Moms of Daughters 2

Labmom,
Glad you made it to GL ok!!!

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!
Sending warm cyber hugs to everyone!!

MandE'sMom,
Good to hear from you!! Enjoy your holiday!!

DC,
Pleasant wishes back to you as well!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL HAVE A GREAT DAY AND BE SAFE

Blondie:
I love that poem and it works for me, but the bottom line on that for my daughter needs to read and may all your Thanksgiving dinner end up on your thighs. She made weight by a pound. I sure hope she is eating good or she'll lose instead of gain. Hopefully that will be made up in muscle because I know that they are going to be working out every day. Happy Thanksgiving to all. We have snow in Alaska today, but they are predicting more terrible weather. As long as the mail runs, I'm good.

Wishing all my Navy Mom friends a very happy Thanksgiving!! My blue candle is burning for all our sailors away from family this day!! God Bless our service men and women wherever they are serving!!

Happy Thanksgiving all. I am having the best Thanksgiving ever. My younger daughter and I flew to GL on Tuesday for my older daughter's PIR yesterday. It was amazing and they have overnight liberty until Saturday night so we are all here in the hotel together. We went to a movie tonight and will take the train to Chicago tomorrow to play. I am a happy mom!!

Good morning! We are having snow/wintery mix/sleet/rain/fog here today, starting with the snow. It is chilly outside. DH needs to bring in some wood so we can have a fire in the wood stove.

Blondie, when we lived in Ireland, I had to work on Thanksgiving but on the weekend all the Americans in the department got together for a traditional feast. Turkeys are not normally available in the market except at Christmas. Then you see them hanging above every meat market counter with head, feet and guts still there. Anyway a friend pleaded with her butcher that she "had" to have a turkey early. We even had a football game. One of the other visiting Americans had a friend tape a Steelers game for us to watch. It was grand fun.

I regret that Thanksgiving seems to be more and more marginalized every year. Yesterday the radio station was playing Christmas music all day long and there were lit Christmas lights in the yards. I love Thanksgiving for the special day it is and don't like to begin Christmas before the first Sunday in Advent. Then, I like to start slowly and build up to Christmas.

Well, Blondie, the countdown begins! Let's see it's T-??

Andrea, I would think that celebrating Thanksgiving with a PIR would be absolutely fantastic. You have so many things to be thankful for, beginning with hugging your sailor!

Anna, I think the whole 7th Fleet needs special prayers right now.

Blondie, In my G'daughter's senior year of college, she belonged to an organization of 12 women and there was a complementary organization of 12 men. They were inducted into the organizations at the same time and the men would serenade the women and the women would do the same. It is always a comic serenade written by the respective inductees. Well the men kept talking about how the women liked there Sigma (the symbol for their organization). At Christmas times they drew names to exchange fun gifts. My G'daughter was at a loss so I suggested a blue ornament (Maine's colors are blue and white) with a silver Sigma. So she made one. It was a simple, inexpensive gift but all the men wanted one as well. It also had special meaning.

When we lived in Ireland, DH and I decided that we would forego decorations ... no tree, etc. Well as Christmas approached, I found I really missed my nativity and not having a tree also made me a bit blue. So shortly before Christmas, we found a small inexpensive nativity. Then DH picked up some spruce boughs that had been thrown out at the market. I made a tree using the boughs and florist foam. It worked quite well.

Now there was a big nativity in the center of town. One day we noticed that the baby Jesus had been taken. We found that rather surprising to say the least.

The Irish shut everything down at Christmas. There was tons of bustle leading up to Christmas and then it was all closed down. We walked through City Center of Cork on Christmas Eve and there was absolutely no one else around. It was a bit eerie. Also Christmas decorations stayed up until after 12th night. It was one of our most pleasant Christmases ever!

Hi Everyone. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving day! I talked to my daughter yesterday and she told me that she will be home for 9 days next month but the day after her birthday she will go to her fleet (which is deployed btw) and I have no idea what questions I should be asking her. I know some of you have Sailors out on sea duty maybe you can help me with this part of the journey (at least what to expect).

I recieved three page letter yesterday from my duaghter she said that she is doing good and that she is excited about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I cant wait to see her again

ladypinkhatter,
Congratulations to your daughter!! What is her rate - what will her job be onboard? A couple things that come to mind from when my son was deployed are to make sure you have her Navy email address. She should have access to ship computers and can keep in contact with you by email. Also make sure she gets you the ombudsman name and contact information (email address and such) and that your daughter gives the ombudsman your contact information so you can be kept up to date on info coming directly from the ship. Also, get the ship's website and check it out. Many times the ship will post pictures of where they've been and what their sailors are doing!!

Walker, that was some kind of letter from your daughter! That's fantastic. How much longer will it be before you see her?

LadyPink, when your daughter joins the fleet, you will have most of your contact via e-mail. I do advise getting Skype and webcams because when they are in port sometimes they do have access to high-speed Internet. Then it is good to see your sailor as you talk to her. You will both want to have webcams and they are not too expensive. You will also need a microphone. She may be able to phone using a ship-to-shore phone card but sometimes the lines for the phones are long and sometimes the connection is not too good ... as I understand. My sailor and I just use e-mail and look forward to the next Skype chat. Do you know to which ship she will be assigned?

Just learned that they lost my sailors approved leave chit. She isn't too happy a camper. We had located reasonable tickets through DC which would allow her to avoid the northern airports. Now those tickets are very high. :-( So it looks like she will have to travel through Chicago, which is not one of my favorite airports.

Anna- thanks. She is undesignated. Is her ombudsman the same as her sponsor? She keeps talking about receiving e-mail's from her sponsor on the ship.

DC- thank you too. I do have Skype but will need to get webcam for her. How do you know when they are able to Skype or not?

LadyPink, we usually set a time, more or less, via e-mail. Her ombudsman and sponsor are not the same person. The ombudsman is a liaison between the families and the military. This person is a good source of information, e.g., newsletters about what is going on, etc. The sponsor is probably someone in the unit to which she is assigned. A good one will help her adjust to the ship and Navy life in the fleet. Does she know yet the area in which she will be working. I realize that with undesignated this can fluctuate. There is a group for moms of undesignated sailors. You may find that useful. I sometimes think it would be a good idea for more sailors to go undesignated. They really have no clue what is involved with many of the rates.

DC- I have been in the undes group since I found out she was undesignated and they have been very helpful and yes I agree, for someone who didn't know what she wanted to do with her life after hs graduation, we are hoping she will a rating she likes by going undesignated. She doesn't know what area she will be in (or at least I don't know...lol...I will ask her).

I know we can't give specific information, but can we put the name of the ship online?

I see no problem with putting the name of the ship. There are groups that are ship specific, e.g., Lincoln Moms and George Washington Moms. That is nice because we are in the same "boat" so to speak. For instance, right now there are a bunch of GW moms who are very concerned because of the location of the GW. It is in the news every night so I am not giving away anything. We don't post when the ship will pull into port or the next port of call. Some know and some of us like to do sleuthing to see if we can guess.

On Facebook there are groups for some of the ships with pictures. There were some really great pictures of the turn over exercises between the Lincoln and the Truman. I think the Lincoln group is the one that had the best pictures.

But, LadyPink, whenever in doubt about what to post, it's best not to post.

My daughter graduates on 12-22-10 so excited cant wait. she had told me in her letter that everyone talks about how they misstalking or texting thier boyfriends or friends and she wrote how she misses talking and texting me poor girl lol

Walker- that's a great x-mas present...PIR!

DC- thanks. When I'm in doubt about what to posts, I usually ask one or more people or like you said....don't post at all. She will be on the AL. I did find that group today and introduced myself. I also saw the pic on fb and the located the ships website.

So does the Navy give them an e-mail address? Sorry about all the questions.

ladypinkhatter,
Yes, all sailors have their own email address. Now many of them also have a personal email but they will have a navy email that will stay with them for as long as they are in. And it is just fine that you ask what you can say and what you shouldn't. But saying what ship they are on is really no different than saying what base they are assigned to. Like DC said just don't ever post an exact location or when they will be somewhere like a port city.

Walker,
Will you be able to go to her graduation on the 22nd?? That would be such a wonderful Christmas gift!!!! So glad you got to hear from her!!

Good morning! For me decorating starts slowly and builds up. Yesterday I put up the advent candles and last night we lit the first one. Next week the boughs and lights will go on the bannisters. The Christmas tree doesn't go up until a week or so before Christmas. When I was little, it always went up on Christmas eve. When I was really little it went up after the little ones went to bed on Christmas eve ... my parents must have been exhausted! Then decorations stayed up until 12th night. I find it discouraging because so many people remove the tree the day after Christmas. But many have different customs.

Good Morning to Everyone. I hope everyones Thanksgiving was fantastic.

WOW you were busy. I did nothing. We watched the movies my husband hates to watch since he wasn't home. LOL

Good morning Ladies....wow, Blondie that was quite some weekend. I was worn out (in a good way) just reading it..lol. I was like Jean...I did nothing but watch movies, cook myself some Thanksgiving comfort food and talk to my sailor and a few family members. As far as work...it is a bad thing to be off from work for six days and not want to come back...LOL! I seriously considered making it an even week this morning! Well, I hope we all have a great and safe day today.
PS- love the hugs this morning Blondie.

ladypinkhatter, I am with you on the 6 days off and not wanting to come back. My desk is a disaster and I actually had all of last week off except Monday. Yikes I better get started in fixing it back up.

Hello, Mommas!! :)

I am hoping you all of you had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. I too am suffering the "return to work" blahs! But I am slowly making it through the day. Slowly...oh boy, I cannot wait to get home!!!

As for our holiday and weekend, things went well. Turkey Day was great! :) Friday, we went shopping and I got just about all my holiday shopping done! I got to skype with my sailor a couple times too!! So excited. They also have a group skype now so you can skype with more than one person AND still have video for all. So I can share my sailor with others!

Saturday and Sunday we spent painting the bathroom. Now I am exhausted.

Blondie, I thought I did a lot on my weekend! You were certainly a busy bee!!

Sending hugs to all of you Navy moms!!

Hello all!! Looks like everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!! Mine was nice - very quiet just Steve and I but I wanted to cook a turkey and our two stuffings - the kind I grew up with and hungarian stuffing my husband grew up with. They compliment each other nicely. Hubby offered to take me out for Thanksgiving dinner but I told him we'd only get one meal. If I make dinner we have leftovers twice then I take the remaining turkey, spuds, stuffing, and gravy and make creamed turkey served over biscuits!!!! We love that also!!! So I cook once but we get 5 meals!! Plus this week I can get about 3 or 4 turkey sandwiches to have for lunch!!! Thank God Thanksgiving only comes once a year because I would probably be sick of turkey if we did this more than once a year!!!!!!!
Got to talk to all the kids so that is always a good thing for me!!!!

I know it has been a while. Just wanted to stop by and say I now have 2 Navy sailors.

Yeah JM!!! C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S ! ! ! !
And so nice to "see" you again!!!!

Hey, Puffy! I was thinking about you today ... believe it or not ... I really was. Next spring I will be in the Palm Springs area and I was thinking about the nice visit we had last year in San Diego. You have no idea how much that meant to me to get to meet you. What type of adventures has Puffy been up to?

I see that your name has changed to ISmomx2. Does this mean your son is IS as well.

Yes, I now have two IS or our son will be once he finishes A and C school. He is still currently at GL, just PIR'd on 11/24, and will also go to Dam Neck, VA for his training. Puffy is soon going on her first overseas adventure to a much dryer place.Unlikely she will ever be shipboard with her rate. Very different then what she is comfortable with but should be a facinating experience never the less.

Good morning guys! :) Hope all is well with all of you. I am working hard today...a very busy day, so I wont be on here long, but wanted to say hi.

I spoke with my sailor last night and she is still working hard at ATT. She is set to be sent to her A school the middle of December, so it is unlikely that she will make it home for Christmas. She is excited about getting out of the frigid north, however. :)

Have a great day!

Good Morning to Everyone!

Morning Blondie

Good morning, everyone!

Thanks Blondie, Yes I sort of got the relaxing night. I went home and took my migraine meds and it put me to sleep early. I am not going to let my work stress me today. Even though it is the end of the month plus that stupid audit thing. I will not, I will not, I will not do that to myself again. How are you doing?

Blondie, Keep your head up and barge through what needs to be done. Just remember that Japan is waiting. I am so excited for you. You finely get to see your sailor and see another part of the world. I want to see pictures when you get back.

That will be cool. I can hardly wait.

Have a good rest of the day, Blondie. Take that nap before you start on the house. Weather here is wet. Very wet.

My daughter and some friends in BECC - they graduated BECC 11/18/10

The sailors and my brother (sailor from the 80s) at the Table on Thanksgiving. We had 5 sailors come home with my daughter for Thanksgiving.

Movie time...LOL!

Blondie, our temperatures warmed up some but there's still snow on the ground ... not much but some. My sailor is still involved in military exercises :-( I pray that they will end without bloodshed. I watch the news so much these days. All of the 7th Fleet is in my prayers right now. Okay it is all the time, as are all our military, but right now especially the 7th Fleet.

My marine is doing fine. He has a nice attitude. I worry about his deployment but he looks forward to it. I guess that's what Marines do ... look forward to being in the middle of the action.

Great pictures, Cathi. Look like typical young people.

Hello all- I just got back home yesterday afternoon after a wonderful thanksgiving weekend with my daughter! PIR was awesome and we were blessed to have overnight liberty Wed to Sat. then have her also Sunday for the day. We spent the weekend with my sister in Gurnee at her house and we did have a sailor come for thanksgiving with us. One of Nikkis division buddies from the first division she was in before she got hurt had no plans so we had him come spend the day. My sister is 6 minutes from the base so it will be great for Nikki through A school. I left her laptop and a suitcase with her winter clothes there for her. I definately overpacked her but she was so appreciative. hope all had a blessed holiday!

DC,
Our snow is melting (Thank God) because it warmed up the last two days and even rained a bit to help wash it away!! However, I hear we have a bunch more coming Wed through the weekend!!!! I'm with you, always keeping our military in my prayers but certainly the 7th fleet even more so now!!!!

lindalav,
So happy you had a wonderful weekend!! Your daughter will really appreciate having family close by while in school!! Lucky girl!!!!

Is there any moms on here that have a daughter in ship03 div028

Yes anna I think she already is. Before she left she didnt realize what that meant to have family that close but after 3 months I do believe she does now LOL

Good morning all! :) Everything is the same down here...nothing really new to report. Spoke to Sailor again last night and she seems to be doing really well. Got past another module in ATT. One step closer to leaving GL and on to San Diego, so she is thrilled. She told me she saw snow for the first time (actually falling - she has seen it on the ground) and she said it was pretty but not worth all the torturesome cold weather. True Floridian!

Cathi - what wonderful pics! Thanks for posting.

DC - I will continue to keep them in my prayers as well. And you! :) Sending Hugs!

Lindalav - that sounds so wonderful! I am so glad you got to enjoy your sailor for an extended period of time. Such a blessing also, that you have a relative so close by!! :)

Anna (and everyone else in the cold weather) - Stay warm! :) I do not know if I could handle such conditions.

Navy Mom - glad to hear you are doing well.

Blondie - Thanks for the prayers...needed them. :)

Hope everyone has a Wonderful Wednesday - remember to add a little Whimsy to your Wednesday! :)

MandE's mom, I am glad you talked to your sailor yesterday and all is well. Everything is well with me also. My husband talked with our sailor, she spend all of her day off sleeping to try and get rid of a nasty cold she has. She is one of those people that just keeps going and going. So I was not surprised to hear of the cold.

Good morning all.....I am checking in (so to speak). I have been busy trying to get ready an early Christmas, early birthday celebration, etc.

Lindalav- so glad you enjoyed your time with your daughter and she is blessed to have family so close by. Is your sailor staying in GL? Mine is still there, but like MandE'smom, is one step closer to leaving.

MandE'smom- if she ever needs anything let me know...I am about 30-40 minutes away from Diego (depending on traffic...lol)

Jean- I hope your daughter feels better soon and will pray for her speedy recovery.

Blondie- I thought you had to be flexible for the Navy.....but your job "takes the cake". What would they do without us...lol!! And I tell everyone the same thing here...when it comes to my daughter, you won't stand a chance...lol...good thing I am in a union...lol.

I hope everyone has a great day!!

Thanks, Ladypinkhatter. She could use all the prayer she could get.