Mary DeCaro

Doctors ? I don't know !

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 01:43:00 +0000

I've been having a heaviness in my chest, especially if I got over tired or if I had to bend over to pick up something from the floor, or if I bent down to pet our little dog Petie. I would feel like I couldn't catch my breath. So, I decided that I better make an appointment with the cardiologist that Al has gone to and I've seen him a couple of times too in the past several years.

When I called a couple of weeks ago, they set up an appointment for Friday, May 30th
at 4:15PM. When Al and I got there, I signed in and we sat down and waited for over half an hour. Then I heard someone call my name and I thought it was time to see the doctor. Instead, when I got to the door, the girl in the office told me that the doctor was not there. She wanted to reschedule an appointment for me and I, being very upset said, "No, I'll call at another time".

Yeah, don't hold your breath! There is NO WAY that I will ever go to see him again. The very same thing happened to Tony several months ago with the same doctor.

VERY UNPROFESSIONAL !!!!!

A wonderful weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Sat, 31 May 2008 22:21:00 +0000

Saturday morning on May 24th at 3:00am our dear son Steve came up from San Diego with his daughters Stefani, Alyssa and her husband Craig and their adorable little puppy "Bella". What a long and trying trip that had to be for them. Al and I stayed up waiting for their arrival. How wonderful to see them, it's been a long while since we saw them last.

After we all got some rest, Steve took us all out for breakfast at the"Black Bear" Restaurant here in Tulare. It was GREAT! That's Steve's favorite place to go every time he comes up here

I made Chicken soup for dinner and my "Graham cracker banana cream cake". Tony and Lucy came too and we all had a nice time visiting together.

Then on Sunday, we all gathered at Tony and Lucy's house and Lucy had all kinds of different things for a GREAT lunch. Then we spent the afternoon and evening visiting with each other. So nice to have everyone together, just wish Andrea and Chris could have been with us.

Later that evening Steve started giving everyone a haircut, including me and later Casey and Steven came with their little son along with Greg and Shelly. After all the haircuts, Steve cut little William's hair. He never moved or fussed, How cute!

We came back home later, Steve and the kids got the car all packed and they left for home at around 9:30PM

Steve called when they arrived home at 1:00AM. So wonderful to have them all here!!!

Medical stress

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:24:00 +0000

It's been a long while since I've blogged, sooo where do I start ?

OH YES, I KNOW!

A few weeks ago I went to my Doctor for a check up. He said my cholesterol and blood pressure were very high. He wrote out a couple of prescriptions which I had filled. I took them for about 3 or 4 days and eased off of them a little at a time. I was told by my niece about a product at the Vitamin Shoppe called ""CHOLEST OFF" and I take 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening with food and I also sent for an all natural capsule called "Blood Pressure Protect" and since taking that my blood pressure has been better than normal. We have a Blood Pressure Monitor, and I check mine every day. So now we'll see what my next reading will be at my next appointment
without taking any MEDS.

Medical stress

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 17:02:00 +0000

I have been feeling rather kind of bad lately, coughing quite often, swelling of my ankles, tired, chest discomfort, dizziness, no pain in my chest, but a rather heavy feeling. I have received several medical letters and also got some pamphlets that I picked up at the VA when Al had to go there for his Medications. All the articles I have read points to "Congestive Heart Failure". So I decided to go to my Doctor and have it checked out.

My appointment was over a week ago and after he checked me out, he said my blood pressure was very high and the blood test showed that my Cholesterol was very high also, so he ordered an "Ultra Sound" which I had done last Monday, that's five days ago.
Haven't heard a word about the results yet.

What's the purpose of all these tests and then they leave you hanging, stressed, worried and whatever, until you're about to have a heart attack. I don't know when they will come up with an answer for me. That's exactly why i hate going to Doctors.

Guess I'll have to wait it out till they're good and ready to let me know. Hope they don't come up with more bad news. we'll see!

Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:58:00 +0000

Well here we are, sixty one years later and still hanging on to life and each other. Can't believe that 61 years have passed and looking back we are wondering "Where did all those years go." Anyway we're very thankful to our Lord that we've made it this far. Sometimes life gets hard, we've had our happy times and our sad times and I'm sure everyone does but I'm glad that we're still here together.

We've been blessed with two wonderful Sons, Tony and Steve, three granddaughters, Andrea, Stefani and Alyssa and a grandson, Nicholas, plus another grandson through marriage, Christopher, Andrea's husband, who had his name changed to ours and we're honored to have him in our family.

Al and I went to Applebee's Restaurant, they showed several dinners on TV that sounded so good, so we decided to try it out. BIG MISTAKE! It was really bad, Al's steak was very tough and what I had was so dried out that I couldn't hardly chew it. Oh well, they will never see us there again.

New Pet

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:46:00 +0000

Al and I have had several pets through the years and after losing our last little Pomeranian because of leukemia, we missed her so much that we were thinking about getting another Pet. We don't travel or go anywhere anymore except Church on Sundays and spend a few hours at our Son and Daughter in law's house. Our Daughter in law always makes a delicious dinner for all of us to enjoy, bless her heart. Then we go home and start another week of boredom. No one comes by to visit, we just do whatever and watch TV till bed time.

So, Monday Dec.17th we decided to go to the SPCA in Visalia to see if they may have a small pet for us to adopt. Well, to our surprise there was an adorable male Pomeranian mix, with a golden tan and white coat, staring at us as if to say " Please
take me home with you." When we asked about him, they told us to come back the next day, Tuesday,and we would be able to adopt him but they needed to give him his shots and have him neutered before we could take him. On the following day, Wednesday,
he was ready to come home.

He is such a quiet and obedient pet, doesn't jump on the furniture, never barks, he's so well behaved and seems so attached to us already. He follows me where ever I go around the house or he will lay along side of us where ever we may be sitting, or he will go into his crate and take a nap. He sleeps all night without making a sound.

We're so happy to have had the opportunity to claim this adorable lost pet. He will have a loving home here with us. We named him "Petie"

Frustration !

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:40:00 +0000

After seeing a commercial on TV about a phone company that has a cheaper monthly rate for local and long distance, we decided to change, so we called them up and after a few days we received a box from them that had a modem and four different cables. What do I do with all these cables???

Well, I called the company up and they told me to connect the cables to my computer and phone line where the computer is. I never tried to do that. They disconnected us from our original phone service which we've had for several years and since I never attempted to connect their stuff, we were left without any phone service for about a week. So I called back and asked about what will happen to my other phones in the house because they were all dead. They said they would have to send a man to come and cut off the lines from our previous phone company to install theirs. So the price of $29.99 a month would be for only one telephone line?
NO THANK YOU !

To make a long and frustrating story short, we cancelled and sent back the box with all the stuff in it, but, we had to change our phone number in order to get service wihin a couple of days. If we wanted to keep the same number, it would take a couple of weeks to get reconnected.

WHAT A FIASCO, A WEEK OF TOTAL FAILURE.

Birthdays

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:59:00 +0000

Hope my dear sons will forgive me for my forgetfulness.
We had family come to visit us from Ohio and Arizona for a few days and we really enjoyed having them here but somehow I lost track of the dates and I didn't realize that it was the 14th of November until my dear son Steve called me that morning, so I wished him a "Happy Birthday" and then I called my other dear son Tony at work, and wished him a "Happy Birthday" too.

Steve and his daughter Stefani will be coming up here for Thanksgiving to spend the weekend with all of us and we'll celebrate their birthdays then.

On November 14,1947 our precious little boy was born at 9:18 P.M. He was so adorable! His hair started to grow out blond and wavy and from the time he was so little he was always so fussy about cleanliness. I remember making him a little sand box to play in. He would never sit in the sand because he didn't want to get dirty. He would play with a toy truck and fill it with sand but he would just crouch close to the ground. He grew up to the age he is now and is still very fussy about cleanliness. I always tease him and call him "Mr.Clean".

On November 14, 1950 our second precious son was born at 9:48P.M. exactly three years and 30 minutes after his brother. Can you believe that? So we were blessed with another adorable baby boy. His hair was a little deeper blond than his brother, but it was real curly.

What a joy these two sons were and still are! I'm so very proud of them both!!!
I remember when Steve wanted to play football as a youngster at the school he was attending and they were gathering some of the youngsters and weighing them to make sure they would be the right weight to be able to play, so when they weighed Steve he didn't pass. He was so disappointed, so I took him home and gave him a couple of bananas to eat, then I took him back to be weighed again and they accepted him for the team.

Both of our sons are very loving and caring to us. They always call to check on their Mom and Dad. I'm so very grateful to our Lord for blessing us with two WONDERFUL sons.

May God keep you both in the palm of His loving hands and bless you both with a very long happy and prosperous life.

So very proud of you both, my dear sons.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO YOU BOTH!

Arrival of relatives

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:53:00 +0000

Coming to visit us from back east are my dear sister in law Annie(Al's sister). She will be 90 years old next month, bless her heart. Can you ever imagine anyone her age still baking all kinds of cookies for the whole city of Sandusky, Ohio? Well, anytime anyone has a wedding or a party of any kind, they call Annie and order all kinds of cookies, and she never refuses.

I remember asking her once, " Annie, when are you going to give it up?" And her answer to me was "Never, I love it!" And she's still going strong. Almost every time I call her she's busy baking and then freezes them for whoever wants them.

Her daughter Carol and husband Roland are bringing her here by plane and then renting a car. Carol and Roland want to tour California, so after they drop Annie off here, they may stay overnight and then head up north. Afterwards they will be going to visit Roland's sister in the L.A. area. A few days later around the 10th Al's sister Pauline and her husband Clyde will be coming from Arizona to spend a few days with us too.

It will be nice to see them all and visit with us, just wish I was feeling better so that I could do all the things I'd like to do. Life gets hard when you're pushing 84. Wish I had the stamina my sister in law Annie has. She not only does all this baking, she also belongs to several women's clubs, plays cards, bocci, bowling, etc. Can you imagine THAT at her age? She's one to be admired !!!

Well, we'll see how it goes after they all get here, just hope and pray that our Dear Lord gives me the strength to do all the things I want to do.

Then later, for Thanksgiving, our dear son Steve plans to spend that weekend with Tony, Lucy and us. Really looking forward to that. We don't get to see Steve that often since he lives so far from us, but when we do, it's such a joy because he and Tony start playing all kinds of music. Tony on the Piano and Steve with his Guitar. Takes me back to when they were both still at home with us. Our home was always filled with music. That was such a joyful time that I will always cherish !!

Remembering a blessed event.

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 04:29:00 +0000

Sixty nine years ago today at the age of 14 I called my baptism in our little branch in Detroit, Michigan on Oakland Avenue along with my cousin Annie. It was a beautiful day and I'm so very grateful to our Heavenly Father and His Blessed Son, our Lord and Savior for keeping me all these years in His fold and family.

I am also very grateful for the life He has blessed me with. Oh, we've had our ups and downs, but that's life. He didn't promise us a "Bed of Roses" but He surely has been with us through all our lives, through thick and thin, in sickness and in health. And I just want to Thank Him with all my heart for the companion he gave me and the two most wonderful sons we were blessed with, a most loving daughter-in-law Lucy, and grandchildren. May God continue to bless each and every one of you along with my companion and me with whatever time we have left here on earth.

Sixty nine years! Thank you Dear Lord.

Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 15:12:00 +0000

Today is my dear Precious grandaughter and her wonderful husband Chris' wedding anniversary. Five years ? Oh my gosh, where did all that time go? I can't believe it!

CONGRATULATIONS my darlings and best wishes for many more happy and prosporous years together. You are both the light of my life and this grandma is so very proud of you both. Grandpa and I love you both so very much and pray that our Dear Lord will bless you always.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY !!!!!!!

Great news

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 20:42:00 +0000

Finally! After going to the Doctor to have me checked over because of all the pain and swelling in my ankles and feet, he, the Doctor had his nurse do an "EKG", blood pressure, drew two viles of blood to be analyzed, wrapped my ankles, thighs and arms to check for blood clots and circulation. Had two "Ultra Sounds" one of my chest and one on my legs, plus an "MRI" of my abdomen.

Guess what? All the tests came back normal. thank God! The only thing that wasn't good was my cholesterol which was 224. That's quite high, butI know how to remedy that without medication. Oh, he gave me a prescription for it, but I refuse to take MEDS, so I'm taking "Golden Flaxseed" with my cereal in the morning or putting it in my "8th Continent" chocolate soy milk.

Sooo, when I go back to see my Doctor in October, we'll see how low my cholesterol will be. I know it works because Al's cholesterol was always normal while he took the Flaxseed, then he stopped and now his cholesterol is high again. Several other people I know have had good results from it too. One has to be consistant with it.

If you're interested, you have to be sure that it's the "GOLDEN: whole flaxseed, not the ground and not the brown seeds. Then you grind them in a NEW coffee grinder that has not been used for grinding coffee. Grind only enough for a few days, should always be freshly ground and you use about two heaping tablespoons full once a day.

Where does it end ?

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 05:02:00 +0000

Today was a hair raising day! Al had an appointment for a "CT Scan" at 1:00P.M. After we got there and he regestered in, we had to wait over an hour before they called him in. Then the test took over two hours, so it was 4;15P.M. when he finally came back into the waiting room. I was about to collapse with all the pain and sitting all those hours. BUT, I'm hoping and praying that the test came out clear and they don't find anything.

Yesterday I had an appointment with a Doctor and after taking blood samples and checking me out from head to toe and doing all kinds of tests on me, which I've never had done before, and after he saw how swollen my ankles were, he gave me a prescription for the swelling and told me not to use a lot of salt and not to drink a lot of water because that would cause more swelling. And Friday morning I have to get an "Ultra Sound", So again, "Where does it end"???

This thing about going to one test after another, especially for Al is really getting to both of us. Seems that almost every day of the week there is one thing or another going on. Just praying that our Dear Lord will see us through it all.

Stressful time

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 20:46:00 +0000

WOW! Where do I start? It's been several weeks since I've done any blogging. Not because I haven't wanted to, but only because of ill health,doctor visits and tests for my husband. The stress has been over whelming and it gets to the point where you can't think straight anymore. Then along with my husbands problems, I've been in so much pain with Arthritis, my feet and ankles are so horribly swollen, plus all the burning, that it's almost unbearable to do any walking.

Then one day, my dear grandaughter Andrea suggested for me to look into getting some "Crocs" shoes. I have checked them out and didn't find any that were with an open toe and heel. Then to my surprise, Tony and Lucy came by to see us after they got back from a few days vacation with Andrea and Chris in Las Vegas. Tony had a package in his hands and said, "Andrea bought these for you" they were a pair of
Crocs shoes with an open toe and open heel. I was shocked! What a Precious loving grandaughter she is.

Well, I tried wearing them one day but the swelling in my feet was so bad that I couldn't keep them on for very long. Hopefully, after the weather cools down I'll start feeling better, the swelling may go down and then I will be able to start wearing these very comfortable looking "Crocs " shoes.

Thank you my Precious Andrea and thank you too Chris dear. I'm so very greatful to have such loving grandkids in my life.

Family History: Chapter 4

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 00:56:00 +0000

My dear brother Bill worked as a butcher in the meat department of a grocery store for many years, and living at home with us. He finally met a wonderful young woman from our church in the east side of town. Her name was Grace. They became engaged and eventually married. I was one of the Bride's maids. It was a wonderful day!

Bill and his Bride lived with her parents for sometime. Their first child was an adorable baby boy that I just loved so much. He was named Stephen, after my Father.
Later came another sweet little girl named Mary. They were so much fun to be with, I enjoyed my little nephew and niece whenever they came to visit us.

Later came Patty, Joe and then Shirley. They had a wonderful family and I loved all my nieces and nephews. Patty was always with me, we were very close while she was growing up, actually, we still are even though we live so far away from each other.

Family History Chapter 3

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 23:56:00 +0000

My Mother's sister Mariana and her three daughters, along with my Mom's brother Willy and his wife and daughters lived in the same neighborhood near our home. My cousins and I were very close. We spent so much time together playing games, roller skating, hop scotch, going for walks and going to the school playgrounds to ride the swings, along with spending time at each others homes. They meant so much to me because I didn't have any brothers or sisters my age.

My Father and Uncle Willy decided to take a trip to California, thinking that perhaps we might all move there, if they liked it enough. Well, within a few weeks they both returned home. I was so excited to know that my Dad was home again.

Heartbroken

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Thu, 31 May 2007 15:54:00 +0000

Well, I don't know where to start, this has been a very hard week and a half for us. Our adorable little dog, Angel, had to be put down last Tuesday morning. She was so very ill and the Veterinarian didn't give us any hope for a recovery.

I thought it may have been caused from the spraying of the ants the week before, but after thinking it over in my mind all the possibilites of her getting so ill, I have come to the conclusion that it was caused from the dog foods that were contaminated, which I had given her before the "RECALL". It was heartbreaking to say the least, that so many animals died because of what was put in their foods.

We just can't accept the fact that Angel is no longer with us. I keep feeling like she's going to come into the room or if we're out of the house, I still think she's home. Will we ever get over this? Our eyes fill up with tears every time we think of her. She didn't deserve this!

We received a beautiful card from the Veterinarian yesterday, expressing his sentiments for our loss. That was so very nice of him. Everyone there at the clinic showed so much sadness for our loss.

Everyone tells us to get another Pet, it will fill the loss of our little Angel.
That may be true, but we can't see that right now. Don't think we will ever be able to have another Pet, we've had so many in the past and it was so hard giving them up.
Angel was the 4th one that we had to put down because of illness. That's too heartbreaking. Don't think we will ever get over her, she was the most lovable pet we ever had.

Heartbreaking news.

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Sat, 19 May 2007 23:05:00 +0000

Our little "Angel" has been feeling kind of wiped out in the last couple of weeks. We had little black ants all over our house,so we called the exterminator to have the house sprayed inside and outside. We stayed out of our home with our little dog for about 5 hours. It was right after that when she started acting like she wasn't feeling very well. We thought it could be because of the spraying for ants. She has had several attacks of collapsing on the ground when she would get over excited. So Al and I decided to take her to the Vetinarian and have her checked out. After taking some blood tests and xrays they found that her blood count was very low and there was something wrong with her white corpuscles, not sure as to what the Vet meant They put her on some medications.

That was Thursday, May 17th. Today Dr. Johnson the vetinarian called and said that they had sent samples of Angel's blood work to the Lab to get more information as to what's going on with our adorable little pet. The shocking news was that she has Leukemia and she may not have more than a couple of months to live. We have another appointment to take her in next Thursday and if the blood tests don't show any improvement then we should consider putting her down. That was so hard to accept, she has been so loving and a little cuddler. I can't believe this has happened to her, she's been such a joy to us.

"Someone Who Cares"

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 18:55:00 +0000

I was going through some papers today and came across an article that my dear Grandson Nick sent me through the email a while back,and after reading it again I thought I would enter it on my "Blog" and share it with all of you that may read it. It's a very true and touching story.

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.

It took the remainder of the class period to finish the assignment and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.

That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the names of each student on a seperate sheet of paper and listed what everyone else said about that individual.

On Monday, she gave each student his or her list.Before long, the entire class was smiling. "Really", she heard whispered, "I never knew that I meant anything to anyone," and "I didn't know others liked me so much," were some of the comments.

No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished it's purpose. The students were happy with themselves and with one another. That group of students moved on.

Several years later, one of the students was killed in Vietnam and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never seen a service man in a Military uniform in a coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature. The church was packed with his friends. One by one,those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin.

The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin. As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as a Pall Bearer, came up to her, "Were you Mark's math teacher," he asked. She nodded, "Yes." Then he said, "Mark talked about you a lot."

After the funeral, most of Mark's class mates went together to a luncheon. Mark's Mother and Father were there, obviously waiting to speak to his teacher. "We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it."

Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of note paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones she had listed all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him.

"Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said, "As you can see, Mark treasured it." All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home." Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our Wedding Album." "I have mine too," Marilyn said, "It's in my diary."

Then Vickie, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. "I carry this with me at all times," Vickie said, and without batting an eyelash, she continued, "I think we all saved our lists."

That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and all his friends who would never see him again.

The density of people is so thick that we forget that life will end one day, and we don't know when that day will be.

So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important. Tell them before it's too late.

If you received this, it is because someone cares for you.

May god bless you all.

Treasured Memories

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 00:58:00 +0000

When our son Tony married Lucy, they went to live in Strathmore with Lucy's parents for a short while and later moved into a cute apartment. In 1973 they decided to come back to San Diego.

They came to live with us in our home at the Bayview Mobile Home Park. My mother lived by herself in a mobile home across from us and they later moved in with her.

Tony started working at a men's clothing store and later got a job as a bus driver for the San Diego Transit. They soon bought a lovely two story home in Lakeside and Lucy worked at the California First Bank in San Diego.

On April 1st, 1977 our Precious Grand Daughter was born and they named her "Andrea". When she was a few months old, Lucy went back to work at the bank and I had the honor and privilege to take care of her while her Mommy was at work.

We had a very nice home in Alpine on two and a half acres set on a hill overlooking the Indian Reservation across the highway about a half mile away and from our drive way we had a view of the ocean.

I have so many sweet memories of those hours I spent with my "Little Precious" grand daughter. I remember having a cassette of all the songs that Julie Andrews sang in the movie "Sound of Music" and our little Andrea would sing all the songs along with it and never missed a beat. She was so cute!!She knew all the words to the songs. She never ceased to amaze me. Then I would turn on the TV to watch Jack LaLane's exercise progrom and Andrea would do all the exercises he did.

We had an adorable Golden Retreiver that we named "Cleo". She was such a calm dog and whenever Andrea came near her she would roll over on her back and Andrea would sit on the dog's stomach and pet her.

One morning I went out in the garage to start my laundry. Our washer and dryer were out there and I heard a click, so I went to open the kitchen door and it was locked. Andrea pushed in the lock button and I panicked and thought "Oh my God, how am I going to get back in the house and my little grand daughter is all alone in there". I told her to turn the door knob but she couldn't do it, so I went out of the garage side door and walked over to the sliding glass door that was between the kitchen and dining room and I called her to come by the door and asked her to get the chair that was up against the kitchen counter, pull it down real slow and lay it on the floor. Then I told her to drag it over to the door and pick the chair up again. She did everything perfectly! Then I asked her to get up on the chair and pull the door lock up and push the door open. Then she unlocked the screen door and I was able to come back in the house.I took her in my arms and loved her all up and praised her for following all my instructions.

Andrea was such a joy to take care of and it broke my heart when Tony and Lucy decided to move back to Strathmore. When they came over to say goodbye before they left, I sat Andrea on the kitchen counter hugging and kissing her but I couldn't hold back the tears.

After about two weeks of crying and missing my little precious grand daughter, I couldn't handle it anymore. I called my former boss at Walker Scott and asked if she would rehire me and bless her heart, she did. I couldn't bear to be at home alone every day without my Andrea

I remember Lucy telling me that when I sent a little note to Andrea, she started reading "Dear Little Precious" Andrea said, "Oh, I know who it is".

I enjoyed all those days you spent with me Andrea, and now thar you're all grown up, married to an especially nice young man, I wish you and Chris all the best in life.

God bless you both with many, many happy years together.

Happy 30th birthday, My Precious !

Family History Chapter 2

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 21:26:00 +0000

Our home in Detroit while I was just a child was next door to a Polish family that had two little girls about my age. I remember being in our back yard and they would be in thier yard and neither of us could speak English, so we would communicate by making sign language. When we became more friendly we would go to each others houses and we would play together. I soon learned to speak Polish quite fluently and sometimes when I would come home I would tell my Mom all that went on at our neighbor's house.

When my mother finally put me in kindergarten, I was almost 7 years old. I couldn't speak English and was so embarrassed, but I asked the teacher if I could go to the bathroom, in italian, she must have understood me and let me go. When I left the room I ran outside and went home. My mother was shocked that I was able to find my way home.

I finally learned to speak some English and after starting public school, my mother had me transfered to a Catholic school and I was put back a grade. After a short time, my mother's sister Rose's son Gregory, known as "Gorie" came to Detroit from New York to tell my parents about the Church of Jesus Christ. When my mother joined the church, she had me transferred back to a public school. Well, guess what? I was put back another grade. What was this anyway, don't the cathlic and public schools want anyone transferring back and forth?

We lived in a nice two story house on Cameron Street. We had a nice entry room that led into the living room and into the kitchen, a dining room and three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and a full size basement where my mother would do the laundry and canning of tomatoes and sauces of various kinds. We had a nice back yard where my dear father would plant all kinds of fruits and vegetables. He also kept many pigeons in the garage.

One block away from our home was the public school I ended up in, it was called "Dwyer School" and went up to the 8th grade. I would have loved to go to High school but because of my age I didn't want to go anymore so I ended up working at a five and dime store in a town about 5 miles away from home. I would take the bus to and from work. Sometimes I would work till 9:00P.M. This one night when I got off the bus I crossed the street, which I always did to walk along the side of the school fence, because at the corner where the bus stopped there was a large apartment house and the doorways to the entrances were always open and I was afraid to walk past it by myself.

This one night while I was walking home along the school fence, I kept hearing a noise like paper was blowing in the wind. It wasn't windy at all, it was a nice summer night. I kept ignoring the sound but it kept getting louder and louder, so as I turned to see where this paper was, I saw a man coming out of the apartment toward me. Directly across the street from where I was, lived an Italian family and as I ran across, my legs got so weak that I thought my legs were going to buckle up
under me, but I made it to their door and I was able to call my mom. She came to get me carrying a large rolling pin under her arm. Thank God, we made it home safely. One of our Lord's angels must have been watching over me.

A few months before that happened, my Father was walking on that same side of the street going home, he was attacked by two men, one had his arm around his neck while the other one took his wallet. Thank God they didn't harm him. That area had gotten very bad.

My brother Bill's father in law bought a two story home on the east side of Detroit so that we could move away from that area. So Bill and his family moved on the first floor and my parents and I moved into the second floor.

Allergies or Virus ?

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 17:45:00 +0000

Well, here it is, two weeks later and I'm finally starting to feel better. What in the world hit me and a few days later my husband got it too. Congestion, coughing, watery and burning eyes and etc. Seems like so many people have had these same symptoms. Must be something in the air. Thank God, it's finally come to an end. Hope we have a happy and healthy summer. Hate being confined to the house and afraid to be around anyone for fear of spreading the germ. Missed not being able to be in Church for two weeks. But I thank God for everyone's prayers.

Birthday !

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 02:32:00 +0000

Wow, I can't believe that 82 years have gone by and I'm entering my 83rd today.
Where have all the years gone? It's like a look out the window. I can remember when I was young and thought about the ages of 40 or 50 and would think, "Oh, that's a long ways away". Well folks, they flew past and now I'm entering into the mid eighties. Well all I can say is, "Thank you Lord for everything that I've been blessed with", The companion I have had for the past 60 years, the two wonderful sons we've been blessed with, Tony and Steve, and the five grandchildren we have. Three grand daughters and two grand sons that we were also blessed with through marriage. When our son married and adopted his wife's son Nicholas of only about one and a half years old, and our grand daughter Andrea's husband Chris. What a true BLESSING! And along with all these blessings, I want to thank God for the "Dearest" daughter in law any one could ever ask for, and that's our son Tony's wife Lucy.

Well, only the Lord knows what's in store for the future. We're all in His hands.
May our dear Father in Heaven bless each and every one of you that will be reading this BLOG.

Family History: Chapter 1

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 18:15:00 +0000

My Father, Stephen was born and raised in Italy. He was married to a woman whose name was Maria. They had two sons, Gaspare and Vito. His wife was expecting another child when he decided to come to America to live a better life for him and his family.

The time came when he did make the move to Detroit, Michigan. While he was here trying to find work to help bring his family and support them, his wife gave birth to a baby girl and was named "Michelina". A short time later Maria became ill and passed away. My father's sister took the children home with her to care for them.

After some time, my father met a woman by the name of Archangela, "Lena" for short. When they began their life together, his wife asked him to send for his children so they could raise them together in America. So he has his sister, also named Maria, bring the children and then she returned to Italy.

After I was born, my father opened up a small grocery store and butcher shop. My brothers and my mother helped him and my sister Michelina took care of me at home.
When I was about three years old, my dear brother Gaspare became ill and passed away at the age of 19. He was such a wonderful young man! Both of my brothers were so handsome.

In the meantime my sister Michelina met and married a man that had the very same first and last name as my father, but no relation. My sister and her husband had four children, Carmela, Jimmy, Mary and Steve. Carmela was just e few years younger than I and I loved spending time with her, we were very close, I felt like she was my little sister.

Tragic News

noreply@blogger.com (Mary DeCaro) — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 21:09:00 +0000

Sunday morning,February 4th, 2007, Al and I were getting ready to go to Church. We were going to stop and pick up Lydia, our daughter-in-law Lucy's mother to take her with us.

Our son Tony and Lucy had gone down south to spend the weekend with their daughter Andrea and son-in-law Chris.

While we were preparing to dress, the phone rang and it was Tony. He told me to open the back door and as I went to do that, I saw his car coming up the driveway. As he got out of the car I could see that he looked troubled and I asked him what was wrong. He said, "I'll tell you later, where's Dad? We walked into the bedroom where Al was and Tony told us he had some bad news. We couldn't imagine what he was about to tell us. Then with a bit of hesitation, he said Alvin, Lucy's brother had died of a massive heart attack late last night. Al and I were both in shock and couldn't hold back the tears.

Alvin was a Dear Heart and a "Jack of all trades", No matter what you needed done, he was there to help whether it was plumbing, gardening, electrical, etc.

He was 55 years old. What a tremendous shock for all of us, especially for his Mother and his sister Lucy and for his loving son Aaron who lives in Merced with his wife and adorable baby whom Alvin loved so much.

Yesterday, Feb.8th was the Memorial Service at our Church in Lindsay. The building was filled with so many people whose lives Alvin touched.

The service was beautiful, our son Tony gave a very touching sermon with many fond memories of Alvin. Then Brother Jess Guerrero read a beautiful poem and several people stood up and spoke about the kind and tender ways of our dear Alvin Cavallaro.

So many Plants and beautiful Floral arrangements! If Alvin were able to see all that went on at his funeral he would have been overwhelmed to know how everyone loved him. We're all going to miss you Alvin!

If he was able to see all that went on at his funeral he would have been overwhelmed to know how everyone loved him.

May our Dear Father in Heaven receive Alvin into His Heavenly Kingdom.

God rest his soul!