8 posts tagged “family”

So, what have I been up to the last two months?  Let me see if I can catch you up to speed. With my memory this will probably be a very short post -either that or I'll leave out a bunch of stuff.  Here's what I remember:

• Joined Weight Watchers (again)
• I helped run a day retreat that was very successful.
• My sister, Florence got sick and was in the ICU.  (She's better now, thank God.)
• Visited our friends Jane & Al in their new home in Connecticut (with Charlie)
• I've been trying to do my Spring Cleaning.
• My laptop crashed and I lost a whole lot of stuff.  I was without it for nearly two weeks!  (Not sure how I survived.)
• My husband and my son & I laid down a new floor in our kitchen/dining room.
• EASTER!!!!!!! 

Not a very exciting life, huh?

God only knows where I've been and what I've been doing because I certainly have not been blogging, that's for sure!  I just logged into Vox and discovered it's been 2 months since I've written a blog entry!  Good grief -how embarrassing!  Okay, I'm going to try to get back to it.  I'll start here with the last entry that I was working on that never got published.  I'm not even going to bother editing it -I'm just going to post it as is and move on.  This is what I wrote on February 4th:

Yesterday our church had it's annual volunteer thank you party.  The party is given to show appreciation to parishioners that volunteer in the various ministries of our parish.

My husband and I are Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and we both serve on the Stewardship Committee.  Larry is also a Lector and is a regular on the schedule for Thursday's at the 12:00 noon Mass. 

Three EMHC's are needed for weekday Masses and it seems there is always someone missing, so I usually fill in.  The other day I spoke with our Director of Religious Education and she officially put me on the schedule for Thursday afternoons. 

Our church also has a Human Concerns Center and through that and the needs of the community I have been bringing Holy Communion to the homebound for a few years now.  For close to a year now I have been visiting a lovely elderly woman named Carol.  Carol has been blessed because her daughter and son-in-law have been staying with her for quite some time now, so she is not alone.  My husband usually joins me on these weekly visits to Carol and together we make a good team; we keep Carol smiling as well as spiritually fulfilled.  It's a great feeling!

Our son, Kevin is a Minister of Hospitality and all through High School he has worked part time in the Parish Office and as a Sacristan on alternating Saturdays.  He gets paid for both of those jobs, however, he loves volunteering as a Minister of Hospitality and has done so for a few years now (I think since he was 15).

Our daughter, Jessica was very involved too until she left to join the USCG.

God is so good!  My sister's gastric-bypass surgery went very well.  She is experiencing no pain from the surgery, just a backache from lying on the table for so long.  She decided 8 months ago that she was going to have this done and it took her that long to get all the medical clearance, paperwork, etc. that was necessary in order to get the approval from her insurance company.  Once she got the approval the date was set and now it's all behind her. 

From the moment that she told me she was going to have this surgery I was afraid for her.  I love my sister very much and I couldn't help but worry that something might go wrong.  Elective surgery...who would want to get cut unless it was absolutely necessary?  Unfortunately, my sister's health was suffering because of her weight and so to her it was a no-brainer. 

I'm so proud of her for doing this.  I think this was the boldest, most bravest thing she has ever done, and she did not go into this blindly.  She has really done her homework and couldn't have been more prepared. 

So here's to my sister, Dorothy.  May God bless her with a speedy, uncomplicated recovery, and the continued drive and determination to better her health! 

Have you ever been so nervous that you could feel your stomach shaking?  That's what I'm feeling now.  My sister, Dorothy is having gastric-bypass surgery right now and I'm waiting to hear from her surgeon.  It's way past the time that he should have called, which makes me even more nervous, thinking that somehow something went wrong.  I realize that they got started a little later than expected (the doctor was stuck in traffic) but they took her at 7:40 and it's now 11:35 -that's nearly 4 hours!  The surgery was supposed to be 2-2 1/2 hours.  What could be the hold up?

We left here at 5:00am and got there in just a few minutes.  She got into a hospital gown and we sat and waited.  Finally a nurse took her vitals and some blood and then the anesthesiologist came to see her.  Sophia, her surgeon's assistant came and that made my sister feel at ease and when she told her she would be in the operating room my sister cried -happy tears.  The surgery was scheduled for 7:30 and at 7:25 Dr. Buchen arrived.  Apparently there was a big accident on the expressway.

I left my card with my telephone number & hubby's cell phone with Sophia and explained to both her and to the doctor that since I lived only a few minutes away from the hospital my sister insisted that I go home instead of waiting there.  They both agreed to call me as soon as she was out of surgery.  I'm still waiting...

Give a kid a gift card without letting them spend it and it's as if it burns a hole in their wallet!  My son was the lucky recipient of several gift cards to Best Buy this Christmas.  He got one from his uncle, one from each of his two aunts, one from his best friend's family and one from his Secret Santa at school.  I'd say he was pretty fortunate, wouldn't you? 

This afternoon he bugged me to drive him to Best Buy so that he could go shopping because it was killing him that he had these cards to use.  I really wasn't in the mood to go all the way over there but I guess I should be happy that he didn't want to go out and spend them on December 26th!  Besides, I thought it would be so much better if he waited until next month when school was out for mid-winter recess because then he would have over a week to play new video games or watch new DVD's.  But nooooo.  He had to go today.  So naturally I thought, if he's going to go shopping at Best Buy then I'm going to go shopping in the fabric department at Wal-Mart, which just so happens to be in the next parking lot over.  All's well that ends well, right?  I mean, just mention fabric and I'm there.  Of course it helped that we made a pitstop at the bank on the way and he paid me back some money he owed his dad and I.  You mean I could go shopping and not have to use a credit card?  I was so there.

I dropped him off in front of the store and raced over to Wally World.  I zoomed right to the fabric department without stopping to even look at anything else.  I browsed the $1/yard table, then the $2/yard table but they didn't have anything good so I moved on to the rest.  I found a nice double-sided pre-quilted fabric that I thought would make a nice tote bag for either myself or someone else.  I bought some white netting that is nice to have on hand to wrap things with (you know, like you would do with celophane.)  And then I decided on 2 different homespun cottons that looked good together.  I'm going to try my hand at making my first rag quilt with these -for that sweet son of mine.  I also bought some white fleece that was with the Warm and Natural batting (but half the price) so I think I'll use that.  I'm washing and drying my new fabrics now.  I'm so excited...I can't wait to get started on this.  I have not decided what size I'll make...I think I'll just start sewing squares together, then making them into rows and see how it goes.  I don't know how to calculate how much yardage I'd need for one of these so I'm just going to wing it.  I will post photos as soon as possible, but don't hold your breath, this isn't going to happen overnight.

Oh, and what did Kevin buy?  Ten DVD's!  I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. 

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Shopping Anyone? (continued) 

Imagine Kevin's surprise when he went to open one of the DVD's and found it empty!  Yes, that's right, there was NO disc inside the sealed packaging.

What the...?

I guess that means another trip out East.  Maybe this time I'll go without him -I'll return the DVD and then run off to JoAnn's to see what fabric jumps out at me there.  Hey, do ya think that this was part of God's plan too?  I'll buy that.  Yep, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Yesterday was a bit of a tough day for me (hence the Catholic joke).  I was feeling very emotional because my daughter's ship is going underway today and they'll be gone for over a month and we will have very little contact.  They are going to two countries that are known for drug smuggling and exporting illegal aliens to our country so they're not exactly the safest places to be.  Up until now her experience with the Coast Guard has been uneventful.  They've basically been doing a lot of learning, drills and lots and lots of cleaning, scrubbing & painting.  She has yet to experience drug interdiction, rescuing people in small boats that are stuck out in the water & all those other good things that the Coast Guard is responsible for.  So this deployment will be her first true experience of serving her country and this mama is pretty nervous!

I received word from her that her ship is having engine trouble (or something like that) and that as of this afternoon they still hadn't left.  Thank God the problem presented itself before they were out in the middle of the ocean.  I wonder...Who does the Coast Guard call when one of their ships break down?  Yeah, yeah, I guess they send a sister ship.  Funny to think about though.

Here's a picture of my girl in her uniform...doesn't she look awesome? 

And that good-looking guy is her "little" brother. :)

Jessica & Kevin - Coast Guard Basic Training Graduation

And here she is with some of her superiors.

(Boot Camp was over so they were allowed to smile!)

Cape May Jessie's Coast Guard Graduation

If anyone reading this is inclined to pray please pray for my daughter that she remains safe while underway and after doing a job well done her ship returns to their home port for some down time.  Thanks and God bless you too!

One of the things my daughter asked for this past Christmas was a few bath towels.  She is in the Coast Guard and said she was still using the scratchy towels that were issued to her when she was in Basic Training.  I bought her 3 bath towels, one striped and two solid colored.  I wanted to embroider something on the solid towels but with all the holiday madness I never got around to it.  Last Friday I finally made some time to get them done.  Since she's still a real girly-girl I thought she would like this pink teddy bear design:

"Jessica pink bear" embroidered towel

She is living and working on a ship and often has to stand watch so I thought this design was not only cute but appropriate:

AHOY! Towel for my Coastie

I mailed them to her but as of yet I don't think she has received them.  I wish I was there to see her face when she opens the box.  

I am a 47 year old Catholic woman married to a great guy who enriches my faith on a daily basis by the power of example.  We have a 17 year old son who is graduating High School this year and getting ready to go to college, and a 19 year old daughter who is in the United States Coast Guard.  We have 3 dogs and we run a dog sitting service from our home.  I enjoy sewing, quilting, watching movies at home, surfing the internet, spending time with family and friends, and practicing my faith.

Here's a photo of my husband and I that was taken recently.  Isn't he handsome?

Dolores & Larry

Here's a photo of me and my family at Christmas.  Okay, maybe not the best shot but who has time to be picky?

Christmas 2007

Since so many people are blogging these days I decided it was time for me to join the club.  Because I enjoy sewing and machine embroidery so much I thought this would be a good venue to document my creations.  Naturally, being a wife and mother, my blog entries probably won't be just about sewing, they will be a combination of my family life, my church life and my sewing.

Until next time...