Being Sick!

Being sick is the pits! I've been home now for 2 1/2 days and believe it or not, I'd rather be able to go into work. Lucky me . . . I picked up a wonderful cold, sore throat, flu-like aches and pains and a back ache. Guess it all goes with colds, etc., but it's been a rough week. It's 3:30 a.m. and I can't seem to sleep anymore. All I've done the past 3 days is sleep, sleep, and sleep. At least when you sleep you swallow without thinking about it and it doesn't hurt as much. You'd think a person would be slept out but yet I can sit in my ugly green chair and within 5 minutes I'm sleeping again! I went to the doctor on Wednesday for a non-related flu problem and got meds for the flu, etc. I'm feeling better . . . at least well enough to go to work this morning later on for a few hours. I'm weak and have a hacky cough with whatever this crap is, but at least I'm up and around!! Got to the point where dying sounded good and then I was afraid I was going to!!!

I have a growth on one of my fingers and thought I better have that checked out as it's growing quite rapidly. X-rays were taken and the decision to wait and see was made. One of the hospital techs was going to read the x-rays later yesterday afternoon too. Hopefully it's nothing to worry about, but I guess I'm to the point where I'd rather be safe than sorry. Plus I got meds for the flu!!! What a deal!

Fall is definitely in the air! The trees are starting to turn across the street from my place. I'm hoping to head up north this weekend and take some pictures near Guttenberg and also up at Pike's Peak. Me and how many other people! It's a beautiful time of the year. Sounds like rain for part of the weekend so guess that will decide if I go or not. Getting wet at the present time doesn't sound like a real wise thing to do! Can't believe that September is almost gone.

October brings another birthday for me, for my brother, my sister-in-law, a niece and nephew and a couple of friends. Maybe we should all get together and celebrate as a group! I don't have anything special planned -- maybe a nice supper out with friends. I'm scheduled to be in Des Moines (Urbaindale) October 24th for a workshop so I'm planning on going down the day before and spend some time with my children. Children be warned!! I'm coming!!!

Barb and I have tickets for "Annie" November 9th. I'm really looking forward to that show. I love the music from that one! We have November 10th off as a holiday so I'm hoping to do some more visiting and Christmas shopping! Barb has to work that weekend but I think I can find my way around Ankeney and maybe drive into West Des Moines. Time will tell!

All my craft magazines are full of Christmas ideas. I'm slowly but surely getting the first 5 years of Barbie's life completed. I think I'm at Christmas 1972 right now. It's been a trip!!! After I get her first years done I want to work on Jim's. Barbie had Christmas' all over the place whereas Jim had all his in the same house! I can still remember our first Christmas in our new home -- our tree was in the master bedroom! We moved into our house in the fall without a finished living room, hallway or foyer. Took us 6-months to finish it! So, we put the tree up in the bedroom. Got pictures to prove that one!!! That was a lot of years ago!!

My sister began a new job this week. I haven't heard from her but hope all is going well. She was to the point of burn-out at her other one. She doesn't have as far to drive for this one and her hours are much better. Congratulations Glee!

Work has been busy as of late (when I'm there). Fuel season begins Monday for the elderly and disabled in our service delivery area. Lots of people, lots of paperwork, LOTS OF FUN!! I'm still trying to fill jobs for our Head Start program. This is the first time in a long time that I can remember having this many openings at one time. Must be something in the air!! Ya think! Fuel season continues until April 15th and within that time period we also have our big Santa's Helper project. Most years I adopt a family or two and go out and buy the gifts that they ask for. Haven't decided if I want to to that this year again or not. Guess I'll wait until the time comes and see how things are financially at home first.

Gas prices have finally gone down. We haven't hit below $2.00 but I keep hoping. Talked to Jim over the weekend and he said Mandy found a station in WDM that was below $2.00 -- I think he said $1.99 or $1.98 but that's still less that $2.00 a gallon! I can remember when a $20 bill more than filled my tank . . . . now I need the $20 plus a $10 and then some!!!

Good news! Effective October 1 I have a 4% increase to my salary! All proceeds are gratefully acknowledged by this employee. The holidays are coming and so is a wedding next year. I've been putting money away for the holidays and the wedding. I'm looking forward to both very much.

Well, I'm starting to get cold . . not sleepy but cold. Better go find a blanket or throw and see if I can get in a few winks before getting dressed for work. You all stay warm, dry and healthy! Stay away from these colds -- it's awful!!!

Take care.

Where did summer go?

It's been a couple of weeks since I've put anything on my blog. I haven't been that busy, just didn't get around to it, I guess. Is it cool where you are? I can't believe how cool it's gotten not only during the evenings, but the days. Hopefully we'll have some Indian Summer days within the next few weeks. It's usually nice around my birthday which is October 17. Hope that happens this year as usual.

I haven't done anything exciting lately. Guess that's why I haven't written anything. Been busy at work with a lot of new employee orientations. We've had a number of employees with the Head Start Program resign. When you have a resignation you have to go out and find someone to take their place. We still have 5 positions open. It's getting to fuel season too so we opened some temporary positions today for that program. I've been working the desk over the noon hours and we're getting more and more calls for people wanting to make appointments for fuel assistance. We begin taking appointments October 1st for the elderly and disabled. The fun begins November 1 when it's open to the general public. Our offices become very busy during fuel season and the Christmas holidays. We have a program called Santa's Helper that keeps us all on our toes. Can't believe that we're working on Christmas stuff already. The stores are ready for Christmas I noticed.

I've been getting a lot of my scrapbooking done. I can't figure out if I'm just getting faster at what I'm doing or if it's just my imagination!! I did some organizing this past weekend. I had stickers all over the place and paper in every nook and cranny of my closet. I don't know if I'm that better organized now but at least you can see the top of the bed and find most of the stickers!

Good News! We had a board meeting last week. We were able to give a 4% increase across the board to all our non-Head Start personnel. I'm lucky enough to be one of them. Can't say that I'm not happy about it. Everything else has gone up as far as my bills are concerned but my wages over the past couple years. Maybe now I can get caught up on some of them.

Jim and Mandy have tentatively set their wedding date for September 22, 2007. My parents were married September 23, 1942. Beth and Karsten will celebrate their 2nd wedding anniversary on September 18th (opps, they celebrated their 2nd anniversary!). Guess September will get even more interesting! We have birthdays all over the month too. Maybe we can just have one big celebration!! The fun will soon begin with the plans. I haven't talked to the kids lately to see what decisions they've made about anything, but I'm sure Mandy will keep me informed when things start moving!!!

I've been looking into a different place to live. There's a couple of houses for rent that I'm interested in, just have to get a hold of the right person. If I'm going to make a move it has to be soon as I don't want to move in the colder weather. I would love to find a 3-bedroom home that's a ranch style. I'd like the extra bedroom to be a bedroom not a combination bedroom/craft room. Have to see what they want for rent on a couple of the places and go from there. Hoping to make some calls tomorrow! I'll let you know.

Well it's heading toward 11:00 p.m. and my eyes are telling me it's about time to call it a day. Hope this finds everyone well. Have a good week!

Happy Birthday Barb!

Happy Birthday Barbie! What a little thing you
are on these pictures. Course you were only one year old! Time flies, just like with your brother's birthday celebration. When Barbie turned one we had only been back in Iowa for about 2 weeks. Harry was in the Army and we had been living in Arizona. He was home on leave for a month preparing to go to Germany. We were able to celebrate our anniversary and Barbie's birthday before he left. Barbie and I lived with my parents until August 1972. After Harry got home we moved back into the Western Dubuque School system and lived in an apartment in Epworth. Barbie enjoyed her time with her grandparents and they certainly enjoyed having her around!

Hope every had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend. Mine was fairly quiet. I did some major shopping on Saturday and then used a lot of my new purchases in my scrapbooking. I think I have all my pictures together from my Colorado trip and hope to soon begin on scrapping those. If I were only not so slow in deciding how to layout my pages!!!!

Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day. I could live all year with days like that! Monday we had some rain, but a friend and I decided it was time to get out for a while and took a short trip north. We drove up the Wisconsin side to Prairie du Chien and enjoyed the countryside. Won't be long and corn and beans will be ready to harvest. Noticed a lot of church picnics to end the summer activities for a lot of them. We had a late lunch and enjoyed the scenery. It was a nice day.

Back to work for most of us on Tuesday. I have a short week, but a busy one. Our Finance/Personnel Committee mets tonight to make some decisions on benefits for the agency. Hope I can report good news regarding compesnation, etc., the next time I write. Seems like everything has gone up the past couple of years except our wages! A common complaint among all of us!!!

Nothing special doing for the next few weeks. I have some meetings in Des Moines planned in October and a birthday to celebrate. Talked to my daughter last night and invited myself down for an overnight stay in late October. My Planners group in having a speaker come in for our October meeting and have decided to begin at 9:30 a.m. That's a bit early for me to start off from Dubuque so . . . will go down the day before and spend some time with my daughter! Two fun things for the price of one!!!

Well, it's creeping onto 7:00 a.m. and I need to eat some breakfast before I begin another day. Hope all of you are having a good week.

Catch you later . . .