Car Show Day

We went to Oskaloosa today for their annual Rollin' Oldies car show. We left Ottumwa about 9:00 with 7 other cars in a caravan! That is always fun - it's so cool to look out your rear view mirror and see those cars behind you. I'm usually the lead car, so I get that cool view! Poor Butch and Pauline. Just as we got to the square in Oskaloosa, the water pump on their 1948 Chevy pickup blew and they had steam coming out from under the hood big time! Their son came up with the car trailer, so they could load the truck and take it home. They actually won their class though! I got second in my class and that was hard to believe. The car that won my class was gorgeous! In fact, I didn't deserve to win anything - there were several cars there that were better than mine! Dave didn't get anything in his class, but it was loaded! Steve and Lisa won their class as did Craig and Sue. Then the Vintage Cruisers won $50 because we had the most participants from our club at the show. John & Shirley won $200 cash in the drawings and we won a Herky the Hawk yard sign, which we promptly gave to this little 3-year-old boy who said he wanted to play football for the Hawks and then Green Bay when he grew up! It was a good day!

Friday

I had a really bad start to today. I was so stiff, I walked like I was 90 years old! My back hurt so bad that I didn't want to sit or stand! I took an 800 mg ibuprofen at 10:00 and after it kicked it, the world was a much better place! I haven't taken one since then and I'm feeling much better tonight.

I have set the ball rolling to go on an Alaskan cruise next summer. Dave and I have contacted his brothers and sisters and I've talked to my nieces and sister-in-law. We've also written to all of the Frushour cousins that I have emails for. I've contacted my friend, Jean Ann, who hopefully will be getting us some ideas real soon. I do know that we're going to be cruising out of Vancouver, so I suppose we'll have to have passports. Dave and I made the statement that we needed to get these anyway, so I've also started that process. If you would be interested in joining us on our trip to Alaska, we're going to be going around the first of August in 2011...more details as they become available. I'm so excited. I've wanted to do this for a long time! Now at least it sounds like it will become a reality.

Tomorrow we're going to do some car-showing! We're going to Oskaloosa for their show. It's always a fun time. We're meeting some of the other car club members at 9:00 AM to caravan up there together. It's supposed to be hot and humid tomorrow, but at least no rain is expected. More later...

Thursday Thoughts

I don't have many thoughts tonight...sorry! I know that I would NEVER buy any plain white china! I'll probably dream of Haviland china in my sleep - ha! We boxed a whole bunch of it today. Actually Sudi boxed a whole bunch of it. I sorted and carried and searched!! I don't know how many boxes there actually were, but there were several. Not only was there white Haviland, but there's also white Johnson Brothers, white Hutchendruber (sp?) and several other companies. We've probably still got 10 boxes of white china left to box! Job security!!

I also know that I'm very tired tonight. I had physical therapy early this morning and I have to do my stretches before my appointment, so that makes me get up waaaayyyy earlier than I'm used to getting up! Then after PT, I went to Chris' where we worked until about 3:00. I came home and after supper, we went out to water our flowers and tomatoes. Our new neighbor came over with his two little ones and talked for about an hour. His 2-year-old is a hoot! He's a big little boy - makes our Danny look like a shrimp!

Tomorrow I have NOTHING that I HAVE to do! The cleaning lady is coming tomorrow, though, so I'll at least have to pick up a couple things here and there AND make the bed!! Good night all! More later...

I love Wednesdays

I had a good day today. It was beautiful outside - hot and humid! This is the kind of weather that the corn likes! It's really helping to dry up some of the puddles/lakes around SE Iowa. Hopefully we'll have a few more days without rain!

I had PT this morning and then gave blood this afternoon. While I was at the blood center, my pulse was only 68 and the tech said it was very faint and asked if I felt all right. I said yes, but I was very tired. So she took my hemoglobin and it was in the safe range, so I was able to give blood. I feel a lot better tonight.

Tonight I went over to Shelly's to make cards. These are some of the cards I made. This first one is made with all Stampin' Up papers, inks, stamps, etc. I think it is gorgeous, even if I do say so myself!! This is a watercolor technique where you get the paper soaking wet and then add the color. Since the paper is so wet, the color spreads out. It's a lot of fun to do.


These are examples of using wax and a hot iron. First you stamp the image on a glossy piece of cardstock. Then you add the wax - any color you want. As you iron the wax around, you get different patterns in the color. I don't think it's a technique that I'll do here at home, but it was fun to try it. I really like the designs the wax made as you move it around on the card...but it's messy and I'm not into messy!!
This top one is a copper color and the next one is actually a chartreuse...it looks kind of yellow here, but it's not.
This is the one I chose to put on a card. The sky is an aqua and the grass is the copper color. It's much prettier in person. Sorry!
We did 8 of these wax cards and finished 2 of the rose cards. I've got enough roses, however, to make several more.

Tomorrow is a big day so I'm going to bed. I have PT at 8:00 and when I'm finished with it, I'm heading to Fairfield to help Chris again with her mom's dishes. More later...

Fun Tuesday

Today Dave and I went on a date to Des Moines! We left here about 8:45 and went first to the Botanical Center in Des Moines. It's a good thing we went first, because it was hot and steamy in there! By the time we came out of the "garden" I was wringing wet!! Of course, it's a tropical atmosphere and today's weather just added to it. We still had a good time though! After the Botanical Center, we went to Archivers at Jordan Creek. I wanted a couple of things from there and it didn't take me long to find what I was looking for. Then it was time for lunch, so we headed to West Des Moines to a restuarant that he said they had his Dupont retirement party in...I said it was on Hickman (not in WDM). As it turns out, he had 2 parties - one of which I attended (on Hickman) and one in WDM at Mojo's. I couldn't remember the name of the restuarant I was at, but we decided to look for it instead of going to Mojo's. We found it. It's called the Flying Mango and it's on Hickman at about 44th Street or so. It wasn't open for lunch - bummer! It had great brisket and cornbread! So, now it's about 1:00 and we're really hungry, so we go to Famous Dave's on Merle Hay. We always like eating there. Since we were done in Des Moines, we decided to stop at the Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World at the Altoona exit. We haven't ever been there - it's relatively new. It's a very nice one! Lots of merchandise and cool exhibits. They even had a herd of buffalo!! Very nice.

We stopped in Monroe at the Jersey Freeze to have our ice cream cone and then came on home. We had a wonderful day. We like to get away together and the day was fun for both of us! I'm going to post some of my plant pictures on Facebook!! More later...

Monday

I started out my day pretty stiff and with back spasms! At 8:45 I went to the physical therapist where she worked and worked on my lower back. I feel lots better tonight!! After physical therapy, a bunch of my Beta Sigma Phi sisters were meeting at North HyVee for our summer coffee. We had 14 of us there! It was good to see everyone and get caught up on all their summer doings. Six of these ladies are going to Europe for two weeks in September. I am sure they will have lots of fun! All but one of them are widowed. They go to events at the Civic Center in Des Moines and travel as much as they can. One of the ladies had a stroke about 2 months ago, but she's doing really well.

Dave worked at church all day. He's grinding about 6 layers of paint off of the registers upstairs. Once he gets them clean, then he can paint them. Since we're going to Des Moines tomorrow, he worked all day today! I read a bunch of pages in my book today. This Lisa Gardner is a twisted author. The book I'm reading is The Perfect Husband. This guy killed and tortured 10 women, numerous police officers, and is now after his ex-wife. Lisa Gardner has a strange imagination...I'll be glad when I'm done with this book. It's kind of creeping me out! More later...

Sunday's Amusements

These are the two cards I was telling you that we made on Friday at stamping club. The first one is made using a folding technique - I really don't know how to describe it. Little notches are cut into two sided paper and then you fold each of these little "v's" down and under the flap left from the "v"...clear as mud, right? Then we were to use lace and a little butterfly on our card. I kind of thought mine looked like a flower sitting on a window sill. I don't know if I'll make any more of these or not...they are pretty intense for my shaky hands!

The second card was stamped with a stamp from Magenta Stamps on a greenish-yellow card stock. After you stamp the image, you emboss it in gold embossing powder. I still have to color in the butterfly and I think I'll get some little, bitty velcro dots and hold the flap down with one of those instead of the ribbon. The way I shake, I'll never get the bow tied correctly! I really like this card. If I find one of my stamps that will work in place of the Magenta stamp, I'll do this card again.

Today was a bad day. My back was really causing me fits today. So after church, we came home, fixed dinner, and then I took a pain pill and went upstairs to lay down. I wanted to watch the NASCAR race at Indianapolis, but it was a boring race, so I didn't watch it. It was a bad day for the Hendrick crew! They didn't any of them finish in the top 10.

After I got up from resting I called Ann about a home for sale in their mobile home park in Clearwater. It's really a nice one. We may do some more checking on it. It's 3 streets away from Bob & Ann, but the park isn't very big so it still shouldn't be far away. We'd like a 2 bedroom/2 bath unit but this one is only 1.5 baths but it's still nice. We are really intrigued.

After supper we went to Graham's to get an ice cream cone. Dave told me the flavor of the week was lemon, so I told him I wanted a twist cone, meaning lemon and vanilla twist. He came back with two chocolate and vanilla twists. He just told them at the window that he wanted 2 twist cones...not 2 lemon twist cones! Oh well, the chocolate was good too! Tonight we've been doing laundry and cleaning out the hummingbird feeder. Dave saw a hummer today on the flowers, so maybe he'll come back! More later...

Saturday the 24th of July

Today was a really boring day. We started the day out with rain - surprise, surprise!! We had 1.3 inches of rain here. Sue said they had 3 inches just south of Hedrick. Unfortunately, there's still rain in the forecast - 5 out of the next 7 days. Dave worked at Habitat for Humanity all day today. In fact, he didn't get home until about 4:30 this afternoon. He said they had good help today and while they had help, they worked hard! Next Saturday he won't be there, so he's going to beg at church for more help. With the kind of help they had today, they could probably get this house done before we leave this November.

Tonight we went out to the Club for dinner. The place was really hopping tonight and we were the oldest adults there! For some reason there's a plethora of young families who are joining the Club! That's wonderful...I asked Dave why these young families weren't in church too! When we were leaving to come home, I looked over the 18th green to Bob's house and he and Ann were out on the deck. I grabbed Dave's phone and called them - told him to wave at me!! He was cooking on the grill - said they were going to eat at home one night this week!

When we got home, we decided to watch a movie. We watched DaVinci Code. This is quite a movie. I'd love to hear what Pastor Sara thinks about this movie. It was very, very interesting and extremely riveting. We were engrossed in it completely. We've also got Angels and Demons which is supposed to be the next book by Dan Brown. I hope it's as good a movie as this one was.

Now I'm going to check on my Zoo animals and my Mafia and go to bed. More later...

Friday the 23rd

Boy was it hot again today. I certainly don't want to wish my life away, but I'd sure like some beautiful fall weather! This heat and humidity are awful!

I got up waaaay early today because I had to do all of my stretches before I went to PT this morning. So after I got to PT, Amy did an ultrasound treatment and then she massaged and massaged my long muscle that goes to the right of my spine. It feels much better tonight. I have Michelle on Monday and then Amy again on Wed. and Thursday this next week. I really look forward to these treatments. I think they're probably going to start me on some strengthening exercises next week!

At card club this morning, we made a couple of really cool cards. I'll try to get pictures of them tomorrow and post them. One was a folding technique that looks really, really complicated and the other one was a different sized card with a stamp that we embossed in gold embossing powder. Very pretty cards!

Tonight we took both the '56 and the Charger over to S HyVee for the cruise-in. I think we had at least 30 cars! Pretty darn good considering the fact that it was lightning in the north and it was so hot your underwear stuck to you!! I decided I'd had enough, so I came home early. Dave stayed just a little too long...he got rained on! So when he got home he had to wash his car before he put it away.

Tomorrow Dave is going to work Habitat for Humanity and I'm planning to sleep in!!! More later...

What Can I Say!

Today I (along with 2 of my high school classmates) went to Chris' folks' house to help her wash crystal and depression glass. Wow! Chris has a horrible job ahead of her. Chris' mom and dad both passed away in the last year and her mom was a collector of dishes, linens, utensils, antiques, etc. Since Chris is an only child, all of the sorting and getting ready for an auction is Chris' responsibility. I would be absolutely overwhelmed if I were her. She has already gone through and packed at least 100 boxes for the auction, and I'd say conservatively there are that many more. We were so lucky when we had the sale at the acreage, there was Bob, Ann, Mom, Dave and me to do the sorting and boxing. Sometimes I get mad at my brother, but I'm sure glad I'm not an only child! This auction will be a hellacious auction!! I sure hope the auctioneer does some statewide or nationwide advertising...because there are some wonderful pieces in the house.

After I got home, I rested for a while. Dave wanted to take a nap, so I went upstairs to lie down because that straightens my back out better than sitting in my recliner. I read for about 45 minutes, then closed my eyes for about 15 more. When I got up, we picked my one ripe tomato and Dave went to church to mow. I arranged for us to rent a condo in November/December. It's 1/2 block from the ocean on 13th Street in Pompano Beach. It's got a neighbor on one side, but from the way it looks and sounds it's like a duplex. I'm really looking forward to it now. This condo has all been remodeled and she told me if we got there and didn't like it, there wouldn't be any problem. We'll have it until 10:00 AM on the 18th of December! There's a queen sleeper sofa and a rollaway, so Bryan can stay with us and hopefully Maury and Roberta can come over while Bryan's there too.

Tomorrow's a busy, busy day. I have an 8:00 PT appointment and then we make cards at 9:30. Tomorrow evening is a cruise-in at South HyVee which our car club sponsors. Should be a fun day!! More later...

Busy Wednesday

I had physical therapy this morning at 8:00. I was so stiff this morning, it was wonderful to have Amy work on me. After I did all of my exercises, she did ultrasound on my back and then massaged the heck out of it. Unfortunately it really hurts for quite a while after she does this...so today wasn't very pleasant. Tomorrow I should feel better though! Friday when I go in for physical therapy, she wants me to do my exercising before I get there and then she'll massage that muscle the whole 45 minutes!

We had the best lunch today. I breaded two tenderloins with egg and crackers and fried them. Then I also fixed sweet corn. It was a GREAT lunch! I had mayo, pickles, and onion on my tenderloin...and the sweet corn was so sweet that I didn't even have to use salt! Unfortunately I can still taste the onion!

This afternoon, I took a short nap and then Dave and I did 3 loads of wash. Tonight we went to K-Mart and bought an air conditioner for the church.

I guess I don't have much else to report today - oh, I DID reach level 69 in Zoo World!!! More later...

I'm Fading...

I'm sitting here and fading rapidly! It's only 8:30...I really must be getting old. I had one of those days today. After getting up to almost 3" of rain (more depression), I did my back exercises and fed my baby animals (in Zoo World). Of course, I also read the paper and took 3 phone calls! About 10:00 I decided to go to Vaughn's to get my oil changed. They told me it would probably be about 45 minutes, but I was next in line after this pickup. So I went in to wait. And wait, I did! I got out of there about 12:15! While they were doing their Mr. Goodwrench 20(?) point check, they determined that my power steering fluid needed flushed to the tune of about $95. So I okayed that. Then they came in to tell me that my car had a recall on it and they could take care of that while I was waiting. So again I said ok. The recall also comes with $100 cash back...so that paid for the power steering fluid flush!! After I finally got out of there, I still had to get groceries, and that always takes half an hour or so. I finally got home and Dave helped unload and put away the groceries. As we sat down to eat our lunch, I noticed it was already 1:00! I still had a few things around here that I wanted to accomplish, so got all of that done and even had time for a short snooze in my recliner!

Now, however, Dave's at a church meeting and I'm getting sleepy. I'd better walk away from the computer and see if I can wake up enough to wait for him to get home. More later...

Wet Monday

Surprise, surprise...it's raining!! I'm so tired of rain! We've just had old fashioned downpours this evening.

I had physical therapy this morning and had to dodge raindrops and lightning strikes just to get into the hospital. When I came out an hour later, it was still raining, but at least it wasn't lightning like it had been! This afternoon/evening the lightning has been very close and the rain HEAVY!

Other than sit and watch the rain and take a nap, this has been a pretty uneventful day! I did finish a book, at least! Dave worked at church for most of the day. I fixed a roast for this evening and while I was taking my nap, he fixed a couple of potatoes. Yesterday when we were at Sam's Club we bought some grapes that are just fantastic, so that was our supper! Now I'm waiting to watch The Closer and Rizzoli & Isles! More later...

Sunday

We were in the car a lot today. We left home about 10:00 this morning to go to Bryan's for lunch. He had fixed lasagna and corn and garlic bread. It was a wonderful lunch. He makes the best lasagna. When I try to make it, it always comes out runny. Not his! After lunch, he got out his Kitchen Aid stand mixer and made homemade ice cream. It was also very good, but very rich! He uses a vanilla that actually has little flecks of vanilla bean in it.

After we had eaten, we decided we'd go with him to Farm & Fleet, where he bought a trailer. He had thought about buying a truck, but Dave suggested to him that he might want to get a trailer instead. So that's what he did. Today was the last day of a sale, so he wanted to get it today. I think he wanted his dad's approval! After we'd gotten that, we went to Sam's Club and did some shopping for some things we needed. That was a fun place to go. He really enjoyed it and we love having Bryan around us!

More later...

Saturday Night

We had one HOT car show today! We always bill our Memories car show as the hottest show in Iowa, and today's show lived up to its reputation! I don't have a clue how hot it really was but I do know at 6:00 the heat index was still 102 degrees. So I'm assuming at its hottest, it was about 110 heat index! We even had people going home because they were just too hot. We had a good car show though. We ended up having 146 cars registered. We got everyone registered and got all the votes entered by 2:40. Not bad - we were then able to start giving away prizes a little early so people could go home. The car that won Best of Show was a 1948 Packard Super 8 Convertible owned by Ed & Mareta Campbell. Ed has been building it himself and it took him 12 and a half years to complete. He just got it done in time for the Good Guys this year. So today's show was the car's second outing! It is beautiful. Best of Truck went to a gorgeous Hudson - I think it was a 1949 or so. Bright red, chopped - beautiful! I think everyone had a good time.

The 4H Expo was fun again. I love seeing all of the projects. When we go to the State Fair, we love spending time in the 4H building. These kids are very talented!

I think my brain is fried, because I can't think of another thing to say! More later...

Friday the 16th

This was a fun day. I went to my PEO meeting this morning with a great attitude. It was a great meeting. I didn't fumble anything and I only had 1 of my regular officers there! The program was good too - we shared our summer plans...and everyone shared! Fun meeting!!

This evening we've been at the Ottumwa Park at our annual cruise-in associated with Memories 2010. We had a bunch of cars...probably 35-40 anyway. I don't really know how many, because I didn't check but it seemed like a bunch. We even had some different cars there - a couple of pro-street cars from Des Moines. Tomorrow is our big show. This is really going to be interesting because we'll be using Mick's computer. He has been working on a program for our computer for months, but supposedly can't get it to install on our computer. I can't imagine why not...but then, I'm no expert. I just hope it works because if we have to do the count by hand, it'll take hours!! I'll let you know!

Thoughts for this Thursday

Today was a gorgeous day again! I could get used to days like this! I had a laid-back day. Did some of my physical therapy exercises and then had a massage this afternoon. After my massage, I came home and took an hour nap! Tonight I've been trying to clean up my desk! I don't understand why my desk gets so bad - I'm at it every day!!

I finally got email this morning - I don't know what happened, but for some reason it all came through this morning. I had 196 posts to go through - ugh! I also typed up the Evangelism minutes from last night and got them emailed out. Our church website is using something called Google Calendar. I got the passwords, etc., that I needed to get in and add some things to the calendar. I'm sure Sally will be proud of me!! Now I'm trying to get everything together for my PEO meeting tomorrow morning!

Tomorrow evening is our annual Memories Cruise-In and Saturday is a loooonnnnggg day - Memories 2010 (our annual car show). Hopefully it's not quite as hot as predicted...but then, we are billed as the "hottest show in Iowa!" More later...

Wednesday Again

Wednesday has come and gone and boy was it a busy one! This morning we again went to Forest Lake Camp to prepare lunch for the Angel Tree girls. Thank goodness there were 3 more of us than yesterday. When we got there at 10:30 they were preparing catfish fillets and they had just finished shucking corn for corn-on-the-cob. It was already about 90 degrees in the kitchen and it was pure action everywhere. By 11:00 we were cooking corn, frying catfish, making a sweet potato casserole for tonight, making hash brown casserole for tonight, getting tonight's dessert started, doing dishes, cleaning tables, setting out glasses and silverware, etc. Busy, busy, busy!! We cooked so much corn and so much fish that we could have fed another 25 people! Plus, we put out the leftover spaghetti casserole as well as baked beans, pasta salad, carrots, applesauce, and leftover cake and blueberry cobbler! These girls ate well, let me tell you! In fact, some of the littlest girls ate 3 catfish fillets and came back for more! I was surprised.

I left the camp at 1:30 and Dave stayed until about 2:30 - they were doing dishes and I was getting pretty sore just standing around. So I came home and put heat on my back until it was time to leave for physical therapy at 3:15. Today at PT I did all of the exercises she gave me yesterday, plus a new exercise, and then I had an ultrasound treatment and a massage on the tender area around my compressed vertebra.

Then at 5:30 I had an evangelism meeting at church. There were only four of us there tonight, but we still got quite a lot accomplished. Oh wait, there were 5 of us there - Pastor Sara had brought her 12-year-old dog, Mitzi, with her to work today. So Mitzi sat in on the meeting - right by my feet!

My email is down again today. I guess I'll be calling Cliff first thing in the morning. I'm sure glad I have his cell phone number. The internet is working fine, but no email since 7:00 this morning! I used to always be able to get in through the Affinity website, but now that this new company has taken over, I can't do that either. Grrrrr....I don't like not being able to get my email! Hopefully Cliff can help me tomorrow! I can't even send out the minutes from the evangelism meeting tonight. I guess tomorrow is another day! More later...

Tuesday

Tuesdays just shouldn't be this busy! This morning, Dave and I had to be at Forest Lake Camp to prepare and serve lunch to a group of 33 girls and their counselors. These girls all come from homes where at least one of their parents is incarcerated. They're from all around the state - Fort Dodge, Des Moines, Sioux City, Waterloo and range in age from 13 to 18. There are 6 counselors and a kitchen helper (thank goodness!) I thought it was ridiculous to get there at 10:30, but it's a good thing we did. We had hot dogs to cook, baked beans to fix, a pasta salad to prepare, watermelon to cut into chunks, carrots to wash, dishes to do, etc., etc., etc. Then when we thought we were done preparing the food, we fixed 2 huge trays of spaghetti casserole for tonight's meal. We've got to be there at 10:30 again tomorrow too. Tomorrow is the girls' big day as it's the last full day at camp...I think we're doing chicken & noodles for lunch. We weren't done cleaning up and doing dishes at 1:35 when I had to leave to get to my physical therapy appointment at 2:00! I left Dave there, so he got a ride back into town with Jan.

Physical therapy was very interesting! We are going to be trying to improve my core muscles (abdominals) so that the pressure will be taken off of my spine. I had Amy today. Amy told me to lay off of Lady Fit for a couple of weeks until they get some of the pain under control. I go back again tomorrow with Michelle at 3:15. I was given a set of exercises to do tonight and in the morning. After I did these this afternoon, though, I was beat. I came home and took a nap. My back muscles really hurt today - part of it could be because of standing from 10:30 until 1:30!! Oh well, this too shall pass! When I got home this afternoon about 3:30, Dave was mowing the yard...it seems he was locked out of the house!! Good thing he could get into the shed to get the lawnmower out!!

I guess I don't have much to day tonight. My computer is really slow tonight - aarrrgh!! More later...

Monday, July 12th

I finally was able to get my MRI done this morning. My doctor's nurse told me the MRI shouldn't last more than about 15 minutes - ha! It ended up being about 50 minutes long - and that's a really long time to lie still and flat on your back when your back hurts! Anyway, I got it over and done with!! I called my doctor's office at 4:55 PM to see what the fax from the radiologist said. She told me that it showed degenerative disease (arthritis) and a compression fracture. So now I know what's going on and why my back is still giving me fits. I start physical therapy tomorrow. I am anxious to see what they are going to tell me about exercising.

I went to Fairfield after my MRI. It's always fun to get together with my FHS classmates! I'm also glad that Sudi was able to diagnose my problem with the bag I'm making!

Tonight I've enjoyed TV for a change. It was the season premiere of The Closer and then a new series Rizzoli and Isles. I can't believe they chose to do The Surgeon and The Apprentice on the first show! It was really good! Dave was enjoying it too, until he fell asleep in his chair about 9:30. Bless his heart - he worked until about 3:00 at church tearing up linoleum.

I'm going to crash now. I'm really tired! More later...

Sunday, July 11, 2010

What a wonderful day! We went to church early today. I was there to pass out name tags to the congregation so that Pastor David and his wife, Elizabeth, wouldn't have to try to remember names today. We had an almost full church. It was good to have people there who hadn't been there for a while. Pastor David delivered the sermon and did a wonderful job. His children's message was good enough that he wouldn't have had to do a sermon as far as I was concerned. He really relates to the congregation. During one of the prayers which he started from up front, he ended up coming into the sanctuary from the back...I don't know how he did that without us knowing! After the service we had a congregational vote to accept him as our pastor. All but one person voted yes...I wonder what that one person didn't like?! Oh well, he'll start officially on September 1st. They even were able to find a house this week, so all is well! I think he'll be good for our church. Unfortunately this will mean that we have to say goodbye to Pastor Sara and we will truly miss her!

Dave and I were both able to take naps this afternoon. I had stayed up kind of late reading and finishing my book, so I really needed a nap. With Dave being on prednisone, he doesn't sleep well, so he really needed one too. Then this evening, we had a cookout at our Vintage Cruisers meeting and stuffed the goody bags for our car show this Saturday.

This week is a busy one. I have an MRI tomorrow morning and the 4H parade tomorrow night. Tuesday and Wednesday this week we are helping serve lunch to young girls whose parent(s) are incarcerated. Tuesday I also start physical therapy on my back. Wednesday night is an Evangelism meeting, Thursday I have a massage. Friday is PEO and our Memories 2010 cruise-in and Saturday is our car show. Sunday after church, we're going to Bryan's for lasagna and homemade ice cream and then we start all over again!! Whew, I'm tired just thinking about this week. I sure hope that dumb MRI works tomorrow!! More later...

Saturday

This didn't really seem like Saturday to me. I don't know what it felt like, but it sure wasn't a Saturday.

Dave woke up at 4:00 and went to church to paint. He's on prednisone, you know! He came home about 11:30 and after lunch we got ready to go to church to meet the new pastor. I was impressed. He and his wife are both excited about being here! I look forward to hearing him tomorrow and getting to know them better. I have to be at church early because we're going to wear name tags for a few Sundays so they will get to know our names. I'm sure they were overwhelmed after the reception today...we had a lot of people there! It was good! Tomorrow Pastor Dave will preach, so that will be interesting too. I know the PNC is really excited about him and their enthusiasm is rubbing off!

I'm watching the race now and I hate to say it, but I cheered when Jimmie Johnson spun out. I'm so tired of him winning all the races! He's led all but about 20 laps tonight too. He didn't do any damage to his car, so he'll probably come back and win this race yet.

I just saw a commercial for a new show on TNT called "Rizzoli and Isles". I'm excited to see it - these are the characters (Rizzoli is a detective and Isles is a medical examiner) in the Tess Gerritsen books Sue and I like so much. Rizzoli is being played by Angie Harmon and I think she makes a great cop/detective! Should be a good series...and it follows "The Closer" which is a great series!

Speaking of books, I'm reading a Tami Hoag book, "Cry Wolf" right now. I'm down to the last 50 pages or so and I'm still not 100% sure who the murderer is...I think I know, but I'm just not sure. Hoag is also a good writer of suspense! I like her books a lot. I hope I don't stay up too late reading!! More later...

Friday the 9th of July

Another beautiful day in the neighborhood!! I didn't have much on the agenda today so I was kind of slow getting around this morning. I got up at my usual time - 7:17 am, but I just fiddled around until about 10:00. Then I got ready for the luncheon that I had today. I was meeting with 3 of my PEO sisters and two prospective sisters at the club at noon. I was to pick up Kathy at 11:45, so about 11:25 I started to grab my purse and take off. In the kitchen, I happened to glance at the clock and it said 11:48!! I hate being late! So I sped out to Kathy's place and picked her up. We, of course, were the last ones to arrive. Anyway, the luncheon was very nice. It was really nice to get to know the two prospective members and they're both going to be new members of our chapter!! We were hoping to initiate them in August, but they're both going to be gone in August, so we'll do it September 17th. Unfortunately, I won't be at the September 17th meeting; I'll be in Texas visiting my niece.

After lunch, I came home with the intent of taking a short nap. That didn't happen!! Dave and I went out to run errands. We got home about 4:15 and my brother called to remind us that tonight was $3 bloody Mary night at the club, so we got ready and went back to the club for dinner! We sat with Bob & Ann and their friends - oh my gosh, did we ever laugh! The six of them sure have a great time together! Seven couples of them are renting a bus tomorrow and going to Des Moines to see the Jersey Boys. After the afternoon performance they're having dinner at the Raccoon River Brewing Company and then coming home. Doesn't that sound like fun? I wish we had friends to do those things with! Maybe someday they'll adopt us!!

Tomorrow is an exciting day. We get to meet our new pastor and his wife at a reception in their honor. We're looking forward to it. More later...

Full moon?????

This was one of those days!! Is there a full moon out?? I woke up at 4:00 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep - this after not sleeping well for the past 2 nights! So I got up at 6:15 or so when Dave got out of the shower. I had an MRI appointment at 8:45 and I thought I'd have my xray AFTER I did the MRI. I went out to the clinic about 8:20 because there's always paperwork to complete. The lady at the desk told me that she was having trouble getting the machine to stay running - there was 70% humidity in the control room and it didn't like humidity! So, I went to get my xray first. That was relatively painless! The tech did tell me that there appeared to be a compression of two vertebra. He wondered if I'd had any other xrays there. Since I'd had a chest xray not too long ago, he was going to get it and compare the looks of those vertebra. So, that being taken care of, I headed back upstairs to have my MRI. It appeared to be running okay so we started! She got the first scan to go (it was only about 1 minute) and then it quit. So she pulled me out and started the machine again. This time we got the first 3 scans done (about 15 minutes worth!). It quit again. So we decided to try again another day. I still had 3 more scans to go and they were all about 12 minutes long!! Now we have to start all over because there's no way she'll be able to get me in exactly the same position as today - yuck!!

After all of this, Dave and I went to Fairfield to have lunch with some of my high school friends. It's always a good time - lots of reminiscing and catching up with old friends!!

I'm sure hoping I can sleep tonight - I'm tired of having dreams about MRI machines!! More later...

Wednesday July 7th

It rained again. I guess this is beginning to sound like a broken record! We're sure getting the rain this year - next year we'll probably be dealing with drought-like conditions. Poor farmers! I feel sorry for them. Craig said his crops are just horrible...good thing he has insurance, some farmers won't have that to fall back on.

Tomorrow will be a trying day for me (well, just part of it!) I have an MRI tomorrow morning at 8:45. After that I'll go to xray and get that done. Then I'm starting physical therapy on the 13th - I can hardly wait for that! I took an 800 mg ibuprofen this afternoon. That seems to help some. Dave was going to go with me to my MRI, but I assured him I'd done this before without him, so I can do it again. Hopefully it won't be a 45- minute MRI because I don't think I can stand to lay flat on my back that long! At lunchtime, Dave and I are going to Fairfield to join some of my high school classmates. Whenever one of our classmates comes back to Fairfield, if we know it, someone organizes a lunch at the local Pizza Ranch. That should be fun!

Some good news - our new minister got through his session with Presbytery and is in town. We're going to have a reception for him and his wife on Saturday and he'll preach on Sunday. I understand he and his wife are out looking at houses this week and are hoping to be in residence by the middle of August. Sad news though, that means Sara will be leaving us soon. She has been such a delight! (And I'm not just saying that because she reads my blog!!)

I guess I don't know much else tonight, so - more later...

July 6th

Today is Bryan's anniversary so he's been on my mind a lot today. He and his wife are separated and I'm sure today was hard for him. I did talk to him, though, and he said he was fine - "no worries". He's planning a trip to Florida over Thanksgiving. We plan to be there during that time too. We haven't gotten to do that for a long time...it should be fun to have both kids together again!

I finally gave in and called the doctor about my back today. He's ordered an xray and an MRI. Based on the findings, he'll also order physical therapy for me. There's no way I want to have back surgery, so keep me in your prayers.

Dreamin'

I'm NOT California Dreamin', I'm just dreamin'!! Isn't this a beautiful car? It's a 1936 Ford Cabriolet. Now if someone wanted to GIVE me a car like this, I certainly wouldn't turn it down! This particular car was in the area for "Rod of the Year". Since we didn't stick around for Sunday, I haven't heard yet what car won at the Heartland Good Guys show. I'll have to find out and if it's this one, I'll let you know. It was truly this bright!! Red with red interior. Beautiful car! A lot of the cars at the Good Guys shows around the nature are of this caliber. People come from all over - California, Arizona, Montana, etc. - just to show their cars. Now this car wasn't driven here, I'm relatively sure it was trailered in. It was spotless, so there's no way they drive it except from the trailer to the show! Oh well, I guess I'll just keep on dreamin'!

Today was a lazy day. Almost as soon as the fireworks grand finale finished last night, it started raining. Dave said we had another 2.3" of rain last night and it's supposed to rain (scattered rain) through Thursday. Yuck! I really need the sun!

More later...

Happy Birthday America!

This was a wonderful day. We celebrated at church this morning by having a sermon about the birth of our nation and the "under God" that is in the Pledge of Allegiance. Almost all of the music today was patriotic in nature. Chloe sang a solo today that was just about perfect. She sang "I'm Proud to be an American" by Lee Greenwood and she sounded great. If you missed it, I'm sorry because it was a perfect song for her voice. She has lots of talent!!

This evening we went to Bob & Rita's and joined several old friends and new friends for a pot luck. It was a great evening. We got home just in time to "hear" the grand finale of the fireworks at the park. Right now God is doing His own fireworks display! We saw 12 deer on the way home - most of them right up by the road. One of the deer was a baby. I sure hope it went back into the woods so it didn't get hit by a car.

More later...

Saturday the 3rd of July

We got home about 6:15 tonight after being at the Good Guys car show in Des Moines for two days. We always have a great time up there, but it is always hot and very tiring! Dave's knee hurts, my foot hurts, and we both got plenty of sun! Craig & Sue went too, so after Friday at the show, we went to our motel to check in. Since Craig found a $20 bill, he was supposed to buy a pitcher of margaritas at Okoboji Bar & Grill. After we checked in, we took of walking to OB&G. We had great parking places, so didn't want to move our cars! It's a good thing we were walking, because we ended up drinking 2 pitchers of margaritas - about 5 margaritas each!! We were all laughing at the "stupid" things we say after we'd had a couple of those wonderful drinks!! I got really tired and needless to say, I had a great night's sleep! Six o'clock came mighty early though!

I need to give you an update on Allison's run for the championship...her team won!! She pitched, but Vicki said she didn't do as well as she had the previous two nights. Her fingers were pretty sore - she had pretty much rubbed them raw. She got two great hits though, so that made her feel better. She's such a cool kid!!

Right now I'm watching the NASCAR race, but since it's only about 1/3 done, I don't think I'll make it to the end. I may just have to read the results on the NASCAR website! Tomorrow we go to church and then tomorrow evening we're going to Bob & Rita's down by Mt. Sterling....I've got to call Sudi to get directions to their place AND I've got to make my grape salad to take with us.

Happy Independence Day, America!!

Final Two

Allison's team won again tonight. She pitched the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings and struck out 8! She also had a wonderful hit and got hit by a pitch. All in all it was a good game. They play tomorrow night for the championship.

We are leaving at 6:30 AM for Des Moines and the Good Guys. So you won't be hearing from me tomorrow night.