Dentists!!!!

I think spring has finally arrived! What a pretty day. Well, kinda. It was overcast the majority of the day but nice and warm! Cool. About time.

This is my doctor week. I gave blood yesterday for lab work. I hate needles but lived through it. We had to do both arms before they found a vein that would produce enough for a vial. I have some nice bruises today!

Today I went to the dentist (one of my most least favorite people). I like Steve as a person. He's a very nice man, I just don't like what he does for a living! I broke part of a tooth off last week one day and they were able to get me in this morning. I ended up spending a little more money than I wanted to but hopefully will not have to have anything more done. They did an onlay procelain crown deal. Speaking of hating needles . . . they used enough on me today. My jaw is very sore tonight, as are my gums. He used a laser on the gums when he fitted the crown. A few more asprins and I'll feel much better!! Whatever, I can't get my mouth open very far this evening so soup sounds like supper for me. I ended up with a sore throat too. Hopefully by tomorrow morning I'll feel much better. Enough of dentists for a while.

I go back to my medical doctor tomorrow for the results of my blood work. I'm hoping all goes well. I've been working real hard at keeping my blood sugar down. Lost a little more weight (find out for sure tomorrow). I have a couple of other minor problems I need to talk to him about, but think they are just associated with the diabetes. Guess we'll see.

Time to take the weatherization off my windows. Will be great to have the windows open and fresh air in the house. Guess I'll have to break down and get my windows on the outside cleaned professionally. They haven't been cleaned since I moved into this place. The inside gets cleaned but definitely not the outside.

Enough. Hope your week is going along well.

Friday nights!

Today turned out to be very nice. A little on the cold side but nice, fresh air. I work in a building with no windows and of late, it's been very stuffy. It feels so good when you come outdoors and can take a nice deep breath of fresh, clean air. The majority of the snow is gone already. I did drive in a snow shower tonight but doubt that anything stuck to the ground.

Went out for supper with a friend. We drove up north to Elkader and went to Johnson's for supper. It's a small place with a great salad bar. Tonight they had a fish buffet as well. It was very good. I'm learning to appreciate shrimp. Tonight's was very good. Maybe the cocktail sauce had something to do with it. When my Mom was alive we used to go there quite often. The building has changed some but the salad bar is the same as is the food. The one thing I remember always being on the salad bar is wedges of swiss cheese -- it's still there! If you're ever in that part of the state check the place out. Like I said, the food is great!

Winter just doesn't want to let go. I hope it's halfway decent tomorrow as I would like to open some windows and get some fresh air in my place. Cleaning bedrooms is on the agenda for the morning. I need to do some major dusting and vaccuming. I'm planning on washing curtains, dresser scarves, bed ruffles, etc. Hope my ambition doesn't run out before the work does!!

Have a good weekend!

Spring???

I thought spring was here! We have snow on the ground . . . . again! The streets and highways are wet and I didn't find any slippery spots but yes, it's snowing!! I could have swore the weatherman said in the high 40's tomorrow. One good thing about March snow -- it disappears fast! And it is kinda pretty. Have to remember to take my camera with me in the morning and catch a couple pictures of the trees in back of the building. They always look so pretty after a snow dusting!!

Went out for tacos tonight. I'm not a real big fan of Mexican food but do like hard-shelled tacos, with a mild sauce. There's a place in Platteville that has taco night on Thursday. As many as you can eat for 50 cent a piece! I had two of them this evening. They really tasted good. I know Jim and Mandy make taco salad all the time. I guess I'll have to try and make tacos here some evening!

I heard Duke got beat tonight in their game. Bet that really loused up some basketball pools. How are you all doing? I did so bad the first round I didn't even keep track after that. I really thought that Iowa would do better than they did. In fact, I still believe that if they had gotten by the first round they would have gone far! Oh well, maybe next year.

Glee and I and my friend Marilyn are planning a trip to Colorado this July. I'm starting to get excited about going. Haven't had a true vacation since 2000. We rented a cabin in Estes Park. It's a beautiful area and is right outside of one of the entrances to the park! Wonder how many pictures I can take this time??? I'm sure I"ll be sharing some of them with all of you later this fall.

I finished some more scrapbooking pages this morning. Couldn't sleep so got up and worked on a couple of pages. Going to have to get to Michael's one of these days soon and pick up some more page protectors and albums. Plans are to work on some more this weekend.

You all stay warm and dry. Have a great weekend!

Mondays

Here it is the beginning of a new week. Last week wasn't one of my best so I decided to start out early this morning and meet the day head on! We'll see how long that lasts! Busy week ahead. I have orientation with some new employees scheduled for today. Hopefully all the paperwork will be waiting for me when I get to the office. Have some meetings scheduled throughout the week also. Our agency newsletter is on a disk in my purse ready to be ran off after doing some quick editing. I think I can probably keep busy this week!

Sounds like no snow or rain for us for a few days. Just cool weather! Spring is here sometime today! Bring on the sunshine!!

Time to go , , have a great week!

Scrapbooking!!

The four of us Christmas 2005.

I'm so excited! I got a picture to work on my blog! I've been trying for days to put one in of Jim, Mike and Nick when they were real little but I keep getting error messages, so decided to try a newer picture! It worked! Mandy, it worked!

I had to call Jim and Mandy and get some expert help on what to do. Mandy walked me through the graduation picture that was posted just before this one, but this picture I did all by myself. This is exciting!!!

I'm really into scrapbooking and spend a lot of weekends working on my different books. Either that or out spending my money on new paper, stickers or whatever catches my eye when shopping. Michael's and Hobby Lobby have become one of my favorite stores! Right now I'm working on Barb's 11th birthday and Jim's 6th. Since we always celebrated them together they share a lot of pictures! I stopped at Dollar Tree on Saturday and found some really cute paper (cheap). I subscribe to a couple of scrapbook magazine and enjoy reading them from cover-to-cover. I can't afford to do my pictures up like they show but it still gives me some good ideas!!

Hope you like the picture. It was taken at Barb's new townhouse in Ankeny in front of her 'little' tree. Family joke! We gave her a pretty rough time about her 'big' tree during the holidays. Don't know if we talked her into buying a bigger one for next year or not. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Catch ya all later . . . .

Graduation

This is my first attempt at putting a picture into my blog, with the help of Mandy on the phone! Thanks Mandy! It turned out great.

Here we are, on the floor of Hilton in December. Don't we all look happy? It was a great day for all of us. I'm so proud of Jim. He worked so hard the past few years to get to this time in his life. We had a very nice weekend together. His dad and Linda, and his aunt and uncle (Duaine and Linda) were able to join Barb, myself and Mandy in celebrating this special day in his life. This is definitley a picture of a very proud Mom and sister!

Way to go Jim!!

Snowy Days!

Is spring coming? According to the calendar it's Monday but you can't tell by checking outdoors today! When I got up this morning it was drizzling, then it turned to snow and by the time I left for work it was raining! I used my umbrella!!! At noon when I left for lunch it was SNOWING! I mean those huge snowflakes. They looked just like feathers! I think the angels were having a pillow fight! That lasted for a couple of hours. I don't know how much we have on the ground but they're talking about in the 40's tomorrow! I think the weatherman needs a vacation!

I've been trying all day to add a picture to my blog but haven't had much luck. I keep getting error messages so must be doing something wrong. I even contacted Mandy and asked her for her help. I thought I had it figured out but I got another error message and the post wouldn't publish so will tackle that at another date.

I'm looking forward to the weekend. Going out with friends tomorrow night. Probably do supper someplace and may do a little gambling! It's payday so I guess I can afford it!!! I want to do some scrapbooking. I finally got Christmas 2004 finished. I keep a memory book for myself but also put pages of the different events we've taken pictures of in books for my kids! I really enjoy it and hope to soon have the first 5 years of their lives complete and able to give them it for their birthdays or Christmas. Last year I did up a book for Beth and Karsten of their wedding. I enjoyed putting that together very much. I like working with the 12x12 format but did do an 8 1/2 x 11 for my sister. Now I have to tackle the same pictures for myself! I finally put them away after working on that particular project for 4-5 months! I'm really picky about how a page goes together, but think when I was finished with Beth's wedding album it turned out quite well. Anyway, it's a really cool hobby and I work on it whenever I have the time!!

Tomorrow I'm finally going to get my hair cut and permed! It needs it so bad. I'll definitely be ready to go out tomorrow night with a new "do"!!! One of these weekends I'm going to get brave enough to try coloring it! Hopefully I won't screw it up too bad and can show my face (or should I say head) at work on Monday!!

Well, you all have a great weekend!!

Busy Weekend!

My children have left for the weekend and I've finally found some time to finish up the organizing of my spare bedroom. Jim & Mandy helped move the entertainment center in the living room back where it belongs. We had moved it for the Christmas tree and never got around to putting it back to where it belonged. Thanks goodness the kids came and were able to move it! This old lady can't do things like that alone . . .

Jim also was able to get a file cabinet upstairs and I just finished putting my junk into it. The whole room looks better. And maybe I'll have a better handle on where my records all are. Looks better anyway!

It was great having the kids here for the weekend. Probably won't get home again until sometime in May. We did some food shopping for them while they were here. Mandy and I had a ball. When they get home now they'll have to figure out where to put everything!

Where did our beautiful weather go? Yesterday it was so nice out and today it's cloudy and windy! Typical March weather, I guess. I'm sure we'll get some snow yet but the one nice thing about snow this time of year it disappears quickly. We grilled for lunch. I love grilled food. Nothing special, just hamburgers, but they did taste good!

Housework awaits . . . .

This is a test!

I just have to see if I'm able to do this without the help of Jim & Mandy! So . . . this is a test and only a test.

My first blog!

My kids are teaching me how to blog. How Cool!