We had a very nice "candle light" Christmas Eve service at church. I had wondered how we would deal with the candle part when we can't have open flames in the school gym.... The candles were electric candles :) With the lights off, two or three strategically placed spotlights and the electric candles, we had a very nice mood. We also had treats so I grabbed a baby cheesecake dealie (in a cupcake wrapper) and told many peeps Merry Christmas after we were dismissed and had to make sure I didn't smush the cheesecake into them. When I got home Butler and I watched "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" which was really pretty good - it just came out on DVD this week.
Christmas morning I headed to Pella to be there in time to go to church with Dad. I have to give Dad a hard time because church starts at 9:30 and he always gets there at 9:00....and he lives like five blocks away from the church. Wow. I like to be early but my early is 15 minutes not 30 :) Dad introduced me to the gentleman that worked at Hospice and that had sat with Mom and Dad a while before Mom passed and was in the room with Dad when Mom passed - he seemed like a very nice man and it was nice to meet him. Dad introduced me to some folks and I said "hi" to some that I already knew.
We got back to Dad's apartment and I looked at the Christmas cards he'd received and ordered Casey's pizza. By the time I finished looking at his cards it was time to pick up the pizza. After we ate we opened presents. Dad had used several gift bags for my things but no tissue paper so I could look right into the bag to see what I was getting. I gave him a hard time after we were finished opening presents telling him that the bags were a surprise - I figured my gifts would be in plastic WalMart bags :) There was a box he had wrapped that the tag said it was from Mom that when I saw it, it kind of got to me and he told me to open that gift last. We won't know until we get to Heaven to ask Mom if she just planned ahead or if she had a feeling she needed to get part of my Christmas gift ready before she went into the hospital the first of June, but it was really awesome to get that gift.
My absolute favorite Christmas song is John Berry's (country) version of "O Holy Night" that he recorded a few years ago. I haven't listened to my country radio station since I started attending Living Waters - I listen to a Christian station - and I hadn't heard this version this year. Well, I hadn't needed to use my alarm for a while but had to use it Sunday to make sure I got up in plenty of time to get to Pella on time. My alarm radio is still tuned to KJJY (country) and guess what song was ending when my alarm went off - John Berry's "O Holy Night". Right at the ending with all the great high notes. I was in seventh heaven. Then later Christmas night I was flipping channels on the tv and with Dish TV I have some radio stations with one being a Latino station. As I was going through the radio channels I said to Butler, "you know, I haven't heard "Feliz Navidad" this year" and guess what was coming on the Latino radio station? Yep, "Feliz Navidad". Now it wasn't Jose Feliciano's version (think Taco Bell Christmas song) but I still really got into singing along with it anyway.
Yesterday I called my timeshare organization to ask some questions because I had switched my timeshare from weeks to points this past September when I was on vacation. Well, the consultant had a hard time finding my new points membership in the system and finally figured out it was because M.D. (Mike) and Veronda were on the weeks membership but only Veronda was on the points membership. You wouldn't think I'd still need to send off Mike's death certificate after 1 year, 8 months and 3 days but guess what I was faxing to the timeshare place to link my memberships in the system? They needed Mike's death certificate to take him off the weeks membership so it could link to my points membership.
I don't watch football and I'm not a Cyclone fan but right now I am - I'm watching the bowl game they are playing in that's in Yankee Stadium. But evidently I'm not paying close enough attention because once I looked and the score was 3-0 Iowa State and now it's 6-0 Iowa State and I have no idea when they got the field goals. The Hawkeye bowl game starts at 9:00 p.m. tonight.................
I'm going to meet my one friend for another estate sale tomorrow morning at the actual house and may go with another friend to an early afternoon movie. But no plans for celebrating New Year's Eve. That's one of the "holidays" that bothers me a little - welcoming in the new year without Mike with me. We usually stayed home New Year's Eve because Mike said that was the night all the amateur's were out celebrating big time (read drinking like crazy) that didn't do that the rest of the year and they would be insane behind the wheel of a car.
Wow, Rutgers just got a good non-call to let them get a touchdown instead of trying for a field goal......now it's 6-7 Rutgers.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
Movies
I decided I wanted to go to a movie today....."We Bought A Zoo". But more about that later.
I've been wondering about the black squirrel across the street in the park because I hadn't seen him for a while. Today as I pulled out to head to the movie I saw him, partially across the park and it made me smile. I still hope I get to take a picture of him for a memory.
Then on the way home from the movie as I came the "back way" on Fuller Road I checked the big, open area close to Public Works for deer like I always do this time of year. I was thinking it was too early in the day for them to be out (4:00 pm) but I was wrong. I had to pull over to watch them for a few minutes and I counted 12 deer grazing. It was so neat.
When I was at my sis-in-law's a week ago Sunday everyone was talking about the cartoon movie "Up" and how cute it was. Guess what was on last Saturday night on tv - "Up" - so I thought I'd watch it. Ok, the movie was cute but my family forgot to mention that it was slightly sad at the beginning because the elderly wife of the "old man" in the movie had died. Of course that made me emotional and I'm thinking, "crap I'm crying for a cartoon (thinking about Mike)." But the movie was really cute after that part.
And I've been asked if I watched "Marley and Me" Monday night. If you've seen my Facebook wall you already know the answer to that - yes I did. And how many kleenex I went through at the end :) First this is a very good movie but as most dog movies go - the end is horribly sad. One friend told me that when this movie was at the theater, people were crying in their seats and women were leaving before the movie was over. Well, it's a good thing I didn't see it at the theater because when Marley started to have his issues I said something like, "Oh no!" and the wailing began. Owen Wilson did a very good acting performance at the vet's office when he had to put Marley to sleep. He did exactly what I've done when we put Lucy down and I put Milly down. I really looked at them for the last time running my hand over their body, paying special attention to their tail and paws. The only difference was our dogs were on mats on the floor, not on a table so I was down on the floor with both of them, next to their face talking to them and letting them smell me to know I was near them - telling them they were the best dog. When we had to put two of the cats down (Babe and Smokey) I held them in my lap. Anyway, I'm wailing, hugging Butler and going through kleenex left and right at the end of the movie. But at least now I can say I've seen it.
So then I thought of two things I do for Butler. Whenever I leave I put his male wrap aka Speedo on so in case he has an accident while I'm gone, it's contained. Well I used to put a maxi pad inside the Speedo for extra absorbency when one day it hit me - buy Poise instead. Duh - they're made to soak up human urine. Poise is kind of like a NASCAR race car - it doesn't know the gender of the driver driving the car, it just knows it has a driver. Poise doesn't know if it's human urine or dog urine it's absorbing, it just knows it's suppose to absorb urine. But the interesting part is walking through WalMart with the largest, super-duper size of the ultra absorbent WalMart brand of Poise in my cart or arms and think, "these people probably think this is for me and they're not, they're for my dog......"
I've been wondering about the black squirrel across the street in the park because I hadn't seen him for a while. Today as I pulled out to head to the movie I saw him, partially across the park and it made me smile. I still hope I get to take a picture of him for a memory.
Then on the way home from the movie as I came the "back way" on Fuller Road I checked the big, open area close to Public Works for deer like I always do this time of year. I was thinking it was too early in the day for them to be out (4:00 pm) but I was wrong. I had to pull over to watch them for a few minutes and I counted 12 deer grazing. It was so neat.
When I was at my sis-in-law's a week ago Sunday everyone was talking about the cartoon movie "Up" and how cute it was. Guess what was on last Saturday night on tv - "Up" - so I thought I'd watch it. Ok, the movie was cute but my family forgot to mention that it was slightly sad at the beginning because the elderly wife of the "old man" in the movie had died. Of course that made me emotional and I'm thinking, "crap I'm crying for a cartoon (thinking about Mike)." But the movie was really cute after that part.
And I've been asked if I watched "Marley and Me" Monday night. If you've seen my Facebook wall you already know the answer to that - yes I did. And how many kleenex I went through at the end :) First this is a very good movie but as most dog movies go - the end is horribly sad. One friend told me that when this movie was at the theater, people were crying in their seats and women were leaving before the movie was over. Well, it's a good thing I didn't see it at the theater because when Marley started to have his issues I said something like, "Oh no!" and the wailing began. Owen Wilson did a very good acting performance at the vet's office when he had to put Marley to sleep. He did exactly what I've done when we put Lucy down and I put Milly down. I really looked at them for the last time running my hand over their body, paying special attention to their tail and paws. The only difference was our dogs were on mats on the floor, not on a table so I was down on the floor with both of them, next to their face talking to them and letting them smell me to know I was near them - telling them they were the best dog. When we had to put two of the cats down (Babe and Smokey) I held them in my lap. Anyway, I'm wailing, hugging Butler and going through kleenex left and right at the end of the movie. But at least now I can say I've seen it.
So then I thought of two things I do for Butler. Whenever I leave I put his male wrap aka Speedo on so in case he has an accident while I'm gone, it's contained. Well I used to put a maxi pad inside the Speedo for extra absorbency when one day it hit me - buy Poise instead. Duh - they're made to soak up human urine. Poise is kind of like a NASCAR race car - it doesn't know the gender of the driver driving the car, it just knows it has a driver. Poise doesn't know if it's human urine or dog urine it's absorbing, it just knows it's suppose to absorb urine. But the interesting part is walking through WalMart with the largest, super-duper size of the ultra absorbent WalMart brand of Poise in my cart or arms and think, "these people probably think this is for me and they're not, they're for my dog......"
Doesn't Butler look "happy" to be wearing his Speedo :) And the other thing I do is some times follow him around the living room to put this on him before I leave. Sometimes he stands very patiently for me to put it on him and to duct tape it to him and sometimes he takes off on me. I've gotten pretty good putting the Speedo on and taping "on the run". I duct tape so Butler can't work the Speedo down to "free Willy" and leave me a surprise when I get home.
But the ultimate of Butler love was the other morning when I was letting him in after going out first thing and while waiting for me to open the door up to the kitchen Butler pooped on my foot. Thankfully I had a sock on. So there I am trying to reach over Butler, up three stairs to open the kitchen door and not move my foot so the poo turd doesn't fall off it. Luckily I had a poo bag on the landing we were standing on in the back stairway so once Butler was in the kitchen I could open the bag andhop on one foot to plop the poo turd into it.
So......"We Bought A Zoo" is a definite must see. You'll get caught up in the story of Matt Damon's family as they deal with the zoo they bought and the people that work at the zoo. You'll laugh and you may shed a tear in one part but you leave with a warm fuzzy feeling. And a personal note from me - Matt did a very good job in some scenes that hit very close to home. It was like he had asked for my advice on how he should perform. He's such a good actor.
This is one of my favorite pictures ever. Christmas '65 at Grandma and Grandpa Hill's - me and all my cousins except Gary who wasn't born until '70. Such a simpler time. I love that all the girls are wearing dresses and the whole look/feel of the picture. You just don't see pictures like this any more.
Merry Christmas!
Monday, December 19, 2011
Christmas Program and Listing
Hmmm....been a couple of weeks since I blogged. Last Sunday I was on the go from when I left home at 9:20ish for church until I got home at 6:15ish and didn't feel like blogging. After church I left our membership meeting early to head to Newton for Thanksgiving/Christmas/birthday at my sis-in-law's with her, my niece and her two boys, and my oldest and hubby. We had a good time eating, visiting and looking at pictures. Then I headed to my Creative Memory consultant's house in Johnston to see the latest version of CM's digital scrapbook software - then finally got home to deal with Butler, eat and watch the finale of "The Amazing Race".
The Wednesday before that our small group put the Bread on the Water boxes and laundry baskets together with food and toiletry items for 20 families that belonged or had regularly visited our church. Pictures of the fun and wild chaos that ensued bringing all the items up from my small group leader's basement into his garage to box and then take back down to his basement for storage until last Sunday are at the end of this blog. The boxes and laundry baskets were delivered last Monday and Tuesday.
This past Wednesday night our small group gathered for our white elephant Christmas gift exchange and food. I didn't really have a white elephant gift so headed to my favorite "white elephant gift" store - Tuesday Morning and found the perfect item - but forgot to take a picture of it. Highlights were my small group leader getting a large roll of wire and one of the older men in his group of things getting the "Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy".
Saturday I helped decorate the school's gym for our Christmas program. I hadn't decorated a Christmas tree in forever. Mike and I put the tree up the last time when we had just the two cats Babe and Smokey and that was over 20 years ago. I was definitely out of practice and my ribbon layering on the first tree showed it :) Pictures of setup and the kidlets during the program are below. Pastor Josh told all of us that when the first group of little kids (the Puddles group) got on stage to keep the camera flashing to a minimum - it wasn't the Super Bowl :)
I needed to get to church early yesterday to put the candy cane Christmas tree together but when I got there some of the guys had already done that for me. And they told me the tree didn't have a base so they duct taped the tree to some wooden frame they made and came up with a "skirt" to hide all their fixings. When the song service started Barb and I headed out to place the candy canes on the tree. As we were doing that, I noticed the tree starting to list and I said, "the tree is listing." People looked at me and said, "what's that mean?" I'm thinking to myself - really?? So I said, "the tree is leaning to the right." Then they got it - wow. So between more duct tape and rope the tree was secured so it wouldn't fall over during the service. Then Barb and I handed out candy canes to the kids as they were leaving. As I left Pastor Josh grabbed me and I told him about the tree listing and he's like, "it was leaning?" and I said I was glad he knew what listing meant :)
Saturday evening we are having a Christmas Eve service which I'm excited about. I think the bulletin said candlelight Christmas Eve service? But I don't think fire is allowed in the school gym.......
Tonight "Marley and Me" is on tv. Mike and I never watched it because we couldn't - it's a dog movie and everyone knows how dog movies end. I always said if I posted on Facebook it was a "Marley and Me" night that meant I had put Butler down and I was already so upset I might as well watch the movie and cry for Butler and Marley at the same time. So I'm thinking about watching the movie tonight - and hugging Butler like crazy as I cry - and then again maybe I won't watch the movie.
Enjoy the pix.
The next blog will be Christmas or after so I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!
The Wednesday before that our small group put the Bread on the Water boxes and laundry baskets together with food and toiletry items for 20 families that belonged or had regularly visited our church. Pictures of the fun and wild chaos that ensued bringing all the items up from my small group leader's basement into his garage to box and then take back down to his basement for storage until last Sunday are at the end of this blog. The boxes and laundry baskets were delivered last Monday and Tuesday.
This past Wednesday night our small group gathered for our white elephant Christmas gift exchange and food. I didn't really have a white elephant gift so headed to my favorite "white elephant gift" store - Tuesday Morning and found the perfect item - but forgot to take a picture of it. Highlights were my small group leader getting a large roll of wire and one of the older men in his group of things getting the "Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy".
Saturday I helped decorate the school's gym for our Christmas program. I hadn't decorated a Christmas tree in forever. Mike and I put the tree up the last time when we had just the two cats Babe and Smokey and that was over 20 years ago. I was definitely out of practice and my ribbon layering on the first tree showed it :) Pictures of setup and the kidlets during the program are below. Pastor Josh told all of us that when the first group of little kids (the Puddles group) got on stage to keep the camera flashing to a minimum - it wasn't the Super Bowl :)
I needed to get to church early yesterday to put the candy cane Christmas tree together but when I got there some of the guys had already done that for me. And they told me the tree didn't have a base so they duct taped the tree to some wooden frame they made and came up with a "skirt" to hide all their fixings. When the song service started Barb and I headed out to place the candy canes on the tree. As we were doing that, I noticed the tree starting to list and I said, "the tree is listing." People looked at me and said, "what's that mean?" I'm thinking to myself - really?? So I said, "the tree is leaning to the right." Then they got it - wow. So between more duct tape and rope the tree was secured so it wouldn't fall over during the service. Then Barb and I handed out candy canes to the kids as they were leaving. As I left Pastor Josh grabbed me and I told him about the tree listing and he's like, "it was leaning?" and I said I was glad he knew what listing meant :)
Saturday evening we are having a Christmas Eve service which I'm excited about. I think the bulletin said candlelight Christmas Eve service? But I don't think fire is allowed in the school gym.......
Tonight "Marley and Me" is on tv. Mike and I never watched it because we couldn't - it's a dog movie and everyone knows how dog movies end. I always said if I posted on Facebook it was a "Marley and Me" night that meant I had put Butler down and I was already so upset I might as well watch the movie and cry for Butler and Marley at the same time. So I'm thinking about watching the movie tonight - and hugging Butler like crazy as I cry - and then again maybe I won't watch the movie.
Enjoy the pix.
The next blog will be Christmas or after so I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!
Food and toiletry items were everywhere in the spare bedroom!
Then they were everywhere in the garage :)
Back in the spare bedroom boxed and ready to go.
A week ago Sunday morning with all the boxes and laundry baskets in front of the church.
Some of the Christmas decorations for yesterday's Christmas program.
Our youngest kidlets - Puddles.
This is the group I help with crafts - WAVES!
Our oldest children's ministry group - Dive.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Funnies and Things That Make You Go "Hmmmmm"
Sunday Pastor preached the last half of Luke 2 where Mary, Joseph and Jesus went to Jerusalem when Jesus was 12 and how Mary and Joseph lost Jesus after they had started back for home. They finally found Jesus in the temple teaching the scholars. Well Pastor wanted to put it into perspective what it was like to be 12 so he told some things that were going on in his life when he was 12 and one was that was the midst of the Chicago Bulls going for their first three championship titles. Pastor knows I have a shrine to the Bulls - he actually sits next to it when he visits and drools. Anyway he looks at me and says, "Roni can I get an amen for that (the Bulls)" which of course I shouted out with glee. Hey we amen the Hawkeyes, and Cyclones at our church - why not Da Bulls :)
I think the rest of the funnies are Butler stories.
Ok - tell me how an older, crippled up dog that his back legs hardly work can lay on the bed and if he is positioned just right when he started to dream and he is running - those same, useless back legs can kick the crap out of my legs so hard it hurts??? He's done this more than once and I'm thinking if those old legs work good enough to kick like that - they should be working good enough for you to walk ok........
I've found a game on my laptop that I am HOOKED on - Christmas Ornament Smash. It's kind of like Tetrus I think? And it plays Jingle Bells over and over and over. The first night I played it - for like two hours - Butler was laying on the bed and finally raised his head to look at me as if to say "Mom, PLEASE STOP THE MUSIC!!!!" I tried to play the game without the music and it's just not the same - so I make sure I can just hear Jingle Bells and Butler can't.
I'm starting now when I carry Butler downstairs to grab something easy to carry/grasp in my hand that is sitting on top of the book shelf by the stairs. As I zero in on the book shelf to grab whatever the items is - Butler starts to stick his legs out to make sure I don't bash him into the book shelf.......
And the other day I carried him the other way down the stairs and it really threw him for a loop. When I first started carrying him down the stairs his face would be toward the wall because most of his weight would be carried by my left arm - but then I hurt my left arm/shoulder so I started carrying him with his face toward the railing with my right arm carrying most of his weight. So the other day his face was toward the wall and I guess he didn't like that view because he was wiggling and flailing all the way down the stairs - goofball.
Sometimes Butler can get up ok from laying on the bed to jump down to get food or water and sometimes he needs help getting up so he can jump down. It never fails - the times he needs help getting up - I usually have to get the laptop off my lap and then help him up. Then I sit back down and put the laptop back on my lap - I should learn..... Butler gets down and goes to his water bowl for one or two quick licks of water and he's done. Then he looks at me to help get him back on the bed - so I have to get the laptop back off my lap........
Once-in-a-while I'll buy Butler a doggie treat like a Dentabone or something so I got him a treat at WalMart yesterday. He just stares at me until I get the package opened and give it to him. Mike and I used to laugh that no matter what - he could eat one of those in five minutes so I thought - wonder if he still can eat it in five minutes at his age. The answer: less than five minutes and it was all gone - no crumbs anywhere.
I've learned to not pet Butler while I'm feeding him food - especially the crust from my toast or sandwich because he thinks my fingers are crust and tries to eat them...............
I've also learned to not feed him very many nuts at a time. Dad had bought me a big bag of trail mix at WalMart on Thanksgiving - the trail mix with the chocolate pieces. So I'd get a handful of trail mix, eat the chocolate pieces and raisins and give Butler the handful of nuts. I did this for like two days in a row - feeding him fairly quickly handful after handful. Don't do that trust me. Needless-to-say a couple of days later Butler's poo was of a different consistency that was pretty chunky aka little nut piece sizes. That was fun to pick up after - not.
And lastly the other morning I got Butler's speedo off the book shelf and sat on the bed, laying the speedo next to me, to wake Butler up - he was really sleeping soundly. I finally get him woken up, and help him up, and reach for the speedo - it's not there. Great. Someone is going to start peeing really quickly now so I take my left hand and press a certain male doggy part up next to his tummy to try to keep him from peeing as I stretch myself to the right, using my right hand to flip bed sheets left and right and up and down looking for the speedo. No speedo - where in the world did it go???? By then my grip with my left hand is slipping (and getting a little wet) so I let go of Butler and luckily he doesn't pee very much. I'm trying to figure out where in the world the speedo could have gone and some how my right hand brushes my behind and feels something. Butler's speedo had velcroed itself to my pajama bottom.
That's my life :)
I think the rest of the funnies are Butler stories.
Ok - tell me how an older, crippled up dog that his back legs hardly work can lay on the bed and if he is positioned just right when he started to dream and he is running - those same, useless back legs can kick the crap out of my legs so hard it hurts??? He's done this more than once and I'm thinking if those old legs work good enough to kick like that - they should be working good enough for you to walk ok........
I've found a game on my laptop that I am HOOKED on - Christmas Ornament Smash. It's kind of like Tetrus I think? And it plays Jingle Bells over and over and over. The first night I played it - for like two hours - Butler was laying on the bed and finally raised his head to look at me as if to say "Mom, PLEASE STOP THE MUSIC!!!!" I tried to play the game without the music and it's just not the same - so I make sure I can just hear Jingle Bells and Butler can't.
I'm starting now when I carry Butler downstairs to grab something easy to carry/grasp in my hand that is sitting on top of the book shelf by the stairs. As I zero in on the book shelf to grab whatever the items is - Butler starts to stick his legs out to make sure I don't bash him into the book shelf.......
And the other day I carried him the other way down the stairs and it really threw him for a loop. When I first started carrying him down the stairs his face would be toward the wall because most of his weight would be carried by my left arm - but then I hurt my left arm/shoulder so I started carrying him with his face toward the railing with my right arm carrying most of his weight. So the other day his face was toward the wall and I guess he didn't like that view because he was wiggling and flailing all the way down the stairs - goofball.
Sometimes Butler can get up ok from laying on the bed to jump down to get food or water and sometimes he needs help getting up so he can jump down. It never fails - the times he needs help getting up - I usually have to get the laptop off my lap and then help him up. Then I sit back down and put the laptop back on my lap - I should learn..... Butler gets down and goes to his water bowl for one or two quick licks of water and he's done. Then he looks at me to help get him back on the bed - so I have to get the laptop back off my lap........
Once-in-a-while I'll buy Butler a doggie treat like a Dentabone or something so I got him a treat at WalMart yesterday. He just stares at me until I get the package opened and give it to him. Mike and I used to laugh that no matter what - he could eat one of those in five minutes so I thought - wonder if he still can eat it in five minutes at his age. The answer: less than five minutes and it was all gone - no crumbs anywhere.
I've learned to not pet Butler while I'm feeding him food - especially the crust from my toast or sandwich because he thinks my fingers are crust and tries to eat them...............
I've also learned to not feed him very many nuts at a time. Dad had bought me a big bag of trail mix at WalMart on Thanksgiving - the trail mix with the chocolate pieces. So I'd get a handful of trail mix, eat the chocolate pieces and raisins and give Butler the handful of nuts. I did this for like two days in a row - feeding him fairly quickly handful after handful. Don't do that trust me. Needless-to-say a couple of days later Butler's poo was of a different consistency that was pretty chunky aka little nut piece sizes. That was fun to pick up after - not.
And lastly the other morning I got Butler's speedo off the book shelf and sat on the bed, laying the speedo next to me, to wake Butler up - he was really sleeping soundly. I finally get him woken up, and help him up, and reach for the speedo - it's not there. Great. Someone is going to start peeing really quickly now so I take my left hand and press a certain male doggy part up next to his tummy to try to keep him from peeing as I stretch myself to the right, using my right hand to flip bed sheets left and right and up and down looking for the speedo. No speedo - where in the world did it go???? By then my grip with my left hand is slipping (and getting a little wet) so I let go of Butler and luckily he doesn't pee very much. I'm trying to figure out where in the world the speedo could have gone and some how my right hand brushes my behind and feels something. Butler's speedo had velcroed itself to my pajama bottom.
That's my life :)
Butler and his speedo
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Thanksgiving and More
Well I was lazy last week and didn't blog so I've got some catching up to do.
Our small group met the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving but didn't do a Bible study - we fellowshipped and played Mad Gab - what a riot. We split into two teams with one team saying what is actually on the card and figure out what saying, person's name, place, etc., they are saying. One team member holds up the card so they can see the true saying and laughs - along with the other team - at the team members repeating over and over what the front of the card says because everyone can "hear" what the saying is except for the team guessing it. All I can remember to give as an example is "wee nurse" was part of Oscar Meyer weiners. Wee nurse - say it really fast and it becomes weiners. We laughed and laughed and laughed during that game.
Dad and I celebrated Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving and the weather was awesome! After visiting for a little bit we headed out to buy Dad's items for his contribution to Bread on the Waters and then to a local restaurant that was open for a Thanksgiving turkey dinner with all the trimmings. The food helpings were so huge we had to take our pieces of pumpkin pie home with us :)
I spent that Friday finishing up my Christmas cards and getting them in the mail on Saturday. I know if I don't get them done the weekend of Thanksgiving I'll probably not get them done at all. And it was my second year to do them without Mike. It wasn't as weird has last year doing them by myself but still was a little lonely.
This past Thursday evening was the first of Valley Junction's three Holiday Open Houses and a good friend from church went with me to it - and it was spitting snow so that helped get us in the Christmas spirit. We ate at the Tavern and then headed out to check out the shops, eat some treats and even got our picture taken with Santa. Luckily the snow didn't amount to anything.
Yesterday was a blucky, gloomy, grey day so Butler and I were lazy. I didn't do my normal Saturday errands (library and grocery store). We stayed huddled on the bed most of the day and I read the latest Tom Clancy novel "Against All Enemies". Last night was our church's first women's Christmas meal/program called Rejoice. Last year when I went to Rejoice we partnered with our mother church (Saylorville Baptist) to attend their celebration. This year we had our own and it was very, very nice. The decorations, food and program were excellent.
Today I woke up and looked out the window at the roof and thought it looked whiter than normal - yep - a light dusting of snow. But again no accumulation - thank goodness. Off to church for the last Sunday for everyone to bring in their food items for Bread in the Waters and it was crazy before service checking in all the items. Wednesday night we'll put the boxes together.
Our small group met the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving but didn't do a Bible study - we fellowshipped and played Mad Gab - what a riot. We split into two teams with one team saying what is actually on the card and figure out what saying, person's name, place, etc., they are saying. One team member holds up the card so they can see the true saying and laughs - along with the other team - at the team members repeating over and over what the front of the card says because everyone can "hear" what the saying is except for the team guessing it. All I can remember to give as an example is "wee nurse" was part of Oscar Meyer weiners. Wee nurse - say it really fast and it becomes weiners. We laughed and laughed and laughed during that game.
Dad and I celebrated Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving and the weather was awesome! After visiting for a little bit we headed out to buy Dad's items for his contribution to Bread on the Waters and then to a local restaurant that was open for a Thanksgiving turkey dinner with all the trimmings. The food helpings were so huge we had to take our pieces of pumpkin pie home with us :)
I spent that Friday finishing up my Christmas cards and getting them in the mail on Saturday. I know if I don't get them done the weekend of Thanksgiving I'll probably not get them done at all. And it was my second year to do them without Mike. It wasn't as weird has last year doing them by myself but still was a little lonely.
This past Thursday evening was the first of Valley Junction's three Holiday Open Houses and a good friend from church went with me to it - and it was spitting snow so that helped get us in the Christmas spirit. We ate at the Tavern and then headed out to check out the shops, eat some treats and even got our picture taken with Santa. Luckily the snow didn't amount to anything.
Yesterday was a blucky, gloomy, grey day so Butler and I were lazy. I didn't do my normal Saturday errands (library and grocery store). We stayed huddled on the bed most of the day and I read the latest Tom Clancy novel "Against All Enemies". Last night was our church's first women's Christmas meal/program called Rejoice. Last year when I went to Rejoice we partnered with our mother church (Saylorville Baptist) to attend their celebration. This year we had our own and it was very, very nice. The decorations, food and program were excellent.
Today I woke up and looked out the window at the roof and thought it looked whiter than normal - yep - a light dusting of snow. But again no accumulation - thank goodness. Off to church for the last Sunday for everyone to bring in their food items for Bread in the Waters and it was crazy before service checking in all the items. Wednesday night we'll put the boxes together.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Endings and Thanksgiving
I thought I'd get some of that expanding foam insulation that you spray and then it expands to fill holes - to spray in a few places under my patio where I think snakes hide. I went to my handy-dandy True Value and asked a guy about the foam insulation and he advised me to use wood putty instead. He said snakes could eat the insulation?! I said, "really? I didn't think snakes would do that." I should have gone with my gut instinct but I figured...he's an older guy, he should know what he's talking about. I got home and worked and worked the inner and outer putty together and then leaned down to place it over one of the holes - a little leery that a snake might bump its head against the putty on the other side - and I have no idea what I did but somehow I got some grass off to the side to move, I thought it was a snake and fell on my butt thinking a snake was going to get me. And the putty didn't work anyway. So I remembered the caulking I had from the upstairs bathroom, found it in the basement and caulked the poop out of 2-3-4 holes that were under my patio and sidewalk. It ain't pretty but the holes are filled - mission accomplished.
Friday night I got together with my two girlfriends from 4th grade at one of their houses which was in Ankeny. I made brownies - the box said I'd get 12 brownies out of my 8 x 8 pan. When it was time to cut them I'm like - no way will I get 12 - those would be bite-size. So I went for 9 brownies and those still looked kind of small. I said we were going to have 6 brownies out of the pan and proceeded to cut. All three of us enjoyed a very large brownie for dessert :) One of my friends found the "newspaper" we helped print in 5th grade, there was four or five different editions that were a hoot to look at. Hand written, on stencils, run on a mimeograph machine - remember those days?! We laughed about how the "newspaper" would look today done by school kids on a computer.
Yesterday I went with another friend to my first ever estate tag sale - that was an experience - and crowded. There was stuff and more stuff. It was fun to have experienced and I told my friend to let me know when she finds out about more sales. I walked her to her car and she handed me a plastic bag with three bananas and a dog treat for Butler :) I laughed and told her Butler would definitely enjoy the treat.
After running errands I filled three more bags with leaves from the driveway and some of the front lawn - this week if the last week WDM will pick up yard waste. I also bought some spray foam insulation to spray by the front door of the porch between the floor of the front porch and landing that people stand on when ringing my doorbell. I sprayed and watched the foam kind of expand - and tried to rub my gloved finger across the foamy stuff to "level" it like when you caulk - that was messy - and then left it for a while to finish doing its thing. I looked at it about an hour later and good googly moogly - some of it expanded like three inches above the flooring. Down to Mike's work bench I go to find one of those little, long, skinny saws with a handle that was more like a hand grip to cut the excess insulation off.............
For some unknown reason I decided to watch "The Sons of Katie Elder" (John Wayne) yesterday afternoon. I'd watched parts of it before with Mike but thought I'd watch it all the way through. It's pretty good but I was so amazed at what a great shot John Wayne was - have you ever noticed that :)
Endings - well there was one today and the other will be Tuesday night for me. Today - NASCAR. Tuesday - Dancing With The Stars. Heavy sigh. I'm down to Bones on Thursday night and The Amazing Race on Sunday night (which has 3-4 more weeks and it's finished). It always makes me a little sad when the NASCAR season ends because it's such a long season (mid-February to almost Thanksgiving). I'll be going into NASCAR withdrawal until February 26th when the Daytona 500 is back. The race was rain delayed - which was good since I did my normal NASCAR nap during that time. At the end of today's race Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart tied for points for the Championship - it went to a tie breaker with Tony Stewart winning because he had the most wins (and only wins) between him and Carl during the last ten races.
I need to finish my Christmas letter so I can get it printed, and print my labels so I can get my Christmas cards out this coming weekend. I asked Dad if he wanted to put out a Christmas letter - I had typed Mom and Dad's letter for several years and printed their envelope labels. Dad decided he's not sending letters this year - so I just have to make sure I get my stuff done.
The weather is supposed to be nice so I'll drive to Pella to be with Dad for part of Thanksgiving. HyVee is open in Pella and he wants to buy a few things for our Bread on the Waters grocery collection project at church, so we'll do that. He mentioned something about eating at one of the restaurants that is open for lunch - so we might do that too.
I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Friday night I got together with my two girlfriends from 4th grade at one of their houses which was in Ankeny. I made brownies - the box said I'd get 12 brownies out of my 8 x 8 pan. When it was time to cut them I'm like - no way will I get 12 - those would be bite-size. So I went for 9 brownies and those still looked kind of small. I said we were going to have 6 brownies out of the pan and proceeded to cut. All three of us enjoyed a very large brownie for dessert :) One of my friends found the "newspaper" we helped print in 5th grade, there was four or five different editions that were a hoot to look at. Hand written, on stencils, run on a mimeograph machine - remember those days?! We laughed about how the "newspaper" would look today done by school kids on a computer.
Yesterday I went with another friend to my first ever estate tag sale - that was an experience - and crowded. There was stuff and more stuff. It was fun to have experienced and I told my friend to let me know when she finds out about more sales. I walked her to her car and she handed me a plastic bag with three bananas and a dog treat for Butler :) I laughed and told her Butler would definitely enjoy the treat.
After running errands I filled three more bags with leaves from the driveway and some of the front lawn - this week if the last week WDM will pick up yard waste. I also bought some spray foam insulation to spray by the front door of the porch between the floor of the front porch and landing that people stand on when ringing my doorbell. I sprayed and watched the foam kind of expand - and tried to rub my gloved finger across the foamy stuff to "level" it like when you caulk - that was messy - and then left it for a while to finish doing its thing. I looked at it about an hour later and good googly moogly - some of it expanded like three inches above the flooring. Down to Mike's work bench I go to find one of those little, long, skinny saws with a handle that was more like a hand grip to cut the excess insulation off.............
For some unknown reason I decided to watch "The Sons of Katie Elder" (John Wayne) yesterday afternoon. I'd watched parts of it before with Mike but thought I'd watch it all the way through. It's pretty good but I was so amazed at what a great shot John Wayne was - have you ever noticed that :)
Endings - well there was one today and the other will be Tuesday night for me. Today - NASCAR. Tuesday - Dancing With The Stars. Heavy sigh. I'm down to Bones on Thursday night and The Amazing Race on Sunday night (which has 3-4 more weeks and it's finished). It always makes me a little sad when the NASCAR season ends because it's such a long season (mid-February to almost Thanksgiving). I'll be going into NASCAR withdrawal until February 26th when the Daytona 500 is back. The race was rain delayed - which was good since I did my normal NASCAR nap during that time. At the end of today's race Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart tied for points for the Championship - it went to a tie breaker with Tony Stewart winning because he had the most wins (and only wins) between him and Carl during the last ten races.
I need to finish my Christmas letter so I can get it printed, and print my labels so I can get my Christmas cards out this coming weekend. I asked Dad if he wanted to put out a Christmas letter - I had typed Mom and Dad's letter for several years and printed their envelope labels. Dad decided he's not sending letters this year - so I just have to make sure I get my stuff done.
The weather is supposed to be nice so I'll drive to Pella to be with Dad for part of Thanksgiving. HyVee is open in Pella and he wants to buy a few things for our Bread on the Waters grocery collection project at church, so we'll do that. He mentioned something about eating at one of the restaurants that is open for lunch - so we might do that too.
I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Chainsaw.....Nifty
Wednesday we woke up to - I can't write it - snow.....blick. Luckily the streets were warm enough to melt what we got but some of the snow stayed a few days on the grass in the shady areas. And I had a largish limb that had come down in the back yard - see picture below. I also got the snow shovels in their strategic locations (front porch, outside back porch and right by door in garage). Poor Butler, he kind of slipped on the back porch, hit the snow shovel some how and knocked it over and then he went sprawling.......
So.....why did I title this blog Chainsaw??? I called a friend and her hubby from church asking if he would be able to help me with the branch in the back yard. I wasn't sure if I still had Mike's chain saw or if Andy had taken it to Pennsylvania with him - and even if I did still have it - I didn't think I wanted to mess with it because it was fairly big and I would probably have had to mix oil and gas. A pain. I asked Jim if after taking care of the limb if he'd be willing to go to True Value with me to look at small chain saws and help me pick one out that I could have - thinking I'd go with a rechargeable one - so I could take care of future limbs instead of needing to call on someone to help me. He said he was more than happy to help.
Well I decided to check chain saws out yesterday and stopped at True Value. The only rechargeable one was like $140ish. No way no how. I didn't want an electric one to have to deal with extension cords so I left True Value not sure what to do - then I decided to head to Home Depot. I got a nice young man to help me and we talked about how often I would use the chain saw - maybe once or twice a year. I finally settled on a 14" electric chain saw - no mixing gas and oil. The young man was really nice to explain how to care/clean the chain after using it too - BIG thing to know is to wear gloves when oiling/cleaning the chain so I don't cut myself!
So after church today Barb and Jim stopped by with Jim putting the chain oil in the chain saw and cutting up my branch for me. When he was finished I wanted to make sure I knew how to start the chain saw and it's pretty slick and doesn't jiggle/bounce/kick/whatever at all. And at that moment I understood why Tim the Tooltime Taylor made his grunting noises when it came to tools - I almost grunted too. So.....next time limbs come down I'm good to go - unless it's half a tree or something :)
Today was our second Sunday for our small group to host the Bread on the Waters grocery collection project table and we had another good response from church families taking slips with food items to purchase. We also had some start to bring their items in today (they are in the plastic bags under the table).
So.....why did I title this blog Chainsaw??? I called a friend and her hubby from church asking if he would be able to help me with the branch in the back yard. I wasn't sure if I still had Mike's chain saw or if Andy had taken it to Pennsylvania with him - and even if I did still have it - I didn't think I wanted to mess with it because it was fairly big and I would probably have had to mix oil and gas. A pain. I asked Jim if after taking care of the limb if he'd be willing to go to True Value with me to look at small chain saws and help me pick one out that I could have - thinking I'd go with a rechargeable one - so I could take care of future limbs instead of needing to call on someone to help me. He said he was more than happy to help.
Well I decided to check chain saws out yesterday and stopped at True Value. The only rechargeable one was like $140ish. No way no how. I didn't want an electric one to have to deal with extension cords so I left True Value not sure what to do - then I decided to head to Home Depot. I got a nice young man to help me and we talked about how often I would use the chain saw - maybe once or twice a year. I finally settled on a 14" electric chain saw - no mixing gas and oil. The young man was really nice to explain how to care/clean the chain after using it too - BIG thing to know is to wear gloves when oiling/cleaning the chain so I don't cut myself!
So after church today Barb and Jim stopped by with Jim putting the chain oil in the chain saw and cutting up my branch for me. When he was finished I wanted to make sure I knew how to start the chain saw and it's pretty slick and doesn't jiggle/bounce/kick/whatever at all. And at that moment I understood why Tim the Tooltime Taylor made his grunting noises when it came to tools - I almost grunted too. So.....next time limbs come down I'm good to go - unless it's half a tree or something :)
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Jeans and Bread on the Waters
Without going into a lot of details let me just say that the last few weeks have been "interesting" and I've really been through it - but I had to go through it to get to where I am now - which is a very good place. God and I have really been having some heart-to-heart talks and I'm still working on some things that need to be taken care of - but we'll get there.
The jean saga has come to an end - sort of. I finally convinced myself that I had to deal with the "new waist" which is really slightly above women's hips and found one pair that I can tolerate. I only bought one pair because I've lost some weight and I'm not sure if I'll stay at this weight or gain some pounds but no matter what - I HAD to get a decent pair of jeans. All my jeans (even at my old weight) were kind of baggy in the behind area.
And because of how this pair of jeans "rides" on me - unfortunately I had to buy some new undies. I'm sure some of you are SO glad I shared that - but I think some ladies can relate to all this. First - why is it so hard to find a six-pack of undies, in the right size, in the right cut, that are all white? I don't need wild colors or patterns - just give me plain white and I'm good. I'll wear the wild colors and patterns on my outside clothes thank you. But no - no plain white in the style I thought would work for my new jeans. At least the six-pack I ended up buying were solid, subdued colors.....................goodness.
Leaves - they are really pretty on the trees but not pretty when I have to rake them up. I had five bags of leaves this week. The only good thing was we had rain one day so yesterday when I raked the avalanche of leaves that fell in the back corner of my yard they were wet so they didn't blow away when I put them in the bag - and I could put a lot more leaves in the bag when they were wet than when they were dry.
My small group at church discussed a project two weeks ago that we thought would be good for the holiday season - and something the whole church could get behind. It's called Bread on the Waters and we presented it today. We are using Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 and Galations 6: 9-10 as our key verses for the project which is a grocery collection. Our goal is to collect enough groceries to fill 18 boxes to give to some families in our church and some families that have visited a few times - to be a help and blessing during the holiday season.
While our small group discussed this project - several of us volunteered to do certain aspects such as: work the display table each Sunday morning, create the tags of food items we need, create the display board for the table, record tags taken and what food items those were for, etc. Our small group leader thought through everything else that needed to be done and plugged all of us in the spots so we know who is doing what.
Barb and I are working the display table each Sunday and we had to set it up during the song service so it would be ready to go after the service. It looked great and I had absolutely nothing to do with any aspect of the table except put things on the table. And the response for our first Sunday was really good. There are lots of items that need to be purchased because we want all the boxes to have the same items in it (2 boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios, 2 cans of beans, 4 cans of vegetables, etc.). So when you say your prayers, maybe say a little prayer for this project too.
And I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the table - where was my head?! I'll take one next week to share with you :)
The jean saga has come to an end - sort of. I finally convinced myself that I had to deal with the "new waist" which is really slightly above women's hips and found one pair that I can tolerate. I only bought one pair because I've lost some weight and I'm not sure if I'll stay at this weight or gain some pounds but no matter what - I HAD to get a decent pair of jeans. All my jeans (even at my old weight) were kind of baggy in the behind area.
And because of how this pair of jeans "rides" on me - unfortunately I had to buy some new undies. I'm sure some of you are SO glad I shared that - but I think some ladies can relate to all this. First - why is it so hard to find a six-pack of undies, in the right size, in the right cut, that are all white? I don't need wild colors or patterns - just give me plain white and I'm good. I'll wear the wild colors and patterns on my outside clothes thank you. But no - no plain white in the style I thought would work for my new jeans. At least the six-pack I ended up buying were solid, subdued colors.....................goodness.
Leaves - they are really pretty on the trees but not pretty when I have to rake them up. I had five bags of leaves this week. The only good thing was we had rain one day so yesterday when I raked the avalanche of leaves that fell in the back corner of my yard they were wet so they didn't blow away when I put them in the bag - and I could put a lot more leaves in the bag when they were wet than when they were dry.
My small group at church discussed a project two weeks ago that we thought would be good for the holiday season - and something the whole church could get behind. It's called Bread on the Waters and we presented it today. We are using Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 and Galations 6: 9-10 as our key verses for the project which is a grocery collection. Our goal is to collect enough groceries to fill 18 boxes to give to some families in our church and some families that have visited a few times - to be a help and blessing during the holiday season.
While our small group discussed this project - several of us volunteered to do certain aspects such as: work the display table each Sunday morning, create the tags of food items we need, create the display board for the table, record tags taken and what food items those were for, etc. Our small group leader thought through everything else that needed to be done and plugged all of us in the spots so we know who is doing what.
Barb and I are working the display table each Sunday and we had to set it up during the song service so it would be ready to go after the service. It looked great and I had absolutely nothing to do with any aspect of the table except put things on the table. And the response for our first Sunday was really good. There are lots of items that need to be purchased because we want all the boxes to have the same items in it (2 boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios, 2 cans of beans, 4 cans of vegetables, etc.). So when you say your prayers, maybe say a little prayer for this project too.
And I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the table - where was my head?! I'll take one next week to share with you :)
Sunday, October 30, 2011
World Series and Black Squirrel
Well Butler seems to be doing better and I finally had the lightbulb moment on how to secure the little rubber mats I have on the floors downstairs to help Butler walk. I have no idea why I've been hung up on putting the electrical tape, packaging tape and duct tape on the underside of the mats, and Butler would some how trip over an edge or get a mat loose so I duct taped the two edges of the way he travels completely down to the floor on the top side. Hopefully this will help him. I am still very well aware that each day I have him is a blessing at his age.
I saw the black squirrel - yes black, not grey, but black squirrel - that lives in a tree in the park scross the street the other day. I've seen the little guy maybe five times this summer and fall. I hope to get a picture of him so I can share him with all of you.
I'm not a big baseball fan - I'm sure my folks wondered how that could be since they are huge Cub fans - but it's true. I finally watched my very first game this baseball season and what game was it?! The sixth game of the World Series! The game that the Rangers just could not win and the Cardinals just wouldn't die. I finally turned it off around 11:15 p.m. not knowing who won until the next morning. I admit I was for the Rangers because of admiring Nolan Ryan and Mike and I enjoyed watching Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez catch for the Rangers for several seasons a while back (Mike was a catcher). So of course I had to watch Game 7 and it just wasn't in the cards (no pun intended) for the Rangers this year. But I did like that Freese guy for St. Louis and was happy to see he was the MVP.
Buying jeans and pants is a dramatic ordeal for me - getting them to fit my waist and the right length - blick. Someone told me to try the Gap so I went there and about fell over at the prices of the jeans but thought if I find one pair that fits I'll get one pair. Then I looked at the sizes and figured the first number was the "waist" and the second number was the size. Now my definition of where my waist is and today's definition of where our waists are - are totally different. I'm sorry but if the pants/jeans fall at your belly button or below those are hip high - not waist high. Unfortunately but good for my checkbook - I didn't find a pair of jeans I felt comfortable wearing so the saga finding jeans continues.
During today's NASCAR race we all saw something you don't see very often - a tire coming off a car and rolling down the track after the car comes out of the pits. I was sooooooooo sorry (read into this NOT sorry) that it happened to Kyle Busch. I think there's only three more races this season and then I'll go into NASCAR withdrawal until the Daytona 500 next February.
I saw the black squirrel - yes black, not grey, but black squirrel - that lives in a tree in the park scross the street the other day. I've seen the little guy maybe five times this summer and fall. I hope to get a picture of him so I can share him with all of you.
I'm not a big baseball fan - I'm sure my folks wondered how that could be since they are huge Cub fans - but it's true. I finally watched my very first game this baseball season and what game was it?! The sixth game of the World Series! The game that the Rangers just could not win and the Cardinals just wouldn't die. I finally turned it off around 11:15 p.m. not knowing who won until the next morning. I admit I was for the Rangers because of admiring Nolan Ryan and Mike and I enjoyed watching Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez catch for the Rangers for several seasons a while back (Mike was a catcher). So of course I had to watch Game 7 and it just wasn't in the cards (no pun intended) for the Rangers this year. But I did like that Freese guy for St. Louis and was happy to see he was the MVP.
Buying jeans and pants is a dramatic ordeal for me - getting them to fit my waist and the right length - blick. Someone told me to try the Gap so I went there and about fell over at the prices of the jeans but thought if I find one pair that fits I'll get one pair. Then I looked at the sizes and figured the first number was the "waist" and the second number was the size. Now my definition of where my waist is and today's definition of where our waists are - are totally different. I'm sorry but if the pants/jeans fall at your belly button or below those are hip high - not waist high. Unfortunately but good for my checkbook - I didn't find a pair of jeans I felt comfortable wearing so the saga finding jeans continues.
During today's NASCAR race we all saw something you don't see very often - a tire coming off a car and rolling down the track after the car comes out of the pits. I was sooooooooo sorry (read into this NOT sorry) that it happened to Kyle Busch. I think there's only three more races this season and then I'll go into NASCAR withdrawal until the Daytona 500 next February.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
In Like Flint
Once-in-a-while Mike and I would see where one of the Flint movies (60's with James Coburn as a hip spy) would be on tv and we'd talk about watching it so I could experience one of them. I think we actually watched 5-10 minutes of one before changing the channel. Well last night Our Man Flint and In Like Flint were on. I watched maybe the last half hour of the first one and maybe a half our of the next and couldn't handle it any more - I had to change the channel. The decision was sped along when Flint/James Coburn had a conversation with the dolphin living in his pool - making the most bizarre noises with the most comical facial expressions..............and I realized my mouth was hanging open.
Last week while at the grocery store I thought I'd pick up the free tabs to see what was happening that weekend. So I got Juice, Datebook and something called 50ish or something like that. 50ish was mostly ads for senior living complexes in the metro and senior health insurance - wow. I checked out Juice and that was full of happenin' things for the youngin's. I think the oldest person to have their picture or quote in this tab was in their early 30's - wow. So on to the good, 'ole standby Datebook for the calendar section. There were a couple of interesting things going on but I didn't go to them.
This weekend was my annual Girls Weekend with four friends from Central College but I wasn't feeling well so I wasn't able to go - bummer. We've been doing this for over 20 years - meeting in Waterloo for eating, chatting, shopping, going to a movie, etc.
When I got home Friday Butler had fallen in the kitchen and I don't know how long he had laid there. I had put his little rubbery "shoes" on his back feet thinking that would help him get across the laminate floor better but I think he got across the floor too well and got himself into trouble - so no more shoes for him. But he didn't act himself and I was very close to taking him to the vet to put him down - and crying my eyes out the whole time. Then I decided to wait until Saturday morning to see how he was doing. My vet and I had talked about knowing when it was time and part of knowing when it was time would be seeing it in Butler's eyes. I'm such a nerd and got Butler up on the bed to sleep with me. I of course made sure he was comfortable and figured out how to curl myself up on the bed next to him, holding his paw. Needless-to-say I didn't get a lot of sleep because of my position.
Saturday morning Butler was doing better - eating all his food and lippity loping a little in the backyard - and of course letting me know that I was making him wait too long to bring him back into the house. Along with his "Jaws" personality coming out when I gave him the crust from my sandwich or potato chips. When he is Jaws I have to make sure all my fingers are still attached when he snaps his mouth down on the food I give him. And I found something he won't eat - carrots. I had a good heart-to-heart prayer with God about when it was time for Butler to basically die.
Dad may not appreciate me mentioning this but I'm going to anyway. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers as he meets with a specialist Tuesday to get results from bloodwork and a cat scan he had done last week. Ten tubes of blood were taken last Tuesday and they will take more blood this Tuesday before he sees the specialist. I told him on the phone I don't think I could have sat long enough for ten tubes........
Last week while at the grocery store I thought I'd pick up the free tabs to see what was happening that weekend. So I got Juice, Datebook and something called 50ish or something like that. 50ish was mostly ads for senior living complexes in the metro and senior health insurance - wow. I checked out Juice and that was full of happenin' things for the youngin's. I think the oldest person to have their picture or quote in this tab was in their early 30's - wow. So on to the good, 'ole standby Datebook for the calendar section. There were a couple of interesting things going on but I didn't go to them.
This weekend was my annual Girls Weekend with four friends from Central College but I wasn't feeling well so I wasn't able to go - bummer. We've been doing this for over 20 years - meeting in Waterloo for eating, chatting, shopping, going to a movie, etc.
When I got home Friday Butler had fallen in the kitchen and I don't know how long he had laid there. I had put his little rubbery "shoes" on his back feet thinking that would help him get across the laminate floor better but I think he got across the floor too well and got himself into trouble - so no more shoes for him. But he didn't act himself and I was very close to taking him to the vet to put him down - and crying my eyes out the whole time. Then I decided to wait until Saturday morning to see how he was doing. My vet and I had talked about knowing when it was time and part of knowing when it was time would be seeing it in Butler's eyes. I'm such a nerd and got Butler up on the bed to sleep with me. I of course made sure he was comfortable and figured out how to curl myself up on the bed next to him, holding his paw. Needless-to-say I didn't get a lot of sleep because of my position.
Saturday morning Butler was doing better - eating all his food and lippity loping a little in the backyard - and of course letting me know that I was making him wait too long to bring him back into the house. Along with his "Jaws" personality coming out when I gave him the crust from my sandwich or potato chips. When he is Jaws I have to make sure all my fingers are still attached when he snaps his mouth down on the food I give him. And I found something he won't eat - carrots. I had a good heart-to-heart prayer with God about when it was time for Butler to basically die.
Check out this goofball from last week playing with his stuffing-free toy skunk and also rubbing his right ear. The skunk is up by his face. Another pic is below.
I didn't run my errands as early Saturday as I had planned so got to the library mid-afternoon and the sun was hitting this bunch of trees just right to make the red and the orange tree pop. The two pix below don't do the trees justice. I thought it was an interesting combination of color, one bare tree and the Weeping Willow, along with the green trees.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Spray Painting and More
I forgot to mention something that happened last Sunday afternoon. I continually try to find ways to trim my expenses to be a good steward with the income God has given me and one was to really look at the package I have from DishTV. Some of you may remember the drama of just going from DirecTV to DishTV. Well I moved down a package to save $10/month. I did this while watching the NASCAR race on ESPN. Within less than two minutes after hanging up I was no longer watching the NASCAR race on ESPN because that channel was no longer available - it said on my tv screen. Wrong-o buck-o ESPN was still available with the package I downgraded to - so back to the phone I went - and after finally getting a human being again I got ESPN and the race back. It was later during the week I realized the program guide channel was not jiving with the channels I should be receiving. It went from Channel 111 to like 179. Any channel I was to get between those two I had to actually press into my remote..........back to the phone I went. Again it took a few moments to get a human - and unfortunately for this human English was not her first language so it took a few moments for me to understand what I needed to do to my remote to get the guide to reflect all my channels - but mission accomplished.
I'm still dealing with truly being happy. I can be happy for a short period of time but it's like it doesn't get below surface level. I received an email for Joel Osteen's new book "Every Day A Friday" and decided to order it and got it late this week. Joel's thought is how everyone is happy on Friday (TGIF and all that) and how we can (and should) have that feeling every day.
This week I had my handyguy, Jon, do something in the backyard that will make Dad jump up and down with joy. I had Jon clean out the space behind my fence next to my neighbor's garage who lives to the south. I had used that area as the dumping ground for large and small branches and Dad finally told me this summer that this area should probably be cleaned out because it would be a really nice place for snakes to live. Just what I need a "nice place for snakes to live". I'm trying to get rid of "nice places" like that. So Jon cleaned it all out (five lawn bags of stuff), put fabric down and then a layer of river rock - check out the picture below. Oh ya - Jon only found three snakes back there to kill. His bill mentioned three more in the back yard so I thought he had killed six snakes total but when I talked to him it was only those three which is three too many. And weeds aren't suppose to (key word "suppose") to grow through lawn fabric but unfortunately they tend to, so I will periodically check this area out to see if I need to spray weed killer in there.
See how nice the chair looks now that it's bright and vibrant yellow instead of pale yellow :) It goes so much better with the colors on the porch. I've got the chair sitting on a cloth to make sure the paint is dry on the legs.
I'm still dealing with truly being happy. I can be happy for a short period of time but it's like it doesn't get below surface level. I received an email for Joel Osteen's new book "Every Day A Friday" and decided to order it and got it late this week. Joel's thought is how everyone is happy on Friday (TGIF and all that) and how we can (and should) have that feeling every day.
This week I had my handyguy, Jon, do something in the backyard that will make Dad jump up and down with joy. I had Jon clean out the space behind my fence next to my neighbor's garage who lives to the south. I had used that area as the dumping ground for large and small branches and Dad finally told me this summer that this area should probably be cleaned out because it would be a really nice place for snakes to live. Just what I need a "nice place for snakes to live". I'm trying to get rid of "nice places" like that. So Jon cleaned it all out (five lawn bags of stuff), put fabric down and then a layer of river rock - check out the picture below. Oh ya - Jon only found three snakes back there to kill. His bill mentioned three more in the back yard so I thought he had killed six snakes total but when I talked to him it was only those three which is three too many. And weeds aren't suppose to (key word "suppose") to grow through lawn fabric but unfortunately they tend to, so I will periodically check this area out to see if I need to spray weed killer in there.
Today I finally got around to spray painting the pale yellow Adirondack chair I bought earlier this year that sits on my enclosed front porch - I wanted it a bright, vibrant yellow to go with the other bright, vibrant colors on the porch. I learned a very important lesson about spray painting today - don't take the little dealie out of the front of the nozzle that you press down on for the paint to come out of. When you do that - thinking the little plastic dealie is a stopper that needs to be pulled out - you mess up the sprayer on the can. I start to press on the nozzle and paint dribbles out, runs all over and makes a huge mess - including some fingers on my right hand. Lovely. I do the best I can do and am not happy with the outcome. I'll return to the chair in a minute.
My neighbors to the north got a puppy a couple of weeks ago and today after running errands was the first chance I had to go over and meet Arrow. Talk about energy! She is three months old and part lab/part Boston Terrier I think they said. They tie her out in their backyard different times during the day. So while I'm dealing with the horrid spray paint I hear something rustling off to my left/north. I look over and there is Arrow, still hooked to her tie out but she's some how crawled under my fence :) I walk over to her and debate how I'm going to get her back over the fence when Mom comes out and says, "Arrow where are you?". I replied, "She's over here". I unhooked her from the tie out and carried the squiggly little thing back to Mom next door.
I go back to the chair and am not happy with the drops of paint and streaks of paint in places so get an old towel and try to wipe those areas - can I make this any worse? Luckily I had two cans of bright yellow spray paint and something told me to NOT take the plastic dealie out of the nozzle so when I pressed down on the nozzle, paint came out like it should. And the second can seemed to cover the areas I wiped with the towel pretty good. Check out the pictures below.
Lastly when I was walking in to HyVee to buy my groceries today I briefly looked at the pumpkins they had for sale and found THE pumpkin Casey would pick. I don't think there was any spot on the pumpkin that wasn't lumpy or bumpy and I knew Casey would pick it out of all the pumpkins..........
Sunday, October 9, 2011
My Week: October 2nd
It seems I only blog on Sundays now and am doing a week in review - so here we go again.
This week I started back with physical therapy for my left shoulder/arm because of carrying Butler downstairs. I have a different therapist because I'm doing it at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday right after work. Mike (my therapist) hooked me up to a machine that sent electrical pulses to my shoulder after I had done some stretching exercises and he manipulated my shoulder. And Thursday night he taped me like Blake (my other therapist) had done one time. But Mike taped both my shoulders which was interesting. I was getting ready for the cold stuff that goes on before the first layer of tape when all-of-a-sudden instead of a little cold spray I get both Mike's hands starting at the top of my back and going halfway down. HEL-LOW that was COLD!
Friday night I was able to get together with two friends from my days in Urbandale - we were suppose to have gotten together last Friday night but my shoulder hurt so bad I had to cancel on them at the last minute. Luckily this Friday worked for all of us. My family moved from Urbandale to Pella in '73. Nancy and I had kept in contact through the years but unfortunately Lisa and I hadn't. Nancy had shared Mike's CaringBridge website with Lisa and she reconnected with me last year and it's been great staying connected. Lisa and I decided Friday night that we had seen each other one time since '73. We closed Panera in Ankeny (at 9:00 p.m.) and then stood outside Panera and continued to talk until 10:15 :)
Yesterday was the Third Annual Fall Fest for Living Waters Fellowship at a family's property close to Avon Lake. The weather the past two weeks has been BE-U-TI-FUL (yes I left out the "a") and yesterday was awesome. Festivities started at 2:00 p.m. with fellowship and a hayride which another gal and I took with several of the kids. Then it was time for mandatory family games - see pix below. As we moved to the games area we were divided into four teams (Blue, Red, Green or Yellow...or Gold as that team called themselves). I was a Blue Team member.
Today I woke up with my eyes bugging me and feeling funky so I didn't go to church. I started feeling somewhat "ok" around noon or at least ok enough to run two errands that I had planned on doing on my way home from church. There was also a Corvette show in Valley Junction that I wanted to check out. See the pictures below. My dream car is a '61 Vette in powder blue with that inland deal in the doors being white - like the LA Law car back when that show was on the air.
Tomorrow if you think about it - say a little prayer for me. It would have been Mike's 64th birthday and it could be somewhat emotional at times. I still miss him everyday.
This week I started back with physical therapy for my left shoulder/arm because of carrying Butler downstairs. I have a different therapist because I'm doing it at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday right after work. Mike (my therapist) hooked me up to a machine that sent electrical pulses to my shoulder after I had done some stretching exercises and he manipulated my shoulder. And Thursday night he taped me like Blake (my other therapist) had done one time. But Mike taped both my shoulders which was interesting. I was getting ready for the cold stuff that goes on before the first layer of tape when all-of-a-sudden instead of a little cold spray I get both Mike's hands starting at the top of my back and going halfway down. HEL-LOW that was COLD!
Friday night I was able to get together with two friends from my days in Urbandale - we were suppose to have gotten together last Friday night but my shoulder hurt so bad I had to cancel on them at the last minute. Luckily this Friday worked for all of us. My family moved from Urbandale to Pella in '73. Nancy and I had kept in contact through the years but unfortunately Lisa and I hadn't. Nancy had shared Mike's CaringBridge website with Lisa and she reconnected with me last year and it's been great staying connected. Lisa and I decided Friday night that we had seen each other one time since '73. We closed Panera in Ankeny (at 9:00 p.m.) and then stood outside Panera and continued to talk until 10:15 :)
Yesterday was the Third Annual Fall Fest for Living Waters Fellowship at a family's property close to Avon Lake. The weather the past two weeks has been BE-U-TI-FUL (yes I left out the "a") and yesterday was awesome. Festivities started at 2:00 p.m. with fellowship and a hayride which another gal and I took with several of the kids. Then it was time for mandatory family games - see pix below. As we moved to the games area we were divided into four teams (Blue, Red, Green or Yellow...or Gold as that team called themselves). I was a Blue Team member.
This is the Blue Team marked by the blue balloon. Each team had to determine their team name using their balloon color in the name. We tossed different ideas out and then decided on the Smurfs. As our pastor aka Papa Smurf was heading to the officials to give them our name we realized we didn't include the word "blue" so we yelled at him that we were the Blue Smurfs. Aren't we the original ones :) That's Papa Smurf standing in the black t-shirt with his back to the camera talking to our team. Ruth (the gal that rode the hayride with me) and I decided we'd both be Grumpy Smurf. The Yellow (or Gold) Team is next to us.
The first game needed 12 team members with two adults and two children at each team's table - this is my team. The other team members had to hand (one-at-a-time) 36 plastic cups to the four at the table who then created a pyramind of cups. The team with the most cups in their pyramid without it blowing over won. The Blue Smurfs won and we were on a roll! We created a wind block with the rest of our team members' bodies. We were in first place and awarded the Gold mylar balloon to tie to our blue balloons which incidently had a blue smurf as the weight of the gold balloon..............
Another game paired us with the Red team and the Green team with the Yellow team. Each team had a table and either all your cups were in the up position or the down position. Our two teams were in the down position. Those members playing were to then turn cups, on any table, to the position for their team. Judi, in the pink in the foreground, protected our table continuing to turn cups in the down position while the rest of our team went to the other tables to turn cups down. Chaos ensued :)
There was another game where two mothers/children and two fathers/children from each team were paired up. The parent was blindfolded and had to "race" the length of the playing field, to find their child at the other end, with only being guided by the sound of their child yelling "mom" or "dad". Parents were grabbing wrong children and one dad turned the wrong way and headed into the corn field next to me - and I missed getting that picture can you believe it?! :)
We had held the lead during all the games, and were leading by two points when it was time for the final game. Each team member was given three pieces of paper to crumple into a ball and we had to sit in our team's quadrant on the playing field. When the officials said "go" we then tossed our "snowball" into another team's quadrant. As the end of the game, the number of snowballs in each quadrant was counted with the team with the least amount of snowballs getting first and the team with the most getting fourth. The adults had to stay on their patootey (behind) to play this game while the kids could at least move within our quadrant. And we could toss snowballs that landed in our quadrant into other quadrants. Needless-to-say guess which team got ganged up by the other three teams...yep the Blue Smurfs. Check out our quadrant in the picture below - shouldn't be too hard to figure out which one is ours. The team that won had like one snowball in it.
Today I woke up with my eyes bugging me and feeling funky so I didn't go to church. I started feeling somewhat "ok" around noon or at least ok enough to run two errands that I had planned on doing on my way home from church. There was also a Corvette show in Valley Junction that I wanted to check out. See the pictures below. My dream car is a '61 Vette in powder blue with that inland deal in the doors being white - like the LA Law car back when that show was on the air.
Tomorrow if you think about it - say a little prayer for me. It would have been Mike's 64th birthday and it could be somewhat emotional at times. I still miss him everyday.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Catching Up 10.2.11
Work was pretty much work this week, but something new was started on Fridays - work is buying our lunch - just because! Our company president's philosophy is to try to find ways to give more benefits to the employees and this is a new one - awesome.
My shoulder has really been hurting by the end of the work day this week - I don't start physical therapy again until this coming Tuesday and Thursday. I was taking Advil every four hours and loading up with Extra Strength BenGay in the morning and by the end of the day, if I could cry at work, some days I would have. I didn't go to my small group Bible Study Wednesday night and missed out getting together with a couple of girlfriends Friday night. I was really bummed about Friday night because those two girlfriends go back to my days at Olmsted Elementary in Urbandale and I hadn't seen one of them since I moved to Pella in '73. We've rescheduled for next Friday night.
My mower kidlet continues to be "interesting". I had to sic his dad on him to get him around to mow since it hadn't been mowed since Tuesday after Labor Day. I got home from work Wednesday night with his dad promising my lawn would be mowed - nope. As I walked up the basement stairs I saw the kid's mower in my backyard - just sitting there. The backyard had been mowed and half of the strip by the side of the house and then something must have happened to the mower. At least the front lawn (and the rest of the strip) got mowed Thursday night.
Friday my cousin that is 9 days younger than me turned 50. I texted her before going to work and saw her reply text as I was leaving work - something to the effect that I got to turn 50 before her. Got?! She's warped but I love her anyway :)
Yesterday before I ran errands I got the leaves bagged that had accumulated in the driveway - a lawn bag full. Then I picked up a lot of small to decent-sized sticks that had fallen in the back yard Friday when we had such a windy day. Yesterday and today are gorgeous fall days and lots of the trees are turning. There is one tree at the DSM Golf and Country Club by the exit I take for work that is the most vibrant orange and yellow. I hope everyone is enjoying the weather and colors in Central Iowa.
Below are a couple of pictures of Butler with one of his toys. The first one Skunk is next to him, the second one Butler is biting Skunk. I love it when he still plays with his toys like a puppy. Sometimes when he's standing and shaking Skunk he really gets into it. There used to be times when the toy he was shaking would come loose and go flying. When that would happen, Mike and I would warn each other about "Incoming!" and duck :)
My shoulder has really been hurting by the end of the work day this week - I don't start physical therapy again until this coming Tuesday and Thursday. I was taking Advil every four hours and loading up with Extra Strength BenGay in the morning and by the end of the day, if I could cry at work, some days I would have. I didn't go to my small group Bible Study Wednesday night and missed out getting together with a couple of girlfriends Friday night. I was really bummed about Friday night because those two girlfriends go back to my days at Olmsted Elementary in Urbandale and I hadn't seen one of them since I moved to Pella in '73. We've rescheduled for next Friday night.
My mower kidlet continues to be "interesting". I had to sic his dad on him to get him around to mow since it hadn't been mowed since Tuesday after Labor Day. I got home from work Wednesday night with his dad promising my lawn would be mowed - nope. As I walked up the basement stairs I saw the kid's mower in my backyard - just sitting there. The backyard had been mowed and half of the strip by the side of the house and then something must have happened to the mower. At least the front lawn (and the rest of the strip) got mowed Thursday night.
Friday my cousin that is 9 days younger than me turned 50. I texted her before going to work and saw her reply text as I was leaving work - something to the effect that I got to turn 50 before her. Got?! She's warped but I love her anyway :)
Yesterday before I ran errands I got the leaves bagged that had accumulated in the driveway - a lawn bag full. Then I picked up a lot of small to decent-sized sticks that had fallen in the back yard Friday when we had such a windy day. Yesterday and today are gorgeous fall days and lots of the trees are turning. There is one tree at the DSM Golf and Country Club by the exit I take for work that is the most vibrant orange and yellow. I hope everyone is enjoying the weather and colors in Central Iowa.
Below are a couple of pictures of Butler with one of his toys. The first one Skunk is next to him, the second one Butler is biting Skunk. I love it when he still plays with his toys like a puppy. Sometimes when he's standing and shaking Skunk he really gets into it. There used to be times when the toy he was shaking would come loose and go flying. When that would happen, Mike and I would warn each other about "Incoming!" and duck :)
Sunday, September 25, 2011
West Des Moines Police Reserve Unit 50th Anniversary
Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away I used to be a member of the WDMPD Reserve Unit - and that same Unit celebrated it's 50th anniversary this month. Today at the Nature Lodge at Raccoon River Park in WDM there was an Open House from 12-4. I popped in after church and it was fun seeing some of the guys I was in the Unit with - along with some of the fulltime officers that were with the department.
I do take a little pride in saying I am the first sworn female officer in the City of WDM to carry a weapon. I joined the Reserve Unit December 1987 and left sometime during 1994 attaining the rank of Sergeant. Mike always used to love saying he "outranked" me because he was a Lieutenant on the Urbandale Reserve Unit :)
Some interesting tidbits of my time on the Unit:
This morning during church the youngest bunch of kidlets - our Puddles group - sang a couple of songs. They are a hoot - check out the picture below. The adult behind them is our Senior Pastor. One of his little girls is the sixth child over from the left (kind of looking at daddy) all in pink with her left hand behind her back. My small group leader's little boy is the second child from the left and he really got into "I'm In The Lord's Army" with his marching :) His twin cousins are in the picture too! One is to the left of my pastor's daughter and his twin is the third from the right. Part of our church of tomorrow.
We had our quarterly membership meeting after the service and I got to hold a friend's little boy that was born in late March/early April. Now remember I "never birthed no babies" so I didn't realize one minute the little guy could be looking around and the next minute be out like a light - literally. Wish I could go to sleep that quickly. And then all of a sudden out of the blue he'd just really jerk while he was sleeping. After the first couple of jerks I got a better grip on him :)
I do take a little pride in saying I am the first sworn female officer in the City of WDM to carry a weapon. I joined the Reserve Unit December 1987 and left sometime during 1994 attaining the rank of Sergeant. Mike always used to love saying he "outranked" me because he was a Lieutenant on the Urbandale Reserve Unit :)
Some interesting tidbits of my time on the Unit:
- Starting with me, there have been a total of four female reserve officers with the fourth currently on the Unit
- I had to draw my weapon twice while riding with a fulltime officer
- While a reserve officer, we also drove the ambulance
- At one time I had my EMT-A level qualification, didn't want to go for the EMT-I level because you could start I.V. lines at that level and that wasn't my deal
- I had a six-shooter (revolver) because when I started on the Unit automatics weren't approved, by the time our reserves could carry automatics we didn't want to spend the money for a new gun for me
- Qualifying with the shotgun wasn't too bad as long as I got it resting in the pocket in my shoulder - but my "pocket" isn't that big compared to all the guys' so if I didn't get the shotgun in just right, when it kicked, it kicked back on my shoulder bone - ouch
- All the guys that were working at the WDMPD and all the ones on the Unit that accepted me (a female) were, are and will always have a special place in my heart
This morning during church the youngest bunch of kidlets - our Puddles group - sang a couple of songs. They are a hoot - check out the picture below. The adult behind them is our Senior Pastor. One of his little girls is the sixth child over from the left (kind of looking at daddy) all in pink with her left hand behind her back. My small group leader's little boy is the second child from the left and he really got into "I'm In The Lord's Army" with his marching :) His twin cousins are in the picture too! One is to the left of my pastor's daughter and his twin is the third from the right. Part of our church of tomorrow.
We had our quarterly membership meeting after the service and I got to hold a friend's little boy that was born in late March/early April. Now remember I "never birthed no babies" so I didn't realize one minute the little guy could be looking around and the next minute be out like a light - literally. Wish I could go to sleep that quickly. And then all of a sudden out of the blue he'd just really jerk while he was sleeping. After the first couple of jerks I got a better grip on him :)
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Turning 50 (Sigh)
Well Wednesday I officially turned old or at least an AARPer - again (sigh). Actually I've been a spouse member of AARP ever since Mike turned 50 and joined but now I can actually be a member all on my own..... I had a good day - lots of birthday posts on Facebook which was really nice, along with a few snail mail cards, an e-card, and a couple of phone calls. I know the goofus that created Facebook is making some changes to it and we're pretty much stuck with how he wants it to look but one thing that is nice about Facebook is that it is a nice, quick and easy way to stay in touch with family and friends to give a shout out on birthdays and for special events. Each post brought a smile to my face.
Below is Butler's birthday grin for me :) And he may be old but the other night there was a young cat in the backyard that if the dumb thing would have just stayed behind the hibiscus Butler would never have seen it but no it had to come out in front of the plant.....so Butler gave chase. First running into one of the hibiscus plants and then taking off after the cat across the yard. After the cat zoomed under the gap of my back gate to hit the alley, Butler lippity-lopped across the yard back to me proud of himself for getting rid of that "thing".
I finally got the pictures scanned onto my external hard drive tonight that were taken at Branson Zipline and Shepherd of the Hills Vigilante Zipline from vacation - which you can see below.
Here they told us to turn around, look back and smile after taking off on one of the ziplines. Yep - that's just a harness dealie that I stepped into that went around my waist that then hooked me to the zipline folks.
This was the last zipline at Branson Ziplines and they told us to pose. You can see the tower we took off from behind me with Chrissy getting ready after me. The longest zipline was 900'.
With the Vigilante you have a canvas-like seat to sit in and have kind of a five-point harness to strap you in for safety. Waiting for Chrissy and the other guy to get strapped in, I could have been sitting in a steel cage waiting for the ride and would have still thought that wouldn't have been safe enough for this zipline but once the adventure started it was awesome.
The little thing hanging down behind my seat was a pouch that you could put things in like your camera for the ride with you. We landed, the big guy got me all unhooked and out of the seat and off I go. He's like, "do you have anything in the pouch?" Only my camera - duh. Almost walked off without it - imagine that.
Below is Butler's birthday grin for me :) And he may be old but the other night there was a young cat in the backyard that if the dumb thing would have just stayed behind the hibiscus Butler would never have seen it but no it had to come out in front of the plant.....so Butler gave chase. First running into one of the hibiscus plants and then taking off after the cat across the yard. After the cat zoomed under the gap of my back gate to hit the alley, Butler lippity-lopped across the yard back to me proud of himself for getting rid of that "thing".
I finally got the pictures scanned onto my external hard drive tonight that were taken at Branson Zipline and Shepherd of the Hills Vigilante Zipline from vacation - which you can see below.
This is Shepherd of the Hills Vigilante Zipline that is like 200' high (the tower is 230'). Chrissy is on the left of this picture, I'm in the middle and some guy that had ridden it before is on the right. That's right - Chrissy and I are NOT holding on :)
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Vacation - Another First
Well a week ago Saturday morning my sis-in-law, niece and I headed south to Branson for my first vacation since Mike's and my last vacation September 2009. This was another first - my first vacation without Mike - and I had mixed emotions. I was excited to show and share Branson with Marcia and Chrissy but knew I would have some emotional times remembering when Mike and I had done this or done that as we drove around but I had a positive attitude that this would be a fun trip - little did I know how "wild" it would be at times but more on that later :) Below are some of the highlights of the week.
Saturday afternoon we checked in and checked out the two bedroom timeshare unit I had purchased last year. Mike and I bought our one bedroom timeshare unit at our resort in Branson in November of 1985 but the one bedroom wouldn't "work" if I took others with me, so the Lord provided an awesome opportunity for me to purchase a nice two bedroom unit in our resort that was the week after the one bedroom unit I also owned.
Sunday we were up-and-at 'em checking out Branson and riding the Ducks because the Ducks brochure made it sound that after Labor Day they might not run the Duck tours each day - and we definitely didn't want to miss riding the Ducks. I had bought a four-pack of small American flags that we had with us all day in memory of 9/11, that we took on the Duck ride with us too. That night back at the unit we watched a 9/11 tribute on tv.
Monday I did something on my bucket list - I ziplined with Chrissy. I am scared of heights but this is something I wanted to do and it was AWESOME!!! Someday soon (hopefully) I'll get the photos scanned in the place took to share in my blog. We zipped on seven ziplines and walked on 10 swinging bridges. I figured I would take about three steps out on the first swinging bridge and they would have to come and get me - nope - I walked right across (surprised the poop out of me). Then I wasn't sure about the first zip line but once you were seated in your harness gravity took over and there was no looking back. I'll definitely do that again at Branson Zipline.
Tuesday Chrissy and I took a great horseback ride at a place Mike and I had never rode before - so that was a neat experience. The guide had another horse at the stable that she let go with us without having it on a lead - so Magic the Appaloosa roamed free as we road the trail. Magic would stop periodically to eat but if my horse, who was next in line, would come up on Magic, Magic would take off to make sure he was the second horse right behind his "mommy" who was leading us. Oh ya - the temp got to 103 before the day was done too on Tuesday.
Wednesday we did some running around in the afternoon and then went to the Pierce Arrow show - Mike and I had never gone to that show. It was good and the comedian was a riot. We took the long way back to the resort to see the Branson strip at night lit up.
Thursday Chrissy and I went to Silver Dollar City. Along with watching the crafts people and go through several shops we road three of the roller coasters. The one that did the loops (Wildfire) I hadn't ridden for several years because the last time I had ridden it I got off the ride not feeling too well. As we went up the very steep hill I'm like "what have I gotten myself into and I can't get off this thing" but once we were over the first hill it was great.
Friday we did more running around and ended up at Inspiration Tower at Shepherd of the Hills where they have a new attraction connected to the tower - the Vigilante Zipline. It's like 230' in the air that is a gradual zipline that covers over 1/2 mile with you getting to speeds of 50 mph before you finally "land". Chrissy and I debated on doing it and then decided we would. Thank goodness there was a gate in front of you as you were sitting in the canvas seat and harness so you couldn't see how high up you were. The kid loading us on the ride told me to lean my knees on the gate and I told him three times I didn't want to as I clutched the gate in a death grip. Once he pushed the button to make the gate disappear (I'm not sure how it disappeared because I had my eyes closed :) and after the first couple of feet and screaming - the ride was actually pretty awesome.
I didn't have that many bittersweet moments - which I was glad. There were a couple of times on the balcony of my unit when I was eating breakfast that I'd think Mike should have been sitting there with me and then after we loaded up yesterday morning I took one last time on the balcony, and told Mike that he should have been there with me but I was able to have my first vacation without him. And he was there with me in my heart the whole week.
Dad had come up to stay at the house to watch Butler and I wasn't sure how Butler would do because this was his first time for him to be "alone" for a week without Milly. I didn't know if he'd even still be here when I got home - but thankfully he was. Dad said the two of them got along pretty good.
Now to get ready for work tomorrow :) And to any of you who got some "rabid" email from my old greyhound484 email address last week while I was gone I apologize. I no longer use that email so someone must have figured out my password to send that message.
Saturday afternoon we checked in and checked out the two bedroom timeshare unit I had purchased last year. Mike and I bought our one bedroom timeshare unit at our resort in Branson in November of 1985 but the one bedroom wouldn't "work" if I took others with me, so the Lord provided an awesome opportunity for me to purchase a nice two bedroom unit in our resort that was the week after the one bedroom unit I also owned.
Sunday we were up-and-at 'em checking out Branson and riding the Ducks because the Ducks brochure made it sound that after Labor Day they might not run the Duck tours each day - and we definitely didn't want to miss riding the Ducks. I had bought a four-pack of small American flags that we had with us all day in memory of 9/11, that we took on the Duck ride with us too. That night back at the unit we watched a 9/11 tribute on tv.
Monday I did something on my bucket list - I ziplined with Chrissy. I am scared of heights but this is something I wanted to do and it was AWESOME!!! Someday soon (hopefully) I'll get the photos scanned in the place took to share in my blog. We zipped on seven ziplines and walked on 10 swinging bridges. I figured I would take about three steps out on the first swinging bridge and they would have to come and get me - nope - I walked right across (surprised the poop out of me). Then I wasn't sure about the first zip line but once you were seated in your harness gravity took over and there was no looking back. I'll definitely do that again at Branson Zipline.
Tuesday Chrissy and I took a great horseback ride at a place Mike and I had never rode before - so that was a neat experience. The guide had another horse at the stable that she let go with us without having it on a lead - so Magic the Appaloosa roamed free as we road the trail. Magic would stop periodically to eat but if my horse, who was next in line, would come up on Magic, Magic would take off to make sure he was the second horse right behind his "mommy" who was leading us. Oh ya - the temp got to 103 before the day was done too on Tuesday.
Wednesday we did some running around in the afternoon and then went to the Pierce Arrow show - Mike and I had never gone to that show. It was good and the comedian was a riot. We took the long way back to the resort to see the Branson strip at night lit up.
Thursday Chrissy and I went to Silver Dollar City. Along with watching the crafts people and go through several shops we road three of the roller coasters. The one that did the loops (Wildfire) I hadn't ridden for several years because the last time I had ridden it I got off the ride not feeling too well. As we went up the very steep hill I'm like "what have I gotten myself into and I can't get off this thing" but once we were over the first hill it was great.
Friday we did more running around and ended up at Inspiration Tower at Shepherd of the Hills where they have a new attraction connected to the tower - the Vigilante Zipline. It's like 230' in the air that is a gradual zipline that covers over 1/2 mile with you getting to speeds of 50 mph before you finally "land". Chrissy and I debated on doing it and then decided we would. Thank goodness there was a gate in front of you as you were sitting in the canvas seat and harness so you couldn't see how high up you were. The kid loading us on the ride told me to lean my knees on the gate and I told him three times I didn't want to as I clutched the gate in a death grip. Once he pushed the button to make the gate disappear (I'm not sure how it disappeared because I had my eyes closed :) and after the first couple of feet and screaming - the ride was actually pretty awesome.
I didn't have that many bittersweet moments - which I was glad. There were a couple of times on the balcony of my unit when I was eating breakfast that I'd think Mike should have been sitting there with me and then after we loaded up yesterday morning I took one last time on the balcony, and told Mike that he should have been there with me but I was able to have my first vacation without him. And he was there with me in my heart the whole week.
Dad had come up to stay at the house to watch Butler and I wasn't sure how Butler would do because this was his first time for him to be "alone" for a week without Milly. I didn't know if he'd even still be here when I got home - but thankfully he was. Dad said the two of them got along pretty good.
Now to get ready for work tomorrow :) And to any of you who got some "rabid" email from my old greyhound484 email address last week while I was gone I apologize. I no longer use that email so someone must have figured out my password to send that message.
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