Tuesday

Day two of my business!  This morning, I picked up Queen (a lady who has been coming to our church the last few months).  I brought her here so she could go through the kitchen stuff we have ready for a garage sale.  I let her have whatever she wants.  Dave bought a small couch/loveseat so he and Queen's son took it over to her apartment.  After sending out an SOS for "stuff" to our church members, she now has 2 twin beds, bedding, a table and chairs, lamps, an easy chair and a dresser.  Way to go, my fellow FPCers!!  We're also going to have a shower for her - things like tin foil, plastic bags, shower curtains, etc.  Any excess funds we get, I just want to give it to her to buy groceries, but I guess we'll make that decision later.

This afternoon, I gave blood and then I came home and crashed!  I was so tired, I went upstairs, read for a few minutes, and then slept for almost 2 hours!!  That felt good!!

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Start of a busy week!

This is really going to be a busy week for me.  I have at least one thing every day and on some days I've got two things!  Today I had an 8:45 doctor's appointment for my last pap test - hooray!!  I guess once you're 65 you don't have to have those any more and that doesn't hurt my feelings at all!  Dr H also had my blood drawn for a blood panel.  When that was done, I hurried back to O-town because I needed to pick up Mary and take her to Bible Reading Time with me.  Her normal ride is out of town this week.  We had 8 at BRT, with 3 missing!!  We sure didn't get far.  We'll start Chapter 2 of James next Monday.

Tomorrow I've got two things, Wednesday I also have two and Thursday, too.  One will have to go on Thursday, though, because I'm taking Bob to Washington to watch Allison play VB.

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Busy week

Sundays are usually wonderful days for me, and today was no exception.  Today's sermon was very enlightening, as was class 201 after worship.  We had a good group in class - fun to visit with them and hear about their faith journeys.

After church, Dave mowed the yard and around 2, Judy came over to go through all of our Christmas decorations.  She took everything for the Festival of Trees, which gives all of their profits to Habitat for Humanity.  So instead of selling them at a garage sale, we made a donation to Habitat!  Now if I could just find someone who would like my witches and/or my rabbits.  I'd love to get rid of them so I wouldn't have to have a garage sale at all.

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They are home!!

Yay!  Dave and the guys got home this afternoon and I'm so glad!  They had a good trip - found a couple of problems, but got them fixed.  It's nice having "experts" in the park!  Bob said they still had some things they were going to work on when we get down there in October.  I'm starting to get excited about getting there!  The paint colors look good - hope I like it as well when I get to see it in person.

I'm watching my Cyclones and I feel so badly for them.  Baylor is so good - I'll probably not stay up for the second half.  This is getting out of hand quickly.  I sure don't understand why the Baylor QB is playing.  He broke bones in his back and he's got extra padding on.  He'll wonder why he did this if he gets hit and gets paralyzed or something.

We've sure had some gorgeous weather this week, haven't we?!!  It's beautiful for another couple of days or so they say.

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Fabulous Friday

Fridays are always good days and today was no exception.  It was beautiful outside.  It feels more like summer than fall today!  It's finally down to 67 right now!  Ottumwa's homecoming was tonight.  If they won the football game, it must have been a low scoring game because I haven't heard the cannon much.  Last night's fireworks were much louder!

I had card club this morning and I demo'd two different cards.  I think everyone liked them.  I know I sure do.  That'll probably be my last card club until next spring.  This afternoon 4 of us got together to play 7s from Hell.  In between I ate a quick lunch and tried to get my studio cleaned back up with everything put away.  I've still got some work to do in that area.

The guys made it to Paducah.  It must have been a very long day if they got that far!

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Busy day

Today was not a boring day for me.  I picked up around the house and I did the laundry.  That in itself is quite an accomplishment!  In fact, I even went to the chiropractor and finished my card prep for tomorrow.  I'm all ready for that AND I'm ready to play cards tomorrow afternoon!  Why, I even got my desk cleaned off!  Dave can come home now and think I've done all kinds of things!!

Speaking of Dave, he was busy, busy in Florida in our new home.  He had some repairs to do today, and it's a good thing Bob & Gary were there to help.  Dave's been on prednisone for a week and he gets frustrated very easily!  I guess he'd about had it this afternoon.

This afternoon and evening, I went to Indian Hills for a Trailblazers meeting, followed by the annual retirees' dinner.  Wonderful dinner and good conversations!  Fun night!

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Boring Day

I must admit, I got a little bored today.  I guess I really miss Dave!  I worked on my cards and I think I'm about ready for that project.  I also delivered some SU to Juliene, went to the credit union, and went to Fareway.  How about that for a busy day!  I almost gave in and took a nap!\

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Team Time

I slept in this morning and it sure did feel good!  I was still able to get my card stuff ready for Friday morning's demo.  Hopefully there aren't more than 7 there!  This afternoon I went to Mt Pleasant to watch Allison play volleyball.  That was different - I hadn't seen one of her VB games before.  She's on the A team so her team played first.  They won the first 2 games, so her time on the court was over for the evening.  She did very well.  She served 7 straight points to start the first game  and didn't have a service error until later in the second game.  I took my camera, but didn't grab the memory card out of the computer, so can't share any pix.  :(

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Wasted Days and Wasted Nights!

After Bible Reading Time today, I pretty much wasted the rest of my day and night...and it felt good!  I did figure out what I'm demonstrating at Friday's PMS get together, and even cut some of the paper.  I'll work on the rest of it tomorrow!

The guys got to Florida safely.  Dave is sleeping in our MH down there tonight.  He said the trailer pulled very well.  I'm sure they're all tired, but they are safe and that's the important thing.

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Fun, Fun, Fun

I just got back this afternoon from our annual Girls of 66 trip.  This year we went to Lake Geneva, WI and had a wonderful time!  Twenty-seven of us were there!  The first night we went to Nan's new home there, right on the lake.  We had the most scrumptious dinner and lots of fun touring their beautiful 1926 home.  On Friday, we toured the Yerkes Observatory and had dinner at the Cafe Calimari.  Then Saturday, we took a tour of the lake on Our Lady of the Lake and only got a little bit damp when it started raining!  This morning, we had brunch and then headed for home.  I think it's pretty wonderful how we have so much fun and get to catch up on everyone's lives!  The trip encompassed 730 miles from O-town to O-town and the sights in between!

I got home about 5:15 and my house feels awfully good.  I plan to go to bed early and read intil I crash.  I'll get pictures on here tomorrow!

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I'm ready!

I think that we are both ready for our trips.  We're just two ships passing in the night!  I wish I could be both places, but that just doesn't work.  I feel better knowing that Dave will have company on his trip.  Plus, he's now on prednisone for poison ivy, so he won't be falling asleep!

I picked up the cards that I'd left at my dentist's office.  They bought 21 cards, so that thinned out my stock a bit.  Plus I had a PEO sister call today and say that she was going to buy a bunch of my cards for her daughter and friends for Christmas gifts.  Maybe I'd better make some more!  I also heard today that we're having our first ever Craft Bazaar this January, so I hope I have cards left for that!

I won't be blogging for a few days as I'm not taking my computer with me.

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Woohoo again!!

We did it!!  We got all the way everything up in the attic.  Are we going to have a great garage sale!!  We've got Santas, snowmen, witches, rabbits, Easter egg stuff, turkeys, pilgrims, Christmas trees, and on and on and on!!  One spare bedroom is full of totes that somehow I've got to figure out how to price between now and Oct. 4th.  I've told a couple of ladies and they're coming over next week to pre-shop.  Maybe they'll buy it all!  (It's okay to be a wishful thinker, isn't it?)

Tonight I had sorority and I had the Master's Degree ritual given to me.  Most of the other ladies already had the Master's degree a few years ago and now I've caught up with them.  Basically what that means is I'm old and have been in Beta Sigma Phi forever!  I joined in 1974, and this degree didn't even exist when I first joined!  Now there's even one after Master's!  I guess Betas are living longer these days!

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Woohoo!

Woohoo!  We got all the way through the kitchen cabinets and drawers -purging!  I didn't think we'd ever get through all of them, but we did!  There probably isn't 40% in them of what used to be in them.  Tomorrow we hit the attic!  Now that's going to be a challenge!

Tonight we watched Dancing with the Stars.  Pretty interesting show tonight.  A couple of the stars are going to be pretty good, but several of them were really bad.  I was really disappointed in Lolo Jones.  She was almost as bad as Kate Gosslin was a few years ago.  I hope she gets another chance.

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Sunday

We took a day off today!  Of course, we went to church and to lunch with the group.  Today's lunch was at Appanoose Rapids.  They have a buffet on Sundays - very good, different selections than you get elsewhere.

When we came home from lunch, I took a nap and Dave went out to mow.  He's going to mow again Weds. and maybe again before he leaves on Sunday.  Then it will be up to me!  Thank goodness it's getting warmer outside.  I wasn't in to that cold stuff.  I'm about ready to go south!

That's about all there is to say today.  We watched the end of the race...or rather I did.  Dave was checking his eyelids for holes!

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Calgon take me away!!

This morning early, we went to Hedrick for breakfast at the Loren Sylvester Memorial Breakfast for the Christian Church.  Mainly we went to Craig & Sue!  The food was very good...Sylvester eggs (scrambled), hash browns, biscuits and Sylvester sausage gravy, plus cinnamon rolls that were wonderful.

Since this was the Cyclone-Hawkeye game day, I wore my Cyclone clothes.  I got a few people who said that I would look better in black and gold, but several said they hoped we won today!  I told some friends that I thought we could win it, because the Hawks really struggled last week against a not-so-good opponent, whereas we played really well against the #20th ranked team in the nation, and should have won. Needless to say, now that the game is over, I'm a pretty happy camper!!

I was begging for Calgon to take me away before the game started!  Dave and  I emptied every cupboard in the kitchen and put things into 4 stacks - stay, sell, take to Florida, or throw away.  If anyone looks in our cupboards, they would think that we don't have much...because they are clean and empty!!  We'll be having a garage sale about Oct. 4th.  Between now and Wednesday, we're going through all of my Christmas decorations, as well as my Halloween decorations, Easter decorations, etc.  If and when our house sells, we won't have to downsize quite as much!

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God's not dead!

We just watched the movie, God's Not Dead.  What an uplifting movie.  If only everyone would watch this movie and feel good about believing in God - what a wonderful proposition!!  We both really liked the movie!

Today was a quiet day.  Dave worked at the Habitat House because they had a whole crew there to side the place.  They worked in the rain and got about 2 1/2 sides about done and they also worked on mudding and taping inside.  He says he's not going tomorrow.  We're planning to go through cupboards and get things ready for a garage sale.  I've got tons of decorations for various holidays that we'll be selling.  We don't decorate like we used to, so someone else should be enjoying my "stuff"!!

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Cool Thursday!!

It sure didn't get very warm today, did it?  I think it maybe got up to the upper 60's, but that's pretty cool compared to what we've had!  Definitely feels like fall.  I still wore my shorts all day because Dave and I worked in the house emptying drawers and packing boxes with things he's going to take down to Clearwater later.  Our dining room is full of stuff that's going down there, and we're not quite ready to load the trailer yet.  I'm hoping he's got some hairy-legged friends who'll help with that part!!

I finally got a picture of two hummingbirds sitting on the feeder without one of them bullying the other away.  They're ornery little birds.  Usually when one is feeding, they are on constant alert like the one on the right...waiting for the bully to come around!

As I was going through pictures this evening, I realized that I hadn't shown you the view from our favorite pizza place in Clearwater.  Actually there is NO view - for about 2 years they're saying.  To the left of this picture is where the new condo/hotel/whatever is going up and these are all of their work trailers.  You can no longer walk across the street to the beach, either.  Grrrr!

And speaking of views, Ryan Howard's new home is progressing quite nicely...and he's going to have a wonderful view!!

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Wacky Wednesday

Someone forgot to close the freezer door from Canada into the US, I think.  It feels more like a late October evening than an early September evening out there tonight.  Juliene and I came out of card class tonight to be hit with a cold, cold wind.  Since we were very hot from our class, it felt good to us.

Dave worked in the gardens today.  He cut back irises and peonies and even a couple of bushes.  They had gotten a little unruly!

Our card class was good tonight.  We had a full house - 14 people.  One of our "students" was only 10 but she was very creative!

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Rumble Rumble

I woke up to rumbles and I have a feeling I'll be going to bed with rumbles.  Rumbles of thunder!  It's been a soggy day.  It rained this morning, then cleared off for a while, rained again, and so on...all day and all evening so far.  I guess this is the start of that cold front coming in.  Yuck!

I got a pedicure today.  That was much needed.  I stubbed my big toe about 3 months ago, cracked my nail straight down, and it's still not grown out...or maybe I just keep cracking it deeper.  It's still about 1/4 of an inch in length.

This evening, I had a Personnel meeting at church.  They always last about an hour and a half and tonight was the same.  I kept hearing the office's storm radio going off and I wanted to get home.

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Monday

We got through with Revelation Chapter 20 today.  Even though we got all the way through the chapter, we might be more confused now than we were early on in Revelation!  Very interesting chapter.  It talks about Jesus' return on a white horse with a sword coming out of his mouth.  Here's one artist's depiction of these verses: (Pat Marvenko Smith)



It's always interesting to see how artists "see" these verses!

The rest of the day, I got my card "stuff" ready for Wednesday night.  I think I've even got everything packed up!

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Long Sunday

After church this morning we went to Waterloo to take Bryan and Erin out to lunch and to see what all Bryan has been doing around his house.  Erin is on the home stretch now and is making diapers and diaper covers and getting the baby clothes ready.  The nursery is starting to come together, too.  This little guy is going to be well covered.  I just wonder how long it will be before the cloth diapers give way to the convenience of disposable ones.  She's very much into saving the environment, so we'll see.

We came home soon after lunch so that we could attend Jane's open house for her 50th birthday and showing off their new home on E Court Street.  They've done lots of work and it's lovely.  It's a huge house - bigger than most.  They'll rattle around in it!

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Fun day

I went to Williamsburg early this morning.  Allison was playing softball in a tournament there.  Their first game was at 9:15, then 10:30 and then again at 2:15.  They won all 3 of those games.  Since they won all 3 of their pool games, they were seeded 2nd in bracket play.  They got a bye in the first round so didn't play again until 5:15 so I came home.  I used sunscreen, but I really got burned.  It was a gorgeous day to sit outside at softball games, though!  I haven't heard how the bracket play came out.  Hopefully they're still playing!

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Strange day!

First of all, this day was strange because I didn't sleep last night.  I finally went to bed for the last time at 4:36 AM!  It took me a while to fall asleep even then and Dave awakened me at 7:00!!  That was not enough sleep for this old broad!  Since the cleaning lady came at 8:00, I wasn't able to go back to sleep!  I took about a 15 min nap this afternoon in my chair and then after it started storming and I decided to postpone my pedicure, I got a couple more hours of sleep.  I actually feel pretty good right now.

It was also a strange day weather wise.  It started out nice, then we had this huge bolt of lightning and clap of thunder, followed by sideways rain and more thunder.  Then it would stop for a while and then pour again for a while.  We got over 1/2 an inch of rain.  I think we had more than that but it came sideways so it was hard to measure!  I know that we have a huge puddle in our yard.

I just looked out the window and I've got two little hummers sitting peacefully on the feeder just eating away!  I'm waiting for the bully to come buzz them because that's what was happening all day - even in the rain!!  Man, they are really hungry!  They're still there.  There came the little bully!

I've had a request for some before pix of our new home in Florida.  So here goes.

 Our lanai.

This is the front of the house and the tan house to the left is Bob & Ann's.

Now to the inside...remember, the interior walls are all virgin 1982 blonde paneling - never been painted!!

This is the master bedroom - looks small here, but I only took a corner shot to mainly show the paneling.  There's room on this left wall for a king sized bed and 2 end tables.  The dresser or actually one from home about the same size will be on the wall closest to my left (that you can't see).

The second bedroom has room for a queen sized bed, two end tables and a desk for my craft stuff, but again I just took a corner shot.  That's a small walk-in closet straight ahead.

Forgive the mess.  This is our living room with everything from the bedrooms in it!  The wall that the head of the bed is on has a door that leads to Bob & Ann's.  I'm standing next to the dining room area...which looks better now than when I took the pictures!!

 Just behind that small wall jut out, and to the right, is the main bathroom.  and what you're seeing is the little square hallway that leads into either the master bedroom, or the 2nd bedroom, of the ballroom, or a hall utility closet.  The living room is to the left and toward where I'm standing.  The carpet here will all go and be replaced with laminate.

 Isn't this beautiful paneling?  That is on 2 walls in the living room.  Directly behind this partial wall is the kitchen and to the right of the wall is the rest of the living room and the dining room.

 We have two windows like this in front...both with 3 windows of 30" each...and a window seat of sorts.  You're seeing a recliner in the front right.  The lamps are going to be sprayed white and will go back in the living room...unless I take two lamps from here to replace them.

Last but not least is the kitchen, complete with 1982 vinyl on the floor.  It's anchored by the walls  so we know it is original!

That's a brief tour of the before.  I can hardly wait for the after!

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Tired tonight

Dave and I are both pooped tonight.  Dave went to church about 9:30 this morning to help get things ready for our monthly food pantry.  He came home for lunch, took a short nap, and went back at 2:00.  I went in about 2:30 and the parking lot was full.  I worked as a personal shopper until about 5:00 when I finally gave up and came home to straighten out my back/hip/sciatic nerve.  Dave didn't get home until about 6:00 or so after everything was cleaned up.  Then he went outside to mow while I got supper.  We didn't eat until almost 8:00 and then we both crashed in our chairs.

Tomorrow is another early day, as is Saturday and Sunday.  Yikes...I get even tired-er when I think of the weekend!!

I've sure had lots of hummingbirds around the last few days.  Bob said he'd had a bunch of orioles.  They must be getting ready to head south because they're stocking up on food.  Last night, we even had a deer standing about 10 feet from my window, eating the seeds that the squirrels and birds drop.  She just looked at me and kept on eating!!

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Another day.

I had a massage today and now I'm so relaxed that I can hardly stay awake.  I got home from my massage around 2:15 and Dave told me to go take a nap.  I guess I looked tired!  I slept until 5:00 and I am still sleepy.

I picked out the dishes I want to take to Florida and Dave packed them up.  I am really surprised at how many dishes I have!  Bryan wants one set of our  good china, so that's no problem at all.  We're going up to see he and Erin on Sunday after church.  It's been about 6 weeks or so since Dave went up to help them with a garage sale.  It'll be good to see them.  Next time we see them will be when the baby is born.  It's getting closer!

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Tuesday

I didn't have much to do today either, but I did get my desk cleaned off and got bills paid so it was a good day!  Tonight I had a sorority meeting out in the country.  I only saw one deer that was alive!  It's a beautiful night out there...cool and crystal clear!

Forty-eight years ago this afternoon, I had emergency surgery to have my appendix removed.  Not much fun, but I guess I'll never forget the day.  It's also my old boyfriend's birthday.  He turned 65 today!  Seems like I'm in a nostalgic mood tonight.

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Labor Day

I''m still a bit tired from my week in Florida, but I'm starting to perk up!  Today was pretty uneventful, but I enjoyed it anyway.  Dave worked outside on the mower and washing both vehicles while I did laundry and put the dishes away (from the dishwasher).  I also made a cool Christmas card and ordered a pizza for supper!  Very busy, you know!!

Sorry, this is short.  Just nothing to talk about tonight!

More later...