My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings » nick

Birthday Cards

Lisa — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:44:52 +0000

My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings - A day in the life of a busy mom . . .

Before I leave for California to go sleep on some memory foam mattresses, I had to show you the birthday cards Madison made yesterday. The pink one is for Bill’s sister Christy. The blue one is for Bill’s brother Nick. I took a picture of them before I put them in the mail.

Aren’t these super cute? I didn’t take a picture of the insides, since you all know how to spell her name. Though she knows how to spell her name and write it without any help from me!

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I need sleep

Lisa — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:26:41 +0000

My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings - A day in the life of a busy mom . . .

Okay, so it is 1:30 in the morning. I have been to bed twice and I cannot fall asleep. I don’t normally have insomnia, so I am not sure what my problem is. I didn’t drink any caffeniene today — I did eat some mini-Snicker bars though. I wonder if that’s what is keeping me awake right now. How do the rest of you cope with your insomnia?

I love cookies

Lisa — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:26:50 +0000

My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings - A day in the life of a busy mom . . .

Who wants a cookie? I know that I always could go for a cookie no matter when it is. However, I think I own one cookie recipe (actually make that two because I have a chocolate chip recipe and a Christmas cookie recipe). Bill and the kids get bored of my one chocolate chip recipe and are constantly bugging me that I should find some new cookie recipes. I think I found the site to solve all my cookie problems.

Popular Cookie Recipes is the site to go to when you are looking for the best cookie recipes. I also learned some cool facts about cookies that I am definitely going to be using in my next Trivia Pursuit game. Did you know that the first cookies were really miniature cakes used to test oven temperatures before the baker cooked the final cake? There is a long history that follows the cookie that I never would have guessed that I learned tonight. Anybody want to challenge me?

The real reason I wanted to check out the cookie site was for the recipes and I was not disappointed. All the recipes listed are super easy to make and hard to screw up. You know, my type of recipe. I looked at everything from the Chocolate Chip Recipe to Snickerdoodle Recipe to the Gingerbread Recipe. I think I could handle all of them.

The more I keep talking about cookies, the hungrier I keep getting. Needless to say, I think I am baking some cookies tonight. Anybody want to join me?

Wednesday’s Hero

Lisa — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:22:03 +0000

My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings - A day in the life of a busy mom . . .

This week’s hero is a good one. Robert Cone is the second Cousin of Wednesday Hero’s partner in crime, Greta.

Robert S. Cone
85 years old from Delray Beach, Florida
506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division

Surrounded by family, feted by a U.S. congressman and a Veterans of Foreign Wars color guard, one of the few surviving members of the “Filthy Thirteen” was honored on October 8, 2006 in a backyard on Massapoag Avenue.

Robert S. Cone, 85, now of Delray Beach, Fla., finally received the 13 military medals he was due for his service on D-Day during World War II, including the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, POW medal and Presidential Unit Citation.

“To tell you the truth, I never expected it. I’m very honored to get it and really feel good about it,” Cone said.

“He’s finding it an honor, and he’s a little embarrassed, to be honest,” said Cone’s son, Edward R. Cone, 45, who hosted the family barbecue that included a visit from U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch.

Only a few members remain of the 101st Airborne Division’s famed “Filthy Thirteen,” an elite parachute and demolition unit that volunteered for a suicide mission on June 5, 1944, the eve of the D-Day invasion of Normandy.

The Filthy Thirteen, who shared a Quonset Hut in England, were a group of “pretty bad boys,” Edward Cone said, renowned for hard-living and fierce fighting. They are believed to be the inspiration for the 1967 movie “The Dirty Dozen,” although none of the Filthy Thirteen was a convict.

The unit’s mission was to parachute behind enemy lines on the night before D-Day to blow up bridges and impede the Nazis.

Many were killed on the drop. The survivors found it difficult to reunite on the ground because the pilots had panicked when the Germans opened fire.

Cone said he spent two days in a hedgerow battle and was shot in the right arm. When he escaped to a French farmhouse, the owner turned him over to the Nazis and he became a prisoner of war.

His unit and his family thought he was dead. His mother, in Roxbury, received a telegram from the War Department saying he had been killed in action.

Cone spent 11 months in three POW camps in Germany before being liberated by the Russians near the Polish border. He fought alongside the Russians as they made their escape, his son said.

Cone walked to freedom through Poland, Russia and Romania, journeyed by ship to Egypt and was eventually flow to Italy, finally making his way home.

All the medal ceremonies had taken place without him.

Cone married Ida, now his wife of 61 years; became a postal worker and plumber; raised three children in Hull; and spoke very little about the war, Edward Cone said.

About four years ago, Edward Cone decided to find out whether any of his father’s Army colleagues were still alive.

He found the Filthy Thirteen’s leader, Jake McNiece, in Oklahoma, and put his father in touch by telephone. Their conversation was recorded by the BBC and played on the anniversary of D-Day.

Later, the History Channel filmed its own segment on the pair, which still airs, Edward Cone said.

The group reunited in Taccoa, Ga., the home of their jump school.

“My Dad and I drove from here to Georgia. I heard everything on that trip,” Edward Cone said. “Three were alive from the unit. They talked and drank and told stories for days.”

Three years ago, McNiece published a book, “The Filthy Thirteen: From the Dustbowl to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest: The 101st Airborne’s Most Legendary Squad of Combat Paratroopers.”

It was McNiece who mentioned that Cone was due a few medals. Edward Cone and his fiance, Kate Guthrie of Leominster, who works at the Statehouse, gathered documentation and contacted Lynch.

The result was the Sunday party, also attended by Cone’s daughters, Ronna Townsend of Monroe Township, N.J., and Natalie Gaudet of Hampton, N.H., and most of his seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Cone admits he never talked much about the war before.

“I really didn’t,” Cone said. “But they insisted I tell the grandchildren and the great grandchildren. So I talk to them. I tell them stories. I tell them true stories. They all enjoy it.”

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Vegas

Lisa — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:45:07 +0000

My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings - A day in the life of a busy mom . . .

My parents just got back from a week’s vacation in Las Vegas yesterday afternoon. While calling me to tell me there were home, they happened to see that the Monte Carlo was on fire there. It was kinda one of the those weird things. They had a great vacation and came home a little ahead (woo hoo). My mom said her biggest win was $250 on a nickel slot machine. I was hoping they would win a big jackpot and share with her kids. lol I wonder though — if you had Las Vegas hotel reservations at the Monte Carlo on one of those top floors that are now burnt out, what do you do? Does the hotel find you another place to stay?