Late summer randomness

These are the two cool hanging planters I got at Ikea. I had some herbs in them, but they promptly died. I don't think they got quite enough light... so now I have some lower light tolerant houseplants in them. Please ignore the mess on the porch...



I have a few peppers! Yay!

Pretty much all that's left in my garden: tomatoes, peppers, and some herbs.

My lantanas are doing great! They're supposed to be pretty drought tolerant, and they seem to handle the part shade well.

The horrid rabbits ate all of my pansies. All of them. So they aren't in this picture, but I did have lots of snapdragons and zinnias and a few day lilies. I think the tree grew because it's definitely more shady back there than last year!

I canned pears Monday. Woot woot. Only about 10 pints, but it took forever. I am not a fast pear peeler. I love summer. And freshly canned produce. Although, it makes for really long days when I don't start until after work and after supper....

Blessings.

Come, Ye Thankful People, Come

So. Another busy weekend. And I was afraid I was coming down with something all week so we did nothing on Friday night. And I went to bed early. Which is a good thing, because the rest of the weekend was crazy busy and emotional and I don't know if I could have made it.

Saturday morning I got up and went to get my next quilt block and bought some paint for the front door. Then I went home and went back to bed and didn't get up again until... well, until I felt rested... it wasn't technically morning anymore. :) So fabulous. We maybe had breakfast burritos with fresh salsa for lunch... yum. And then I painted the front door because it needed it and it was bugging me. It was covered in scratches and chips; it looks like at one point the door was painted a robins egg blue. Hopefully the siding was a different color with a blue door... right now it's yellow with grey trim... Anyway. It looks much better, so I can rest easy now.

We had supper at the condos that night with everybody before Jakey's testimony. I've seen my cousins a lot lately- it's great! Then we went over to church... I was a little nervous... I always am. You would think that by now Shelly and I would know better than to sit by each other- us plus nervousness plus emotional-ness plus our tendency to find slightly funny things absolutely hilarious is not a good combination. So there we were up front with Mom and Grandma... Dad's cousin-in-law Rod was here from Lester... asked Jake something about if something died would he dig up the remains (trying to get at not digging up his old buried self)... to which Jakey replied- 'certainly.' Um. Yeah, he used to have an entire collection of dead things in various states of decay, so when he said that we lost it. Mom, Shelly and I were cracking up. In the front row. The bench was definitely shaking. Wow. Thankfully we all got it together before we made too big of a scene.

Afterwards a bunch of people went out to the farm to sing... and eat... so we went too. Good times, but we stayed too late. When we got home, Bob had a little bit of trouble getting the door open. I guess the paint wasn't totally dry around the edges... oops. :) And I discovered that I forget to turn the dryer on so our sheets and towels were all still wet. *sigh*

Sunday was the baptism and then we went home and were pretty much bums for the rest of the evening. And I didn't want to get up this morning, but that's nothing new...

Blessings.

And the livin' is easy...

Tuesday night I got to hang out with some of my old w-ton friends for the first time in ages. It was a lot of fun to see them all again. We ate supper at Avanti's... and talked.... and talked... and talked. And then we went to Culver's for dessert and talked some more. I miss those girls! We have a lot of sweet (and funny!) memories... maybe I should dig up some old pictures and tell some stories...


Nights like that get me through the weeks when I accidentally let a batch of glue burn over in the hood.... oops. Ugh... nothing like cleaning burnt stickiness off a hotplate. Unless it's scrubbing out a lab sink. Woot woot. 409 is my new best friend. :)

Yesterday evening I made salsa. I cheated a little bit and used a Mrs. Wages mix... but I mixed some corn and black beans into a few jars so I'm not hopelessly un-domestic. *grin* Hopefully it tastes good. I did get a short Pinky's break with Dale, Meg, Maria, Bob, and Dang for ice cream. So good.

I actually had to get out of bed when my alarm went off this morning... mur... because the life insurance nurse was coming. She stuck me. They didn't tell me she was going to stick me. I.HATE.NEEDLES. And I'll probably get stuck again in a few weeks for our Medical Surveillance program at work... the joys of working with all sorts of dangerous and potentially harmful substances... Anyway.

I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend.

Blessings.

Let your heart be

moved. blessed. full. encouraged. happy.

We had such a good weekend. We left Friday after work and headed to Leo to visit my cousins. On the way we stopped at Mike's new apartment and got a tour... and dropped off a strawberry pie. For a housewarming present. Because I don't owe him a pie, no matter what he says. :)

It was about midnight when we got to Loren and Rita's... hooray for losing an hour... Matt and Shelly were already there and Scott and Ned got there not long after us. So we were up until 2ish just chilling.

Saturday morning Bob and I made a quick trip to Ohio to see Will and Joanna (and Trenton and Tyson and Max and Beth!). I had printed off directions, but didn't print off the map.... soooo.... we missed one turn and it took a little bit longer to get back to where we wanted to be... and got to see a little more of the Ohio countryside than we were expecting to. It was so good to be with them! Brought back a lot of fun memories of U of I days. And Jo's house is so cute... I liked it a lot. Will made us a decent map so it didn't take us quite as long to get back to Rita's... and we got to go right through Amish country. We saw lots of buggies and horses- and solar panels on barns and a brand new recliner going home in the back of a buggy. The funniest/ most incongruous sight was the little girl driving a little electric barbie car around in her driveway right next to her parents' horse and buggy.

We spent a few hours boating on the mighty St. Joe River Saturday afternoon. Bob went skiing and tried wake boarding. He came so close to getting up! I was very proud. :) And then we had to come in and get cleaned up to go to the benefit concert.

Matt, Shelly, Scott, and Ned were all singing in the choir so Abby and Lys and Bob and I went to listen to them. It was fabulous. You can read all about it, and probably eventually get the recordings here. Then we all went back to Rita and Loren's and hung out till late again. Bob fixed their computer and wireless network... I was tired, so I went to bed.

Sunday morning we were almost on time for church. Ha! :) I can't remember the last time I was actually on time to Leo... o well. Bob had never been there before at all, I'm expanding his horizons greatly. *grin* After church we took the jet skis out on the river for a while, and then cooled off in the pool until we left.

We gained an hour on the way home so we got back fairly early... I'm still exhausted today. O well, it was worth it!

Sometimes I get bored

The other weekend I was bored and decided to make matching dresses for our two little nieces... I used a super simple pattern I found online. I think they turned out really cute! And they look adorable on Grace and Eden.

Sharon took this picture right before church... all together now- awwwwww.

I was maybe hoping they'd have a girl for this very reason.... *grin*

Pie and Peaches

I feel like we had a busy weekend.... even though there wasn't much on the calendar. Saturday I spent the afternoon making pies for rotating potluck, so I didn't get to enjoy the sun or the heat much. Potluck was good, as always. :) And we had a lot of leftover pie. Which is amazing.

Sunday afternoon we went to Grandma and Grandpa Koch's for awhile with some of the pie, then we went to Grandma and Grandpa Beutel's with more of the pie, and then we went back to G and G Koch's for supper.

Yesterday I picked up peaches at the farm to can... and realized I ran out of sugar when I made pies... so I got to stop at the new IGA in Mackinaw on my way home. I liked it. A lot. Too bad it's totally not on my way anywhere or I would shop there all the time. For the record, Bob is amazing- not only did he eat frozen pizza last night while I was cutting up peaches, he also helped me fold all the laundry. It took awhile, it was around 10:30 when I got done. But, now I have 6 quart and 10 pint jars of canned peaches. And no place to store them. O well, that's a minor detail.

It's so much work, but it's worth it.... and it was pretty exciting to use my new canner for the first time. Well, new to me, it was the Happy Man's. He was retired and had all sorts of hobbies, including canning. His wife was not nearly as enthused. *grin* Which is why a lot of his stuff made its way to the farm and then to me...

Blessings.

Knives

It's been pretty quiet around here this week. Well besides church, grocery shopping, laundry, cooking, an insurance meeting, and a visit from a knife salesman...

Yeah, so a few weeks ago I got a phone call from a Cutco rep wanting to know if he could come demonstrate his product, he goes to RBHS and he's earning money for college. I should add that he never actually specified he was selling Cutco; I found that out from Heidi... who gave him my name... who also said he cut himself really bad while he was demonstrating for her... I was slightly intrigued.

So he came over Wednesday night to show off his knives. It was pretty hilarious. I was trying not to laugh the whole time. He wasn't necessarily funny, it's just that the 17-year old in a tie acting enthused about expensive kitchen knives and gadgets cracks me up. Yes, I know I have a weird sense of humor. He was holding the binder full of glossy pictures up with one hand and holding his "script" right behind it- and he dropped it on the floor once. I heard a lot of "this is my mom's favorite, she uses it all the time," and "I don't cook much... yet... but my mom has this and we use it every day." He knew his stuff about all of the knives, though it is hard to picture him using "the mini carver, now this is the knife to use on a roast."

And so it went. I didn't buy anything although he did pull out paper and pen to show me how low three easy payments would be. *grin* I have brand new knives, the same brand that my Mom has used and abused for 27 years. Plus I've cut myself on my not Cutco sharp knives and I really don't think I need anything sharper in the house. So he packed up (with the help of his handy-dandy diagram) all of his stuff and left... on the way out he mentioned how he hadn't driven himself over because his license was suspended for too many speeding tickets.... O my. Yeah, I laughed.

Blessings.

I always forget...

...that when both air conditioning units are running I can't plug in the iron. Or the toaster. Or my sewing machine. It flips the breaker. Who wired this place anyway?

Kentucky

So... we spent the last few days at Kentucky lake on Wyss Vacation. Yay for vacations! It was fun; and very, very, hot and humid. I took our camera along and didn't take any pictures... oops.

We didn't do a whole lot, just the usual Rook and fast Scrabble and swimming and boating and eating. I love vacation. The lake was nice, although not very cool (except for way down deep), and there weren't tons of boats out. I went skiing and wake boarding... fun times. Wake boarding is hard. And tiring. I got up for a little bit, and then I got off balance and drank half the lake. Skiing didn't go so well after that... my arms were too tired. I was super sore for a few days, it's finally getting better now. It was worth it though.

I was a little bit mean to my cousin Clayton. He was spending pretty much every minute on his phone texting people while he was in the middle of a Rook game (and all week) and supposed to be paying attention to the game... I borrowed his phone for a minute and texted all the girls in his address book "pickles, ice cream, and rotten tomatoes," and then erased it from the sent box... he was very very confused when he started getting texts back. He should just be glad I couldn't think of anything more creative, or mean, to send!

Some of us girls were talking to Grandma and Grandpa one night and my dad's CIY days got brought up... Grandpa was a founding member way back when and he made a comment about how it was different in his day, to which Grandma replied, "you have no room to talk!" and proceeded to elaborate. So hilarious!

We brought the Wii along... the younger boys loved it... Cailer was pretty sad when "Nintendo Bob" left...

We left on Wednesday... mur. It's stinks to have to leave early, but our vacation days are limited. *sigh* At least we got to stop at Tobin's for supper on our way back. And we got to get soaked in a downpour on our way into the restaurant... good times.

Ooooh, and we have a new niece! Her name is Eden Rose.
Blessings.

Berry Picking

Bob's uncle and aunt have some unused pastures and timber behind their house that are full of wild blackberries, so yesterday afternoon I went blackberry picking. It was hot, humid, and buggy. But it was a good excuse to break out my awesome rain boots! Aunt June and Mary S. joined me before I filled my bucket. The blackberries were plump and juicy and plentiful... I ate a lot of them. And I put some on ice cream last night, and some on my yogurt this morning. Yum.

I'm also discovering mosquito bites and scratches all over today. My shoulders must not have gotten enough Deep Woods Off on them because that's where all the bites are. I watched them bite me through my shirt... nasty creatures.

Have I mentioned that I love summer?

Preservation, Aquatics, and Les Mizerables

So I feel like my life revolves around vegetables right now. Friday I picked more beans, and then spent the evening blanching them (with my very own blancher...pasta pot.... thingy... it was hard to find apparently, I got it for Christmas). I should have more than plenty in the freezer now... hooray!

Saturday morning I went to get my next block for quilt club, cleaned, went swimming at Roy's with my family, and then did corn for the rest of the day. Mom and Dad's corn didn't do much this year and the coons took out half of it, so they got four bushels from a neighbor. Well, four feed sacks full. I'm probably the only person that associates the smell of feed with fresh sweet corn. So we cleaned corn and cleaned corn and cleaned some more corn and then more.... I stink at cutting it off the cob, Mom did that. And we had the obligatory conversation about how the big washtubs that we were using were what my great-grandma gave her kids baths in.

It was after six when we got done so I took my share home to cook it there... Bob and Jakey were just getting done fixing supper for me when I got home (thank goodness for frozen pizza!). Ok, it maybe wasn't just for me. :) And then it was after ten when I finally got everything cooked, cooled, and bagged. I went straight to bed. After a shower because Bob said I smelled like corn and lake water. :) It was hard to get up Sunday morning.

One of Bob's myriad of second (third? I dunno) cousins is in Les Miz this summer, so we went to see it with Kevin, Dale and Meg, and Shelly. Shelly came over for supper before we went and got to experience indian food. She walked in the door and said, "it smells weird in here." Whatever, it tasted good. Les Miz was excellent. Corn Stock is in a big tent at Bradley park so it was a little bit warm, but I barely noticed. I had a very hard time not singing along. Such a good musical... I always tear up at least once, and always at a different part of the story. Now I really should finish reading the book!

Blessings.

Verschiedenes

It's soooo hot. Good thing I work inside. :) Although, some days it can get a little sticky at the lab.

Carol and Michelle came over for supper last night before church. It was fun... and I didn't burn anything...

Kary's wedding pictures are online; I'm going to post instructions to view them in the comments. There are lots of them.

Blessings.

Beans and Baling

So we had a busy Saturday. In the morning I cleaned and randomly decided to wash my car, while Bob went to help Uncle Dean at the cabin. Then I headed over to my parents to pick green beans. woot. It also happened to be baling day on the farm. Which I love. Ranks right up there with chicken pickin' day and seed pick up day. :)

Anyway, I picked my beans and got all hot and sweaty and dirty and full of zucchini prickles somehow. Mom and I walked out to the field to watch the baler. Bob came at some point and he and Matt were on the rack. Tate was riding the four wheeler back and fourth to the field all day.



Grandpa was shuttling empty racks to the field and bringing back the full racks.



He let me drive it one time. It was kind of scary because, as you can see, there's no passenger seat and he was perched on the axle next to me and holding on to the seat... and the field was a little rough and bouncy. He was excited because he bought the 60 from my Grandpa Schlipf and he thinks it's cool that both of my grandpas owned the same tractor and that their grandkids still 'use' it. *grin* He also thought Bob and I need a picture in front of it. Please excuse the fact that we're all filthy dirty and I maybe got hot while picking beans and stuck my head under the hose...

Bob and Matt hard at work. Bob had to borrow a hat. Matt is naturally that fashionable. :)

And then I came back to the house and went up in the hay mow to watch. And I helped my mom set up for the best part of baling day- baling lunch! Sandwiches, cold drinks, and ice cream bars for all under the big tree in the front yard.

Good times. And then I went home and blanched and froze beans.... and I think I still need more... woot.

Blessings.

Hey honey...

My coworkers and I went to Steak and Shake for lunch today. We were served by a waitress who insisted on referring to everyone as "Honey" the entire time. "And what would you like, honey? How's everything so far, honey? Can I bring you anything else, honey?" I.DESPISE.BEING.CALLED.HONEY. Especially by total strangers. I got way more than my share working at Lindy's. ("Oh, I don't need a bag/carry out/ receipt, honey.") And Hon. Ick. It's just so irritating when people use terms of endearment for people that they obviously have no affection for or relationship with. What happened to "Miss" or "Ma'am"? *grin* And yes, I realize that I sound like an old lady... although, they are some of the worst offenders.....

Anyway. Happy Friday.

O and in case you were wondering, Bob is not allowed to call me 'Honey' EVER. Or anything except Jenny in public... seriously... I have a name for a reason. :)

The Fourth, Up North

We decided to take advantage of our coinciding three day weekends (woot woot) and go visit Rustin and Sharon and Grace in Minnesota. It was a really fun weekend... I'm so glad we went.

We left work early on Friday and drove... and drove... and drove... haha. Actually, it wasn't too bad and we got there in about 10 hours. And listened to Knife of Dreams the whole way up. Good times.

Saturday morning we got up fairly early and went to the Hancock Firehouse for the pancake and sausage breakfast. They showed us around 'the store' and I got a post office picture. And some funny looks. Imagine that. :)

Grace enjoying her pancakes-

Rustin let us try out his new scooter ("motorcycle," according to Grace)... well... I took it around the garage, Bob took it around town. We had pork sandwiches from Wurstmacher for lunch and then we watched the Fourth of July parade. It was great, although a little hot and sweaty. I didn't even think about sunscreen so I have some lovely burn lines. I liked the marching band a lot... and the community band... and all the fire trucks... hooray for Americana!

Grace had a big bucket for candy and it mostly got filled!

She wasn't impressed by the fire trucks and wouldn't go get the candy they threw because she was scared of the sirens.

After the parade we all went with Sharon to pick up the barricades around town, and then we went back to their house and cooled off. We watched fireworks that night... Grace spent most of the "happy birthday america celebration" in the car under her blanket, silly girl. :)

Not a fan of loud noises....

Church on Sunday was quite enjoyable. I like small churches, and I've never been to Morris North (or Morris) before, so that was cool. They have way better lunches... *grin* I met lots of people that are distant relatives and/or knew my parents, aunts, and uncles. We went to Rustin's parent's for supper and pie and spent the rest of the evening chilling.

Monday morning we left for home, after a really good breakfast. I kind of wanted to stop in Minneapolis and introduce Bob to IKEA; he was nice enough to oblige. That store is so cool. I got a pair of planters, and then Bob really wanted to get a Bonsai tree, so we did. Hopefully I don't kill it; I don't really know anything about Bonsai trees. We ate lunch at the IKEA Cafe and then drove and drove some more. So, in the interest of conserving electricity and all that good stuff, both of our air conditioners were off while we were gone. When we got back it was like walking into an oven... I don't think it's ever been that bad after a trip before. So HOT. It took a looong time for the house to cool down enough to even think about sleeping. I'm still maybe a little bit tired after 12 hours traveling and then not being able to sleep....

Blessings.

Happy Fourth!

O! say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

sunshine, on my shoulders makes me happy

Hooray for nice sunny weather! I love it! And I love eating my lunch outside...

It's been quiet. Other than making a trip to Steak and Shake and Walmart and Culver's this weekend, we haven't been doing much. Which I love.

We discovered that our bathtub is really white. As much as I'm ashamed to admit it, I've never actually scrubbed it out. It gets wiped down regularly, but not scrubbed... I just needed to clean something on Saturday (work out all of my latent aggression... you know... haha) and the tub was it. Half a bottle of vinegar and 3 sponges later... all the hard water/soap scum/loveliness was gone and we have a sparkling white tub and shiny hardware. Now if I can just figure out how to get rid of mildew that's BEHIND the clear caulk that's replacing crumbling grout on the tile surround... ew. Note to self: tile looks pretty, but it's not worth the maintenance. :)

I get to do applesauce tonight. woot.
Blessings.

Father's Day

So, I had pictures to post and no time to post them...

Last Saturday we went to my parent's for homemade ice cream. And so I could raid their landscaping again. And so I could beat my siblings at John Deere Monopoly. It was a good time... haha. Mom has hydrangeas and cat mint and delphiniums (that I planted) and I have bedraggled looking plants that the rabbits are chewing on. *sigh* O well. At least they aren't in my garden, which has grown a lot!

The results of my thievery plus my new salt and pepper shakers that make me smile. I was in Pier 1 the other day and I just couldn't resist... good thing they were only $3 and I had a coupon!

As for monopoly, I don't think I've ever won that game.... we played K-berger rules, and it was taking forever. Bob isn't a big monopoly fan and I was getting tired so not all of it was my mad monopoly skills. There was maybe some selling and trading of property to try and make the game go a little bit faster. Plus I kept landing on free parking. When you play K-berger rules, every time you have to pay taxes or have to pay to get out of jail, etc. it goes to the middle of the board and who ever lands on free parking gets to take whatever money has accumulated. It's handy. Anyway, I'm the new JD Monopoly champion, woot woot.

Sunday we were in T-town for church for the first time in ages... And we went to Bob's parent's for Father's Day festivities with the Beutels. Dave and June had the Kochs next door and so there was a very large water fight after supper. It was very fun to watch... I got a little bit wet, but I mostly just took pictures and filled water balloons.

Blessings.

Kary Sue's wedding

So, when I'd tell people that my Aunt Kary was getting married, they'd say, "now, how is she your aunt?" Um... well... lets see, she's really my Dad's first cousin but their families were always super tight and they do everything with us and she's always just been another aunt. And lots of fun. And such a great example. Seriously, I was never EVER worried about life if I didn't get married because of Kary Sue. It would have been ok, because I saw the single life lived so well in her. Love you much Suz!

Festivities started pretty much right after we got back from Wisconsin. Literally. Scott and Ned were already in town Friday, so we unpacked and went to hang out with them. Bob brought along his crazy complicated game and they tried playing it. It takes forever.


It took over an hour before they could even do anything... check out the pages of rules and stats that they all kept referring to.

While they were busy playing, Shelly and I planned the "cousins supper" that we were in charge of Saturday. We were maybe a little bit lazy and got a bunch of family feasts from Michael's... It was a great night. All but two of my cousins were there (they showed up with the furniture around 11pm-typical *grin*) plus all the great grand kids. We laughed a lot.

Brent was entertaining us with tales from the nursing home.

After we ate, us girls went on a loooong walk. By the time we got back, Grandma and Grandpa and all the aunts and uncles that were at the rehearsal dinner had shown up to collect their children. Good times.

I think my favorite conversation of the night was when one of my cousins made a comment that he thought kids were 95% affected by genetics versus environment when it comes to their intelligence. Which was immediately countered 60-40 by one of his brothers (who has no kids), and again 50-50 by another brother... so funny.

Church was packed on Sunday. We were under strict orders to go from lunch directly to the sanctuary, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Us kids were fairly compliant... however, it took a while for all the family to get in (surprise, surprise). We tried to pass a note for Kirk to give to the bridesmaids, he lost it though. Bummer. It would have been funny.

It was such a good wedding. I maybe got a little teary eyed when they walked in (between laughing at my aunts and mom in their bridesmaid dresses... hehe).

The reception was quite nice too... good food, brownies, fabulous piano from Ned. :)


Shelly and Amor and Kayla. Kayla's hair was very pretty... the other bridesmaids didn't like the idea of getting their hair done like hers... I wonder why not. *grin*

Klopfensteins...

Staying out of the way and waiting for our shifts to start.

Lys chilling... such a great face!

Karen and Rita were at the guestbook, they were loving it because they got to talk to everybody and subsequently made the line that much slower. *grin*

Ron and Kary...

Kary and Pearline, I love it that Pearl has her shoes off! I think I got my dislike of shoes from her. They also weren't looking at me for this picture. Clearly.

Mom modeling the bridesmaid dresses... she really doesn't smile that cheesy normally... sorry I took such a bad pic Mom!

Getting ready to blow bubbles...

And they drove off into the sunset and lived happily ever after!

Coolness

Soooo... we have two window air conditioners. The one in the kitchen is great, turn it on low and the kitchen stays in the 70's even with the oven on. The one upstairs though, yeah, not much airflow, turn it on high and it barely keeps the computer room cool let alone the bathroom and bedroom. When the outside temperature dips below 75ish it freezes up, and if it's humid it freezes, so if we left it on overnight we'd occasionally wake up to ice breaking off and falling into the fan. woot.

Anyway, since we have no prior experience with such things (hooray for central air!), I looked online for how to keep a window a/c from freezing. First suggestion: clean the filter. So yesterday I pulled the cover off and discovered, surprise, surprise, an ice cube caked, filthy filter. After it thawed out enough to take it out, it got a much needed bath. And guess what!? It ran on high all night and there was no ice! And our bedroom was cold! And I needed a blanket instead of just a sheet! Much rejoicing.

Bob has had to kill two spiders for me in the last week. ickickickickick. I hate spiders.
Blessings.

Wisconsin

So, last week we drove up to Black River Falls, Wisconsin with Bob's family. We stayed in a cabin by a small lake.... it was super relaxing.



It was surrounded by tall pines... they're so clever...



On the shores of Serenity lake... the water was cold!



There were a bunch of snowmobile/atv trails on the property, but there were also a lot of ticks in the grass so we only walked them once. This is Sprout's new friend.


Bob and Matt taking a canoe fishing.

And fishing off the shore. I got a line wet a few times and was quite content to leave it at that.

Rustin fried up fish and onion rings and cheese curds... so good.

Grace and Susan being cheesy. Or ducky.

On our way back to Illinois we stopped at Circus World. It was really cool, they had live circus performers and elephants and museum exhibits and exorbitantly priced food, just like the real thing! :)

Our last morning we ate at Paul Bunyan's for breakfast...

And then we came home. I'm ready for a vacation again already.
Blessings.

random picture

Because I haven't gotten all of my pictures from vacation and Kary's wedding on my lappy yet... this is from last summer when mom and Shelly and I went antiquing. It's a mink muff thing, with mink heads and tails and feel still intact. ick. ick. ick. It's been trapped on my cell phone (hence, the poor quality) for a very long time and I just got it off because my brother has a blackberry and could email it to me. woot!

Blessings.

Feels like summer...

There's nothing like a warm afternoon in the berry patch. :) And two gallons of strawberries in your freezer.

I picked some strawberries at Greg and Mary's yesterday afternoon. It's always slightly frigid at work, so it felt really good to be out in the sunshine, on my hands and knees in the grass getting up close and personal with the berries and a few slugs. And eating strawberries warm off the vine is pure heaven.

This is my attempt at an "artsy" picture...

And then I went home and grilled supper. Steak, sweet corn, and potatoes (in the foil). This is the second time I've tried grilling sweet corn and I think probably the last. Last time I put them straight on the grill, this time I tried soaking them in the husk in water first. They taste ok, but the 'grilled' flavor is just weird with sweet corn. Plus, this time the husks dried out and burnt to a crisp from the grease flare ups from the steak, so there were little bits of ash all over everything and it was a big mess. I suppose I could put tin foil down, but then, what's the point of grilling? Next time I'm just going to boil it. It did look cool on the grill...

I made strawberry shortcake too of course. :)

Blessings.

Memorial Day Weekend

So... busy weekend. I'm tired this morning... :)

We spent lots of time with Bob's family since Rustin and Sharon and Grace were here for Sprout's baptism. They came to our house for supper Saturday before testimonies. And then we were up late at the singing afterwards... so good to see U of I people again! And amusing to get to say "sista sprout" now. :)

Yesterday, I slept in. I was going to get up early and be productive, but it looked like it was going to rain and nothing was that pressing so I went back to bed for a while. :) We went to G and G's for supper and much animated and opinionated conversation and wedding planning. Good times. Shelly and Kendra and I got to play with Kayla's hair to figure out how they are going to do it for the wedding. She looked quite cute. I'm excited for the wedding!

And then we went to Pinky's, which was amazing as always. :D

We didn't visit any cemeteries... or go to any parades... I don't think T-town even has a service at the cemetery! Which is kind of incredible... and disappointing, since there are lots of veterans in town and people that are currently serving. I did hum "In Flanders Fields" to myself all day. :)

Maybe next year. I do need to introduce Bob to the family tradition of spending the day in cemeteries. Haha... ok, not really, but when I was little we would go to the parade in Gridley and then out to the cemetery. Or we would take flowers to the Congerville- Goodfield Church cemetery. One year we went from Morton to C-G to Gridley... And in High School the band went to the cemetery every year to play the National Anthem or Battle Hymn of the Republic and the trumpets got to play taps.

I guess I kind of miss the quiet morning in the cemetery and the rows of flags flapping in the breeze and then, the 21 gun salute and taps...

Blessings.