That is exactly the kind of mood I have been in the past few days . I don 't know why but it sure isn 't any fun . I have been spending the evenings at my sister 's playing with her grandkids just to get out of the house . I miss Ritzy so much ! ! ! ! ! I went down there tonight , I watched Sissy play outside . This child loves it outside . The nephew lit some fireworks while sissy and I watched . I came back home and the son made me laugh , which felt good . This may not seem funny to anyone else , but you have to understand the son 's sense of humor . He was putting some ice thru an ice shaver . then poured it in a cup , he then dumped it out poured in some pop and them put in some more shaved ice and said " when you put in the ice and then the pop , then the fizz all comes to the top " without skipping a beat he then said " and I didn 't mean for that to rhyme , but it just did . he was so serious . it was just the " way " he said it that was so funny . I just had to laugh . We are always kidding one another in this family . That 's how a person survives life , I think . . . . . . . He just beat me to the punch , cause I would have surely teased him about it . He is alot like me with the sense of humor and being able to find humor in just about everything . The daughter is a lot like Ritzy , always serious about everything , not kidding around too much . I think Ritzy 's family thinks I am nuts sometimes , but hey you might as well see the humor in life , and not take it so serious . I have to admit , my being able to find humor has diminished somewhat since the beginning of this deployment , I try and sometimes , like tonite , I am able to have a good laugh . Ritzy doesn 't have that much time left before he redeploys and I thought this would get easier , but I thought wrong , and believe me it 's not the first time that 's ever happened ; - ) I just want this to be over ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Our 25th anniversary is coming up at the end of July and maybe that is part of the reason I have been taking it so hard . I would have never thought we would have to spend our 25th anniversary so far a0 I didn 't know if we could do it or not , but we did . . . . . . While i was at my sister 's house this morning , I was trying to call my son to tell him to get the lawns mowed before the rain came . Couldn 't get him on the phone . I found out why when I got home . He already had our lawn mowed and was starting on the neighbor 's . These kids suprise you once in a while ; - ) We just finished putting everything up just before the storm came in . We probably received an inch of rain out of it . . . . . . . . That second picture is one of our papershell pecan trees after that ice storm last December . Not much left of it . The tree on the left is the other pecan tree . It is not any better off . . . . . . . It will be a while before these trees give me any pecans . That nephew came over for a few hours this afternoon . I just returned from taking him back to his Nana 's . I still have to study for my class tomorrow , write Ritzy , and a few other things before bedtime . By the way ; Ritzy has sounded " down " or tired the past few days . He says he is ok but the wife knows better ; - ) I just want this time to go by so he can get back home with us ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! I miss him & I know he misses home ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Well , I can cross another day off the calendar . I will be doing this till Hubby gets home . The time can 't come fast enough for me ! The last couple of days have been a lot slower than " normal " . Yesterday I had some errands to run . After that I went to my sisters to watch her grandkids while she cleaned out the swimming pool to get it ready for the summer . Those two kiddos sure can wear a person out , whew ! ! ! ! ! ! ! I came home in the late afternoon and fixed supper . Rested the remainder of the evening . . Today I didn 't do much of anything . I got up later than normal . Fixed my coffee and breakfast . waited for Ritzy to call . He was tired too . After he called , I stayed on the computer for about an hour then went to lay on my bed for the afternoon . I wasn 't feeling so good today . I even went to bed tonite at 8pm , but at 9 my sister called and while she didn 't wake me up , it made me awake enough that I just got up and here i am . Made me some flavored shaved ice . i about forgot i had one of those ice shavers . i sure like it . I didn 't eat supper , i 'm hoping i can go to bed without getting hungry . i don 't like to eat late at nite . Tomorrow we have a good chance for rain . I hope we miss it cause i sure want that lawn mowed . I woke up to thundershowers yesterday morning . They didn 't last long , but got the ground wet enough . Heard a guy in the store yesterday saying that he thinks July will be wet also . I sure hope he is wrong ; - ) I keep saying this , but it 's just a fact : I sure do miss Ritzy , and will be so glad to have him home again ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! I haven 't slept good since he has been gone and I won 't till he is back . I have to go help that sister in the morning ( if it isn 't raining ) to stretch her liner and get all the wrinkles out of the bottom . sounds like fun , huh ? ? ? I have a feeling tomorrow isn 't going to be so " boring " . . . . . . . . . . Today started out ok enough , but as it got going , I started finding more that needed to be done . I spent the first part of the morning working on the church business . I had to go to Vinita to take care of personal business and pick up some snacks for church tonite . Which is something I don 't intend to get in the habit of doing . I just happened to be in town so I picked them up . I am afraid if a person starts something like that , instead of being appreciated it will be expected . That 's just the way people are . I have enough jobs in my church without adding this little job to the list . . . . After returning home , I ate a late lunch , then took a nap and by that time it was time to get ready for church tonite . I made the boy eat leftovers for his supper ; - ( Went down to my sisters after church and me and the nephew decided to go to Nowata to get some fireworks to set off tonite . I also told him we might have to stop at Sonic and get something to drink . . . . he didn 't turn me down this time ; - ) After buying the fireworks , we went to the Sonic , but he wanted a corn dog , cheese tots and rootbeer . Guess what ? ? ? ? He got it ! ! ! ! ! We returned to Nana 's and set off those fireworks , he had a blast , hahahaha ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Sissy slept thru the whole thing . I didn 't see her till her mama put her in the car to leave . I think she was still half - asleep then . I sure hope she sleeps tonite . Came back home and here I am . Waiting for the dishwasher to finish . I don 't have a built - in , I have one that hooks up to the kitchen faucet . I didn 't want to give up the cabinet space . It still does a very good job tho . I call it my " maid " . Probably about as close to having a " maid " as I 'll ever get ! ! ! ! I still have to send Ritzy his daily E - mail , so I better call it quits for now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I am so thankful for having good friends that I can confide in and feel that they can confide in me . A friend asked if I wanted to run around in Tulsa today , so we went and had a really good time eating out and shopping and talking . It really helps take my mind off missing Ritzy . Of course , Ritzy called while I was shopping and was giving me a hard time about it . I told him that I was not wasting anything and he knows that , he just likes to tease me . I told him we were going to eat at " On The Border " cafe just to get him back . haha ! ! ! The food sure was good , I even brought some chips and salsa home . yumm . . . . . I will enjoy those tomorrow . . . . . . . . . . Spent the evening back down at my sisters playing with her grandkids . Their momma was sick today and this evening . She had to go to the emergency room . Found out she has a " urinary tract infection " . she is about 3 months into her pregnancy and it was really making her sick . She came to nana 's and thought she was going to be ok , but later decided that she might be better off in the hospital overnight . I agree . She has been sick with each of her pregnancies and she needs to really take care of herself . I guess Bubba and sissy are going to be spending the night at nana 's . After supper tonite my brother - in - law was fixing the ice maker on their refrigerator and " sissy " thought she had to get right down there with him . What was so funny though was - while sissy was right in the middle of helping her grandpa fix the refrigerator , , bubba was painting my daughters fingernails . I looked at my sister and told her to look at what was going on . she got her camera and took pictures of the two kids . I teased their dad about the little girl helping fix the refrigerator while brother painted the fingernails . he did not see the humor in that . ; - ) You see , my sister does nails for a living and works out of her house , so the polish and everything needed is always out . usually when I go down there sissy wants to paint my toenails . I let her do anything she wants . She is so grown - up about the way s0 Most of the days that Ritzy has been on this deployment , I feel just like what the title to today 's entry says . I was writing him earlier and was telling him the same thing . I told him that I would have expected by now to not be taking it so hard . But , some days I just can 't shake the feeling of being so " alone " , even around my family and friends . I miss Ritzy and I am not ashamed of it . Part of me is gone and will be until he returns . . . . . . . . . I was talking to a cousin / friend who has recently had to put her husband in the nursing home . We could each understand how the other was feeling . We know that each one of us is always thinking about the other and how the separation from our loved ones hurts . It does help when you can talk to someone who is going thru a similar situation . As this friend was leaving , my neice , her husband and the 3 - year old great - neice pulled in the driveway . They had come to the convenience store across the road and were on their way home . They knew that if they didn 't stop I would get em , haha ! ! ! ! Well " sissy " was out the window and in my arms before I knew it . They were ready to leave and she was NOT getting back in . I told them to go on and I would bring her home afterwhile . We walked all around the yard , picking flowers , ( I kept her away from the tomato plants ) haha ! ! ! she was riding a tractor that Ritzy had when he was 5 or 6 . she explored the garage etc . . . . . . Finally the mosquitos started doing their thing , so we went to see Granny & Papa , ( my mom & dad ) . after leaving their house I finally took her home while she was trying to get me to let her stay at my house . I told her that her house and her anmals and dolls missed her , so she was ready to go home after hearing that . She is sooooooo cute ! ! ! ! ! ! A friend called this evening asking if I wanted to go with her to Tulsa tomorrow . I said I sure would . We are going to eat out also . Mexican food . I think that is about the best kind of food there is ; - ) I just want the " time " for Ritzy to be home to hurry up and get here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I sure0 After mowing and weed eating lawn I called that 6 year old nephew and asked him if he wanted to go to the Nowata Sonic and eat a hamburger . He said no , , , , , can you believe it ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Turned down by a 6 year old . . . . . . . . . he did ask if I would bring him a hamburger and I said " sorry , buddy , if you don 't go you don 't get anything " . So I went alone and ate a grilled chicken sandwich and fries and 2 ice tea drinks . After working outside this afternoon I was really thirsty . . . . . . . Speaking of working outside , I was weed eating the ditch because it was to wet to get with the mower . As I was working on the ditch I happened to think that I was holding an electric weed eater and I was standing in water . Not a good combo ! ! ! ! ! ! I came to my senses and said to heck with that ! ! ! ! ! ! ! It has been 2 weeks since we were able to mow because of all the rain . I think we are going to be in a dryer weather pattern now . thank goodness ! ! ! After returning from Nowata I decided to go play with Bubba and Sissy . Sissy and I watched big brother ride his four - wheeler for a while . she pushed her bicycle all over the place . I told her it would be easier to ride it , but she kept pushing away . Never try to reason with a 3 year old . ; - ) She saw the swimming pool and started stripping down . I said ok I guess you can play in it . There was only about 4 inches of water . Brother saw us and joined in . After they played for a while I remembered that I had some new water guns in the truck and told bubba . enough said ! ! he was out there to get them in no time . We all three filled the guns and started chasing one another and squirting each other . Sissy can shoot pretty well for a 3 year old . That kept us busy till almost dark . we kept having to " reload " , and I got that job . We were pretty wet by the time we quit . We 'll save those for another day , you can count on it ! ! ! ! ! Summer will start today at 11 : 59pm . Most calendars show summer starting tomorrow . It was a lazy day around here . I was tired all day , mostly because I was awakened by my cell phone telling me I had a text message early this morning . I looked at it and noticed it was from the son . It said " Is it just me or does it smell like updog outside ? " I thought what the heck is he talking about so , like a fool I go open the door to " smell " outside , not smelling anything I call him and say I can 't smell anything , then he informs me that he sent it to all his people , it was a joke that I was supposed to answer - - - - What 's updog ? and he would reply " nothing with me , how about you ! ! ! ! ! " I laughed and told him - sorry , I did not have the sense of humor going that early in the morning ; - ) especially before the first cup of coffee and breakfast . You have to understand this kid has a weird sense of humor . For that I am thankful . he is really funny " sometimes " . . . . . . . . . Spent most of the day doing NOTHING ! ! ! my neice ( that nephew 's aunt ) brought him ( and his bike ) down to the house . . She , the daughter and that nephew rode their bicycles for a while . They came in and the 2 girls decided to go to the Subway in town and get them and the nephew a sandwich . He had already ate about 8 pieces of bacon I had leftover from supper . He must be a " growing boy " cause I don 't have any idea where he is putting all that food . haha ! ! ! While they were gone he wanted to write Ritzy a letter , so I told him how to spell some of the words and he did all the writing . I told him that his Uncle will really like getting a letter from him . I am gonna put it in the mail tomorrow . He sure misses Ritzy . They are " buddies " ! ! ! ! ! Heck , I miss Ritzy too . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I have been reading and seeing pictures about the next rotation of National Guard troops leaving for their training ( the ones that will be replacing our Oklahoma National Guard ) . Seeing them and their families brings back a lot of memories and feelings I experienced when Ritzy was getting ready to deploy . 0 That about sums up my day . First me and mom had gone to visit a church member who is recovering from heart surgery and could not find them home . We then went to Vinita to get some things to fill a box to send Ritzy and a few groceries , stopped at the post office and sent box on its way , returned home and found out they had not given me all that I had paid for . I called the store and sure enough they had my merchandise . Mom said let 's go back ( even with the price of gas being what it is ) and I said ok . So here goes our 2nd trip to Vinita in one day , and it is 26 miles one way . While there , I called my sister to see what time the nephew played his ballgame and I decided to go with them . After returning home I was trying to figure out why my printer was printing the wrong colors . I had only 1 hour so I uninstalled the printer , turned off computer and by that time they were there to pick me up . Arrived at ballgame and Watched " sissy " about as much as I watched the ballgame ; - ) I finally returned home around 8 : 30 and finished re - installing printer . It worked this time , thank goodness ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! This day was nothing like yesterday , which was really calm and uneventful . . . . . . . . . I guess we all need those kind of days in our schedule once in a while . . . . . . . . . Ritzy called while I was at Wal - Mart , and the past few times he has called I have been somewhere other than home , I 'm beginning to wonder if he thinks I run around all the time . hahahaha ! ! ! ! ! ! I think tomorrow will be one of those uneventful days again , which is just fine with me . Running is for the birds ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Not much happening here today . I ran into town to put the article and pictures about my parents anniversary reception in the paper . I didn 't tell them I was going to do that , I 'll just let them find out for themselves when they get their paper FridayAfter returning home I went out to the garden and picked blackberries , raspberries and rhubarb . Made this cobbler , combining them , can hardly wait to get a bowl of it with a little vanilla ice cream added , mmmmmm ! ! ! ! ! ! I will be sure and tell Ritzy how good it was . I will probably take my mom & dad some and take it to my sisters house , I 'm pretty sure the dish will be empty by tonite ; - ) Nice day for weather here in NE Oklahoma . I wasn 't sure this morning tho . It was really cloudy , but about noon it started clearing off and turned out to be a pretty decent day . The son called and said he was going to be late getting home , now I am trying to figure out what I want for supper . It isn 't any fun cooking for one . I don 't know , I may just call that bowl of cobbler and ice cream my supper for tonight . I always look forward to the time of year when we are able to eat our own homegrown food . Can 't beat it ! ! ! ! I am so proud of hubby for serving his country by being a member of the Oklahoma National Guard . There is also a down side to that - his being away from his family and his home . For some reason today I have been missing Ritzy more than usual . Sometimes it seems like the time left on this deployment is short and sometimes it seems as if this deployment is never going to end . Maybe I have been so busy the past couple of weeks on other things that I just didn 't have the time to miss him , who knows . . . . . . . . . . . Someone told me on the phone today - well , the time for him to be home will be here before you know it , , , , , when people say that it really irritates me . When I am feeling this way the problem I am having isn 't with his return , it is the fact that he is not here now ! ! ! ! ! ! ! They don 't have a clue ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! I sat in the house and watched it rain nearly all day . Just before sunset it cleared up and the sun was shining thru my dining room window , it sure looked good . . . . . . don 't get too used to it tho cause it is supposed to be rainy all week , yuk ! ! ! ! ! ! ( for lack of a better word ) Our Oologah lake level is only about 5 ft away from me being able to see it from my house ! With all the run - off water it won 't take long to reach that if it doesn 't stop raining . Last year around this time of year all the lakes in NE Oklahoma were flooded and closed , it looks like it may be the same this year too . I just finished sending Ritzy his daily e - mail . If I don 't write and tell him what I want to each nite , I ususally forget what I want to tell him by the next day . ( i 've heard that forgetfulness is a sign of growing old ) ; - ( Speaking of growing old . I made my parents a picture movie set to music and was showing it to my brother before the party Saturday , there was a picture of him that I took Memorial Day and he said , " Gee , I look old in that picture " , I said well , you know the reason is because you ARE old . He failed to see the humor in that . ; - ) He wears a cap all the time and we hardly ever see his hair , but he has a beard and let 's jcomments Another Father 's Day has come and gone . I am so thankful for my Father , the love he showed and still shows and the sacrifices he made to take care of his family . Gave him a kiss and told him I loved him today . You never get to old to give " Dad " a kiss and hug . . . . . . . YesterdayI spoke about sleeping good last nite . . . . well , I sure did . After attending church and eating lunch at Mom & Dad 's , I came home . Ritzy called around 1 : 30 pm . We talked for about a half hour , told him I was going to sleep the afternoon away , then I got on my bed and fell asleep til 4 : 45 when I suddenly woke up . I had been sleeping so sound that I had to stop and think what day this was or what time it was . I sure needed that nap after yesterday . Made it to church on time , we start at 5pm . After chruch I went down to my sisters house to play with kiddos . " Sissy was asleep , and brother was lighting firecrackers that his grandpa got him today . I stayed til they were finished for the night . Got back home around 9 . I see that it could be stormy tonight , hopefully not to bad . I want another good night 's sleep ; - ) As far as I know this is going to be a " lazy " week . I do not have anything planned . Just normal housekeeping . . . . . which is just fine with me . I just want to end with a " Happy Fathers Day " for all the fathers , especially the ones that have to be away from their families because of their service to their country ! ! ! ! ! I am so glad we pulled off the surprise party for my mom today . She did not have a clue . . . . She honestly thought Dad was taking her out to eat , because he said that when they got near the church she said , " hmmmm they must be having something at church tonite . He said yes they are and it is for you so you better stop . ; - ) She said she was going to get us . It was so good to see her happy to have her family and friends around to help celebrate . It was a lot of hard work but well worth it . I am really tired . I bet i sleep good tonite . haha ! ! At the party , first - we ate , I read a story about some events in our family in the last 50 years , we showed a video of pictures that i had scanned , and my sister sang a song to them . After that Mom & Dad cut their cake and drank their punch . I hope they realize how much their kids and grandkids love them . I told mom I sure have had to do a LOT of " fibbing " this last week when she would call and ask what i was doing or where i was . you see , , the calling is normal for our family , we all keep in touch . . . . . . . Mom did not have a wedding cake or reception 50 years ago so we gave her one tonite . I believe she loved it . She has sacrificed so much over the years for her family , it was so nice to see her being given the thanks and attention she deserves . I still have to e - mail Ritzy . . . . . he called while I was preparing the food this afternoon and just as we were about to say our good - byes for the day the phone connection was lost . I hate when that happens , because it just feels like there is unfinished " business " . . . . . . . . . . i still have to study to be ready to teach my sunday school class tomorrow . I have to say bye for now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The day for the surprise party for my mom is only 1 day away . She called me today a couple of times and I had to " fib " to her . Hope she forgives me , hahahha ! ! ! ! ! Today , my sister , niece & I did the last minute shopping for food and items needed for tomorrow . We were afraid of getting caught together by mom . When you live in such a small community it is easy to get " caught " . . . . . . . . . When one of us was on the phone we would tell little ones to shhhhhhhh ! ! ! ! We finally got shopping done . After doing all that shopping , I went back to Vinita to do my own grocery shopping . I can honestly say that I have put in a full day of shopping . Now , in the morning we just have to get the food up to the church , get it prepared , set up tv and dvd player , and final preparations for party without mom catching us . My sister - in - law made the cake and has to set it up tomorrow also . It 's kind of hard because if mom goes to town the church is on her way . We have to park behind the parsonage or church building and carry stuff inside , hoping all the time she doesn 't come driving by . . . . . . . . . . Dad is supposed to have her there by 4 : 15 tomorrow . . . . . . it would be nice if he could find a way to make sure she doesn 't leave the house tomorrow . . . . . . . Well , we got more rain today . I think it is supposed to be clear tomorrow . That lake keeps coming right on up . It 's getting closer to the house , less than 1 / 2 mile away . It 's only 7 feet below it 's flood pool . This happened last year about the same time . Oologah Lake got so high I could see it across the road . I think it is about time for bed . I am going to send Ritzy an e - mail first though . I missed his call earlier while taking my bath . He left a message . I sure hate missing his calls . Goodnight for now . . . . . . . . . . That just about says it all as to how my day went . First my sister , neice and I met up at our church fellowship hall this morning to decorate for my parent 's 50th anniversary party this saturday . Took us a while but we got it finished . Looked really pretty too . After that we all went to my sister 's house for my neice to cut and color our hair . she is a hair stylist and it sure comes in handy to have one in the family ; - ) my hair was getting " long " and showing some , ( ok , a lot of ) gray . Long to me is over 3 - 4 inches on top and over 1 inch for the rest of it . I told her that when I can " feel " it on my ears or neck when I lay on my pillow at nite , it 's getting too long . . . . . . . . . . Ritzy would rather I let it grow out , and he called while she was cutting it . Told him " sorry " but it was going to stay short . I have had long hair before and it is a pain to take care of . I have always hated spending very much time fixing my hair . My sister , mom and neice will spend up to 30 minutes on their hair and it would just drive me crazy to have to spend that much time on mine . I spend about 5 minutes at the most . I 'm lucky because mine has just enough natural curl that I don 't have to do anything but put mousse , gel and spray on it . The only part that I ever have to " fix " is my bangs , and I just dry them . Enough about hair . . . . . . . . . . . i stayed at my sister 's house for a while to watch my neices ' son and daughter irritate one another , and boy are they good at it . They are so fun to watch . Big brother had better watch out cause " sissy " is going to deck him one of these days and it ain 't gonna be a pretty sight . We keep warning him that she will " let him have it " but I don 't think the message has sunk in cause he keeps right on bothering her . I just hope I am down there when it happens , hahahaha ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Came home , cooked supper , ate outside , it was a nice evening . That 's about how my day went . Have to go buy the food for saturday , tomorrow , that 's gonna be " fun " . . . . . . Today was very slow . . . . . . . Talked to Ritzy for our " 30 minutes " . . . . . went to church tonite . . . . . . I think all this staying up late I have done for a while is gettin to me , I am feeling pretty tired so I had just better get some rest . I am gonna need it to get thru the rest of this week . Tomorrow me , my sis and neice are going to decorate for party . could take a while . friday i have to go after food , and saturday morning have to go pick up bouquet , then spend the rest of the day doing last minute preparations . then start greeting everyone . i hope mom & dad like it . . . . time to go , for now . . . . . . . . tomorrow will be here soon enough . . . . . Can 't complain too much today . Didn 't have to run any errands . Just tidied up house and did laundry . Spent time on computer finishing projects for my parents ' party this Saturday . Some friends who aren 't going to be able to come to the party came by to leave a gift for Mom & Dad . Yea , No Rain today ! ! ! ! Went to sisters house with the updated DVD to make sure it plays correct . It Does ! ! ! " Sissy " ( the 3 year old great - niece ) had to paint my nails . She loves doing this and I don 't mind . She is so serious about it ; - ) Ritzy sounded tired when he called today , so we didn 't talk quite as long . I told him to go get some rest . . . I still need to take bath and get ready for sleep . Although that may not come till later . It 's still hard to go to sleep with Ritzy away on this deployment , even though it 's been almost 8 months . I can hardly wait til he gets home and we can get back to " normal " , whatever that is . . . . . . . I also realize it may never be the " normal " we knew before he left , but I just want him home where we can just live our lives together . . . . . . . . . . and not thousands of miles apart . . . . . . . . I have been thinking about our 25th anniversary coming up on July 30th . I really don 't like the fact that my husband has to be in a foreign country far away from me when that day comes . I am not quite sure how I will handle the day . This is one anniversary I am not looking forward to . Some might tell me to just get over it , but it 's how I feel and think . He may have been able to come home during that time for his R & R , but I told him that I could not bear to tell him goodbye again . When he comes home I want him to STAY ! ! ! ! ! ! ! So we chose not to take the time off . We both would rather have the time off at the end of the deployment . He has only 9 months left in the National Guard after putting in almost 21 years . I am so looking forward to that last day ! ! ! ! ! ! I think that is when I will finally be able to get a good night 's sleep . . . . . . . . . . Today started out way too early . I was ready to go to Tulsa by 5 : 30 am when mom showed up . We went to be with a friend and his family during his heart surgery . We were told it might not be good , but thank God everything went well . After leaving the hospital , Mom & I stopped at the Cracker Barrel and ate breakfast and I finally got that coffee ! ! ! ! ! ! Everything was better after that . ; - ) Oh yeah , let me add that it was pouring down rain all day . Started around 10 last nite and did not stop til about 3 this afternoon . I think we got between 4 and 5 inches . There was water everywhere . Well after returning home from Tulsa I made a trip to town to return some movies for the son , and came back home . Later , I had to make another trip to Vinita to go to the bank , put gas in truck ( yeah , that $ 3 . 79 / gal . stuff ) My pocketbook sure does not like that . I picked up some bar - be - que sandwiches for supper . Since then I took a picture and music DVD that I had burnt down to my sisters to try it on the player and tv we are going to use Saturday . It worked , yea ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! I surprise myself sometimes , haha ! ! My sister said it would sure be nice if I could make all of us kids one , so that is what i have been doing and am still doing . I only have 1 more to make . I am so looking forward to this get - together we are having for my parents . It 's a lot of work , but they are certainly worth it ! ! ! ! ! ! I think I get to stay home tomorrow . . . . . . . . . also I don 't have to get up before the sun , hahaha ! ! ! ! ! Sunday is supposed to be a day of " rest " . But not for some of us . That door I was talking about yesterday , well instead of repairing it I decided to replace it . After lunch I went to the Home Depot to get a new one . Brought it home and my brother - in - law helped me put it in . Took about an hour and a half . Boy , was it hot outside . I could feel the make - up sliding off my face . After we finished I had just enough time to get ready for church tonite . While pushing the cart with the door in it out to the truck I was wondering how in the world I was going to get that thing in the back of the pick - up . With the wind blowing like it was it was not going to be easy . Just as I was trying to lift it up ( which was not easy , but I was determined to get the job done ) someone called across the parking lot and asked if I needed help . Ususally I say " no thank you " but this time I accepted the help . He lifted that door so easy and put it in the truck for me . I told him how I appreciated his help . Ritzy called while I was on my way to the store and I told him what I was doing . He told me to do whatever needed done . I sure miss him doing stuff like this for me . . . . . . I have to get up very early in the morning ( between 4 : 30 - 5 : 00 ) , a friend is having surgery at 6 : 00am at Tulsa and my mom & I are going down there to be with the family . I have always hated getting up before the sun comes up . There ought to be a law against that ! ! ! ! ! ! ; - ) I know , a lot of people will tell me to just get over it , but that 's ok . . . . . . . . . . i still don 't like getting up that early . And of course , there are storms rolling in tonight , just what I need - - - - - something to keep me from sleeping . . . . . . . . . . . . Also , somehow my dirty clothes hamper was overflowing this morning . Gonna have to do some laundry tonite too , it looks like . . . . . . . . . Ain 't that the way it goes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? I guess there will be time later in the week to catch up on that " rest " . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I just about forgot . . . . . . . . . how I don 't know because . . . . . . . 24 years ago today I was in the hospital giving birth to 0 Anyways , that 's what I have always heard . . . These are my " Easter " lilies just now blooming in June . They were worth the wait . We celebrated at Cracker Barrel tonite . There were 15 of us who could make it . ( about 13 who couldn 't ) That steak , baked potato and salad sure was good . On top of that my sister and neice cooked and decorated a very pretty cake . . . . . tasted good too . Poor waiter and waitress , we kept them hoppin ' . . . . . . . . . . they did a good job though . . . . . . . I returned home and started walking up the sidewalk and noticed something strange about my storm door . Well it seems that while the son was mowing the mower must have thrown a rock or something thru the top window because it was shattered everywhere . He didn 't even know it because when he mows he wears these combination sunglasses , music player . We had fun cleaning up that mess , and I never did find what went thru the window . Looks like I have a " project " for next week . . . . . on top of finalizing plans for that surprise party . . . . . . . . I will be ready for a vacation ; - ) Spent most of the day trying to make a dvd to play at the party next week . I think we have what we want . After showing some of the pictures I may be trying to find a place to hide . You can bet they will get me back , , , , somehow . . . . . . . . . . . Even tho I had a good time tonite , every time we are all together I am reminded of how much I miss Ritzy . . . . . . . . . . . Time to go for now , i still have some things to do before bedtime and I had better get with it . . . . . . . . 0 I spent nearly the entire day on this computer . I am getting the final preparations ready for that " surprise " party next week . Made a cd with family pictures and music . made sure I had all the pictures ready to set on the tables . Decorated the Guest Book and Photo Album that I am giving my parents . Before I know it the day is gone . I got the privilege of talking to Ritzy 2 times today . I really like that ; - ) There are now 3 - 24 year - olds ( the son and 2 cousins ) in the living room watching tv . I 'm gettin the feeling it is time for me to exit and go to bed . My taste of movies and theirs is not the same . They are good boys , they each just have a strange sense of humor . . . haha ! ! ! ! ! Being a mother , i am just fine with them in there watching tv , that way I know where they are and they are ok . . . . . . . . . . . We go out to eat tomorrow . I 'm guessing there will be about 20 of us . . . . . Looking forward to having a good time . . . . . . . . . but for now I had better get some rest so I can enjoy tomorrow . Next week will be here soon enough . . . . . . Today has been one of the windiest days I have seen in a long time . Wind blowing at 25 - 30 all day and gusting even higher . I looked out the window and saw my maple tree leaves falling like snowflakes . . . . . . . We are supposed to be in for some nasty storms in a few hours . It looks like no sleep tonite . . . . again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Had it pretty easy today . Talked to hubby , did laundry , just house stuff . That nephew called and asked if I would go watch him play baseball tonite and of course I said sure . They played a good game , they lost but still played good , gee they are only 6 years old . Took him to the store afterward and bought him a few things - - beef jerky stick , jelly beans , and strawberry milk . . . . . . . . . . what a combination ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! If he has a belly ache tonite , I guess it 's my fault ; - ) About that wind - I hate wind ! ! ! ! ! ! For some reason I always have . . . . . . I would just as soon it be raining as the wind blowing . . . . . . . . . . Our electricity was off today for about 40 minutes , I 'm guessing because of the wind . . . . . . . . . . was pretty boring . . . . . . . . . . and quiet ! ! ! ! ! Not much elst to report tonite , so I am outta here for now . . . . . . . . . . There are just some days when it seems all you get done is run around . I had to go to Claremore to take care of some business getting ready for my parent 's 50th anniversary party next week . Then I had to go to Vinita to pick up some prescriptions and items at the Wal - Mart . Ate lunch finally at 2 : 30 at the new Sonic . Was pretty good . . . . . . . . . Came back home and prepared what I was taking for the pot luck dinner at church tonite and by that time it was about 4pm . I went into the living room and sat in the recliner for what I thought was a little while , but I dozed off and the next thing I new , I woke up and it was 6 : 00pm . I got up , put some make - up on , fixed my hair , changed clothes and headed to church . I did ok though , I made it up there by 6 : 30 . . . . . I hate waking up like that . . . . . . . . I was going to my sisters to " bug " those kids afterwards , but a couple of friends and I got to talking after church and before I knew it it was almost 10pm . Where did the time go ? ? ? ? ? I was telling them about that nephew and what happened Monday when he came to the house for a while . There was a blue raquet ball on the table and he wanted to play with it , , I told him ok , but do not bounce it in the kitchen . Well , I was busy on the phone and he comes and tries to get my attention and after a couple of tries he finally gets it . When I ask him what he wants he is biting his finger and looking down at the floor , he said he " lost " the ball . I asked him how in the world did he lose it and where did it go . He looks toward the stove where I have a pot of beans cooking for supper . I said : " You didn 't let that go in the beans did you ? ? " and he said uh - huh . It had splashed all over the stove , the mini - blind behind the stove and the cabinet . If it weren 't so funny I probably would have gotten ticked off . I just said ; " See why I didn 't want you bouncing that thing in here ? ? ? ? " He said uh - huh again and He left it alone after that ; - ) There are NO dull moments around this kid ! ! ! ! ! ! I commenced to cleaning up the mess . . . . . . . . I just thought that thing 0 I was going to go to bed a little earlier tonite , but as you can see that did not happen . My son had washed his clothes for tomorrow and forgot to put something in that load of wash so he rewashed them . He asked if I was going to be up and if I was , could I put his clothes in the dryer . Well , , , , , , , since I don 't have a " job " I said sure . So I am up waiting on them to finish . I can 't complain about him too much because he does his own laundry , actually both kids do their own laundry , which is just fine with me . . . . . . . It 's kind of nice right now though because both kids are in bed , the tv is off and it is quiet in the house . . Sometimes this is my favorite time of the day . . I also ran to Claremore today to pick up an air conditioner compressor for the son 's car , because I 'm his mom and I just do things like that for my kids . I know what Ritzy would say : Let him suffer a little . . . . . . . . but , mothers do NOT think like that . Their children should be glad ! ! ! ! ! We took his car up to my Dad 's where his cousin came over and helped him and they had it fixed in about an hour and a half . Nice cool air blowing . . . . . . . . . . I talked to Hubby today , it 's always good to talk to him . sometimes the days seem to go so slow with him being gone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . it was a pretty quiet day around here . I have errands to run tomorrow and our church business meeting / fellowship dinner is tomorrow nite . I sure hope I get better rest than I did last nite . for some reason it was 3 am this morning before I could go to sleep . I had just finished reading LT . Gen . Ricardo Sanchez 's book " Wiser in Battle " , and got to thinking about this war and how much I disagree with it and also how much I miss Ritzy and I just could not go to sleep . By the way , it is a very good book to read . I love to read , I think my family thinks I am crazy sometimes because I am always reading something . I remember when I was young that I was always reading something . . . . . I do like to read non - fiction / politics the best . I hardly ever read fiction . I think - - - why waste my time an0 Oh , never mind , it 's " nothing " . . . . . . . for the first time in a while it was quiet last nite and today . No thunder ! ! ! ! ! It was nice to have a day with no rain . I don 't know what got into me today but I got in the mood to really deep clean the house . I thought I better do it , cause who knows when this will strike again ; - ) Maybe because I was thinking about Ritzy only having 3 1 / 2 months till he leaves Iraq . We are on the downhill slide of this deployment ! ! ! ! ! Finally ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! I feel for ones who have family who are just starting . It 's hard to be happy when I know others are about to go thru or are going thru what I was experiencing at the beginning of this deployment last year . Is that crazy or what ? ? ? I want this to be over so much ! ! ! ! I had taken that nephew down to his Nana 's and when I returned home both kids ( 20 something 's ) were in the living room playing Guitar Hero . I kind of like the music on that game . The nephew told me he wished Ritzy was home and that he missed him . He also told me that his uncle is the last thing he thinks about every nite and he says a prayer for him . I told him that Ritzy would really like hearing that . I also told him to keep up the good work . . . . . . I recieved about 5 or 6 cards from Ritzy today . He wrote them while he was recovering from surgery . I 'm guessing he was really bored . haha ! ! ! ! I love seeing his handwriting . . . . . . . I showed that nephew where I have kept everything that Ritzy has sent me while he has been gone . Ritzy 's being gone is still hard to take somedays tho . I guess it will be that way till he returns home . . . . . . . . . . . . That was the sound that woke me up this morning as more thunderstorms rolled across this part of the state . It quit for a very short while , ( just long enough for me to get to church ) and started storming again while we were having Sunday School . I believe we recieved 2 1 / 2 inches of rain today in our area . We were lucky though , places southwest of here had wind damage and very bad hail damage . With hail the size of a baseball the auto windshields or anything else in the way didn 't stand a chance . This has been one crazy weather year here in NE Oklahoma . Come August though we will all be wishing for some of this rain we are complaining about now . What is it , can we just never be satisfied ? ? ? ? ? ? All I care about is it drying up enough to get my lawn mowed every week . sounds kind of funny , huh ? ? ? Don 't know why , but I want the yard to look nice . . . . . just ask Ritzy ; - ) He called today while I was eating lunch at Mom & Dad 's . We talked while everyone else ate their lunch . By the time I got off the phone everyone was finished eating . So I just sat there by myself and ate while everyone else was clearing the table . . . . . . . . haha ! ! ! I don 't care , though because that phone call from Hubby is gonna come before anything else ! ! ! ! He also called just a few minutes ago . WOW 2 times in one 24 hour period . Made my day ! ! ! ! ! ! It looks like we could see more rain or storms this week . . . . . . . oh well , what can you do ? ? ? ? ? My fishing plans were just not meant to be , I guess . . . . . . . . . . . . . unless I want to go in some of these creeks around here and catch some catfish . That 's too messy , when I was younger I wouldn 't think twice about going , but I find as I get older I am getting pretty picky about everything . . . . . . Whether that is a good thing , who knows ? ? ? ? ? ? i am the proud wife of a now retired ( as of March 2009 ) Oklahoma National Guardsman ( Ritzy ) who returned home from his deployment . We have been married 33 years on July 30 , 2016 . have a son who turned 32 in June and a daughter who was 30 in September . We added a new son - in - law to the family on April 22 , 2011 . We are now Grandparents to twin boys born February 28 , 2012 ( 7 weeks early - but doing great ) and another grandson born May 25 , 2016 I play piano at our church . i love to fish for crappie in the spring at my favorite " fishing hole " , plant flowers , garden and spend time outside in my swing , and let 's not forget I am the one who keeps things running smoothly in this home ; - )