Linda's Sunflower

It's been a LONG day! We had a lot to do, plus all three kids worked! Brandon was supposed to work 10-7, but got a call last night asking him to come in at 7am. He ended up getting off at 4. Kaitlin was supposed to work 11:30-4, but they asked her to stay until 8, and she agreed. Then she called back and said they asked her to stay until 11 - almost a 12 hour day! Poor kid! I'm writing this around 10pm, so I can only imagine how tired she will be when she gets off! Kaleb worked 5-10. He went with us out to mom's old house. Mike, Diana and Marilyn met us over there and we got just about everything else packed up. I took a van-load of stuff to Goodwill, then we went to mom's. She didn't have a very good day. Started out the day dizzy and not feeling well, and turned rather grumpy! Corby and I did her grocery shopping while Kaleb stayed and visited with her. Corby and I finally got to go out to dinner all by ourselves! It's been a LONG time! We went to Texas Roadho...

Yep, that's the twins on their 16th birthday last month! They don't like posing for these pictures anymore, but - MOM STILL RULES! They have both gotten jobs in the week after they turned 16 - Kaleb as a carryout at Leeker's, and Kaitlin at Wendy's. I am so proud of the two of them! They are both 4.0 students at Heights, and I can't help but brag about them! They're both good kids - they did the Academic League in middle school, and have done Science Olympiad in their two years at Heights. It's amazing how grown up they've become over the last year. Soon they will be following in Brandon's footsteps and heading off to college. The time has sure flown by! I can't believe Brandon graduates in a few weeks, and I can't believe my babies will be juniors next year! I AM FEELING REALLY OLD TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My quote tonight? believe To accomplish great things, we must not only ACT, but also ...

Just a busy Monday! My assistant is still on vacation (until Wednesday) so I'm trying to keep my head above water! A couple of friends and I went to a new restaurant for lunch - Cheddar's. It's in the parking lot of the east Warren Theatre. The food was reasonably priced, and very good. I ordered the chicken tenders, and they brought out a plate with six - count 'em - SIX - huge tenders! I only managed to eat 3 of them, and I brought the other 3 home for Kaitlin. I think this is a restaurant the kids and Corby would like. Other than that, we're just looking at some turbulent spring weather. There were some tornadoes in western Kansas tonight. Typical Kansas in April!

This is a picture of my mom and my daughter, Kaitlin, at my niece's wedding last May. My husband, Corby, Kaitlin, and her twin brother, Kaleb, are in Mt. Sequoyah, Arkansas this weekend on a mission trip for church. I miss them! They will be home tomorrow, and from the phone calls and text messages I've received, they are having a wonderful time! I took my mom to the store today. She was in a good mood, though grocery shopping wore her out. I've been busy taking care of all the animals - one of the chores I usually don't have to do. Between 2 indoor cats (one of them a WILD kitten!), one outdoor cat, and one outdoor dog, it's quite a chore! It's been EXTREMELY windy today (pretty much typical for spring in Kansas), and there are storms on the way tonight, so Cinnamon, our chow/husky, will probably end up sleeping with me. She's a big scaredy "dog" when it comes to thunder and lightning! I am praying this evening for the family of the Blue Angels pi...

I am blue today...blue because of the terrible tragedy at Virginia Tech on Monday. How could one person cause such carnage? Over 30 people killed. The disturbed young man - dead. The bad thing is we are getting used to incidents like this. And we continue to have service men and women killed in Iraq. 3000+. We continue to send them over there - for even longer tours of duty. Where will it end? My quote for the day comes from Helen Keller - "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much."

It was hard picking out my favorite from the batch of Brandon's senior pics, but I think this is it. He looks so serious and grown up! I can't believe he'll be graduating in a month! I ordered my pics today, and I need to get busy and send out party invitation and graduation announcements soon. It's been a normal busy weekend. Kaitlin got her hair cut and highlighted yesterday. That took a couple of hours. We did mom's grocery shopping, and then did our grocery shopping. I got taxes finished and bills paid. I am still working on laundry. The rain finally stopped and it got up to 70 today! WOO HOO! Now they are saying we have more rain coming on Tuesday! BOO HOO! I found a good quote today: "One day at a time - this is enough. Live in the present and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering." -- Ida Scott Taylor

What a day! I knew I would be working late due to the classified Career Expo ads, but I had no idea I would end up working an 11 hour day! Technology problems delayed the start of the weekend classified pagination, and it was a mess! At this point, I'm just hoping that I got everything in for the weekend papers! It's Friday the 13th, so I guess that had something to do with the freaky things going on at work - and possibly had something to do with the cold weather and SNOW we're having tonight! It rained most of the day, and sometime this afternoon it turned to snow. Now it's not expected to accumulate much, but it is pretty darn bone-chilling and WET! That's twice it's snowed in April - fairly unusual for Kansas. I'm hoping it warms up the next few days! I don't think I'm alone when I say - I'M READY FOR SPRING!

Wanted to post some more pics from Easter! From the top it's Corby, my hubby, the best hubby in the world. I am SOOOOOOO lucky!!! Then it's our oldest son Brandon (no he's not drunk or drugged, just didn't want to have his pic taken!), then our twins Kaleb and Kaitlin. Then it's my brother Mike and his wife, Diana. They live nearest my mom, and are a big help in her care! THANKS GUYS! We got a signed contract on my mom's house last night! YIPPEE! I'm not going to get totally excited until we actually have the closing - which is slated to happen by the end of May. It will be nice for mom to have this chunk of money, as well as get out from under paying gas, electric and water bills on an empty house! My brother and I went to the lockbox today to find the deed, and it wasn't there; so now I have to go thru boxes of paperwork that we packed up when we moved mom out. Wish me luck! The next month is going to be very busy. I have to get a graduation scrapbook ...

Wanted to post a couple of Easter pictures. That's my mom. LOVE YOU MOM! And that's me (in the orange hoodie) and my best friend/SIS Melody! Love you SIS! The big news out of Wichita today is the departure of Wichita State head basketball coach Mark Turgeon. The media is reporting he is leaving to accept the head basketball coach position at Texas A&M. Mark has brought the WSU program back to national recognition is his years as coach. We had an awesome start this year, and then the team basically fell apart. We were ranked as high as 8th in the nation early in the season. GO SHOCKERS! We'll miss you Mark! It was another chilly day - but at least it got up near 50. We are anxious to get back to the 70's like early last week. I took a friend to lunch today for her birthday. We went to Old Mill Tasty Shop in Old Town. I hadn't been there in years. They make an awesome chicken salad sandwich!

P.S. I forgot to mention that we were missing several family members today. My sister, Rhonda, did not come as her knees were bothering her and she felt like she would have too difficult a time getting up our stairs. Also, my brother Terry and his wife, Sandy, were in Indiana celebrating Easter with Sandy's family. WE MISSED YOU GUYS!

I decided today to start a blog. As a busy mother of three, I just "felt the need". We had a good Easter. We started the day attending Easter service at our church, First United Methodist here in Wichita. It was a beautiful, uplifting service! We didn't stay for Sunday school as we had family over to our house this afternoon for dinner, and we still had things to do. Family started arriving around 1:30pm, and by 2:30pm we had a full house! My brother, Mike and sister-in-law, Diana, brought my mother, Billie. She is living at Presbyterian Manor now, struggling with her memory, but I think she had a good afternoon. We don't have a medical diagnosis of alzheimer's, but we truly believe that is what we are dealing with. My sister, Marilyn, and her common-law husband, Mark came and brought Mark's daughter, Marcia; and granddaughter, Aspen. My long-time best friend and "SIS" Melody came and brought some goodies. She brought wine, and was glad to finally ha...