Linda's Sunflower

Park City was the scene of a Harley Davidson bike rally today. Oh my gosh, cycles everywhere! They closed the northbound I-135 exits at 53rd and 61st streets, and we saw 100's of bikes! Poor Kaitlin had to work the rally. Leeker's had their concession stand set up to provide food for the bikers. They served hundreds of meals and she is a tired young lady tonight! In between the bike rally, we did our normal Saturday running: Sam's, Walmart, Leeker's, a visit with mom, etc. I also went to my sister-in-law's Party Lite show tonight. Now we're settling down for a movie. Brandon wants to watch Mr. Brooks with Kevin Costner. We'll see if his choice wins out. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY NIECE LENORE! She called me from Germany today to tell me she'd won another contest and was getting 5 free books. She wanted to know if I'd like her to have them sent to me so I could read them first! Isn't that nice? She'll be home the first part of July - after spending...

I know it's been a shortened 4-day work week, but MAN, it felt like 10 days to me! I am SO glad it is Friday night! The twins came down to work today and I took them to lunch at Schlotzsky's. We love that place, and very rarely have a chance to go there. They are a bit pricey for a sandwich shop, but yum, yum, good! We traded vehicles - Kaitlin left her truck for me so I could get some cabinets from work. When I went out with our building manager around 3:45 to load up the truck, it wouldn't start! We had to jump start it. Fortunately, when I finally left work about 5:15, it started right up. I was worried I was going to have to get it "jumped" again. We will replace the battery tomorrow. Brandon is disappointed tonight. He was unable to get off work next Saturday for the Rockfest concert in Kansas City. He had already bought tickets for him and Kaleb, and his friend Owen was going too. Kaitlin and I were going to drop them off at the all day concert and do some s...

We went and saw the new Indiana Jones movie today. I loved it! The kids had already seen it on Thursday night, but they went with us again today. Even though Harrison Ford looks older, he sure doesn't look or act like he's 65! Can you believe he's 65 frickin' years old? Anyway, the movie has a lot of action. Indy hasn't lost his ability to get out of tight squeezes. There was one scene with giant red ants that was pretty gross, but other than that, I didn't have to hide my face. Of course, while I like Harrison Ford, Kaitlin likes Shia LaBeouf. He was really good in the movie too. No movie spoiler here, you'll have to see the movie to find out how his character fits into the scheme of things. All in all - a very enjoyable movie. Now I want to watch the first three again! Back to work tomorrow - UGH!!!

The quote will come at the end of this post... It's been a busy few days. The days before a holiday are always busy when you work at a newspaper. It was especially hectic since I'm by myself while my assistant is out due to surgery. But, I made it through, and Corby and I went to a friend's house last night. We were supposed to have a bonfire, but it was a tad bit too windy (I AM SO SICK OF THE WIND!). We enjoyed meeting some other friends of theirs who are in town from Savannah. Today was a typical errand-running Saturday for us (haven't I said that before?). Anyway, it started out with a quick trip to Leeker's to mail the latest basket I sold on E-Bay. We went and visited mom. While we were there, I got a frantic phone call from a classified salesperson at work. To make a long story short - suffice it to say I had to make a quick dash to work and get an ad in tomorrow's paper. I was happy to do it because it should have run today, but due to unknown reasons wa...

My baby (okay, he's 43) brother Mike is a huge Boston Celtic fan. He has been since the days of Larry Bird - many eons ago. I actually remember seeing Larry play against the Shockers back in the late 70's or early 80's. Anyway, Boston is in the NBA Eastern Championship finals - with the first game tonight. I hope they win, otherwise my sister-in-law Diana will be living with a grumpy husband. I know, because Corby gets that way over the Cubs. So here's to the Celtics - may you go on and win the whole damn championship! PLEASE? UPDATE - THEY WON THE FIRST GAME! Second game - Thursday night... 2nd UPDATE - THEY LEAD THE SERIES 2-1.

We met at Hap McLean Park in Park City today to have a family picnic celebration for Mother's Day and Brandon's 19th birthday! It was a beautiful day to play in the park. Corby, Kaitlin and I went up early to secure one of the good shelter areas. We lazed around, played on the swings a bit, and took a walk. Corby got the grill going, and once everyone showed up, it was talk, eat, talk, eat, talk! My sister Marilyn brought her granddaughter Aspen, who is 5. She is a live wire. Here she is with a bow adornment! My brother Mike and sister-in-law Diana got mom a new rosary. It was really beautiful. The one she had in her room at the nursing home disappeared. She got a couple of new shirts from my sisters, and I gave her a necklace and some bracelets. My brother Terry, and sister-in-law Sandy gave her a photo album with some beautiful pictures of her only great-granddaughter, Izzy. They had been to visit her in California (near San Francisco) a few weeks ago, and these were picture...

Corby lets Muffin drink out of his milk glass. Isn't that disgusting? I love animals, but I sure don't share my drinks with them. YUCK! Brandon will be home tomorrow - on his 19th birthday! His last final is at 12:30. Corby & Kaleb are headed up to help him bring his stuff home. I was planning on going, but because Hope is out on medical leave, I can't take off. That's okay - I really wasn't looking forward to carrying his stuff down 7 flights of stairs! YIPPEE - MY BABY IS COMING HOME FOR THE SUMMER! Does anyone else out there love "House Hunters" - the show on HGTV? For some reason, that show grabs me. I like to see the 3 houses the couples (sometimes singles) choose from. Of course, most of them have a lot more money than we do! Saw one last night that was a young couple in Chicago - lived in the inner city, but with 2 kids decided to move to the suburbs. Their goal was to find a house for under $1,000,000. That a million dollars folks! How can peop...

There is a reason I don't watch much TV. Whenever I find a show I like, the network cancels it. I heard today that SHARK won't be back next season. CRAP! It's one of my favorite shows. I love to watch James Woods chewing up the scenery. I've mentioned many a time that I am not a reality show watcher. I know a bunch of you are, but I guess I'm showing my age, because I don't get into any of them. (Sorry Survivor fans). Give me CSI, CSI Miami or Criminal Minds any day. I just finished reading Debbie Macomber's book TWENTY WISHES. What a great book! It has recurring characters from some of her previous books, but it's basically a story about women who are dealing with changes in their lives, and they start making a TWENTY WISHES list. It's not something they think about lightly. I can probably come up with twenty wishes, but I haven't had much time to ponder what my list would include. I will start with 3 wishes: 1) to travel to Australia; 2) lose w...

Brandon called me about 2:00 this afternoon to wish me Happy Mother's Day! MY BABY REMEMBERED! Of course, when I thanked him for remembering, he said "I got so sick of hearing the commercial at work (Dillons) this morning that I couldn't forget". Oh well, he's a sweet son anyway!

Congratulations to my best friend Melody, who graduated from Friends University yesterday afternoon with an Associates Degree of General Studies. I am so proud of her. I couldn't imagine going back to school at our (tender) age, so kudos to her for reaching this milestone! Last night, we went with a bunch of her friends to the Mosley Street Melodrama, and saw "My Big Fat Shotgun Wedding" and "Swingin' Sounds of the 60s". GREAT fun! Melody's nephew, Michael, and a young lady who was celebrating her bachelorette party, were pulled from the audience to compete against another couple (from the melodrama performers) in a mock dance contest. I didn't realize Michael was such a ham. (That's him on the left in the wild wig). He did great, and they won the contest, receiving free tickets to an upcoming Melodrama show. I'm having a low-key mother's day. The kids are both working, I'm doing laundry, and Corby is going to grill pork chops later...

Every year, Height's music department's puts on the "Ritz" - their final performance of the year. Last night was the first of 3 Ritz performances, and the only one we could attend. There were some opening night jitters, but all in all, it was very good. Kaitlin sings with the concert choir, and they performed a medley of 80's songs, thus this rad 80's outfit (we went scouting Goodwill stores for these goodies!). Here's the group - Kaitlin is the one with her mouth open directly under the "A" in Falcon. They performed some interesting choices: Call Me, Walk Like an Egyptian, Hey Mickey, Jessie's Girl, among a few more. They did dance steps with each song, and they did really good. In fact, they were the best thing about the first half of the program. After intermission, things picked up. Near the end, they always do a slide show of the seniors - a baby picture followed by their senior picture. We realized last night that we won't get to e...

I spent the day scrapbooking the Joplin Family's 2007. I still have quite a bit to do, but I managed to get about 8 pages done. Here are some of the pages I did: Nothing fancy. Just highlights from last year. I finished a book last night by a new author, Therese Fowler. The title of the book is "Souvenirs", and it was really good. Kind of a tear-jerker, but good nonetheless. I picked up the pet carrier from the vet today. Said a prayer for Callie as I did. I know she's in a better place. We're now thinking about getting a kitten. Muffin needs a playmate. Corby says "no", but I'm sure I can talk him into it. We'll wait a bit - probably after we get back from a few short trips in June. Today's quote (as I listen to scrambled music on my computer): "Music washes away from the soul the dust of every day life." -- B. Auerbach

My vacation days are not starting off as well as planned. I had to take our oldest cat, Callie, in this morning to be put to sleep. Here's a little history on our beautiful Callie (and I know some of you out there aren't cat people!). We adopted Callie almost 13 years ago when the kids were little. She has been a wonderful part of our family all these years, but over the last few years, she turned into Kaitlin's cat! We had a routine EVERY night at bedtime - yes I have a 17 year old daughter I still tuck in - where Callie would climb on Kaitlin's tummy for an ear rub. For months now, she has slept on Kaitlin's pillow with her every night. A few weeks ago, Callie started sleeping elsewhere - I think in preparation for her death. She hasn't been well - hasn't been eating - didn't want anyone to touch her - has been missing the litter box - and the last week or so she's been hiding in out of the way places. After discussing her health with Kaitlin yeste...

Hi to all my blogger friends. My niece, Lenore, who lives in Germany, is giving away a $20 gift certificate to Amazon.com in celebration of one year of blogging. Visit her blog by clicking on "Presenting Lenore" at the right side of my page. You'll have to answer a couple of questions by posting a reply, but it's fun and only takes a couple of minutes. LOVE YOU LENORE!

We had a great time at the Classical Mystery Tour performed by members of the Beatlemania troupe and the Wichita Symphony Orchestra last night at Century II. Parking was a mess - as there were several things going on there, as well as at the Hyatt; but we persevered, parked in a no-parking zone, and made it to our seats in plenty of time. Very enjoyable show! Thanks Melody for suggesting it! Today is all about yard work, laundry and then winding down this evening. We got our old fence hauled off yesterday. Took it to some friends acreage, where they will use it for a bonfire! Happy Sunday to all!

I told Chris, whose last day was today (her position was eliminated-UGH!) that I was going to name this post HAIL CHRIS! Kind of a dual post about the darn hail we had last night and Chris herself. I salute Chris - for her friendship, for her dedication to her job (not that she was recognized for this!), and for her ability to see the light at the end of her tunnel. Okay, here's the hail. Not a ton of it, but from pea to marble size. See this marble on the post? And here's my "Chris, this isn't goodbye" photo. We've already made lunch plans, and party plans! While she will be looking for a new job, she's not sitting around on her tush. She's going on a vacation soon with her sister's family, and getting to visit several states she hasn't seen before. She is down to just a few states left to visit before she can say she's visited all 50 states! That's pretty amazing. Offhand I think I've been to about 20-22 states, so Chris definite...