I have been busy lately with something other than card making and house hunting. This is long and has nothing to do with cards so feel free to skip it completely. I will be making a birthday card for my girlfriend Nancy and will post that soon, so come back then. Be kind to one another.

I have spent the better part of each day calling people for help to get my husband's DD 214. Many places have a message that says "Due to the high volume of calls we cannot take your call. Please call back another time". I was dumbfounded that someplace would have a message like that, but I got it several times at different places. I have spoken to people in St. Louis, MO, PA, VA TN, OH, IN and other places that were 800 numbers so I don't know where I called. A lot of places do not answer their phones and it just rings and rings with no chance to leave a message. Other places I have left messages do not return your calls. I thought dealing with Comcast and AT&T was bad. Hah! It was nothing like this. I called the Marine Corp. (who he served for) on Monday. I actually got a real person and she referred me to someone that said they received his records from St. Louis in January. She assured me he was tenacious and would get to the bottom of this. The next morning I received a call from them saying (are you ready?) they could not help me because we are in Indiana. What!? He was in Indiana when he signed up to go to Viet Nam and risk his life and watch them destroy the foilage in one day. He got up one morning and saw the blackened trees and grass and was told not to walk on "that stuff". I could not call them back yesterday. I was too upset and angry that they would even say such an ignorant thing. I've tried calling all morning Wednesday and no one answered. When I finally got an answering machine it said to email them. I want to talk to a real person and find out what they have been doing since January with his record and why do we have to wait six months to get an answer. We are not asking for money or benefits. We only want to get him in the system in case something would happen and we would need help. No one should have to go through this. What do people do that can't hear on the phone or don't understand which number to press? I have spoken to the American Legion (many people there in fact) because that's where the Veterans here told me to call. I have talked to the Dept. of Veteran Affairs in PA. I have called the IN recorder's office, the IN Dept. of Veteran Affairs, and the IN Archives. I have 14, 14 pages of notes of who I have called, their name, number and what they said. We visited the Veteran's Hospital in November, 2013 and we are no farther today than we were then. This is unacceptable and someone who could do something about this should know about it but I don't know who that would be. I'm putting this on my blog in case someone out there knows someone who could help. I am angry and frustrated. I see why the Veterans are in trouble. I see why people die before they are helped. What would we have done if we didn't have the resources to pay for our health care up to this point. I am truly beside myself and I don't know what else to do and no one can help. I will continue to try to get through to the Marine Corp. They are the ones who have his records. Wish me luck. Truly, the people I've spoken to have really tried to be helpful. They all refer me to St. Louis where the records are kept. They want to help but don't know what to do if the number they have doesn't work for me. If hubby hadn't misplaced his DD 214 we wouldn't be having this problem. BUT, I can't believe he is the only person in the military who doesn't have that form.

Thursday. Late yesterday I got a call back from the Veteran's Hospital here. The first gal I talked to said hubby was enrolled in the system. I asked how that could be since they told us we needed the DD 214. Oh. She said someone would call me back. Another gal called. No, he isn't enrolled. She told me to call a Veteran service officer at the Marine Corp League here and gave me a number. She said they may be able to help. I called and left a message. I hope they call today. If not by noon, I will try them again. Also will be calling Quantico, VA again today. 

I just wanted to pop in quickly today and tell you all we are okay. There was a tornado on the west side of Indy, very close to the racetrack. It touched down first in Plainfield, a city to the west of us. The worst damage here was a travel trailer sent into a home and the roof was blown off or caved in, I'm not sure exactly what happened to the roof. That home is not livable. A lot of wind damage and siding blown off. No one was hurt and that's the main thing. We got terrible black clouds and torrential rain and wind at our house  but thankfully no damage.  Tornadoes are a risk in the midwest when the hot weather arrives. If we have a hot, humid day we can almost be assured there will be bad thunderstorms and possible tornadoes to follow. I wish we had a basement in this house like we did when I was a kid but very few homes are built with them now, probably because of the expense.

I am posting pictures today of Magic Mesh. I doubt you can buy it anywhere these days. It was a craze (back in the day)! I still have lots of it as you can see and I need to use it. It is a plastic kind of mesh. The green and blue I have are kind of rubbery. It has it's own self stick backing and goes on real easy. Since the NBUS challenge on Darnell's blog I have been really looking at my stash and realizing that I bought "stuff" when I was working, thinking I wouldn't be able to when I retired. Then I didn't really use it. So you will be seeing Magic Mesh a lot in the future. Be kind to one another.

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I've been checking out places that it would be possible to move to. I did find several that I really like. They are free standing homes and most have 3 bedrooms and are on some kind of water. I also toured a "forever home". You buy a home, cottage or apartment there and then are able to move to assisted living. If the need arises you can also have skilled care. It is a beautiful place with every amenity and bus service to grocery, bank, doctor and library. Nothing was mentioned about stamp stores however, so I'm not sure it would be a good fit for us!! It really is a beautiful facility and huge. We aren't quite ready for that but it would probably be the place to go rather than another house.

I am so sad this morning. Joan Lunden just announced she has breast cancer. I have always loved her on Good Morning America. She says it has been caught early but it is the aggressive kind so she has already started chemo. I wish her to beat this as so many women have and she is very positive. I think that's half the battle.

I'm not very fast, but I finally got cards made for my sons and brother in law for coming over and helping out with home chores. This is an Art Impressions stamp that I thought was perfect for the card. The little screws are from a set I picked up at Archiver's before it closed. Be kind to one another and be sure to do your breast check every month and get your mammogram every year.

We have been running and trying to make decisions and I've been out of the loop here. Last week I had just mentioned to my sister in law that it would be nice to live closer to our sons. That same evening my son called and said he and his wife had been talking and said it would be nice if we lived closer! Then the very next day a neighbor and I were talking and she said there was a waiting list to live here where we are! If that weren't enough, today at noon a real estate agent knocked on our door and wanted to know if we were interested in moving soon. She has someone that wants to live in our addition. We looked at several condos closer to our son but they are about 24 years old (ours is 8) they have electric heat (we have gas that we like), they are vinyl siding (ours is brick) and so on. We like where we are and who knows if the boys will stay where they are. But it has been an interesting week and it wore me out! The thought of packing up and moving stresses me out. I don't want to do that again. I did make a card for our son's first anniversary. Just a simple card that I used Stampin Up Magic Mesh on and the flowers are die cut. Easy and quick but I hope they like it. Anyone remember magic mesh? I had forgotten I had it and have never used it. Another NBUS. I'll put it on www.djkardkreations.com blog too. Be kind to one another.

I'm posting a NBUS (never before used stuff) card today that I am sending to www.djkardkreations.com/ blog. She is encouraging us to use our stuff we have put away in a closet or drawer and not used. The theme is Friend, which Darnell has become to so many bloggers. She is charming, talented and oh, so funny. You must go see her if you haven't yet. This is a Hero Arts stamp I purchased a while ago because I loved it. Now really, why haven't I used it.  It's hard to see that it is embossed on gold paper because I'm not the best photographer. So I'm delighted to join the others in posting to Darnell's blog as I consider her a favorite online friend. I hope you join her soon. Be kind to one another.

Another perfect day of sunshine and  temps in the 70's. Molly and I have had our walk and she is sleeping soundly. This is not card related so you can skip this next paragraph if you don't want to be bored.

My newest mission is again the Veterans Administration. We have done a complete circle which got us nowhere. Applied in St. Louis for a DD 214 form They said hubby's record is incomplete so they sent it to Quantico, VA and said we would hear from them, which we did not. Quantico sent our request to US Dept. of Veterans Affairs and they said apply to St. Louis for a DD 214 and none of them were forthcoming with any help. I called the Veterans Hospital here where we first went. They were to call back within three days. That did not happen. I called the Marine Corp. and left message. They did not return my call. I called the Dept. of Veteran Affairs and he gave me a phone number to call. When I called them, I found out they were in St. Louis, right where we started! I almost dropped the phone when she said she was in St. Louis.  I called our local district Congressman, they did not return my call. I called our local VA again and left a second message stating they did not return my call previously and I would appreciate a call back. This morning I did get a call from someone who said she would get in touch with her supervisor and maybe she could help. They "will call me back". How do elderly people do this. I can see why the VA is in big trouble. We aren't asking for money or an appointment. All we want to do is get my hubby's name in the system in case of an emergency. Looks like we will have the emergency before we get in the system. Since I am getting such a run around now I have made it my mission to get this done.

Today's card is one I saw a video of on the blog of http://www.nicholmagouirk.typepad.com/. I loved her card and really tried to make it. I didn't have the same colors as she did but I am pleased. It took me three tries and I still got some of the embossing powder on the other words but it is tricky.  If you pour off the powder onto another card the colors will mix and that is pretty too. I didn't put a card together with those fronts but I will use them later. It is a cool look.  The last word on my card is in lavender. It doesn't show up very well in the photo. Hope you enjoy. Be kind to one another.

My granddaughter is in Ecuador. They left last Friday and will return next Monday. I have been loving the pictures the teachers send. The kids are getting to do some amazing things. I can't post pictures of the kids since I don't have any parental permission but I can give you a sense of the scenery. There is one bird or duck that is spectacular. I don't know which it is. They also had some huge turtles in the water and I don't know what the black, white and yellow things are either.There hasn't been much card making going on but I do have one I am working on that I should have finished tomorrow. Be kind to one another.