Short but sweet!

Today was another beautiful day.  I don't know about you, but I'm wondering what happened to the summer.  It went really, really fast!  Tomorrow is August 1st already - what's up with that?

Dave worked around the house today - he is power washing the house and the stoops/steps leading into the house.  They sure look a lot better!  I worked on finishing up about 50 cards and I've still got about 50 to go.  Unfortunately my card box is clear full and overflowing, so I have no where to put them.  I'm going to scrounge around for another box after PEO tomorrow morning.

More later...

7s from Hades

Eight of us got together this afternoon to play 7s from Hades...I changed the name because all 8 of us were from church!  I think everyone had a good time playing.  The rules are a little daunting, but once you play for a while, it all comes naturally.  Hopefully we can play again sometime soon so they don't forget all that they learned today.  Five of us had played before and 3 had never played, so I played at the novice table just to show them how to play.  I really didn't sleep much last night wondering how I was going to handle being an advisor at one table and playing at another.  I typed up a cheat sheet this morning and that seemed to work really well.  Here I could have slept - I didn't need to stress about it.

Other than playing cards, I didn't get much else done.  I did work in my studio for a while this morning, putting together some card fronts onto card bases.  Tomorrow I'll try to get some sentiments put on the inside and then about 30 more cards will be ready to go.  I'm planning to take them to PEO on Friday as some of the ladies expressed an interest in purchasing some.

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Offer

We actually got an offer on our home today!  Couldn't believe it.  Unfortunately it was about $15k too low!  So we countered and they countered...still $10k too low!  So we've still got a house!  It's okay - it's not like we have to sell!  It was fun to get an offer at least!  Now it's back to the drawing board - we need some new people to come to town.  This couple has sold their house in town and need to get another one.  Hopefully they'll rethink their offer and re-counter!

I worked on cards today.  I was able to get most of both of my card demos cut out.  Now I'm working on getting a bunch of cards ready to sell.  All of a sudden I've got an abundance of cards!  One of my PEO  sisters wanted me to bring cards to the next meeting, which is Friday.  So that's what I'm working towards.

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Nice surprise!

First thing this morning, our Realtor called telling us the people from last night wanted to see our house again this afternoon.  That was a first for us.  They liked it enough to come back a second time!!  Their only issue is the hospital and not knowing what was going to happen there.  The mayor told the showing Realtor that he could almost assure her that no low income housing was going in there - that's good news.  Evidently there's a deal in the works for a party to purchase the hospital property.  If they do, there will be high end condos.  If they don't the mayor thought the hospital would tear down the old St Joe's and then it would open it up to new condos.  More good news!  She told the Mayor that they couldn't sell houses in this wonderful area until they had some idea of what was going to happen next door.  Gee, maybe something will be done soon!

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Super Sunday

What a beautiful Sunday this was - mid 70's and low humidity and a wonderful breeze.  Just an almost perfect day!  We didn't do anything special.  After church we went with the group to Bubba-Q's for lunch then came home to read and nap, and in fact, we even slept through the race.  This is the 2nd time we've slept clear thru a race and both times our guy, Jeff Gordon, won!  Maybe we'll sleep thru the rest of the NASCAR season for Jeff's sake!

Dave worked out in the garage and I worked on cards the rest of the day.  About 6:35 our realtor called to tell us that another realtor would like to show our house at 7:00.  So I called Dave (who didn't answer) and went to work by myself putting the bedspread on the bed, opening blinds, and turning on lights.  I got done about 6:52 and went outside.  Dave was out there talking to some of his family!  So he got in the car and we went out for a a drive!  While we were out we went to the Rock & Roll Dairy Bar for a shake for our supper and went to the park to see the geese.  No word on how it went.  Probably the same thing - loved it, but it's not for them.  We'll see!

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Saturday

I actually slept until 7:30 this morning - it felt so good!  Dave got up around 6:00 and got his exercising done.  Then he went outside to mow the yard.  I figured it would be too wet, but it wasn't.  He also went to Habitat and mowed their lots.  He came home a little after noon.  We ate our lunch and then he took a nap.

I worked on swap cards today and have 12 of them either finished or almost finished.  They're for next Saturday, so I'm ahead of the game - yay!

After Dave's nap, about 2:45 or so, we went to Drakesville to the Methodist Church for their ice cream social.  This year, neither the ice cream nor the pie was spectacular.  They were just so-so.  Dave said they were okay, but he's had better.  While we were there it started raining cats and dogs!  We got back in the car just in time.  Any later and we'd have been soaked.  There are a couple of places in Drakesville that have the most beautiful flower gardens - it's worth a trip to see them!

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Router

The technician from Mediacom came last night and his recommendation was to buy a new wireless router.  Ever since that recommendation, everything has worked well until tonight and our connection keeps going off.  So I think we'd better get a new router, because I'm ready to throw the old one out the window or into the trash or something!  It's very frustrating.  I'm just hoping I can get this to post, because the connection is off more than it is on!

My cleaning lady came this morning amid our wonderful rains.  We ended up getting about 1.6".  I know the farmers are happy because they were starting to get dry.  Dave wants to mow tomorrow, but may not get to because right now we've still got puddles in the yard!

Supper tonight was much better than last night - ha!  Dave cooked himself a steak and me a chicken griller - yum.  He didn't burn either one of them.  Then we had an ear of sweet corn that we'd gotten at the Dutchman's Store (it was perfect) and some pickled beets (also from the Dutchman's).  Wonderful supper!!

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Where there's smoke...

There are burned to a crisp brats and a house that needs LOTS of fans to get the smoke out!  Most of our day was pretty uneventful, but this evening's supper was almost a huge disaster.  Dave said he'd watch the brats that he put on the stove boiling in beer.  Then he was going to take them out and put them on the grill.  I also put sweet corn on to cook and told him that I was leaving it all in his hands.  Whoops - big mistake!  He decided to call his brother.  When he does that he goes outside and this evening was no exception.  When I smelled smoke, I took off running for the kitchen.  I grabbed the brats pan and yelled at him to come in and help.  The smoke was so thick in the kitchen that I could barely breathe.  I turned on the fan above the stove and opened doors.  I finally asked him to go upstairs, open the attic, and turn on the attic fan.  That cleared it out pretty well.  He cut off the burned part of the brat, but they'd cooked so long that they tasted a little like jerky - pretty rubbery, with a definite smoky taste!!  The corn was good, though!

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Wednesday

This was the first full day when Dave didn't have something he was required to do, so we went on an adventure.  We went to Cantril to the Dutchman's Store for our outing.  That's always a fun place to go.  I couldn't believe how much room they've created with the addition they put on.  They've widened the aisles in the sewing area and the two rooms between the fabric and the grocery.  You can actually meet another cart in any of the aisles now and not be stuck!  I swear they have more "stuff" than ever before!

When we finished our shopping, we headed out to have lunch with Sudi & Howard.  Dave was in the mood for Mexican food and Sudi said there was a new restaurant that they were wanting to try, called Aranda's.  It was pretty good.  My quesadilla was very good, as were both the salsa and the guacamole.  Good choice!

Since we ate so much at lunch, we had popcorn for supper.  Yum!

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Another showing

So do you think this showing tonight will be another rejection?  I'm beginning to take all of this personally.  I know our house has feelings and everyone that comes but doesn't  think it's the right house for them, hurts our house's feelings!  Poor thing!  I know that Dave and I are starting to get frustrated.  Last night's people said they weren't interested, so we'll see about tonight's.  I'll let you know tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I finished some more cards (all Stampin' Up products, of course!) This first one is using a watercolor technique.  I really like it, but would change it up a bit next time I make it.

 The rest of these are using Blendabilities!  Have I told you how much I like them?!

I just love these.  They are a little more labor intensive, but beautiful when they're finished.  I sure hope you like them!

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Surprise!

Since this was Monday, I went to BRT this morning.  We got to Rev. 13 this morning.  If you ever have a chance to dissect this book of the Bible, I suggest you do so.  It's all about hope for the saved.  It's filled with wonderful imagery and a great story.  Dave was also at church, helping unload food for the food pantry.  We get canned goods, etc. from the Lord's Cupboard and a group of people show up every Monday while we're in BRT to unload the truck.  So Dave helped today.  Then he built some more shelves in our storage room so they could get more into our storage.

We both met here for lunch and a short nap, then he had to take the pickup and trailer to Bowlings for some brake thingy and I delivered my Stampin' Up orders.  So about 5:00, right after we ordered a pizza to be delivered, there was a knock on the door.  It was a realtor wanting to show our house - YIKES!  That was the surprise - no notice!  She gave us about 4 minutes so I rushed upstairs, put the bedspread on the bed and made sure there was no dirty clothes on the floor.  Dave picked up in the kitchen and went outside to show them why he had such a mess in the garage - and believe me it was a mess!  Then we very calmly went to the garage to await our pizza.  The guy walked into the garage and said "Sold".  The lady asked if he meant the '56 or what and he said the garage!  Sounded promising anyway.  They also told us we have a lovely home!  Hmmm...  This same realtor is showing it again tomorrow at 5:00.  So tomorrow we're sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor as well as making the bed!  Haha!

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Beautiful Sunday!

We had a good day and it was beautiful outside.  We went to church where David delivered a wonderful sermon based on Matthew 13.  Very thought provoking sermon!  Then we went with the group to lunch.  Today's restaurant was the Tequila Grill.  They have very good food - anyway everything I've had there.  When we arrived back home, I read and Dave worked outside and hauled some things to the dumpster.  While we was unloaded, he encountered a hive of wasps and got stung 3 times on his elbow.  Those nasty wasps are now just a memory because he went to Walmart and got a bug bomb to set off in the dumpster before someone else got stung!

Tonight we had popcorn and ice cream for supper!  Tomorrow is Dave's first Monday of not having to go to work.  He says he is going to work in the garage and just putter!

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Alone again...naturally!

I told Dave tonight that so far I'm not enjoying his retirement!  Yesterday he was gone all day and today was the Memories car show at Bridge View, so he was gone all day today too.  I really didn't mind.  I was able to put together some of my cards and get my SU orders ready to deliver.  Plus I finished a book and started another one.  Since Dave sat out in the sun all day, he's tired so we're heading for bed.

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Friday

This was a PEO day.  I didn't get to go last month, so I enjoyed myself a bunch today.  There were 19 of us in attendance, so it wasn't a big group but a fun one!  We had a speaker today from the library.  It's amazing to hear all of the programs and statistics for our library.  I'm someone who never goes in the library but I read constantly.  I'm a free book reader on my Kindle!  I hardly ever pay for a book.  If I do, I might pay $.99 or even $1.99, but usually I only order free books.  Most of them are very entertaining and most of them are new, self-published authors.  Other than some proofreading errors, they're as a general rule good!

Dave went to his "surprise' retirement party this morning and then to a funeral this afternoon.  As for me, I didn't do much - messed around in my craft studio and even read some!

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Thursday

Dave went to Marshalltown this morning.  I stayed home and played.  I colored some more flowers with my new Blendabilities from Stampin' Up, but I didn't get any cards finished.  Maybe tomorrow I can get them done.  I've had a bad stomach ache all afternoon, so I didn't feel very good - it's still there tonight.  I suppose some Rolaids or Pepto Bismal are going to be in order - yuck!  Hope I feel better tomorrow.

We sure had another beautiful day.  Any time we can have our windows open during the 3rd week of July, it's got to be good!

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Retired - and it feels so good!

Dave is retired!  He says it feels good to be retired, but I'm sure it hasn't really struck home yet.  Next week when he doesn't go to work every day, then he'll know that he's retired.  I sure like having him home!  He washed and detailed his truck today and I'm hoping he'll do my car one of these days soon.

Today, I had some fun in my studio.  I made two beautiful cards...all with Stampin' Up, of course!

I colored the flowers with our new Blendabilities markers!  Love, love them!  The top one is colored with the Cherry Cobbler blendabilities and the bottom one with Rich Razzleberry blendabilities.  The papers are new Designer Series Papers - the top one is from Back to Black and the bottom one is from Sweet Taffy (I think that's the name!)  The flowers take a while to color, but it's fun doing the shading.

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Missed again.

I missed blogging last night - sorry.  At 9:00 Dave said that he was tired and going to bed, so I went up too.  I didn't even think about blogging.  I went upstairs to read and fell asleep shortly after 10:00.  That is not like me!

Today I had my sorority sisters in for a coffee.  We usually try to get together once over the summer.  Since I am not here for many of the meetings, I volunteered to have this coffee.  Now I won't feel so bad about not being a hostess thru the year.  There were 13 of us, out of 17 - pretty good percentage, I'd say!  We missed Linda, Bev, Carolee, and Judy.  It was fun getting caught up with everyone's happenings.

Dave came home about 11:30 today, so we went out to run errands and then we went to the Canteen for lunch.  It's fun having him home more.

Here are a few more cards we did recently.  These were the 6 cards we did in Sigourney.  Of course, they're all made from Stampin' Up products!

These were all different cards - very pretty, cuts that I'd never done before.  I hope you like them!

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Super Sunday

Today was a beautiful summer Sunday..hot and humid.  It felt like 92 out, but that's a cool one, because yesterday it felt like 97 out!  We were about the same temperature as Largo, but it felt like 102 there!  I guess we'd have been at the beach or in the a/c!!  After church, we went to the Hotel Ottumwa for lunch along with 7 others.  I love going there because I can have bacon and eggs and they're always done just right!!

I came home and read after lunch, but Dave went over to our Pastor's home to help them load a pickup with appliances and furniture to take to Liz's son in Wisconsin.  They evidently bought a new home and Liz is helping them out with some household items.  She borrowed her dad's pickup and will make the trip by herself.

This evening, Dave mowed the lawn while I finished up some cards!  Here are the ones we demo'd the other night.  Of course, all products used are from Stampin' Up!!

 Then, these are the ones I finished up today.  I've been playing!!  Love these colors!

 These last 3 are colored with our new Blendabilities markers - they're super easy to use and very forgiving.

I hope you enjoyed them!

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I love a rainy night!

We're having an old-fashioned thunderstorm and I'm thinking about going to bed.  I just love thunderstorms any more.  There was a time when I used to go to the neighbor's house to sit out the thunderstorm, but not any more - they'd really be proud of me.

We had a good day today.  I didn't have anything until 1:00 so I cleaned out my paper storage box in the studio.  I finally got everything current and organized!  I also was able to sell the mistakes that I ordered, so I don't have to pay postage to return them!  Dave worked on the '56 - got it all cleaned up and ready to be sold.  I hope when we do sell it that it goes a long ways away so I don't see it coming down the street at me!

I'm getting off here - the lightning is really close.

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Friday

I lived the life of luxury today, by George!  My housekeeper/cleaning lady came this morning at 8:00, so I had my breakfast in bed around 7:00.  Then when Cathy was done cleaning and had left, I went for a full-body massage for an hour!  Is that decadent or what?!  I thought it was a wonderful day.  I wish I could afford to do those 2 things every Friday, but I'm a little too practical for that!

Other than my Friday "life of Riley" nothing else exciting happened.  Dave didn't get home until 5:30 or so and I had put a center cut slice of ham on to warm.  We had supper and now it's chair time!!

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Hustle!!

Juliene wanted me to come over and help her with some problems she's been having on her computer, so I was at her house by 9:00.  I'm hoping I got some of her questions answered before we were interrupted.  I got a phone call asking if they could show our house somewhere between 11 and 12:30.  Aaack!  I had to hustle home because by the time they called it was 10:00!  So I hurried and put the bedspread on the bed, wiped down the counters, spot checked the floors, turned on all the lights, unlocked the garage door, grabbed my Kindle and took off.  I got out of the house with about 3 minutes to spare.  I had to go to Bookins to take my ruby/diamond bracelet in for repair and I needed to run by the credit union to deposit some money.  I also needed to get groceries, but I stopped at Subway first.  I went in, ordered a sandwich and sat there reading my Kindle.  By the time I got to Fareway, it was 12:20 so I knew I wouldn't get home too early (before the realtor left with his client!)  Whew!  What a morning!!

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Yay!!

Hip, hip, hooray!  Our computers are working again!  The Mediacom technician came this morning and replaced some old wire outside leading into the house.  He said it was no wonder we were having trouble!!  They haven't used that wire for over 10 years!  Yay!!  It's so nice using the computer and not having to reconnect every 30 seconds!

Tonight Juliene and I had a card class.  We had 13 guests and made 3 wonderful cards.  Maybe tomorrow I'll get them into the computer so you can see them.  I'm too tired tonight!

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Tuesday

 It was such a beautiful day outside that I turned off the air and opened up the house.  Just hope it's cool to sleep upstairs!  I was able to get my card stuff put together today and Dave worked out in his garage, sorting more stuff.  He's got a ton of stuff that he's going to sell.  I just hope he's not premature in selling!

I had two meetings today so other than my cards I didn't get much accomplished.  Tomorrow will be a better day!

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This n that!

This morning was Bible Reading Time.  We were on Revelation 8 today...some more fantastic imagery!  I so wish I could paint what I'm studying.  I think it would be so fun to interpret the book of Revelation in oils!  Dave stayed home today because of all the rain we had over the weekend.  I think he kind of likes staying home.  He's been out in the garage sorting through tools and his "junk" drawers!

This afternoon I went to the chiropractor (finally!) and I had a planning meeting at Karen D's house for the upcoming sorority year.  After it was over, I decided to drive by Mediacom.  It's a funny thing - I've NEVER been able to get through to them on the phone.  While I was waiting in line to talk to someone, I never once heard the phone ring.  I think they purposely don't let the phone ring!  When I finally got to the window I mentioned the fact that I have never been able to get through on their phone line and the lady just pretended like she didn't hear me!  I've got a technician coming out Wednesday morning to see what is wrong with our internet connection.  It is still just coming and going and it's very irritating!  Hope he can figure it out.

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Sunday

It was a beautiful day today.  It really felt like summer outside.  I'm sure the corn grew even more today.  Yesterday when we went to Des Moines, we saw corn already tasseled.  Hard to believe that it's tassled by the 5th of July - it's only supposed to be knee high!!!

We went to church this morning and after church 15 of us went to Appanoose Rapids for their brunch.  Today we had to say goodbye to Cagles.  They've been here for almost 2 years and have been wonderful members of our church family during that time.  We will miss them.  He's an oncologist who goes from one area to another serving patients.  Their next assignment is in Northern Wisconsin - brrrr.

This afternoon, both of us decided to take a nap which didn't happen!  The darn phone rang just after we both nodded off.  So very, very short naps for us!  The phone call was a stupid political survey and I told them I wasn't interested - how was that for patriotism!  Dave went to the garage to sort out what tools he has left and about 4:15 Liz called to see if she could show our house at 5:00!  No problem, right?  We hurried through the house, wiping down sinks, making sure toilets were clean, and cleaning off counters in the kitchen.  Then we took off to ride around town until they were gone!  The people really, really liked the house and are supposedly going to South Ottumwa Savings Bank to see about financing tomorrow.  We'll see about that.  People are capable of saying anything in a time like that.

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Fun Saturday

We left here this morning at 8:00 on our way to Des Moines.  It was sprinkling here, but it was raining big time almost all the way to Des Moines!  I mean the kind of rain where you have your wipers going at the fastest speed and your car feels like it could hydroplane at any time!  Then by the time we got to Des Moines it was back to sprinkling again!  Just lucky I guess!

We went to Amanda's downtown by Principal Park first and had a wonderful visit with her, her mom and dad, her sister and got hugs from her two beautiful little girls!  Plus we got to have a piece of mayonnaise cake that Valerie had made and it was wonderful!  Everything she makes is great - must be the Italian in her!  Thank you, Burgetts, for the wonderful hospitality!

Our second stop was in Clive to Randy's brother's place to see all of the Richards family!!  We didn't get to see all of them, because two of Randy's brothers weren't there...but we saw a bunch of the family!  Randy was back from Arizona with his two kids, Kim and her two daughters were there from Alabama, as well as their parents who are also from Alabama.  I don't believe I've seen the Richards clan since Randy's "starter wedding" (his words, not mine!) back in about 1988 or 89.  I've seen Randy at Cyclone events a couple of times and I talk to him every once in a while.  So we had a wonderful visit!  We were there for about 2 hours but it went by very quickly.

We couldn't leave town without eating, so we dropped back east to the 5 & Diner in Pleasant Hill and then came home (without rain this time).  It was a wonderful day with old friends!

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Happy Independence Day!

We had a great 4th of July today.  We actually had an impromptu party and it was so much fun!  Craig & Sue, Sudi & Howard, Juliene & Dan all joined us for lunch.  Dave cooked burgers, brats and chicken breasts and we had a couple of salads, deviled eggs, and dessert!!!  Boy, did we have dessert!  I baked a raspberry pie, Sue brought Texas sheet cake, and Sudi brought both chocolate pie and lemon meringue pie!  Oh, and we had ice cream, too!!  Goodness...needless to say, we had popcorn for supper cause we were still stuffed!  Fun times with good friends!  That's what holidays are about!  Times with good friends and family!

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Busy, busy day

I started out the day with a list of 15 things and I actually got 9 of them done!  Of those 15 some of them were time-consuming like mowing the yard and getting a pedicure!  Oh, I also got groceries, which wasn't on my list!!  I'm pretty proud of myself!  My shoulder is killing me though, so I must have sat crooked on the lawnmower!  It's rough getting old!!

I also am typing this on my desktop computer, so I'm adding some of the cards we did at the workshop in Des Moines last week.  All products are from Stampin' Up!!

Do you have a favorite?  I do!  I love the one with the purple chevron stripes (2nd card from the bottom).  I just love the simplicity of it and the colors used!

Enjoy your day tomorrow.  We're not doing much.  Craig & Sue are coming by to pick up a generator they bought from Dave, but that's it!  Saturday we're going to Des Moines to see some ex-athletes of mine and their families.  Then Sunday is church where Dave is ushering...so that's our weekend!  Happy Independence Day to you and yours!

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Wednesday

I had a plan for today - I was going to accomplish a bunch - like pay bills, get caught up on our mail, and file.  I didn't get any of it done!  Dave wanted me to go to the lock box and see if the title for the '56 was in there - no problem, right?  Ha!  I went to get the key for the lock box and I couldn't find it where I always have it.  It wasn't in the second place either, or the third, or fourth!  So, guess what I did today.  I cleaned out drawers looking for our lock box key.  I finally found it, several hours and drawers later, and it wasn't even in a drawer!  I went to the bank and sure enough I found the title for the '56.

When I got done with all of that, I was done for the day.  We had supper when Dave got home and now we're sitting here watching American Pickers.  These guys are a hoot!

Maybe I'll get my stuff done tomorrow!

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Tuesday

This day was like most of the rest of our days...although, we had to spit-polish the house because we had a showing this evening.  The people really liked our house, but the taxes were a problem.  I don't blame them...I think the taxes are a problem also!  They'll probably end up buying on the south side where the taxes are much less.  I wish we could get that fixed!

Dave stayed home today, but he took some of his tools to a friend who bought all of them.  He also spent hours putting some of his garage stuff on Craig's List and he's already "sold" his trailer.  Hopefully some of the other stuff will sell, too.

I finished some cards today, but they're on my desktop computer and I'm typing on my laptop so I can't show them to you.  They're pretty cool cards if I do say so myself.

More later...