Dori thanks for the information on DH's surgery.  How is his eye sight now and how long ago was that?

And phoebe, the same to you. That is so sad about your mom! I was embarrassed as I should have been.  All sorts of excuses of why I didn't go, but will definitely do so now.

what is pseudoextoliation syndrome?

It looks like "dandruff" (hence exfoliation) in your eye when the doc looks carefully during an exam. They know before hand if you have it. It is prevalent in Swedish Germanic decent. Which is me. What it does is cause the "zipper" around your lens to "unzip" during cataract surgery. The fragments from the old lens fall onto the retina. The blood vanes rupture and well... lights out...!! My mother had about 8 to 10 surgeries over a three year period to correct the damage. The point is do your research. My father would not listen to me when I asked him to take my mother to a different doc for a second opinion. There had been extensive research around the states done on this and she could have had a better chance if my father had just listened to us. Please keep going to the eye doc and get regular check ups. If you don't like what a doc says...go see another one. Hugs, Patricia

thank you so much for that explanation!  I am Norwegian/German descent, so I will ask that question if cataracts ever come up.  My dad is all Norwegian and had cataract surgery in each eye, but no mention of that condition.

Sue, DH sees quite well ... with corrective glasses as is typical of people our age.  He did have problems with eye pressure during the month after the surgery but that is gone and does not need medicine any more ... thank goodness.

Patricia, I second your advice about getting a second opinion.  Any doctor worth his/her salt will welcome a second opinion.  If not, you know you need to look around for another doctor.  I am sorry you mom has gone through so much.  That sounds awful.  It does point out the importance of knowing family history and being an assertive patient.  

My box for the Ft Hood group is in the mail. I sent along some extras to fill up the rest of the box.

Received this message today from my sailor.

Thanks to each and everyone that participated in the Birthday Card Blitz!!

It was truly a blessing to open my birthday care package and see how many people took the time to write me cards! Everyone from young school children to Mother's of other sailors sent me cards. Some made me smile, some made me laugh, and some really touched my heart. Thank you to everyone who thought of me on my special day so far from home!!!

Birdie, that is such a wonderful message!   I am so glad that he liked it.  Will he give the other cards out next week that my kids made?

Lyn, thanks for letting us know that you mailed.  did you take a photo and how many extra did you mail?

The pictures are under the Ft Hood discussion. I didn't send extra pillowcases, I sent extra goodies to fill the box. Actually, my son went to the dollar store and bought what he said was "stuff the guys will need at an FOB". A gift from a sailor to some soldiers.

Lyn, I thought you meant extra pcs.  haha  Love that your son did that.  in Sept 2009 Ben was home and he helped me pick out some fabric for pcs and he bought the requested blow pops-same thing as a gift from him.  Our sailors do make us proud!

And the photos!  of course I saw them days ago.  Duh!  they look great.

Well ladies, I have many feelers out, but no groups for the very near future.  Does anyone have a loved one deployed or a friend?  Let me know.

Sue, my son said that he will be handing out the extra cards on the 4th, as requested in the note.

Also, since there were a lot more extra cards than crew members in his unit, I saved some here and will continue to send them in my care packages with a note to let the recipients know where they came from.

Birdie, that is just great!  please thank him for me.  And that is so nice of you to send the rest on.  

The 510th is finished.

new numbers and check out the wonderful note in the misc thread.

Hello ladies!!  Last time I posted I thought I was going to be able to get started again but looks like it will be a little longer.  I miss making pc's so much.  Since I last posted our daughter had our grandbaby Audrey on June 14, my son deployed to Bahrain on June 15 and we are in the final stages of getting our home.  Hopefully it will only be another month before I will be able to join back in.  God Bless you all!!

Hi Cindy,

nice to hear from you and congrats on the new grandbaby!  Would your son be the POC for his unit for pillowcases?

Those of you that are on Facebook, take a moment to check out pictures I took this weekend in the Junior class at our church. We demonstrated making pillowcases and had the kids make cards to go along.

My page is "Adopt-A-Pillowcase for a Soldier".

Ally, just a new unit.  will post about it in a day or so.  looks like 162

hey Birdie, that is great, but I don't go to FB.  can you email me the photos or post on here?

Sue,  I will ask him.  Do I need to contact the ombudsman to find out if it's okay and how many are in his unit?  

Cindy, that's great!  No you don't need to contact the ombudsman.  If your son is willing to receive the package(s) and hand them out, it will be fine.

HAPPY 4th of JULY!

This is my favorite holiday of all!  I am blessed to be a citizen of this great country and it's our military that helps to keep us strong.  The rest is up to "everyday" day people, like you and me.

People who see a  need and work hard to fill it.  Thank you HAE crew for helping to bring some comfort to our troops so far from home.

I posted some new numbers.  I mailed 40 pcs yesterday to 2 different small units.  I couldn't really celebrate this holiday without getting some comfort from home into the mail.

Had a nice lunch at a contemporary Mexican restaurant with my hubby and son.  it is beautiful here today.  we had rain last night and it was raining when we came home today from lunch.  cool, in the 80's.  such a welcome change.

We have a new group, a ship!  woohoo!  Thanks to Phoebe who emailed me yesterday telling me that her son's ship was out and would be for awhile yet and then asking if we could do her son's ship in a year or so.  I said "why not now?"

We're ready.  So she and Maryellen worked on it and thanks to ME for getting right to the heart of the matter.  In less than 24 hours, we had the command's permission to "DO IT".

Awesome!  Check out the thread-Wave 2 begins on Monday.  I'm in!

My son tried to help me with the playlist.;  He couldn't get it to work so he deleted it.

BUT neither one of us can figure out how add music anymore.  Does anyone know how?

star spangled banner

Plus it has all the words to the song!  AWESOME!  I gave the words and info about the flag to the kids at VBS crafts last night.  They need to know the truthful history of our country and it's our job to teach them!

OK LADIES we have a new group and we need those pillowcases you have stashed go check it out and let me know how many you can do. I am working on another groups so we can show our Men and Women how we roll. This has been the BEST 4th of July for me in a few years.  

Sue wheres the music player did you take it down, we need some insparational music please..

do you know how to get it up?  we can't figure out how to get it on here.

Let me figure it out and them I can tell you.

playlist changed their format and then it wouldn't play.  I tried to fix it but got nowhere.  Ben came today to help but he couldn't get it either.  then he tried another but we couldn't get that on site either.

so beats me.  I'm going to poke around a bit and see if I can get it.

I've read thru the NING site, but I just don't see what they say to do.

I'll look again tomorrow.  have to go watch the fireworks (on tv) haha

does anyone know how to add music to a group page?  it doesn't have all the same things on it as a profile page and admin hasn't responded to my question.

I sure do miss it.  

I have 2 important visitors for a couple of weeks:  Tobey and Olive.  Here they are:

Hi Terry,

I am so sorry to hear about your FIL.  And I am so thankful for the unexpected blessing for you and Aaron!  Yes, God is good all of the time, even when we can't really see it at the moment.

My husband says "life is like a puzzle.  Each little piece doesn't make much sense by itself, BUT when added to the other pieces, the picture begins to show".  And that is pretty true about like and stresses that come our way.

Will pray for a safe journey for Aaron.  He will join the ranks of the few sailors to actually get to fly on and off a carrier-not all that many actually get to do that.

On his last deployment, Ben flew onto the ship cause he stayed back with the squadron to get the planes ready and then flew off when he left the Navy.  he said it was COOL.

And he actually ended up circling the globe on that last deployment as well.  That is something that I doubt that I will ever do.

Happy Saturday crew!  We have cloudy skies in sunny southern AZ!  I sure hope that means some rain is coming today!

It just hit 100 degrees here north of Pittsburgh. Its too hot to do anything but hide out in the house. So, I'm hoping to get some pcs cut out and started. I won't be turning the iron on until it cools down later tonight.

We had a hail storm a couple of days ago. I've never seen hail that large. It did $2,000 worth of damage to my husband's car. It was outside of the garage because Alex's car was inside. Now they are telling us that we can expect more storms tonight and more hail is possible. I'm keeping my fingers cross, which does make it a little hard to sew. LOL

ah Lyn, that is pretty much what we do in AZ-hide in the afternoon and maybe get a siesta.  Sorry to hear about the damage to the car!  that had to be some big hail.

Terry, did Aaron make it back?  

We had a great rain storm on Sunday afternoon and again today.  Nothing like the rain to break the heat!

I got inquiry #144 tonight from a 96 year old woman who still sews alittle bit.  She wants to make pcs for our troops!  I am blessed.

And  I discovered something new today!   I needed to mail 41 pcs to the ship

I mailed the pcs to the ship this afternoon. I didn't take pictures because these pcs are the same as the ones I sent in other boxes. The only difference was the last box had Marine Corps pcs and these were Navy pcs.

thanks Lyn!

Just needed to share...

Mrs,
I wanted to let you know your son is a gift to the Navy and (if you'll excuse my language) a damn fine Sailor. Just the other day I put him in charge of 25 plus people during a very dangerous evolution and he performed his duties diligently and swiftly. During our evolution when others had shut down he remained focused and dedicated to his position. He inspired true confidence in me right down to the bitter end. I am certain that you are proud of him, just as I am, but I thought you should have a specific example to share with the rest of the world about your sons success. It is an honor to serve alongside your son. Thank you.

Phoebe, now that just makes a mama proud.

I recieved this one today, I also posted it on the correct thread but wanted to share it here.

Ma’am,

Thank you for the effort and heart that you put into making the troops fell good while in Afghanistan. I know that you probably wondered where that pillow case would ever end up, well here it is in Leatherneck Afghanistan in the Helmand Province. My Convoy team and I received a box with pillow cases and wondered what are we going to do with these. On convoys we are often left to sleep wherever we can( in the trucks, on the floor, set up a cot, I even slept on the tire once). When I received you pillow case, it gave me a reason to use a pillow, life just works like that sometimes doesn’t it. Now no matter where the missions take us in Afghanistan I can count on my pillow and pillow case being a constant in this unstable environment. Thank you for taking the time to care about someone you don’t even know. It really means a lot and I just wanted to say thanks and let you know how you have truly made a difference in my deployment. Here are some facts about what OUR pillow case has been through:

Traveled(drove) 12,000 kilometers
Been to 15 Provinces in Afghanistan
Been through 35 degree weather
Been through 120 degree weather
Survived more than 15 EIDs(don’t worry all my Sailors and I are still here and were not hurt)
Been to 4 of 5 major areas in Afghanistan
Been in around 10 quality pillow fights

And most importantly, has been there to hug when I missed my wife Divina.

Once again thanks for all you do.

Very respectfully,

Chief Rxxxxx Convoy Commander NMCB 11
Fighting Seabees
CEC(SCW/FMF) Rxxxxxxx

oh my, go away for a few hours and all sorts of new happens!

Terry-awesome article and you have 2 beautiful girls in your family!  I'm going to try and track down that one wife who is from WI.  I visited her town in 1973, when I was just a newly wed.

Phoebe!!!!  What a wonderful note about your son!  I bet you are bustin' your buttons over this.  I am very proud of him too!  And he is the reason that the ship is getting pcs-your causal mention to me about a time in the future.  So thank you for sharing this letter.

Maryellen!  What a fun email to receive about your pillowcase.  My, your pc has had many adventures!   I wonder which one it was-I want to see it haha.  Thanks for posting it in both places. 

What a great thankyou note. I just love those!

me too Lyn.  New numbers-over 3,000 for the year so far.

Phoebe-What a great letter to receive!!  I know you are proud!  Tell him thanks for his service.

Maryellen-Such a great thank you note.  I've never stopped to think about all the facts he gave.  

Hoping to get back helping soon.  If it would quit raining things could move a little faster on our home.  Not much left to do so I'm hoping only a couple of more weeks.

Cindy, we will enjoy having you join in again once your house is finished.

Got this note in this morning's email.  I've posted in the misc 2012 as well with the pcs:

Welcome to KidsLuv NAVY!  So glad to have you join us!

watched a show on Fox news tonight about Ft Hood.  Very good. I hope you all will watch it.  We have a connection to this:

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/fox-news-reporting/transcript/fox-fil...

Mornin' everyone.  We are being quiet and that's okay.  I have been sewing this week and if feels good to get some done.

Lots of rain headed our way again.  

On Sunday I got an email from our old contact Dawn!  I was really happy to hear from her.  She is back in the sandbox and wondered if we had any pcs.  I said

"Yes, how many do you need?"  She could use 100 right now, so I have 4 ladies

sending out 100 this week.

This is also wave 2 of the ship mailing.

We have had lots of rain here in the last 2 weeks.  But the ground just keeps soaking it up and the trees/plants are really green.  The cactus all have new grown again.

Olive is going home today.  I started back to work at CARE yesterday- just a few hours each day this week getting our site ready.