Saturday, Jan. 29th

Whew! Today was a whirlwind and we're tired! We were at Jami's by 9:00 this morning. She had to leave to get Kelly to her soccer game, so Megan and Danny stayed with us. We took them to Megan's ballet class at 10:00. Then we came home and read books until Jami got home from soccer around noon. At that point we had all 3 kids! So, after lunch we made them go outside for about an hour - they rode bikes and scooters and Kelly ended up in a tree reading a book! After that we put on a movie and Kelly read while Megan and Danny watched the movie. Danny didn't make it through the movie though. He crashed and fell asleep around 3:30. By the time he woke up Jami had made it home from Boca. Jami fell asleep on the couch by Danny and when she woke up we had a wonderful supper - popcorn and ice cream!!

We came home and packed so that in the morning it won't take too long to get out of here. I guess we're going to Jami's before we leave for Sarasota and Clearwater for the next 5 days.

You know our friend, Barry, who had pneumonia? Well, it's back and he went into A-fib again today. They shocked his heart again and he's back in the hospital. So we're still praying for him. Bless his heart! More later...

Friday in Ft Lauderdale

Today was another beautiful day in S Florida - a little chilly this morning, but by afternoon it was lovely. We picked up Sudi & Howard and had lunch at Bru's - we didn't eat outside though...it was too cold! Then we took a road trip to Coconut Creek to the DSW for shoes. Sudi found a pair and I was able to find some slippers for home (warm ones!) On the way back we stopped at K-Mart to look for a 12" bike for Danny and we got lucky. They had several to choose from. Since DB likes green so well, we got him a green one. We took it over to Jami's where Dave put it together. It said "easily assembled" and it truly was...I think it took Dave about 20 minutes and it was fully assembled! When we picked Danny up at school and brought him home, he saw his bike and the smile didn't leave his face for at least 2 hours. We got him on the bike and taught him how to pedal and he was off! He kept yelling, "Kelly, I'm riding a big boy bike!" Jami's housekeeper brought the girls home after school and with her 4 children, we had 7 kids out in the street riding bicycles, trikes, or scooters! Her little one was content to ride a little push truck. It was pretty neat - we just sat in our lawn chairs and watched them. Tom and Jami neither one got home before dark and Danny's afraid of the dark, so he got to ride his bike in the living room to show his mommy & daddy his big boy bike! Megan took her dad outside to show him how she could ride - even in the dark! Megan also lost a tooth somewhere in Nicole's van. She's had a really big week!

Tomorrow we've got the kids all day. We have to take Megan to ballet at 9:30 and then about 11:00 we'll have all 3 kids until Tom gets home from a wedding reception which starts at 5:00 or Jami gets home from inventory in Boca. We're going to be tired tomorrow night!!

Fun!!

What a fun day we had today. I slept in - in fact, I didn't get up until 10:00 this morning!! We ate a leisurely breakfast of fresh strawberries, an orange, a banana, and cereal. Since it was so late, we knew we weren't going to eat lunch! Then we went to a shoe store (with no luck) and to CVS (with no luck) and then went to Jami's to start our laundry. Dave and I both sat outside in the sun and read until it was time to go pick up the girls. When we got back to Jami's, both girls had homework, so I worked on contractions with Megan and fractions with Kelly!! So far, so good, Sudi - I still knew what I was doing with the fractions!! After homework, we took the girls outside where Dave worked with Megan on learning to ride her bike. She finally figured it out today - she was riding all by herself by the time her mommy got home!! Meanwhile, I went to Danny's school to pick him up. He was so excited to see me - he came running toward me and jumped up into my arms!! Now THAT was fun!! Jami got off from work early and we had dinner waiting for her. We just got home and now I'm tired!

Our friend, Barry, got home today! That was another wonderful thing! Tomorrow we're going to DSW (Discount Shoe Warehouse) with Sudi & Howard. Sudi's going to love this place!! Looks like a nice weather week here in S Florida! More later...

Ft Lauderdale

We're in Ft Lauderdale. We left Dad & Roberta's place about 10:15 and 4 hrs later we were in Ft Lauderdale. We went cross country and saw tons of cattle ranches, sugar cane fields, orange groves (some picked and most not), sand cranes, and even saw an alligator!! We're checked in and even had dinner and ice cream with Sudi & Howard! After ice cream, we went over to Jami's for a minute and got to see the kids! Danny was so excited to see Grandma Peg that he climbed out of the bathtub and came running out to get a hug!! He is so cute!! I had all 3 kids in my lap and tomorrow we're going to pick all three of them up at school early. We're going to do our laundry and fix supper for them while we're doing laundry. It's supposed to be sunny here tomorrow, so we can open the back door and be outside away from the dog!

More later...

We're in Sarasota

We arrived in Clearwater last night about 20 minutes late. We left Des Moines about a half hour late because they had to de-ice the plane before we left. We had a very good flight with a FULL plane. The flight is billed as being 3 hours, but we got here in 2 hrs and 20 min. It's always good to get out of the airplane!! We went to Bob & Ann's - they came to pick us up. We got up early this morning to go bowling! I thought this was something that I could beat Bob at - ha! Bob said most of the time he doesn't even get 100. Now I used to carry a 167 average - but that was 20 years ago. Let's just say that I didn't even come close to that today!! I did beat Bob the first game, but the second game he put together 4 strikes and ended with a 181...his second highest game ever! I brought the best out in him!! It was fun to bowl again, once I got over being so stiff! I used to bowl with a 15 pound ball; today I used an 11 pound ball and I would have hated to try one any heavier!! After bowling, about 30 of us went to The Dugout for lunch. Then we came back and went over to our place to meet the renters and look around a little. We actually got to sit in chairs and what have you. We determined that the yellow room is the first one to get redecorated - the yellow is UGLY!! Actually, that's AFTER we take down the curtains!!

Tomorrow we're going to Ft Lauderdale. I guess Jami & Tom and the kids are busy tomorrow night, so we're hoping we get to see Sudi & Howard! Maybe it would be a good night to hit Bru's room...or wherever! We'll be calling you!

Tonight we're also excited to tell you that our friend, Barry, who's been so gravely ill, is doing better and may get to go home tomorrow. They had to shock his heart because he went into Atrial fibrillation yesterday. Bless his heart and praise God!!

By the way, for our Iowa friends, it was 77 today at noon!! More later...

Tomorrow's the Day

Tomorrow afternoon we fly to Florida. I am definitely ready to get there. I'm getting tired of freezing! I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do with my coat. We're not checking any luggage, so all we've got is carry-on and it doesn't take long for those to get full. I guess I can just wear a jacket instead of a heavy coat...if Dave will let me get by with that!

Today's sermon was another good one. David talked about Jesus' changing the water into the wine and how Mary just basically had faith that Jesus would do it...and that's the kind of faith we need...that Jesus and God will take care of the problems we have if we just turn them over! Today was the first day that our church had a screen up front with words to the music on it. It worked pretty well because we knew the songs...if I don't know a song, I would prefer having music to read, instead of just words. Our Postlude today was a piano solo by an 8th grader in our church. She played two beautiful pieces - both memorized and both classical pieces which used most of the keys on the keyboard. Wow! She is very good.

This afternoon we packed and did things around here that we still needed to do before we leave. I vacuumed the entire downstairs and now my back is acting up. It was good to get done though, because I'll really like coming home to a clean house. We also did laundry and tomorrow we'll run the dishwater and water the plants before we shut off the water.

I may not get to blog tomorrow night - we'll see. Pray for a safe flight! More later...

2 more days

Only 2 more days until we're flying back to Florida. It's a little chilly down there tonight. It looks like it's 50 in Clearwater and 53 in Ft Lauderdale. I sure hope it gets this cold out of its system before we get there. I'm ready for some sunshine and warmth!

Dave worked at the Habitat house all day today. We had talked about going to the Club to watch the Cyclone game, but we neither one thought of it until right now. In fact, I didn't even turn the radio on so I don't know how they did. While I was home today I did laundry, cleaned off my desk, filed all of my 2010 paperwork, worked on PEO things, and researched hotels in Anchorage. I hate not having a car - I really needed to run a couple of errands, but I guess I'll do them after church tomorrow...Dave can just go with me!

More later...

Friday, Jan. 21st

When we woke up this morning the temperature was somewhere around -6 with a wind chill of -20+. In my way of thinking, once it gets below zero it's cold - it doesn't matter how far below zero it is! International Falls had a real temperature of -45 this morning. I guess it helps to live farther south!! Just 3 more days of this. Hopefully we don't take any of this cold into Florida with us! It snowed most of today here - it wasn't a lot of snow, but it did snow nevertheless!

I had a PEO meeting this morning, so I got up way early and took Dave down to church about 7:30. That way, I had the truck for my meeting. We had 18 brave souls at the meeting - about 5 or 6 are already in the warmth of either Texas, Arizona, or Florida. I'll miss both of the February meetings but will be back for the March meeting which is election of officers! I'm looking forward to that! Today's meeting went well, though. I gave a program where I pretended to be the spirits of our Founders. It was really interesting - you could have heard a pin drop while I was reading about their lives!

Tonight I've been working on the Alaska trip. We've been talking to sisters and cousins and hopefully are getting some things resolved. More later...

Thursday, Jan. 20

I had a very sleepless night. I woke up so many times last night, thinking about our friend, Barry, who is in Iowa City in the medical ICU. So I prayed every time I woke up! Needless to say, I was very tired this morning and when I'm overly tired I cry. This was not a good thing today, because we had a funeral to go to. Pastor David did a wonderful job with the service, but I had a hard time because it seemed that everything he said made me cry. I guess that's okay at a funeral. After we got home, I put in a call to Barry's wife, Mary, to see how things were going. She said Barry's white count was 35,000 last night, but that it had started to go down this morning and he had had a restful night. She did say that we should keep praying because he's not out of the woods yet, but tonight I can thank God for little improvements too!

I took a nap this afternoon. I tried to start reading a new book, but I kept falling asleep. I may have to re-read the first few pages when I pick it up again! Tonight I went to the Photo Shop for our photography group. I was able to get quite a few pointers on how to take stop-action shots of Allison when she is pitching, and what to do on the cruise this summer. I still wish I had a DSLR camera with a fancy lens, but that "ain't gonna happen" so I've just got to get the best out of the camera I have! If I'd buy the camera I want with the lense I want, and the extender, the whole package would cost more than our house in Florida!! I think I'll make do!

More later...OMG, I just put the title on this blog and realized tomorrow is PEO. I don't think I'm quite ready!!

Wednesday, Jan. 19

Today is one of my best bud's birthday...he turned 62 today. I called Joel to wish him a happy day and got to talk to both he and Cindy. In fact, I even got to talk to their youngest son, Tyler. When I talk to them, I feel like I'm next door to them again. Tyler wanted to tell me that he is moving to Denver to be with his girlfriend. He said there would probably be a wedding in late summer. I'm up for another Kruckenberg wedding!! It was really fun talking to them all.

I made 24 cards today, so I think I've got enough for all of my officers now. I even made a good attempt at cleaning up my work area hoping that I'm done!

We are still praying for our friend who's in the ICU at Ottumwa Regional. He went into congestive heart failure sometime in the night and now he's on some opiates to try to get him relaxed enough that he can breathe. Actually I just got an email that he was transferred to Iowa City - it seems his white count is extremely high. If you have a minute, please say an extra prayer for Barry. He's a really good guy who is gravely ill.

I've been listening to the ISU-Oklahoma State game tonight. We just got beat in overtime - rats! We played so hard, but made a couple of crucial errors at the end of the game to let them tie us. They had the momentum going into OT, and made some really good shots to win it.

Tomorrow morning we go to Bill's funeral at our church. Then tomorrow night, if I decide to go out in the cold, I have my photography class/group downtown. I'll tell you, I'm perfectly happy staying inside where it's warm. More later...

Tuesday, January 18

Today is one of the coldest days we've had. Actually the temperature started out at 26 or so and then dropped all day...and along came a brisk northwest wind! It made you cold just to look outside. It rained yesterday so now the snow has a hard pack of ice on top of it and streets are really slick!

Our friend in Hospice passed away and his funeral is Thursday. The funeral for the lady from our church who passed away last week is Saturday. Another man from our church is in the ICU with pneumonia! Pastor David is being run ragged!

I had sorority tonight and didn't want to go - I just wanted to stay here where it was warm. We got to Bev S's house and the street was just a glare of ice. I rode with Bev H. We held on to each other (and the car) just to keep from falling down! We made it safe and sound, though! Thanks again for the ride, Bev! Dave had a Session meeting at church which started at 6:30 (1/2 hour before my meeting) and I beat him home!

I know I'm rambling, but that's just the way it is! I made another 18 cards today. Perhaps I should figure out how many officers I have so I'll know when to stop making cards! I also tried to upload my songs to my computer, but I can't figure out how. Sometimes I'm so computer illiterate!! I've asked Bryan for help - hopefully he'll write me out instructions. More later...

Writing Assessment

Today I volunteered to do writing assessment for 10th graders in the Ottumwa High School. I've done this for about 5 years now and I thought today's papers were the best I've seen. I had far more 4's and 5's on the papers I read (5 being the best). In fact, I jokingly said that I only wanted papers that were 5's. The very first one I read, I gave all 5's to. I think it might have been the best paper I've read in my 5 years of doing this. We assess the writing based on the 6 traits of writing as taught to the students. This morning was spent going over the 6 traits and then assessing sample papers. Since school was called off because of the weather, we had lots of people helping so we actually got out at 3:15 instead of 4:00!! It was still a long day, though.

I talked to my brother today. He said that our roof in Florida was getting a good test today! It was pouring in Clearwater. In fact, they had 3.8" of rain in a short time. After it quit raining, Bob went down to check the roof and declared it dry! He does think we should put another coat on the roof when we get down there, so Dave's already got his first honey-do project!!

Tonight Dave had a Habitat meeting and I've been recording more music. Tonight's music has been from a 5 album set of the best of 1962! It's been lots of fun listening to this set of music! I don't know about anyone else, but sometimes when I'm listening to music from my youth, I can almost see what I was doing, feeling, and even smelling when a certain song comes on. More later...

Long Day

We went to church this morning and left a little early because we wanted to go to Waterloo to see Bryan. Church was wonderful as usual. I thought David was back on spot today. He challenged us a lot this morning. It was a nice trip up north. The weather cooperated with us and didn't snow or sleet on us! Dave drove up and I drove home! When we got there, Bryan showed us what he's been doing to his upstairs bathroom. It's going to be beautiful. He's got most of the tile down on the floor, but he's still got the baseboard area to do yet. He's taken down cabinets and mirrors and won't replace them. He's so very talented!

Tomorrow I'll be off the computer all day. I start writing assessment for 10th graders in the Ottumwa High School at the AEA building at 8:00 AM. It goes all day - supposed to be over at 4:00. Two years ago we got done earlier - I hope that happens this year! Of course, I don't have a car, so I'll have to wait for Dave anyway and he's going to be painting at church.

More later...

Is It Bedtime Yet?

I've had one of those days! I hate computers!! First of all, I screwed up my Firefox page and couldn't get the menu bar, so then I restored back to yesterday. Now I can't get Firefox to even open! So, I figure that's no problem, I'll just uninstall it and reinstall it. Nope - can't even uninstall it!! So, I guess I'm done with Firefox until Bryan can come here and figure out what's going on. Darn - I really like Firefox!

Other than computer problems, this was a pretty good day. I got another 18 cards made and I've recorded about 10 albums or so onto my SD card. But...now that I'm ready to download to my iPod, I can't find the cord that will hook my iPod to my computer. It's always been right here by my tower...not today though! I suppose it feel back behind the computer into that black abyss known to hold a million cords all tangled up and impossible to figure out what goes where! Did I say I hate computers??!!

I just got through watching my Cyclone men beat Baylor. That was really fun!! Today while I was recording my record albums, I sat here and watched 5 squirrels vying for the title of "King of the Squirrel Feeder". It was hysterical...everytime one would get close to the squirrel that was actually in the feeder, he'd get chased away! One thought he'd be really sneaky though. He tried coming at the feeder from the bottom! At one point he was hanging completely upside down, holding on with all 4 little paws. It looked as if he was trying to do chin-ups!! I wish I'd had my camcorder. I might have won on America's Funniest Videos!

Now I'm listening to the Southeastern-Indian Hills game on the radio. It's a 2 point ball game - neither team has been able to pull away. After the Cyclone game, I thought it had to be 9:00, but it was only 7:00 and I'm pooped! All this computer frustration has made me tired!!

Tomorrow after church we're going up to Waterloo to have lunch with Bryan, so that we can see him again before we go to Florida. Besides that, he's been redoing his upstairs bathroom - laying tile, etc., and we'd like to see what he's accomplished! More later...

Friday the 14th of January

As I sit here watching Terry Branstad's inauguration, I'm pondering a lot of things. Why would someone who's been out of politics for several years want to get back into politics? I'm also watching his wife's face and wondering what she's thinking. I'm also wondering why the Lt. Governor elect chose to wear a slacks suit to the inauguration. Hmmm...

This was a day of ponderings. I was actually very creative this morning. I made 18 cards. Sure they're basically all the same,just different colors. They do take time to do, regardless of whether or not they're the same pattern. I figure I'm going to give 6 cards and envelopes in a bundle to each officer, so I've got 3 sets done! I hate to think how many more I have to do! Tomorrow's another day, so I'll try to get 18 more done!

Dave and I went to Hospice this afternoon to visit one of the men from our church. The new Hospice facility is a wonderful place for families to await the transition of their loved ones. Bill is now in a deep sleep and has been for a couple of days, so he didn't talk to us. Hopefully, though, he knew we were there and knows that we valued his friendship. We did get to have a good visit with his wife, daughter, and granddaughters. He's surrounded by very caring women! Our thoughts and prayers are with them all.

When we got home, both of us took naps and then we got busy on honey-dos. I received my Crosley turntable/recorder today, so we got it set up and running. I even recorded a complete album tonight - Gene Pitney's Big 16. Now that I have those songs on an SD card, hopefully I can get them onto my IPod. This is a lot of technology, so who knows if it will all work! Keep your fingers crossed.

More later...

Uneventful Day

This was a rather boring day, although I did make some cards today. I actually was in my "studio" for quite some time today trying to figure out if I could make sets of cards to give as gifts to my fellow PEO officers. I think I found the design I'm going to use and if I get enough made, I'll give them...if I don't, I'll probably go to Bath & Body Works! They're a pretty simple card, but I have quite a few to make...and then I'll also need to make a gift box or bag to put the cards in. I guess I should have started this project a little while ago!

Tonight we went out to Craig & Sue's. We bought a couple of pizzas from Papa Murphy's and went out there for supper. We haven't seen them since we got back from Florida, so it was good to catch up. I'm sure next week will just fly by, so it was good to be able to spend some time with good friends. Of course, after pizza we had coffee and chocolate liquor(sp)! We should sleep well tonight. In fact, Dave's already asleep in his chair!! He always gets a head start!

I finished a really good book last night. It was Angels Fall by Nora Roberts. I hated to see that book end. The characters were wonderful - I will miss them! Sue gave me a 4 book series by Ms. Roberts, so at least I've got some books to read now! I was getting pretty low and needed to go to the used book store, but with no car I haven't gotten there yet. Maybe next week I can get there!

More later...

I'm Impressed

I am very impressed with President Obama and his speech at the service honoring those who were shot in Tucson. I don't know if he writes his own speeches, or if someone does it for him, but whatever - he is good! It was a very moving, very heartfelt. I watched to see if I could see Gabby Giffords' brother, Alex. I haven't seen him since 1982 and he's probably changed a great deal since then.

I fixed cornbread for lunch today. I love cornbread!! I also fixed a macaroni and chicken casserole which tasted pretty darn good. Dave didn't come home for lunch until almost 1:00, so by the time he got here, the cornbread was cold. I had left the casserole in the oven, so it was still hot at least. Tonight, he didn't come in from blowing snow until about 6:15, so I was ready for supper by the time he got here. I'll be glad to go back to Florida - he won't be working so hard! He had 8 people at the Habitat house this morning and 7 this afternoon, so they got the entire inside of the house painted. Tomorrow they're going to put the kitchen cabinets in, which will free up some room in our outside garage!

Today I arranged for cable service at the new house and also arranged for a roof inspection for the insurance company. It's pretty hard doing all of this from a long distance. I'm sure it would be easier if we were down there. Bob asked me today how I liked being a landlord...I don't think too much of it! I'd like it better if they weren't there!! Bob was going to replace bulbs under the kitchen cabinets to see if that would fix the lights, which will make the renter-lady happy!

More later...

Snow, Snow, Go Away!

This is a picture that I took out my office window yesterday. Mr. Squirrel was trying to tell me that his feeder was empty...there must have been a sunflower seed under this end of the feeder, between the feeder and the branch. He kept sticking his little head down there trying to get to it! When Dave came home, he filled the feeder so Mr. Squirrel can now be happy!!
Unfortunately, today when I got up and looked out, Mr. Squirrel's feeder was completely filled with snow!! We've had about 7" of new snow between last night and today...and now, it's blowing from the NW. That means our driveway will be closed in by morning. Dave has already blown it out twice today, but obviously at least one more timeWhen I took this picture this morning, it was still snowing, but you can see how deep it is by the edge formed from the snowblower! As I'm writing this, it's 72 in Fort Lauderdale and 52 in Clearwater...it's 9 degrees here with strong NW winds!! Not fun - I'm sure we have dangerous wind chills tonight!

I gave blood this afternoon and then tonight I had a Personnel Committee meeting at church. I actually got to drive both times today! It was fun getting to drive in the snow - even if the truck has 4-wheel drive. I thought about turning it to 2-wheel drive and doing some donuts, but decided I probably shouldn't during the day!

More later...

Interesting...

We were supposed to get snow all day today, but the snow didn't start until about 3:00. We have about 2" of new, fluffy, beautiful white snow! We were supposed to get from 2-4" so, I guess the forecasters were right. If they stay correct, we're to get another 1-3" tonight and another 1-3" tomorrow morning. Dave called his cousin in Storm Lake tonight and he said they'd had about 12" of snow so far. Then he called his cousin in Atlanta, GA and he told Dave that they wouldn't be working until Wednesday because of all the snow and ice! I think the only place to be is in Florida where it was in the 70's today! Dave wouldn't even let me drive myself to church tonight...he was worried about my driving in the snow! Since the meeting went long, I got a ride home with a friend. Wendy gunned it going up the big hill - we fishtailed and had a lot of fun on the ride home. I knew she had the vehicle under control, so I wasn't worried. Dave would have been upset if I'd been doing that! I miss having my own vehicle - I kind of like sliding around corners when I'm the only one on the street!!

Bob called tonight to tell us that it didn't rain hard enough today to see if the roof leaked on our new place. So, I guess we'll just have the inspection and worry about the result later! I found out that Paulie (the lady we bought the home from) hadn't had insurance for about 3 years, so maybe we don't need insurance any way!
Here's the last of the Valentine's that we made on Saturday. As per usual, all of the papers and cardstock are from Stampin' Up. We used one of their punches and punched out the hearts, then adhered them to the little circle. We then ran the circle through the Big Shot with a SU embossing folder and the result is what you see - it looks like it is all one piece. I like this card...I don't own this punch though, and I don't plan to buy it.

More later...

Another Sunday!

This was another beautiful Sunday! Dave went to church early this morning, so he had Elsie Mae pick me up. We sat down front today because Dave had to give a Minute for Mission about the Habitat house. We had two baptisms this morning and welcomed 2 more new members to church! After that we sang a couple of wonderful praise songs. Karen K. got up and shouted, "I have the Holy Spirit in me!" She and Pastor David had planned a little drama about us getting the fire (the Holy Spirit) and then having someone throw water on our fires to put them out. Well, as it turned out, Pastor David had a bucket of water to throw on Karen, but he switched in (a la the Harlem Globetrotters) and threw the bucket of "water" onto Karen and us because we were in the front row! The "water" was actually styrofoam packing peanuts! The problem with styrofoam peanuts is that they get static electricity really bad in the winter and they were all over us and our pew! Every time I moved, a peanut "jumped" onto my slacks! David's sermon then was about being able to catch the fire and to keep the fire that's in us when others try to put our fires out. It was a very good sermon!

This afternoon Dave and I both took naps and now we're getting ready for bed. I got all of the little notes that we'd accumulated about our Holiday home, typed them onto 2 pages, and was able to make a file to keep all our papers together! That helped my desk a lot! Tomorrow I'll pay a couple of bills, file paperwork, and get ready for two church meetings tomorrow night, as well as one on Tuesday night!
Oh, I almost forgot to show you another Valentine's card I made. This card is made with all SU products. The heart is some of SU's new glitter paper and was punched out with a SU punch. The black frill around the heart is a embosslet from SU, and the two pink papers are both embossed with Sizzix embossing folders only available through SU. The light pink paper was punched with a border punch from SU - if you enlarge this photo, you'll see that the "holes" are actually little hearts! I LOVE this card! You could use this layout for any kind of card - birthday, anniversary, wedding, etc. All you have to do is change out the heart and the Valentine's colors! Cool card!!

More later...

January 8, 2011

Today would have been Elvis' 76th birthday...I can't imagine him as an older man, but I'm sure if he had lived he'd still be singing - probably gospel. This is also the birthday of my friend, Wendy. She, too, is very musical - do you suppose it has anything to do with being born on January 8th? Wendy sings, plays the cello, plays bells at church, and can really rock the piano!

I went to Juliene's to stamp this morning. We made three Valentine's cards and one sympathy card. Here is the first card we made. Everything on these cards is from Stampin' Up. This one uses a technique similar to iris folding, only we just used strips of SU card stock. I think this would be fun if we had used ribbon instead of strips of paper, too. Actually this card is about 4.25 inches square, so it's a small card. I really like it...I'm sure it will go to one of my grandchildren for Valentine's Day.
I'll show you the other cards later. We got more pictures from Ann today, but they're really pretty boring - mostly pictures of what all is in cupboards and drawers in the kitchen and bathroom. It's nice to know that we have towels and lots of kitchen items. We shouldn't have to take much with us from here! Bob said they got the roof sealed today. When I asked him if it worked, he said it's supposed to rain the middle of next week so we'll know then! He thinks they got everything covered. When we get down there, they'll probably put a second coat on to make sure.

I just found out that the Congresswoman Giffords from Arizona (who got shot today) is a sister of one of our football players from 1979-1982, Alex Giffords. Alex was a placekicker for us and was from Mexico. He had a very pronounced accent and spoke English as a second language. She, however, has to be a native or she couldn't be in the Congress (I think). Hmmm....I'm pondering...

More later... PS - For those of you in warmer climates, it's 0 degrees right now with a low of -10 expected tonight...and that's NOT wind chill!!

Brrrr....

Man, was it ever cold here today. Most of the day the wind blew from the NW and blew so hard that our flags were standing straight out! You don't suppose that maybe they are frozen that way, do you? It snowed last night and this morning our world looked like a winter wonderland...until the wind came up! Then it looked like blizzard weather! Yuck!! I made up a new poem - Snow, snow, go away. Come again when WE'RE away!!

Dave stayed here much of the day today, so we took this opportunity to clean house...double yuck! I don't think I'm going to like doing this myself - I liked it much better having a housekeeper!

Last night, we stayed in and watched a movie - "Alice in Wonderland" with Johnny Depp. I know I've said it before, but he's just something else! He plays the Mad Hatter and he does a wonderful job. He didn't look anything like himself - again the makeup and costumes were wonderful, as were the special effects. I've got to get the book because I don't know the story of Alice, other than she fell down a rabbit hole and encountered talking animals on her stay. After watching the movie, I want to read the book so I can tell what they were saying. A lot of the dialogue was jibberish - especially with TweedleDee and TweedleDum. Fun movie!

Tonight we watched "Meet the Parents" the first in the Meet the Fockers series. Hopefully tomorrow night we'll watch "Meet the Fockers". I thought MTP was a cute movie, but kind of dumb. I hope MTF is better!

We got the title for our mobile home today, so I guess it's official!! We own a home in Clearwater! Unfortunately, Bob & Ron discovered a leak in our roof and the plan is to fix it tomorrow. When I talked to Bob today, he was keeping score at a shuffleboard tournament! He said he had on shorts and a sweatshirt.

Tomorrow, I go to Juliene's to stamp. More later...

January 6, 2011

I had a massage this morning, so I've been sore and tired all day!! In fact, I've also been kind of depressed...it was a very gray day here. I think it maybe got to 29 today and we had snow flurries, but nothing measurable at least. I think the flurries are to continue tonight and maybe even tomorrow - yuck! That means more gray skies!

I don't have much to say tonight. I know my brother and his brother-in-law, Ron, were working on the roof of our trailer today. It seems there's a little leak and since they were working on roofs this week, they decided to work on ours too. I think Bob and Ron will really be glad when we get to Florida so they don't have to do these things by themselves!

More later...

Beautiful Day!

It got up to 37 today, and the sun was shining - at least part of the day! I can't find fault in any day when the sun is shining! I talked to Bob & Ann again this morning. Their internet is supposed to be installed on Saturday, so I should get more pictures then. Ann was going to go get some extra keys made this morning and Bob and Ron were working on someone's roof! Bob & Ann had an oversized recliner that they didn't like, but Dave did, so they took it over to our house and put it in the yellow room. Ann also planned to wash down our lanai today. Evidently they got black stuff all over them (dust) and they determined it was from the lanai. So, since the hoses are out and the water is on, they were going to wash it down today! I sure wish we were there - it would be so much fun if we could do some of these things ourselves!!

I installed two new weather apps on my desktop today, so now I have the weather in Ottumwa, Clearwater, and Fort Lauderdale! It's 31 and cloudy here, 66 and cloudy in Clearwater, and 71 and partly cloudy in Ft Lauderdale! It's going to be fun for me to watch this on a daily basis.

Dave worked at the park again today. They're about done, thank goodness! Then they'll start working on the church again. He got home about 4:30, took a shower, and then we went for the meal at church tonight. I decided that I wouldn't go to choir practice. I've only got 2 more weeks to sing (they're not singing this Sunday), so I guess I'll just be in the congregation.

More later...

Poor Dave

Poor Dave worked outside all day today, helping to tear down the light displays at the park...it was -1 degree chill factor until about noon! Those guys are hardy, let me tell you! I don't think he got home until about 4:30 or so! Obviously they have to get these displays put away soon before the vandals do their thing, but -1 is cold!!

I was able to get some things done around here while he was away. He had to come home at noon and leave me the truck so that I could go get my teeth cleaned. Then tonight I had a sorority meeting. There's not much going on at this time of the year, so our meeting itself was short. Mostly we just sat around and gabbed!! More later...

Monday Happenings

I had a lot of fun watching the squirrels today. A couple of days ago, Dave built a little A-frame feeding station for the squirrels and today we were having "confrontations" between squirrels for the sunflower seeds! We also had an immature squirrel visit the feeder. He wasn't nearly as brave as the big ones!!

We got some new pictures of "the ranch" last night. Bob & Ann took pictures yesterday and sent them to us. This first picture is of some of the furniture in the screened-in lanai. We didn't remember that the floor of the lanai was tiled. Also, the entrance door is just to the left of this settee. The shed with the washer/dryer is just to the right of it. This is a picture taken in the master bedroom. Bob said there's a ceiling fan that has "droopy" blades. He wondered if you could just turn the blades over for a quick fix. I'm glad to see that the walls are green - I was afraid they were yellow, and I'm really not into yellow! There's a dresser/armoire at the end of the bed where we'll put the tv set from the living room. As you can see in the next picture, the tv is veery small, so we'll probably get a bigger one for in the living room...maybe not this year, but next year for sure!
As for the living room. I'm glad the light wallpaper with little blue flowers is gone...however, this wallpaper is a little too frufru for me! I think I can live with it for a while, but removing the wallpaper will go on Dave's honey-do list!! The floors in the bedroom, kitchen, and living room are all hardwood (or laminate) - either one is great! Removing carpet was at the top of Dave's honey-do list - he lucked out! The only carpet is in the extra room - yay!!
I went out to CJ Banks today to return a Christmas gift. I got lucky and found a couple of shirts, as well as two pairs of slacks. I also was able to get my calendar information all transferred, as well as getting my personal calendar updated! We went to the bank and wired the money for the new house and we've called the insurance company to transfer the insurance. Tomorrow we'll have to work on utilities as well. Tomorrow I've also got a dental appointment and sorority tomorrow night. Busy day for me! More later...

Super Sunday

No, it's not Super BOWL Sunday...just a super Sunday! Church was wonderful today. We actually accepted 9 new members today! Next week we're having two baptisms! Our church is growing!! It feels good. Pastor David talked again today from Matthew 1 - this time it was all about Joseph. Very interesting stuff! You just take it for granted that Joseph was okay with the fact that Mary was pregnant...I hadn't really thought about the fact that he might have wondered whose child it was.

The rest of today today I "played". Dave went to the park to help take down the Holiday Nights & Lights, so I had the day to myself. I actually did a couple loads of laundry and changed the sheets on two beds, but besides that - I just enjoyed the day! Ann & Bob called from our home at the Ranch! They were taking pictures and said if I wanted to know anything about the house, to ask them now! The pictures I put on here the other day were outdated. It's much prettier than those pictures showed! More later...

1/1/11

I slept in this morning...AND I took a nap this afternoon! It was a great way to start the new year! I got up this morning and the guys had made bacon and eggs. Since they made breakfast, I was in charge of mid-afternoon lunch. I fixed pork chops in the oven with a celery/potato cream sauce over them and I also fixed my version of scalloped cabbage for prosperity! I must say it was really good. When Bryan got ready to leave, we were able to send several individual meals with him just from leftovers. He said that if he got stranded along the side of the road, at least he had food to eat!! I also send him home with cookies, peanut clusters, and some other homemade candy. I think he was in heaven!!

This evening Dave and I watched a movie with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin, "It's Complicated". It was one of those fun movies...Dave laughed so hard I thought he was going to have an asthma attack! I got this movie for Christmas from Linda's family...it was a great choice! Tomorrow's church - Dave says I'll need to wear my long undies...it's already down to 15 and feels like 6 degrees here! More later...