VALENTINES FOR OUR TROOPS IN IRAQ--Please sign one now (free)

Hi! Thanks for your support for our troops. Four boxes were mailed today to Baghdad (I threw in some extras which I'll detail later tonight). Postage with insurance was $167.45, so I am very grateful for all those who are sending money to help out. The depot is in PA and I'm in CA, so it costs more to mail these packages from here.

I've had some late messages for the troops come in today, so I'm going to do a postal envelope mailing of them on Monday. If you know anyone who wants me to print out a message to a soldier, send them by.

Any messages that get in by Sunday early evening, I'll see are included in the Monday mailing.

My guest room is a wreck, with red decorations and trash and stuff all over the floor...LOL! Looks like Cupid did a crash landing in there.

About a dozen people so far have contributed toward the four boxes that I mailed to Eric today, and I hope they make it by Valentine's Day. I hope it's not too much of a burden for him to take a lot of the stuff to a Chaplain or commander to help in distributing it to the troops.

The 4 Valentine care packages that went out 1-16-04 contained 26 movies, 14 paperback books, 6 decks of cards, a Frizzbee, 4 thingees of Crystal Lite mix, 45 sewing needles and 2 spools of thread, 23 notepads of paper (50 ct each), 600 envelopes, 47 packages of Bic pens (11 to a pack), 4 calendars, magazines (3 Army, 2 NRA, Star with Mel Gibson cover, Time with Saddam capture, a Schwarzenegger bio in pictures), 15 packs of gum, 6 each personal care items: travel size Kleenex, wet wipes, toilet paper, hand sanitizing gel, mouthwash, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, shampoo, shaving cream, disposable razors, dental floss, lotion, Q-tips, deodorant, chapstick SPF15, 6 small leatherette bag to carry travel toiletries. 2 boxes of bandaids. 1 small package of M&M's. And over 300 Valentines. 5 packages of Hershey's kisses (~670), 5 bags and 5 boxes with 506 lollypops (300 Tootsie Pops, 96 Charm bubblegum cherry and berry pops, and 108 Charm Valentine cherry suckers. Total insured value, just over $700. Insured postage was 167.54

Movies are DVD: Gov. Schwarzenegger in Total Recall and The 6th Day, Crichton's Andromeda Strain, Antonio Banderas in Mask of Zorro, Kurt Russell in Stargate, Finding Nemo, Heinlein's Starship Troopers, Star Wars II, Tim Allen in Galaxy Quest, The Matrix, Samuel L. Jackson in Shaft, Harrison Ford in Air Force One, Will Smith in Independence Day, Tom Berenger in Last of the Dogmen, October Sky, Carl Sagan's Contact. VHS movies are Bruce Willis in Die Hard, the Sixth Sense, and Unbreakable; Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park III, Morgan Freeman in Along Came a Spider, Good Will Hunting, Mel Gibson in What Women Want, Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, Casablanca. [Movies previously sent to Baghdad are Die Another Day, Collateral Damage, True Lies, Windtalkers, We Were Soldiers, Lawrence of Arabia, Last of the Mohicans, Return to Me, The Rookie, Antwone Fisher, Shanghai Knights, Tears of the Sun, Sum of All Fears, Panic Room, Ghostbusters, Frequency, Remember the Titans, Forever Young, Predator, Men in Black, The Great Escape.]

Books are Crichton's Timeline, Clancy's Without Remorse and Sum of All Fears, L'Amour's Last of the Breed, Heinlein's Starship Troopers and Double Star, Larry Bond's Red Phoenix, Stephen Horn's Law of Gravity, Don Coldsmith's Runestone, T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, Olson Scott Card's Postwatch and Enchantment, Zane Gray's Riders of the Purple Sage. [Books previously sent to Baghdad are Ice Station Zebra, Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength, Manifold Time, Manifold Space, The Pilgrimage, No Different Flesh, Glory Road, Tunnel in the Sky, Ender's Game, The Virginian.]

Thought I'd warn you...but this is for the troops, whom we can't thank enough for the sacrifices they are making on our behalf.

Whoa! That's an AMAZING list, Patty! Thank you for what you're doing for our soldiers!

We might get a chance to talk with Eric tomorrow. (I PRAY we do!). Would you like me to let him know this is coming?

I don't think there's any chance that it WON'T get there by Valentine's Day if you sent it yesterday.

I'm planning on sending him a package on Tuesday for his birthday which is well before the 14th, and it should get there on time.

Would you like me to let him know this is coming?

Yes, please warn him.

OK.......I will.

Just reread the list and saw that you had the C.S. Lewis space trilogy in there! COOL!

bump for later

Your letters and contributions arrived today. I would normally thank you all individually, but we have family emergencies going on, and I'm short of time.

My sister-in-law's mother is passing any time now and my Mother just broke her hip.

Next time I ping you I may be in Texas.

THANK YOU so very much! See post several above for what was sent and what it cost.

A last envelop of messages for the troops in Baghdad will be going out Thursday, Jan 22, if you wish to FReepmail me or put a message here, I'll be pleased to include it.

Thanks so much for all you do. Prayers for your mother and your sister's mother in law.

Yes, I want in, and thanks for the reminder!

Freepmail coming your way....

Thank You for all you are doing, patriciaruth.

Prayers for your SIL's Mother and for your Mother.

Take Care,
Colleen

What an great list of goodies for our soldiers.

Thank you for all that you do.

Prayers for your Mother and your s-i-l's Mother.

Mom sailed through the surgery like a champ, and even took a few steps today with a walker on her new hip replacement. Thank you for your prayers.

My sister-in-law's mother is still critical in the last stages of cancer, and our prayers are mostly for her peaceful passing and strength for my dear sister-in-law.

Your contributions arrived today. THANK YOU so much for your contributions toward the Valentine care packages to Baghdad.

:-D

Your note and your contribution arrived today.

As Gov. Dean would say, "Yah-HOO!!!"

You have brought the contributions now up to over a third of my outlay, and have made my husband very happy. He likes the care packages, but gets nervous when I keep getting more stuff.

I hope our troops get as much pleasure from the packages as I got packing them. I'm sure OhioWfan will see that we get a little feedback.

Check above posting for the list of what went. I forgot to add the travel size mild soaps and powder to prevent chaffing to the list.

Just got a thank you letter back from Iraq from the soldier I sent your Valentine messages to.

Dear Patty and Randy,
Thank you very much for the package and letters. I will do my best to make sure they get distributed. Your support is greatly appreciated by everyone over here. [He makes a request for a specific item] I look forward to hearing from you again.
Love, Sgt.......[known as Sonar by his friends there].

For those among you who also sent a contribution, we haven't heard from Eric yet about receiving the boxes we sent. Y'all did great! Thanks for taking the time to write a Valentine note for the troops!

Are you the lady in Escondido that wrote a Valentine note for a soldier? If so, see the post above this one. Cheers!

I am the one! Please, I give any thanks right back to you, PattyRuth, as you did all of the work!

Just today I posted another care package to my Iraq soldier. Someone here on FR gave out names awhile back of soldiers who could use some TLC. It's a privilege to do this. I know no one personally serving right now, so it's the least I could do.

Did I tell you that I once lived in Escondido? In 1970-72 I worked in the lab at Palomar District Hospital.

Thank you for your labors of love for our troops.

((Hugs))