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Sunday, November 16, 2008

Totally toasted apple brats

Well, I really almost did it today !!Larry went home teaching with Ed Parks after church today. He was kind enough to start the grill for me. I thought I would try to get everything together while Larry was gone.Big mistake !! I went done to put the par-boiled brats on the grill,came back about 7 min. later and POW !!! Flambe,that's o.k. for some very special desserts,not o.k.for brats. I cooked about 18 of them,only 7 were edible.I couldn't get the high flames to go out,even after turning the grill completely off !! There was so much smoke and flames I could hardly see !!Just then the fire sirens went off down the block.I thought for sure the engines were coming to MY house . Oh happy day,they passed me. On the bright side, I probably won't get to use the grill again for a couple of years . I bet I'm grounded.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

We have a new roof...Almost

Have I told you today? Life is Good !! I have a husband who loves me enough to wake up at 4:00 a.m. to drive me to the mega-bus ,down at Union Station. That way I can go on a field trip with Paige to the grocery store. I leave here tues 11/18 at 5:15 a.m. ,arrive in K.C. at 10:30 a.m. just in time for our Hyvee field trip. Oh, the things I will learn !! It's a good thing though, because then on Wed. I will drive back to St.Louis with Jen and her merry band of assorted toddlers, and even a first grader.

Oh! Wasn't I going to tell you about my roof ? This wed. Joe and Travis started on our roof.It is just wonderful !! I picked out a grey brown color that you are all supposed to OH and Ah over. Don't forget !!
All was going well until the weather decided not to cooperate. They worked long into the night with lights on their heads on thurs, only to have it rain on friday. The tarp is back on the roof.Saturday was rainy and cold.Monday will be a brand new day !!A full roof day !! (hopefully) :)

Friday, November 7, 2008

I'm Thankful ...

What a wonderful day! R.J. Lindmark was kind enough to cut wood for us.Us, is Glenda,Karen and me.Glenda and I met Karen after her work today. We went to her house and the "creating" began. We picked out our paper,then painted the blocks. Just a little bit of heaven,playing with my "buddies" .


Glenda and I used the Chocolate brown vinyl and 3 3/4 inch 'base camp' letters on my cricut. It is after 10:00 P.M. We worked on our project about 6 1/2 hours. Karen used 3" chipboard letters which she painted in chocolate. We had a lot of fun using all kinds of embellishments. The best part is they were all different!! Good friends, great supplies and a cold glass of water, life is good !!!!



Mine











Karen's

Friday, October 17, 2008

I'm a Winner!!!

I WON!!! I WON!!!

Two blogs in one day, what do you think? I am sooo excited I have been going to a very fun site. It has the best ideas of things to purchase or make if you're creative enough !!!

I was lucky enough to win one of my faves. It is the Birthday placemat from Two Sisters Ink . The # 22 giveaway. Can't you just see our "You are Special" plate on there? Life IS Good!!!

Belated October Update

It's only been 3 MONTHS since I posted on here!!! One might think that I'm a tad bit busy. Well, you're right!! Life happens!! Last week was heavenly, a great visit with Jen, Adam, and our babies. Please notice I said OUR babies. It was Preston's one year birthday. He has grown into such a love. He wants to eat whatever you're eating, so sometimes we have to trick him. We make believe we're eating his food and then he will too. Jen was really industrious, she decided to have a bunch of people over for cupcakes and ice cream. Well, Jen decided to have this affair outside, with a possibility of rain.
All was right with the world, no rain. She invited a few people, like everyone she saw or spoke to. I kept asking,"How many people are you talking to?" Adam and Poppy took out lots of chairs
and set up some borrowed tables. Long story short, it was like a block party!! I will miss the townhomes when they move, I will not miss the traveling to K.C. though. There is a great sense of community, a lot of students, and you can go outside at any given time and find someone to play with!
Preston has been having fun playing with his new toys. Gram got him some great musical toys.
Tommy and Preston have been playing with Grampy's gift, a train table. It's kind of hard to keep Tommy out of the room while Preston is sleeping though. We got him one of those musical activity tables. He stands by it and sometimes pushes it! He'll be walking before we know it! Poppy had fun watching Boomerang on TV. That is one of the kids and Poppy's fave stations.
Of course, Poppy does nap a little. Not to worry though, Paige gets right in his face and screams real loud, "WAKE, UP POPPY." That doesn't make him too happy though. Paige is a delight , she will run up and give you the biggest smooches and smacks. Kelly's lovin' you have to work a little harder for but when you get it it's worth it. Tommy loves his Poppy!! On the other hand, he will make believe he's going to hug me, then he runs the other way!! Life is good!!
Paige's b-day is next week. K.C. , here we come !!
Reza (Traci 's nickname) has not been feeling too well this week. She has had a really bad ear infection. She is still working on the side with sewing her doggy boutique items.
Melanie is crazy with her Masters classes she's taking. She is trying hard to keep her crazy life all together.
Michelle and Dave are enjoying Iowa City . Dave found a piano on "Craig's List". With the help of some buddies, they rented a van and brought it home last night. It's going to be Michelle 's Christmas present. I bet she can't wait to get some of her music up there! It needs tuning badly.
Well, hopefully I've been able to catch you up a little and not bore you to pieces.

Love ya, and remember... LIFE IS GOOD!!!

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Sorry, but we're away from the (home) computer right now...

Saturday, we accompanied Michelle and Dave up to their new place in Iowa City (Coralville, really). For the first half of the trip we followed their U-Haul truck and car dolly. At Hannibal, we went on ahead and dropped off the beagles, Savvy and Jackie at the new condo. Nonnie stayed at the condo with them while I drove to the Cedar Rapids airport and picked up Dave's brother, Brian. He spent 17 hours on the bus for what would have been a 5 or 6 hour trip if taken in a car. Greyhound doesn't go directly from Minneapolis to Cedar Rapids, so they took him to Chicago then to Cedar Rapids. Incidentally, with all the flooding, the bus lines are using the Cedar Rapids airport as a terminal.


While I was picking up Brian, the men from the EQ showed up at 2:00 and everyone was in high gear as we arrived. We think it took about about one hour and thirty minutes. Boxes everywhere! As soon as the men left, we started doing stuff. I put the shelf paper in the cupboards while Brian and Dave worked on the balcony removing the old paint from the doors and drawer fronts. I didn't do a bad job, but the paper (the white bubbly stuff) moves around when you put objects on it. Nonnie and Michelle were working hard, too but I wasn't aware of what they were doing.

We went to Jade Sisters for dinner. It's unassuming on the outside, but very classy (for its price range) on the inside. They have Japanese, Chinese and Thai syle foods. Dave, Michelle and Brian ordered sushi. What a great place! We had fantastic fare at nearly lunch prices. It was there that I discovered that Coralville water is not terribly palatable.

(Sunday) Today we stayed just for the first part of church. Dave and Michelle went back later for their first meeting with their new leader. There's lots more work to do, so today we did more moving and putting away. I tried to stay out of the way but did stuff as Nonnie and Michelle requested. Nonnie made a great dinner of pork loin, kluski and veggies. Thanks, Nonnie. After dinner, more moving and putting away and other activity. At ten thirty, everyone is headed to bed and I to the computer. I'm done, now. Good night.

P.S. I won't be posting the photos Jen requested until we get back home.

--Poppy (not Nonnie)

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Tic Tic tic...

Time's a wastin' and nothing has gone into this blog for a while. I thought I would type this note and tell everyone that we haven't forgotten about the blog. Just so you know, I'm a computer professional and I don't get real mushy like Nonnie and our girls do. So... I decided that I will often write about what I know... geeky stuff. And... I'll mention my family now and then, too. It is EXTREMELY likely that one day you'll come here and wonder where the heck you landed. If so, just skip down to one of Nonnie's posts or surf over to Jen, Mel, Michelle's or Reza's blog.

I'm supposed put everyone's photos here tonight, but I'm not going to do it this minute. BTW, I'm also a professional procrastinator. I did beat procrastinating about controlling my appetite. I lost 30 lbs in the last two months. I'm attending Weight Watchers at Work and I got my 10% award two weeks ago along with a 25# award. Before and after pics? I'll get to that eventually...


Adios for now,
--Poppy
(It says Nonnie below, but it's me. The grandkids started calling me that, so now the whole family does.)

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Life is Good

Life is Good !!!! That is my motto, words to live by. I knew someone who said a lttle more than that, they said "life is good, and then you die." I like the "life is good" part!!

I have had a really busy week. Last Friday, Dave had surgery on his herniated disc.
All went well; he was joking with the nurses. Some of them liked him so much, they hugged him before he left the hospital. HMMM, maybe he should be a politician instead of going to Graduate school for Bio-Medical Engineering. As soon as he was out of recovery we were able to see him. Right away he was able to notice that he didn't have shooting pain going down his right leg. That's a great sign !!!

Recovery has been a little harder. He is back at work and well on the road to recovery. The reason Michelle and Dave have been staying with us is they are both broken. Michelle still has Vertigo problems. She never knows from minute to minute how she will feel. She also doesn't know what will trigger it. They now believe this is something called "Vestibular Migranes." She has had to go off certain medications. Worse than that, she's had to go off a whole food group, CHOCOLATE. Can you imagine that?? The doctor also wants her to avoid processed foods. Isn't everything processed to a certain degree? Well, next week I take her to Vestibluar Therapy. Let's all wish her well. It is certainly no fun to live this way.

We also have two other houseguests, Savvy and Jacks, their beagles. They love Poppy, they try to follow him downstairs. He likes to sit on the floor with them and pet them. They are cunning dogs, they look like they can't move very quickly, but Watch Out!! When they get a scent of something, they FLY!! More then once they have wound up at the cemetery on the OTHER side of the fence--down at the very bottom of the cemetery, you know where there's even more mud, more muck, all in all, just not very fun.

All I want to say is I've married the man of my dreams. In June, we will be married 34 years. Crazy years? Yes!! Exciting years? Yes!! Loving years? Yes!!
I have married a good man. There are lots of extra things for him to do right now, and he's doing almost all of it without grumbling. He is a good caretaker. That's one of the reasons I love him so much.

As I said, "Life is Good."

Friday, May 23, 2008

Here I am Sitting by This cComputer

O.K. Here I am sitting by this computer, I have dishes to do, Dave to take to the hospital for his Back Surgery and I'm sitting here trying to begin the wonderful world of blogging, I am not as clever as Jen with her blog,as enlightening as Mel and her blog,as creative as Resa with her blog, as sweet as Michelle and her blog,or as prophetic as Sparky (that's Karen Lindmark) for those who don't know her code name. Since I am not any of these things (yet) I can be hopeful can't I ? I am the oldest so I'm something. Where do I begin? On Wednesday 5/21/08 I turned 57 years old,Can that be possible ? I don't feel 57. I certainly don't act 57. Yes I DO look 57, I have angel hair. I have aches and pains. My body tells me when there's rain a foot. Have I painted a good picture for you?? Good!!! I like to use lots of exclamation points because that's how I feel. Everythings important !! Life is Good !!!

That reminds me ,back to my birthday !! I met with my friends at Sparky's house (Karen) Spunky was there too!! Aha, you don't know who Spunky is yet? That's Glenda !! We cropped , That's scrapbooking. I worked on a two page spread for Paige's " Spring Fling" at her pre-school.

Am I Capitalizing too many words? Oh well, get over it, it's my first blog. What do you want Prefection?? Then don't look here, you ain't gonna get it. We went to lunch at Applebees. I was good, I had the Cajun Tilapia only 6 points ,thank you very much. Then the chocolate raspberry cake only 4 points. Sparky and Spunky weren't as good as I was, BUT I was the only one who had dessert, by the way I ate every bit of my 4 points, I just about licked the plate to remove the raspberry sauce, I showed restraint I did not lick the plate merely the SPOON !!!
My friends ordered me a Cricut cartridge, Paper Dolls!! are we going to have fun or what!!! It won't be here for maybe another month but oh baby!! Sparky also gave me a plaque, is that spelled right? It says "Life is Good...enjoy the little things" and I do, Kelly, Paige, Tommy and Preston, W.W. points, brads, buttons, etc. I could go on forever you know.

I also rec'd designer eyelets and snaps. Spunky gave me wonderful paper packs, stickers,and ribbon for my pages. I am excited!! I have great friends and they made my day.

I will be putting pictures of my babies and my scrapbooking when I remember what Sparky taught me. Enough for now. I don't want your brains to Explode. I love you all!! Comment on this so I know you care, really care. How's that for guilt? I'm the Queen !!!