Catching up the blog, bullet-style

I hate it when I get so far behind and there really has been things happening. Ugh!

I had already decided that I would spend my lunch hour trying to catch up August before September set in. I had also decided that it would be a bullet-point/ pictures post because of lots to say and not much time to say it in. Ironically, my timehop showed me a blogpost I did last year, on this same date, and lo and behold, I was doing the same thing, in bullets, no less.

Anyway, we have had SO MUCH going on the last 10 days and I really want to get it preserved, so, here goes....

• On Friday evening August 21st, my friend, Karen came for a sit on the porch. It was so good to catch up with her. She is an operating room nurse, so I got to hear lots of really neat stories. Glad she likes to do that, because as much as it's needed, that would have to be one of those things I would say I probably couldn't do. We had a wonderful visit and what I thought was actually about an hour was really 3, definitely one of the nights where the quote from the end of Stand By Me applies, about not ever having friends like you had when you were twelve. I am so very glad Karen is one of those friends and look forward to her stopping by again!

• On August 22nd, we headed to Indiana for a family day, we stopped at a great little hole-in-the-wall diner in Vincennes for breakfast, took in the farmer's market there and then headed south. On our way out of town, we saw the Military museum, which intrigued the guys, and since it was really just one of those, we are going to do whatever we want days, we stopped. 3 hours later, we were back on the road. After taking a detour to see where the watermelon bus was going, we headed to Santa Claus, IN. We took in the museum there as well as the post office, church and the Christmas store. I got a belated birthday present in that Andrew found me a Willow Tree holding a gray cat.-- Perfect.

• We then went on to Owensboro KY to one of our favorite BBQ joints, Moonlite Inn. Always good, it was great! After making a quick trip to Harbor Freight and Menards, we were homeward bound. Great day!

• On the 23rd, we had a fish fry and carry-in at our church. David and Leslie Heath caught the fish (tons of it) and Mark Ervin fried it up, it was wonderful!

• We didn't have church that night, so we got to start preparing for the real work ahead of us the next day. Robert was on vacation, so Andrew and I both took the day off and we put down 5.5 tons (yes that is 11,000 lbs!) of rock around two sides of our house. This was my real birthday present from Andrew; my mom also had given me money for my b-day and it went to buy some of the barrier and trim.
  

• Monday was also Robert's birthday, his only present, which he asked for MONTHS ago, a pair of Ray-Bans. The main reason he wanted them, and wanted these in particular? There was a pair of them in my dad's truck when Robert first inherited it. My dad never had a beard, but I know by looking at Robert what he would have looked like if he did. The glasses are really nice.
  

 

• On the 27th, I went for my second week of band, we almost doubled in size, going from 6 to 11 and there was another flautist! and I was no longer the oldest one there! Double good things!

• On the 29th, I attended a two hour introduction to some different fitness classes being offered by our local Dance Hall Studio, what fun....I'm won two free classes of Holy Yoga; a regular class and a restorative class. Taking the regular one tomorrow night, the restorative is offered the 4th Tuesday, I thought I was going to be gone for it, but I just realized, I'm actually out of town on the 5th Tuesday, it's all good.

These were kinda long bullets, but oh well,

Here's some shorter ones.

 

• In my own "recommit to fit", I have lost 5 lbs in August and logged 28.2 miles in morning walks.

• I am walking 2 miles on workdays, 1 mile on Saturday and hopefully 3 mile on Sundays starting this coming Sunday.

• We get to start LIHEAP October 1, normally , we start September 1, but better late than never, especially this year.

That's it, all caught up, bring on September!

48

When I was a kid, I never really imagined being 48, or more practical to imagine, 50. I truly believed something would happen to me and I would die young. I have no clue why I thought that but I truly couldn't imagine life beyond a year or two ahead, especially before Andrew and Robert. I think, and some of you will think this is weird, I was more prepared to die then than now. I remember very specifically telling a friend of mine that dying wasn't a big deal; Heaven would be fantastic and I would be with the Lord, here was okay, but there would be great. (That particular friend was agnostic, and I lost track of him for a few years, then I heard he had passed away--his services were in a church, so I PRAY that means he had changed his mind about God). And then I met Andrew.....and started those fantasies of growing old together. I still am most definitely not afraid to die, and I still know I will go to Heaven, but there are days that I want to see the next page before I go. I'm at that point. I hope I get to see my son married, and happy, ( and living in the blessed house that is going on 2+ years in the remaking). I am even starting to be hopeful of seeing grandkids someday.

Anyway.......yesterday was number 48. I started out the day with a mile walk, the 5th one of the week, today, I upped it to 1.5. We went to church, went to lunch at my cousin's nephew's place and then to my mom's and I helped, or supervised or something, while the guys laid new linoleum on her back porch. We got done in time to get home for a little rest before church last night. It was a good day, made golden by the fact that my mom made me a carrot cake. My favorite.

We really started celebrating Saturday, as Andrew needed to go to Evansville to pick up a flooring order. That meant we were going to be in the same town as the Acropolis, and I thought it was an opportune time to take advantage of a date night. I love working date nights like that. I love watching Andrew live his dream and being there beside him as he does. It was good to just be in the van together and visit for a while, we even stopped and got ice cream cones in Sumner on our way home, just a fun afternoon.

I had a yard sale that morning, my goal was $200 and I made $198, not bad, not bad at all.

So today, I go back to work and got to celebrate one more time. The girls I work with all brought in goodies for breakfast this morning. I love my job, and half of the reason I do is because of the people I work with. When they can make a Monday morning, especially the first one back from vacation, feel special, they are good-- really good. I also had presents waiting on me, conference calls just got a lot more fun because Sheila got me my own little dodads that I can fiddle with while listening.
(I tried to upload a picture, with a no-go, will try later)



So, now I have two weeks of whirlwind, let's see if 48 can keep up like 47 did, my bet is on a yes. We have an AWANA conference tomorrow, church Wednesday, Band Thursday, media night Friday AND a friend is coming to sit a spell on the porch, Saturday we are taking our family day to southern Indiana, (and Owensboro KY for some Moonlite BBQ). Sunday we are having a fish fry at church and Monday, we are all taking the day off and hauling Rock into the spaces around our house. Next Tuesday night, I am having a GNO with some friends, then Church and Band again and the 28th I have nothing going on.....yet......gonna be fun.

So, it's a little after 9 and I better be hitting the hay.....Here's to getting to 49.

Happy Monday,

July in the Rearview

In a lot of ways, I would have to rack July up as a bad month, a month where as a State, we are exactly where we were a month ago and even to me, seeing the side of it that I do, there seems to be a lot of people not thinking there is much being affected by not having a State budget; when in reality, it's been a rough month for a lot of people. Many of our fellow agencies have already closed their doors, it is sad and scary; and as scary as it is for the ones of us who work for these programs, and our own jobs; I don't think there is a one of us that isn't feeling sorry for ourselves, we are scared to death for our clients. We have been told not to really expect anything before September now as far as a budget. We still have Federal LIHEAP, as the Governor seems to be pointing out to everyone he can; unfortunately, at the moment, we have no authorization to run that program because the appropriations are tied to having a budget. We are pushing forward, planning on October 1, but at this point, I can't say with any certainty that we will get to start then. All of this tied up in politics when it shouldn't even be there. Anyway, that's workwise. As far as personal life, things have been better, thankfully. I started out the month with a concert in the park with the Robinson Community band. I decided that I would join the LTC band in the fall because this really was the equivalent of a really good massage for me, as far as clearing my mind. That starts on August 20th. I was in the LTC band before, specifically, three quarters in 1984- I was in high school. So, here it is, 30 plus years later and I am going back. At that time, I sat second chair to Ann Taylor, I so admire her, and wish she was here to play too. She moved away many years ago and I do see pictures from Joanie, I am very sure she still plays. So, I am starting back to college again, however, I am going to be officially enrolled in two different colleges. I was needing a class or two on quickbooks to help me do Andrew's books. So, I am taking two online QuickBooks classes though OCC. So, I guess I'm "dual-enrolled", lol. Not exactly like some of the kids I have known who would go to EIU all day and OCC of a night, but it sounds good. I will have 30 credits when I am done, unfortunately, I am still a long way from an actual Associates because the classes are all over the place. Andrew's business is going well, July was our busiest month yet. We had a renewal of the website that he uses to figure his prices last week, so we realized we started talking about this a year ago. Wow, it has been lots of ups and downs, and praying we were doing what God wanted us to. I had told people for years they had to have more faith and God has tested me first hand this year, as there have been times this year that I didn't see how on earth it was going to work out and He let things fall into place at just the right time that it made me feel like He was just putting His hand on my head and saying, "I am in control, not you." I'm afraid He has had to do that more than once. July and the beginning of August has been big for Robert too. He not only got his big white diesel, but he and his dad got floor laid in the living room of his house. This is big. The last two weeks they have gotten up at 4:30 on Saturday morning, and headed up to beat the heat. I get my stuff done here and then when they get home, I can have Andrew for part of the day. Robert normally has other things going on. Robert also celebrated two years in his job this last week. He is still loving every minute of it. He is truly living the dream. When you kid is happy, you feel successful, no matter what else is going on. So, looking forward to August, hopefully bringing better things for work. If you read the last post and follow me on fb, we have decided to really TRY to make a trip to NYC in December 2016. It will be our 25th wedding anniversary and we are very used to most of the road out there. From here to Harrisburg, PA, we travelled every 6 weeks from the time Robert was born until we moved to Pontiac IL, almost 2 years later. I am taking a week of vacation starting the 10th. I am so excited that I am starting my vacation by seeing my friend Sally, (also mentioned in my last post!) My mom has some projects and I am having a yard sale the 15th so it will be a busy week. On our July 4th family trip, we decided to take a family day every 6 weeks. Our next one will be August 22nd. We are headed to southern Indiana. We are going to those places you pass on the way to Holiday World and vow to go back to some other time. We also realized we will only be 35 minutes from Owensboro, KY, which means a trip to Moonlite BBQ! This is the Saturday between mine and Robert's birthdays so we thought this sounded perfect. I should post pictures, but I'm lazy and it's time to get to church. Happy Sunday, and Happy August!