rack so i gotta go. see ya all later.

Once again i wrote this blog and then multiply made me sign in. after I signed in, it ate myblog. so here is it in a sentence. alex graduated, then we went to riverwalk. we were beat to exhaustion. tomorrow we are going to seaworld. why the hell didnt it make me sign in in the beginning.

graduation day and some shots from teh road trip

here are a few shots from graduation day. the graduation process was more of a group effort, so I didnt put any of the field shots here. these are from right after and some of our road trip here.

Our Day at Lackland air Force Base

This morning we got up early and got dressed and ready to.. Alex had told us to be there early, but John didnt get how early. I told him early, cus there would be lots of people there and we wouldnt be able to find a place to park. I finally got him to decide to leave, and on the way out the front lobby i asked if they had a better map to get to the base, and they did. so we were off. the map she gave us took us directly to the front gate, but there was two so we had to go to the wrong one. that is what we do. we go the wrong way, have to turn around and do it again. this is our thing, and I wish we could stop, but we cant. oh well, we are both directionally impaired. Im used to it.

so we finally found our way to the location on base taht the families were supposed to gather and found a place tp park. we grabbed a bottle of water for each of us and headed back to the place where we coudl see our son for the first time in 8 weeks. there was a store there that was so packed with families of airmen, and i cant stand that, so i almost ran through that to get to the other side. we stood out at the curb and waited for the last run from the airmen. See the pics. It was hot at 9 am so we found some shade and waited. and waited.

then finally they came running over the bridge. lined in there lines and chanting some military marching chant. I didnt understnsd a word they said, I was busy searchng bobbing faces for my sons. they qwuickly ran past us and didnt see my sons face. then, they turned around, lineed up again, and ran past us again. then, searching frantically, I heard john call out Alex and i saw him for only a minute and he saw me. I had to tell myself to breath again. he looked so different, for only a second.

after that we went and listened to a few classes they had for the family and strolled around for a while. at 130 the coin ceremny would start, and then we could collect out son for the day. the new airmen are given a coin that symbolizes something to the airforce. they are supposed to carryt he coin with them at all atimes. its not s coin you can spend, but it si very nice looking. well we found our seats for the ceremony and waited forthe event in the covered seats in the heat.

the ceremony was really nice, i dotn want to go into everything cu this is getting really long, but that was a big part of the day. so after they released the airmen to the families, they just stod there in there at ease positions and had to wait for the families to find them. we walked in the direction we knew alex was asnd he found us first. I grabbed onto him and held on so tight. then i looked at his face and saw a different young man.

well, this is getting long and i dont want to bore you to death, as much as I want to write every little detail here. we found our car and went on a tour around the base.he couldnt leave. we went to the bx, and had chinese food. his first non militarty food in 8 weeksyou should have seen all the graduates there. that was the happiest place on earth today. every young man and lady wearing blue was smiling and congratulating each other today. yes sirs and mams were all over. seeing all those happy people was really the best.

anyway, after that, we drovr around the base some more. we did what ever alex wanted to do. and a few things that scareed the crap out of him. I swear we were in restricted areas. it was scary, but john just kept on driving. we fnally went and got a pizza for dinner and talked some more, then dropped alex off for the day. it was a great day and tomorrow we get to take him off base. we are going to the river walk. I will do this again tomorrow, hopefully not as long. see you then.

Lackland Air Force Base

these asre jsut some of the shots i took at the base today. i took a total of 72 i think, but most of them were just shots. these are the ones that i liked the most. Hope you enjoy them also.

gonna try this again

Ok, here we go again. i tried this yesterday, wrote out what we did for 5ge day and when i went to post it, it disappeared. I was so mad, but im gonna try it again. so here goes.

we left our house at 6 am on monday and after two times getting lost due to the mapquest map, we finally ended up in tuscon last night. we did make a mistake that saved us about 20 miles though. Jim mentioned this about those sites a few weeks ago. they take you to places that the sponsors of the site want you to go to. we even had A TOM TOM that kept telling us to turn left or right or turn around. talk about a frustrating drive. by the time we got to tuscon, john was seeing double and his back hurt so bad. we pulled into the first hotel we saw and walked over to denny's for dinner.

this morning we got up, well, woke up way too early. we wanted to sleep in a little, but since we were awake, we left at seven and drove until around 130. we got to los crusis NM and found a hotel for a very great price. 59.00 a night. cant go wrong with prices like that and its a very nice room. we went and had lunch/dinner at a recommended little place about a mile down the road. great mexican food. it was a different style than we have in california, but it was really good. i had a taco salad and john had a combo plate. the rice n beans on the combo was to die for. there is nothing like really good authentic mexican food.

I am gonna go swimmin in a while. it is so hot here. we will be leaving in the morning for san antonio. the girl at the restaurant said it takes about six hours to get there from here. if we leave early we will have time to take a walk and see whats around there. get our bearings a little before we go see alex in the morning. i cant believe how fast this all happened.

on a side note. we are so happy we drove through los angeles on monday when we did. if we had did that route any later, we would have had to deal somehow with all the micheal jackson burial thing. OMG. that is so out of control. its costing the city of LA 4 mil for the memorial at staples center. give me a break. and they are asking the family to help pay for it. asking??? asking???? hell, i would bill them. I never agreed to help pay for that out of my tax dollars. i know I dont live in LA, but in the end,aren't our police paid with public funds. yes, if it were up to me I would bill the estate of MJ for the price.

ok, back to fun vacation stuff. so see you in the morning on the van. dont forget to go pee before we leave.

We made it to tuscon. I wrote a blog and it was eatin soi will try again tomorrow and rewrite it. big ole grrrrrrr

Happy 4th to all of you

Good morning to all of you that happen to stop in. this will probably be the last time i post from home before we leave. We are both officially on vacation as of yesterday. we leave on Monday morning and we both cant hardly wait. I don't know why we decided to leave on monday, rather than today. i think we should pack up and get ready to go today and take a little more time on the road. what difference will it make. one more day on the river walk in san antonio. awww poor us.

yesterday i got off work, which was by the way paid triple time. when i got there thursday night, i wasn't even crewed in. i could have gone home and still been paid for 8 hours straight time. but i didn't ask for the time off so i let someone else go home. I only wanted sunday off, but the crewer gave me thursday also. I stayed and got the holiday pay. it will be in next weeks check. woo hoo!

so after i did my trip to curves, i came home and planned my day. I needed new walking shoes and a pair to go with a couple dresses I'm bringing. I also needed a few other personal items then i wanted to get my fingers and toes done. that was what i wanted the most. i love getting a pedi. for those of you that have never done it, it is fairly inexpensive, about 20.00 average around here, so it must be less where you are. it is worth the time and money to get it done. and if they do the hot wax treatment, oh yes.... go for it. it is the best.

I went to kohls, and payless shoe source and left empty handed. then on the the sporting good store for the walking shoe that were on sale. I bought a pair of new balance shoes for 42.00 and left the store. then off to Penny's where I found the shoes. turned out to be a pair of black flip flop style with black beads on the top. they should be comfortable and i will actually be able to wear them after. and only for 8.50. and also a minimising bra to wear with on of the dresses. it pulls a little across m boobs and I was told this style could help that. I have to  try it on and see. maybe I will have john take a pic and I will show you if it looks good.

then i went and got my pedi mani. I still hadn't slept and I was so freaking sleepy. i had them paint my nails a red with this sparkly clear on top. it feel so strange cus I never have nails. I cant have them at work, so I'm getting them now. I will let them grow out and that will be the end of that. When I got home, john asked me to make a cobbler with the rest of the berries and peaches. I did and yes, it is delish. i used the cup of cobbler recipe but put it in an 8x8 pan. I don't think there will be a problem finishing that off.

today I have to clean my house. I cant leave and know my house is dirty. it sucks to come home and have to make a bed or mop the floor. i just wan it all done. tomorrow i am gonna make cookies for alex and we have to pick up the rental car. oh, and pack. we have a lot to do. so i better get goin. not that I'm gonna jump up and start cleaning, but this is getting long and i commend you if you stuck with me this long. lol have a great 4th. see ya all on the road to texas.