" Summer Fun! "

It's been a pretty busy, fulfilling and steamy hot weekend! The temperatures here in Southern Illinois have yet to reach their peak but with all of the humidity we've had, it feels HOT,HOT,HOT!

I went to church Saturday evening thinking that would leave Sunday morning open to get outside early and get some weeding done. When I walked out of church an hour after I walked in, the humidity was so heavy in the air. It was hard to believe it could change that quickly!

I did manage to get up early on Sunday but was only able to work for about an hour outside before the sun, heat and humidity just became too much.

So I decided to do something that I probably shouldn't have done, however after discussing it with Jake we decided that we would go ahead and give our grandson Jack, his birthday present early. We bought him a bike and being that it will be a month before he turns two, we just figured that he'd like to play with it now. He didn't have one.

Here he is when he first spotted it. Notice that he is actually standing still! With his mouth open!

I was even able to figure out how to post a video of him on the bike. Trust me it took way longer to post this than it will take to watch!!!!!!

We stayed out there for a few hours but again it just got to be too hot outside so Kate and I took off to Wal-Mart as she won a $50.00 gift card from a drawing at school. She was very anxious to spend it!

I had a great visit with my friend Sue this weekend. We have been friends since third grade and have kept in touch over the years. The timing was perfect as Katie was spending the night at her friends house and Jake had left for work that day. I grilled us some steaks and we had some wine and LOTS of catching up. Oh what fun! My only complaint is that the time went by too quickly, sigh....

With Jake being home all last week I still may have not gotten caught up on everyone's blogs but not to worry, I will get it done this week sometime. This will also be a busy week for me but next week Katie will be off to camp.

I hope this post comes out alright. I had more pictures to post and another video of my granddaughter Sarah riding her new bike but I had to use the old editor to post the video. I don't know if there is a way to post a video with the new editor which for me is much easier to use. I will revert back after this post and see what I can find out. Posting photos with the new editor is much easier for me. So I really don't know how this will come out until it's posted.

Here goes!

" Gloious Days of Friendshp "

You remember that friend.

 

That girl, she was always there.

You parted. 

 

But you knew that she knew all that was you.

Oh that girl.

She remembered  all of your secrets.

So now what do you do?

 

Do you love her as you did way back when ?

No.

 

 

 

You love her more now.

She knows you, and you know her.

 

What wonderful women we have become !

 

She is still that girl. She is still that girl.

We are women.

How amazingly awesome is this moment ? 

This was inspired from a wonderful visit from a very long time friend. When she left, I Cried.

" May 27th, A Very Special Day "

May 27th is a very special day for me. You see there are two women in my life that were born on this date.

The first one is my oldest daughter Ginny.

Virginia Anne is what we named her, but likes to be called Ginny.

Ginny was a very sweet little baby. As she grew, so did her infectious smile.

As a little girl, Ginny loved to play dress up. She was always smiling, laughing and trying to provoke her older brother.

You can almost see in the above photo the mischief in her little face.

Ginny always loved to have fun and still does. She was, and still is the person to be around when you want to be happy and have a good time.

We started camping when our children were very young. They always enjoyed this very much. This I know to be true because they all still go camping!

Ginny also loved to climb trees. She used to sit up in a tree at our old house to study. I can imagine that even now, given the opportunity, she would still climb trees today.

Ginny has always been adventurous. This trait is one of hers that I admire so much. I have always been somewhat afraid to try new things but my Ginny will just jump right in if it feels right.

As a teen, Ginny was very athletic. She had won so many trophies and ribbons when she ran track and cross country in grade school.

She also used to get my heart pumping when she was playing basketball and fast pitch softball!

 

At a very young age, Ginny acquired a strong interest in journalism. She wrote for all of her school newspapers and after graduating from high school, went on to pursue her dream to become a journalist.

" The Dorm Room "

Ginny received a Bachelor and Masters degree in journalism. She was also the first person in our entire family to go to collage.

What a dream come true. This however did not surprise me or Jake as we always knew that Ginny was capable of great things!

Ginny's first journalism job was working for the A.P. as an intern out of our Capitol building in Springfield which was great for us as we once got  a " Private " tour of our state Capitol. It was truly amazing!

It wasn't long after that that Ginny started getting offers from other state newspapers. She was now headed to North Carolina, a very long way from home.

I cannot describe my sadness that moving day. Jake, Katie and I, had drove to Springfield to say our goodbyes. Heart wrenching goodbyes for all of us. I still, today, tear up at the thought.

But she was after all her own woman now. And a beautifully strong one at that. However the not knowing when I would see her again was so painful.

Ginny did well in her chosen career, unfortunately it also came at a time when newspapers were being superseded by the internet. Still she forged on to a local news station and continued to report for the daily on-line news updates.

After being there for a time, she did something that I considered totally brave. She took another job in a completely different profession. I remember her uncertainty about it. I also remember telling her that if she was to do something like this, a total career change, that it would be better to do it now while she was young enough and brave enough!

So now she is in marketing for a majorly green company. And we are all so proud of her. She is truly an amazing woman. One that I am blessed to call " My Daughter ".

Yet no matter how much older she gets or how successful she will become, she will always, always be my princess!

Happy Birthday Ginger Peach !

Birthday # 2 !!!

One of my very favorite blogger friends is also celebrating a birthday today! You know who you are!!!!

Bernie is a wonderfully warm and compassionate woman.

I feel blessed to have gotten to know her and call her my friend.

She also has a great sense of humor, but then she's Canadian.

That explains that!

I wish you Bernie, the best Birthday ever and I would so love to celebrate with you!

Please pop over to Bernie's blog " On My Own ",

and wish her a Very Happy Birthday!

Thank you all for visiting and God Bless you all.

 

" In a Bit of a Hurry! "

This has got to be the quickest post that I have ever done. I have exactly 35 minutes to finish it before The "Dancing with the Stars" finale starts. Whats worse is that I have so much to tell that I won't have enough time to do so. So imagine if you will that I am talking very quickly. Unfortunately my typing skills cannot keep up!

My wonderful and sweet husband came home this past weekend feeling poorly. After a visit to the doctors office yesterday, it was determined that he has a sinus infection and the beginnings of bronchitis. My husband has COPD so this is not good. He is taking steroids, antibiotics and doing nebulizer treatments. Surprisingly as crappy as he feels, he has been in good humor.

And this may sound a bit selfish but I have so enjoyed him being home with us. Not to worry I have been taking very good care of him .

We have managed to complete several projects before he started to feel really bad. I will go into detail at another time because of time restraints.

We had quite a surprise this weekend when we found a toad in our yard. Now you may not know this but I adore reptiles and have never had one of my own so when Jake found him in our yard I wanted to keep him and name him George. But my dear husband wouldn't let me.

And while I totally understood, still I had to pet him for a while before we let him go. 

I am going to have to skip around a lot as I am running out of time. And yes, my husband likes "Dancing with the Stars" too. we don't often get to watch it together as he's always gone!

I have done so much this past weekend and still continue to be very busy. I wish we had more time tonight but it won't be long before I am alone again and can bore you to tears some more!

I, yes me, the woman who hates to cook has made some delicious meals as well. And again I don't have the time to elaborate!

Tomorrow I have to go and see my young and handsome orthopedic doctor to get another shot of "Synvisc" in this time, my left knee. 

And guess what? This will be the first time that my husband will be able to come with me! Do you think a brawl might ensue? 

Perhaps they will fight over me. How exciting would that be?

Alright enough fun for now. I am going to be doing a special post on Thursday, so please, if I have not bored you too much, I hope you will return then.

Oh before I forget!!!! Jake and I decided that instead of trying to fix my 47 year old sewing machine......

We'd just go get a new one! Is he not awesome or what?!!!!

"Welcoming the Weekend"

Since I'm not posting about anything specific today I found a few photos of my dogs, Ruby and Roxy, that I thought I'd throw in here and there.

Are you all ready for the weekend? I sure am. Lets hear it for the weekend! May it be filled with sunshine for everyone!

 

Roxy is on the left, Ruby on the right. 

Believe it or not, Ruby was snoring when I took this. This is how they nap on my lap. They get all warm and cozy. Then I get all warm and cozy. Before you know it we're all snoring away!

I finally have almost my entire house clean. This I did after I cleaned house for my people. For those of you who are new here, I clean a house for one of our church families every Thursday.

Now usually I am very worn out after I clean their house. But since getting all of the shots in my knees, I am able to do more. So I came home and cleaned some more.

As I was cleaning my peoples house today I thought about how much I love doing this job. I don't get paid a fortune and we could live without the extra cash, but I really love doing this. I can't really even say why except that it gives me great satisfaction when I am done. And I feel proud. This probably sounds silly to some. It is menial work after all. Yet still, I love doing it.

 

 

I did have to quit once after I had my second stroke. I didn't want to but I needed to get myself back together and didn't really know at that time what I would be capable of doing anymore.

Several months later (after the doctor and hospital bills started rolling in) I ran into the woman that I cleaned for and we struck up a conversation. I asked her if she had anyone cleaning for her and she said that they didn't want anyone else after me.

Wow, that was really nice. I was feeling much better by then and asked if they might want me to come back. She said yes and here we are today. That was over a year ago now and I've been cleaning for them for several years all together. Funny, I never tire of this job.

So not only is her house clean but mine is too. All ready for the family to mess up again so we can start all over again next week!

It's all good though as I am so looking forward to being with my husband. And Katie for that matter. She has been very nice lately and sad at the same time. She doesn't want school to end and today was her last full day. 

My husband and Kate are going to go out for lunch together Saturday. A little father/daughter alone time. This was my idea by the way. I insisted! It seems sad to me that as girls get older they sometimes grow away from there daddy's. Katie was a big daddy's girl. But with him gone all the time and her interests changing, I just thought it would be a good idea.

I am hoping to get the huge mirror hung this weekend. If it gets hung I will be able to post the final pictures of the living room redo. However I will not hold my breath over this as every time I think it may get hung it hasn't. No one is to blame here, just bad timing you know?

I have a delicious dinner planned for this weekend. I am trying out a new potato recipe (I don't know whats come over me!) and I have a beautiful beef roast that I bought to cook for when Jake came home.

I should plan a dessert. I'll have to look through those new cookbooks that I bought at the library.

I am rambling again I know. Nothing exciting has been going on around here. That can actually be a blessing, don't you think?

I am looking forward to the season finale of  "Grey's Anatomy" tonight. That is about the last of the shows I watch until fall except for "Nurse Jackie" and "Mad Men".

The rest of the summer will most likely be spent outside trying to keep up with those weeds! And looking up at my Maple tree. I love the view staring straight up at it from my chair.

I will be stopping by to read your blogs through the weekend here and there but I won't be back until next week.

I hope you all have a beautiful, sunny and relaxing weekend!

" Pinks "

Today was such a pleasant day for me. The sun decided to pay us a visit and boy did it make a difference! As I was out in my yard today I noticed that I had several beautiful PINK flowers blooming, so I thought I would just post them randomly throughout today's post.

The day started out cloudy again! But I couldn't allow myself to sit and wallow in the dreariness anymore. So after coffee I set out to clean my house. 

I had almost finished the entire downstairs when my son called to say he was on his way to mow. He's been meaning to come for a few days but it's just been too wet.

About five minutes before he arrived, the dogs started barking wildly and I noticed a young man around twelve years old, walk onto my front porch with a man. I had my door open with just the screen door closed. As I approached him I said "Can I help you?". He then asked me if I needed my lawn mowed. I thanked him but told him no as my son would be here in about five minutes to mow for me.

He then turned and started down the street. I had a sudden thought 
and ran out the door to call him back. I explained that actually there were times when I needed someone to mow for me. 

Sometimes on the weekends when my husband is home it may be raining out. And there are weeks when my son just can't make it over here.

The man that was with him was his father, I found out as we were talking. I asked the young man if he had mowed before and he replied "Yes ma'am ". Then I said to him " You do know not to mow over plants right?" to which he replied, " Yes Ma'am."  His father quickly piped in saying " I would be with him every step of the way!".

Then I said to the young man, "How much would you charge me to mow this lawn and the backyard?". He looked up at his father and his father looked at him as if he were thinking "Speak up boy!".

The young man then blurted out nervously " Five dollars !". I glanced over at his father and said, "Well I'd pay him more than that!". After that I took his name and phone number and told him that I would be calling him. He thanked me and continued going door to door.

How enterprising he was. And even though I didn't know him I felt proud of him. It would take some of the pressure off of my family at times so I probably will be calling him in the near future.

My son showed up within minutes and mowed for me. Now I have a question. There is this very tall (about 14 feet) weed looking plant that is growing on the other side of my fence in my neighbors drive.

They never trim their weeds so I assumed that this was just one giant pesty weed. Until I noticed something on it. I had my son cut part of the branch off as I pulled it down with a rake.

Here's another photo. It has beautiful flowers that look like Irises and the leaves are huge!

 
I would love it if someone could identify this for me. 

Katie and I took a ride out to the lake where the summer bible camp that she is attending will be. She drove. Very well. However I did notice that she is acquiring a fondness for speed as she drives up and down the hills! This makes me nervous.

Still, she seems to maintain very good control and has much confidence. I am proud of how she is improving. On the way there I noticed several trees that had the same flowers as the white ones in the above photos. So I guess what I thought was a giant weed is actually some sort of tree.

Most of the day was sunny today but as we headed out to the lake I noticed the clouds rolling in. 

 
I tried to spot a place where we could park and take more photos but there were fishermen at each spot and I couldn't bear to spoil their peaceful moments!

Jake and I had driven to this lake about nineteen years ago when we first moved down here. It is only about five miles from our house. We've been to other lakes since but I think while raising our children we had forgotten about this place. I think I will suggest that we take a ride there one weekend to just sit and enjoy the peacefulness.

Kate is so looking forward to camping here. I hope she has a wonderful, good memory filled time. On the way there and back we had to cross over not one but two, one lane bridges. This made Katie a bit nervous to drive over!

 
It made me a bit nervous as well. As you can see when I took this photo, we were very close to the edge!

It was just one of those days. You know the kind that I'm talking about. You wake up knowing that anything can happen.

I accomplished much, had a nice visit with my son and met a nice young man. Katie and I had some more bonding time which we've been doing more of lately. She's growing up fast.

I hope you enjoyed my "Pinks".

 


 
 

" I Apologize "

I feel the need to apologize to all of you and to myself as well. You see I have been a Lazy Blogger as of late.

Please pay no attention to the woman on my sidebar as the above photo is the "Real" me!


Not only have I been a lazy blogger, I have been just plain lazy. Physically I have felt like doing nothing. I have plenty of great intentions and great projects going on in my mind but my legs have felt as though they've been filled with cement.

We have been encircled in this huge translucent sheet of gloom in our region lately. Katie and I both keep wishing that it would storm already. All we've been having is intermittent rain drops here and there.  It's as though the clouds are stuck in a pattern just above us.


The gloominess makes it difficult to feel motivated. I had several errands to run today and while talking to other people I discovered that I wasn't the only one that just wanted to stay in bed.

I felt energetic enough while out and about but as soon as I enter my house all I want to do is sleep. I have no doubt that seeing sunshine will help with the energy level!

Well it seems as though it will be another day or two before we see sunshine so I will just stare at this photo for a bit!


We have some birthdays coming up this month and next. My daughter Ginny's birthday is next week. I thought it was the week after next! Oooppp's! In my defense my time frame has been so thrown off lately. I think it's from the cloudy, dreary days. Yeah, that sounds good.


While I can't speak of Ginny's birthday as she already knows how to read, I can speak of my grandson, Jack's birthday. He will be two next month and I went to get his gift today.

I spotted  this a few months back and when I went to go find it a few weeks later, they were all gone! I went back to the same store on Saturday and they had gotten three more in! So I put a deposit on it and today, went to pick it up. This is something he doesn't have yet and I do believe this grandma did good!

What do you think? I think little Jack will be very happy since I have heard that he is trying to take his older sisters bike from her, despite his lack of biking experience!

After school today Kate and I had to do a little shopping. Next week is her last week of her freshman year of high school. The first week of June she will be going to a week long Bible Camp that she is very excited about.


She wanted a teen study bible so we went and found a nice one for her. She has her own bible but it wasn't a study bible and oh my gosh was that print small!

The next thing on the list was new flip flops. You can't go to camp without new flip flops after all!

Time is just flying by me. Am I the only one? Kate has been doing great with her driving and will start driving with her instructor the second week of June. Her dad is going to let her drive on the highway this weekend. It will be her first time merging and all. I think she'll do well. She is very focused.

Well lets see now, I managed to go on about pretty much nothing for awhile now, so I am thinking that this post makes up a little bit for the lazy blogging.

If only I could figure out how to get over the rest of my laziness. 

Maybe tomorrow!

"I'm Still Here, Just Rockin' Out"

Betcha thought I was gone for good didn't ya ? One less blog to read.
You are welcome by the way for freeing up some extra time to do whatever it is that you had to do.

Alas I am back. I have been a very busy gal as of late. Except for today. Today was one of those days. Lazy day. I have been having troubles with medication changes and well, lets just say I am feeling better now that the doc changed everything around again.


So as I was feeling out of sorts, lazy in my mind, I was looking at my rock while listening to coffee house music on the satellite radio. Oh I didn't tell you about my rock did I ? Alright then first you must know that I Love rocks. If this is strange well then call me strange and tell me what you want me to call you O.K.?


Here is my beautiful rock that I found in my stash of rocks. Yes I have a stash of rocks.


Oh whatever, I'm sure you have a stash of something odd yourself !

There you see how beautiful he is ? Yeah, I thought so too. So perfectly shaped. And then I came along and defaced him. I can do that. He's my rock. This is what happens when I am feeling lazy and listen to music....

I thought him rather cute. Just wish I could come up with a good name.


Mothers Day weekend was very nice even though my husband was only home one full day. He always treats me like a queen on Mothers Day.  And while he was only home on Saturday, he spoiled me all day. We went all over the place including the nursery that he would take mom and me to. 

It was a beautiful day and we ate out all day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Although he does this every year for me there was a method to his madness. Remember the "Dreaded" 50 lb. mirror that was supposed to finally be hung this past weekend ? Well he was so busy trying to keep me entertained that he was too exhausted to hang it !


And what could I really do. The man treated me like a damn queen for cryin' out loud, what the heck could I say ?


This turned out to be a good thing though as before he left on Sunday morning, he came up with a better idea on how to hang it and I do believe it's going to work!!!! Stick around, I have another little preview for you at the end of this post. See I take care of my people!


Mothers Day was good. My handsome son and my cute little granddaughter came for a visit bearing plants. They know I love plants! I missed seeing my grandson but he was home with mom taking a nap. We had a good visit. I had something for Sarah as well.


Jake and I went to the book sale room in the library on Saturday and hit pay dirt for Sarah! Two Wal-Mart bags filled with books. She was thrilled. Shes at that age where reading is opening up her whole world.

It took a few minutes for me to get this photo as all of a sudden she became not shy but sly ! You can tell by the look on her face ! And the only reason my son cooperated was because it was Mothers Day! So this is a rare photo.

I also found three books for myself at the library on Saturday... 

I know what your thinkin' , "That girl hates to cook, why in the heck did she pick those up ?". Well I don't know , now your confusing me. I guess because it was "All the books you can fit in a bag for a dollar" ! Or maybe I thought I might try something new I don't know. Now I'm all nervous and everything!


After the lovely visit from my son and granddaughter, I went to the yard to plant. Brought my radio with me and had some peaceful time alone until Katie got home. And shut my mouth ! She actually gave me a hug and a kiss, hold on a minute.....


Sorry I am still in shock from that, I'm alright now. Gosh she picked me (Your just a thorn in my side) mom out a card all on her own. Crap I think I'm gonna cry again.....




Alrighty then lets move along . I'm alright now.


Finally I am done. You can breath now. 


Oh wait a minute, go ahead hold your breath for just another minute as here is your TWO previews ! See I'm nice like that. You get two for the price of one today. Your welcome.


BEFORE....

 And After....

 
Go ahead take a breath, BEFORE.....

And AFTER.......

And that's all I've got for tonight folks. Hope you enjoyed the show !