Memorial Service/My Family

We had a viewing on Wednesday and a service on Thursday for my Gramps. My Gramps was a frogman in WWII. He was extremely proud of his country, his favorite holiday was the 4th of July. He loved books about American history and anything that had to do with our Irish family history. Our family is very involved in politics and government. My Gramps cousin is actually a five star general and was the Vice Chief of Staff of the CIA, this was something that he was so proud of and we are today. My Gramps was always involved in something, he loved to give his opinion on things and always pushed his grandkids to be better.

Now that I followed a rabbit trail, back to the services. lol.

During the color guard ceremony, (I believe that's what it's called, but I could be wrong.), the man playing the trumpet had some technical errors. I couldn't figure out what he was fiddling with until later on when my sister told me that he was trying ot get the button to work.... apparently, he doesn't know how to play the trumpet.

Below are some pictures from the service and family get together afterwards. My aunt lives in Laguna and has this incredible view with ocean breezes that come up the hill.

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After the viewing on Wednesday night, All the siblings and my Gramms went out to dinner and left the "kids" at the house. I say "Kids", because we are all in our 20's and 30's, some married with kids, with the exception of the baby of the family who is fourteen. We decided to head out and get some food together after we practiced "Wind Beneath Our Wings" which my Gramps requested. After dinner, we came back to my Grandparents home and found that it was just my Gramms with all her Grandkids. This has never before happened! She loves to hear us sing, so we settled in the family room and sang for her while my brother and cousin played (my fourteen year old cousin plays by ear and is incredible!)... This night was special in a subtle way, all together, singing a song that my Gramps loved. I'll never forget it.

We took a group picture, something that I wish we'd done with my Gramps.

There will be so many changes in the next few months, Thanksgiving, Birthdays, Christmas... but change is good, most of the time. I can't imagine life without God while going through circumstances such as these.

Through it all He's faithful.

Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Psalms 36:5

Wooosh! What a week!

Oh My! It's been an incredibly, crazy, absolutely emotional week. One of the hardest of my life! Losing someone you love so much is never fun, yet that's the plan of God. How blessed to have lived a long life.

I am just ready to go on with living and regular schedules. That sounds harsh, but one can only take so much of ripping emotions. Things just need to settle and the healing needs to begin. Things will never be normal, but life does go on.

I, and my family, are in a changing time of our lives. We've got decisions to pray about and things to discuss, but for now... I'm waiting for the calm from the storm and remembering that God's mercy is renewed everyday.

I need to catch up with everyone's blogs and see what's going on in blogland.

I have some beautiful pictures to post tomorrow or sometimes next week, but for now... I need some sleep. =)

Nighty, night bloggy world.

08.29.08

Gramps,
You'll never read my blog again, I don't know why I am writing to you, but it comforts me in some way.

My life was forever changed on Friday night at 11:15 PM. The impact you had on me will forever be with me.

What will we do without you? I feel at times that I can't breathe or even speak. Something is just not right. I have so many special memories, recent memories of you that are to painful to write here at this moment.

No matter how much I knew that this day would come, it came too soon. I guess I would have never been ready. I have so many questions, yet there are no answers.

I wish we had more time...

Love,
Deb

Need Prayer

I'm asking for prayer for my Gramps. He went into the hospital again this week after a fall. His health has taken a turn for the worse and he was placed on life support this afternoon. He's 79 years old and to me, that is just too young.

Your prayers are coveted.

A Passion Redeemed by Julie Lessman

No man can resist her charms. Or so she thought. Charity O'Connor is a woman who gets what she wants. Her stunning beauty and flirtatious ways have always succeeded with men. Until Mitch Dennehy, that is. Brilliant and dangerously handsome, Mitch is a no-nonsense newspaperman who wants nothing to do with her. Charity burned him once, destroying his engagement to the only woman he ever truly loved. He won't play with matches again. But Charity has a plan to turn up the heat, hoping to ignite the heart of the man she loves. And she always gets what she wants--one way or another. Or does she? Will her best-laid schemes win his love? Or will her seductive ways drive him away forever?

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After reading A Passion Most Pure, I had doubts it could get any better. A Passion Redeemed is a story of forgiveness and redemption. It touches your heart in a way that most fiction books just surface. **If you haven't read book 1, you may want to stop reading**.

I counted the days until this book came out. Knowing that Christianbook.com usually gets books in early, I checked often to see if I could beat the release date. Sure enough, I saw the little green in stock and ordered two copies, one for my sister-in-law and one for me. I was out of town when my SIL called and said, "The books are here!". We squealed on the phone and I did a little jig in my head since I was sitting in the car.

In A Passion Most Pure, we left off with Charity being a young spoiled, selfish girl that used her looks to get what she wanted and didn't care who it hurt in the process. She was out to ruin the life of the person that she hated the most, her sister.

A Passion Redeemed prologue picks up right at the end of A Passion Most Pure. Charity is still in Ireland and wrecking havoc. My first thought was, oh no, here we go again.

The challenges that Charity came against made her into a different person, no need to worry whether or not she'll be likable. I must say though, she did some horrific things in APR; prepare yourself.

With PMP I carried it everywhere, work, car, home. Anywhere that I went it went with me. Same for APR, I couldn't get any work done knowing that Charity was up to something, again, and Mitch was doing this or that. I must confess, I did read under my desk, yet again. This is becoming a "thing" with Julie Lessman books. Julie, I love your books but my employer may not. Ha ha ha ha.

Book 3 will be out in March 2009, and I am beyond excited. Julie Lessman gives you a little glimpse of the characters of Book 3 in A Passion Redeemed. I fell in love with one of the characters that showed up towards the end of the book, well, he was there all along, but he really comes to the front towards the end.

Julie Lessman is one of the best Edgy Inspirational authors out there. You'll never be dissapointed when reading her books. Her books speak to the romantic heart and stir the soul.

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Read my review for PMP.

Interview with Julie Lessman.

My Hidden Name ... My Way

What Deborah Means

You are balanced, orderly, and organized. You like your ducks in a row. You are powerful and competent, especially in the workplace. People can see you as stubborn and headstrong. You definitely have a dominant personality. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. -------- You are full of energy. You are spirited and boisterous. You are bold and daring. You are willing to do some pretty outrageous things. Your high energy sometimes gets you in trouble. You can have a pretty bad temper at times. -------- You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life. You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you. At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself. ---------- You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. --------- You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. -------- You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out. Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia. Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

San Diego Weekend - Part 2

My sister and I got a hotel room for Saturday night since she was meeting up with an old friend from high school in the area. My cousin, her boyfriend, and my nephew Cristian stayed as well.

We went to Sea Port Village, first thing I did was take Cristian on the carousel. The carousel has been moved from over eight places. I believe it was first built in the early 1900's. Cristian loved it! He was yelling and waving at everyone we went by.

I took the above photos with my camera phone after my camera died. I went in search of somewhere to buy batteries and ended up paying $15 for two batteries! Well worth it thought since the view was incredible.

Below is a picture from a dock between the Coronado Naval Base and the Coronado Bridge.

Coronado Naval Base
My brother and his girlfriend, Stephanie, went with us and of course, I took a ton of pictures of them as he protested. The thing about my brother is that he protest but really loves it when people take pictures of him, if you were to look at his camera you would find a ton of photos that HE took of himself.
(Click to enlarge)



We were coming around a corner, looking at the water and watching the sunset when I heard screaming. After looking around for some crazy person running through the crowd with flailing arms, I spotted parrots. Who knew they could make such a ruckus.



We ate this incredible pizza, mouth watering. If you haven't already notices, I love taking pictures of food. To me it's beautiful, most food, not all. I had people asking me at the wedding, "Did you really just take a picture of that salad?". It was a pretty salad.



On Sunday we went to Coronado Island. I love love love Coronado, the smells and colors, It's breathtaking.
Views from the bridge...



I've mentioned the Hotel Del Coronado before, we always make a point to stop here if we have some time. Stephanie is a big Marilyn Monroe fan, I recently showed her Some Like It Hot which was filmed at the Hotel Del Coronado in 1959.

The weather was perfect, ocean breeze with the sun's heat. We sat at the Hotel beach for a while before heading to Moo's Creamery for some ice cream to cool off.

We had so much fun, I'm now trying to recuperate and keep my lids open for another day of work. lol. I have a WW meeting tonight and from the looks of the pizza above you can tell that it won't be thrilling.

Hope you enjoyed this long, picture filled post. =)

BTW - I'm in the middle of A Passion Redeemed, excellent! You must order it!

San Diego/Wedding - Part 1

I had a long long long weekend. We, my sister and I, packed up and drove to our families house in SD for my cousins wedding reception on Saturday. We got there late on Friday night, we had to make a little stop on the way to grab a couple of things because I "had nothing to wear!!" and I did not bring a single pair of shoes that didn't flip flop when I walked, why? I have no idea. So shoes were on the shopping list as well.

We woke at 6:30 AM on Saturday and got everything together for the day, hustled over to my cousin's house and then we were off to the hotel to decorate and get everything in order.

The hotel was beautiful! Two moon shaped buildings on the SD bay. The reception room overlooked the bay with boats lined up on the docks.

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

My cousin had planned a nautical theme to go along with the scenery, things came together rather quickly with the exception of the little run in's with the Mother of the Groom who thought it was HER wedding reception. lol.

Cake and Seating Sail Boats

Candy Bar & Centerpiece

Cristian and Mommy / Sonia and I

I situated myself next to the dance floor so I could take pictures and make fun of my family as they tried to dance. I think my aunt thought that she was still in the 1970's with the way she was moving.

I had a little wardrobe malfunction as soon as I walked into the reception....

I ended up wearing flip flops, ugh; so much for stopping for shoes!

My cousin Emilie looked beautiful. They had gotten married with immediate family and my parents in Las Vegas a couple of weeks back and planned a reception for their family and friends to celebrate with them.

Cristian the Entertainer

I have a little bit of blog bragging to do...

My 2 year old nephew is the absolute cutest kid. He loves his auntie who he calls, Beba. I think this love stemmed from me sneaking him Diet Coke as a baby. Yes, I am the culprit, but if this won his heart, I have no regrets.

Last night at dinner, he entertained us with his exuberant guitar playing, singing, Diet Coke drinking and silly languages.

CRAZY FOR DIET COKE

Mystery Solved!

I had an interesting doctors appointment today... bizarre is the right word!

On July 4th I helped my cousin clean raw shrimp and squeeze about 20 limes. I developed some sort of burn like formation on my right hand a few days later, known here on out as the "thing". I went to see my doctor the week after and was told that "it didn't look scary", no need to worry... My cousin developed the same sort of burn like formation and went to her doc. She was told that she had a disease that came from shellfish, a disease that is fatal to some people that are infected! Of course being the hypochondriac that I am, I called my doctor and anxiously patiently waited until she called me back later that night, I was told that it was a far fetched diagnosis and I had nothing to worry about.. I was still unsettled but figured that I'd just keep my body alert for any other weird happenings over the the next few weeks.

The "thing" burned and itched like crazy causing me to put gallons of lotion, itch cream, Vaseline, and anything else that would help. A few weeks later things still weren't looking good. Sometimes the pigment would change to a purplish color and then back to a light brown. It wasn't long before the "thing" began to peel and turn bright pink, as if it was scarring. Then to add to the "thing", my fingers begin to crack and bleed and hurt like crazy!

Last week I had had enough, I called a Dermatology Clinic that was connected to a very good hospital and made an appointment.

I saw this doctor that asked me if I liked Coronas, "say again..." I said, confused. "Do you like Coronas, the drink?", "no". He looked confused, he then asked me if I ate celery, "nope". He looked confused, again. The he asked me if I had lime? "YES!" I told him about the shrimp and lime, he was surprised and said, "wow" or something like that.

He then told me that they saw this lady come in with something similar to my "thing", she had passed out with a Corona in her hand, it spilled all over her arm and she woke up with a burn like formation on her arm.

The doctor called in the senior physician and they both looked, squeezed, rotated, and pulled. They told me that this comes from the skin of Brazilian limes. I apparently got a burn because there was some left on my hand when I went into the sun. BIZARRE! Medical term - phytophotodermatitis, which sounds fancy... but it actually means some sort of burn.

The doctors then asked me if I would mind if some other doctors came in to take a look... "sure, why not..." My room turned into a lecture room with the intern doctors trying to diagnose my "thing" and pull and pick at my arm and answer their teachers questions... that was not the end.

As I was leaving the senior doctor pulled me over to the front administration office, gathered his employees and gave them a look at the "thing" lol.

I laughed all the way to the car... Who would have thought it!

So let me just warn you... BEWARE OF LIME! Specifically the skin of Brazilian limes!

Below is a picture of my "thing", it actually looks really good here and not so ugly, this was before it was beginning to peel and scar.

Another long week...

Let me start by saying, you ARE at The Daily B. I've changed my background so many times that I've learned to accept the fact that I am a compulsive background changer. The black was depressing and that's is the last thing I needed to look at when I signed on.

For some reason, I can't seem to catch up on sleep, maybe it's due to watching the Olympics and not being able to pull myself away when the swimming is on late at night. Or it could be that I am just exhausted from life. eh, either or.

My mom started back on her shots for her tumor this morning and it just unnerves me. She is getting ready to make a decision since the shots have pretty much done all they can do which was not very much. She is supposed to see a specialist at Cedar Sinai, one of the top hospitals in the nation and home to all the overindulged celebrities. My conscious just told me to be nice. lol.

This specialist is the head of Neurosurgery and supposed to world renown. I told my sister-in-law that maybe, just maybe God was conditioning the surgeon for such a time as this. My mom is pretty special to me and that much more to God, so I can see Him doing something like this.

I will be glad when this hurdle is behind us and we can look back and say, "Mom remember when you had a tumor the size of a golf ball and God took care of everything...". Now to just tackle this little fear whispering in my ear...

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We started Community Groups at our church and our area comes to our home. Very cool way to meet the community and to invite others that are a little hesitant about stepping into a church building. We are holding off on buying another building at this time, God's taking us into another place and of course, we follow. We are going to reach the OC one way or another, this is the right place to start, getting to know the people and showing them a side of God that maybe they never knew existed.

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My sister did her screen test on Saturday, those of you that follow her blog will know what I'm referring to. I was asked to come along to do her makeup and hair... lol. Funny thing is I don't know anything about makeup and neither does she. So there we were in the makeup aisle at Walgreen's, looking for things that we'd seen on What Not To Wear. I told her to keep her voice down after she said, "NO! That's eyeliner!". We looked like makeup idiots. I think I did a pretty good job of giving her a camera face.

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This weekend/week has been long so far, I'm looking forward to the weekend...

200th Post... Sort of.

I MISSED IT!!!

This is actually my 210th post... I guess I blog more than I think I do.

Happy 200th post to me, The Daily B!

It's a Dog's World

Our family dog, Tiffany, has to be the greatest dog that ever lived. I am not being bias, I am telling you, she really is the greatest dog and if you had a chance to meet her you would think so... okay, maybe not at this stage in her life but a year or so back. Beautiful German Shepherd/Labrador with massive brown eyes.

Her gray chin gives away the fact that she's old. Very, very old. In human years, seventeen years and six months old. We picked her up at out local pet store when she was 3 months old for my brother Peter. He had a crush on a girl at the time, Tiffany. So, there wasn't much of an issue in choosing a name for his dog. He "loved" his crush and he loved his new puppy, easy choosing. She was such a sweet girl, we're onto the dog now, with these big brown soulful eyes; we fell in love with her and claimed her as ours. Except for when she pooped relieved herself in the house, then she became Peter's dog. I am told that I had nightmares of her not making it to the bathroom, where we kept her while she was a tiny puppy, or outside to do her thing. She would sniff around and this would signal us to, "Get her out! Get her out!". Apparently I woke up in the middle of the night yelling, "She's sniffing around! She's sniffing around!!". Did I ever mention that I talk in my sleep? That's another post for another day.

We got another dog years later for my younger brother David, Misty. This dog HAD to be from Hades another world. She was spunky and a little mean. Or so we thought. She would conspire with Tiffany and talk her into breaking out and taking a road trip. One night during a horrific thunder storm we went out to find the gate busted and the "girls" gone. I am sorry to say that we were more concerned with what happened to Tiff than Misty. We KNEW that Misty was behind this, the dog from Hades another world. We scoured the neighborhoods and soon received a phone call. A lady on another street took them in during the storm, did we want to pick them up? We'll pick Tiffany up. We ended up coming home with both girls and having to leash Misty, the dog from Hades another world. It wasn't long after that incident that we received a call from our elderly neighbor, her daughter had cancer and didn't have very long to live and Misty was causing her to lose sleep. See, I told you, Dog from... yah you know. Not only did she howl and bark all night she would shimmy her way under the house and take apart the heater ducts and who knows what else. We took Misty to the pound and was told later on that she was in fact mentally retarded and not a dog from hades another world. Poor Misty.

Today Tiffany is very old, she could use a walker and maybe a few depends. That just sparked another thought, when she was in her baby bearing age she was not allowed to come in the house without something to cover her up... this may be TMI for some. I warned you. This covering up required an old pair of her owners underwear wrapped around so that she kept our carpets clean. TMI? okay then. She was just like a human... sort of.

The past few weeks have been really tough on her. She is like a stubborn old lady that refuses to listen to direction. She pushes, literally, until she gets her way and relieves herself wherever and whenever. This is from a dog who would get embarrassed if you saw her doing her thing on the grass. Now she can't help it. Soon she will be gone and that may be one the hardest things, she's been our family for more than half my life.

She still is the greatest dog alive.

On The Mend

Things have been so crazy this past week. It seems like I'm always on the go, picking up where my mom left off before she went into the hospital is not easy. Working a full day then coming home and making sure the house is in order, shopping and making sure she stays down!

I have to give her credit though, she's been cooperating with doctors orders. I wasn't sure how difficult it would be to keep her from trying to do what she normally does and keep her away from household chores and life in general. She showed us that she is able to slow down and take care of herself. Thank God!

The surgeon gave her the okay today to go to Vegas for the weekend for my cousin's wedding. She is very happy and looking forward to getting out of the house.

As for me, I feel so much better this week than I did last week. I had moments where I didn't think I could make it, dramatic, yes. I fretted and worried and just wore myself out. So much so that I lost 4.5 pounds! Maybe I should worry more. Hmm.

I put together a little slide show of things that were interesting in the hospital... Okay, so it's not too thrilling to watch but I wanted to document it for years to come. Kinda like an electronic scrapbook going on here.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

I found this video on YouTube. H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S



-Daily B-

Shaken Up

We had an earthquake this morning that nearly threw me off the bed! I was staying home from work in the morning to care for my mom, we had just settled on her bed and she was getting ready to doze off when it hit. Normally the quakes are rolling. It feels like you're on a boat in the middle of a rocky sea; this one was jerking and lasted for a good 15-20 seconds . Talk about joggeling your brain, is joggeling a word? Anyway, I am very scared of quakes. Hurricanes and Tornadoes can pretty much be prepared for, earthquakes sneak up on you and are done before you can make a plan. The last big one we had was in 1987! Oy.

I was no help, thank God my brother was with us at the time and he was able to get my mom out of bed and under a doorway.

I just called out "Jesus" and prayed that this wasn't the "Big One". During and after a quake everyone in the whole county gets on the phone. Literally. The lines go dead from the quake and the usage. The phone rings off the hook with everyone calling, "Are you okay?". Yes, we made it. lol.

If I can just kick the jittered feeling I'll be able to get some work done. Did I mention that I hate earthquakes?

-Daily B-

A Curveball

Life threw us a curve ball this past Friday. I've lived at the hospital since Friday and was home for the first time last night.

As most of my blog readers know, my mom has a pituitary tumor that is very rare and there is one known treatment besides surgery. She's been taking shots three times a day for almost a year. Last week she stopped taking the shots because they found gallstones in her gall bladder. Before this tumor my mom was the healthiest person I knew. No meds, ever. No aches and pains, no nothing. Even with the tumor she had no symptoms. The meds she was on were too much for any body to handle and effected her liver which in turn effected her gallbladder.

On Thursday she went in for her weekly blood test to check her liver and it showed that things were coming back to normal. Friday morning she begin to have pain. Now, if you know my mom, she never complains about pain. Ever. She won't tell a soul. That is what almost happened here until my brother mentioned to my other brother that she had a stomach ache. The pain increased to the point that she decided to call her doctor, they told her to get to the emergency.

My sister and I met her and my dad at the emergency and we waited and waited for 2 hours while my mom was out of it in severe pain. She said that the pain was so bad at one point that she nearly passed out. My mom's #4 pain is like my #15 pain. She can stand anything.

To make a long long story short, she was admitted and put on serious antibiotics. Her gallbladder and pancreas were inflamed because a gallstone was being passed. We found out later that the gallstone was stuck in a duct and the surgeon had to squeeze it out because it was too large to pass. That explained the severe pain she was in.

She had surgery yesterday, her gallbladder removed and a biopsy of her liver. She came out of it perfectly. She was even able to go the bathroom last night and "eat" soup and drink for the first time since Friday morning.

She is really good this morning and the surgeon said that he's pretty sure she can come home today! Yay!

All in all, I am drained emotionally and just exhausted. Saturday was a very hard day, I don't think I've been more scared than I was.

Sigh. I am so glad this weekend is over. Once I get more sleep and things settle down I will post some pictures of her "hotel like" hospital room.

Keep her in your prayers these next couple of days! =)

-Daily B-

It's all about the food

Last night we went to the OC fair. Fun Fun Fun! It was jam packed; we had to walk a mile to get to one of the gates. I kept telling myself, this is how I am going to be able to stuff my face. Walk it off before and after. A big group of us went and stayed together pretty much the whole time. Not an easy task since the place was crawling with people. Our first stop was dinner, The One Pound Bun. I stood in line where it said, "Get your buns in line here" and waited for my garlic and cheese 1/2 pound bun.

While everyone else finished their food my mom and I went to check out the Mexican Funnel Cake. Instead of normal funnel cake batter, this was made with a churro! One of my favorite desserts. One guy ordered the jumbo, it was so big it wouldn't fit through the window. We ordered the regular which was about 1/3 the Jumbo... We split this between 8 people!

By this time we were getting full, but I was determined to have a cinnamon roll. We went into Building 10, known as the Product building. You can find anything from tortilla warmers to diamonds in here.

I ate my cinnamon roll so fast that I forgot to take a picture. Trust me, it looked good and tasted good.

I walked past this sign and felt nauseous...

Fried Avocados, Fried Frog Legs, Fried Twinkies, Fried Pop Tarts, and the worst, Fried Spam!!! Who in their right mind would eat some of this. Frog legs, maybe.

I saw a sign that said Cheese Curds and ran over to buy some. Never tasting this before, I didn't know what to expect but they were so good! I ate a few and then passed them on to everyone else who said, "what's this?". Cheese curds aren't to common in the OC.

I didn't get to see any of the theme demonstrations, cheese making, cheese tasting, cheese everything. We will be heading back to gain another 5 pounds.

(My sister-in-law and I)

-Daily B-