It's actually early morning. The daughter and I are still up at 1am. She came in here cause she could not get comfortable in her bed. She is still recovering from her surgery. Who knows why I am still up....... It's been this way for the last year, with Ritzy gone on this deployment.
I was making her birthday card when she came in here. I told her she was supposed to be asleep. Well I got the card finished anyways. Her birthday is today September 9.
I was getting kind of hungry but was not going to do anything about it til she said she wanted a piece of key lime pie. I thought that sounded pretty good. So, here we are at 1am in the morning eating pie together. It sure is good.
It is so hard to believe she is 22 years old today. Where did the time go????
Then, I sit here waiting on the end of Ritzy's deployment and time can't go by fast enough......What's with that?????
I sure hope I get to feeling sleepy soon. ( I am sure that pie is not helping , haha!!) I have already emailed Ritzy. I just checked to see if he had answered and I guess he has not had time to email me back.
The weather is supposed to cool off here for tomorrow. Sure can start to feel Fall in the air.........
This year, to me Fall means Ritzy returns home, yea!!!!!!!!!
I really need to get off here and get some rest. Ritzywife will catch you later...........................

The daughter did ok today. She is still in pain from the gas that was pumped in to make it easier for the Dr. to see. I had mom stop and get her some Gas-X . I saw online that it could help, but I was kind of skeptical of it until my sister-in-law called and asked how she was doing and I told her. Her son had the same problem and she said the Gas-X worked for him, so I got off the phone and called mom before she left the grocery store. Her boyfriend just arrived here from working all day. They are now watching the University of Miami and the Florida Gators play football. You see, he is from Florida.........he can't help it ;-) We will let that slide,,, I guess........ He is a pretty good guy.........

Talked to Ritzy today. The time for him to leave Iraq is slowly getting here. Not much longer at all. Just a couple of weeks. Still not sure when they will actually be back in the states, tho.... I don't care, I just want him out of there.......We were talking about our upcoming trip to Wisconsin and how much we are going to enjoy that time together.

This is Saturday nite and that means studying my Sunday School lesson so I will be ready to teach tomorrow. Emailing Ritzy and filling him in on things happening on the homefront. Still have to take that bath, too. I have some paperwork to do for the church business meeting Wednesday nite. I don't know if I will do it tonite or Monday. Sooooooo, Ritzywife is out til next time.................

Today was the day that the daughter had her gall bladder surgery at Tulsa. Had to have her down there at 9:30. Everything went well. The Dr. told me that she is going to feel a LOT better now that that thing is gone. I guess it was inflamed. I told him she had been having trouble for the last 4-5 years. He said he believed me by the way it looked. After returning home, her boyfriend watched her while I had to go to Vinita to get her some pain pills, and a few things for her to eat while she is recuperating.......
She is laying on the couch watching tv right now.
Ritzy called while she was in surgery. He had some good news. He gets to leave Iraq a little sooner than we expected. YIPPEE!!!!!!! I know he still has to wait in Kuwait, but at least he is out of Iraq........
I am going to REST tomorrow!!!! Gonna try anyways, we will see how that goes. The daughter's boyfriend is spending the night and taking care of her, which I think is so sweet. But......he has to work tomorrow and with him gone guess who gets to attend to her "needs". You guessed it.......Mama!!!!!!!!
It was a beautiful day here in NE Oklahoma. It started out pretty foggy tho. Sure was fun driving to Tulsa in that stuff ;-) But by noon it was clear and sunny with a cool breeze. Sumthin' tells me Fall is not too far away!!!
I still have a few things to take care of tonight, like doing a load of laundry, emailing Ritzy, etc....So I am gone for now...................

The remnants of Hurricane Gustav decided to visit the Sooner State today. Made for a soupy day outside. Cooler temperatures too!!!
I was telling the daughter's boyfriend that the change in our weather right now is ususally what Ritzy and I experience when we go visit his family in Wisconsin this time of year.
My sister and I went to Tulsa with Mom. She had a Dr's appointment. After that we ate lunch at Pizza Hut, then we went to the hospital to visit our cousin. He seemed to be doing ok. We left there and were on our way home.
On Wednesday's I ususally don't fix supper because there isn't time to clean up the kitchen before church. But............the daughter asked if I had the "stuff" for chili. I said I would look. Somehow I ended up making a pot of chili before church. Didn't even eat any myself. The kids said it was good tho.......
I am sitting here eating cheese and crackers for my supper ;-)
Ritzy called just as we were pulling into the Pizza Hut parking lot. I went into the building talking on the phone. I filled my salad bowl while talking. Told the waitress I wanted tea, while talking......Mom explained to her that I was on the phone with my hubby who is in Iraq. The waitress was so nice, she brought me tea without me asking, a to-go cup and a box to take home some food because mom and the sister were finished by the time I got off the phone. They told me to go ahead and finish my lunch, so I did. I grabbed my ticket and mom was looking for it, I told her I had it and she told me to give it up..........almost 50 and still gotta obey the parents. guess you never outgrow that, huh???
Anyway as we were at the counter, that waitress told me they were thankful for our soldiers, she also told me that when Ritzy gets home that we could come in there and the meal would be free. That just made my day. It is so good to see people recognize and appreciate what our military families are going thru.
I have one more day of "rest" before the daughters gall bladder surgery Friday. I better enjoy the peace and quiet tomorrow, hahaha!!!!!!!
I still have to send Ritzy his daily "report" , so Ritzywife is out for now.............

Ritzy sent me 4 letters today. This was in one of them. You see, some of the friends and relatives have sent him something to do to "de-stress" him. This picture is especially cute in the fact that he loves to cut wood, and I am sure he can hardly wait to get back and hear the hummmmmm of his chainsaws again.

I was needing a smile today because I was thinking that this being the 2nd of September means that it has been 8 months since I last saw Ritzy. I said good-bye to him on January 2nd, after his 10 day break from training. It was an unusual good-bye. Had to take him to Tulsa at 7am to catch a bus, They were all hurried into a place and I didn't see him again. I didn't even know which bus he left on. Let's just say that was NOT a good day....... It still makes me cry to think about it......He has one more month left of this deployment. I sit and wonder every day how in the world I am going to make it and can't really tell you how I have made it this long. It has not got any easier. I have just shut the feelings down I guess, because sometimes now I just don't or can't feel the way I normally would about different circumstances... To some I may sound weak. Maybe I am, who knows, but I am not going to say everything's been rosy when it hasn't.

Ritzy has had a hard time getting his sleep for some reason, and that has been on my mind a lot too.

I left earlier and just about forgot to finish ;-)

I have sent Ritzy his email, tho I might check to see if he has answered. You see his day is just starting as mine is ending. Dealing with the time difference is not easy to get used to.

I fixed Dorito Casserole tonite, the daughter and her boyfriend were just fine with it, but that son just had to ask what was in it. I told him and he about had a fit when he learned there was cream of mushroom soup in it. Guess he doesn't like the mushrooms. Well he can pick them out or fix his own supper!!!! I think he ate them anyways. One of these days he will move away and realize he had it made with "Mama's" home cookin'..........................

I have to get up fairly early in the morning, I have some running around with my Mom and Sister to do. Better get the hair fixed and the "face paint" on so I don't scare anyone with the natural "beauty"! hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!

I am outta here.........for now

I hope everyone had a good Labor Day. My mom and dad had a cookout at their house like we always do. It was the last one of the summer. Tho, sometimes we get to craving barbecue later in the fall. Ritzy called just before it was time to eat. It was good to hear his voice. I sure do miss him, especially during a holiday like today. I sit and think about what we would be doing and it makes me sad that he isn't here to enjoy the day with the rest of the family. I guess I was so melancholy today that I had my mom worried. She called later this afternoon and asked if something was wrong because I did not eat in the house with everyone else. (Me, my dad, a nephew and "Sissy" ate outside). To me if you are eating barbecue, you need to be outside ;-)
Anyways, I told her nothing was wrong in particular, I was just missing Ritzy, plus I was outside so Sissy could have someone watching her as she played. The whole day has just been so-so.
I came home around 2 and laid on my bed till 5, mainly cause I was bored.
I got up and went up to mom and dad's to get a fan and chair I had left up there and to help mom clean up the carport. Afterward I asked her if she wanted to go to the sister's with me. We went down there to play with the little ones for a while and left around 7:30.
The daughter is in here now cooking mexican food. It sure smells good, I may have to try it out.........hope she fixed enough ;-)
Gee, I am looking out the window and it is already dark at 8:12pm. I like the long summer days, usually, but this summer I have just been waiting for them to end so Fall could get her and the time would finally come for our Oklahoma troops to return from their deployment.
I don't have much to do this week.
I hope I can get some sleep tonite after doing all that "resting" this afternoon.
I think I am gonna get off here and try some of the daughter's cooking.
Ritzywife is outta here for now.