here are some pictures

This is Dimitri and his quilt. I like the way this one turned out. I had this fabric for  a while and when it hit me that Dimitri was Irish I just had to use it!

This is Dustin. Dustin got picky when I told him that he was next on list to get a quilt. He wanted either Ford or Harley. I could not find either of those materials, but I did find material with motorcycles on it. Dustin said that he loved it, and he even brings the quilt when he comes up here! LOL

This is one of my sunflowers. I do not know what I do to get the to grow higher then the roof, but oh well. They always look so nice, but they do not last that long.

For some reason I got up at the crack dawn. I must say that the crack of dawn is about as ugly as I am in the morning. The coffee could not brew fast enough.

I am on cup number 2 so I am starting to get it all together.

My day is looking real easy. I am caught up on the laundry so that is done for the day. Hmmmm let me think. I think all I have to do is clean out the liter boxes and change the kittens bedding. That will give me a lot of times to hopefully get this baby quilt done.

I think the marines are going to start getting real bitchy if I do not get back to sewing their blankets. I swear to you guys that these are not big bad marines. The are boy scouts with blankets!

Oh crap I so forgot to edit journal and add my yellow ribbon. Note to self must add a yellow ribbon.

My girlfriend came down last night and she had a folded up piece of paper in her hand. It turns out that we have a child molester living right behind us! One of the neighbors on the other street ran a check on the new people moving in and sure enough. So last night I went to California's sex offender registry and looked him up. I printed out his picture and a list of all of his crimes and I taped it to our front window. I also taped up a sign that said "This pervert lives behind us. If you see him near our property or our children......." My girlfriend is going to go make copies of his picture and crimes and we are going to go door to door and pass them out. Then we are going to petition the city to make him move. I hate perverts!

Today was take your parent to school day..... for the high school. So the girls took some of the marines with them! LOL I guess that works.

Well I am going to go get dressed and try to get my day started. I swear I do not want to see the crack of dawn again.

I saw this in another journal and just had to pass it on. So all of you moms gather around!

 

saying goodbye

Kevin got out of the Marine Corps last week. Before Kevin left we sat down and had a heart to heart talk. We talked about Iraq, and he felt guilty for going home while his buddy's were gearing up for another deployment. Kevin is worried that his family will not understand his P.T.S.D.

About a week before he left Kevin got the news that his parents would not be coming out here, so that they could drive back with him. Kevin's mom just found out that she has breast cancer. Kevin is worried. I am not worried about Kevins mom. I know Kevins mom and she is a strong women full of life. A little thing like cancer is not going to slow her down. I am worried about Kevin.

Kevin told me that even if Rusty and I meet his children, that he will never tell his children how he knows us. Kevin will never speak of his time in the Marine Corps. That broke my hart. Oh I do understand that he does he does not want to speak of Iraq and the horrors of war. But not speak of Rusty and I just broke my heart.

I guess it is easier to not speak of us because we remind him of the Marine Corps and  to Kevin the Marine Corps means going to war.

Today our friend Dimitri leaves for his 6th tour in Iraq. Demitri and us go way back. Demitri use to work for Rusty many years ago.

This morning as I slept Dimitri loaded up onto an air craft and will once again go fight for our freedom.

I am sure at times I will take these freedoms for granted. While I sleep in a nice warm bed our service men and women will sleep some place cold.

While I send my children on trips around the world, our service men will want to take a trip to see their children.

While I sit here and drink my tea, they may not have anything hot to drink on a cold morning.

I just hope that the blanket I made him will be of some comfort. I just hope that Dimitri knows that he is loved and that we will be here waiting for him.

Our love for these marines never ends.

It has warmed back up here. I was not ready for cold weather. Now the days are back up in the high 80's.

It turns out that Nikki's mission trip leader had her passport so we will not have to go get her a new one! I am so glad for that.

I have started using the china. Did I tell already tell you guys that? I think it is so much fun.

George called me last night and told me that another one of our friends had called her. So George got kidnapped last night. Luis ( our friend) took her out to dinner. I am very happy to see the marines looking out for each other. Not that they don't anyway, but you know.

Yesterday I actually cleaned out the car. To my great surprise it did not fall apart once I got all of the trash out of it. I even went and got it vacuumed out.

Rusty and I had a very calm yet very candid discussion on my car. Rusty wants to get rid of one of my cars and I told him no, that he should fix the car instead. It still runs..... Then there is the issue of the car that my late mother in law gave me. I am letting Amber drive it. If Rusty gets rid of my car then Amber and I will have to share a car.

I made it very clear that we will not be getting rid of my car's anytime soon. I want my Porsche and there will be no children riding in my car, so I will need another car if I need to transport a child.

Rusty just looked at me. I told him not to give me that look. He got his dream truck so why can't I have my dream car?

I know that I have put my dreams on hold long enough and I am not going to compromise on this issue. That has to be the stubborn Irish side of me.

O.K. I need to get moving. I have a million things to do today. And yes I do think and plot how my day will go in my sleep! LOL

I am still here just busy

  I said last night before I went to bed that I was going to write in my journal come hell or high water.

I have been so busy. Saturday night the kittens got really sick and I had to rush them to the vet e.r. It turns out that they have a bug that could have killed them. All three of them are fine now and are on antibiotics.

Monday we took George out to 29 palms. She will be stationed out there for 6 months. So we got her all checked in, and then we met up with Dimitri for dinner.

It was so nice to sit down and have dinner with adults. It is not often that I even get to sit down for dinner.

Dimitri will be leaving for Iraq Thursday morning. I knew that someone would be leaving soon. The air field is lined with air craft.

Yesterday was another one of those run your ass off days. Then I got a phone call from George. She went to the chow hall to eat breakfast and they took her meal card from her. No one told her that she was not going to be able to eat at the chow hall. One the first she will have extra money in paycheck to cover her having to buy her food, but that does not help her now.

So George did not eat at all yesterday. I got on the phone and started calling everyone I knew. I finally got a hold of a guy that comes up here. I asked him to give George a call and make sure that he went and got her some food until the first, and I explained to her the situation. He said not a problem. So now I at least know that she will have food until she gets paid.

I called another friend yesterday only to find out that she is ready to throw away her career to get back to the fleet. Right now she is on recruiting duty, and her family is suffering so much because of it. I wish I could have helped her, but all I can do is listen to her talk. I told her that I am going to call her everyday and that together we will get through it.

I also found out that my pink haired angel has been talking to a marine recruiter. She has said that she has been thinking about going into the military for 4 years and then going to the mission field. This marine recruiter told my pink haired angle more information then she needed to know. O.K. It was actually more information then I wanted her to know.

Then Amber gave me that teenager sigh and eye roll when I was on the phone with her. I told her to get her ass home that I would deal with her when I got there. It seems that Amber thinks she is all that. She is a senior and oh hell I do not know. I pulled the stick out of her ass. I told her that until I say so she will only be going to work and school. Amber will now be my taxi. She will have to do all of my running including running Nikki every where. Oh Lord if Amber makes it through her senior year I will be very surprised.

Last night Ryan got a migraine. We did not catch it early enough so he was up puking most of the night. Wonderful. He could not even keep  his meds. down.

Today, I have to go to the bank and then go to the school district. Oh the joy. I do also have to clean out my car.

I am still working on the same baby quilt. I started on the quilt and I just stopped because I got bored with it. So I got on line and started looking at different styles of baby quilts. Now I am ready to go. I have some new creative ideas.

O.K. I need to get my day started. I am going to try my hardest to get some journals today.

good karma

o yesterday my pink haired angel a.k.a. Nikki came in and said mom you have to come help this little old lady. She swivered to miss something in the road, hit the curb and blew out her tire.

So out the door we went. CJ and Dimitri must have heard what Nikki had said because they followed us. Sure enough there was a little old lady on the side of the road with a blown out tire.

CJ and Dimitri put the spare on for her. This lady was so nice. It felt good to do something nice for someone else. I know I did not do anything, but hey.

My mission yesterday was to go buy Ryan some new shoes. I will only spend $20 on his shoes. It does not matter if I buy payless or Nikki he will still tear them up in the same amount of time. So I hit the outlet mall. The last store before I hit payless was the vans store. I scored Ryan a very nice pair of vans for $19.95! I was so excited.

Pink haired angle had a parent softball meeting yesterday that I was suppose to go to. I told her I would go and then my evening went to hell.

Rusty called me and he had a very bad day at work and now he needed to replace the breaks on his truck. Rusty asked me to go get the break pads off the work bench and get some new ones. They are under warranty. So I grabbed the break pad and went to the auto part store.

That is right I did grab break pads, but they were the pads for the car! The guy just looked at me and was like what a female!

So back home I go. On the way home Dustin calls and wants to come up. So I told him to pack his bag and call Rusty so that Rusty could pick him up on his way through base.

I get home and start tearing apart the work bench. The pads were not on the work bench but in a popcorn box on the floor!

Rusty and Dustin get home, and I am getting ready to go to the pink haired angel softball thing. Then Rusty came in and told me that I have to go get roto!

By now I am ready to strangle Rusty, O.K. it is time to paste on a smile and be a good wife.

Now was the time that I pulled out the gunny wife. I needed to improvise, adapt and overcome.

I told Dustin that he was taking Nikki to the parent meeting so I could go get the shit that Rusty needed. The only problem is Dustin has a broken wrist and a broken collar bone. So I had pink haired angel drive them. That is right I sent a broken marine who is only 6 years older then pink haired angel, and who can't drive. w. So I threw Nikki the keys to the car. That is right I let my 15 year old with no permit drive the "responsible" adult to the meeting.

I should define cold. Yesterday the high was 72. For us that is freezing. I actually kicked on the furnace! LOL

 

could it be?

This week has been cold and nasty. Today we are getting some much needed rain. A few days ago one of our friends said " well I think summer is over".

It can't be over. I want to go to the lake and float in an inner tube. I want to go walk on the beach and watch my children boogie board. I want to cook hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill.

I guess I will have to face reality. Summer is over. It has cooled down. We have gotten out the sweaters. It is very overcast, and I am not happy.

Could it be that summer is over?

I still have not found that passport. I have printed off the forms to send to the state department. I just cannot believe that the passport just grew legs and walked away.

We have another snitch in the house. I guess I should explain it. I introduced two marines and now they want to get married. Someone called his command and said that he was with a much lower ranking person. Yes according to the marine corps that is a bad thing. I never in a million years would have thought that someone in this house would have done something so mean. This marines could lose all of his security clearances and go to the brig.

Someone that has been to our house is a snitch and darn right mean. I will find this person and after I am done beating the shit out of them I will let everyone else have a turn at them.

I have managed to get one of the kittens on solid food. So that is one down and one to go. I just love raising these little ones.

Today I have to go get Ryan a new pair of shoes and do some other shopping. I think I am going to put hot cocoa on my list of things to buy. Last night I was so cold and I just wanted a nice warm mug of cocoa.

I should also go turn on the heater and burn all of the dust out of it. I hate the smell of the furnace when it is first turned on.

Well I better get busy and get back to reality. I can go take the inner tube out out of the trunk of the car and get it put away until next year. I will need to grab a quilt and put it in the car.

I guess I should be thankful that I do not live where it snows. I would never make it. That sounds very strange coming from a gal that grew up in Chicago!

a busy couple of days.

I can do it all. I can do it all. If I keep saying this I might believe it.

Yesterday was just a bunch of running around and trying to get the house cleaned up. I said trying because it seems that there was someone right behind me messing it up as I cleaned it.

I tore apart the safe. I was looking for Nikkis passport. It was not in there, but man I never knew that we had so many guns. Maybe I should look in safe more often. I am going to check all of our luggage and then if it is not there I guess I have to call the state department and get it canceled and have a new one issued. Oh the joy.

Yesterday Ryan skipped school and went to the zoo. Today Amber skipped school and went to Knots Berry Farm. Am I a bad parent for not even caring that my children are skipping school. Or am I good parent because at least the children tell me? Hmmm

Over the weekend Rusty was so into his video game that I had made the statement that I was going to dress up like his space ship and then maybe he would notice me. Rusty said I could not dress up like his space ship because my boobs were not big enough! That was it I cut him off. No sex for him. I gave in last night and man it was awesome sex. I just can't imagine a marriage without hot sex! LOL

Rusty told me that he will be going to Yuma for two weeks. That is no big deal. I can handle two weeks without my hubby. It bothers me because I wanted to go to Yuma with him. I have never been to Yuma so I thought it would be cool to go there. Then last night Rusty said that he has to go to Yuma for the day. Yuma is only a four hour drive from here, so it just makes for a long day. Any way, Rusty asked me if I wanted to go. Hell yes I want to go, but I don't think that I will be able to go because Ryan gets home before the girls and someone has to be here when he is home. Damn it all to hell.

Yesterday I got a letter from the bank. They sent back Ryan social security check! So I have to go figure out what is up with that. I know it did not bounce so what is up? Oh the joy's.

The last few mornings have been cold. Someone said that they think summer is over. Oh they need to hush their mouth. I love summer. I live in southern California for a reason. I did actually put on jeans today. i was rather shocked that they were big on me. Last year these were me skin tight jeans! I am not going to complain.

Well, One of our marines is leaving. Kevin is getting out of the service. He should be here in about an hour. I do not want to say good bye to him. I want him stay here as one of my marines. More about Kevin in another entry.

I need to get my ass in gear.

 

 

a learning curve

A few weeks ago I was invited to go to a friendship dinner. The lady that invited me is Nikkis mission's trip leader. I have been looking forward to this day for a long time.

So last night I did my hair and got dressed up and I headed out the door. I was sitting at the table with Deb.....the lady that invited me....and I asked her where she got her dishes from. Deb told me that they were her mothers dishes.

These dishes were so awesome. I really loved the tea cups. I have wanted a nice old fashioned tea service for a long time. I was so jealous.

Then I ran into another lady and her son goes on the mission trips with Nikki. We got to talking and it turns out that she is a house rat as well. She is having some issues with her teenage son. Hmmm she is sounding more and more like me. ( I am not having any issues with teens right now) We are going to start going to Thursday morning coffee and women's get together. We both need to get out more.

I had such a nice evening out! On the drive home I got to thinking about china. I have NEVER owned a set of china. My dream china would be turquoise with pink flowers and dragonflies.

Last year when I was back in Illinois my mom asked me if I would like one of hr three sets of china. I told her to give each of the girls a set of china when they got married.

Rusty has his grandfathers china. A few years ago I actually unpacked it and used it for Christmas dinner. Then I packed it back up and it has not been seen since.

I got to thinking about Rusty's china. The girls think it is ugly and Ryan will never have a use for it. I do not even have the china in our china cabinet. I packed the china away so that nothing would happen toit.

I have since changed my mind. I am going to unpack the china and put it in the china cabinet. I am going to use the tea cups and if they break oh well.

I still cannot figure out why I have packed it away? No one will get it when Rusty and I die, so we are going to use it and abuse it while we are still alive. If we break every single plate then oh well. If we get a big earth quake and it all breaks then oh well.

I learned so much from people not saying anything to me. China is meant to be used and not stored away. Other moms are like me and sometimes we need to get out.

When I walked in the house all of the marines just looked at me. One of them finally asked me if I would please go change me clothes. It seems that I made them feel uncomfortable because I was not wearing Rusty's old shorts and his unit t shirts. You know I do actually clean up very well!

Well it is time for bed. It seems that I will once again be going to bed alone. Rusty is once again out with his friends.

Michele I will interview you. Give me a few days to think of some more good questions! LOL