Beautiful Snowfall

I took some pictures of the snow falling yesterday but haven't had a chance to sit down and put them on the computer. It really was beautiful!! And there's a lot! It's also very quiet at my place. There's hardly any traffic going by. The streets have been plowed but it doesn't look very nice out there. I can see blowing snow across the street.

When I watched the weather last night they said they had pulled the plows off the county roads but were still plowing in the City. I haven't heard the snowplow lately either! Bet there's a lot of people that were planning on shopping yesterday that didn't make it.

Happy Birthday to my sister Glee! I wonder what the weather was like when she was born? Do you remember ever asking Mom & Dad about it Glee? Hope you have the best birthday ever!! And a safe trip home from Ankeny!

I still have some shopping to do to be finished for next weekend. But I have every evening that I can go out and find what I want. I got a lot done on Friday night. Now I just have to get some paper and boxes upstairs and I can wrap!! Later today!

It has been declared 'jeans' month at the office! Everyone likes that. With our luck our Head Start Program will have it's review and we'll have to dress more appropriately for an office. Lots of thing going on this time of year at work. We sponsor a program for families that probably wouldn't have a Christmas if we didn't find things for them. We appeal to the public for donations and adoptation of families. Donations are a bit down this year, but the the economy isn't as great as it could be either! We have people coming and going with Christmas gifts, plus the normal flow of traffic. Glad I don't have to clean that floor!

I probably better get at some of the items on my list. I have this list, but I don't always get to the end of it. Here's hoping I do today!

Have a good weekend!

Hoarding!!

I'm putting up more Christmas things and watching (listening & peeking) to Buried Alive: Hoarding. Am I a hoarder?? I've actually decided to get rid of some of my Christmas decorations. They're old, really old, and I haven't used them for a number of years. I cleaned out the storage part of my entertainment center yesterday and found tons of cassette tapes and some VHS tapes (some not even used) and they're all going. I better get some boxes from work and get this stuff out of here. I think I'll save the Christmas cassettes to take to work and play there. I still have a tape player at work!!! Is this progress?

Actually I feel kinda good about doing some of the cleaning out and rearranging. Probably should have done some of this before, but you do what you do when you have the time. I want my place Christmas ready by this coming weekend. I don't have anything special planned or anything, I just want everything to look nice, keep it that way and be able to work on some projects that I have waiting for me. I always feel like I should have everything cleaned up before I work on my pet projects. My thinking on that should probably change too!

I haven't watched the news or weather since my Thanksgiving break began. I better pay attention tonight as I'll know what to wear to work tomorrow. I have to do fingerprinting tomorrow at our Maquoketa Head Start Center. That should take care of my morning. Thursday I have a Planners Meeting in Des Moines. I was hoping to be able to stay down there for the weekend but my boss is out of the office until Friday and we have a board packet to get out. Guess I'll have to spend a different weekend with my kiddos!!

It's also time to collect everything I've bought and do some wrapping and then figure out what I have to buy yet. After all I still have over 25 days until the holiday!! I love Christmas. It's my favorite time of the year. I just wished I was a better organized person. There's probably still hope!!

Enough for today. When I started this blog I had read something about a blog being where you should put down your thoughts, etc. so that you remember what you did when. Guess I've kinda gotten away from that, but I'm going to start doing more of it in the coming year.

It's Saturday!

Now isn't that an original thought . . . it's Saturday. It certainly is! It's Saturday, November 27th and 8:10 in the morning. What in the heck am I doing up at this hour?? I have no clue other than the fact that I couldn't get back to sleep once the alarm went off. Habit!

I'm sitting in my living room, the CD changer is playing some of my favorite Christmas songs and I'm looking at my snowman village on top of my entertainment center. Doesn't look too bad. I collect snowmen so have all sizes, types, colors, etc. They're not all up there but a lot of them are. I even lit a couple of candles already!

I should be working on my other tree and getting some of these boxes organized, but nope, I'm just sitting here being lazy. I laid in bed this morning and decided where I was going to put some of my stuff and since I didn't write it down I've already forgotten! Duh!!! Oh well, I'm sure I'll find a place for everything, I usually do.

I have a friend stopping by today to pick up my 'old' tree. Her son and daughter-in-law would like it so . . . guess I better remember that so I hang out around here until they come.

Instead of talking about it, I better get to it. Have a great weekend!

Christmas is Upon Us!

I definitely am getting old . . . where did 2010 go? We have 5 weeks before Christmas and 6 before this year is over. It went pretty darn fast for me, what about you?

Had a great Thanksgiving. Hope all of you did too. Barb came up to see her dad and spent Thursday afternoon with me. I bought a new Christmas tree this year and had the majority of it put together when she got here, but she was a big help in finishing off the top and putting on the garland and beads. I bought a pre-lit tree. It took me a couple of days to get my old one together and then string the lights. And of course I always had one or two strings of lights not work! Sometimes after they were on the tree. I got a 7 foot, pre-lit tree. I can't believe the difference in size. My old one (which was a beautiful tree) had a circumstance of about 5 feet, this one has one of 3 feet plus. Fits into any place I want it real nice. I couldn't get all my ornaments up but I picked out my favorites and got them on the tree. I haven't figured out what to do with the top yet, so we ended up with a big red bow. It isn't my angel but will do for right now.

I made the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. We had turkey, potatoes, gravey, corn, cranberries, hot rolls, relish and choclate pudding for dessert. Barbie doesn't like pumpkin so I made something chocolate! Actually we had pudding pops with whipped topping!! But it served it's purpose. Dressing isn't one of Barb's favorites so I didn't make any of that either. Actually I was going to make pumpkin bars but got up Thursday morning and discovered I didn't have enough sugar -- thank goodness for Walgreen. They had everything I needed. I had started decorating my tree on Wednesday night and for the life of me couldn't find any hooks for the ornaments. i got enough now for a few years, if I remember where I put them. I'm sure as I go through the boxes of other things I'll find them. I also have a 'JOY' tree to put up yet. Should get that done today, I hope!!

Mandy called yesterday morning to let me know what they were doing. It was so good to hear her voice and find out where everyone was going. They're in the Omaha area for the holiday. I'm sure they're having a great time. I'm anxious to see Charlotte again. She's just changing constantly right now and I just love being with her and watching her grow!! What a beautiful child God gave Jim & Mandy.

I should be doing something other than sitting here inputting into my computer but as usual, I'm tired. Barb worked on my neck a bit last night before she left. It felt great but today it's sore. But I figured it would be! She has the most talented fingers/hands. I obviously pulled some muscles in my right shoulder and Dr. Barb helped fixed it. I think heat sounds pretty good right now too. Last year for Christmas Barb got me one of those cherry-pit bags that you can freeze or heat and they're wonderful. I take mine to work with me every once in a while.

I have a meeting in Des Moines Thursday and was hoping to see my children, but it sounds like I have to be back in Dubuque on Friday morning. My boss is out all week and will return on Friday also. We have a board packet to get out! Yipee!! Oh well, next time. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I won't have to worry myself about slick roads. Normally I can handle snow but anything with ice scares the heck out of me (except ice cubes in my soda)!!

I have some Christmas projects I'm working on. I should probably get at that too today. I love long weekends, now if I would just get off my butt and get to work.

I probably should take my own advice and do just that. GET TO WORK! Here's hoping everyone that got up before the crack of dawn got what they wanted, that everyone has a great weekend and gets everything done that they want to!

Take care out there.

November is here!

Has this year gone fast or what? I can't believe it's the first of November already!!! No matter where you go Christmas things are up already. I know that I have to buy a new Christmas tree for my living room. I'm looking for a pre-lit slim-line tree (7 1/2 feet). I can find all kinds of 7 1/2 trees but not with multi-colored lights. Hopefully I'll find something one of these days. I do have a 5 foot one but it's my JOY tree and fits so nicely in the corner in my hallway. I guess if push comes to shove I can used that one but I would rather have a bigger one for the living room.

I'm working on Christmas gifts. I'm hoping to sell a few books at the shoppe for the holidays. I need to get my butt out there one of these days and check out what's happening to my table. Betsy and I want to get out there soon also and do a little holiday decorating. She's so good at doing that stuff. Maybe I can pick some stuff up this weekend.

It's our craft fair weekend. I'm really looking forward to it. Leaving work early on Friday so that we don't get into Barb's at 1:00 a.m. like we've done some years. Beth also has to stay away from Casey's pizza. A couple years ago she got sick on one of our shopping weekends. Don't want that to happen again. Barbie has a home football game (ISU vs. Nebraska) to attend but will spend some of the day with us. I think we'll be able to find our way around Akeney! We're hoping for good weather. As long as it doesn't rain or snow (parish the thought). Should be fun. I know I'm really looking forward to it!!!

My Colts are on tonight so I best go watch them. Need to find something to eat too. Have a good week everyone!

Happy Birthday!

Walking with Grandma!

Little Miss Innocent!!

Into a cabinet at Barb's.

Playing with Dad.

Petey met me at the door!

Charlotte can get herself up on the hearth and was just showing off for her Aunt Barb.

Hey Dad!! Look at me!!

Charlotte found her mom's camera and case and was showing Barb how to put it away.

Playin' with my Daddy.

Playin', but making sure everyone knew she was there!!

Petey! What more can a person say.

Charlotte found Barb's camera and had a ball playing with it.

Resting in her chair and checking out the camera.

Petey likes Barbie too!

See Charlotte, there's your picture.

Duplicate picture, but she's so cute . . .

Checkin' out Grandma's necklace.

More pictures to check.

I had a great birthday weekend. It was busy, but it sure was fun! I drove down on Friday afternoon (got to Jim's about 6:30 or so). Mandy made French Onion Soup for supper. It was great. I got reacquainted with my granddaughter. She's quite a character! She loves cameras as you can see from the pictures. She likes playing with them and likes having her pictures taken too!! Wonder why? Could it be because her mom does such a great job on taking photos?? We spent the evening with the Jim Davis family and then headed back to Ankeny. Barb had all of Saturday planned so we didn't stay up real late on Friday night.

I got to sleep in a bit on Saturday morning. Jim, Mandy and Charlotte had a wedding to attend out of town so Barb pretty much planned the day for us. She had a repairman coming in to do some maintenance on her furnace and after that we were free to go . . . first stop was Strawberry Patch. I needed a pink shirt for our in-service and also needed one for the volleyball game that afternoon at Ames. What better way to get one than to have one that said ISU!! We found one, and also found a gray fleece with the new ISU logo on it so I went home with two new ISU pieces of clothing!!

I love the scrapbooking store in Ankeny (Memory Bound) and we spent some time there. I have a special order for a volleyball scrapbook so we picked up some stickers and special paper for that project. Of course I had to pick up some other things too. Like I said, I really like that shop!!

Stopped at Dress Barn and did some birthday shopping for me. I certainly tried on a lot of clothes and we took quite a few of them home with us. Barb got me a great outfit of a long-sleeved shirt (purple, gray, white, black and a silver thread going through it) that had a light gray short-sleeved sweater to go with it. Looks great and I love it!! Found another sweater with the 3/4 sleeves and since I had a blouse at home for it bought that one too. Checked out the clearance and found a couple of things on there too. What a great birthday gifts!!

Jim, Mandy and Charlotte gave me a gift on Friday night. A beautiful framed picture of Charlotte and a whole bunch of socks. I had told Mandy I needed trouser socks so she went out and bought the store out!! Thanks so much! I've already worn half of them!!!

Barb told Jim we'd stop at their house and let the dogs out for a bit before we went to Ames so that was our next stop. All the animals were there to greet us.

We stopped at Hickory Park for a late lunch. As usual, it was great!! I love that place. Since all of the water in Ames the volleyball team is playing their home games at Ames High School. Sounds like they may get into Hilton for the last couple of homes games for the season. Hope so. Would be nice for the seniors. It was cool going to the match. Both teams wore pink warm-up t-shirts and wherever you looked in the crowd there was pink!! They gals won the match too!!

We headed back to Ankeny and some TV time. Watched the last quarter of the Hawkeye game. Go Hawks! They looked good. Had something to eat and settled in to watch the Cyclones. That was pretty much a disaster, but we held out until halftime and then flipped back and forth between the football game and NASCAR. I finally gave up and went to bed. I was really tired! Must be old age!! I asked Barb Sunday morning who won the race, but she didn't watch it after I headed up the stairs. Looked it up online and found out that Kevin Harvick won!! WTG!!

Sunday was my birthday!! Jim had called and said we should come over and hang out with him and Charlotte. Mandy had a couple of photo shoots that morning. We picked up a quick breakfast at McDonald's and went to Jim's. Charlotte was running around in her Halloween pj's. How cute! She really is a character! She was all over the place and her grandmother enjoyed every minute of it. Jim made lunch. Charlotte was finished with her's and then came and mooched off me! What a treat! She loved the twice-baked potatoes we had and helped me finish mine. It was cool.

Barb and I head back to her place to get ready for our outing at the Civic Center. But first we met Jim and family at Spagetti Works downtown Des Moines for supper. That's where the picture of Charlotte and I walking came from. We were heading back to Jim's car and she was lagging behind when I extended my hand to kinda push her back up with her parents and she just grabbed on and away we went. She can pull pretty good for such a little munchkin! Jim took the picture with his camera and will always be a cherished memory for me and my 63rd birthday!

We went to 9 to 5. It was good! I enjoyed it very much. Pretty much anything at the Civic Center is good! Enjoyed the show and the company.

I had meetings for work both Monday and Tuesday. The kids came to Barb's for Monday night supper. I again enjoyed my time with Charlotte. I also enjoy my time with Jim, Mandy and Barb. I wished they lived closer to me, or me closer to them, but that's not the way it is, so we make due with the times we have together. I cherish my times with my children.

I did some shopping on Monday afternoon after my meeting. Got some stuff for Halloween bags. I decided to hand them out Monday night already. Charlotte had a good time presenting them to everyone. Left some additional goodies at Barb's for Halloween itself. Hope they all have a good time.

Got home Tuesday night around 6:30 p.m. Drug my stuff upstairs. Parked in front of the building and saved myself a set of steps that way. I even got the majority of the stuff unpacked that night. Was great spending time with everyone, but it's always nice to get home!!!

Have plans to be in Ankeny the weekend of November 6th with my sister and niece. Big craft fair in Ankeny and we always have such a great time. Beginning of the Christmas shopping season for me. I'm looking forward to it. Hope the good weather continues (without all the wind) until that weekend, but guess we take what we get -- after all we live in Iowa!!

Happy Halloween everyone!! Enjoy!

Jackson's Birthday Party

Little brother Tristan joined in all the fun!

Jackson got an activity desk from his Grandma Shirley. Cool gift!!!

Jackson loves cars, and he got a remote control Lighting McQueen and Dale Jr. car for some of his gifts. All the adults enjoyed playing with them too!


Jackson tugs hard on the covering of his bean bag chair that Sharon gave him. He likes it!

Oh wow! T-ball!

A train set from Mom & Dad. Just what he wanted!!

Another train set. Thomas the Train in fact. That was my gift to the Jack Man!!

Jackson and his cake!! Happy Birthday Jackson!

Jackson's 3rd birthday cake.

I'm a bit behind in m blogging and I stole these pictures from Beth's Facebook photo album but . . . they are all cute and all better than anything I took that day.

Jackson celebrated his 3rd birthday on October 2 at his house with his family. It was a beautiful October day when we ventured to Farmersburg for the party. I headed to Glee & Ron's for the weekend and rode down with Glee. Jackson met us at the door and was happy to take the presents that we brought with us. What a character! He had a great time.

Beth made a fantastic supper. She had ham and all the fixings! Barb wasn't able to make it as she had to attend (had to????) go to an ISU football game but she kept us updated the whole evening. I text her and told her she was missing a great meal - ham is one of her favorites! Everything was really good!!!!

Beth got the cake out and lit the candle so that Jackson could make his wish and blow it out! He did a great job and then got to open presents. He had a ball. But I guess when I was 3 I probably did too. Maybe not . . . that would have been the year my brother was born, so we probably didn't even have a party. Geez, I got a baby brother for my 3rd birthday!!!

Tristan is such a little doll. He's the happiest kid I've ever seen. He's always smiling. Even when Jackson is knocking him over!! He's a tough little cookie. Jackson was very protective of his new toys and would lay down right in front of Tristan so he couldn't get to anything. I don't think Tristan even realized it, but I'm sure the day will come.

The Foels' family and I got Jackson the same type of gift, but as luck would have it, they are compatible and he has a super train set. I found mine at RC2 in Dyersville. They have all kinds of Thomas the Train stuff. I know where I'm going for Christmas for Jackson!! Karsten put both sets together the next day and Jackson had one super big train set with all kinds of trains!! He was a happy boy.

I spent Sunday with my sister. We had a real good chat. Got to watch some NASCAR on their big screen TV (watched a little football too). It was a real nice day. We should probably do that more often!!

Next birthday celebration is mine. More on that at a later date. Jackson's day was super and everyone had a great time - especially the birthday boy!!!

It's almost October

Where has the time gone? It's almost October!! Time for golden red leaves, pumpkins, goblins and trick or treaters!!

I haven't written much lately because I don't do much lately. I get up in the morning, go to work, come home at night, watch a little TV, work on some scrapbooking, play on my computer, go to bed and start all over again. Doesn't sound like much fun does it? Well, it's not.

I finally sold a volleyball scrapbook at the shop. Have an order for another one. Guess that's a start, but it's been a little frustrating. I was hoping for more business. We have our Grand Opening scheduled for Tuesday, October 5th. Ribbon cutting, the whole bit. I know we're having wine tasting and some dip tasting for the day. I'm going to try and get out there for the ribbon cutting. I probably should make up a couple more small Christmas books with the hopes of someone thinking it's a great idea for a Christmas gift!! Come on out and see me if you have some time.

Work has been busy and frustrating. Everyone seems to have their own agenda and nothing works well together. It's the end of our fiscal year so that means all kinds of statistical reports for me to get done. I have a couple of meetings in the Des Moines area in October too. Thankfully both are the same week so it's only one trip down there. Going to spend a weekend with my kids and enjoy myself and then get to those meetings.

Jackson's 3rd birthday party is this weekend. Hope it's as nice as it was this past weekend. Sunday was terrific!! It doesn't matter, we'll celebrate anyway.

Like I said, I'm pretty boring lately, so guess I'll just sign off here. Come see me at the Shop if you have the time (and the money)!

Des Moines, Urbandale, Ankeny!

Betsy and I went out to the Mall on Monday night and set up my table and I took a couple of pictures of what it ended up looking like. Looks pretty good!

Today was opening day of the Shoppe, but I didn't go out yet. I'm working on more books and was just plain tired tonight. Probably go tomorrow night.

Jim and one of his birthday presents!!

The family at Olive Garden.

Charlotte reading her daddy's birthday card.

She got caught going through her mother's bag. She was smiling really cute, but I just didn't snap the picture fast enough. Cute, no matter what!

Another card shot!

Charlotte had problems with her barrette and Barb was helping her out.

I headed to Des Moines, Ankeny & Urbandale last Thursday. I had a Planner's meeting in Des Moines and we decided to celebrate Jim's birthday that evening. Normally I would have stayed the weekend but with the shop opening this week I still had things to finish. It was a short visit, but a nice one.

I got into Des Moines around 10:15 a.m. The Planners meet at the Polk County buildings (we meet in the supervisor's offices) and it's not very far from Barb's place. Takes me about 10 minutes from her place. The meeting was interesting and plans were changed for the October meeting. We have a ROMA meeting scheduled for October 18th and decided to re-schedule the Planner's meeting from October 28th to the 19th. Only one trip down that way for the majority of us. So . . . I'm planning on spending a nice weekend with my children over my birthday. It should be fun.

We took Jim out for his birthday (August 28th). He wanted to go to Olive Garden. As usual, we had to wait, but it was such a beautiful evening we enjoyed their outdoor seating area until we got our table. Charlotte was so good. She wandered around and amused herself. Lots of hugs for her parents. She was very good during our meal too. Of course she got to eat off her mom's plate, her dad's plate and had bread sticks from all of us. She's such a cutie!! Couldn't resist taking pictures of her. A couple back at the house got dark, but you can still see that it's Charlotte.

We stopped at the house when we first got there to check out the new floors and all the re-modeling that has been going on. Jim called and told us to wear socks, so Barb found me a pair so we could walk around on the floor. I'm thinking they have the furniture back where they want it by now, and the rugs down. It looks great!! After supper we came back and watched Jim open his presents from Barb and I. Mandy gave him carrot cake from Kansas City!!! Jim loves the carrot cake at a steak house down there. Fantastic gift Mandy! WTG!!

I slept in on Friday morning and met Barb at her work around 11:30. We did some shopping at Hobby Lobby and then Jim met us for lunch. It was nice having my kids with me again for a meal. They had to get back to work and I had to get home. I always take my laundry when I go to Barb's because the machines in this building are terrible so . . . I went back and picked up my laundry and bags and headed out. Do you know gas is only $2.39 in the Des Moines area?

Got home around 6:00, drug up as much of my junk as I could and did a little work on a Disney book for the shop. Worked the whole weekend on finishing some projects and Betsy and I took the stuff out on Monday evening. Today (September 1) was the opening of the store. I hope all went well. Depending on how wide awake I am tomorrow night, I might go out and check things out. I just finished a Football book so can take that with me too. Hope some of you get a chance to check out the shop. There's some terrific things there!!

I'm not planning anything special for Labor Day. Probably more scrapping and lots of sleeping! I'm always tired lately. Have a doctor's appointment coming up and probably should talk to him about a couple of things - being tired being one!!

Hope everyone has a safe and fun filled Labor Day. Take care and be careful out there!

Going Backwards!

Charlotte loves her Goldfish!!

I'm going backwards in my blog, but I wanted to share some pictures of my darling little family from Urbandale. That would be Jim, Mandy & Charlotte. They came to visit me the weekend of August 1st. A high school buddy of Jim's had a party in Farley and I have the perfect place for them to stay. They weren't here very long, but it was great having them here while they were!

Sunday morning. Charlotte slept well, really she did!!

Tickle time.

She's a CUB fan. My camera just isn't quick enough to catch her smiles, but I love this picture anyway. She's such a cutie!!

Time for a change! She kills me --you tell her she needs her pants changed and she lays down on the floor and waits for attention. (Or at least she did at Grandma Joy's house!)

Smile pretty!

Charlotte followed me to the kitchen and I told her I wanted to take her picture. She immediately sat down on the floor and posed very pretty -- only like I said, my camera isn't fast enough to catch her darling grin. But she's still cute!

Sunday morning . . . Mandy and Charlotte were having a discussion regarding the bump on her chest. Everyone knows where that went to. Just glad all is well with that precious baby girl!

They took time for a family picture just before they left for Farley and a quickie photo shot!

Was it something I said??

Another pic of my favorite granddaughter!

Mother & daughter.

Charlotte found her Dad's keys (and we found them before they needed them)!

Helping Mom with the pants change.

It was really great having my kids home for a quick weekend visit. They arrived lunch time on Saturday -- in time for some pizza! They came in on Highway 20 and ran into the great Iowa bike trip. It took them almost 40 minutes from Menard's to my place and some detours. Jim said he wasn't even sure they were supposed to be on a couple of the streets they took, but no one stopped them! And they arrived in time to eat. When I ordered the pizza they told me at first they didn't know if they could even get here -- needless to say, they did! The pizza was good!

They were in town to attend a party. Jim's Best Man has a party for his birthday every year and this year they were able to attend. Charlotte met all kinds of little people and a lot of Jim's friends have growing families also. Sounds like they had a good time!! They must have - they got home around 2:00 a.m.

Sunday everyone made their own breakfast, napped, played with Charlotte and visited. It was great. I had chicken on the grill for lunch (with the help of son Jim). I don't do chicken on my grill very often but it sounded so good and it was.

Mandy had made an appointment with Marty and Wende for a quick photo shoot of their boys so they had to leave a little early. Plus, they had to get home and finish getting ready for the demo of their house wall. Barb took care of Petey for the weekend and Jim had already taken Odie to Bob's for the duration of the construction. I missed having him here for the weekend. He's a great companion.

It was a short visit, but I'm glad they came. Got to spend some quality time with Charlotte (you know she's the cutest granddaughter in the world)! I've already got plans for the next time they come. If they get here before the end of September we can go to the Art Market down on the River Walk. And I really want to take them out on the Spirit of Dubuque for a cruise one of these days. Something to look forward to.

My life is a bit boring at the present time. I go to work, come home and work on scrapbooks, get some sleep and start all over again. The shop opens on September 1st. I won't have a huge inventory of books, but I'm working on them and can continue after the opening. Don't know yet when the Grand Opening will be, but I'll let you know and hope that some of you can come and visit us. When making the books is no longer fun (and becomes work) then it will be time to quit making them and go back to just doing them for family and friends!

Sounds like another humid weekend coming up . . . wonderful! It's great for the electric bills! Hope all have a good one. I'll be scrapping!

Beautiful Sunday

It truly is a beautiful day outside! It's wonderful . . . you can actually open the windows and feel fresh air in your house. Please let it last . . . .

This will be a short post. One of my best friends in the whole world has passed on. Bill passed away Friday at home with his family. He had another stroke on Monday of last week (8.10). He was taken to the hospital and 'went to sleep' and never really woke up.

He went into a coma and did not recover. Hospice came into the picture on Friday. The family moved him back home Friday morning and he passed away around 5:00 p.m. He always said he was NOT going to die in a hospital. I guess he was right.

I'm sad. I'm happy. He's in a better place now. The last 3 years have been very hard on him. He was unable to drive a car and do what he wanted to do. He really wasn't able to do much of anything without some kind of help. He was able to take care of himself (of that all are grateful). God called him home and he is now resting and at peace.

God Bless you Bill. You are missed.

Happy 4th!

July 4th -- It's little Miss Innocent!

Charlotte conquered the ottoman over the weekend!

A 4th of July outfit! So cute!

Playin' with Mom on the 4th!

The Davis Family @ the parade!

Charlotte loved the flags!!

It's a great spot to see the parade!

Petey got a lot of attention on our way to the parade.

Wave that flag Munchkin!!

Just before we left for the parade!

Mandy, Charlotte & her beads!

A little girl and her big puppy!

Getting ready to head home.

It was a beautiful weekend for a holiday! A bit warm on Saturday, but a great day for a parade. I drove down to Ankeny on Friday night and stayed at the Hotel Barb. Barbie was on vacation in Wisconsin (someplace), so I took advantage of her Hotel!!

Got up Saturday morning, got ready and headed to Urbandale and Jim & Mandy's place. Of course the first thing I did was drive by their house at least 2 times! Their street is one that is used for staging for the Urbandale parade. It's a pretty neat parade. Spent some time with the family while different ones were getting ready. Got acquainted with my granddaughter again. She's such a cutie! I love her to death!!

We walked a few blocks to where Jim & Mandy usually hang out for parades. On the way I took a tumble! Actually I fell down! Mandy says I hit a bad spot in the sidewalk and it was all downhill from there. I had my camera in my left hand and it hit my face when I went down. I had a wonderful bruise on my face for a couple of days!! Banged up my left side a little, but it didn't stop us from getting to where we wanted to go! Mandy gave me a hand up (thanks so much for that, otherwise I'd still probably be laying there). Now that would have been an attraction!!

We found a spot and camped out. Jim got hung-up a couple times on the way. Everybody wanted to pet or touch Petey. He was quite the attraction! One of the floats on their street was for a doggie place (technical term) and they gave us a yell and threw a milkbone to us for Petey. It even had a bow on it!! That was cool. Jim, Mandy & Charlotte shared a blanket, and I got to sit in a chair that Jim had brought for me. It was a great place to watch a parade! But it was really, really, really hot!! Lots of candy thrown our way (we had two young boys near us and they had a ball grabbing as much as they could for their plastic bags!). Charlotte got some beads and all of us got water from different people. We made sure Petey had plenty of that. We had brought soda for the adults and water and juice for Charlotte. Mandy finally couldn't stand the heat any longer and moved herself and Charlotte under a tree behind us. The view wasn't as good but it was a bit cooler. Finally Jim, Petey and I joined her. Lots of nice people around to talk to. One lady came over and gave Petey some more water. He was looking pretty beat. He finally just laid down on the cool earth and rested. Talked Jim into getting a car to bring me and the dog home. He brought mine back and it doesn't have a child car seat so Mandy and Charlotte walked home. The air helped Petey a little bit. We couldn't even get him up on his feet, so Mandy carried him partway to the car. I pushed Charlotte in the stroller and Jim came and got Petey. He did walk to the car from there but he looked pretty bad!! Once we got back to their house the air really helped him! He's fine.

Jim made pizza for lunch and we basically just vegged out the majority of the afternoon. We went to Goodwill and left a load of things there and then onto Valley West Mall. Did a little shopping (got Charlotte some new jammies and a new top) and played in the playland for a bit. Actually I think we stopped there so Grandma Joy could rest. Decided to go out for supper and went to a BBQ place. Good food, great company but a little strange. We sat on the bar side of the place and they had a couple of ladies playing and singing music. From what we could figure out it was a lot of people that got together for a class reunion. There were a couple of floats in the parade with reunions on them. The ladies even played a special song for Charlotte. She was so good!!

Watched a couple of movies and then headed home. Jim called me on the way and said if I hurried I could probably catch the end of the NASCAR race. I had it on the radio and did get to see the last 3 laps. Go Kevin!! Did some laundry and picking up that Barb asked me to do and went to bed.

Slept in on Sunday morning. I was tired!! Couldn't figure out why my left shoulder was sore and then remembered the fall. I finished my laundry, folded, packed everything up and left for Jim & Mandy's around 11:00 a.m. Charlotte was being a bear when I got there, but took a short nap and was just fine. It was rainy and gloomy all day. The kids had planned to go to the pool for a couple of hours but the weather kinda put a stop to that. Jim, Charlotte and I took a nap while Mandy slaved in the kitchen. She made a fantastic dinner for us. Vegetable pockets, grilled chicken, baked beans (Mandy's beans are great) and cheesecake with fresh strawberries for desert!! It was great! I had a great time with my granddaughter. I fussed about picking her up and Mandy told me if I didn't try I'd never know how she would react. She reacted fine. We had a great time.

I drove home in the rain. Nothing exciting, just lots and lots of rain. Sometimes fairly hard but I got home safe. Drug my bags upstairs, turned on the air, and basically lazed the rest of the evening away. Monday was a holiday for me, so I did some scrapbooking, went and got groceries (with a little help from a friend) and did some more scrapbooking. I called a friend to help drag my stuff upstairs. Caught him on his lunch hour so picked him up and put him to work. Grabbed him something to eat from McDonald's and got all my stuff taken care of. He even brought up all the extra laundry I had taken with me.

I've been keeping busy with the scrapping. The Shoppe opens September 1 so I have a few things I need to complete. I have about 10 books ready to go. Let's just hope this goes over well. I'll be disappointed if I don't sell some of my stuff. I'm locked into a contract for 6 months so . . . if nothing goes well, will pay my monthly rent and give it up. But I do think there will be some people interested for Christmas gifts. Hope so anyway!

It's raining here again today. Gave up shutting down the air. It gets just too stuffy in here without the air on. Electric bill will tell the tale of that adventure!

Won't be long and school will start again. Where did the summer go? Looking forward to a couple more campfires at my sister's and maybe a couple out-of-town trips with a friend. Time will tell.

You'all take care!