File Under: G*d, am I Old!

***sniff***sniff***



My baby girl is getting MARRIED!!

A Day in the Life

Blogging around here has been pretty sporadic, I know. I feel like I may owe some explanation, because I DO enjoy writing, and reading the comments here, but my time is not my own for now.
Aside from having two of the boys deployed, which pegs my stress meter right there, I have taken on way too much responsibility with the Ladies Auxiliary VFW. I have positions at the Auxiliary, District and Department (state) level. I am constantly struggling to keep up and not take time away from my family because of this. VFW was a choice both Old Sarge and I made, because it gave us a chance to help, and we gladly do so. But there are times when it is just too much paperwork and political manuevering. This is one of those times. Add in:
We lost one of our very good Auxiliary members Wednesday. Her visitation and funeral are Saturday. In addidtion to the monthly steak fry we were already committed to on Saturday night, there's that. And a dish to pass.
On Sunday, the Department is coming through for a Dues Drive. At my Post. As membership chairman, guess who's doing lunch?
I have to pick up the Granddaughter at 6 tonight, since Eldest Son can't so it. I need to be In Rochelle getting things ready for the weekend.

AND...and this is a biggie...one of my friends from my former Auxiliary is dying. She had asked me to see her through this. She can't leave the house anymore, so we can't sit and have a drink and smoke at her Post anymore. I need to go see her. I need to be the kind of friend she expects me to be, for her as much as my personal view of myself. I just haven't managed to be three places at once.
And did I mention I have two boys in Iraq?

So, if there's nothing new being posted here, it's not that stuff isn't happening. I'm just a bit overwhelmed at the moment.

Giving Thanks

I have not had much time to blog this week, but I DO wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Soldier Update

Just in case anyone is interested, Young SGT has made it safely to his new base, and Son #2 left yesterday morning for Kuwait. Now, if any of you are interested in sending cards or care packages, leave an email address when you sign into the comments (in case I don't already have it)and I will pass along addresses for the boys.

Oh Happy Day!

Okay, boys, we gotta a deer and a new Food Saver and a new meat grinder. All we have to do is locate an attachment to make deer sticks and it's all good!!!!

Your parents love you, you know that, right?

Tis The (Deer) Season

After reading this post at AWTM's, I can SO relate! All I have heard about for a few months now is deer, deer and more deer.

So far, Old Sarge has shot an 8-point, which promptly jumped the property line to an adjoining field. It dropped twice, and (OS has high hopes at this point) walked to the edge of the neighbor's woods, where it is greeted by about 5 shotgun blasts fron the trees.

It's a jungle out there.

So repeat after me:

Please let Old Sarge get a deer, please let Old Sarge get a deer, please let Old Sarge get a deer...

What a Homecoming

I really think I'd liketo fly to Olympia this weekend and kick some hippie ass. Anyone want to come?

I hope there are decent people up there that are giving our soldiers COMING HOME FROM A WAR a better welcome than these assholes.

H/T Michelle Malkin

Extended Family Update

Pardon me if this blog occassionally gets a little family-oriented. When you have kids all over hell and creation, as I do, some of them will check in here to see what's up with the family.



Last night was my nephew Will's birthday party. He is NINE, can you believe it?? He is the one in the grey shirt.
His brother Connor is the little cutie in glasses. Jake has his arm around Ella, trying to get her to hold still.
And then there is Joe in the back. I try not to have favorites, but...his parents ride the crap out of him, and he can be so sweet.
He has shot three deer this fall. With a bow. And he is TWELVE!
Oh, and his voice is starting to change. It made me want to laugh and cry at the same time.

Here There Be Morons

Before he left for Iraq, Young SGT sent me this to wear:



It's his unit crest, and while it is distressingly Packer-ish in its color, I have worn it everyday since I got it. I intend to wear it everyday until he comes home, and that means work, days off, formal events, you name it. It came from him and I treasure it.

Now on Mondays, I like to play Bar Bingo at the VF*n*W in my hometown. There is a woman that comes in every night- we will call her Drunk Sue, because her name is Sue and I have never seen her sober. She's very annoying and tries to ingratiate herself to everyone. Not the kind of member I would have recruited, but hey, it's not my Post. This past Monday, she decides she needs to talk to me.

DS: I really like your blouse.
(it's purple, by the way)
RM: Thank you.
DS: That's a good color for you.
RM: Thank you.
DS: Your pin doesn't match though.
RM: It's not a pin, it's a unit crest, actually.
DS: But it doesn't match.
RM: I think it matches everything I wear.
DS: No! No it doesn't!
RM: Okay, Drunk Sue, I wear it to honor my son, and to let people know which side of things I'm on.
DS: I don't get it.
RM: That's because you are a fucking idiot.

At this point, she moves to a spot across the bar and I reminded (again) by the bartender that profanity is frowned upon. She was laughing when she said it though.

Does anyone else do this? Give out subtle signs that say "hell yes, I stand on the side our military and their mission!"? Just wondering. I know military families are pretty rare here in God's Country, but good lord, how stupid can people be?

Whoops, no, really!

I forgot my Nextel this morning.

I have been sleeping with it, just in case, you know, Young SGT has a chance to call.

This is a company phone, and it rings nearly as often as my office phone. Plus, since it is a two-way radio, this is how my drivers call me. It's the first time in over ten years that I haven't had it.

Somehow, I am perversely delighted.

November is for Veterans

First of all, let me thank everyone who participated in the Valour-IT fundraiser. The person who was the highest bidder on my quilt has a very special place in my heart, and although I do not know her, must be a truly wonderful person. All I can say is that the recipient of my quilt is going to be very happy.

I sincerely hope everyone was able to thank a veteran this Sunday. They deserve our thanks everyday. This past week, it was really brought home to our family how tragic life can be at times, and deployments add alot of misery to an already heartbreaking situation. For those that know, thank you for your prayers, and Tammi, thank you for being such a good friend.

Now.

This entire week, starting on Veterans Day, is National Veterans Awareness Week. So if you missed doing something special for a veteran yesterday, hey! You've got ALL WEEK! Send a package overseas, drop off some gourmet coffee to a recruiting station, visit a vet in a nursing home, hell the possibilities are endless!

November 18th-24th is National Military Family Week. You know the routine!

Valour-IT Update

Gah! I can't log into the auction site to get this picture in, in fact I'm not even listed as the donator any more, BUT...



Really, please go bid on this!

UPDATE: this post will stay on top through the weekend. Now, the embroidery you can see there says "Illinois Supports Our Troops". I hope Illinois can do better than $27 for that quilt!!!!!

HB USMC

I don't have my laptop ready for Internet yet, so I'm not much of a weekend blogger. Lest I forget, Happy Birthday to the United States Marines Corps on Saturday!



T1G, Eric, you guys rock!

More Deployment News.

We just got word that Son #2 now has a firm (yeah right) departure date of the 18th, which means he and Young SGT should have a week overlapping in Kuwait. Hopefully they'll be able to get together. Son #4 is thinking it will be April before he goes, so that gives a little bit of a break.

Valour-IT Auction

Oh crap! I nearly forgot! I promised a quilt for TEAM AIR FORCE for Valour-IT!!

Well, it is up for auction now. Please help out and place a bid on my beautiful quilt!

The Good-Bye Post

Well. That day, the one I knew was coming, has come and gone. Young Sgt is on his way to Kuwait, then on to Iraq. I had asked Some Soldier’s Mom if I could excerpt parts of this post, because no one has ever said it better. I keep this bookmarked for the times when I really need to know someone else gets it.

People -- especially other mothers -- tell me that they can not imagine what that would be like... that they would be a basket case 24 hours a day. Yes, that's it. It's like you live standing on your tippy-toes every day your child is away... and you live on the edge of breathlessness... a mental asthma attack gasping and gasping for strength and sanity and peace of mind. On the outside, we smile bravely and say, "you find the strength." And we do find the strength, but the truth is that we really only find distractions from our worry, our anxiety, our heartache.
We go to jobs. We try to maintain some semblance of our lives, but those lives have changed. And we blog. We write letters. We send cards. We shop for things to send our soldiers. We pack things for our soldiers. We stand in line at the post office to mail things to our soldiers.
We talk about them. We live for the opportunity to talk with them. Then we talk to others about what we talked about with our soldiers. And we wait for another chance to talk to them again.

That anxiety...it’s a constant little alert going off in your mind, a sentinal of your awareness checking for the slightest change in the unknown.

We listen for our phones... for the special rings we have programmed so we know if we have to answer that call. We forward phones; we pull to the side of the road to text message back to our soldiers; we give up our place in grocery store lines to run outside so the reception on the phone is better when they call. We get used to the smiling stares from people when we say, "I'm sorry, I have to take this call... my son is calling from Iraq." And we wouldn't care if they did mind -- we're taking that call no matter what.

And I have done that- kept my phone on in meetings, walking out suddenly when it rings and caller ID tells you, yes, it’s him!

We cry. We cry when they haven't called or written and we cry when they do. We cry because we miss them and because we are so frightened for them. We cry when they leave and when they return and then leave again... We find that the smallest of things make us teary-eyed... walking in their room... seeing a picture... seeing a soldier. Watching the news, reading the news, hearing the news. Yes, we cry. There's nothing like a good cry to set your head straight.

God, do I cry. Me, who never cried when my grandparents or close friends have died, cry every time I hear Darryl Worley on the radio.

We can not see a soldier anywhere without approaching them and thanking them and telling them that we, too, have a soldier.... because we all know that all soldiers have the same blood and speaking with that soldier makes us feel like we are talking to our soldier. We hug them if they let us -- and we hug them whenever we can. And we know somewhere there is a mom thanking us for taking the time to talk to (and for hugging) her soldier. She would do the same for me.
If we can not speak to that John Doe soldier, we smile wistfully... we get a pang... and our eyes may fill with tears knowing that when we look at that soldier, we are looking at our own soldier. Ask any soldier's mom -- she'll tell you... It's a universal response.
And mixed with this fear and longing is pride. Indescribable pride for these children of ours. Pride that they made the choice to serve. Pride that they accepted the challenge and met it spectacularly! Pride that they do their jobs under the most extraordinary of circumstances. We often ask ourselves, "Did I raise this person?" "How could I have done things so right?" We know we are blessed to have these spectacular creatures in our lives.

I just can’t say it any better than that.

So, we have said our good-byes for now, and made our promises to each other: that he will take care and come home safe, and we will send anything he needs and take care of his wife as much as she lets us. (love you, DIL!)
No words of what if or anything, just love and support as it should be.

Toil and Trouble

I seem to remember telling Richmond that we should compare Halloween photos:



Ahem. I am the one on the left.



One of my sisters and her daughter. Hard to believe we come from the same gene pool, isn’t it?



The granddaughter and my dad. She decided to be a princess after all.

My Soap Box, Please

Dear Micah and Ava,

I had the opportunity to see your segments in the Nickelodeon video, Rebels With a Cause, and I have questions. Micah first.

Micah, you are concerned with prisoners being tortured in Gitmo, and draw attention to your cause by wearing an orange jumpsuit and black hood. Yet in the same video, detainees are shown wearing clean white clothes and skullcaps. Which is it? I wonder if you have ever spoken to anyone who has either served or been detained in Guantanamo, because surely your conviction that the government tortures people there came from somewhere.
You also speak of Constitutional violations, and again I wonder, have you read the Constitution and if asked, answer specifically which Article is being violated? Because if you can’t, Micah, it sounds like you are letting someone else do your critical thinking for you. And I would ask you to check out thoroughly that World Can’t Wait group. If you look at who is on their advisory board, you will see one Lynne Stewart listed there. Not really a very nice lady.

Now, Ava. I have checked out your website, and admire your dedication to peace. Nobody wants it more than me, trust me. But finding pictures of maimed children on the internet is a very easy thing to do. Misery sells, that’s a fact. But if you are really interested in letting folks know the “truth” as you see it from Alabama, you might want to check out the work of a few guys that also take pictures of Iraqi kids- guys like Michael Yon, or Michael Totten, to name a few. Give your site a little balance and read Iraq the Model and read what Iraqis like Omar and Mohammed have to say.

As a parent, please trust me when I tell you that critical thinking involves looking at ALL aspects of a situation, not immersing yourself in just one.

Respectfully,
Raging Mom

Oh, and a side note to Linda Ellerbee- wearing orange sneakers at age 63 maybe be whimsy on your part, but for g*d’s sake, grow up. You’re still a piece of crap.