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.