Ready to Head East

I think I've finally gotten everything taken care of and I can leave O-town with a good conscience! Now, if we were just there! Better yet, I wish we had remembered to go to the Library and get a book on CD, then the trip would go faster! I can't believe we forgot to do that! I've got a book on cassette tape, but there's no tape player in my car! So, I guess we'll just have to talk to each other - what a novel thought! Actually, since we haven't been back to Indiana for a while, we'll enjoy watching the changing landscape.

Sounds like a beautiful, but chilly weekend. I guess I'll have to pack a jacket! Have a good one. I'll post when we get back! More later...

Weds. Sept. 29

Today I had a revelation and it wasn't good!! I just figured out that Friday (that's the day after tomorrow) is October 1st!! That means that I am supposed to be in Logansport, Indiana by 2:00 our time AND I have a PEO meeting that I'm supposed to preside over at 9:30 AM...There's no way I can do both!! My husband's family is going to win out on this one. We're going to Indiana. I have my VP set to conduct the meeting. I was supposed to pick up our new members and escort them to the meeting, so I've found someone else to do that. I really wanted to be there for their initiation, but I guess I'll just have to hear about it second hand. Not only did I have a PEO meeting to rearrange, but I was also supposed to work at north HyVee Friday afternoon collecting food for the Lord's Cupboard...can't do that either. AND I had stamping on Saturday afternoon - can't do that either! I've resigned myself to the fact that I must have a calendar...and now I've resigned myself to the fact that I MUST LOOK AT IT!!! I'm not one who takes commitments lightly, so this has really bothered me today. I'm glad I have people who are willing to help me out of a bind!

I went to Fairfield today for a class luncheon. Nancy Weidner Horton Dunster is back in Fairfield for a week so a bunch of us got together to visit. I thought it was lots of fun today, especially. Must be because it's so fun to talk to Nancy again.

Tonight I had choir practice and I'm sure glad I won't be at church on Sunday. The song we're singing is a really hard one that I just don't like!! More later...

Girls' Day Out

Today was a girls' day out for Sudi, Chris, and me. I left here about 8:10 and met them in South English about 9:00. We went to Williamsburg to the outlet mall and shopped all day long! It was a very productive day and we saved lots of money between us!! Sudi was the big winner though. You'll have to ask her what she got for $8.40!! Good shopping ladies! We left the mall at 3:10 with 5 minutes to spare! Since Chris had to be back in Fairfield at a certain time, we knew we needed to leave the mall at 3:15! I'm sure she made her appointment all right, cause I was back in Ottumwa by 4:40. Thanks again, ladies, for a fun day!

When I got home, Dave wanted to go downtown to the Rotary Chicken BBQ. I told him it was a little early for supper, but he hadn't eaten lunch so he was hungry. We got down there and parked about 5:00 and we weren't the only ones eating that early! The big tent was pretty full and the line just kept on coming in! It's always fun to eat in the tent because you see people you don't see normally. We sat with the Kents and enjoyed hearing The Lowly Brass as we ate. The dinner included a half a chicken, cole slaw, corn, a dinner roll and a little cup of ice cream, as well as pop or tea or water! Pretty good deal to kick off Ocktoberfest in O-town! I hope we get to go downtown to get a brat this week, but we'll see how that goes!

More later...

Monday Sept. 27

Can you believe that it's the last week of September already? I can't. However, the weather, even though the sun is shining, is starting to change. It's almost too cold for me to wear shorts! I was pretty cold today, so I decided to just lay down and cover up and read this afternoon! That cover felt mighty good! I'm hoping that the beautifully warm fall weather shows up soon!!

Tonight was the Indian Hills' Retirees dinner. It's always a nice event to go to. There were 92 of us tonight - a record crowd. Many of the attendees were recent retirees! We had great food - chicken kiev, twice baked potato, mixed veggies including broccoli, yellow squash, snow peas, croissants, and raspberry cheesecake for dessert!! Typical IHCC banquet fare! It was fun to see a bunch of my old co-workers! I got home in time to watch most of Dancing With The Stars! In fact, I only missed the first dancer. I think there's a lot of talent on the show this season. I believe that Michael Bolton will be gone after tonight, but I think he was judged unfairly...I think "The Situation" did a worse job than Michael did. Michael got a 12 and The Situation got 18. The Situation has absolutely NO musicality!! I can dance better than he can!!

Tomorrow is another busy day - I'll be leaving here at 8:00 AM to meet Sudi and Chris to go shopping in Williamsburg. I need to get a few things before I go to Galena on the 7th! More later...

Sunday Thoughts

We had a wonderful crowd today at church. Pastor Dave wants to have 200 in worship by January 1st. If this keeps up, we're definitely going to make it. He's just so enthusiastic and it seems to be contagious! Today was Evangelism Sunday and we had several visitors in the congregation. Hopefully some of them will return! I know that some won't because they were visiting Ottumwa for their 55th class reunion, but hopefully the ones from Ottumwa will return.

Dave and I came home after church and had lunch. This afternoon, we took some more people on a cruise like we did last month. We've still got 3 more people to take on a cruise. Hopefully we can get it done yet this fall. One of the ladies today is somewhere around 80 years old. She really enjoyed it. Since three people couldn't come today, Dave invited Pastor Dave and Liz. With the addition of them, I had four people in my car and Dave had four in his. Good times!!

Now I'm watching Brothers & Sisters' season premiere. Desperate Housewives was something else! Love these premieres!! I've got a very busy week - hope I get to everything!! More later...

Brrrrrr....

I don't know what happened to our nice weather, but today was really, really cold...and wet! We must have had another inch or so of rain today, which didn't help the chill at all! I actually wore a sweatshirt all day - I still have on my shorts, though!!! Tonight when I was sitting here watching the ISU game, I did have a blanket wrapped around my legs!

Speaking of the game - our defense destroyed UNI. We had one interception returned 93 yards for a touchdown and another one returned 40 or so yards! Our main QB got hurt in the first series of downs, but our backup came in and did an ok job. He really needs to work on his passing, though! Texas didn't have such a good day! Poor Mack Brown.

This was a pretty boring day - I actually didn't do much all day. I watched some football, which I love and Dave, not so much!! Actually, he was working at Habitat all day. Speaking of Dave - he rode his Ruckus to Habitat today even though it was cold and rainy! Yesterday he washed both his pickup and my car and he didn't want to get them dirty!!! He's so funny! When he came home from working at the Habitat house, he called me and had me open the garage door so he didn't have to stand out in the rain while the door opened!! So, as he's coming into the driveway, he was just a honking his horn - I guess so I can see how silly he looked in his rain gear on his moped!! His jeans were soaked when he got inside!

Tomorrow is church and my first Sunday back in the choir. So I've got to get there early to practice.

Stamp Club Day

Today was Stamp Club day and it was a fun one. We made two items this morning. The first was an autumn card and the second was a gift card holder. This first one was a little more complicated than we anticipated. The card is really pretty though and I'll probably make more of them. Jan demonstrated this card and she supplied all of the materials. The pumpkin is from the Sept. issue of CardMaker Magazine. We've been on a quilting theme for the last 3 or 4 months at Stamp Club and today was no exception. It turned out really pretty, I think!

Our second project was a gift card holder. I am not real happy with mine, but when I make another one, I'll do better. I have to figure out how to run the cardstock through the Big Shot to get the design exactly where I want it. I would have had the embossing on the flap too, but I didn't. Juliene did a good job of demonstrating this project and it's something we'll probably all use in the future, as we all seem to give gift cards to our loved ones. Since Juliene and Jan both supplied all of the paper, I have no idea what company they came from. I know that the embossing folders used are mostly from Stampin' Up. Thanks, ladies - you did a great job! After Club, Dave and I went to the Country Club for lunch. Bob and Ann were just teeing off on hole #1, so we got to talk to them for a little bit. Why, I even got a hug from my big brother. We went into the 19th Hole for lunch and I had their soup of the day. It was really good!! We sat with Ivan today and I asked him if I could get a ride on his boat if I came to Naples this winter! He said yes!!! I can hardly wait - he has a 68 foot boat (just a little one)!!

This afternoon, Dave washed both my car and his truck and we turned off the air conditioner - hopefully for the rest of the season! We were sitting here about 6:30, eating our leftovers and I happened to glance at the calendar. We missed the last Cruise at S HyVee tonight. We just had a brain blip, because we try to go to all of these. Oh well! I guess we'll catch the first one next year, now!

More later...

I Quit!!!

Facebook is driving me nuts - this afternoon it was down for several hours according to Google news and tonight I can't go on to any of my friends' pages and help them. So, I've decided to go to bed!!!

Today, Sudi and I went to Chris' to help her pack some more boxes. I don't know how much headway she is making...it seems to me that it's still overwhelming! I'm glad, though, that we can be there for her and help even a little! I think once she gets some of the boxes and antiques out of there, it will look a lot better! More later...

Interesting Day Today

I had a very interesting day today. I had to give blood and that is always interesting! For someone who doesn't like needles and shots, I can't believe that I give blood every 56 days! I started giving blood right after 9/11 - I thought that was something that I could do for my country!! Anyway, today they had a "special" at the blood center. Give a unit of blood, sign up to give another unit in November, and you could have a free flu shot. Blue light special at the Blood Center!!! Since I always get a flu shot, I thought this was a good way to get a free one!! So now, I've two arms with new holes in them! The flu shot was a combination flu and H1N1 and it really stung going in. Tonight my arm is a little tender, but not too bad.

Tonight I went to choir practice for the first time since our season started on Sept. 8th. We ran through 10 songs - some of which are really, really hard! We've got 2 new men in the choir this year - Pastor David and Mark Hanson, who is the new principal at the high school. We also had a new alto and Pastor David's wife was there last Sunday, but she wasn't there tonight.

Tomorrow, Dave is going to do some work for Golden Furrow and I'm going to Chris' to help do some more packing! More later...

Tuesday at the Frushour "Farm"

Guess what??? It rained again today - a whole bunch! We've got puddles again! I don't know how much we got, but we've got BIG puddles!

I didn't do a whole lot today, nor did Dave! We did go to the post office at 9:30 this morning to apply for our passports. I'm sure glad we went when we did. The post office wasn't busy for once! We got our little pictures taken and paid our fees, so now we just sit back and wait for the passports to come in the mail. I'm getting excited about the Alaska trip - this just made it all the more real. Both of Dave's sisters and their hubbies are going. We always have a lot of fun with them. I hope to get a few more rooms filled with my nieces, but I haven't heard from them yet.

I got a workout in this morning and this afternoon during the rain, I took a nap! I love to sleep when it's raining. There's something very calming about rain hitting the windows. This evening I had a Beta Sigma Phi meeting while Dave had a Session meeting at church. Busy times!

I was also able to get all of the hummingbird pictures gone through and uploaded to my Facebook page. I hope you have time to check them out! I miss those little rascals! More later...

They're Everywhere!!

They truly were everywhere! One evening while we were sitting outside at Rhonda's we had so many hummingbirds around that we couldn't count them fast enough. If you notice there are 5 in this picture...one of them you see his beak and head through the nectar! They were just hilarious that night! They would dart back and forth and actually crash into each other, but I think it was all in play! Perhaps they were just showing off for us!!

I had so much fun photographing them! I've got lots of cool hummingbird pictures that I hope to put on my Facebook page tomorrow, so you'll have to check them out. Today I uploaded pictures from our visit to the LBJ Ranch (the Texas White House) outside of Johnson City, Texas. It was a very interesting tour! Since it's a National Park, the tours are run by park rangers. We've now been to see homes and/or museums of the following Presidents: Eisenhower, Hoover, Truman, Andrew Jackson, Lincoln, F.Roosevelt (just me). Next time we go to Texas we're going to Austin where LBJ's museum is! By then the Bushs will probably have theirs ready too!

That's all for tonight. I had a busy day, what with working out and working on paperwork to refinance our home, etc. Then this evening I had a PEO Reciprocity meeting and I've still got several PEO things to work on before our Oct. 1st meeting!!! I'm going to leave you with a saying I saw while I was in Fredericksburg...it was on a wooden sign: Meddle thee not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and wouldst be tasty with ketsup!! More later...

Luckenbach, Texas

I forgot to mention in my earlier post, that we also went to Luckenbach, Texas on one of our sightseeing adventures. Rhonda had told us that there wasn't much to the town, but I really thought there might at least be a stone building or two! Haha!!! THIS is Luckenbach, Texas...population 1!! It was population of 3, but the parents of the lone survivor died recently! There is a nice dance hall to the left of this picture, but basically all there is in Luckenbach is this little post office (with a bar in the back room) and the dance hall! Disappointed? I was!! After church today, I started working on my pictures again. I can't believe how many I took! I'm about to get through them all, so will be posting them soon. This evening our neighborhood had their annual get-together. It was lots of fun this year, but it was a little chilly outside! More later...

Bad Day for My Team

I watched the ISU-KSU football game today...and wished that I hadn't wasted my time!! We didn't play very well. We had more penalties in one game than we had all last year, I think! Oh well - this too shall pass!

I got all of my pictures uploaded to my computer, but I haven't got them all on Facebook yet. I did maker an album called "San Antonio Botanical Garden 2010" and uploaded those pictures. I was able to put them in Photoshop and tweak them a little before I loaded them. It's good to do things like this while you're watching a football game, because you don't have to think much while you're working on the pictures.

I also went through all of the mail. We sure do get lots of mail - a lot of which is junk!! Other than that, I didn't do much today! I'm heading to bed now. If the Iowa-Arizona game was on earlier, I would have watched it, but I think I'll pass since it's just now starting! More later...

The Adventure Ends

We had a great vacation! We left 9 days ago and traveled a total of 2630 miles! We went through Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. What a beautiful land this country of ours is! I have lots of pictures to sort through, but for now I'm just going to let you know some of things we did! Besides the beautiful scenery on our trip, we saw the Alamo and the Riverwalk in San Antonio, we had great Mexican food in the oldest restaurant on the river and great BBQ in Boerne! We also saw lots of the Hill Country, tons of horse farms, LBJ's Ranch, the Botanical Gardens in San Antonio. In Fredericksburg we saw rugged land about to be turned into homes for Dave's two cousins, LOTS of longhorn cattle, the Admiral Nimitz museum and wonderful shops on Main Street! The piece d'resistance was every evening we sat out on Rhonda's deck and were surrounded by hummingbirds - 10-15 of them every night!! It was better than any tourist attraction anywhere!! I'll share pictures after I get them downloaded!

The adventure is about to begin...

Our next little adventure is about to begin. Today was spent getting ready for it. The lawn is mowed, the tires are checked, the trailer is packed, laundry is done, clothes are ready to go in suitcases, etc. We're about ready to leave for Texas via Storm Lake!!! We're going north to go south!!! You may not hear from me for a while; however, Dave is taking his computer so I should be able to stay in touch!!

More later...

Tuesday, Sept. 7

This was the day I had a haircut at 7:00 AM! Never again!!! I had to get up at 6:15, just to get there in time. Then since I was in the same building, after my haircut I did my workout! Now haircuts at 7:00 are one thing, but working out at 7:20 are another thing entirely! I was pooped all day - don't know how those people who go early in the morning every day do it!! While I was at workout, a friend of mine said, "I'll see you tonight." I said, "What? What's going on tonight?" She said, "We have sorority at your house tonight." My reaction...."Oh Sh__!!" I had forgotten that I had a meeting here tonight! Not only that - I had to do the program too!! Didn't have it on the calendar!! No problem!!!

My day did get better though because I had a massage at 10:15! Then Dave and I met with our Financial Advisor at 2:00 today and sorority here at 7:00! I haven't had much time for anything else today. Sorry, my blog is really boring today! By the way, it's about to get more boring because after tomorrow night, I may not be on here for a while!!! More later...

Raining Again

Labor Day was an absolutely beautiful day! Bryan came down last night to bring back the bedroom set he had borrowed. It was good to have him here. He and his dad had quite a bit of bonding time this weekend. We didn't go to bed until after 12:30 last night and then I couldn't go to sleep, even though I was exhausted! Naturally I slept in this morning - I slept until 9:30! Dave even slept until 8:00, which is entirely unheard of! When I finally got up and took my shower, I asked if Bryan was up, and he wasn't either!! He slept until 10:00!! We had two meals today - brunch and dunch!! We had bacon and eggs at 11:00 or so and then had dinner/lunch (dunch) about 5:00! Then Bryan took off for Waterloo. Hopefully he didn't have to go through too much rain to get home.

I have had a horrible evening. For some reason, my allergies kicked in and my eyes are little slits, I've sneezed so much that I've gone through almost a whole box of tissues!! I even took an allergy pill and I'm still having problems!! There was just a commercial on TNT that advertised some allergy medicine - I guess I should get some of it - it sounded like a cure-all to all my allergy symptoms!

I'm going to bed pretty quickly as I have a busy day tomorrow. I have a 7:00 AM haircut!!! I can't believe I actually agreed to that! Those who really know me know that I am not a morning person! Well, by noon tomorrow, I will have had my hair cut, done my workout and had a massage!! More later...

Another Beautiful Day!!

What a gorgeous day!! I love fall!!! We went to church this morning, where our new pastor was in the pulpit for his first Sunday at First Presbyterian. I really liked his sermon. He used visual demonstrations to show us about how important it is to have our cup empty when we come to worship. If our cup is full when we arrive (with worries, troubles, etc.) or even partially full, then God can't fill it up with His love and goodness. It was a very powerful message. After the service and after most people had already left fellowship hall, I got to sit down and visit with both Pastor David and Liz. I'm going to enjoy getting to know them!
This afternoon, about 4:00, we took 5 people in the GTX and the Chevy and cruised over to Albia for ice cream. Then, because it was such a gorgeous day, we cruised to Lake Rathbun where we went in the Honey Creek destination center. There was a wedding going on down by the water and we could watch it from the hotel. Pretty cool. We then continued our cruise and went over the dam before we returned to Ottumwa. Once in O-town, we took them over to Bridge View to see the sculptures that were dedicated yesterday and then returned home. We thought our cruise would be about two hours, but it ended up being almost 4 hours!!!
Everyone had a good time. The ones who rode in the GTX on the way to Albia switched and rode in the Belair on the way home! We've still got 4 others to take on cruises and hopefully we can get them in yet this fall. These cruises are what we donated to the mission auction last July! It's been such a wet summer and there was no way we could get them in until now. Better late than never! More later...

Beautiful day!!!

Today was about the most perfect that any day could get!! It started out a little chilly though - Dave said it was 49 degrees this morning when we got up!! I was snuggled under the covers, so I didn't realize it was that chilly! After I got up and going, I opened up the house. I do have to admit though, I put on a sweatshirt here in the downstairs! About 10:30 I took off for the Art Walk in downtown Ottumwa. It was a gorgeous day and the exhibitors had wonderful displays. There is sure a lot of talent around here. There were paintings, quilts, cards, jewelry, photography, pottery, metal sculptures - you name it, it was there! I decided that this event should really be called the "Art Talk" because it seemed that was all I was doing! It took me almost 40 minutes just to get past the first 4 vendors!! I was downtown for two hours and loved every minute of it! I think everyone was just really enjoying the art, the camaraderie, and the beautiful day!!

I got back home about 1:00 and frittered away the rest of the afternoon. Dave got home from Habitat about 4:00 and at 5:00 we went down to Bridge View for some more culture! They were "dedicating" 5 sculptures that are going to be displayed there for the next year. They were varied media, from Indiana sandstone, to bronzes, to rusted metal, to painted metal, to an Asian inspired tree made of metal. Beautiful works! The artists were all there willing to discuss their works and the inspiration behind their work. Another good time! We sat by the river and watched the people inspecting the sculptures and we even stayed until they had handed out the awards!

Sorry, no pictures today - just no time to be creative! I was enjoying everyone else's creativity!! More later...

Friday Highlights

This was a gorgeous day! The Cyclones won their game last night and I stayed up to watch it all! I'd sure like the same outcome for their next game!! It sure felt like fall around SE Iowa today. I think the high in O-town was 72 but with 35-45 mph NW winds!! I had all the windows and the doors in the house open, but I have to tell you that I closed them one by one as the day progressed! It felt really good in here after I returned from my workout, but as I ate lunch I started to get a little cool and by this afternoon, I sat in my chair for a while and was covered up with a blanket!! I guess I was kind of wussy!

Tonight Dave and I went to the Patrons Party for Main Street Ottumwa. It was basically wine and light hors doeuvres on the 6th floor of the old Hoffman building in downtown O-town. They have gutted the 6th floor and are going to turn it into 4 small apartments. In fact, they're going to be very small apartments!! They'll all have cool views though! I think the Hoffman bldg is the only one in downtown with 6 floors and there are windows on all four sides! Pretty cool!
After about an hour of that, we left and went to the Club for dinner. The Club was packed again - love to see that!

Tomorrow downtown is the Art Walk from 10-4:00. I hope to get down there. I guess they have over 60 artists coming in for the Walk. Should be fun!

Speaking of fun, here's a card we made at one of the SU get-togethers that I attend. The black background is using one of the SU embossing folders in the design of a spider web. In case you can't tell, the orange striped thing at the left of the little witch is actually ribbon. It's kind of hard to tell when you can't see the card in person.

I need to figure out a couple more Halloween cards and get them ready to send to the grandchildren. They always like my cards!! They're such good kids!! Haha...more later...

Busy Thursday!

Today was a really busy day! I had physical therapy this morning-my last one! Chad said that I'd do very well if I just remember to stretch at least once a day! Then after PT, I had a neurology appointment about my familial tremors. That didn't go so very well! The good doctor said that I could increase either of my two meds, but each one has side effects. I think when I increased my propranolol that my shakes were worse...so he said I could go back down to the 120 mg and see if my tremors get better. If they do, great. If they don't I can go back to the 160 mg. The other medication that I can increase will cause me to be very tired and have more balance problems. Or, his third option was that I could just learn to live with my tremors. Guess which one I chose to do? I'm going for living with them! In fact, I'd like to get off the two meds entirely, but I doubt they'll let me do that!

This afternoon, I had a pedicure so that I could wear some sandals while we're in Texas. Then this evening we met Bob & Ann and 2 other couples at the Tom Tom to have pizza and beer - some of us had water instead of beer!! We came home at 7:00 thinking that we'd have to listen to the ISU football game because we don't get the Fox Sports Network that is carrying it. I was pleasantly surprised to find it on Comcast! We're playing like it's a first game, but we are ahead so far!

These two cards are some little thank-you cards that we made at one of my stamping parties. They are both made from Stampin' Up paper, ink, etc. They're only about 2 1/2 inches square, but they look a lot bigger here! I did a better job of stamping on this second card. For some reason I didn't have the stamp completely inked on the first card.
Oh, another good thing happened today! I saw our male hummingbird again! After this cool weather, though, they'll probably leave right away!! When the cold front came through this afternoon, it was really chilly. I'll probably open all the windows tomorrow! More later...

Bits and Pieces

Yeah!! I went back to Lady Fit today and did a complete 3 circuit workout. I could sure tell that I hadn't worked out for two months! By the time I was two laps into the circuit I was getting pretty tired, but somehow I found the strength to continue. I was able to complete the workout and this evening I feel pretty good. I was a little concerned about how much I should do on a couple of the stations, but by the third round I was doing fine. I did, however, take a nap this afternoon!

Dave and I went to the movies in our own home tonight. A few weeks ago we watched The DaVinci Code and tonight we watched Angels and Demons, another movie based on a book by Dan Brown and directed by Ron Howard. Tom Hanks starred in this one also, as the same character, a professor who is a world-renowned expert on symbols. This too was a fascinating movie! I highly recommend them both! If you've never seen them and want to borrow them from me, you may. We received both of them for Christmas last year.

Here are a couple more cards that I was able to finish the other day. This first one is made entirely of Stampin' Up products - ink, paper, stamps, etc. If you pull up on the flap below the bird, you would be able to write an old fashioned letter inside. It is actually about 4x4 folded, so it can be mailed in a regular A2 envelope. I like it because you can use several scraps of paper and it's really quite clever!
This is another card made from Stampin' Up products. I love their card stock and paper, plus everything matches - the inks, the paper, the card stock, etc. This card ends up being 5 1/4 x 4 1/2, just like a "normal" card, but it has some different folds to it. I'm sorry that the picture doesn't do a lot of justice to the card. The paper is very pretty in real life.
I am very sad tonight. I'm pretty sure that the hummingbirds have left for parts South. I haven't seen one either today or yesterday. I guess they could still be here, but usually I see them every 15-20 minutes and I didn't have any visitors to the feeder while I was at the computer today or yesterday. I hope they find us when they return in April!! Bon Voyage, my little feathered friends...safe journey! More later...