Hotter than....

Clearwater OR Fort Lauderdale today!! Haha - you thought I was going to say something else, didn't you?! This is summer in Iowa! Oh, how the corn would love this if it's little feet weren't so wet!

I had a good day. I got to have a massage today! I was so tired, I fell asleep on the table with her working on my muscles! It was a great massage - it's no wonder she was voted #1 in O-town!! Good job, Gerrii!

Tomorrow night, Allison has two ballgames. I hope it cools down before 6:00! Those girls will be exhausted!

More later...

Long Day

Since I didn't sleep much last night, I'm going to bed! I went to Des Moines and back with a friend. We were right near Archivers, so I got a few minutes in there after her appointment with her surgeon...yay!! We got home about 3:45 and at 4:45 I left for Keota to watch Allison play ball. Her game wasn't very pretty, but they won by 1 run!! So now we go to Riverside on Friday night for two games - one at 6:00 and one at 8:00.

Tomorrow I have a massage and I'm really looking forward to it. Hopefully I'll be a little more rested tomorrow evening! More later...

Aarrrrrggggghhhhh!!!!

Stupid computer provider! We went down again yesterday afternoon and we still weren't up at 2:39 this morning. Ask me how I knew that??? I couldn't sleep. Now I'm getting ready to go to Des Moines with a friend who has a doctor's appointment there...so, no time to "play". I'll catch up tonight hopefully. More later...

I've Been Waiting a Year!

I've been waiting almost a year for this day! Today I took the advanced class with Michelle Zindorf, a Stampin' Up demonstrator from Ohio. You will recall that I took the beginner's class last year in Grinnell. Well, this time it was here in O-town! My class didn't start until 2:30 and the morning just seemed to crawl by! We made 3 cards in class. This is the first one. It's a relatively simple brayered card. All products, of course, are from Stampin' Up! These cards are much prettier in person because the colors are so vibrant. Michelle didn't know that the balloon races were in Ottumwa until last night, but she had this card planned for a couple of months - very appropriate!
The second card is this butterfly one. It wasn't so simple! I'm so glad I did it, though. Next time I try doing a reflection in water, I'll do better! Now that I know how, I can line up the plants a little better and get the butterfly a little more distinct. I had Michelle re-ink my ink pad for the blue shadow (middle right). Unfortunately when I went to sponge the shadow on, I got in the new ink and made a mess! I'll know better than to do that next time too! This is our third card and I LOVE IT!! The bird and the plants on the left have clear embossing powder on them, so they are shiny! I love the sun rays - cool technique that is soooo simple!


Taking these classes is kind of expensive, but it is worth it. We got two stamp sets, a stamp pad of Versamark, a Versamark pen, and all the supplies to make these cards. We used her inks and embossing powders. You also get to meet ladies from all over. We had two who were from Cedar Rapids and 1 from Omaha in our class. The rest were from O-town! I only knew one of the ladies, though...so I met some new people today! Fun!!

More later...

Dull Day

This was a truly dull day for me! The weather was gorgeous and I felt like I had spring fever...so I didn't accomplish much of anything today! I did go do my civic duty and gave blood and I pulled some maple trees (about 5") up! Other than that I read and played on the computer!

The electricians came today - hooray! We now have our bathroom back!! If I do say so myself, the new mirrors and lights look really nice! It'll be nice to have a light that I can actually see by in the morning when I try to put on my makeup!! I've just been getting by for the last 3 weeks!

Here are a few more pictures from our photo safari last night...enjoy!

This is a BIG tire rim that I found in one of the grassy areas near the cemetery at Indian Hills. I liked the contrast of the yellow and the green.


Close-up shot of the statue of Christ on the cross in the cemetery.

This is another statue in the cemetery...I'm thinking it might be St. Francis, but that's a guess on my part. He's quite serious, isn't he?

More later...

Thursday Ponderings

I had a really good day today. I just enjoyed myself all day! I read a little...I made a cool card...I worked on picking out fabrics for my wall hanging insets...cleaned up my studio - just had fun! Here's a picture of the card I made. This card stands up - it's pretty cool. Too bad the picture isn't very good..I scanned it instead of taking a picture of it. The pink cardstock is from Stampin' Up. The big white circle is a shaving cream background I had made. I used a nestabilities die on it. The daisy is from a card we just received from Dave's aunt! The sentiment is from the dollar bin at Michael's. The corners at the bottom are cut using a Cuttlebug corner die. I saw a cArd very similar to this one on www.splitcoaststampers.com and decided I could do something with that idea. Tonight I had my photography class at The Photo Shop. We went on a picture safari to Indian Hills tonight. I took a bunch of pictures. The following are some of my favorites. This first one is looking into the woods behind the child care center.
This is a picture of the statue of Christ on the cross as seen from the gate to the cemetery. It's such a peaceful spot on campus.
This last photo is a close up of some tree leaves, again near the cemetery on campus. There were four of us in class tonight and we made good use of the time given us. I'll share some more pictures tomorrow night.

More later...

Cold Day!

I think a touch of winter came back today. I came downstairs early this morning (because I'm still waiting for the electrician to come) and opened all the doors. It wasn't long until I was closing a door here, a window there! I think the doors from Canada to the US must be open wide cause there was some cold wind today!

I worked upstairs in my studio a lot of today. I got my star all pieced and now I'm ready for the inset pieces....but I am lost. I don't know what color to make my light pieces. I think I'm going to need to make a trip to Amana. Anyone interested???

Here's the star (not put together yet). I used purples, blues and greens. This picture is using the flash on my camera...actually the next picture is a more accurate depiction of the colors.



Here's the pattern. When I do the insets, I'll continue with my blues, greens and purples. I just don't know how to get my unusual feathered star to pop off the background. Should I use white,

or should I try to use one of these light colors? The border will be the butterfly fabric and lighter shades of blue, green and purple. Whichever way I decide to go, I may have to make a road trip. I don't think I want all of the same fabric for the light triangles...maybe I should use a combination of these 3 light fabrics. I could really use some advice here. Thanks!!
On another topic, Dave added another job description to his resume today (to borrow a phrase from my friend, Mary D). He's now an official goose wrangler!! He and about 15 other guys wrangled up around 300-400 Canadian geese from the parks today. The geese weren't hurt; they were shipped to a location about 60 miles away. We have such an over-abundance of Canadian geese that our parks are a health hazard...you can't walk anywhere without stepping in geese doo-doo!! This should help the problem for a little while anyway!

I haven't heard anything more about our friend, Diana. As of a couple of days ago, she was still in a coma, but was becoming more active moving her hands and feet, opening her eyes, etc. Please keep her in your prayers. The doctors have said that in the next 30 days or so, she could be fine and 20 seconds later be gone. They were able to repair the aneurysm, but now the blood has to train itself to go around the repair. She's a fighter - I hope she continues to fight! Her husband is one of those people who doesn't write checks or do the books, so he's completely lost. She waited on him hand and foot.

More later...

Beautiful Tuesday

Boy, today sure turned out to be a beautiful day! I turned off the air conditioning again and opened up the house! So far, we're sure saving money on the electrical bill by not running the air conditioner! Thank you God! Your air is much better than A/C any day!

Dave actually got to work today. I'm glad - it got him out of the house and I got a day of peace and quiet! I even cooked today. I fixed meatloaf and baked potatoes for supper and had it ready for him when he got home. He had a church meeting tonight at 6:30 so we ate at 5:45! Now I'm just hanging out waiting for him to get home. I had a chiropractor's appointment this morning and this afternoon I sewed and read! Fun day!!

More later...

Monday Ramblings

Dave and I worked hard today...Dave worked harder than I did, but I did my share!! He swept the downstairs floors, then he mopped them, and then he used a steamer on them. I have to say, they look really nice. We'll probably be doing this regularly now that we know how nice they look. We moved furniture from one end of a room to the other so he didn't have to go around any chairs or tables! I did the dusting and the laundry, plus I cleaned the bathrooms. What a fun Monday this was!!

I turned the air off this morning after it quit raining because it was nice and cool outside. Well, by about 6:00 tonight we turned it back on. The heat index was 89 and it was 83 in here! It feels much better now! Tonight we ran to Target to get a rug, some towels, and a stool lid cover for the half bath. We also hung one of my Florida pictures in there, so it's really looking good!! I like it so much better!!

Dave is exhausted, but he's got a list for tomorrow too. You gotta love him!! More later...

Beautiful Day

Today was another gorgeous day, but I did turn the A/C back on after church! Pastor David started a series of sermons on the Apostles' Creed today. Very interesting...we only got thru the first 12 words!! After church we went with 8 others to lunch at Roe's. I had a tenderloin that was very good, but I could only eat half of it. Dave had a hamburger and his must have been good too, because he ate all of it!! Then we came home, turned on the air conditioning and Dave took a nap. I watched the NASCAR race. It was a boring race today! There were only 5 cautions, maybe 6...boring!!

Dave got the bathroom done and put back together this afternoon. I need some color in there, though, so I've got to get a colored rug and some towels that will fit with the kitchen colors. I didn't really want to buy anything new, but it looks like I'll have to.

More later...

Jammin' with Jesus

Today at our church we had Jammin' with Jesus and it was really fun. We had musicians galore there...singers, instrument players including drums, guitars, flutes, a keyboard player, and even just some spectators. Wendy did a great job talking about the role of music in worship. Tomorrow at church we're going to "show off" a little of what we did today! Dave was at Habitat all day, so I did church activities all morning, then was home all afternoon.

This afternoon, while I was sewing on my wall hanging, I temporarily lost my "focus" fabric. I've got at least 2 yards of it, so it's not like it's just a little piece. I couldn't find it anywhere! So, I left the room and read for a half an hour or so. When I came back, I looked some more and it had gotten a tub of fabric put on top of it. Guess what else I found? I found the rest of my pattern!! I don't know what's going to happen to me when I get old!! I would have sworn I didn't have those pattern pieces. Evidently when I got the pattern out, I decided to start with the star and just stuck the other pieces in the closet!! I'm really glad I found both the pieces AND the fabric!!

Today, I've got a couple more critters to share with you. This first one is one of the ugliest bugs I've ever seen. He was about 3 feet from my window and I could see him pretty clearly. I'm glad there was a screen between him and me!


This critter visits us about every day. Sometimes Dave throws broth or gravy out for the critters and we usually throw out bread crusts. This little girl(?) comes by frequently. I don't think she has a home!
We had some excitement in the 'hood tonight. We were sitting out on our stoop enjoying a glass of iced tea, when we heard a man screaming and then a woman screaming...having a domestic incident!! We came inside, because we didn't know if the flight would spill over to our corner of the neighborhood. We've got 2 houses nearby that we call drug houses and this was at one of them. Three police cars visited within minutes and about 45 minutes later, the guy left walking with two duffel bags and his dog! I wouldn't doubt but what we see him (or rather hear him) later tonight. He'll probably want some revenge!

More later...

Friday Happenings

This morning was my June PEO meeting. We had 21 people there - a good meeting!! Our President gave her convention report. She wasn't looking forward to convention at all, but she had a great time. I had a portion of my President's letter read at convention - that was special! Too bad I couldn't be there.

This afternoon, I did a little sewing and then I came down to the office to play on the computer. I have more fun looking out my window than I do playing the games on the computer! Here are some of my "friends" who visited today!

This little wren decided to try to get this stick for her nest...hmmm, doesn't look like it's going to fit. Never fear, though...

She actually turned it and stuck in in sideways!! I told you that perseverance wins!!

Unfortunately, I'm afraid it was all for naught! I think she was building where a sparrow had already started to build. I haven't seen her this evening - just the sparrows have been around the house. Actually, there may be two wrens, because earlier, I saw this...


I really think this is a robin's nest, though...I think it's way too big for a little wren. Maybe she was just stopping to say hi! There are babies in the nest, because every once in a while I can see little beaks poking up!! Maybe Mrs. Wren is the welcome wagon bird!!

I've got a couple more pictures of birds...I don't have a clue what kind of birds they are. They both move so fast, I can't get focused on them. Just as I get them in focus, they move! This first one has a turned-up beak and he's always upside down!!

This one is a really big bird. I think it might be a red-headed woodpecker, but I'm not sure. He bobs around while he's eating the seed, kind of like he's listening to music and groovin' to the beat! Dave got the bathroom painted today and he's got both the stool and the sink installed again! Right now he's putting together a towel tower that I bought to replace the big bird house/storage I had in there earlier. I think it's time to retire it!! Dave says he really likes this new tower, but it's a "thousand piece puzzle"!! Hopefully he'll figure it out!! More later...

Perfect Day Today!!

It was absolutely beautiful today. In my opinion, this was a perfect day!! The sun was shining, it wasn't too hot or too cold, and the humidity was no existent until this evening. We've still got the air off!! Each day that we can keep it off is wonderful!

We got an update on our friend, Diana. The doctors are encouraged and hope to remove all tubes this weekend. She could be in the hospital 3 months and is facing 18 months of rehab. I just hope that she GETS to stay in the hospital and have rehab! I don't think she's out of the woods yet, so please keep praying for her!

I had fun today. I mowed about half of the lawn before Dave came out to take over. I also sat out on the side stoop and watched the birds and squirrels. We have a wren building a nest in one of little bird houses and the squirrels were playing king of the mountain trying to eat the food Dave put out for them. One had to exercise patience while the other ate - they don't share well! Check out these pictures!! If there was a reward for perseverance, the squirrel on the right would win it!!Maybe if I just stretch a little more...
I'll try going in from the other side...
Yay!! I made it! These ARE good!!

They entertained me for a long time!! Dave got the Kilz on the bathroom walls this evening. The contractor (who has no concept of time!) told us he'd be here at 10:30 this morning - ha! He came about 2:15!! He did his final inspection about 5:45 so then we just had to let it dry. I'm pretty sure Dave will work tomorrow, so no paint will go up until the next rainy day - :(!! I hate living in a construction zone!!

More later...

Hump Day!

I had an early, early appointment with Dr. C this morning. I've been feeling enough better that I've been out pulling weeds from my flowers. This morning, however, I was really stiff...plus I'm still dizzy. Hopefully tomorrow I'll wake up and find that my back is even better.

We heard today that our friend, Diana, who had the aneurysm, was to get her breathing tube removed today. She was doing well and her color had improved, etc. We're still praying for her, though. They said it would be a long rehabilitation period!

Dave hired a guy to come put thin coat on the half-bath and he came this morning. He's got two coats on already and is planning to be here at 8:00 in the morning to put the third coat on. Dave thinks he'll get to paint tomorrow afternoon...yay!! We got our paint this evening, so we're now ready as soon as that last coat of plaster dries. I'll probably be mowing unless it rains some more. We got another 2.5 inches of rain last night, so that's 6" in about 36 hours. We're pretty much water-logged!

I'm working on a wall hanging - one that part of the pattern is missing from. I've got to get over to see Sudi so I can get her opinion of what I should do. I've got two points of the star finished, but each point takes a long time and there are 8 of them. This is a paper-pieced pattern and I struggle getting pieces 1 and 2 on correctly. I think paper piecing is hard, when in fact it should be easy. I'll get it done, even if I have to "un-sew" the seam between 1 & 2 each time (like I've had to so far!!)

More later...

Another busy day!

Since we got another 3" of rain last night, Dave couldn't go to work. When he doesn't go to work, he thinks he has to work around here! So, he got up this morning, looked outside and decided he was going to strip the wallpaper off the half-bath downstairs. I wanted to be the first to pull off some of that paper, so I came down and started pulling it off. The top layer came off so easily that I did the whole bathroom except at the very top, which I couldn't reach! Since I'm still dizzy, I didn't want to be on a ladder working above my head - I'm sure I would have fallen off! So now he's got the wall paper all stripped off, but there's no plaster on the walls - just some kind of a plaster board without a coating. He doesn't know what to do about that. Should we put up 3/8" drywall or have this guy he knows come in and thin-coat it. I say thin-coat. If we put up drywall, we lose another 1" of room (not quite an inch) and that room is little already!! Right now he's shopping online for a medicine cabinet, but none of the ones online seem to be the same size as ours. Why can't things be simple?????

Tonight I had another church meeting and since I'm the note-taker for both commissions, I'd better get busy typing up notes! More later...

Monday Thoughts

I thought today was a pretty good day, considering that it was a Monday! It was a little chilly, though! We had windows open in our bedroom and I about froze reading the newspaper in bed! So when I dressed for the day, I put on shorts and a long-sleeved shirt. I came downstairs and opened up the doors and windows like I always do...and promptly closed them!! I got some cool pictures of the storms that came in this afternoon.There were some really cool-looking clouds. I tried to get a shot of the lightning, but I didn't want to stand outside while it was lightning around me! These pictures were taken from our main stoop. Actually this last one was taken from my garage. Look at all the layers of these clouds!!
I tried to be creative today, but I just couldn't! Some days it's hard to get the mojo going and today was one of them for me. I even tried to sew a little and that didn't work either. I had to remove a seam first thing, so I went in and read. That I can do without thinking!! Maybe tomorrow I can be creative!

More later...

Busy, Busy!!

What a fun, but busy day we had today! Besides being busy, it was also a beautiful one! Dave, Bryan and I went to church this morning, where it was Pentacost Sunday...Pastor David used red balloons to represent the Holy Spirit and how you never know where or when the Holy Spirit will seek you out! I thought it was very effective! We had some really cool music today too!

After church I put ham balls in the oven to bake and then took off for Target to purchase a gift for a baby shower. I also stopped at Grahams to get ice cream so that I could be Bryan's favorite Step-Mom!! He loves Grahams!! When I got home, I heated up some cheesy baked potatoes and the ham balls were ready to eat. The guys had hung the mirrors in the bathroom...now I'm just hoping that the electrician comes tomorrow to wire the lights. Then we'll be able to mop the floor and finish this construction project!

Bryan left about 1:30 and I left for the baby shower at 1:45. I only stayed out there about 1 1/4 hours, and when I got home Dave wanted to go see "Pirates of the Caribbean". So we hit the movie theater for the matinee at 4:30. I love that time because there are usually only a handful of people there then. Today was no exception - I think there were 10 of us in the theater. We loved the movie. It's definitely full of action!! I missed Orlando Bloom and Kira Knightly's characters, but Penelope Cruz did a good job in her role! Of course, what can I say about Johnny Depp! He was very good as usual.

We did get some bad news today. One of our dear friends, who used to run with us in the Vintage Cruisers had a brain aneurysm last night and is in Iowa City, with only a 5% chance of survival. Diana and her family are in our prayers tonight. We love you, Di!

More later...

Short & Sweet

This is going to be short and sweet tonight. I'm getting a late start. I went to Washington today to watch Allison play ball. They got clobbered the first game...got clobbered the second game...and got clobbered the third game! It's rather obvious that most of the girls on her team don't get worked with at home! It sure showed today. Allison didn't pitch until the end of the second game when she came in in relief of Belle and then she started pitching the third game. Then in the second inning (or maybe the third) she got hit by a line drive - the ball hit her right in the kneecap and she went down crying! Needless to say she didn't come back out and the game got way out of hand after that. After the game we took her to get ice cream, hoping that would make her feel better and it seemed to work!!

We got home in time for supper. Bryan is here and he and Dave had a good day. They mowed and trimmed the yard and grilled steaks for supper. Tonight we watched "Failure to Launch" - what a fun movie!! Now everyone's already crashed and I'm going upstairs too! More later...

Nice Day

This morning was beautiful. I'm sure glad I'd turned off the air conditioning a couple of days ago. It was nice sleeping last night. We even had to pull the covers up - it got a little chilly in our room!

The bathroom project is still not done - :(! Bryan is coming tomorrow, so maybe some more will get done on it. Dave caulked around the tile, but he wasn't happy with it, so he took all the caulk off today. He and Bryan are going to hang the mirrors tomorrow. Once the mirrors are in place, then the electricians can come back and put in the lights. I can hardly wait for all of it to be done. I'm getting tired of living in a construction zone!

Tonight after taking the caulk off the wall, Dave said he was done and he wanted to go to the Club for dinner! We hadn't been there for a while. I had their chicken breast special - it was smothered in a cream sauce of some type. Boy, was it good! Dave had pasta primavera and it was good too. I wish I'd had room for dessert - they had a 3 berry flan that sounded wonderful!

Bob just called to tell me that we didn't have to leave at 6:45 AM tomorrow to go watch Allison. The games have been moved back because of the rain. Now we're leaving at 8:15...much better!! I'm sorry I won't be here for Bryan all day, but he and his dad can have a bonding day! I'm hoping to have ham balls on Sunday - I hope Bryan stays for lunch!

More later...

More Rain!

I'm not sure if it's ever going to stop raining! According to one TV station, we have already surpassed the average amount of rain for June and it's only the 9th! Sudi told me to concentrate on the days we're not supposed to get rain, so I'm trying!!

I had a great appointment with Dr. C. this afternoon. He actually worked on me for 2 hours and when I went to get up my back didn't spasm! I was dizzy, but that went away pretty quickly. He was also getting my spine to move on my right side. The left still has a ways to go, but it's sure better. Right now I'm pretty stiff, but hopefully Biofreeze will help me tonight and tomorrow I'll feel even better!

More later...

Yucky Day Today!

I was dizzy when I woke up this morning and that makes for a really yucky day for me! It the dizziness doesn't go away right away, it pretty much stays around for a while. I'm not so dizzy that I can't function...I just don't want to function! I'll take a meclazine tonight and see if that takes the dizziness away.

I did make a graduation card today and I played with my new butterfly die (from SU), but other than that I did some puzzles and tried to take a nap, which didn't work!

Here are the graduation cards I'm sending out - I know, I'm late but I say, "Better late than never!" This first one, I purchased for $2.00. The price was definitely good. Unfortunately the quality of the paper is awful! It's very lightweight, but I love the idea. Too bad she didn't use SU paper, it would have been much nicer!

I saw a card very similar to this one on Splitcoaststampers.com and I really liked it. I made one for a young man. If I were to make it for a girl, I would make the collar lacy by punching it with a corner punch and then pearl buttons instead of black brads. All these papers are Stampin' Up, by the way. The sentiment is from the dollar bin at Michael's. After studying this closely, I've decided I need to change the blade on my paper cutter - I think that's why the rough edges on the "v". Maybe I'll make another one tomorrow and keep this one for my sample book. There's no way I would sell this card for $2.00. I think $3.00 at the least! What do you think???



I was supposed to give blood this afternoon, but decided I didn't need THAT on top of my dizziness. I'll have to reschedule because they love my blood!!

I wonder how Allison did tonight. They played at the Township School (Mennonite) over by Kalona somewhere...it's out in the country and there's no way I could ever find it!

More later...

Tuesday

It was another really hot day in SE Iowa! Right now, at 9:00 at night, it's 83 here, 85 in Clearwater and 82 in Fort Lauderdale. How crazy is that??? June isn't usually this hot or rainy! I went outside to mow about 10:00 this morning. Dave told me the mower had plenty of gas - wrong again!! I got about 3/4 of the way finished and ran out of gas! The gas can is a 6 gallon can and was clear full...and the mower was at the front of the yard. There was no way I could carry that can AND lift it to get the gas in the mower, so I had to call Dave! About 1:00 he slipped home just long enough to fill the mower and go around the perimeter (which I won't do!). So I went outside and finished my job!

I had gotten so hot mowing, that my clothes were just soaked! When I came inside to wait for him to come I about froze to death! Wet clothes and air conditioning just don't mix! While I was outside I also had to water flowers. Believe it or not, they were dry! I got the flowers watered and pulled a few weeds while I was out there! Our lawn looks beautiful, if I do say so myself!!

I've been playing Zuma Blitz on Facebook tonight. I basically stink at that game!! I don't have any clue how my friends get half a million points! Howard usually has OVER a million points! I just don't react quickly enough, I guess! Tomorrow's another day - maybe I'll get better over night - ha!!

More later...

Another day, another ballgame!

Here it is Monday and we went to another of Allison's ballgames - this one was in Keota. At least it wasn't quite so far to drive!! This time, we didn't take lawn chairs, because there are ALWAYS bleachers...NOT! Thank goodness we got there early. There was one park bench behind home plate, so all three of us sat on it! It was really nice, actually...no one was yelling in our ears and no one had their knees in our backs! Allison pitched really, really well tonight. She struck out 6 and one girl got a hit on her. We won 9-0 or something like that...I stopped counting after while.

After the game we stopped at a convenience store in Keota to get something to eat and to use their facilities. They didn't have much except ice cream, so we all had malts and shakes! Pretty good supper in my opinion!

More later...

Super Sunday!

I love Sundays! I love going to church! I love singing wonderful songs! I love hearing the sermons! I love being with my church friends!! It was great to see Pastor Sara today. Pastor David and Liz are vacationing this weekend - I hope they're enjoying themselves. Since David was gone, Sara filled the pulpit today. She did her usual bang-up job! For her children's message, Faith was the only young person in attendance...so, I became a young person!! Sara said I was on my second childhood!! Anyway, good job Sara! The Ascension makes for a great sermon!

This afternoon, Dave and I went to the Habitat home dedication. It was very well attended - even some of the neighbors came over to see the house and welcome their new neighbor! I took lots of pictures, but I didn't get them uploaded yet. I've got to downsize all of them and send them to the homeowner's sister. It takes a long time to downsize a bunch of pictures. I wonder if there's a way to re-size a batch of pictures instead of having to do them one at a time?

Allison's tournament got cancelled today - too much rain! As hot as it was yesterday, I think those kids on all the teams deserved to stay home today!

More later...

Hot Time in Kalona!

We had (actually Allison had) three games today in Kalona, so Bob, Ann & I were on the road at 7:30 AM to be there for a 9:00 game! The 9:00 game was hot, but the 10:30 game was even hotter! Thank God for a little breeze! I had a golf umbrella in the car - that was all that saved me from melting!! The girls did very well - they won both of those games. At 9:00 we played a team that we'd played before - I can't think where they're from. At 10:30 we played the Ottumwa team and Allison pitched! She did really well!! At one point she had the bases loaded because no one could catch a ball today!! However, even with the bases loaded and 2 outs, she struck out the next batter!!

After the second game we went downtown to the Kalona Family Restaurant for lunch. It was packed today! Then we had to get back to the ballpark for a 1:00 game. This game wasn't very pretty - we lost 15-5! The coach let a girl pitch the first inning, who has only pitched once before - she walked in 5 runs! Then the second inning, another one of the girls took over and she let them score 5 runs! She also pitched part of the 3rd inning and they scored another 5 runs!! I know the coach is trying to get some other girls used to pitching, but when they walk in 5 runs, no one but the catcher is doing any work - everyone in the field is just standing there looking off into space! Allison was catching and she had to chase down all of the errant balls the pitchers threw! It started raining on us in this third game, but it at least cooled us down. It pretty much rained the whole 3rd game!!

I've included some pictures from last night. These are pictures of her league team - not the same team as today.
Then this is a picture of her delivering a pitch last night. Unfortunately they got beat last night - that was the first loss I'd seen this year!
Dave worked at Habitat all day. Tomorrow is the house's dedication and they had all kinds of problems today. So he'll be going to the house to work in the morning instead of going to church. As for me, I'll be going to church and then I'm planning to attend the dedication.

Today in O-town was the funeral for the soldier who died in Afghanistan this past week. I guess there were a few protestors there - but only about 5 or 6. Mostly, however, there were many, many people holding flags and lining the streets of Ottumwa, showing support for the young man's family. The pictures I've seen on Facebook are wonderful. The Patriot Guard was here in full force too. Very impressive. I would have liked to have been there too, but I could only be in one place at a time!!

More later...

Quick Tonight

Just a quick note tonight. We didn't get home until after 10:00. Allison's ballgame went until 7:30 and then she wanted to go to Pizza Ranch for supper. You should have seen that kid eat! There were 12 of us that sat together...3 sets of grandparents, Dave & I, some friends from Libertyville, and Vicki & Allison! She pitched pretty well tonight, but her team pretty much sucked! They have two girls who are afraid of the ball and step out of the batter's box as the pitch leaves the pitcher's hands. A couple more girls couldn't hit the ball if their life depended on it and several who can't catch the ball, including the other coach's daughter!

Tomorrow I pick Bob & Ann up at 7:30 AM to go to Kalona to watch more games - 9:00, 10:30 and 1:00! I hope it's cloudy!!

More later...

Thursday

This was one of those days when you'd just like to curl up with a book and eventually fall asleep! We had a nice gentle rain that came straight down so I didn't even have to close the windows or doors! I got all of my backpacks done and delivered this morning, just before Dave got home. Since it was raining, he couldn't work so he came home to help me find mirrors for the bathroom.

After lunch I had an appointment with Dr. Coram for my back. I had about 3 of those horribly hard back spasms while he was working on me. He assures me, though, that my back is going to get better - we've just got to work them kinks out of it! When I got home from seeing him, I went upstairs and read for a little while - mainly to straighten my back. Then Dave and I went out looking for mirrors and curtains and rugs for the bathroom. We went to Target where they had one mirror that was kind of interesting, but a little too formal. We did, however, find rugs there. Then we went to K-Mart where they didn't have any mirrors except little ones or door mirrors. We did get some curtains there though. After that we went to Walmart, where we came out with nothing!! We'd already been to Menards the other day. Tonight I ordered two mirrors from Bed, Bath & Beyond! Thank you, internet!! Shipping was only $11 and Dave said we couldn't drive to Des Moines and back for $11! He's probably right because we'd find some other things we wanted in Des Moines, or I'd have talked him into going to Hobby Lobby and out to lunch, etc...yup, wise choice to order online!

We tried out a new Mexican restaurant tonight - Los Jimadores. It was very good...the best part was they had margaritas for $1.99 on Thursdays - all day!! We had a jumbo margarita that we shared. It was so big we had a hard time drinking it all!! I tried to get them to give me a to-go cup, but they wouldn't :( !!!

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It's Late!

I just got home from Wellman where Allison was playing ball tonight! I'm very tired...had a long day! I had to be at church this morning at 9:30 to sew backpacks. We sewed until 1:00 and I brought home 10 to finish. I got 4 and a half done before Bob & Ann picked me up to go to the softball game! So tomorrow I'll get 5.5 done!!

Allison pitched the first two innings tonight. She did a really good job. No hits off of her! No walks! She did hit a girl with a pitch, so there was a base runner, but she didn't score! We won 12-1. She was funny tonight. When we got there she was a little grumpy! She'd stayed up late (midnight or after) and besides softball, she's attending basketball camp at Washington HS. No wonder she was grumpy! She's tired!!

More later...