Burrrrr!!

Baby it's cold outside! It's been a while since I've written anything to anyone but I did take some time today to get this picture of the snow. We couldn't wait to have snow in December, well, I've had enough. I'll take the brown scenery until spring green gets here!! Haven't checked to see how much is out there but it's still coming down.

I keep telling myself I haven't done much lately and have nothing to share with anyone, but then I think about it and I guess I'm not a total lose in that department.

I spent the weekend with Barb. We had tickets for "Phantom of the Opera" at the Civic Center in Des Moines so made the trip down on Thursday (2-1). We went to "Annie" in November, that was my birthday present, and "Phantom" was my Mother's Day present. Cool gifts, huh!! It was cold, nothing like the weekend we've all been through, but chilly! I got to Barb's around 4:30 and started a load of laundry before she got home. I always take my laundry with me when I go to visit my kids! One of these days I have to bring some laundry detergent as a thank you!

Barbie got home around 5:00 and Jim joined us not much later than that. Mandy was busy for the evening but Jim said he'd have some time to go out to supper with us. We went to "Bear's" in Ankeny. It's a very homey and warm place to dine. The food was great! And I was hungry! But I think Barb has the leftovers again because, as usual, I left them in the refrigerator.

Phantom was wonderful, as usual! It's my favorite show of all. This was my third time in attending and I loved it as much this time as the first. Barb has been in the Des Moines area long enough to understand the skywalk system so we parked in one of the ramps, left our heavy coats in the car, and walked to the Civic Center via the skywalk. Cool!

I took Friday off and enjoyed sleeping in that morning. Never even heard Barb until she opened the garage door and as soon as it closed again was back to sleep. I spent a very quiet day watching TV in front of the fireplace. Developed a bit of a cold and so babied myself a bit so that I was able to go out Friday night. Our plans included a gymnastics meet at Ames. But before we went to the meet we went to visit the triplets! Barb's friend Katie's brother and his wife had triplets last March. Kathy & Matt (the triplet's parents, Katie's brother) took a short vacation and left the kids in the care of Katie, Mary (Matt & Katie's mom) and Kim (Kathy's sister). Barb spends probably one evening a week with Katie, Kathy, Matt and triplets. They are absolutely darling. I must remember to send a quick note to Katie and Mary and thank them for letting me spend some time with them. They're beautiful children -- 2 little boys and a darling little girl. It was obvious that Barb's been there before because she got right down on the floor with Mason and started working with him on crawling. Carter is already crawling and Alexia (hope I spelled that right) is still in the sitting stage. Because they're triplets they're a little bit behind in their physical growth, but are coming along fantastically! We shared a pizza with Katie, Mary and Kim and lucky me -- I got to hold little Carter. I wasn't sure he would come to a complete stranger but he did and I enjoyed it very much. It's been a long time since I've held a little one. I can't blame Barbie for spending time at Matt & Kathy's and the children!!

I've never been to a gymnastics meet before so this was a first. It was a cold trip across the parking lot but worth it. ISU had a duel meet with Missouri. It's interesting. Just like watching the Olympics!

We said we weren't going to do much of anything on Saturday but . . . we did! It was really cold but we braved it and did some shopping for Barbie. She's getting ready to go to Boston for a conference next week and was looking for some new professional clothes to take with her. Hope it's not this cold and wintery when she goes. I think Boston would be a very interesting city to visit -- lots of history.

Jim and Mandy came over for supper on Saturday night. We looked at wedding dresses and attendant dresses. I think Mandy has finally decided on black/white with red flowers for an accent color for their wedding. The dresses she showed us are great. She's trying to be practical for the bridesmaids so they can wear the dresses after the wedding too. Way to go Mandy!

Mandy has been experiencing some health issues and is working through them. Every day is an experience, isn't it Mandy? Just hang in there kiddo and all will be well. We love you!!

We slept in on Sunday morning. Barbie treated me to a great breakfast of fresh scrambled eggs, bacon and toast! One of my favorite breakfasts!! It was COLD outside, but I talked her into taking me to the scrapbook store in Akeney. I wanted some ISU paper to do some pages on Jim's graduation. I'm either way behind in what I'm doing or working on present day events. I brought Barbie her book (which was supposed to be part of her Christmas present but didn't get finished). I did the first 5 years of her life through pictures! We did take a lot of pictures when Barbie was a baby. Part of the reason being that Harry was in the service and we sent lots of pictures onto him. And when we lived in Arizona we sent a lot of pictures home to the grandparents, aunts and uncles and friends. To say the least it was a big book. I hope she enjoys looking through it as much as I enjoyed making it!

We packed up my car around 1:00 and I was on my way. It was a full weekend and I guess we did more than I thought we did. I got back home around 4:00 to a very cold house. I very seldom put heat on in any room other than my living room -- well the temperature read a little less than 50 degrees! It was darn cold!! I unpacked my car and drug the majority of the stuff upstairs and then crashed!! I grabbed my down throw (thank you Michael -- he gave it to my for Christmas a couple years ago) and plugged in my little ceramic heater and curled up in my favorite ugly green chair! It was SUPER SUNDAY and I have to say I enjoyed the game. Way to go COLTS! Super Bowl Champs! I've been a Colt fan for years and wasn't very popular with the majority of my co-workers as this is definitely Bear Country. If it had been any other team than the Colts I would have also cheered for the Bears! But I'm really happy that my Colts won their first Super Bowl!!

NASCAR is right around the corner. Next week is the Pro Bowl (which I personally think is boring) and the following week NASCAR begins another year. My driver, Dale Jarrett, has changed teams and I'm anxious to see the new car (#44 - UPS) and how they perform. He left Ford to drive for Toyota. I was impressed with the fact that UPS went with him. They must have a lot of faith in him doing well enough to be recognized during the racing season. I'm hoping that my sister and I can figure out a way to make a race (together) this year! If not, there's always another year!!!

QVC has a scrapbooking fair on today. I recorded it. I don't know that I can afford all the products but got some great ideas from the presenters. Also got some ideas of things that I would like to buy! One of the girls I work with has become a Creative Memories associate. She doesn't really want to make a business out of it but after selling x amount of dollars can purchase her items for 30% off. I'm hoping to get some good deals from her!!! We sure do have a great time discussing scrapbooking! I'm also becoming interested in cardmaking. I was going to do it for my Christmas cards this year, but didn't have the time. Beware friends and family -- next year you will get a homemade card from Joy!! I love it! I have such a good time working on my projects and hope I don't bore any of you going on and on about it.

Speaking of boring -- I think I've taken enough of your time for one day. And I'm going to scrapbook for a bit.

Family alert -- I finally have the majority of my Christmas tree down! I hate my house after Christmas because there's no color and was really lazy this year about getting it taken down. I still have to put ornaments away and find places for some of the Christmas stuff but the majority of Christmas is finally gone!!

Everybody stay warm!! Sounds like there's not a big warmup in sight!