Fall/Winter??

Fall is definitely here! And winter is right on it's coattails! I don't think we really had a fall this year. Maybe sometime in November!! I'm going to get tired of my winter clothes real soon.

I spent some time in the Ankeny/West Des Moines area over the past couple of days. I had a planners meeting on Tuesday and made the decision to drive down on Monday rather than get up at the crack of dawn on Tuesday morning. It was a good decision cuz I get to spend some time with my kids that way. I left Dubuque around noon and got to Barb's about 3:30 or close to it. She had the day off so was waiting for me -- opened the garage door for me and everything! Barb just recently bought a new car so we had to have a picture of her and her new purchase. It's really a pretty blue! Doesn't she look natural standing by it?? She does have the darnest luck though -- she was rear-ended one day last week! The car was a whole 8 days old (to her). The other car got her bumper. Her insurance agent is working on getting the repairs taken care of. Let's hope that's the last of any accidents!!

We did some shopping together. I also have some wonderful luck from time-to-time -- I only bought 3 things. I was counting my change when we left the checkout and we got about 5 checkouts away when Barb asked if I had my package -- of course I didn't pick it up thinking she had and she thought I had. We went back to the checkout and found no package. After explaining to the clerk what we were looking for she called her manager and I got 2 of the 3 things back. Obviously the lady behind me picked up my package by mistake. Hope she enjoys her 'free' stuff! I had picked up some Swifter pads for my scrubber, a sheet of vacation stickers and the new Toby Keith CD. There was no way I was going to get the stickers back as I had taken the last of them. She found the Swifter pads and the CD. The manager gave me back my money for the stickers and off we went. I really wished I had those stickers!!!

We went to Jim and Mandy's for supper. Their house looks so nice. Mandy did a great job of arranging furniture and decorating! Maybe I could talk her into doing something with my place!!?? As usual Odie greeted both of us. He really likes Barb! The decision had been made to go out for supper. Jim had an announcement before we left -- he accepted a new position with a local construction company and was extremely happy about that. So, we had something to celebrate. He will start his new position November 5th. I'm so happy for him and he seems pretty happy about it too! We had a great meal at Maxie's and then headed back to their house for a short visit.

I got a great picture of Jim and Mandy but for the life of me can't get it to post this morning. Sorry Mandy -- I'll get that on one of these days. But I did get a great picture of Jim and his dog and Barb with Odie. Like I said Odie likes Barb.

It's been a sad time for me the past few days. A very dear friend of mine had a stroke. It was a major one and has left him terribly ill. The last information we received was that he has lost his speech but has been able to use his right hand/arm. Sounds like the left side is what got hit the worst. Time will tell how much damage was done. I continue to keep him in my prayers and hope that you will too.

We have our all agency staffing this coming Monday. That always keeps me busy at work. Hopefully the majority of the copying can be completed today. I need to pick up some door prizes, etc., in the next couple of days. I'm going to set up most of my stuff on Sunday night so that I don't have to be at the site so early on Monday.

It's 7:17 a.m. so I best get something to eat before getting dressed. Sounds like it's a little warmer out there today than it has been. Hurray!!! Hope everyone has a great weekend. Stay warm!

Birthdays!

Today is my birthday! As birthdays go it hasn't been too bad. Got some nice greetings from my co-workers. A note from my sister and these beautiful purple (sterling) roses from a friend. Aren't they beautiful? What a wonderful surprise on your birthday to receive flowers. I was on the first floor at work checking up on a couple of things and had paused for a moment at the front desk when the lady who was doing the delivering brought them in! I was able to take my own flowers up stairs. Cleared off a place on my computer desk so I could smell them and enjoyed them there all day.

I haven't written much lately. Guess I haven't been doing much lately to talk about. Last weekend I got a strange call on Saturday afternoon. I answered, thinking it was my son as his number came up on the IDer, only to have a strange man tell me he had found my son or daughter's cell phone. Jim had lost his cell phone while on a walk with Odie! The guy went into his phone book and found MOM and called me. He told me he found it around the Valley Junction area (of which Jim and Mandy live near by) and wanted to return the phone. I quick found the address and told him what it was. After hanging up I wondered if that was a smart thing to do, but thinking about it decided there was no other way that Jim was going to get his phone back. I did make a quick call to Mandy to let her know what had happened. She, unfortunately, was in Omaha at a class reunion and I got her voice mail. I finally called Barb to see if she knew where Jim was or had been only to find her at the Iowa State football game at a tailgate party. She wasn't much help but said it must have been on a walk as she had been with him that morning and he had it then. Jim didn't realize he'd lost it until he went looking for it to call Mandy. He thought he lost it in the house. He emailed me to call him and to keep calling until he could find it. I didn't read the email until Sunday morning. He finally emailed his dad and asked him to text message him and by doing that ended up finding the phone in the mailbox. The guy asked me if they lived in a house or apartment -- he apparently just left the phone in the box and went on home. What a nice person!! JIm got his phone back when he didn't even know he lost it!

I've been busy at work. It's the end of the year for me. Our fiscal year runs October 1 through September 30th. I have year-end reports due to Des Moines by the end of the month. I have a workshop I'm attending next week in Urbandale and planning on spending some time with my children. I haven't seen Mandy and Jim's house since they moved it so I'm anxious to see the finished product! Also looking forward to spending the evening with my children and just catching up!!

We have an all-agency staffing coming up the end of the month which means extra work for me getting prepared for it. Lots of things due at the same time. Two weeks from now I'll probably be bored and wonder what to do with myself!

I'm still scraping and working on Christmas gifts. Hopefully I'll get the majority of them finished. I'm either getting faster at what I do, or cutting corners someplace. It doesn't seem to take me as much time as it used to. I think I'm just getting better at what I'm doing. I know I'm still extremely picky about what goes where on each page. I'm working with an 8x8 format right now. That's interesting as the majority of the pictures I'm working with are 4x6! I've learned to scan my pictures, put them on a CD and then have them developed at Wal-Mart, Walgreen, etc., much cheaper that way for me. I then have the pictures developed and still have everything on a CD to keep. Also am able to take some off my machine as I get them developed. I can always put them back on!!

I drug all my winter clothes out over the weekend. I sure do have a lot of things with snowflakes on them! I could use a couple of new things. Maybe next week when I'm in Des Moines I can do some shopping! Barbie and I have plans to attend "Annie" in November. We had a conflict with the date (I had a Board of Director's meeting) and she was able to change it to a Friday night so . . . . I have that Friday off as a holiday (Veteran's Day) so plan on staying the weekend with my children. Barb works on Saturday but I think I can find my way to a couple of stores in Ankeny and over to Jim's. I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I won't have to drive in rain or the dreaded snow! That part I don't like. Des Moines/West Des Moines/Ankeny isn't really that far from Dubuque but when the weather's icky it seems that way!

One of the girls I work with is also a scrapper and we're thinking about getting together some Saturday and working on Christmas cards together. I want to try and make all my cards this year. I better start early cuz I don't think I get any out last year.

My tummy tells me it's time to find something to eat so I best go feed it. Hope this finds everyone well and happy. Have a good week.

I just re-read my last blog to everyone and realized I repeated my story about the cell phone. Sorry about that. The ending of the story was the same!! Must be old age. That's what birthdays do to you!!!

Take care all!

Fall?

Is this fall? Wow, what a change. Saturday and Sunday were so beautiful and now it's starting to get colder . . . and windy! I have the news on right now and they're also saying we could see snowflakes on Wednesday. Are you ready for this? Guess we don't have a choice other than to move to where there's never any snow!!

I got a strange phone call over the weekend. I wasn't doing anything special on Saturday afternoon when the phone rang . . . I answered and the guy on the other end said I found this cell phone that must be either your son's or daughter's! That was a surprise. It was Jim's number on the IDer when I answered. I expected to hear his voice so was really surprised. He said he found this phone around the Valley Junction area. I gave him Jim and Mandy's address and thanked him for returning it. I then called Mandy on her cell only to get her voice mail saying she was in Omaha for a class reunion. I left a message and finally decided maybe I should call Barb and let her know what was happening. Well . . . she was in Ames having a great time at a tailgate party playing baggo! She said she had been with Jim in the morning and he probably lost it while out walking Odie. The mystery was solved on Sunday morning when I talked to Jim. He had indeed lost his phone . . . only he thought it was in the house. He needed to call Mandy to see when she was coming home Saturday afternoon and couldn't find his phone. He thought he lost it in the house! He emailed me and asked me to call and keep calling until he answered the phone, thinking that he would hear it and find it. I didn't read my email until Sunday afternoon so, of course, didn't call. He finally emailed his dad and had him text message him to find the phone in the mailbox! What a surprise! The guy did ask me if Jim lived in an apartment or house and obviously just left the phone in the mailbox. What a nice person! Mystery solved!

JIm spent some time with Barb checking out new cars. Barbie bought a new car over the weekend. I don't know if she's picked it up yet or not but finally decided what she wanted to purchase on Saturday morning. She used her brother for some expert advice!! Next time you see her she'll be driving her new Mariner Blue Dodge! I asked when I could see it or drive it and was told she didn't know! Bummer!

I'm on my way to Waterloo this a.m. to pick up some food for a food distribution later in the month and hygiene products for work. We have a program and are able to buy hygiene products from the food bank in Waterloo when DALH goes down to pick them their orders.

My family is trying to get together for one last weekend before the snow flies. Jim and Mandy have invited all of us down for a weekend of fun, food and socializing! Hopefully we can decide on a weekend and get together. Sounds like fun!

Christmas stuff is in all the stores and people are already talking about the holidays. I'm still working on scrapbook projects for gifts. Don't know if I'll get everything done I want to but at least I'm going to give it a good try! Scrapbooking is certainly something I enjoy. I practically have a room dedicated to it.

I'm feeling much better. Still have a cough that doesn't want to give up, but at least I don't cough as much as I have been. It's been a long haul. I noticed a couple of other people at work are having the same problems. Flu season is upon us. Time to go out and get a shot. I've been making calls trying to get shots lined up for our all-agency staffing the end of the month. We have a number of people that would like to get the shots and it's easy to do when we're all together for the day. That's my next big project at work -- the all-agency staffing. That and end-of-the-year reports to State. They're always fun, but part of the job.

Well, it's 7:00 a.m. and I should probably get dressed and ready to go. News headlines on Today are strange. Nuclear testing, political fights, etc. Life!!

Gotta go. Have a great week. Take care of you!

Colds are the pits!

Well I'm still coughing and blowing my nose all the time. I'm getting real tired of coughing and blowing!! I'm just wondering how much longer this is going to go on. We have a number of people at work doing the same thing. When I talked to my son a couple of weeks ago he sounded terrible and the next day I started in. I thanked him for giving me his cold across the phone lines!! It's a very annoying cough -- it just won't give up. I've been using the meds the doctor gave me and some cough medicine I got the last time I was real sick (it probably isn't worth much but I think it works so . . . what the heck!). I'll give this another few days and then break down and call the doctor again.

We're in the middle of some insurance business at work. What a pain in the butt! Lots of questions and lots of misinformation has been given out to our employees. We had a gal in today that seemed to be able to answer the majority of our questions. Now to track down all the applications with the wrong infor on them. Insurance isn't the favorite part of my job.

Heard from my sister and she's real happy with her new job. I'm so happy for her. She won't be working weekends any longer and has shorter hours. Now if we could get my daughter a job without weekends we'd have a bunch of happy campers!!

I went to Waterloo/Cedar Falls yesterday to a workshop with the DALH group. Our truck is currently down so I drove. As usual, I got lost! We didn't have any problems getting to the hotel the workshop was at but got turned around when we were driving back into Waterloo to the food bank. I realized my mistake not very far down the road but then we had to backtrack and they have University all torn up so it took some time to get where I started out from. We got it figured out and were only a couple of minutes late to the next part of our meeting. I tell you I can get lost anyplace! Used to be I had a terrible time in Maquoketa (of all places) but lately it's been DeWitt. Must be the small town thing!!

Can't believe this weather. It can't make up it's mind -- maybe that's why we all have colds and coughs! I was hoping to go north last weekend and get some fall pictures but that didn't happen with not feeling well so I'm hoping to do that this weekend. I'll call you Glee when I get there!!

I'm still working on my scrapbooking projects. I don't think I'll get finished but I really do enjoy doing it. I can spend a lot of time looking through catalogs and on-line albums too. It's fun!!! I enjoy reading my magazines too. They give me some new ideas and I usually try them with a little bit of a different touch for my stuff. I have seriously given some thought to doing scrapbooking for other people. Barbie said they do it Des Moines. I'm so slow when I work on a page cuz I'm so picky about how everything goes . . . probably wouldn't make much money as it would take me so much time to finish a project. Have to give it a little more thought!!

I'm being lazy tonight. Did a load of wash and got that folded and put away. Got my jammies on already and am ready to watch the usual Thursday night TV. Survivor and CSI or Deal or No Deal. Glad that I have a VCR that works!

I'm hungry so better go grab something to eat. Wouldn't want to blow away!!

Take care all.