Tooting my own horn

I know I already posted about this award, but thought since I had a picture, I would post it as well.

My boss, Craig, sent out an email to all of our clients regarding me getting this award and I was so surprised at all the nice comments I received back. It almost brought tears to my eyes how some of them responded.

I guess I don't do it for the glory. I do all my volunteer work because I enjoy it. I would not be sitting on all the boards that I sit on if I didn't enjoy it. YSS is such a great organization and they do SO much to help the youth, I am just honored to be a small cog in the big wheel.

If you're ever given the chance to be a mentor..please do it. I found it to be a very rewarding part of my YSS volunteer work.

Winter has arrived

Well, winter has arrived with a BLAST. We got over 12" of snow this past week..pretty much all in one day. Here is the blow up bear that we have outside. This is the first year for us putting it out. My brother gave it to us a couple of years ago, but we always seem to forget about it until after the fact. Since the weather had been nice we decided to take advantage of that...and glad we did..or it probably would not have gotten put up this year.

I ended up staying in Ames Tuesday and Wednesday nights so I could make it to work. I knew if I came home, I wouldn't get out until Thursday...or even Friday.

I was also being honored with an Outstanding Service and Volunteer Award from YSS and it was being presented to me during the noon hour on Thursday. That was another reason that I stayed in Ames.

It was really nice to get back home Thursday evening. I've had a nice weekend at home. I was able to get laundry caught up and pick up some around the house. Put on new flannel sheets that I'm anxious to try out tonight. I just love my winter flannel sheets. Nothing better when it's so cold outside.

Well, not much of a post, but that about sums it up for now. I need to shift gears soon and get my Christmas gifts wrapped. With Russ still not working, things are a bit sparse, but I did the best I could with what funds we had available to us.

Happy holidays to everyone.

Where does the time go

I can't believe it's been over a month since I was in Breckenridge. The time has gone by so quickly. The picture is of the house where we stayed. It was AWESOME!

I went on a short road trip with a couple of other girlfriends right after I got back from Breckentirde. I haven't downloaded those pics yet, but will try to post one of the log cabine where we stayed while in Nauvoo, IL.

Fall is definitely in the air and I think I've heard rumblings of snow showers this coming weekend. I am so NOT ready for winter. I have started parking the car in the garage so it's not so cold when I get in it in the mornings and don't have to SCRAPE. Time to put the summer clothes out and get the cuddleduds back out of storage.

Not a whole lot going on with me right now. Russ is still not gainfully employed but had a couple of leads this week, so I'm hoping SOON he will find a job. It's been over 2 months now and each week I get a wee bit more nervous. I'm afraid that the longer he's unemployed, the less likely a new employer will look at him.

Maybe he can help some of his farmer friends with the harvest if he's off work that long. But let's pray that he finds work soon. Hard to believe that Thanksgiving is less than 2 months away and then Christmas is only a month after that. Where did this year go?

Well, just wanted to give a brief update of what's up with me. Back from vacations and working 5 days a week...bummer. But at least I have a good job and I like coming to work every day.

Here is a picture of the three of us at a place called Fatty's. They specialize in pizza. Fran and I shared a pizza and cheese bread. Sue got a rueben that she said was fantastic. We brought leftovers home with us to munch on later.

We are having a great time out here in Breckenridge. The house where we are staying is absolutely awesome. I should have taken pictures before we 'settled' in but will try to take a few after we pick up and get loaded up to come home. We have had a nice relaxing time and yet have kept fairly busy as well.

I was working on some scrapbook pages for my GodDaughter so brought that with me. I worked on that on Wednesday and actually finished up all the pictures she gave me to work with. So I'm really pleased about that.

Yesterday we headed into Golden to the Coors Brewery, then Denver to Hammonds candies, then on to my Aunt and Uncles house. We dropped Sue off at the Westminster Mall to meet up with some friends that had moved out here about 20 years ago. They were thrilled to see her and took Sue home with them, while Fran and I went to my Aunt and Uncles. We had heard that Dillard's had a great clearance sale going on, so Fran and I shopped a bit there before heading to my Aunt's house. We could have shopped longer but felt like my Aunt should take priority over clearance priced shopping.

Sue and I stayed up late last night after we got back and since she didn't get to shop there, we may do a little side trip on the way home and see what bargains we can't live without. Of course that will all depend on how well Fran can pack the car! We were pretty full coming out here, but have eaten our way through at least one of the coolers..so we will be able to load things in that. Sue has agreed to be crammed in a bit tighter if need be, so we'll see how it goes. I have tried to pick up some Christmas gifts while out here...to justify the spending. But I think maybe most of the purchases may have been for me. But I have saved for this trip, so there is no guilt on my end.

Next week I take off on Thursday with Debbie and Connie from Perry to head to eastern Iowa and Western Illinois. We are going to check out Nauvoo, IL. I'm driving, so will just go where they tell me. It should prove to be a nice relaxing time with them. I'm so blessed to have so many friends that like to go on trips with me when Russ isn't available. And I'm lucky that Russ is OK with me taking off with the girls.

Well, time to get going this morning, so will post more later.

Let's get caught up...

The NASCAR race was awesome and if I wasn't heading out for a vacation on Sunday, I'd be at the track tonight and tomorrow night for the trucks. But I just have too much to do and too little time. Once again though this weekend should be a perfect weekend for a race as was the weekend that we went. We tailgated before and after the race so we avoided the traffice headache. We had a great time though.

Russ is currently unemployed AGAIN. That adds some stress to my life. My new motto is ONE DAY AT A TIME. He did sell his pickup so that helped to pay the bills this month. I'm so hoping that he will come up with something in the next few weeks. I'm still working on trying to get unemployment for him. We have to file through Minnesota because the employer that we would be drawing off of was out of Texas but had a satellite out of Minnesota and cuz we live closer to Minnesota...go figure. So let's hope this time the unemployment comes through. The last time we filed, we didn't get it..but this time he got fired. He held out until they got mad enough to fire him even though he wanted to punch their lights out.

Anyway, I'm getting ready to head to Breckenridge to spend a week with a couple of girlfriends that I worked with at Oscar Mayer in Perry. One of them I grew up with and the other I met at Oscar Mayer and we became fast friends. We are driving out and have no real big plans to do much of anything. I'm taking some scrapbook stuff, books and movies. There is a hot tub at the house where we're staying. My boss is a quad owner of a place in the mountains, so for Christmas he gave me a week to use. I'm looking forward to a week of relaxation and laughter with friends.

Then I come back and work for 3 days and then I'm off again with two other girlfriends from Perry (Deb and Connie). We have been great friends for about 15 years I think. We do lots of girl trips together. We are heading to eastern Iowa/western Illinois to Nauvoo area. Again, just a relaxing journey..no big plans just head east and see what there is to see. We are hoping to maybe see some fall colors...but may be just a bit early for that. But that's OK, cuz that wasn't the plan anyway, we just wanted to get away for a long weekend...just us girls.

Well, that about does it for now. Will take some pics at Breckenridge and try to post when I get back.

Gentelmen, start your engines!!

We are going to be among the crazy NASCAR fans at the track in Newton tomorrow. I sure hope that the weather cooperates with us. We are going to try to be at the track by 8am and beat the worst of the crowds trying to get in. Just hope everyone isn't thinking the same as us. We are going to take our grill and do some tailgating while waiting. I'm also taking a book, crossword puzzles and sudoku puzzles to work on...in case it's raining in the morning when we get there.

I'm really pumped to see this race. It will be a long day, but a great one I'm sure.

More when I get home...

It's a girl...Bella is her name

We got us a new 1 year old papered black lab for FREE yesterday. Someone took her to some of Russ' friends for them to give to a good home and we are the lucky ones to get her. She turned one in May. Her name is Isabella Black. She is papered/registered, but we will be getting her spayed. We still have Garth and he will be 11 in September, so there is a 10 year age difference. So far Garth has been OK with her, but she did get on his back yesterday and with his arthritic hips, it must have hurt and he yipped at her. So far she is being kept separately out of the pen. Russ is going to divide the football size pen into two until after we get her fixed. Then we'll see how they do being in there together. She is a pretty good dog. She knows some commands but doesn't 'hold' them for very long. I may have to have the gal that 'gave' her to us help me a bit. She trains lots of dogs, so I'm sure she can give me some pointers. I want Bella to have better manners than Garth. She's a girl you know, so she needs to act like a lady.

Well, I just wanted to share our new addition with you. I'll try to get a closer picture of her to post. She has the cutest little tilt of her head. You can kind of see it in this picture.

Made Lemonade..

Well, the old air conditioner was installed on Friday and it WORKS. It was SOOO much cheaper to use this one..rather than have a new one installed. My folks came up on Friday afternoon and they stayed Friday night and into Saturday to help me get TONS of stuff pulled out for a garage sale next weekend. We have a 6 x 12 foot trailer that is practically full right now. We really got a lot accomplished. I don't use my desk top computer any more, so I cleared that desk off and am getting rid of that. So then I could rearrange the 'computer' room. It looks so much nicer now that it's not as crowded.

I hope the garage sale is a success. My goal is to make $100. Anything over that is a big bonus. We have a recliner to sell, computer desk, lots of baby clothes, snow blower and a lot of miscellaneous. So here's to a profitable garage sale.

The weather has been so nice that even though the AC if fixed I haven't needed it. With highs in the 70's...who would think that this is mid July. Let's hope that this great weather streak holds off until the garage sale is over next weekend.

Well, wanted to post a postive post for a change. Hope everyone has a good upcoming week. Will be kind of busy for me. Going to try to get the trailer pulled over to Boone on Tuesday evening, going to Indiana with Russ on Wednesday and then hope to leave work a bit early on Thursday and have Friday off for Garage Sale day...

More LEMONS!!!

Well, if it's not one thing...it's another. Our A/C went out on Monday evening. Had a tech guy come out and tell me that our compressor is shot. So now need to buy a new unit. We actually had the old one from the old house that we tore down when we put our house in. That unit was only 5 years old when we had it removed. I'm glad that we had someone who knew what they were doing pull it out..cuz think we may actually be able to use it to replace the crapped out one. That would be a switch...good luck!! What's that?

I'm trying to get things pulled out for a garage sale on July 24 and 25 at a friend's house in Boone. My folks were going to come up earlier this week and spend a couple days with me getting things pulled and loaded in the trailer..but with no air...we postponed until this coming Friday and Saturday when it's supposed to only be in the 70's.

Life has sure thrown lots of curve balls at me lately. I'm ready for life to get easier...any day now.

When life gives you lemons...

Wow, things can change in a heartbeat. Russ left his job the later part of May and didn't have another job lined up. So to say the least things have been very stressful for me. I'm happy to report that as of next Monday he will be starting a new job. I am so in hopes that this one works out. He needs to find a job where he can stay and be relatively happy.

I put my folks' motorhome on Craigslist -- since we were 'holding' it up at the farm. We just sold it yesterday--Happy Father's Day Dad!! Mom and Dad took less than what they wanted, but they got cash and we are done with that process. People wanted a new motorhome for the low price that was being asked. Very frustrating. So I got to where when people called, I didn't disuade them, but reminded them that it was 31 years old. The people that ended up with it are perfect. He and his father are fixer uppers. The wife is tickled to have something that is old and the grandkids don't have to fear for their life if they track in a little dirt or something. We hope that they get many years of enjoyment out of it.

Summer has hit us full force today..it's in the 90's with a heat index of over 100 degrees! I don't like it when we don't get a nice easy transition into summer. But mother nature rarely checks with me before she does what she wants to do...darn it.

I am planning on going on a short road trip with some Perry girlfriends in September. I think we're heading to eastern Iowa and over into Nauvoo Illinois. Some place we've never been before. This should be a laid back kind of trip. Just enjoy the sights and don't work off a planned schedule of events. My kind of vacation.

So wish Russ luck on his new job. One of these days he'll find one he can stick with..but next time I hope he has that lined up before he quits!!

Just a quick update

Not much to report. Russ surprised me by being home this past weekend. I had gone to Perry on Friday night to go to the dance recital and stayed at the folks' house. Then on Saturday I met up with some friends in Madrid to do the city wide garage sales. Found a few things I couldn't live without! When I got close to home I could see a big red truck (semi) in the driveway and Russ was out on my rider mowing. He had already finished up his part and was doing my part, bless his heart. He had actually gotten home on Friday afternoon, but knew that I was busy so didn't bug me. He just got busy doing lots of stuff around the farm.

I had stopped by Earl May on my way home to get him some tomato plants and hopefully get me a sensation lilac. Well, got the tomatoes but they didn't have a sensation lilac that wasn't $50, so decided to go without for now.

Russ and I worked in the garden and got the pole beans, tomatoes and onions planted. Preened really well around them hoping to help cut down on weeds. We also planted them in a way that he can get the tiller down the rows easily also.

He also helped me in the front flower bed. It hadn't had a lot done to it once I saw that HUGE snake last year out by that flower bed. The snake took a trip, but you just never know who else might be hanging around! So I wanted Russ' help in case 'the big one' showed up. We got the flower bed under control without mishap. I forgot how nice it can look. I still need to get out there and do a little more to it. I have an old bathtub (not clawfoot) in that flower bed. I think I'm just going to plaster it with marigold seed tonight and see how that goes. Once I get the rest of the bed under control, I can also preen it to help with the weeds. I also have a a white lace plant that got winter killed a couple of winters ago that I need to get out of there. I think I may try to put a clematis in its place. I just love clematis plants.

We met my folks in Boone at Godfathers for pizza buffet on Mother's Day. It was nice that Russ was home for this as well. Mother's got to eat for $1.99...so I was a mother yesterday. I didn't feel well, so didn't even eat the $1.99 worth.

I have cut wayyyy back on my caffeine and I think that's the cause of my headaches. That and the fact that I snore and grind my teeth at night. I bought a mouth guard that I have worn off and on, but I think that actually makes my jaw not aligned so that gives me pains in the morning too. I tell you what, getting old really sucks.

Last year I had several goldfinch hanging around our feeder and when it got cold we had another kind of bird hanging out, so I bought song bird food and used that all winter and we had birds at our feeder throughout the whole winter. Now this spring we have enjoyed 3 different kinds of woodpeckers, 2 male goldfinch, 1 female goldfinch, a male and female cardinal and some chipping sparrows. There is one more breed but I can't think of the name right now. The female cardinal has a nest in our forsythia bush right under my bedroom window and it has 3 eggs in it. I'm anxious for the little ones to hatch and hope that they live and hang around as well.

I have really enjoyed the feeder. Just have to keep up on the water in the bird bath, because I noticed when I don't keep it full for them, they tend to leave for a day or two and I don't want them to find a better place to hang out. Now I'm just anxious to see if we get any orioles this year. We had a few last year..so hope we have a few this year. They are so striking in color. I guess it doesn't take much to entertain me, does it?

Back from our trip

We had a really good time on our trip to Louisiana. We left on Tuesday, April 21 around 1. We made it to Carthage MO before we decided to stop for the night. My dad doesn't like us to drive after dark, so we stopped well before then. Grabbed a quick bite to eat and then to the hotel room.

The Econo Lodge where we stayed had a great breakfast bar for us to indulge in before we left on Wednesday morning. We were on the road by 7. Made it down to Dan's at 2:30. It was 91 degrees there!! When we stopped for a bite of lunch I asked to use their restroom so I could take my sweatpants off and put shorts on! I was hot...but it felt good to have warm sunshine on us.

Dan lives right on Lake D'Arbonne in Farmerville LA. He has such a nice little place. He has done a lot to fix it up. He says it was kind of a dump when he first bought it, but has really done a great job of fixing it up. He had lots of help from Ramona with this project as well.

Dan, Dad and I took a boat ride one morning before the winds picked up and put white caps on the water. We also took lots of car rides with Dan being the escort. He took us to Farmerville, Downsville and Monroe to see the 'sights'. Dad grew up down there, but things have changed so much, he didn't remember much.

We went to the Albritton Reunion on Saturday. There were about 60 there. Dad had 12 other brothers and sisters. Two of those died as infants. There are 6 still livng. Five of those were at the reunion. The one that didn't come lives in Florida and is going to Louisiana for her class reunion later this summer, and didn't want to make the trip twice.

Lots and Lots and Lots of cousins there. I never did know very many of them. We used to go down to Louisiana every other year for Christmas but we decided on the way home that we must have stopped doing that in early jr high days because we don't remember some of the kids as they were growing up. The ones we remember most are the ones that are closer to our age. There was SO much food at this reunion. Someone even brought gator. I kept to things I knew, like fried chicken and ham balls that Mom took.

We left on Monday morning to head home via Smithville MO where Christy, my god daughter lives. I wanted to see Trevor and baby Addison. We got there around 5:30 and met up with them for a Chinese supper at 6. Addison has her fussy spells each evening..and we were witness to it. I dropped Mom and Dad off at the hotel and then I went over to Christy's for a bit. Then back to the hotel. Wanted to get an early start to get HOME.

Up and on the road on Tuesday by shortly after 7. So got folks home around 11 and then I got home around 12:30. We really had a great time. I hope we can do it again before dad gets the point where he won't travel.

Scrapbooking accomplishment

I finally have my Hawaii album about 99% done. I hope to finish it up this coming weekend. I have the front page to do and then mat the journaling pages that I have..then I'M DONE.

This coming weekend we are scrapbooking all day at a friend's church in Des Moines. I am hoping to finish up the HI album and work on some other layouts.

Soon I will need to start my Las Vegas album. That will be a fun one to work on as well. Haven't even gone through the pics yet to see what all I want to scrapbook.

But right now I have other projects that need to be scrapbooked. I could also be making some cards. You can never have too many home made cards on hand, can you?

Some day I'll take some snapshots of some of the Hawaii pages and post a few here. I'm just not real good at getting those kind of snapshots to turn out very good. But I'll give it a try and post a few.

Just checking in...

It's been awhile since I posted. Not much going on. My face is 99.9% better now. Still have a pink spot on my cheek that is very tender. It feels like a burn that is healing. Kind of hard to explain..but I'm sure it will heal in time. Just have to remember when washing my face to not scrub too hard in that area or it hurts like HE**.

Getting geared up to take my folks down to Louisiana to visit my brother and attend the Albritton (maiden name) Family Reunion. My dad was one of 13 kids. There are only about 7-8 of them left living. But there are a slew of Albritton's down there.

My brother moved down there in 2007 and loves it. He lives on a lake front. We will be staying with him. I'm really looking forward to mom and dad seeing where he lives. The last time we came home from TX through LA I went over there, but Mom and Dad were busy and didn't make it over there.

So this time we will stay with him. Just going to spend a few days down there. Two days to drive it, a few days there and two days to drive home. I am so in hopes that the weather down there is better than the weather we are having here in Iowa.

Ugly Face!!

Not sure what happened to my cheek while we were out in Las Vegas..but I ended up looking like I had been hit with an ugly stick!!

On Tuesday night while out there, my right cheek had a wierd sensation going on. I would rub, then scratch, then put ice on it and nothing I did seemed to help. But Wednesday morning I had some sort of blister thing going on.

Russ took me to a pharmacist and he wasn't sure what it was, but recommended putting Neosporin with pain relief on it and taking 3 advil every 6 hours. So that's what I did for the duration of our time out there.

Each day it got progressively worse. I called the Dr in Nevada IA on our way home from the airport to see if I could get in. They got me in that afternoon. He wasn't real sure what it was but gave me a prescription for antibiotics to take. But by that night my eye was pretty much swollen shut and my face just kept swelling, so Russ took me over to Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames to the Emergency Room. That was around 10pm. We got home around 4am!! That Dr didn't know what it was either but took a culture to see if that would show what it was. He prescribed a different antiobiotic and a virile med just in case it was something virile. He recommended that I go to see a Dermatologist on Monday if I wasn't showing significant signs of improvement.

Well Monday came around and I didn't look any better, so the Dermatologist got me in that morning. He thought it was staph or strep infection...but did another culture. He said to keep taking the meds and let him know if I didn't see improvement by the time the meds were done. Each day it got a tad bit better and after 10-14 days, it looked a lot better.

Now after 2 weeks all I have left is a small scab on my cheek about the size of a pencil eraser. I think that is the spot where it all started. So I'm letting it take its time in healing and the scab coming off. I sleep with vaseline on it each night. The culture came back with no signs of strep or staph...so it's a big mystery what got me in Las Vegas. But the saying that 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas'...did not apply to me. What ever happened to me in Vegas followed me home in a big way!

We still had a great time. Other than me looking like someone that should be a star in a freak show, it didn't slow me down or keep me from doing anything. We went up to the strip on our last night to go up the Eiffel Tower and they took a 'professional' picture of the 4 of us. I leaned into Russ so my face would be hidden on that side. Not something you want a 'keepsake' picture of.

But again, all in all we had a fabulous time with Mark and Deb along. What great friends. We laughed and laughed and laughed. We all have such fun together.

NASCAR in Las Vegas

Here are a couple of pictures from the track in Vegas. The one with the race car was actually taken on Friday during Sprint Cup Qualifying. The other one was on Friday night at the Speed stage while they were doing their live show. That was a long day but the weather was nice and we had a great time. Got out there early afternoon and watched the qualifying, then shopped the driver's trailers and then headed over to the Speed Stage for the show. It was wierd seeing these guys live and not on TV. We had to keep working our way up but we ended up not too far from the front of the stage. We were on the TV show. I TiVo'd it at home and can see us really well. Deb and I both had lime green jackets on so that helped to find us easliy in the crowd.

The race was on Sunday and it was a sunny day. We all got a bit sunburnt but nothing that a little lotion didn't soothe. We used headphones during the race so we could here some of the drivers or listen to MRN radio. We bounced back and forth. Heard a few f bombs on the driver's channels...OOPS. Our seats were between turn 3 and turn 4...could have been better but we still had a great time. Lots of walking for sure but again the weather was great so we didn't mind the walking. Just took our time.

Neon lights...here we come

We leave for our Las Vegas vacation tomorrow. Another couple that went out with us when we got married is going with us again this time. We are going to the NASCAR race on Sunday. We are also going to go out on Friday evening and try to be at the Speed TV stage when they record the Trackside show that night.

We are really excited and looking forward to this winter get away with friends. Now if the weather will just hold out until we can get off the ground and out of Iowa, we'll be happy travelers. We don't fly out until about 1pm...so anticipate what/if any precipitation we get will be in the form of rain.

I've offered to take money from friends with us to double for them..but have not had any takers on that yet!! We're not big gamblers, so lots of fun sightseeing adventures in the plans for us. The resort where we're staying, Grandview Las Vegas, is south of the strip a few miles, but we have a rental car and Russ did great driving last time we were out there, so don't expect any problems this time either.

We have a neighbor doing pet duty and keeping an eye on the place. I always miss my boys when I'm gone, but they will be fine.

Hope to get lots of great pics while out there..so will try to post a few upon my return.

Scrapbook weekend fun

There ended up being 16 of us at the crop in Des Moines for our Night O.W.L.S. retreat weekend. Lots of laughs. Lori's birthday was Sunday, so we did a surprise birthday cake for her on Saturday night. Some of us went across the way to eat supper and those that stayed behind (as a favor to me) then got the cake out and 'splashed' her area with confetti. Lori was really surprised. I'm glad that she was. It was hard to keep the secret because I talk to Lori pretty much every day and had to stop myself a couple of times to not say anything about the cool cake that she was getting. The cake turned out fantastic. The cake was done by a gal that has a cake business in RR Perry and is my cousin and a friend to a couple of the scrapbook gals. She really did a great job with the scrapbook theme....but more so because it was YUMMY!

We had lots of challenges throughout the weekend and many gals got lots done. Some friends of mine have loaned me their Twilight series books...and I took book 2 with me...so I cheated a bit and spent some time in the room reading off and on. Great series so far. I'm now on book 3 and can hardly wait to finish that so I can get to book 4 and see how it ends.

Anyway, the weekend was a lot of fun as usual. It's something that I look forward to every year. Several of us kind of work on this throughout the year coming up with themes, prizes, challenges, games and things for the goodie bags.

It's really interesting to see what everyone is working on. We had one gal working on decorating a clock face. Some worked on cards and mini albums. It's the kind of a weekend where you just bring what you want to work on...no rules..just have fun.

Now I get to look forward to going to Las Vegas next week to the NASCAR race on March 1. I'll be sure to post pics of that. I can hardly wait.

Fun Weekend Ahead

This is our annual scrapbook retreat weekend in Des Moines, IA. There are usually 15-20 of us ladies that get together and scrapbook the whole weekend. During that time though there are games, challenges and lots of goodies to nibble on. And oh so much laughter. Someone always comes up with a real goodie. I think last year it was Jenni and her Captain Jack (or some other captain) imitation..with the BIG mustache and stance to go with it. Too funny. I think there may have been liquor involved in that event. Some times things get a bit crazy late on Saturday night.

I am so looking forward to this weekend with the girls. It's always a lot of fun not to mention I usually get a lot accomplished as well. Right now I'm working on my Hawaii pictures from last February. We went to HI right after the retreat. I'm hoping to get those finished up and get them in order so I can put them in the album soon.

Our theme this year is Pirates. I see some eye patches being put to work over the weekend. Hope no one has to walk the plank.

May have some pictures to share next week. It is also supposed to be nice this weekend, so that will be nice as well. Can maybe get up and walk outside for a bit if need be.

Meet the Ford family

I went down to see new baby Addison this past weekend. She is such a doll! She was born on 1.5.09 so is less than 3 weeks old in this picture. Trevor just turned 4 in December.

I snapped this picture right before I left on Sunday. They were getting ready to go to church. I had a great time while there and enjoyed spending time with both kids, but gave Addison lots of hugs and kisses.

It will be a joy to watch these two kids grow up. Trevor calls me Judy but calls Russ "Papa Russ". He kind of had a hard time understanding why Papa Russ was not with me. More than once he wanted to know why he didn't come with me. But I think we finally got him to understand that he was out in his big truck working.

Hopefully, Russ will be able to go with me the next time I venture that way. Trevor so enjoys seeing him.

Some days...

Today I'm having a real hard time coping with life. This morning I just wanted to stay in bed and not even try to come to work. I'm so tired of everything in my life being a struggle. By the time I got out of my YSS Board Meeting last night it had been snowing for an hour and a half. I had thought of staying at a friend's house but decided I'd just go home and take my chances in the morning. It took me about 45 minutes to get to work this morning. It took about 15-20 minutes just to get out of the yard this morning. I'd go 15-20 feet and then start spinning, so I'd back up and then start ahead again. Then I'd spin again, and so on and so on. I had to back all the way from the garage out to the road cuz I knew if I tried to back out and turn around to get headed out I'd never make it. The gravel road was really pretty good. I brought old 30 over and there were all kinds of drifts on the north side of the road (the side I was driving on) and sometimes I had to kind of take my part down the middle and just hope those coming from the other direction would see me and move over.

There were drifts along the north side of the road that were taller than my car. That was really kind of nice since the snow blowing off of those was blowing OVER the car and not onto the road. I just hope that tonight when I get home I can barrel my way into the garage and then we'll just wait and see what tomorrow brings. But I am getting tire of always waiting to see what tomorrow will bring. I want to KNOW what tomorrow will bring.

I don't know if it's me or what but I am SOOOO tired of this winter already. It really has put me in a funk today that I'm finding hard to come out of. Hubby is also not happy with his job and that brings me down as well.

You know that expression that somedays you're the windshield and some days you're the bug...well, today I'm the bug.

Then to hear the forecast for tomorrow really depresses me. They are saying that the HIGH will be BELOW ZERO. Well, that's just plain ridiculous. I called my mom in Texas and said if things didn't get better this winter, that I'd be packing a bag and going south with them for the winter next year! Oh for those retirement years when we can go south and not deal with this CRAP.

Can you tell I'm a big crabby today? Well, I won't go on and on...even though I could. I'll just concentrate on getting busy here at the office.

It's a Girl!!

Well, my God Daughter had her baby girl yesterday morning. So I'm once again an honorary Grandma. Her name is Addison. I think her middle name is Marie, but not 100% certain of that. As soon as I have pictures of her, I'll post one. Christy has sent me pics via the cell phone, but I don't know how to get them from cell phone to computer. So you'll just have to wait. She weighed in at 7 pounds 13 ounces and has a full head of auburn hair. I can hardly wait to get down to MO to see her and give her big kisses and hugs.

Well, just wanted to post a quick update about Addison. More later...

It's a new year

Lots of my friends are coming up with their 'word' for 2009. I can't seem to come up with anything that jumps out at me. I just want 2009 to be a better year for everyone. It seems that my scrapbooking buddies and I have had our share of grief and sorrow in 2008, so I'm hoping that we all have more joy in our lives for 2009. Maybe JOY will be my word for 2009. I would like to find a lot of JOY in all things and for all people.

I'm sure 2009 will be a year of challenges for our country and our economy, but hopefully by this time next year we will see many positive differences.

Here's hoping everyone has a great 2009. Best wishes from the Mersman household.