Cool Wave Hits O-town

Yes, a cool wave hit Ottumwa today.  It only got to 94 today!!  It was only 90 in Largo, so we've had a lot of days when it was as hot as, if not hotter, here in Ottumwa than it was in Florida.

Tomorrow morning bright and early, we're leaving for Indiana.  We're planning to be home Sunday evening.  Dave needs to rest a bit.  He's been working lots of hours this past week...this morning he was at work at 5:15, trying to beat the heat.  He didn't get home until about 4:00, though, so it wasn't a short day!  Poor guy - he's got to be exhausted.

I won't have my computer with me, unfortunately, so you won't be hearing from me for a few days.  Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend.  Enjoy the last official weekend of summer!  Go Cyclones!!

More later...

New Record!!

We set a record today in O-town - 98 degrees!  It was so hot that Dave went to work at 6:30 and was home at 2:30.  Tomorrow he's planning to be at work at 6:00.  Thank goodness I don't have to go out tomorrow.  I may, but I don't HAVE to!!

Today was a lazy day for me, especially.  I've been really tired when I wake up, enough that I consider going back to sleep and starting my day much later.  I haven't though.  So instead, when Dave got home and wanted to take a nap, so did I.  Now I'm hoping that after a 3 hour nap I can sleep tonight.  I feel plenty tired!  Dave went to bed at 8:30 but I wasn't ready then!

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Crazy

This computer is crazy today.  Is anyone else having issues?  I think the hot weather has affected it, too!
I have troubles on my blog as well as on Facebook.  My games are screwy, too!

Today was another hot one.  At one time the computer said it was 97 here and 85 in Florida.  Right now it's 77 there and 83 here.  Ridiculous!  It's football season - it's supposed to be cooler!

I gave blood today, plus I had a Personnel meeting at church and the first sorority meeting of the year tonight.  I'm tired!

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Hot Monday

Another 90+ degree day here in SE Iowa.  Hotter than it was in Florida, again.  There doesn't seem to be any relief in sight from the heat.  I picked 10 tomatoes again today, but our plants are just beginning to wither.  They need rain and not city water!!

Bible study this morning was great.  We had 9 of us again, which made for some great discussions.  We won't meet next Monday because it's Labor Day - hate that.  I really, really enjoy this Bible study time!  The summer bell group met again today.  We've only got 1 more practice before we're supposed to play in church.  Don't know about this!  We have a few kinks to work out yet!  Or should I say dings to work out?!

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Wonderful day

This was another hot, but beautiful day.  A little bit ago it was 85 here and only 78 in Largo.  Now it's cooled down to 79 here and still 78 in Florida.  I heard it was 94 here today - pretty hot for late August!  Those guys in football practice will be losing a bunch of weight just sweating!

Church was good today.  Good sermon about seeking the Kingdom of God.  We went to Roe's for lunch with the group of people who go every Sunday.  Then it was nap time here at our house!  At 4:00 we went to our neighborhood party, which is a yearly event.  It was fun - good food and good neighbors!  Bunch of kids in the neighborhood now.  Four across the street from us and two north of us - they were all there!  Fun times in the 'hood!

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Hot Saturday

Wow - it's August 24th and it's hotter here than it is in Largo - again.  It's 78 in Largo and 82 here.  Pretty amazing!  I had to go out today and I knew it was hot.  My car said it was 91 about 2:00 or so.  Dave worked Habitat all day and I just played around here.  He got home about 5:00 an I had supper working - I had a roast cooking and then I baked some potatoes in the microwave.  I also made beef gravy for the potatoes - mmm mmm good!!

Now I'm watching the race while Dave sleeps!  He's probably been asleep for an hour already!  This race is a pretty good one and I'm having a hard time being quiet!  Only about 100 laps to go (50 miles) and we're on our 9th caution!

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Cards and Cards

It was a cards and cards kind of day for me.  This morning our PMS card club met at the church and made some cards.  These were hard cards for me with my shaking, but I think they turned out pretty well!  Shirley R. demo'd these cards.  The first one is made from SU's top note and word punch, but the music and the sentiment are from another company.

This one was really hard for me.  Shirley had the parts all cut for us and she used her scissors and cut out my little pink flowers.  Actually it was a die cut just like the green die cut and she snipped the flowers off of it so we could glue them on the greenery.  These all came from another stamping company.  They're very nice cards but hard for someone with shaky hands to do.

After lunch, I went to the Club and played 7s from Hell with Ann, Juliene, and Bob P.  We had a good time, but Ann and I got beat by about 3,000 points.  We just couldn't get our 7s or our wild cards!!  Next time we'll get them!

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Now you see it...

...and now you don't.  Us and our neighbors agreed to go together and pay to have a dying tree taken down between our properties.

It was getting really bad.  The base was cracked clear up the trunk so it was definitely a disaster waiting to happen.  So Budget Tree Service came to remove it this morning.  They started about 8:30 and by 10:30 the tree was down and by 11:30 they were finished and gone!

 T - I - M - B - E - R!!!!

Now you don't!!

It looks really nice not to see that scraggly tree!  It was fun to watch them take it down branch by branch!

I almost forgot.  Here's a picture of my jazzed up card from yesterday!  All products are from Stampin' Up!

Looks nicer, doesn't it?  

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Hot time in the old town today!

This was a hot day!!  It was 90 when I went to the grocery store about noon and it got hotter this afternoon.  The only thing that saved us was a lovely breeze - albeit a hot, dry breeze!!  I had planned to go for a bike ride this afternoon, but vetoed that after getting groceries!  My air conditioned house felt mighty good!

I  had a pretty good day today.  I worked in my studio trying to come up with a couple of card ideas.  I think I have an idea or two that will work for our next class.  One of the ideas I had was this card, but I think it's boring.  So tomorrow I'm going to try to jazz it up a bit!

I like the concept, but it's way too plain!  Hopefully I'll get a jazzed up version on here tomorrow night.  I was trying to be frugal with the shimmery paper, and the card looks like it, too!  All products are from Stampin' Up, of course!

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Boring day

This was a textbook autumn day...warm and breezy and dry!  I went outside to pick tomatoes (had 12 of them) and water my plants and I couldn't get over how much like August today was.  Other than doing the watering, though, I had a really, really boring day!  I made a couple of cards, but I can't seem to find my creativity!  I just wanted to read!!

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Monday again

How time flies when you're having fun!!  I can't believe that Jami and the kids were here a whole week and gone just like that.  Seems like we were just anxious for them to get here and now they're back in Florida.  Today was the first day of school for them - I hope all went well.  Danny started Kindergarten and Kelly started Middle School.  Megan stayed at McNab Elementary, now in 4th grade!  They are growing up so fast.

Today I had BRT and bells as usual for Monday.  I was impressed with how well I did at bells today.  I actually felt like I knew what I was doing today!!  By the end of the hour, we were all doing well!  Next week all 6 of us should be there for practice, so we'll see how well we do as a group.

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Quiet day

It was a quiet Sunday for us.  We went to church where we had a guest preacher and the praise band...neither of which are my favorite things.  I love PD's sermons and just "like" Brian's.  As for the praise band, I can take it or leave it.  Today wasn't so bad.  At least they sang songs that I knew the tune to.  

After church we came home and ate leftovers.  Then Dave took his nap and I read so I wouldn't disturb him.  Now he's doing his breathing treatment and I'm getting ready to go upstairs.  It sure is quiet here without the kids!

Tomorrow the cleaning lady comes - yay!!  

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Saturday with the kids!

Saturday with the kids was short!  They left here at 8:30  or 8:45 for the Cedar Rapids airport, but not before another "photo opp".

 These were taken just before they said goodbye!

My little redhead didn't want to let go of me after this picture was taken...she's the one by Dave.  She really would love to live here.  She said she'd miss her friends, but she likes all of this space!  Sure wish they lived closer!  It was a great visit and they got home safely.  They start school Monday and life returns to normal for all of us!  Yay - my cleaning lady comes Monday, too!  I'll be glad to see her!

The rest of today, Dave went to Habitat and I had a meeting with Juliene and Kathy about Stampin' Up.  We got lots of new ideas and got to try out some new products!  Guess I'll have to get an order ready!!

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Friday with the kids!

I can't believe our week is over!  But tonight we're all pooped - it was a great vacation for all involved!  Last night Dave's knees hurt so bad that he slept in his chair and took Vicadin.  But this morning he felt amazingly well.  We didn't do much today, though, because of his knees.

Unfortunately the guest bathroom stool sprung a leak!  We're sure glad that Jami and the kids were here and noticed it.  We don't use that bathroom, so it could have ruined the floor and the ceiling below it before we even noticed.  So Dave and Jami put in a new stool today while the kids played outside and inside and drove us all nuts!  For lunch I fixed tenderloins again - they absolutely love tenderloins...especially Grandma Peg's!  This evening we fried up the fish they caught and two of the three of them loved it!!  Pretty good for picky eaters!

Now we're watching "National Treasure" with Nicholas Cage.  Great movie!  We lost Dave for a while and Danny is asleep...but the girls are still watching!!  They leave tomorrow morning.  We're sad - all of us.  Kelly doesn't want to go back to Florida and neither does Danny - they love Iowa because of all the space.  Front yards, back yards...lots of space!!  We've had a wonderful week!

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Thursday with the kids

Early this morning we took off for Des Moines and the Iowa State Fair!  It was a beautiful day to be at the fair, although at times it was a little chilly if you were in the shade!  I got a sunburn, though, so there was plenty of sunshine!

We went all over the fairgrounds including the Varied Industries building where the kids got about 12 tattoos each!  Understatement of the day..."These tattoos are harder to get than get on!"  Notice the tattoos on the arms!!

We got to pet exotic animals like these baby camels.

 Our friend, Duane Sprouse, let the kids into the pen with his sheep!

 This baby calf was so precious!!

Riding the sky glider was a highlight!!

 There were lots of these photo opps!!

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Wednesday with the kids

We had another fun-filled, action-packed day with the kids!  This morning Dave took the kids to the Habitat House, to get groceries, and to pick sweet corn.  Unfortunately the farmer already had the corn picked, so they didn't get that experience!   By the time they got home with 35 ears of corn, I'd sliced tomatoes and was cooking bacon.  I got the corn on to cook also and we had the best BLT's and corn of the summer!  Danny, who's only 5, ate 3 ears of corn AND a sandwich without tomato or lettuce (a bacon sandwich)!!  The kids loved the corn!

Then we went fishing at Nick's pond.  Oh may...the kids caught so many bluegill that Jami and Dave couldn't get them off the hooks fast enough!  Everyone caught probably 20 a piece!!  Jami and Dave finally started throwing them back in.  There were just tons of them!

Tonight for supper we had ribs that had cooked all day in the slow cooker, sweet corn, and potatoes!  Good food for a fun day!  The fish will be fried Friday night.  Tomorrow is the State Fair day!!

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Tuesday with the kids

This morning Dave had a Habitat meeting and Jami had a 2-hour conference call, so after breakfast the kids and I went outside.  We played bean bag toss, ladder golf, ran relay races in the big yard (them, not me) and did gymnastics (again them, not me!)  Just about 2 minutes before Jami's call was done, we came in to watch Polar Express.  They'd had enough outdoor fun!

It was truly a perfect day today.  Just the right temperature and no humidity!  Loved it.  Our breakfast this morning consisted of scrambled eggs (the ones they gathered yesterday), hash browns, and bacon.  The only excitement was when Danny spilled his orange juice on the table all over my daily meds!!  We got it all cleaned up and I took my meds, minus one that dissolved!!

After Jami finished her call and Dave arrived back home, we ate a small lunch and they all went fishing.  I opted to stay home and mow the yard - perfect day to be on the mower!!  Danny caught the most fish (bluegills) and Megan caught the biggest fish (bass).  A fun day was had by all!

For supper tonight we took in a Canteen and ice cream at Graham's!!  Yum, yum!  Everyone's snuggled in their beds now, resting up for another day of fishing tomorrow and the State Fair on Thursday!

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Monday with the kids!

We sure had a fun day today!  We have a little while this morning where we "drove the tractor" and took pictures of fungi!!

One of us (Danny) got to help Grandpa string fishing poles.

Then after lunch we all went to Craig & Sue's where they outfitted the kids with boots!

They learned how to catch chickens and even got to gather eggs, which we will eat in the morning for breakfast!!

Then it was off to see baby pigs being born and holding those cute little porkers!!

And finally they got to sit in a BIG tractor that drove itself!!

When we got home it was shower time to get the pig and chicken smell off of them and then supper, a movie, and bed before 9::00!!  It's hard work being a farmer!!

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They're Here!!

Jami and the kids got here about 20 minutes before church started this morning!  So after hugs all around, we took off for FPC!  Church was good  - the kids even got to collect the money for the food pantry.  After lunch, we played bean bag toss!  Kelly and Danny are the champions today!  We'll see how it goes tomorrow.  Hopefully some of the rest of us win too!  Then later, Jami, Dave, and the kids went to Libertyville to see where Jami grew up!

Supper was burgers and hot dogs cooked on the grill.  Then outside until the mosquitoes came around!  It was a good day.  Now we're watching a movie...something like "My Dad Bought a Zoo".  I don't know what the exact title is!

Found out today that Kaylee and Clay made it to Antwerp about midnight Iowa time.  Glad they got there okay.

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T minus 1 and counting!

The kids will be here tomorrow morning.  Jami said they're planning to get up way early and be here to go to church with us at 9:30.  I don't know how she can get herself and 3 little ones ready to leave Waterloo by 7:00 at the latest - we'll see.  I'll let you know tomorrow.

We're ready for them to get here.  The house is as clean as it's going to be.  Sheets have been changed, floors mopped, vacuumed, furniture dusted, and groceries bought.  I even went to Bob & Ann's today and borrowed 3 games - Bocce, ladder golf, and bean bag toss...so we have things to do besides watching TV.  Should be a fun time!

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Friday

It's been one of those days!  At least I was able to get several things accomplished today.  Now if I can get my house vacuumed, mopped, and dusted tomorrow, all will be well!

I am so tired tonight.  I sure hope I can sleep!  If not tomorrow will be a really, really long day!  I have nothing planned except I have to place an order for Stampin' Up and I have one more bill to pay.  I had just gotten the bills paid today when the mail arrived with another one in it.  I've got most of my bills being paid automatically, except for a few.  Now to get them fixed up, too!

Dave is asleep in his chair and has been for over an hour.  I'll have to wake him just so he can go to bed!  I think that's funny!!

Happy weekend!  More later...

Thursday

I started out a little slow this morning.  I took my time getting ready for the day.  I just wanted to hibernate this morning, but I had a luncheon at noon.  I made it on time; in fact, I was the first one there.  It was a preinitiation lunch for a new PEO member. It was delightful.  Both of the ladies I lunched with are master gardeners so they had lots to talk about.

I got home about 1:30 and at 2:30 I was supposed to be at church for the preparation for our food pantry day.  Dave covered for me until I arrived at 3:15, but they'd already started giving away food - they started early!  We served 140 families today!  I had 3 in a row who had 7 or more in their household!  Big day!  I came home about 5:10, but Dave stayed and helped clean up.  Then he came home and mowed!  We didn't even have supper until 8:00!!  Busy, busy!

Jami and the kids fly into Cedar Rapids tomorrow.  They'll be with Bryan until Sunday morning early.  They're hoping to be here for church at 9:30!!

Here are the cards we did on Tuesday night.  I thought maybe you'd like to see them.  Remember all supplies are Stampin' Up!!

This Christmas card is just a sample.  We ended up embossing both the sentiment and the snowflake in platinum embossing powder.  It's much more striking than just using Pool Party ink like I did here.

 This second card is the one Juliene did.  It includes lots of piercing, so it took more time than the other two combined!

This was our CAS card (Clean And Simple).  It is also very striking in person.  We did it in either green, baby blue, pink or yellow!

Hope you enjoyed a look at our cards!

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Wednesday

When I got on here just a minute ago, I realized that I forgot to blog last night...sorry.  I got home from card class about 8:30, had a dish of ice cream for supper, and sat in my chair with heat and the vibrator on my back.  It hurt so bad!  I didn't even think about blogging - I just wanted to get my back stretched out!  So I went to bed!

Last night we got almost an inch of needed rain!  It sounded wonderful though...rain hitting on the windows and thunder in the air!!  Thank you, God!  Today was a painful day; my back still hurt.  I had a massage this afternoon, though, and now I feel much better!  When I carry my stamping supplies in and out of church and then stand on my feet for the most part of 3 hours, my back/hip start to screaming and that was what was going on.

I had to take an allergy pill today because when I woke up, I was sneezing and my nose was running. The allergy pill cleared it up immediately.  The combination of the allergy pill and the massage forced me to take a nap this afternoon.  Hopefully I'll sleep tonight - I'm still tired!

I had a strange thing happen with my laptop.  Last night my little h and little c wouldn't work in Facebook.  The capital h and c were fine....This morning I decided to check to see if it was also happening in Word and it wasn't.  That's odd - it was only happening in Facebook, so I figured I'd been hacked.  I rebooted my laptop thinking that would be the first thing Dell asked me to do.  After I did that, all of my letters were working again.  Now, how could that happen??  I'll have to remember to ask my nieces, the programmers, to see if they know how works!  I guess that's a true Pondering by Peg!

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Monday Musings

It was a good day to take pictures today.  That means it was pretty much gray outside.  For a while I thought it was going to rain, but it never did.  Got pretty dark at one point, though!

I had BRT this morning at 9:00.  We normally meet at 10:30 so this was early for us.  We only had 8 of us today.  Mary's in Colorado, so we missed her.  We did finally get to Chapter 16 of John.  I don't think we'll get done with John before we leave for Florida.  I think there are 21 chapters and we don't get far in an hour!  That's okay though; we're learning a great deal.

I just realized that it's really hard for me to see the computer screen.  I'm about 6 inches too far back for my trifocals to work!  I guess I'll have to scoot the monitor closer to me!

I started out saying that it was a good day to take pictures and I took some neat ones.  I bought two new hardy hibiscus plants this spring and this multi-toned pink is what I got.  Isn't it beautiful?  I have one on each side of the front door.  The deer don't seem to like them, so hopefully they are safe!

I also have these next two out in our back yard.  They are as big as dinner plates - very showy!

I especially like this red one.  It is just loaded with flowers and they all open up wide like this one.  The white one doesn't open up as far as the red one does.  

We summer ding-a-lings practiced our bells this afternoon.  We didn't do quite as well today as we did last Monday.  We had a lot of trouble with the syncopated rhythm of the piece we're working on.  Becky's probably wondering why she started this group!!  I felt like I personally did better today, so maybe I'm finally getting the hang of it!

Twenty three years ago, Dave and I got married.  It's really hard to believe that it's been 23 years.  Sometimes it seems like it's been just a very short time and at other times it feels like we've been married all of our lives.  I think we both feel that we got it right this time around.  Happy Anniversary, Dabe!

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Sunday

It was another beautiful day in the 'hood!  Not too hot, not humid - just about right!  We went to church this morning and heard a great sermon based on James 3:1-12.  Pastor David does such a good job - we really enjoy him!  After church we came home, had lunch, and then Dave took his nap until the phone rang!  Once he woke up, we watched the race.  I really thought Jeff was going to win today, but he got 2nd instead.  Three of the top five were Hendrick cars!!  Kasey won, Jeff got 2nd, Dale Jr. got 5th and Jimmie got 13th after wrecking!  Pretty good race!

This afternoon we had a continuation of the communications workshop our church had about 7 weeks ago.  I chose not to attend...I was bored to death at the last one.  Poor Dave had to attend, but he said it was far better than the last one.

We took our bikes over to the park again for our afternoon ride.  This time we went to the west part of the park.  It was a good ride again!

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Saturday

Another beautiful summer day!  Dave went to Habitat and I worked all day!  I had a financial report Dave wanted - which took me a lot of the day :(!  I'm not into math, you know!  But I did get it done to his satisfaction!  I also had to work up an order for Stampin' Up.  Some time ago, like when we first got home from Florida, I put a stack of clothing for Good Will on the guest room bed.  So today, I took pictures and wrote them all down for tax purposes.  Now I'm waiting for Dave to go through his clothes!  I also got my card stuff put together for Tuesday night.  I still have a couple of things to pack, but I'm mostly done with that!  I think they'll really like the cards this time!

When Dave got home from Habitat, he mowed the yard...I didn't think it needed it or I'd have mowed it!  Then we took the bikes over to the park and rode a mile or so on the trails.  Much nicer riding over there.  You don't have to worry about cars or potholes or even hills!  Plus it's shady!!

I had hummers again today and even what I think are juncos.  I've got to look them up to see for sure!  I also harvested another 3 tomatoes tonight.  Looks like we'll be having BLT's again this week!

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Thursday

Today I had another little pity party.  I'll be glad to get back to Florida where I see Dave all the time and I have cards to play or bingo or shuffleboard or bowling!  My pity party was short lived though.  I was sitting here with the window open when I heard a little chirp.  I looked out to see a hummingbird!  We really haven't had any all summer so I was surprised when I heard this little one!  I had four sightings this morning and one this evening.  I don't sit here all day long, so I don't know if any came in the afternoon or not!  That was my excitement for the day!!

More later...