January 19 Angel Dust comes back to bless me!

Last November I joined up with a group called "Angels in Camouflage" to provide support to our soldiers in Iraq. It started out first with my desire to do something, perhaps lap robes, for our Vietnam veterans in the local veterans' homes.

In searching on the internet, I found this group that was doing just that but also due to the activity in Iraq were making hats, gloves, lap robes and such for the wounded soldiers in Iraq. The bulk of these items were being sent to the military hospital in Landstuhl Germany. I connected up (via E-Mail and then in person) with a gal in Portland (Juel is her name) who had direct contact with Mash units in Iraq itself. They told stories of wounded soldiers there needing comfort items (blankets, sweats, t-shirts, etc) prior to their shipment to Germany. They also told of the oncoming cold weather and how the soldiers who have been given fleece items said it was the softest thing they had felt their whole time there.

My soft heart kicked in and I went to work. First I pulled out 3 yards of fleece I had in the cupboard, cut it in half and bound it with nice satin binding. Then I went to Joanne Fabrics and purchased fleece on sale by the bolt. Then I went on E-Bay and started finding bargains on the satin binding as at regular price that was the most expensive ingredient in my "lapghans". Once I found the bargains there, then I needed more fleece so I had to make a trip to the Portland "Craft Warehouse" where when they heard my story, they let me purchase fleece panels (48 x 60...just right) at wholesale prices.

The futon in my sewing room was covered with fleece panels, satin binding and blankets "in process". I researched with the post office and found they had a new "flat rate" box for $7.70 but I was determined that was too much to pay for shipping one lapghan. I developed a method for compressing the fleece blanket in a zip lock bag (with a minature ironing board) so it went small enough to fit TWO, count 'em, TWO blankets in each box. What a bargain!!!

I developed a special label for each blanket that had hearts on it, said
"Our Hearts Are With You, Thank You For Your Service, To:____________________, From: Linda & Gary Stocker, Vietnam '68-'69", plus our E-mail address.

By the end of December, when I finally had to take a rest and move on to getting ready for our Vietnam trip, I had completed and mailed 30 blankets! The ladies at the post office know me just as "the blanket lady" and I had them in tears today when I stopped by to share with them the picture that had been e-mailed to me last night. It shows a wounded American soldier in a Mash unit in Iraq covered with one of MY BLANKETS!!! About a week before that I had gotten an E-Mail from a female soldier over there who was also a blanket recipient, but somehow seeing the picture put it all into perspective!

The other day I was sitting at my desk and glanced at the envelope where I had put the receipts for the blanket ingredients I purchased. I do not care at this point to add it up (that's not material to the results) but what hit me was what I had written on the envelope. It says "Vietnam Blanket Receipts"....WOW, would you call that a Freudian slip. My blankets to Iraq has been my own little way of trying to show the type of support to our current soldiers that I wish had been shown to Gary and other Vietnam Veterans so many years ago. Perhaps we can all reach out to make an effort to help in this support and it will make a difference in their lives as they move forward in their lives as our new generation of Veterans.

Quoting an E-Mail from one of the MASH nurses who have been distributing items...

"It means a lot for people to take their time to just recognize and take time out to purchase things that we need and support us with their cards or letters. You would be amazed to see the looks on people's faces just to receive mail. Even if it is people they do not know. But we all appreciate it. Because there are some, OK a lot of individuals that do not receive anything. That leaves the moral for that person and those around them down. From every soldier here that you have touched and the things that we have received from soldiers angels. We thank you! I have passed out all of the mail and goodies to the soldiers that are in our ward and they are so happy to receive home away from home love with your contributions."

There are a vast number of ways (just do an internet search for ideas) for each one of us (in our own way) to support these new veterans and I challenge everyone to find their own way to make a difference!

January 19 E-Bay shopping

Our trip to Vietnam is fast approaching (March 6th) so I have been busy shopping on E-Bay (it runs in the family, I inherited it from my daughter!).

One of the two bags we will take are for humanitarian projects...visits to orphanages, schools, old folk homes, convalescent centers. All of a sudden it is all coming to me via UPS and I am beginning to worry that I have gone a bit overboard. We have one volunteer who has been there before and is working with us via E-Mail to sort out and direct our efforts getting ready. When I told her how proud I was to have gotten a real "deal" on a case (120) slinkys she cautioned me that we would have to split them up between our bags so customs does not suspect we are going to "black market" them. Can you see Gary in a back alley with a trench coat on and all these slinkys under his coat...selling them on the "black market"...somehow I would expect black market would be more interested in other items. Instead the vision I have is of Gary with kids crowding around him as he demonstrates the new "toy" he brought for them.

Other volume deals I have picked up include:

• Over 150 toothbrushes
• 25 plastic bathroom drinking cups
• 24 girls purses with hair accessories
• 60 safety scissors
• 288 pencils with cartoon characters on them
• Box of 84 #2 pencils
• 20 boxes of crayons
• 24 dinosaur kaleidoscopes
• 60 hot wheel cars
• 25 turbo racer cars
• assorted musical instrument toys...flutes, recorders, etc.
• lots of hair clips, pins and ribbons
• it goes on and on more than I want to admit...but hey...I have a big heart!

I am also taking a dozen special dressed Bearington bears I have to give as gifts.

Now my latest E-bay shopping trip was last night when I spent several hours online finding two extra bags (Just “duffel” style zip up bags) that come right up to the baggage allowance to help us carry all this “stuff” over there. Drove Gary crazy (not a long trip) with my E-Bay shopping…guys just do not understand the thrill of the shop…even online it is a blast and a challenge to get the very best bargain…and “win” out on the bid. At least I got smart on the bags I purchased. Rather than bid on something that is going to go on for days and days, I found some good deals just minutes before they closed so I know what I have rather than having to continually check back to see how it is going.

Well it is time to get some rest. I am feeling particularly old tonight as I realize it is Cindy's 32nd birthday tomorrow. That makes me "ancient" doesn't it! A couple weeks ago I visited the Salem Hospital to get our travel shots...they wanted to know if I had ever been in that hospital before...Yep, 32 years ago when I gave birth to Cindy. I can still remember the old fashioned lights they had outside the delivery corridor...the fathers waited in the outside room until they turned on either a blue light or pink light. Gary was so sure it would be a boy that when the pink light went on he wanted to know how many babies they were delivering back there..."Just yours Mr. Stocker" was the answer. Thank you Cindy for making us so proud of you over the years. Enjoy life even at your advanced age of 32!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Honey, does this dress make me look fat??? (quote from current TV ad...if you've seen it you know what I mean)

So why the quote at the top? well, I just finished trying on (multiple times) slacks and tops I purchased online from "Travel Smith". They are special travel clothes made not to wrinkle in your suitcase and also light enough to be washed out in the sink and dry overnight. Will have to see about that all...frankly (other than underpants) for a 14 day trip I probably can wear them the whole time and just wash at home.

As always, nothing in the catalog (I had paper and online) looks the same when you put it on your own body so there is a certain amount of decision involved in which ones I keep and what I will send back. All were deeply discounted because they were "overstocks" so the prices were excellent but some pieces I decided I would never wear here and so they were not worth keeping. It had been awhile since I had really bought some clothes so it was a new experience and I would have to say I am now "set" for the summer as well.

Still appreciate the "hand me downs" Cindy gives me but since I have plateaued in my weight I have not moved on to the next layer in my cedar chest lately...I have them layered according to size with a cardboard divided announcing when I move from one size to the next. Currently I am still "stuck" between an 18 and 16 but all the stuff I got from Travel Smith was just ladies XL which made me feel good.

Gary was exasperated by my indecision in which pieces I liked and did not like...he said it sure is different with men and women...with a man if it fits and feels good it is a keeper. Cindy and I had discussed this since weight loss that it is now different for both of us. Now that we are in "regular" clothes you no longer have to settle on whatever just because it fits (sorry all we have the size 30W in is olive drab) but instead can be more "picky" in having choices and multiples available and can get "prettier" more attractive items as a result.

Went to a new dentist today...new to me but not new to dentistry. It has been a loooong time since I went to a dentist who had one of the old bowls with running water for you to rinse and spit into...reminded me of my childhood days at the dentist. However this dentist is about the same age as I am...must have purchased the building with the original dentistry equipment in it.

The setting of the office and view from the exam rooms is spectacular as it looks out on the Siletz Bay and ocean beyond. Lots of bird habitat and coastal stuff to look at.
Really rainy and VERY windy today. Last time I checked our highest wind gust out in the back yard had been 33 mph...our rainfall so far this month totals 7.5 inches. Not much got caught in the rain gauge today as the wind has been blowing too hard for too long. Have a few new trees down in the neighborhood. Mostly because they are more exposed now that they have been logging on some property adjacent to the community. Not near our house but right up to the property lines of some others here...they had never considered their privacy was at risk but it was.

Well time for ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Linda aka MOM

Long Time No Update

Not sure if anyone other than my sweet daughter is even paying attention to this site anymore but thought I would update it none the less. Perhaps I will e-mail a few who might be interested so they can begin to "check it out" again. Want to use the blog to communicate especially when we make our trip to Vietnam in March.

This Thursday is a very special day...it is Cindy's 31st birthday!!! My how time flies and my how she has grown into such a super young woman. I am SO PROUD of her in so many ways for so many things. Most of all I cherish our friendship and closeness. Thank you Cindy, thank you for sharing and letting me be such a part of your life!!! It is a closeness I never had with my mother...my what she missed!

On other topics, the days march on with very little progress in the condition of Gary's back injury. So much fun (NOT) when he tells everyone that he it happened first part of December when I convinced him to go to water aerobics with me. I think he could have just as well done it anyplace else if it had not been at water aerobics. He has been going to physical therapy in McMinnville twice a week for the past 8 weeks with very small improvement.

They say now that he has a "degenerative" condition in his spine that is pinching nerves and causing all the pain. We are waiting for a rehabilitation doctor to review to x-rays and MRIs of his back and then make a decision on what can be done. Personally I feel they will say that he really needs minor surgery to remove or "ream out" the bone spurs that have formed between his discs. I am hoping that as a short term move they can give him a spinal injection that would at least deal with the pain and improve his mobility. I have been told by other patients that the beneficial effect of those injections last up to 6 months.

We believe in proceeding in a positive mode (assuming his back will be good enough for us to go on the trip) and so we have been busy taking shots and oral vaccines to prepare us for the Vietnam trip. This morning we started an 8 day course of treatment to protect us from typhoid. Scary stuff but that is what adventure is all about and makes trips like this something that not everyone goes on.

I have been busy on E-Bay purchasing things to take along on the trip for the orphanages and such. Pencils, Kaliodoscopes, Crayons, Hair clips, Ribbons, a wide variety of stuff. Still want to get some surgical tape, bandaids and such to round it all out. It should be fun and the type of things that gives "warm fuzzies" helping others and seeing it in such a direct way.

With Gary pretty immobile I have been spending lots of time sewing... finished a cute apron for grandson, Matthew so he can "work" in the kitchen with his sisters.

A couple days before I did a neat machine embroidery of a bear family in a forest meadow for a quilt square for my "Thursday group". The theme this year is the "Lewis & Clark" trip...things they would have seen...flowers, animals, scenes, etc. We do a quilt each year and sell tickets, raffling it off on July 4th to raise money to fix up our Community Center. The center is so old that they still have the orignal wooden floor and old style roller skating shoes in the cloak room. There is a sign in the kitchen that says "No skating in the kitchen"...not a threat with the group in my "Thursday group".

Now working on decorative pillows and cedar chest cushion cover for Cindy's bedroom. Have almost convinced myself with this project that I may not be "cut out" for "quilting" things. I cannot really understand why quilters take perfectly good fabric and cut it up into small squares only to sew it back together. I will prevail but may rethink the "stack and whack" methods they so strongly "espouse". Have a couple more quilting classes I am taking in February that may help to add enough more "techniques" to keep me going.

Well my weight is still at a plateau. Down 140 lbs. but would like to shed another 30 or 40. Know it will eventually come but I am getting impatient. Now that I am getting back into my exercise routine (which had gone by the wayside while we were taking Gary hither and yon for doctors appointments) I should start burning more calories again.

Going to the "Bandster Splash" in February. It is in Seattle and is a convention of sorts for others either interested in or having a gastric band like I do. Lots of speakers, before and after slide shows, fashion shows, plastic surgeons, etc. Should be inspirational and fun hope it helps me "get my motor" started again.

Well tomorrow is water aerobics...just for me and then an appointment at a new dentist...so I guess I am done with this blog for now. I will try to start posting again...it will help me to keep up better with others as well as fill Cindy in a bit more.

Linda