Thanksgiving and Babysitting

I just want to send a big THANK YOU to Tania and Micah and to Tammie and Jess for hosting our Thanksgiving get together this year. I had such a wonderful time and it was so very good to be with all of you. Guys, I appreciate so much you letting us move in with you and bring chaos and mayhem to your homes. Your hospitality was awesome. The food was superb!! Thank you, everyone, for all the good food you brought. I felt like we really got to visit and have fun playing games and just enjoy being together. And the best part for me is getting to see the grandkids have so much fun together. And Adam, it was so good to be with you. Sorry about flaking out on the Capture the Flag--but it was so COLD! And Jerry, I applaud you for being brave enough to come to our biggest family function and live through it. It was a real blessing having you there and I really enjoyed playing games with you. I hope now that you are broke in, you will attend many more get togethers. So to all of you--it was great fun, fellowship and food. How blessed we are to have each other!

It is now the end of my second day of keeping Mason and Grant while Jenny goes back to teaching school. First day was a struggle trying to juggle them both. Mason wants me to play with him all the time and Grant wants to be held most of the time. He is doing great at taking the bottle but is mighty glad when Mama gets home and he is back to the real thing. He really is a good baby--just think he is missing Mama and getting used to me and all that. Today, Mason went to preschool so we had a quieter day. But he still really needed me to hold him lots--he just would sleep lots longer in my arms than in his bed. So consequently, I watched more TV today than in the past 6 weeks. Caught a good movie, lots of food network shows, and two I Love Lucy episodes plus a little news and weather channel thrown in. I even managed to get the laundry done, Mason's room and the kitchen cleaned, and finally finish going through all my mail from when we were in San Diego and New York. Grant was sure glad to see his Mama when she got home after a really long day--at 6:30--but not as happy as she was to see him. The long day had her in tears, she missed him so. Jenny is just meant to be a stay at home Mom. I am so glad I can do this little bit to help her out with this tough time right now. We had a nice spaghetti supper and quiet evening and both boys are sleeping now. Tomorrow I will have both of them again but I think we will try some outdoor time--go for a long walk or something.

Something funny: Yesterday Mason and I were playing tag out front and I was out of breath so I yelled "Time-out" and Mason corrected me by informing me you don't say timeout--you say 'Pause". Is he growing up in an electronic age or what??we even have to pause real games........

I am really enjoying my time with the boys. I am sure once we get into a little routine we can work into doing more fun and creative activities. It is just that it has been awhile since I did this .......

Our Thanksgiving

I'm Trying to Catch Up

Our life has been rather crazy and I am way behind in posting anything so am trying to catch up. We were in New York City on November 16. It is now Nov. 26 and I am at Jenny's house. Will blog more later about our wonderful Thanksgiving. Just didn't want to confuse anyone....

We Love New York!

Don and I love New York City. We spent five weeks here during 911 with Red Cross so really learned our way around the city. Twice we have had big family trips here at Christmas time, too. Each year when we go visit his family we make sure to spend a day or two in the city.

I love just exploring it--getting to just experience it and visit all the various parts of the city. I love the architecture, the different cultures, the foods, the sights, the sounds, the history, just all of it. We always buy a fun pass which allows you unlimited rides on the subway and buses so we zip all over the city.

Some of our standard/favorite spots to visit are:

• ride the Staten Island Ferry (free) to see the Manhattan skyline and Statue of Liberty
• view from Empire State Building
• WoHops basement restaurant on a back street in Chinatown--best WonTon soup ever!
• Walking through Chinatown, Little Italy, Lower Eastside, Finacial District
• Upper Westside: Big Nick's, Hotel Newton, the great neighborhoods, fruit/veg. markets
• walking the Brooklyn Bridge (where Don proposed to me)
• Metropolitan Musuem of Art
• eating a hotdog from a vendor on the street
• Trinity Church--it is so very old and interesting
• Ground Zero
• Rockefeller Center area
• Riding the magic #5 bus up 5th avenue
• NY Public Library
• Chrysler building
• Grand Central Station

The list could go on and on. Suffice it to say we had a great but short visit to NYC. Just wanted to share a few pics with you.

New York City

More

We have much celebration around here. Big pasta supper for friends and family here last night and then the big graduation party today. Lots of good food and fun. Carol was overwhelmed with all the attention and admiration she got on her special day. She has been working on this degree a little at a time since 1992 so it was quite a celebration of her tenacity. I have no doubt she will be an awesome occupational therapist.
I have taken hundreds of photos of the autumn leaves--it is just so absolutely breathtakingly beautiful here. I just can’t drink in enough of this beauty. I had just had to post more pictures.

Check out my Slide Show!

Hello from New York

We left San Diego on Thursday for New York. What a long day of travel! We were up at 4am and left for the airport two hours ahead of our 7:20 flight. Traffic to airport was awful and the airport lines were even worse. We were thinking we would have time to grab a quick breakfast and Starbucks before leaving but that sure didn't happen. We made it to the plane just in time to walk on it. My body has sure gotten used to that strong Starbuck's coffee and I had a raging headache (caffeine withdrawal) the whole way to Cinncinati. Plane was fully loaded for that 3 hour 40 minute flight across the country. BUT, they did hand us a nice little snack pack for free that I was not expecting--crackers and cream cheese spread, raisins and oreos--so we did get something to eat and I got a coke for the caffeine but still did not fix my headache. When we got to Cinncinati we had to rush again to make our next plane which, of course, was at the far end of the next concourse. But I declared I was going to have my Starbucks even if we missed our connection so we grabbed a large coffee and a sandwich to go and were off and running. They were calling our names just as we entered the gate area so we rushed onto the plane. But, oh, that coffee and sandwich were so good. Great flight and we landed in Newark after being in a circle pattern for awhile waiting for an opportunity to land.

We had arranged for a rental car at Enterprise which was quite a bus ride out of the airport. But they were very nice and at last we were on our way to Claudia's(another sister of Don) house in Ridgewood, New Jersey where family was meeting for dinner. A home cooked meal--it was sooooo yummy and welcomed. Was so fun to see everyone. Don's dad and his wife, Lorraine had arrived that evening from Phoenix and his other sister, Chris, from Florida, had arrived earlier this week. A real family reunion. It was great. We are all gathered here for a big shindig on Sunday to celebrate Carol's (Barb's partner) graduation from college. She is getting her degree in Occupational Therapy. She has worked many years on this while working in the school system, too. She will be great in this field of work.

So that catches you up on us. Tania, I am busy collecting all kinds of leaves for you. Hope I am not supposed to be identifying them for you, too.........It was so good to get to internet and catch up with all you bloggers.

We love staying at Barb's house and after seeing the pictures I am sure you will see why. It is like staying at a lodge in the woods. So all is well with us and we are happy to be here. And God has certainly blessed us with beauty to behold.

Thank you, God!!

God is so good. I prayed for there to still be colorful leaves on the trees when we got to New York and it is beautiful. We are at Don's sister's house in Stony Point, NY--it backs up to a state park. Then last night it began to snow--the first snowfall of the year. And we got to see it! It is just so beautiful. I love it!

Look at me now!

I can drive the forklift now. I took a class so I would have my operator’s license to drive it on Red Cross jobs. It was a bit scary for me but I did it and it is fun. In spare time, I practice picking up pallets of stuff and placing them in a box truck then practice taking them out again.\
Things are winding down here. We are leaving on Thursday and I think most of our team will leave before then. Fires are out and the emergency is over. It will be sad to say goodbye to all our friends here. This has been a great experience.

After we left La Costa Resort they put us in another resort--Paradise Island. It is beautiful. I feel like I am in Hawaii--lush tropical vegetation and lagoons are everywhere. The true sounds we hear at night are like what you would hear on a nature sounds CD. The rooms are pretty standard--nice, but not super fancy. It is just a very nice family type resort--and much closer to our work site so no more 45 minute trips to work each day.
So Thursday we head for New York to be with Don’s family. Can’t wait to see them all. And Barb says the colors are really late this year so I just might get to see colorful fall leaves still on the trees.
Alisa says all is well at home with beautiful weather there.
We have not had internet since Tuesday when we had to leave La Costa so I sure miss my blogs.

Check out my Slide Show!

Back to reality

Our time is up in our luxurious resort which I have never yet gotten to see in the daylight. Red Cross informed us tonight is our last night here. Don't know where they are moving us yet so don't know if we will have internet or not. We are working long days but we have a great team and love our work. It is still crazy and ever changing and some people have been sent home already so don't know from one day to next what will happen. They opened another kitchen yesterday in the Ramona area north of us. We get up at 5, go to work and load and unload trucks all day long then get home about 9, shower, and collapse into bed and do it all again the next day. But we have had more laughs and fun on this operation and enjoyed our fellow workers more than any operation this year. We work hard but we have a blast doing it. We call our work area "Happyville"--which irritates all the folks who are disgruntled about not getting to do the job they wanted to do. Anyway, I will blog more later--I started one and will add to it. Later.

It's Marme's Fault

OK--here I am loading and unloading trucks all day long and walking all over a huge parking lot so I am getting all this great exercise and should be working off some weight. Then I read Marme's wonderful list of fall favorites and she has to mention Starbuck's Pumpkin Cream cheese muffins! I had never had one before (seldom get to a Starbucks) so thought in her honor and to savor the full fall experience I should try one. I am totally hooked. They are wonderful. I eat one every morning and can't wait until the next morning for another. I do not even want to know their calorie count. We get so little sleep and have to head out at 6am for the 40 mile commute in traffic so we always stop at Starbucks first thing. So if I come home 10 pounds heavier it is all Marme's fault. (But I still thank you, Marme).

News from the Red Cross front

It was so good to read everyones blogs again. Still have not seen our fancy resort in daylight but by night it is beautiful with all the lights, fountains, and beautiful flowers. We have quite a walk each morning at 6 (the self-parking area is not near our room--they want you to use their valet service but we don't--you have to pay $10 a day just to park your car here overnight) but the walk is nice in that the air is cool and refreshing and helps you wake up. We have three others that ride with us--they are a fun bunch that we work with. Leslie is from Seattle area--she is the one we worked with during Katrina. Ray is from Michigan and Twyla is from Rome, Georgia. We have lots of laughs and fun times while working and driving.

Today at work we were applauded by everyone for being the most efficient, hard-working team that has ever loaded ERVs. We were very pleased with that. We try hard to have a good time and do a good job and make everyone smile. We call our loading area the "Happy Zone" and won't let the drivers leave until they smile. We have pallets of water, sweet snacks, salty snacks, clamshells and cutlery, and other stuff the ERVs need. They drive up and tell us how many hundred meals they are serving and we load their supplies for them. We made a sign for our area that says "Snacks R Us".

Today the sun was so strong--we had a nice breeze but the sun was brutal. My face is so very sunburned as I am just out in it all day. Then I was suddenly given the additional job as security supervisor and traffic control on the lot. For the past week we have had a security service that mans the entrances to the parking lot and keeps control of who comes and goes. But today they are gone (I am praying it is just because it is Sunday) and we only have 4 National guardsmen who help keep the street people off the lot. So I have to get two people to sit in the hot sun for an hour at the entrances. I HATE asking people to do this. We have lots of extra people but they just look at me with blank eyes when I ask for volunteers to do this. It really makes me mad--it is like some people come with the idea they are here to work and they will eagerly take on any task and others come with preplanned notions of what they expect and want to do and refuse to do anything else. I was fortunate in finding enough people to do it today and just pray that tomorrow the security service will reappear.

It is now late Tuesday and the security service did not reappear but the job was taken off my shoulders and placed on the national guard guys. They don't do a very good job though....
Work has really picked up and we are working all day long loading ERVs and unloading the big trucks bringing in supplies. Don is in heaven getting to drive the forklift and work around the big rigs. He NEVER sits down all day and works so hard. The sun is so brutal--weather is not hot but sun on your face sure is. My whole face and lips are just so sore. Thus the wacky hat I wear in the pictures.

Just as I am typing I am hearing the news that an earthquake has hit northern California. I did not feel it and I am sure glad. I am not all that impressed with California. People are rude on the freeways and the land is just not that pretty. San Diego is a nice pretty city, I guess, but too many people too close together. I like Texas.

Someone made a big boo boo and ordered WAY too many clamshells(what we serve the hot meals in)--like a million--and I mean literally a million. Last night we had to stay til after 8 unloading big rigs full of boxes of clamshells--they just kept on coming--it was so ridiculous it was funny. We just could not believe it. I think there was definitely some miscommunication somewhere up the line. I thought we should change our sign to "Clamshells R Us" and adopt a "no return" policy to get rid of them. The lot is full of them.

Today a Red Crosser got stung by a bee and stopped breathing and had to be taken to hospital. This is the fourth time EMS has been called to our lot. I am suprised OSHA does not investigate us.....

I must say this is the most fun we have had on a DR in a long time. We prayed for God to put us where he wanted us and tried so hard to take our hands off of it. The people on our team are all such hard, eager workers with great attitudes and senses of humor. We just make our work fun and try hard to cheer up the many disgruntled people who pass our way.

Unfortunately, it seems though that when extra work needs to be done in "dismal land"--the area across the lot where the unassigned people are(who sit in chairs grumbling all day)--they come to us and ask us to go do it since they see that we work. Last night, after an exceptionally hard day of more than normal trucks coming in, and after all the others had left for the day but we were still waiting for additional trucks coming in, they had the audacity to come ask us to go wash 40 cambros. Cambros are the ice-chest size containers that hold the hot food that is served on the ERVs. They are not fun to wash. We asked them why they would ask us, who worked hard all day and still had more work ahead to do that job???? Why did they let the slackers go home? We just flat out refused--not because we would have minded doing it but on principle. It was just wrong of them to ask us. They are always coming to us to do the extra jobs and just letting others do nothing. That kind of stuff just does not fly with me.
OK--that is all the news from the Red Cross front. I gotta get packed up for our move tomorrow.

From Rags to Riches

Boy, have we moved up in the world. Remember how we were living in a highschool gym with 500 other people--well, they were closing the staff shelter and moving us all to hotels. I went to HQ to get our hotel assignment, begging them to put us near our jobsite in downtown San Diego. They said they only had one hotel to choose from and it was 45 miles from San Diego in Carlsbad. I was really bummed about that thinking of how early we would have to get up in order to be at work by 8. We were very happy at the shelter--but school was reopening on Monday.
THEN, we arrived at our hotel--or should I say resort and spa--La Costa Resort and Spa--a five star famous resort where PGA golf tournaments are played. This place is fancy--way out of our league. I feel like a real fish out of water here. Marble everywhere---huge bathroom, gardens, pools--it is beautiful---though I must confess we have yet to see it in the daylight. We leave at 6am and get home after dark. I hope I get to see it in the daytime sometime before we leave. I don't know what on earth happened that Red Cross personnel are housed here--we are used to Days Inn and Red Roof Inns...not anything like this (well, since 9/11 when we stayed in Le Parker Meridian in New York). And wouldn't you know it--I ALWAYS carry my swim suit on Red Cross jobs--just in case--but this time to conserve space I took it out!!! How I would love to soak in the hot tub after a long day of loading trucks.

The bottle of Evian water in our hotel room costs $6.75! On the back of the door it says the rooms go for $475. I was scared to even use the shampoo for fear it would cost me....It is such a shame to have all these amenities and not ever be here to use them. I think we might be near the beach but have not had time to look yet. So frustrating. But luxury is nice--for a bit--but this is just way over the top for me--just too much. I will enjoy it but this kind of lifestyle is just not my cup of tea. The grounds are beautiful with Bird of Paradise flowers everywhere--reminds me of Kauai. If I ever get to be here in daylight I will post pictures but you can google it at La Costa Spa and Resort and take a picture tour.
I think they might have had to close a bit because of the fires and lost business so gave their rooms to Red Cross. How nice for us!

Sad News

I am very sad to report that Birdie died. I talked to Alisa a few days ago and she had found him dead in his cage. I knew he was not feeling well when we left and was really worried for him. I am just so sad and will miss him so much. He just brought so much joy to me--I loved to hear him sing and chatter--and he was so cute when he would ride in the car with me and look out the window. I really enjoyed him so much. It just won't be the same. I had him for five years and loved him dearly. I miss him.

This has been a sad year for me losing animals I love--Crackers, then Sadie, and now Birdie. It is hard to love and then lose--but I am so thankful for all the years of love and laughter all these special pets brought to me.

San Diego

Photo of our new home away from home...


(this was written days ago but I was not able to post it until now, 3 days later)

How quickly our life can change. One minute Don is building fence and I am making a grocery list fixin’ to go shopping when the phone rings and we are requested to go to California for the wildfires there. Yesterday, Red Cross had called us and asked us to drive the ERV there but they needed a three week commitment from us which we could not do as we need to be in New York on the 10th for big family shindig. So…..we thought we were off the hook---though we must admit that each time we watched the news about the fire we were so drawn to be there. So when the call came asking us to go as feeding supervisors and that a two week commitment was ok,, we said yes.



Then life got crazy. I had to call the Red Cross travel agency to schedule our flight--I was on hold for 1 hour 45 minutes--thousands of Red Cross volunteers have been called out on this job so they are swamped. I put it on speaker phone and did other tasks to get ready but it drove me nuts not to be able to make other necessary calls or get online. Don rushed around putting up tools and getting the animals taken care of while I packed up and loaded the car. Then finally my call was answered and we were given a flight that left Austin at 7:20 pm. Yikes! It was noon by now and we still had to gather up our three dogs, two cats, and bird and get to Marble Falls and pack for not only a two week stay in California but a 10 day stay in New York after that. It was crazy.



Lucy, our arrogant cat, sensed our tension and emotions and hid under the bed so it took both of us a half hour to capture her and get her in her hated crate. Don got away with only taking one dog and one cat--while I had a cat who pooped in her crate before we were off the ranch road (such a delightful aroma for a two hour drive), our lab, Hudson, who drooled all down my back, Alice, who whined, and Birdie who is acting real sick and has me really worried. Needless to say, it was a very stressful drive back home. And then a frantic packing party. Poor Alisa, once again we left the house looking like it was ransacked by burglars. We had to get to the chapter in Austin by 5 to get our staff cards and paperwork and then head to the airport. I had not eaten anything but a protein drink all day and was famished. We treated ourselves to an All-star special at Waffle House by the airport and then we were off.



Plane trip was great--no problems at all. Southwest was great--friendly, jovial flight crews and good flights. We got to Las Vegas twenty minutes earlier that scheduled so were able to catch an earlier flight out of there and avoid a layover. (I don’t like Las Vegas). So then we had to wait an extra hour in San Diego for our luggage to get there but that was ok and it all arrived just fine. We grabbed our rental car and picked up another Red Crosser from Massachusetts to ride with us and headed for the staff shelter which was at a local high school gym. It was after midnight when we arrived and we had to blow up our air mattresses and get settled in in the dark. Gym was filled with hundreds of Red Crossers already. (We were nice and blew up our air beds outside) So sure didn’t get much sleep as it was 3:15 our time (1:15 here) when we finally laid down. Boy were we so tired. And lots of people kept arriving all night long so it was not too quiet a place to sleep.



The gym lights come on at 6am. A three hour sleep after our day yesterday made for a rough day today. But the first day on an assignment is always a “hurry up and wait day”. It takes a day or two to get it all organized and running smoothly which is so frustrating as I would rather be working. But when you consider the monumental task of organizing thousands of volunteers from all parts of the country to do a bizillion different tasks on an operation that we are all just walking in on, it is pretty amazing that anything at all gets done.



We were assigned to the mobile kitchen run by Bakersfield Baptist Disaster Relief which was set up in the parking lot of Petco Park--not the animal store, but the stadium where the Padres play. It is a huge set-up with big 18-wheelers pulling in all day long with supplies and all of our ERVs pulling in from across the country. Remember, the ERV is the Emergency Response Vehicle which serves hot meals. This kitchen provides around 20,000 meals daily to 12-15 different shelters up and down the coast near San Diego. Don was given the job of yard supervisor--supervising the unloading and loading of all the trucks and getting the products to where they need to be. I supervise a great team of people in charge of loading the ERV’s with all the stuff they need to take out on their feeding routes It has been so fun to run into lots of folks we worked in Katrina with and have not seen since then. Our work crew all have great attitudes and make the work fun. Don and I are both enjoying this assignment.



The weather has been great but there is smoke and ash in the air so we do worry about what we might be breathing. We were given masks to wear but they are so hot and sweaty and uncomfortable that no one wears them. Each day the air does seem to get better.
It is a very different kind of disaster to work as it is ongoing. Some fires are contained and evacuees can return home so shelters close but new fires pop up or the fire moves on and new shelters are opened up. Makes it so hard for planning meals and organizing things. We don’t get to see much TV so know little of the big picture.



Life in the staff shelter is really fun--we like it here. Lots of people in one big gym but amazingly it is not bad and we sleep well. Our air mattresses are the saving grace--cots are not too comfy. But I am weary so will stop for now and hope I find a place with wireless so I can post it. I sure miss my blogging family and can’t wait to catch up.

Check out my Slide Show!

Tag Game

Here is how it works. Tell in your blog seven things we never knew about you and now wish we didn't. In other words...Seven strange/weird/crazy things about me. Then tag someone else-(at bottom of your blog say--I tag_____. And post the blog.

I will be brave and get this over with first.

1. I tend to read magazines from the back to the front.

2. I love Christmas music and listen to it all year long.

3. I love school and office supplies and enjoy spending time just looking at them in stores. Maybe there is that inner urge in me to get organized......I love hardwares stores, too.

4. I get attached to inanimate objects: cups, stuffed animals, kitchen towels, pens, rocks, pillows....

5. I panic if I don't have my chapstick in my pocket.

6. I talk A LOT in my sleep.

7. I have a mole on my left wrist that (as a child) I thought meant that I was adopted. (I really am adopted).
OK--I tag Jenny.

Goin' Through Wilde boys withdrawal......

My boys left the ranch a few minutes ago and my heart hurts. I miss them so already. We had such a wonderful visit--everything a Gema could hope for. Mason and I caught frogs in the creek and found sparkly rocks and collected acorns and looked for different animal tracks in the creek mud and played Hi Ho! Cherry-O and watched the goats. He also was a big help to Pop-pop by helping pour concrete in the post holes. It just did my heart good to see Mason enjoying playing in the creek for hours and getting excited about all the treasure he would find in the nature of the ranch. The weather was gorgeous and perfect.

And Grant-- I can never get enough of holding him and snuggling him and watching his cute faces and listening to his sweet sounds. And I think he grew an inch and put on a pound while he was here. That boy is a meal hound. I just love his sweet little rolls and double chin. What a joy he is. He did great on his travels, too. Slept good and was just a fun, sweet, precious baby boy.

Jenny and I managed to get in a good visit, too, in between frog catchin’ and game playin’. She lucked out and caught me in a cookin’ mood so we had lots of good food along with the fellowship. One night we made caramel apples (Jenny had brought the makins’) and man, were they scrumptious--what a super fall treat!

It was just a wonderful, fun, relaxing long weekend and I am so glad they came. It was hard to let them all go back home but I know Troy must have missed them somethin’ awful so for his sake it made it easier to let them go. I can’t imagine how hard it is going to be on me to part from them after taking care of them for over three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas--but I can’t wait for that time to come! How blessed I am! And thank you, God, for getting them all safely back home to Troy.