Happy Birthday Jimmy!

Monday was Jim's 31st birthday! Time certainly
flies when you're having so much fun, doesn't it???!!! This is a picture of Jim's 1st birthday party. He wasn't exactly sure what he was suppose to do with that candle burning in his cake!! What a cute little bugger! Grandma Palma was there to make sure he didn't fall off the counter and big sister Barb was nearby to help with blowing out the candle.

Big sister was there to help with the candles! Yikes, that has been a few years ago. Cute kids, huh?

Jim, I hope you had a great birthday. Wished I could have been there to help you celebrate but the next time you're home we'll at least go out for supper to celebrate. Look for your gift in the mail soon!

We celebrated Jim's birthday for the year and next up is Barb's. Her's is September 5. Both of my kids were born on a Labor Day weekend. How appropriate!!! Barb will be in Bismark over the weekend playing ball. Hope you bring home a winner Barbie!!

So far this week it's been the week from hell! I'm so glad we have a long weekend cuz I think I'm going to need it!! Sleeping sounds like a great thing to do. I've had 3 new job orientations, interviewed 3 people for a teaching position we have open, tried to get a newsletter done (hopefully that will be completed tomorrow) answered numerous phone calls regarding the openings we currently have and this afternoon just before I left I opened another position. The next few weeks could be interesting!!

Our Head Start centers began classes on Tuesday and that always makes for a fun day at the Central office. There's always mix-ups with transportation, children not having their paperwork completed and the list goes on and on!! By next week everything should calm down and we can all get back to doing our usual work.

I've been anxiously awaiting some scrapbooking supplies I ordered so I can start working on my Colorado trip. They came yesterday! I promised myself I would finish the current project on the table but then after that I think I will work on some of the Colorado stuff. I'm currently working on pictures we took at North Pole, Colorado back in 1971. Barbie was a little thing and we stopped there after driving up Pike's Peak. My pictures aren't the best (I blame that on the camera) but it is memories! I suppose I'll spend the greater share of my long weekend at my craft table doing what I love best -- scrapping!!

I probably should go and find something to eat and go do a little housework tonight and then I can come back to the scrapbooking!! I'm addicted!!!!

Hope all are having a good week. Again, Happy Birthday Jim!

Catch you later . . . .

Picture Swapping Weekend

It was a picture swapping weekend! I got a call from my girlfriend Marilyn in the middle of the week wondering what I was doing on Saturday and would I like to come up and check out pictures with her and my sister. The big decision was made to meet at Marilyn's house around 11:30 on Saturday morning. I had already put my pictures on a CD so ran some copies for both Glee and Marilyn. I'm not sure I did it the proper way but I got the pictures and you can get copies from the CD's I burned! That in itself was an accomplisment! One of the pictures I got was this one of my sister and I on the trail at Chasm Falls in Rocky Mountain National Park. Chasm Falls is on the Old Falls River Road and the day we were there that road hadn't been open a real long time!! It was beautiful! I picked up a CD called Rocky Mountain Suite and love listening to it when I'm looking at my pictures. You can hear the water falls, the birds and beautiful music!! I also burned a copy of the pictures from my sister and Marilyn and put them all together and made a screensaver for myself out of them. It's cool! It's especially cool when you have the Rocky Mountain Suite playing in the background. The other picture is Marilyn an I on the same trail -- compliments of my sister. I promised myself when I went out this last time that I was going to get more people pictures than scenery. I did pretty good, but the scenery is so beautiful it's hard not to take a lot of pictures.

Marilyn gave us a tour of her home and fed us. We had a good time checking out each other's pictures. Always fun going through pictures. I go down memory lane every time I open one of the books I'm working on in my scrapbooking projects!

Saturday morning I met Marilyn's sister and brother-in-law and picked up some peaches she had bought. My charge for the delivery was a half-dozen peaches. Boy are they good. Thanks Marilyn!

On the 4th of July we took an early morning walk around Lily Lake -- Glee and I had our picture taken together. Isn't the sky beautiful? The lake wasn't bad either. From there we went back into town and out for a delicious breakfast at a place called "The Egg & I." Good food!

On my way home Saturday I stopped at one of my sister's neighbors that sell produce and got some great tasting tomatoes! I miss a garden!! I had some great meals over the weekend and all included tomatoes.

The rest of the weekend was quiet. Talked to my children. That's always a nice thing to do. Read, watched movies, NASCAR and did some scrapbooking. Oh, I also got some much needed housework done!

Today I went into work a little early and got out some job openings and then took off for Waterloo with Bill to pick up a load of food. We have a food giveaway on Saturday. Waterloo had a lot of fresh produce but at the present time DALH doesn't have a place to store much of that kind of stuff. We did bring back dozens, and dozens, and dozens of eggs. Everyone will get 2 dozen on Saturday. That will be a treat for all our clients. Sounds like ham will be offered too. Breakfast!! I was lucky and found some shampoo for our hygiene product program at work. We loaded that all in the trunk of my car for delivery tomorrow morning. I also picked up a couple of other things but cases of shampoo was the biggie!!

Long weekend coming up -- Labor Day. How can we be that far into the year already? Time sure has a way of flying by. The advertisements on the radio lately have been about getting your house and car ready for winter. That I don't even want to think about. Although I've started a list for Christmas giving and have asked for the same from my family.

I have 2 important birthdays coming up. My son's is August 28th and daughter, Barb, celebrates September 5. Barb gave me some ideas for a gift but Jim hasn't come up with anything yet! Oh well, he has a couple days yet!!

I better go do something constructive around here. Thinking about turning on the air for a couple of hours. It's getting real warm in my 'craft' room!! Miss the tree outside the window!!

Hope your week is going the way you want it too. Take care all.

Later . . . .

Family

It's been awhile since I've been on-line. Lots of things going on. I've been complaining that I've either had guests for the weekend or gone away for the last 5 -- had a friend tell me I was lucky to have somebody and someplace to go! Guess I should count my blessings. It still doesn't get my housework done.

Eons ago my family got together for a family reunion. My sister graciously volunteered to be the hostess. It was a particularly warm weekend but we had a great time. Jim & Mandy brought their new game. They made it! Jim constructed it, painted it, etc., while Mandy did the art work. It was a great job guys, and looks terrific. We all had a good time playing with it. We have the picture of the man and his game! Jim is a Cub fan (can't you tell). The families that came to the picnic are all from Minnesota. It would be my dad's side of the family and the only ones left are cousins. It was Mandy's first time with our extended family and she did great! Glee and I have been talking and are trying to get a date pinned down to get togther with our children and just have a nice lazy weekend. I'm sure Jim's new game and some different card games we all like will be included.

Both my family members and Glee's were able to attend. Brother Mark wasn't able to make it. Hopefully in another year all the Baade offspring can be there. We take turns hosting the reunion between Minnesota and Iowa. Next year it's in Minnesota. That's my nephew Mike sitting in the swing. I think he was waiting his turn at baggo! Mike is an elementary school teacher at Postville Elementary and the head basketball coach there. We're hoping to see him and his team on the floor of the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines this coming March. How cool would that be???

Nothing real exciting happening in Dubuque. We had Summer Fest last weekend. They close off the downtown main drag and bring in bands and a number of food vendors and the traditional beer wagon. The group I volunteer with had a food stand. We sold hamburgers and cheeseburgers on Friday noon and later that afternoon. Sounds like we did fairly well for our first outing in the hamburger business. It was a beautiful evening to be out and about. The rest of my weekend was fairly quiet. I caught up on some housekeeping items and did some scrapbooking.

I'm working on Barb's first years of her life and finding that we took quite a bunch of pictures. At the present I'm working on pictures we took when we visited Royal Gorge, Pike's Peak, Garden of the Gods and the Air Force Academy in Colorado. I knew I liked that state! Brings back some nice memories.

I've been working at the reception desk at work some these past few weeks. My clerk decided she wanted more time off this summer so we cut her hours back to 10 a week. She works Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:00 - 1:00, so when she's not there I take the desk over the noon hour. It's an education. I can't believe some the needs out there in our communities. Makes a person wonder what will happen this winter when it gets cold and the prices of our goods and services continue to go up, up, up! We're currently working on budget items for the coming year. Hope we can squeeze out an increase for the Crew!!

I'm looking forward to the weekend. Nothing special planned. School will soon start around here. I have some errands I hope to run. Sweet corn is still out there so hope to get some of that, along with some homegrown tomatoes!! Love 'em.

Hope all are having a good week. Hang in there -- only a couple more days until the weekend gets here!!!

THEY'RE ENGAGED!

The happy couple! Jim proposed to Mandy over the
weekend and I wanted to share these pictures with you all. Jim planned the whole surprise for Mandy . . . he got a hold of both sides of the family and invited them to a surprise engagement party at Mr. C's in Omaha. He gave her her ring at one of the local parks and then brought her to Mr. C's to be surprised by the rest of us! And she was surprised! It was a great evening for all of us. I met most of Mandy's aunts and uncles, her grandparents, her mom & dad and their spouses. It was great!

I drove to Ankeny Saturday morning to meet Barb and stay there for the night. We left her house around 3:45 and made our way to the big city of Omaha. Neither of us were sure where the supper club was, but with Jim's directions we got there around 6:00 p.m. Jim had requested that Barbie get some flowers for Mandy so we picked them up earlier in the afternoon and brought them along. Mr. C's is a great place for a party! They have a beautiful courtyard, which we used later in the evening to take pictures. What a lot of new material for my scrapbooking! I've already ordered engagement stickers for some new pages for Jim's book! We took lots of pictures of the newly engaged couple but also took the time to get some of the family as well. Aren't we a happy looking bunch?!!

I've been busy the last couple of weeks. I think I've seen more of my family this past month than I have for the past year. Jim was here for a night when he came in for his dad's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame - Umpires. He brought me a turntable for my stereo set. The next weekend he and Mandy were both here. They had a birthday party in Farley to attend and I got to babysit the dog! It was a good experence after me and Odie got to know one another. He's a cute dog!!! The next weekend Barbie was here -- we shopped, rearranged furniture in my spare bedroom, shopped, and spent Sunday with my sister and our families at a family reunion with our Minnesota relations. Jim & Mandy joined us. We had a great time even if it was really warm!!! Keeps me out of mischief.

Sounds like another warm weekend coming up. I got a 'new' air conditioner during the last bout of hot weather and noticed tonight that the one I have is making real strange noises! Hopefully they will go away, and the unit will work. I don't think I'll get through another weekend without air.

Stay cool all! Until next time . . . .

Are you warm???

Are you trying to stay cool? Me too! I thought maybe looking at some of my 'cool' Colorado pictures would help. Like I've said before, I love waterfalls and thought this was a cool picture. We were going up Old Falls River Road and spotted the water tumbling down the mountain. I couldn't resist getting a picture of it. I don't know if it makes you feel cooler, but it is pretty.

Jim and Mandy were here last weekend (July 22). One of Jim's friends had a birthday party and they decided to make a weekend of it in Dubuque. It was great having them here. They brought Odie so he and I got to know one another. I went out of town on Friday and Jim & Mandy beat me home. When I walked in Odie wasn't real happy to see me, but we made friends before the weekend was over. I 'dog sat' on Saturday night. Odie was well behaved! We even took a couple of walks together. He's a sweet dog.

This weekend we had a family reunion. My sister was the hostess. Barbie came home for the weekend this time around. She came in on Friday night. This past week was the Dubuque County Fair and, as usual, I helped park cars. It was a hot one!!! Tuesday night we got rained out -- I got soaked but it was so warm that it felt good!! Wednesday night wasn't bad at all, but Thursday and Friday afternoons made up for it. I worked my usual 8 hours at New VIew and then drove out to the fairgrounds every afternoon. I told the gang I had to leave early on Friday but could work for a couple of hours -- and that's what I did!! Fortunately I beat Barbie home and was able to get my shower in and look halfway human when she got here. We went out for supper and did a little shopping before we called it a night. Our mission for the weekend was to transform my spare bedroom. We picked up new curtains on Friday night. Saturday morning we did some quick errands and then got down to some serious shopping. I found a new/used TV stand and found a nightstand/table for the bed. We spent some time in the shoe store -- I have shoes to match a lot of my outfits! Cool! Barb's a good shoe shopper! Thanks kiddo! We came back and changed the room around. I know we moved one bookcase at least twice and maybe more. On Friday night already I noticed that my air conditioning wasn't working as well as it should be, but chalked it up to the hot, hot weather. By Saturday night it was apparent that something was wrong. We lived through it and headed up north Sunday morning. Jim & Mandy were able to come in from Des Moines for the reunion. It was nice having my kids there with me!! It was also extremely hot, but Glee & Ron have central air so we all enjoyed that too! I got home around 10:30 Sunday night and basically had no air at all. The unit ran but nothing but hot air was moving. I had a terrible time sleeping but around 3:00 a.m. finally got some sleep. I drug the fan into my bedroom and directed it toward my bed and crashed. I spent Monday at home waiting for the repairman. It was warm and I didn't have much ambition to get anything done. They finally got here at 5:30. What a wasted day. I could have gone into work and spent the time in the air conditioning. The new unit is working fine. It took most of the night to cool my place down but it's comfortable now.

Another picture of Colorado to help you think cool thoughts. There was a lot more snow in the mountains this time out than in 2000. Does that make you think cold!!! Hopefully we won't hve to deal with as much snow as we have heat so far this summer. But snow can be beautiful . . . so I had to share this picture with you also.

Gotta run. Work is calling. Stay cool.

Cool, cool water!

I'm so excited! I got my pictures to upload immediately today! I tried getting these on yesterday when I wrote and nothing would work so I jut plain quit! But I tried again now and here they are. We spent the 3rd of July in the Park. We took Old Falls River Road up the mountain and got some get scenery shots as well as some 'people' shots. Here's one of Glee and I on one of the pullovers for all us tourists that just have to have those pictures. As you can see it was a bit windy by this time already.

Old Falls River Road is such a cool drive. It's gravel and only one-way -- up the mountain. Barb and Katie were in Estes Park the first week in June and the road wasn't open yet. It opened the weekend we got out there. When we arrived at the Alpine Center I couldn't believe the snow!!! They used a blower to open the top part of the road. You could stick your hand out the window and touch the snow. A lot of people had already put their name in SNOW! It was very chilly at the top of the mountain. Sweatshirts or long-sleeved shirts were definitely needed. We didn't climb all the way to the top this time -- maybe next year. Enjoyed the sights and did some shopping and then headed back down the mountain toward Grand Lake. It rained on and off all the way down. We were hoping to see some elk or moose but I think it was too miserable even for them to be out. We didn't get all the way to Grand Lake but turned back instead and started back up. I got this weather shot at one of the pullovers. Isn't it cool?? It was spitting rain and a little snow by this time!!! As we were driving into Estes Park there was snow on the sides of the road and in the middle. The temperature went from 84 degrees to 43 degrees ont he way down! It warmed up when we got back to the cabin but what a switch in weather. It was an interesting trip. Glad we didn't have to drive in the actual snowfall, but did make something to tell all our friends about!

On the way up we pulled over so I could get this shot of a waterfall. You could hear the water rushing down the mountains and into the streams below. This isn't really a waterfall but runoff from the snow on the top of the mountain. Makes a pretty picture though! Glee was very patient with me and pulled off the road whenever I asked her. Got some great shots! Thanks kiddo!

We went on the Colorado River Trail one afternoon. It was threatening again but we decided to chance it anyway. We went off the beaten path and found the river. Here's a picture of the Colorado close to its orgin. Doesn't it look peacful? It's the same river that a lot of people go white river rafting on -- doesn't look like it could be that swift and fast!!

Well, I got the pictures to work but can't get them exactly on the page the way I want but you get the idea. It was a great trip and hopefully I can do it again sometime soon!


It's extremely warm (HOT) around here today. I've had my air conditioner on now for 2 days straight and think it's going to go longer!!! Hate to see the electric bill, but at least I'm fairly comfortable. I've been enjoying my weekend at home doing scrapbooking. I'm working on pictures from when we lived in Arizona. Brings back a lot of memories, but that's what pictures are for. These from Colorado will find a place in one of my books soon! Hope you enjoyed them. Leave a comment and let me know.



Stay cool everyone!!

More Colorado

A week ago today we were on our way home from our 'little house in the mountains.' With the hot weather we're experiencing right now, I'd love to be back at the cabin.

One of the awsome sights in Rocky Mountain National Park is Big Horn Sheep. This was my second trip to Estes Park. The first time we didn't see any sheep at all. This trip we had 3 sightings and I got pictures of 2 of them. Actually I got pictures of all three sightings but I was using a camera I wasn't used to and ended up with 4 great pcitures of . . . TREES! I aimed at the wrong thing. The trees were beautiful but no sheep! They went to the delete file real soon!! However we spent an afternoon in the Big Thompson River Canyon enjoying the river, the sights and the local businesses along the way. On our way back "home" we spotted these big horn sheep. I just had to try again and get some pictures and this is one of them. Aren't they beautiful? No rams, but a lot of females and young. We were also lucky enough to spot some in the park one day and spent an enjoyable half hour just watching them running and jumping from rock to rock. They are amazing animals the way they can scamper from one rock to another. I thank my daughter, Barb, for letting me use her camera. For some reason mine decided not to work and Barb has a great zoom on her's. The picture of the big horn sheep were taken across the road in the canyon and up on the canyon walls. They turned out beautifully! I'm really proud of myself for getting some of the pictures I did!!!

This picture is of the Big Thompson River that, of course, runs through Big Thompson Canyon. It's a very fast moving river and has been known to flood the whole canyon (1979). We saw a lot of fishermen on the river. It's all catch and release but that didn't seem to keep them from fishing. It's also very cold!!!! but beautiful. I'm facinated by streams, rivers and waterfalls not to mention the mountains. If I could have stayed a few more days in my 'cabin in the mountains' I would have. The air is fresh and clean. The mountains are huge and absolutely beautiful. We had rain every day we were out there (they needed it so bad) but each morning we woke up to absolutely beautiful blue skies, puffy white clouds and crisp clean air. One morning it was 48 degrees. We wore sweatshirts and jeans most of the time.

I've many more pictures to share but seem to be having difficulty this morning getting them to upload so think I'll give it up for the moment. I hope you-all are enjoying my picture trip. I do so love Colorado and want to share some of my memories.

It's extremely warm today, so before it gets much warmer, I think I better run some errands. I promised myself a quiet weekend of scrapbooking, reading and sleeping! I better get on that.

Until next time . . . .

Rocky Mountain National Park

Beautiful! Breathtaking! Awesome! That's the mountains of Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park! Vacation was great and way too short! I hope that next year our whole family can go and enjoy the wonders of the Rockies! This is my reflection picture of Lily Lake taken on one of our morning walks. Isn't it beautiful?

We left Friday, June 30th around 9:30 a.m. from Dubuque. We stopped at my daughter's in Ankney for lunch. She made us a great lunch of hamburgers and pork chops on the grill, salad and corn on the cob. It was great! Thanks Barbie!

We drove as far as Kearney, Nebraska on Friday. Had a great supper at a place called "Whiskey Creek" and got an early start the next morning for our destination of Estes Park, Colorado. Got into Estes around 2:30 p.m. (our time -- we lost an hour in the mountain time zone). Couldn't believe the streets of Estes -- it took forever just to go 3 or 4 blocks and get to our cabin. The cabin hasn't changed a bit. It's still as charming as ever and a great home away from home!!

Marilyn wasn't feeling very well the first couple of days and we all worried about her. She finally felt like herself on Tuesday and even better on Wednesday. Glee, Darlene and I headed out to Alliuval Fan on Sunday morning. That would be me at the Fan! It's so beautiful. As usual I took scads of pictures. Tried real hard to take a lot of people pictures and not just scenery pics.

Fourth of July was extremely busy where ever we went. We went into the Park early afternoon with the hopes of walking the Sprague Lake trail but couldn't find a parking place so did a "drive thru" and headed back home. We eventually made it to Sprague and did our walk around the lake. As usual, it's a beautiful place.

We did some shopping on Wednesday. We barely got everybody and everything back in the car on Saturday morning for our trip home. I brought back some beautiful Christmas ornaments that I got at the Spruce House. I got the usual Colorado shirts and even found a fleece! We had a lot of fun shopping, but boy was I tired when we got home.

We made our meals at the cabin and also did some out. We had supper at Marys Lake Lodge, Hunter's Chop House and Dunraven. Took a walk around Lily Lake one morning and then came back into town and had breakfast at the "Egg and I." While shopping we had lunch at Poppy's. All were very good. Expensive, but very good! Next trip I hope to get to a couple of Italian places. I'm already planning on a return trip!!!

Everything was so beautiful. We really had a great time! On the trail to Alberta Falls a nice lady offered to take all of us in a picture and here we are. Isn't that a huge rock? Lots of them all over the mountains! That would be Darlene, me, Glee and Marilyn. More pictures at a later time.

We got back to Dubuque aroun 10:30 p.m. on Saturday. It was a long day as we left Estes Park at 6:00 that morning. I got my stuff all unpacked and my suitcase put away but all my goodies are still sitting on my kitchen table. Had a wonderful surprise when my son came to stay overnight on Saturday. He and Mandy found me a turntable for my stereo unit. Jim got it going but it needs an amplifier so that will be a project the next trip 'home.' We had to create another shelf for my stereo unit and Jim took care of that too. Nothing fancy but it loosk nice. It was great having him here for a while. Sounds like he may be back on the 22nd and my daughter will be coming home for a family reunion on the 28th. I love having my children home with me. It's great!!!

Well, the clock says it's 10:00 p.m. but my body thinks it's about midnight -- must be on mountain time yet. Vacation was great and I hated leaving the mountains! I'll add some more pictures later. Best go do a little folding of laundry before I call it a day.

Hope everyone is having a good week. Take care.

Vacation

Three more days and I'm off on vacation! These days are moving very slowly, and then again the time seems to fly by. I keep telling myself I'm going to do some quick shopping after work, but the end of the day comes and I go home and do nothing! At least my house is in fairly good shape. Vacuumed carpet, swept floors, clean refrigerator. Those things are important when you leave on vacation . . . aren't they?

I had a quiet weekend at home. Went out Friday night with a friend to Davenport. We did some gambling (I didn't win) and had a nice supper. It was a nice evening. I was supposed to help with a breakfast at Catfish Festival but Bill told me Friday he had more than enough help so I could stay home if I wanted. I didn't argue with him! I stayed home. I got a lot of cleaning out of the way and did the usual -- scrapbooked. I thought I had so much done on the kids' books but am finding out that I've scrapbooked a lot of pictures in the past few years but barely started on their early lives! This could turn out to be a chore before the holidays get here!! It took me almost a year to do Bets and Karsten's wedding -- the book turned out great but it took me forever!!

Talked to my sister over the weekend. Mentioned that I hoped we could find a scrapbooking store when we're out in Estes Park so that I can get some local stickers, etc. of Colorado. When I was in Ames with Barb and Jim I found some really great paper and stickers for Jim's graduation pages (haven't started on those yet but have the stuff to do it!!!).

I think we're ready to go. I have four beautiful New York Strip steaks to take along. Barbie is providing lunch for us on Friday as we head west. I think we're having a grilled lunch, but it sounds good to me! She's letting me borrow her camera for the trip. I love my digital camera but the flash has decided not to work most of the time. I don't want to loose pictures that I take because of a malfunction in the camera, so I'm going to borrow Barb's. When I return I'll take the camera back and hope they will either give me another camera or put the price of that one toward another one. Maybe Jim can come home some weekend and we can go camera shopping. I don't want anything real complicated but something that I can use and be comfortable with. I have the one I have all figured out. I can take the memory stick out and develop pictures at the local drug store, I can scan my pictures into my computer -- let's hope that something can be done with it so that I can continue on with my picture taking career!!!

We've decided to spend one afternoon (??) at Black Hawk, CO. It's an old mining town brought back to life by casinos. They have an Isle of Capri casino there and I would like to see what it's like. Glee and her family were there a couple years ago and she said the town is interesting. Thought I might be able to get some comp from the casino and we might be able to get a nice meal out of them. We'll see! Whatever we decide I'm sure we'll have a good time. I'm really looking forward to being away from home for a few days.

I have a unemployment hearing this afternoon with an Administrative Judge from Des Moines. I requested this hearing rather than a telephone one. I have an employee that quit in January for no apparent reason and applied for unemployment. I have a problem with that. The hearing should be interesting. I've done this once before and it wasn't too bad. I have enough documentation on this project to break your arm when carrying it around. Fortunately I only have about a dozen papers to take with me for today. I'll let you know how we turn out!

Guess I'll drag out my suitcase tonight and start putting stuff together. Might find I need a few things I don't have on the list. Barb is going to try and get some sandals for me. She's very good at that. She's bought me my last pair of tennies (they fit, they look great) so we'll see if she was lucky and found something I can wear. She was also going to look for some capri pants for me. Guess I'll live if I have to wear jeans/slacks and shorts but capri's would be nice. Think I'm going to try and spend a weekend in Ankeny and do some serious shopping with my daughter this fall. I enjoy shopping with Barb -- even if she does shop at the little, bitty girl stores!!!

My clerk is off until Thursday and Friday of this week so I'm pulling double duty for the next couple of days. I gave Donna (my recpetionist) a break this morning and will cover the desk at noon. Must remember to stop at the bank and get some money before I head home for lunch. It's raining here right now so doesn't give me much ambition!! I best get on with some other projects I want finished before I leave.

I'm on my way . . . to COLORADO!!!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day! It's raining here in Dubuque this morning. It's warm out there too! I put the air on again when I got up. I'm such a wimp!

I hope all are having a nice day with their dad's or the father figure in their lives. I looked all through my pictures and couldn't find one of my dad that I've already scanned except for this one . . . . and as you can see it's from a wedding -- my sister's to be specific!

It was always hard to get Dad to smile for a picture. It wasn't hard to get him to smile when you were talking to him or when you were spending time around him. As many years as it has been -- I still miss him. Some of my fondest memories are of family dinners where everyone got together, ate more than they needed, and after the meal Dad would tell stories. I'd heard some of them forever but enjoyed hearing them again and again. My Gram Baade was the same way -- must be because they were related. I enjoyed sitting there and listening to him tell stories on his mother, about his brother and the times when they were growing up. Memories!! Those were good times.

I'm proud of myself -- I got my DVD player hooked up in the spare room. Saturday morning I had my hair done (perm and cut and it really does feel and look better). I stopped at Shopko to look for a couple of things for vacation and talked to one of the clerks about hooking the DVD player up. He asked a few questions about the TV and found me the conventer(s) I needed. There is a way to hook up my DVD player and the VCR at the same time -- that I haven't figured out yet but I do have the DVD player running. That was a major accomplishment for me!!! I kept the other piece and am hoping when Jimmy comes home he can finish what I started. At least I can watch DVD's on the big screen now.

I don't know if I'm accomplishing anything with my pictures or not. Last week I took books apart to put them back together in chronicalogical order. I made more of a mess than what I started out with!! But I feel like I'm making some progress. Found some stuff at Michael's the other night to complete a couple of pages I've been fooling around with. I keep thinking I'll get more organized but it doesn't seem to be happening.

I went shopping Friday night after work and picked up some groceries for the weekend. I haven't been sleeping very well so Saturday morning I was up at 5:00 and did some scrapbooking and then went for my hair and shopping. This morning I managed to stay in bed until 6:00 but then got up and finished my kitchen and put some pork chops in the crockpot for dinner. They sure smell good! I'm hungry for brownies so think I'll probably put some in the oven the next trip into the kitchen.

Laundry waits . . . doesn't it always. I've started a list for vacation. Part of it's at work the other is laying here on my kitchen counter. I'm really anxious to go . . . I'm really looking forward to being away from Dubuque and doing something different for a change!! Barb gave us some ideas and I've been online checking out some places we've talked about. Fun!!

I better get at that laundry and more scrapbooking. Hope you all are having a great father's day.

Waiting for vacation . . .

The end of the month will soon be here and I'll be on my way to Estes Park, Colorado for some rest and relaxation! At least I hope it's R&R. I've been waiting to hear from the State of Iowa regarding an unemployment matter at work and finally got the word yesterday that the hearing will be on June 27th. That means we can leave for Colorado on June 30th! I'm excited!!

I had a productive weekend. Did the usual -- pushed some dust around, did some vacuuming and laundry. I decided it was time to put some organization to some of my scrapbooking albums -- bad idea! I had pictures all over the place. I'm on my way to getting the books completed for my children (birth - 5 years of age) but it's been a trial!! I have a lot of pages in each of their books but they aren't all birth - 5. A lot of Christmas from whenever, other holidays, graduations . . . anyway you get the picture. I took Barb's book apart for starters. I have birth (including her announcements from the local papers) to about 1year of age. I went digging into my vast boxes of pictures and came up with a whole bunch that have never even been scanned. I spent some time scanning pictures, putting them in order and actually did get a couple of pages completed. I'm now working on the year (or partial year) we lived in Arizona. I'm finding that I'm doing a lot of journaling on each page. I don't even know if Barbie knows the whole story of why we did some of the things we did. I have a lot of pictures of this little tyke so there will be plenty of pictures in her book. We took a lot as we were away from home and wanted our families to see the changes in our daughter at that time too. We only lived in Sierra Vista for 6 months, but she changed a lot during that time. We did get to do some traveling when we lived there so have pictures of that too. I am learning that scenery pictures are great, but without people in them they lose something! I must remember that on my trip west this summer! Put people in front of those big mountains!!

I had a very nice surprise Saturday afternoon when my friend Marilyn called and said she was in town. We spent the afternoon and early evening together. Did a lot of talking. We have some catching up to do. We went out for supper at one of my favorite places -- Olive Garden. I enjoyed the meal and company very much. We'll definitely have to do that again!

My daughter was in Estes Park this past week and called on Sunday to give me all the updates. Old Fall River Road is still not open to the public to get to the top of the mountain but she said it sounded like it should be by July 4th. Still snow in some of the turns, etc. That's an interesting trip up the mountain! Beautiful scenery. She told me about a couple of new places we should check out so wrote them down and will probably take her advice and stop in! I'm afraid we're going to run out of time and money before we run out of places we want to go to!! Well there's always next year!!!

I'm going to a reception at the Greyhound Park this afternoon. All the award winners are invited to an informal presentation and reception. The food is great! Lots of people to talk to. I wrote our grant and received $9,043 that I requested for needed Head Start materials. We actually requested a little over $11,000 but I was happy with the $9,000 we received. We're already talking about what we will request for next year. I'm going to go with a couple of the guys from the D.A.L.H. group as they also received an award. Should be a nice evening.

Sounds like a warm weekend coming up. I need to do a little shopping to prepare for the trip but other than that my plans are to finish what I started last weekend and get some of my pictures where they belong. This should be interesting!!!

I don't have a father to honor on Father's Day. I think about mine a lot. Especially when Father's Day arrives. I miss him. He was one of my best friends! What a great dad.

You all have a good weekend. Until next time . . . .

Ants!

I'm on a quest! I'm being invaded by ants! Those little black creatures that run all over the place at picnics! I have no clue where they are getting into my place but I'm finding them in the strangest places. The other night I was working on the computer in my spare bedroom and one ran right across the top of my desk! This afternoon when I opened my laptop there was one running across the keyboard! Pesky little creatures, aren't they?! I found some ant spray and sprayed the heck out of the patio door frame. I noticed since I sprayed that there's quite a few running around on the kitchen floor near the door, so maybe the stuff works and it's driving them crazy! At least I hope so. I don't know that they're going to do any harm to anything but I hate the fact that they're running around my house!!

Today we had a food distribution at the DALH building. We received over 20,000 pounds of food through the postal drive over Mother's Day. Lots and lots of canned goods, some paper products and assorted pop, drink mixes, etc. It wasn't a good weekend to have one. We hardly had 200 people come through. That's very unusual. We normally have 350 - 380 families that we serve. My guess would be -- it's the first of the month and the majority of our clients are on food stamps, and/or social security. The ones that came are the ones that plan ahead -- the ones that didn't show up got their food stamps and haven't planned ahead. If we look back on past giveaways I'm sure we'll find that our best ones (where we had the most people) were later in the month. People -- go figure! We'll have plenty for another one in late June or after the July 4th holiday. It's a fun group to work with so there's no hardship working. The hardship is getting up early on a Saturday morning when I like to sleep in. Oh well, I took a nap this afternoon. Some of us went out for breakfast when we were finished for the morning. So this is one of those days when I only have 2 meals. I had a big breakfast and just finished my supper. Leftovers are great when you're lazy!

The weather has been just beautiful. My spare bedroom gets a bit warm in the afternoons but it's not to warm that I can't work in there. I do have the ceiling fans running and up until late this afternoon there was a nice breeze coming from the east. My plans are to work on scrapbooking tomorrow morning before it gets too warm. But then I'll probably do some in the afternoon too.

I'm looking for a picture of my parents dog Muttley. My son just got a dog and he sure looks a lot like Muttley and I want to send a copy to him. He was so excited when they got the dog!

It's movie night at my place. I'm watching "National Treasure" with Nicholos Cage and after that is "Friday Night Lights." Two of my favorites. Lights is a violent movie but a good one. Barb and I went to it in Des Moines one weekend when I was there. Bought DVD's of both of them. I also bought a DVD player for my spare bedroom, but when I got it home I couldn't figure out how to hook it up. We were talking about that this morning and one of the guys said just get a 10-year old off the street, they can probably do it for you. We all agreed that our children are the ones that help us hook up our electronic equipment. I'm patiently waiting for either Jim or Barb to come home some weekend and help me out!!!

Supper dishes are also calling my name, so suppose I best get to them. Wouldn't want to give those ants anything to lunch on!!!

You all have a great weekend!!

Memorial Day Weekend

Hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend. Mine was very quiet so therefore I don't have much to report.

I went to the cemetery where my folks are buried on Friday afternoon. It was a beautiful day and up on the hill was very pretty! Lots of flowers and boxes on the graves. My parents certainly decided on a peaceful setting to leave their remains.

Did some exploring on my trip north. Noticed a sign for a bed & breakfast & bridle so stopped in and got some information. Basically all they gave me was a brochure with a website address on it, but I checked out the website and wouldn't mind spending a night or two at their place. The house overlooks the Mississippi and has a fantastic view! Dream on!

Took a quick tour of Paradise Valley (a camp ground) and also stopped off at Pike's Peak. I haven't been up there since high school (or shortly thereafter). I was wishing I had brought my camera along and took some pictures but guess the Mississippi will be there the next time through. It certainly was a beautiful view.

Stopped off at the boat for a hour or two. Actually won a little money for once.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday I basically spent at home. I got a lot of cleaning done and made a couple decisions about my living arrangements. I've decided to stay where I'm at for the time being. If the landlady is going to paint my place now . . . I haven't a clue. She's upping the rent so think she can also do the painting. I'd even be willing to do the painting but she'll have to provide the paint and pay me for the labor. I have a couple of friends that said they would help paint and my sister and daughter (I think) will also help. Actually we might have a good time doing it! I just hate the thought of moving all that furniture!!! Think maybe it's time for me to seriously look for another place on the ground floor. But I'm so particular as to where I live and what the place has. I definitely have to have a garage! I would also like a place with a washer/dryer or a hook-up for one. Best get the papers and start looking. Driving around town doesn't hurt either! Another adventure begins . . . .

I didn't realize how long I made this until I just checked back on it. Sorry about that. Hope I haven't bored you all to tears!

Talked to Barb on Saturday and she told me that Mandy's grandmother had a very serious operation last week. Mandy, I hope all is well with her. She's in my prayers.

Talk at all of you later . . . .

COLORADO!

Isn't it beautiful? I love mountains, lakes, waterfalls so it's a good thing I'm heading to Colorado for my vacation this year. This is Bear Lake located in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. That's Twin Sisters in the background. It's an absolutely beautiful area to visit. The colors are much brighter when you're there but you get the picture from this one! We spent some time at this lake when we were there in 2000. It was my first vacation . . . ever in my life and I enjoyed it tremendously!!! I took many pictures of mountains, lakes, waterfalls, wildlife, etc., and am hoping to take some of the same in July when we go out there, but also include a lot more pictures of people.

I spent today (Sunday) with my sister, my girlfriend, Marilyn and her friend Darlene doing some planning for our trip in July. If all goes well we plan on leaving on Friday, June 30 for our week's stay in Estes Park, Colorado. My sister has been back to this particular place many times so had lots of things to share with us about places to go and things to do.

One of the places we'll definitely go to is the Alpine Center, top of the mountain. This is a shot we took as we were going back down the mountain! Believe there are a lot of steps getting and going back down!! Had it not been for my daughter I doubt that I would have made it up there back in 2000 and doubt that I'll attempt to do it this time around. I know I definitely want to travel on the Falls River Road and stop at the Alpine Center but don't think this old body can make it to the top 'one more time!'

My daughter and her girlfriend will be at the cabin in Estes Park the first week in June. She promised to check out a couple of places that we've talked about going to. We'll get all the latest news from them when they get back. I'm really getting excited about going. I know we'll have a great time.

I looked at a different apartment this morning. One of the downstairs ones is coming open in July and I mentioned to Kathy (the gal who's moving out) that I might be interested. My landlady called Saturday night and asked me to look at it and make a decision before she puts up any sign for rent. It's basically like the one I'm in (much cleaner walls, etc.). The kitchen is smaller and you come into the apartment through the kitchen. The living room has a different set-up with a huge storage closet off of it. It doesn't have the coat closet in the kitchen like I have here and does not have a linen closet in the hallway. I have mini-blinds on all the windows here and would definitely like that again along with the vertical blinds on the patio door. The patio would be nice as it's shaded. I could actually grow flowers and probably get a firepit for the patio itself. It's something to think about. At least that's where I'm at right now. Rent is going up. If I move I'll have to paint the walls, and if I stay the walls and ceilings need to be done here. My landlady will provide the paint and we haven't talked about the labor costs yet. I'll let you all know when I make the decision.

I spent some of the weekend scrapbooking. I'm slowly but surely getting there with my children's pictures from birth to 5 years old. I keep thinking about all the possibilities of the Colorado trip. We talked about going into Denver, Colorado Springs and Black Hawk. The last time my sister was out they explored outside of the park and into Golden to the brewery. There's also a brewery in Estes Park that has great pizza to go with the beer! That's one place on the schedule we plan on going!! LIke I said -- I'm starting to get excited about it.

I have a grant due June 2nd. Definitely have to be working on that this week. We have a Poverty Simulation for the Western Dubuque teaching staff on Friday and a long weekend. Guess I better get that grant done this week, if possible. My monthly agency newsletter is due as is the employee one this week. I think I'll keep busy!! The agency newsletter is just about finished. I brought it home with me and worked on it over the weekend. Have some final touches to do and then it's ready to be printed. The fun begins after that when we put it together. We have a folding machine, but you fold each sheet separately and then have to compile the whole thing and get it on it's way! Glad I don't have to do the whole thing by myself!

Well, I have laundry to fold before I call it a day so best get at it. Hope you all had a good weekend. I'm looking forward to Memorial Day and the long weekend. Nothing special planned just some extra time to do things here at home.

Have a great one!

Rain, rain go away!

Rain, rain go away! Remember that one? It rained here all weekend. Not constantly, but enough to make it icky outside. It wasn't the best weekend in the world. From what the weatherman said on the news this morning it sounds like it will keep on until Friday. Maybe the sun will peek through once in a while each day!

I had a very quiet weekend. I lived through the community action commission being at work. Went in early on Friday and got my fruit trays, juices and bagels all set up before any of them got there. I had a lot of help cleaning up after everyone left. I'm still eating strawberries! I bought some for myself when I bought for the agency last week. They sure taste good!! Left work around noon on Friday and had a nice long weekend.

It was Mother's Day (not a very sunny one). Barbie sent me flowers at work. What a sweetie! Those came home with me on Friday. They are now sitting on top of my china hutch in the living room. Don't know how long they'll last but for right now they look pretty good yet! Both of my children were busy for the weekend, but both managed to call home and give some warm greetings. Thanks guys!

I did my usual scrapbooking. I actually got a lot done not only on my scrapbooking but a lot of cleaning too. Since Mandy has taught me how to upload my photos correctly I couldn't resist putting this one in with Jim, Mike and Nick. Boy, did you guys ever grow up!! But they sure were cute little buggers!!!

In my cleaning I also found a bunch of old pictures that were my Mom's. What a kick going through them. Some of them I already have but the majority of them were 'new' to me. A lot of my baby pictures. Share them at a later date!!

I guess I shouldn't complain about the rain when I see what's happening on the East Coast. I'll take my hilltops and the good old Mississippi River any day. All kinds of festivials begin this weekend in Dubuque. There's always something going on in this town if you just go out and look for it. Lots of food at all of them.

The clock says it's 7:15 a.m. and have to grab something for breakfast before I take off for work. Gotta put gas in the car this morning so should probably get going!

Have a good week!

Busy week

It's been a busy week here in Dubuque. And a rainy one! I know we need the rain but it can quit for a little bit. Hope the weekend is nice. Doesn't have to be in the 70's, just a nice warm weekend.

We have a board of directors meeting tomorrow night and the state commission of community action agencies is meeting at our place on Friday. We've been busy all week cleaning! Threw out some old furniture, got some new/used furniture, have been doing a lot of dusting, mopping, and just plain putting things away and straightening up.

The meeting will be from 8:30 a.m. to noon on Friday. My boss decided that for the break they have secheduled we should offer them food. Guess who's in charge of that??? You got it! ME! Decided to serve donut holes, bagels and cream cheese and a fruit tray (strawberries, melons, grapes, pineapple). Going to also have apple juice, orange juice and cranberry cocktail for drinks. I also have rounded up some plates, cups, napkins, silverware and the appropriate containers for all the food and drink. I'm going to make up the trays myself as it's much cheaper. That way I'll have some strawberries leftover to eat for myself!!! Always thinking, you know. I must remember to stop at Staples tomorrow morning and pick up name badge holders. We've been requested by the boss to wear our ID badges and a number of employees have commented that they broke their badge or have lost it. Tomorrow and Friday morning could be busy!! At the present time I plan on taking the afternoon off!!!

I don't have anything special planned for the weekend but the usual cleaning and I'm sure I'll take the time to do some scrapbooking! I'm working on the early years of my children right now. Wanna see a couple pictures of them? Aren't they the cutest kids you've ever seen? Barbie was a year and Jim was 7 months old.

These are two of my favorite pictures of the kids. A copy of Barb's hung at the photographer for quite some time. I think he was pleased with how it turned out too!

Need to thank Mandy again for the help in figuring out how to post my older pictures. I had to change them into a jpeg or they wouldn't scan. She's helped me so much with this little project. Thanks again Mandy!

I'm hoping my children are able to get home one of these weekends. Have a job for Barbie. My spare bedroom needs a change. She's already given me a new quilt and sheets for the bed, but now I need to get out and find some window toppers, a bedside table and another piece of furniture to hold my TV in here. And if she's really ambitious she can help me re-arrange the furniture that I already have in here. She'll read this and decide she's never coming home!!!

Enjoy your weekend!

Expensive Tuesday

Tuesday must not be my day! I can, however, report that it is an expensive day! This past Tuesday I had to go to traffic court. Let me explain . . . about a month and a half ago I passed a stopped school bus at a stop sign -- I thought the bus was stopping at the stop sign (that's what you do isn't it? stop at a stop sign). Well, it was, but it was also leaving a child off. It's a rotten corner and at an odd angle. Like I told the police officer that came to the door, I honestly didn't realize the lights were flashing until I had committed myself to making the turn. By that time I had cars coming toward me as well as a bunch behind me. The bus driver apparently got my license plate and turned it in. Having never gone to court before it was a new experience. The officer told me I should write down everything I had told him when he gave me the ticket and tell the judge the same. Well, lucky me, I was the first called (there was a group of us in the courtroom). I did tell the judge that, he agreed with me that it was a bad corner and then said the fine is $162.00!!!! Can you afford to pay the full amount today? That was my day in court. The officer told me he felt that I would get charged court costs only but the judge didn't see it that way. There ends my sad but true story of an expensive Tuesday!

To make matters worse my Wednesday wasn't wonderful either! I have no clue what I did but sometime within the morning hours at work I disabled my printer from my computer. No matter what we did we couldn't bring it back. I finally gave up and went home for lunch with a promise from Ron that Ken would be there later in the afternoon to take care of it. When I came back from lunch Ken was there. He tried a lot of things too, called Chuck to consult on a few things and finally gave me the verdict. The best thing to do was to take the hard drive with him, create ghost files, blow everything away on my hard drive and rebuild it. That's what he did! It works! I had Wednesday off and when I got back into the office this morning my machine was there and ready to work! I lost some of my favorite screensavers, etc., but they can be replaced so I'm back in business.

Maybe both days were a bit expensive . . . one cost me personally, the other cost the agency the time for the computer geek to fix my problem!!! Thanks Ken!!

Who is that child?

Who is that child? Do you know her? You've probably guessed I've been scrapbooking this weekend. When my Mom died I inherited a lot of old pictures -- this was one of them. I'm sure the majority of you already know who it is -- it's ME! Wasn't I just the cutest baby girl? I think I was about 3, but I'm not sure.

I've been going to put this and other pictures in my blog forever but wasn't able to upload some of them. Jim and Mandy were here for the weekend and as usual, with Mandy's help, the problem was solved! Now I have others I want to share with everyone. You never know when you might see your picture within this blog. Thanks Mandy! It works great when you know what you're doing!

Jim and Mandy came Friday night and left this afternoon for a wedding they were attending in Farley. Unfortunately Brad and Kelly didn't get a very nice day for their wedding but with all their friends and family with them it probably won't matter. It was great having the kids here again. The visits are short but mean so much to me. I love having them around. They're spending tonight (Saturday) at their dad's and Linda. If all went well, Harry was able to come home from the hospital today. Here's hoping all went well and he's home.

Found another picture to share! Aren't we cute? Wow, look at Glee's hair. She was a blonde!!! I can remember my dress -- it was red, white and blue. Mark's shirt was a mint green, but I'll be darned if I can remember what color Glee had on. Wow! that's been a long time ago! See my memory isn't going at bad as you all thought!

What a rainy day! It started here around 11:30 and continues. We need rain. The grass will certainly be a bright green the next time the sun comes out! I think that's scheduled for Monday!! (After the weekend!) Weekends like this are great for scrapbooking, reading, sleeping and watching movies! And, if you're a NASCAR fan, watching the race on Sunday afternoon. Go DJ!!!

Spent the afternoon with a friend. We went out for lunch (or late breakfast). I brought part of mine home so I'll definitely have something to eat for tomorrow! I had meatloaf. It was very good. We did a little gambling and were back home by 8:00 p.m. It was a nice afternoon. Hope everyone is having a nice weekend.

Back to scrapbooking . . . you never know who you'll see on my blog!!!

All is well . . .

I received news from my son yesterday afternoon that his dad came through his operation "okay." My ex-husband had bypass surgery on Tuesday morning. I waited around all morning waiting to hear from my children, and Jim called me around 2:30 p.m. to let me know that all went well. Thank God for that. I said a few prayers that all would be okay. I can still remember when my mother had bypass surgery and how long the time was waiting to be sure that all was okay. It makes for a long morning/afternoon! Now we have to pray for a good recovery and that all will be smooth sailing in the future. Say a couple prayers for him. Not being married to him anymore doesn't mean I don't care. I'm so glad my children were able to be with him and his wife during this time. Sounds like my son and his girlfriend will be able to spend some time with them this weekend too. They have a wedding they're attending on Saturday in the area.

Today is Administrative Professionals Day. I'm taking 3 of our gals to lunch. It's a luncheon sponosred by a number of groups here in Dubuque with a speaker. Her name is Pat McGill and she is fabulous! I've heard her a number of times and would love to get her to come to our annual fall agency in-service. Maybe I'll get a chance to talk to her today after the presentation. Hopefully the girls are looking forward to it. There was a time when we were able to let them have the afternoon off as part of the day but haven't been able to do that as of late. I'm sure we'll all enjoy ourselves anyway.

I have meetings in Des Moines tomorrow. Actually we're meeting in Urbandale. Means a very early morning for me to get on the road by 6:00 a.m. If all goes well I can stop some place for breakfast and a little break before getting started on my day! I'm looking forward to a long weekend as I will probably take part of Friday afternoon off and head home. if I take off early I can get an early start on some weekend cleaning. Sounds like rain so . . . a great weekend to curl up with a couple of books, movies or just do some scrapbooking! Or we could go out for supper Saturday night! Whatever, it's the weekend!!!

We're working on plans for our vacation. Four of us are going to Colorado for a week in Estes Park. That's such a beautiful part of the country. I love the mountains. The color of the sky is so beautiful and the mountains are so BIG! I was out there in 2000 and have been wanting to go back for some time so now I have the chance. Think of all the pictures I can take and all the scrapbooking I can do. The shops in Estes Park are great too. Been putting money away for the occasion and starting to get excited about going!

I read back on some of my writings and wonder if anyone even reads it. It makes for a good way to keep track of what I've been doing. Read in one of my scrapbook magazines that a blog is a good way to keep track of what you've done and come back to for reference when scrapbooking. Have to remember that. Except I haven't done anything that I took pictures of since I start this. Or much of anything else that is exciting! Duh!!!

Just Visiting!

What a beautiful weekend! No rain . . . looks like the old adage about raining on Easter Sunday will not be true this year. Today was great. Nice breeze, sunshine, just right in temperature!

Nothing too exciting happening in my life of late. I guess I need to go out there and do something in order for something exciting to happen.

I received a call from my daughter earlier in the week with some upseting news. Her dad (my ex) is having some heart problems. He's scheduled for bypass surgery on Tuesday of this next week. My thoughts and prayers are with him during this time. I hope that all goes well for him. He's always been a fairly healthy person so this came as quite a surprise to me. When I had my surgery last year I didn't have time to think about it as it was an emergency. I remember the day I spent in the hospital before the surgery (at least most of it as I was sedated quite heavily) but can't imagine knowing that you have one coming up. I'd have worried myself to death!! Say a pray or two for him that all goes well.

The kids will be coming in on Monday night to stay with Harry and Linda and then staying over on Tuesday night to make sure that all goes well. Jim is due back here for the weekend as he has a wedding to attend. Hopefully by the weekend Harry will be home and the visit from his son and girlfriend will be welcomed. I'm looking forward to having them here for the weekend.

My sister came for a visit today. It's always fun having her around. We didn't do anything exciting. She wanted to do a little shopping, and as usual, I'm the one that bought the most stuff. The westend of town is growing by leaps and bounds so we headed out that way. Made a stop at Kohl's, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Dress Barn and Michael's. I had a gift card from Bed, Bath & Beyond so used that today. I also had a gift card at Michael's so picked up some stickers I've been looking for and another companion book of scrapbook paper. Glee did buy a couple of things at JoAnn's. She's into quilts! Can't wait to see what this one looks like when it's done. I love the colors she put together for it! Quilting is something I've always thought I wanted to do but have never gotten around to it. I have a couple of books laying around here that have some beautiful patterns in them. Told Glee today I don't think I even remember how to thread a bobbin in my sewing machine anymore. I used to sew alot but haven't done anything of much lately except maybe fix clothing! Might be time to look into a different machine! One of those small compact jobs!!

We spent some time looking at old pictures. I have some of our children in a park in Guttenburg, but for the life of me can't remember why we were there! She can't either but our kids were certainly little at the time! We think Beth was about 2 so it's been a few years. It's always fun looking through old pictures and remembering!! My hope is to have the first 5 years of my two kids lives finished by Christmas for one of their gifts! Last year I did a wedding album for my niece and also one for her mother. They both seemed to like that idea. I certainly had a great time putting it together. Although I must admit that when I was finished with both of their books I put the wedding pictures, stickers, paper, etc. away as I was tired of weddings. It's about time to get them out again and put a book together for myself and my children!! If you've never done scrapbooking and have lots of pictures laying around -- try it! It's a great hobby.

Sounds like the week ahead will be busy. I have a meeting on Monday night, the kids will be in and out on Tuesday and Wednesday. I don't know if I'll get a chance to see them but I'm sure they'll let me know how everything goes for Harry. Wednesday is Professional Assistants day and I'm taking some of the girls from work out for lunch. We're going to a luncheon with a speaker. Her topic is "Have a Seat!" I've heard this woman before and enjoy her very much. Hope they all do. Thursday I'm on my way to Des Moines for a Planners Meeting. By Friday I'll be ready for a short work week and a long weekend. I'll probably go into work until noon on Friday and then split and start my weekend early. Have nothing special planned but if the kids are here for part of it that'll keep me busy! Have to get my cleaning done. Wouldn't want to embarrass my son!!

The clock says it's after midnight so I best think about going to bed. Hope you all have a great week. Keep in touch!!