Happy Birthday Marine Corps!

On November 10, 1775 the United States Marine Corps was founded at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Today the Marines celebrated 224 years of defending our country.

In 1921 Commadant Gen John J. Lejune issued Marine Corps Order No. 47, Series 1921. This order contains the traditions, histories and missions of the Marine Corps. It also contains an order to always recognize November 10 and to read the order each year.

It was not long before Marines begin to celebrate the date and in 1921 the first birthday ball was held at Marine Barracks at Ft. Millfin, Pennsylvania. The tradition soon grew and now the Marine Corps celebrates with balls in many locations.

LCpl Honda went to his first Marine Corps Ball two years ago. Here are couple of pictures.

Needless to say he will not be attending the ball this year. Hopefully the Marines had a celebration at sea!

But once again, Happy Birthday United States Marine Corps!

 

Military Monday – Touring the USS Bonhomme Richard

I found this video of the USS Bonhomme Richard during Fleet Week in San Francisco 2008. It is quite long but it gives a good tour of the ship.

Sunday Brunch

Here we are with another edition of Sunday Brunch. I did not have a post last Sunday because of the my deployed son’s debacle car payment. After everything I went through which included multiple phone calls, begging, pleading and melting down several times, I received an email from LCpl Honda on Friday that two, count them two payments had been debited from his account (insert screaming and hair pulling from head here).

Now picture me, frantic Marine Mom at 6:00 in the morning desperately making more calls again and once again gathering up all the info, power of attorney, fax numbers and such for another day of stress and feeling like a major @$%*up. Just when I thought it was ok. Nope. Well the bank could not reverse the debits. They were already gone. Car payment company would not return the money. So now here I am at 9:00 in the am trying to figure out how to get money to my son who is in port in a third world country. At the time he thought he would get liberty and wanted to have money to go ashore. I checked into wiring money but Lord knows where it would end up. Sent several emails to deployed son but since it was the middle of the night there that did not work out too well. I finally started Googleing everything I could think of. Yes, Google is my friend lately. I finally found out that I could wire money from my bank to his bank. Problem solved!

The only good thing that came out of this is I received a call from LCpl Honda on Friday afternoon. He had not received my emails and was calling wondering if things had been resolved. Thank goodness I was able to tell him they were. It turns out he was not able to leave the ship so the money was not such and issue.

After all of this we managed to have a great weekend with Butterfly. We ate popcorn, made rootbeer floats and watched many movies. Saturday was very hot here in the desert southwest and Butterfly and I made a not-so-great trip to up the park in the middle of the day. I live about a half block from a park, but it must have been close to 100 degrees that day. We managed to have a better park trip on Sunday morning with friends. Butterfly learned better bicycle skills, fed ducks and was interviewed by our local news channel that is doing a news story about cleaning up our local park lake.

The evening was better. Corvette, Butterfly and I planted two Birds of Paradise in the backyard. It turned into quite a mudfest, but was a lot of fun.

Sunday was great. It was my Dad’s, Grandpa DingDon’s 84th birthday. Happy Birthday Dad!!! We joined my sister Krafty, bro-in-law Speedracer, Speedracer’s Mom, Cindrella andButterfly in a celebration with good food and birthday cake. I dug up a baby cactus to plant in my yard, we had a bit of a political discussion and basically a nice day.

My Cinderella bought me a beautiful dress for her wedding. My search for the perfect dress has been ongoing for awhile now. She also bought Corvette a great tie. I will now blend in with the guys in the wedding and Corvette with blend in with the ladies. Perfect.

So the recipe today for Sunday Brunch is:

Tequila Sunrise

Ingredients

–		2 ounces gold tequila
–		4 ounces fresh orange juice 3/4 ounce grenadine Cause I need it after this week!
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Pollywogs and Shellbacks

I received an email from Lcpl Honda last night. He told me the ship has crossed the Equator. He also told me in a earlier email that anyone who has not crossed the Equator is called and Pollywog and anyone that has is called a Shellback. In order to become a Shellback you have to go through a sort of innitation. In the first email he said the Pollywogs would probably get sprayed with a fire hose. I thought how bad could that be? I should have know better considering it is the Military. Here is an accounting in his own words:

So we crossed the equator today and we became Shellbacks. Got sprayed with fire hoses and sea dye was thrown on us. The Sickest thing was going threw the chow hall because you had to push your plate with your nose, there was food on the ground and they put Crisco on the floor to make them slick. After it was all said and done and we saw King Neptune and showered up they had a Steel Beach Party on the Flight Deck.

I don’t think I want to know what sea dye is. So now I am the mom of a Shellback Marine. Nice.

I think I might see King Neptune too after all of that!  He signed off the email with LCpl “Shellback” Honda.

Military Monday – I Messed Up

Since my Marine son is now deployed I agreed to be responsible for his finances. I have stressed about this since he left. Yesterday I had to schedule a car payment. Well wouldn’t you know I did not do it correctly. I realized my mistake right after I did it. I made phone calls but because it was Sunday nothing was open. So of course I spent the rest of my day stressing on my mistake.

Monday came and I went to work waiting for the companies to open. I finally gained contact and begin the process of talking to the companies concerned. Luckily they are used to dealing with stressed out military moms like me. After several phones calls, faxing power of attorney and a couple of melt-downs on my part I managed to fix the situation.

All of this occurred after I received an email from said deployed son after which I was doing the happy dance, but then realized my screw-up. In the end of the day I just prayed. Nothing else I could do.

Deployment S@#%&s

This was posted on AirmanMom’s site. I thought I would pass it on.

I feel the same way.

Support our Troops

Visit my son’s deployment site

http://jacksdeployment.shutterfly.com/

Wordless Wednesday – Remember Our Fallen Heros

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Combat Cargo on the Job

I found these pictures today. The USS Bonhomme Richard received its first supplies at sea. LCpl Honda is probably in these pictures somewhere, but of course I can not tell where. Nothing new there.

A MH-60S Seahawk carries supplies from fleet replenishment oiler USNS Henry J. Kaiser to USS Bonhomme Richard here Sept. 30 during an underway replenishment. The resupply was the first for Bonhomme Richard since deploying Sept. 24 with more than 1,200 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit members.

Marines aboard USS Bonhomme Richard here prepare to connect a pallet to a hovering MH-60S Seahawk helicopter during an underway replenishment Sept. 30. The re-supply was the first for Bonhomme Richard since deploying Sept. 24 with more than 1,200 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit members.

Combat cargo Marines and sailors aboard USS Bonhomme Richard here connect cargo nets to an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter during an underway replenishment Sept. 30. The re-supply was the first for Bonhomme Richard since deploying Sept. 24 with more than 1,200 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit members. I am pretty sure LCpl Honda is in this picture.

Sailors aboard USS Bonhomme Richard here gather cargo nets during an underway replenishment Sept. 30. The re-supply was the first for Bonhomme Richard since deploying Sept. 24 with more than 1,200 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit members.

Pretty awesome. I have some pictures that I plan on taking off of FB too and will post those as I collect them.

These pictures and send off pictures are all on my shutterfly site as well if anyone would like to see them. There is a news story on Marines.mil about the USS Bonhomme Richard receiving supplies at sea. Although I can not seem to access it. Could be the computer I am using at the moment. I will post the link anyway and check it later.

Sunday Brunch

I feel like this week was a month long. I guess because of our less than 24 hour trip to San Diego to see LCpl Honda off on his deployment. Yes, it was hard and stressful but I am glad we went. My emotions are just now starting to come out. I miss him even though the last few years I have not seen him very much. The thought of my child on this huge ship in the middle of the sea weighs on my mind. Yes, it could be worse. I am pretty sure that he will not be in a combat situation, but he is gone and I can not just pick up the phone and talk to him. Plus, the holidays are coming and he will not be here.

This year has brought such joy and sorrow. We are blessed to welcome Fuzzy and Wuzzy to our family. Two beautiful twin boys. Their father, my youngest son, Hippie Guy just turned 25 years old. It is hard to imagine my baby at that age. I watched him get married, have children and become a man.

Over the last three years, I watched my oldest son evolve from someone with no purpose to a person who now stands up and defends our country. He marched in Washington DC as symbol of the Marine Corps and now is part of a team force sailing the oceans in defense of our country.

For over eight years I have watched my daughter go from high school wrestling to becoming an Army MP to then becoming a mother. I watched her suffer when her daughter, Butterfly became ill with cancer. I watched here overcome and deal with all that entailed. Then I watched her scream when her son, Lolly Pop Kid went to heaven.

I guess I am having a bit of a bad week.

But beyond that, Butterfly and Cinderella went to see Miley Cyrus. aka Hannah Montana. They had a great time.

So, today brunch’s is pretty simple. Pork Chops and Macaroni and Cheese. I have to admit that Stouffers Macaroni and Cheese is the best. Pop it in the oven and an hour later it’s done.

Two Big, thick pork chops

Season with salt, pepper, onion powder & paprika. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes and then broil on each side for about five minutes.

Bake the Mac & Cheese according to the directions on the package.

Yum, yum easy and simple.