Fun Friday!

I went to Fairfield today to have lunch with some of the class of '66...there were 27 of us at lunch! What fun!! Then after lunch we met at the high school to ride the homecoming float in the parade, and there were about 30 of us on the hayrack! We sang the school song at the way into town - what a riot!! We were the only reunion class to have a float! Our '66 homecoming queen was even on our float!!

After that we still have an hour and a half to kill before supper and the evening festivities, so Corinne cut my hair and styled it. I've always wanted her to cut my hair!! We went to her old shop and used a station in the back room. I love my hair! She cut about 4 inches off my hair and no one even noticed! Or, maybe they don't like it so they didn't say anything. Dave was asleep when I got home, so he couldn't notice. We'll see if he says anything tomorrow, but I doubt it!

This evening's festivities were lots of fun. I don't know how many of us were there for tonight, but there were a bunch of us. The Elks even ran out of loose meat sandwiches and breaded tenderloins! Tomorrow's another day of celebrating! More later...

Whew!

Tonight was such a fun night! Lots of old friends in two different places! First though, I had a great day. I made some cards and started organizing for October 13th's stamp camp. I also finished my PEO newsletter for Fall and got it emailed out. I paid our property taxes for September and just had a good day!

Now, more about this evening...first Dave and I went to the Indian Hills Retirees' Dinner in the Warrior Room at the Advanced Technology Center. I don't know how many people were there, but it was fun to connect with some of the people I used to work with. I also got to sit by my brother and I always enjoy that! The food was wonderful...beef tenderloin medallions, mashed red potatoes, mixed steamed veggies and cheesecake for dessert. I couldn't even begin to eat all of mine, so I brought home about half. Then after dinner, we drove to Fairfield for a class of '66 get-together at Sudi's. Lots of the girls of '66 and a couple of the guys...but mostly girls! I haven't seen Melanie for 5 years at least! Since it started at 6:00 or so and we didn't get there until about 8:00, I was surprised to see so many still there. I think my class really likes to party because they got together last night too! And we're doing it again tomorrow night AND Saturday night!

More later...

Gorgeous Today

This was a beautiful, gorgeous day! I could stand days like this all year long! I guess that's why we go to Florida so we CAN have nice days like this all year!!

I got everything arranged for PEO reciprocity this morning - yay! I also was able to get invitations out for Sunday's stamping and even the 13th.

I haven't been feeling very well in the evenings the past 2-3 days and tonight isn't any different. I ate a part of a piece of pizza tonight...we went to church for the co-op supper...and now I'm having trouble with it too! I've chewed Rolaids until I'm pink inside!! Hopefully this will go away soon. If it doesn't I'm afraid I'm going to have to fast for 24 hours, just to let my tummy rest!

Tomorrow night is the Indian Hills retirees dinner. It's always lots of fun and informative. Then Friday and Saturday I'll be in Fairfield most of the time for the big class reunion!! More later...

A Beautiful Fall Day!

Today was another beautiful fall day...not too hot and not too cold! Tomorrow's supposed to be even nicer from what I've heard!!

I had a bunch of things to do today and I got them all done...anyway as far as I could! The records department was closed today, so I wasn't able to get Dave's records from Dr. Paluska's office. I called IHCC, the Country Club, and Bridge View to get quotes for our upcoming PEO reciprocity event, but BV didn't call me back and IHCC couldn't accommodate us, so I don't have any comparisons at this point. I have to make a decision tomorrow, so I hope BV calls me in the morning.

I was also able to get all the card parts sorted from last Thursday's camp camp. I have packets made up for Sunday's event now. Hopefully we'll have 8-10 attend on Sunday. I know I'm going to be tired after our class reunion events, but I get energized making cards and showing people how they can do it too! Speaking of cards, here are four of the cards we made Thursday. I don't have the 5th one, I guess. Juliene must have it yet! I'm going thru the supplies needed for each of the cards and putting each card's "stuff" in a separate bag. I think it'll make us far more organized! Since the stamp camp is here at my house, it won't be as hard to be organized anyway!

This card is just beautiful in real life. I used Autumn Splendor stamps and embossed them with clear embossing powder, over a colored background. Then after embossing, I sponged Chocolate Chip ink over all of the leaves, which just makes them pop!
Probably the easiest card we did was this one. All you do is stamp 2 of the ornaments, punch one of them out and mount it on the whisper white background. Then you cut a 1" circle out of the second stamped ornament and mount it with dimensionals over the first one. I then drew a "cord" with Basic Black marker, added a Cherry Cobbler bow, and mounted it all on a Cherry Cobbler card blank. Beautiful!

This card is made with Real Red, Crumb Cake, and Whisper White card stock. The "Joy" is embossed with Cherry Cobbler embossing powder, and the snowflakes are from glossy paper.
I thought this card was way harder than it looks. I used Lucky Limeade for the backing, along with Real Red and Whisper White cardstock. The Petite Silhouette stamps are inked with Certainly Celery, Old Olive, and Real Red markers. The bow is made from Lucky Limeade ribbon.
The fifth card is made with Day of Gratitude and is really an easy card to do. I'll try to get a picture of it sometime soon! Tomorrow I've got to work on getting our samples ready for October 13th stamp camp. Juliene, we need to talk!!

Today, I received good news. You know I've been telling you we're singing Vivaldi's "Gloria" Sunday - all 60 pages of it. Well, because Becky couldn't get the orchestra members to commit to the date, it's been postponed until Feb. 19th...what a shame, I'll still be in Florida!! This, however, gives us lots more time to work on the piece, so I'll still be practicing it even though I won't be performing it!

On another note, I haven't seen any hummingbirds for two days. I guess that means they're headed south. I'll leave my feeders up, though, just in case there are some stragglers coming through our area! More later...

Busy Monday!

I had a really busy day today. I guess it was okay to be busy, but since the weather was kind of crappy, I'd just as soon have stayed home today and especially this evening! This morning, I had Bible Reading Time at church. I feel so inadequate when it comes to knowledge of the Bible and of Biblical history, geography, the Hebrews, etc. Hopefully, I'll gain some knowledge just by hanging out with some very learned people!

This afternoon, I had to go out in the rain for a PEO reciprocity meeting. We only have these meetings twice a month and I forgot that I was supposed to do some work before this meeting...this "work" was assigned last March! Needless to say, I forgot! So tomorrow morning, first thing, I'm taking care of this project! Tonight, we decided to put together a reciprocity booklet...so, I also have to get our list of members and non-resident members ready and emailed out tomorrow! Looks like I'm going to have a busy day tomorrow too!

After my PEO meeting, I had to go back to church for a Disciples meeting. I got home about 7:45 and immediately turned on DWTS. Overall, I thought the celebrity dancers did a good job tonight. Poor Chaz...I'm afraid he won't be back after tomorrow. I would assume the celeb eliminated would be either Chaz or Carson. Chaz' knees are hurting so badly I feel really bad for him. Carson isn't coordinated at all, but at least he's fun to watch! Who knows...I guess I'll find out tomorrow! More later...

Beautiful Day!

This was another beautiful fall day! Church was good...Pastor David is doing a series on Elijah and it's very interesting. Today was about Elijah being down and out and knowing that Jezebel was going to have him killed, so he lay down under a broom tree and asked God to just let him die. Well, God had other plans for him. So David compared that to us when we're in despair - we should just ask God what he has in mind for us and do his bidding. PD even had a "broom" tree in the sanctuary - it was a bucket filled with brooms!! I love his visuals!!

Dave and I got home from church and took naps - we were both really tired from being outside in the fresh air yesterday. Then at 3:30 we went back down to the church for a car rally fund-raiser for the youth group ministry. We had 9 clues to find and follow and ended up at Pastor & Liz's home for dinner! It was really fun! We didn't have any trouble with any of the clues except #4...we interpreted it to mean something totally different. What was so funny was that our interpretation took us to clue #6, so we thought maybe there wasn't a clue #5! We were the first ones done, but as others started to arrive they had also missed clue #5!!! I think only 2 carloads found clue #5!

Tonight I put my Stampin' Up order on the computer and we've been doing laundry. Now it's about time for bed because tomorrow is a busy, busy day! More later...

Family Time

What a gorgeous day today was! It was Peg's family day...minus a couple of key players like my Dave, Vicki's Al, and Rhonda & her family. Bob, Ann and I went to Pella to watch Kaylee and the Waverly Knights women's soccer team play Central College. The #10 ranked Knights dominated the game and came out victorious 6-0. Here is Kaylee playing in the middle. I still haven't seen her score, but she played really well today anyway!

It was so beautiful sitting out in the sun! I had on shorts, a long sleeved shirt and a black sweatshirt and at one point I was cooking. However, shortly after taking off my sweatshirt, the sun went under a cloud and I had to put my sweatshirt back on! It was a really fun day! Even Kyle and Cassie got to come down to the game. As you can tell by the pictures it was really bright out. Everyone seems to be squinting!I love this picture of Linda and Vicki! They were kind of acting like sisters all day. Earlier they were shushing each other...Vicki was trying to urge Kaylee on and Linda told Vicki that she was right where she was supposed to be...I was glad I was sitting between them - ha!! Then this was taken after the game so all is forgiven!!
Here are Linda and Kaylee. I think Kaylee looks so much like Linda except she's definitely got Al's pale blue eyes!
This is a picture of two of my "greats"!! I should have gotten Kyle in the picture too! Allison has really grown this summer. She didn't feel very well today though - she had a bit of a sore throat. She wanted to cuddle with her Aunt Peg though, so I didn't mind!!Here's a proud Grandpa with two of his grand-daughters!
You can tell we had a good day from the pictures! Then after the game, Allison wanted some ice cream and I didn't hear a single one of us say no! Kaylee, however, had a sandwich instead of ice cream. She was hungry!

More later...

Oops!

I guess I was really tired when I got home from our first Stamp Camp last night...I forgot to blog! I should have done it at midnight, but I elected to stay in bed and TRY to sleep. Stamp Camp went really well. We had 13 guests and the two of us for a total of 15. I got there at 5:45 and didn't sit down until 10:10! Needless to say, my knee is killing me! It felt so good yesterday, and now it's back to hurting big time! Maybe it'll get used to being up and about if I keep moving! We're stamping again on Sunday, October 2nd and then another Stamp Camp on the 13th! No rest for the weary!!

I'll get some pictures taken of our cards and get them on here now that we've had our Camp. They are really pretty - I'm very happy to report that everyone loved the cards! Of the 13 guests, about 6 of them had never stamped before and 2 of them stamp daily. We had quite an extreme difference in skill levels, but we seemed to get through it! Thank you, Juliene. I'd still be there cleaning up if it weren't for you!!

Today I went to stamp club where we made some really pretty cards and learned a new technique. Thanks, Jan!

Tomorrow I'm going to Central College in Pella to watch Kaylee play soccer. I've not seen her play since she's been in college, so I'm really looking forward to it. She's been nursing a leg injury most of the fall, but Bob says she's about back to 100% now. I sure hope she scores a goal - I've never seen her score and she scores a lot! Every time I watch her play, she gets assists, but not goals...maybe tomorrow will be different! Dave isn't going with me - he's working Habitat. Maybe Kyle and Cassie will be there too since it's not far for them to drive...and hopefully, Vicki and Allison will also be there. I sure miss my nieces! Rhonda is so far away - I wish she was closer so I could see her too!

More later...

Boy Was I Busy Today!

This was another beautiful day! I opened windows and doors and then about 11:00 or so, the northwest wind started blowing a little harder and one-by-one, I closed doors and windows!! Now that the wind has died down, it's beautiful again! I'm planning to open windows to sleep!

I was really productive today! I paid bills, I cleaned off my desk, I cleaned my studio, I made a casserole for dinner, I got everything together for tomorrow night, I typed the minutes from last night's meeting, I arranged for a meal for the Habitat workers on Saturday, and I went to choir practice tonight! Now I'm pooped!! Unfortunately, I've still got to get things together for tomorrow's stamp club!

More later...

Another beautiful day!

You just can't ask for more beautiful weather than we're having right now! It was 78 degrees with abundant sunshine and a slight breeze - just about perfect!!

I had a massage this morning. I almost missed it. I woke up about 7:15, ate breakfast, read the paper and then decided since I didn't have anything for a while, I'd work on a puzzle. Well, the next thing you know it was 8:57 AM and my appointment was at 9:30...and I hadn't showered or anything!! You should have seen me move! I was even there early, all showered and my hair curled!!

This afternoon I paid bills and worked on gathering the stuff I'm taking to stamp camp Thursday night. Then at 5:30 I had a church personnel meeting. I had to leave early because at 7:00 I had a sorority meeting at our house! I didn't get home until 6:45 and the first guest arrived at 6:48!! Talk about cutting it close!

I turned on TV with about 5 minutes left on DWTS just so we could all see who went home tonight. Ron Artest (or whatever his name is this week) went home. From what I understand, he was terrible. I didn't see his dance last night because I didn't turn the TV on until after 2-3 of the couples had already danced!

More later...

I got lots done today!

We've had such a good response to our Holiday Stamp Camp that we needed to make another 10 sets of card parts before Thursday. Juliene came over this morning and we were able to get them all cut and all five cards' parts into individual plastic ziplock bags for Thursday night. Wednesday I'll pack everything else and make sure I haven't forgotten anything. I had a nightmare this morning that I forgot the card samples and all the card parts - yikes! Hopefully that won't happen!!

I've also gotten the house cleaned up because I'm hosting my sorority group tomorrow night. Sandy was supposed to have it but she's having trouble with her hips and knees, so I agreed to do it for her. I even got a nap in - in between phone calls!! Tomorrow I've got to pay some bills, go have a massage, go to a personnel meeting, and then come home in time for sorority!! I think I'll be moving quickly!!

Right now I'm watching Dancing With The Stars. I'm impressed with several of the celebrities. I'm also glad to see that Derek is back!!

More later...

Another busy day!

At church this morning we had a pulpit supply pastor - Pastor Gentz. He always delivers a good sermon and today's was about Jonah. Since we'd just done a Bible study on Jonah last year, it was good to hear that story again. We sang a good song today..."Jesus is My Savior". It's an upbeat Kenyan song - we did it in English although I'm surprised we didn't do it in Swahili since those words were there too!

After church, Dave went to the grocery store while I started boiling eggs and making brownies for this afternoon/evening's neighborhood gathering. I decided to make deviled eggs (which were a big hit - all gone!) and brownies (which were also a big hit!!) Dave helped me peel the eggs - it takes me way longer than it does him! We had a fun time at the 'hood party. Not all of the neighbors were there, but we had 3 new families there. It was good to meet them and I got to talk football with some of the guys!

Tomorrow I've got to make up some more sets for cards because we've got more coming than we thought! We're up to about 20 and maybe more! Tbat'll be a lot of fun having that many ladies making cards at the same time! This will be another busy week - I've got at least one something every day except tomorrow and tomorrow I'll be working on cards! More later...

Nice Saturday

I say nice, but I'm going to qualify it a little. By nice, I mean I enjoyed myself today. I enjoyed being at Sudi's and enjoyed the fact that we sold so much fabric today!! Then when I got home, I watched college football most of the day. I watched the Hawks come back to win a game they "appeared" to be out of, I watched Texas clobber UCLA, and now I'm watching Oklahoma and Florida State...all from the warmth of my home!! Dave is perfectly happy that he's NOT having to watch football!!

I did take a break from watching football to watch Love of Quilting. I slept thru Sew It All and then I woke up for Sewing with Nancy!! So, I even got a little nap. Now I'm about ready to go to bed. Tomorrow is church and our neighborhood party. Oh, I can't forget a Nascar race too!! Another busy day!

More later...

Busy, Busy Friday

This was an extremely busy (but fun) day for me! This morning I had 22 ladies at my house for a PEO meeting. We had a wonderful guest speaker who told us about her new B&B in O-Town called Plum Panache! Our guest speaker was our pastor's wife. They have just opened their home as a B&B and it's a perfect home for a B&B. They have 3 rooms available for guests and they've had guests every weekend since they opened.

When PEO got finished I changed into shorts and a long-sleeved t-shirt to get ready to go to my doctor's appointment. Dr. C worked hard on my back and my knee. They both feel really good this evening. After my appointment, which lasted about 1 hr and 40 minutes...I came home and got supper. Now I'm watching my Cyclones play football. It didn't start out very pretty...3 passes, 3 interceptions, something like 11 penalties. It's halftime and just before the half our QB hurt his leg and had to be helped off the field. Fortunately, though, he's walking on his own going into the lockerroom. Our backup QB is a true freshman, but then UConn is also playing a true freshman QB and he's doing a heck of a job. I like our chances a lot better with Steele playing, though. Even with all the penalties and turnovers we're not out of this game at all. 7-10 at half! Go Cyclones!!

Tomorrow I'm going back to Fairfield to help Sudi. I sure hope we sell all her fabric!!

More later...

Brrrr....

At least it wasn't 29 this morning when I got up! It was 38 at 7:00 AM, but the chill factor was 32! That's a little chilly for September the 15th. Hopefully the beans survived the cold night! I wore shorts today, but I must admit I had to put on a sweatshirt this afternoon.

This morning Juliene came over and we worked for about 2 1/2 hours just cutting out card parts and gathering materials. All we have left to do is put the parts into plastic bags and tie bows for one of the cards. Dave made me this handy-dandy "crutch" for making bows. I wasn't having very good luck before - I needed a third hand! This little "tool" he made me works really well! Thanks, honey!

I've cleaned most of the house this afternoon. Right now the clothes are in both the washer and the dryer and the dish washer is going. I'm pretty tired so I'll probably go to bed kind of early and get up at 7:00 again. My PEO sisters should start arriving around 9:15 so I'll hopefully be ready for them.

More later...

Chilly Wednesday!

Whoa - don't know exactly when it happened, but this morning when I went outside to refill the hummingbird feeders, it was pretty chilly! I came back inside and listened to the weather...we may have a record low tonight - maybe 29! Dave says we need to hope that doesn't happen...the soybeans still need some time to develop! I guess that little bit of rain that we had this morning must have been contained in a cold front!

I just got back from choir practice. Our Vivaldi pieces are coming along. I don't think I told you, but it's 60+ pages of music...all in Latin! At least one person in each of the 4 parts (soprano, alto, etc.) has sung this before so that is really helping! It is very hard, though, and not my kind of music!

Tomorrow is going to be another busy day. Juliene is coming over in the morning and we're working on preparations for our stamp camp on the 22nd. Then I have to clean house because PEO is here Friday morning. I've also got a Dr. C appointment Friday, Sudi's garage sale Saturday and a neighborhood party on Sunday along with church. AND a Cyclone football game to listen to on Saturday too!! I'm tired just thinking about this weekend! Unfortunately, next week doesn't get any better!

More later...

Election Day in O-town

Today was our school board election and I had to be at our precinct polling place at 6:00 AM!!! That means I had to get up at 5:00 AM!! The polls didn't close at 7:00 like I thought...they closed at 8:00 PM! I'm pooped!! We didn't have many voters so it was kind of a dull day, but it's always fun - I love visiting with people I don't see every day! Today I got to work in my own precinct which is the busiest one in O-town...we have about 1700 registered voters. Unfortunately only 158 of those 1700 decided to vote today...shame on the rest of the voters!!

I'm afraid I have nothing else to say because that's all I did all day. More later...

Church Day!

This morning I woke up sneezing and sneezing...so, I had to take an allergy pill. Allergy pills put me to sleep! I was able to go to Bible study this morning as well as Evangelism and Disciples. However, in between I was a zombie! I'm going to bed now. I have to be up at 5:00 AM because I have to work at the school board election tomorrow...from 7-7! I hope I don't have to take any allergy pills!!

More later...

Woohoo!

Woohoo - Dave got home tonight about 7:30!! He seemed to have a really good time! He said he saw some of his family and some old friends at his childhood church's 170th anniversary. His Uncle Bill has gone to that church for 93 years! His Uncle George, who's 96, spoke at the service, as did Dave's dad. I'm sure glad he's home...hopefully we'll both sleep better tonight!

This was another gorgeous day. I got up and went to church. The choir was performing this morning - our first song of the new church year. It was a beautiful song - "Victory is Ours"! Pastor David started a new series on Elijah this morning too. Very interesting material. Tomorrow morning I go to Bible Reading Time where we continue to read Mark. We only get about 20 verses at the most done each time. We pretty much analyze every word and compare different versions of the Bible to see what each says. Our group has grown!

This week is going to be very busy. Thursday is my only free day this week! Friday, Saturday and Sunday are FULL - well, truthfully, so are Monday and Tuesday! I'll have to rest on Wednesday and Thursday!

More later...

A Memorable Day

It was another perfect day weatherwise in SE Iowa! I got to Sudi's a little before 9:00 ready to work at her fabric sale. Unfortunately there weren't many customers this morning. I left about 11:30 and I surely hope there were more customers after I left. Hopefully next weekend will be big for her!

I left early because I wanted to watch my Cyclones play the Hawks. I watched the Cyclones' first offensive series at Sudi's where we marched the ball down the field pretty easily. Then, as usual, we did something stupid...a bad snap with the line of scrimmage on the 7 yard line. So, the Hawks scored a touchdown on our turnover. Then we start moving the ball again - turnover. Hawks score 3. Pretty soon we score a TD and a field goal so at half it was 10-10...I was beginning to hope at that point! Turned out that it was really a fans' game and we WON in 3 overtimes - 44-41! Wow! Guess what - the Cubs won too!

Now I'm watching NASCAR and to make this a perfect day, Jeff Gordon would win...but I don'[t believe that's going to happen. He won last week and it's pretty hard to win two in a row! He's in 6th right now though... Tonight is a short track race and I don't particularly like short-track racing, so I'm not paying a whole lot of attention.

Tomorrow I have choir practice at 8:45 AM and then church at 9:30. Dave should be home tomorrow evening - yay!! Maybe I'll be creative tomorrow afternoon while I'm waiting for him to get home! More later...

Perfect Day Today!

Today was an absolutely perfect day! If we could have weather like this most of the year, I'm sure there wouldn't be grumpy people in the world! How could anyone be grumpy when it's in the mid 70's and no humidity and the sun out in full force?

I went to Fairfield this morning to help Sudi with her fabric sale. We sold a lot of fabric - unfortunately there's still a lot more left to sell! I also got to visit with some ladies that I hadn't seen for several years. Several ladies from FHS class of 1961 stopped by - they knew my brother and my cousin, plus they all talked about what cute guys Libertyville had...my brother included! That was a stitch - just wait until I tell Bob! Unfortunately he's going to want to know who they were and I don't think I can tell him!

Tomorrow's another big garage sale day! I hope I remember to set the alarm...I'm not used to getting up this early!

More later...

Thursday!

Wow, this week has really flown by! I can't believe how quickly the summer has gone! Today was one of those days where I didn't do much. I "played" in my studio a bit, but mostly I played on the computer and read. All in all, I guess it was a pretty boring day!

Tomorrow and Saturday I'm going to be spending several hours in Fairfield with Sudi. She's selling off a bunch of her fabric in anticipation of moving. I hope we get lots sold!! She had a great ad in the Ottumwa Courier - loved it!! Dave's going to go see his Dad this weekend.

More later...

Oh My...

I just heard from my brother. My middle niece and her family, who live in Texas, have been evacuated because of the fires near San Antonio. They have gone to Steve's sister's house in SA for now. It's so dry down there...there just doesn't seem to be anything anyone can do about the fires. Please keep Rhonda and her family in your prayers.

I am writing this early because I'm headed to choir practice, and I figure it will be a long night. We've already been told that we'll be doing a lot of practicing for this Vivaldi music that we're doing on October 2nd. We know one of the songs already and I have no clue how many more songs there are..5 or 6 I assume. These are not my kind of music, but Becky says it will be beautiful so I have to believe her.

The two C's were the plan of the day...cleaning and creating. I vacuumed the downstairs today so I got my cleaning going. I also washed some windows. It's nice to be able to see out of them again! Then I went upstairs and worked on some cards. Here's one I've been working on. I think it's one of the prettiest I've ever done. I got the idea from Tami at stampswithtami.com - she is very creative!! I don't think I can even begin to tell you how I created the wreath...suffice it to say it wasn't easy!! I had to make a shim (sort of) to go into the Big Shot along with the dry emboss folder. Then I used Certainly Celery and Real Red to color the wreath. The bow is Lucky Limeade and I heat embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder. All products are Stampin' Up, of course!!

I'd better quit for now. I'm going to be late to choir! More later...

Good Day

This was another gorgeous fall day! I opened the doors because it was warmer outside than it was inside this afternoon! I loved it, though!! I don't even mind wearing long sleeves as long as I can still wear shorts!

I had a creative day today. I made this card for one. This is called a one-layer card. Even though it looks like the colored strip is a layer glued onto the card, it isn't. I simply masked an area off on the front of the card. I then stamped the white weeds in Versamark and used clear embossing powder on them. Then I used a sponge and colored in Yoho Yellow, Certainly Celery and Old Olive. When I had the effect I wanted, I stamped the other weeds in Yoho Yellow, Certainly Celery, and Always Artichoke and then removed the masks. I added the sentiment in Old Olive and then scored my card base. Voila!! I CAS'd this card from someone online. Right now I can't remember her name.


I had sorority tonight and we didn't get home until around 9:45. Tomorrow night choir begins and we're doing a whole suite from Vivaldi on October 2nd so it'll be another late night! More later...

Happy Labor Day!

Today was an absolutely perfect day!! We called Craig & Sue last night and asked them to "cruise" with us today. We started out at 9:30 or so this morning and drove back roads to Norwalk to Holmes Chevrolet where they were having their annual Labor Day car show. We walked around and saw the cars, then we left for the Iowa Machine Shed where we had a fabulous lunch! When we got done eating and gabbing, we started home. Again, we went all back roads (county blacktops) and meandered until we ended up in Albia for hot fudge Sundaes to top off a wonderful day!

Now we're watching The Closer and Rizzoli & Isles and then we'll crash! All that fresh air is tiring...or maybe it could be the food!! More later...

Super Sunday!

What a difference a day makes! The air conditioner is off and the windows are open...and I may have to put on a long-sleeved shirt!! I absolutely love this kind of weather!! Reminds me of football all the way! Speaking of football, I can't believe that Iowa State won that game last night. Steele Jantz just wouldn't give up...and neither did the rest of the team. I was hoping for a win, but I must admit I didn't think we could do it! After the game, I had to wait to make my heart slow down - that was just too exciting at the end. I'm hoping for a win this coming Saturday, too, but the Hawks are much better than we are so I will be happy with a good game.

Church was good today. Another good crowd, even with it being a holiday weekend. David finished up his series on Ruth. I really like a preacher that preaches from the Bible! We learned lots about Ruth and Naomi and Boaz! Thanks, PD!! We start choir this Wednesday and Sunday School starts again next Sunday. I guess fall really is here!!

This afternoon, I got all my filing done and my bank accounts reconciled! I feel pretty good about that. Now I'm doing laundry. We're cruising tomorrow and as of now I don't have any clean shorts!! I told Dave he was shirking his responsibility!!

More later...

Saturday Thoughts

Man was it ever hot and humid this morning! I went to the Art Walk downtown about 10:00 and thought I was going to sweat to death! I'm pretty sure that the oils from the oil paintings simply melted right off - and I'm sure that the clay beads are now little blobs of clay instead of bead shaped!! Needless to say, I didn't stay too long!

We got some nice rain this afternoon - it was much needed! The grass even looks greener this evening.

We sure do live in an exciting neighborhood. This afternoon we heard a couple of bangs and shortly thereafter had an ambulance, a fire rescue, and 3 or 4 police cars at the house kitty-cornered from us. Don't have a clue what happened, but the officers weren't there very long. I'm sure we'll hear one of these days...

Right now I'm listening to the ISU-UNI game. Not pretty for MY team so far...way too many errors!! It's the 4th quarter and we're down by 6.

More later...

Fun Friday!

I had a fun day today. I got to play with some of my new stamp sets and papers, plus I got to see an old friend that I hadn't seen for a very long time. My friend lives in Australia and doesn't come back to the US very often because she's lived in Australia since about 1969 and that's her home now. She and I used to go out for lunch in high school - we really have a wonderful time growing up at good old FHS!! Here we are enjoying a laugh today at Pizza Ranch in Fairfield. It's sort of a tradition that when a high school friend comes back to the area, Sudi tries to get as many people together for lunch as she can. Thanks for doing that, Sudi!!


I also wanted to show you my little friend...this little one visits with me just about every day. This is the same little hummer that was taking the shower the other day. In fact, this picture was taken just before it started raining. I've got about 100 pictures of her (or it could be a juvenile male, but I'm pretty sure it's a female!) She's just soooo little and so cute!
Here's a picture of another "critter" in our front yard...a locust or cicada, whichever you want to call it! This particular tree has about 30 of their empty shells on it...that we could see. I'm sure there are even more farther up in the tree. My brother used to chase me with these things when we were young. I still don't want to get very close to them!! Yuck!Tomorrow is going to also be a fun day - hopefully. The Art Walk is in downtown Ottumwa tomorrow from 10-4:00 - 65 vendors this year. Last year the weather was perfect and the artwork was fantastic. Hopefully the weather cooperates this year too. Then tomorrow night it's Cyclone football!!

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September Already

September is such a good month usually. It usually has cooler days, kids back in school, FOOTBALL, fall, fall sports, and did I say cooler days? Not today! It was 98 degrees today with a heat index of 105!! I wonder if we set any records today? I guess I'll find out tonight.

Dave has been trying to load a new version of Microsoft Office, but he's having all kinds of problems! First it wouldn't let him because his version of Vista required Service Pack 1...now he's trying to load that! It says it's going to take 7+ hours!! We don't know how to find out if his Vista is 32 bit or 64 bit. Does anyone out there know how to find out?

I got my oil changed this morning - that's always a highlight of my day! NOT!! Then I vacuumed and dusted upstairs AND cleaned the bathrooms. Tomorrow I'm going to play with my new Stampin' Up order, so I doubt I'll get the main floor vacuumed, but I might. I'm also going to Fairfield to see a high school friend that I haven't seen for 30 years (or so). I've also got to get my invitations our for our Stamp Camp and get an order delivered! Sounds like I'll be busy!

More later...