Linda's Sunflower

How many times have I posted on here about car trouble? Way too many times for me! Let me tell you about our Saturday: We left home around 8:30 for a day trip to Manhattan to visit Brandon. (Keep in mind that he had to work at 6pm!). A couple miles north of Newton, my car (yes, my recently purchased Saturn) made a popping noise, the "check engine" light flashed several times, and it DIED! I managed to pull it over to the side of the road and get it out of traffic (of which there was plenty!). What to do? What to do? Corby looked under the hood, but it would not start. I called my best friend Melody, who got online and found a towing place in Newton. They said they could be there within 30 minutes. I will not talk about the price they quoted because it almost made me sick! Anyway, while waiting along the side of the road, a nice Highway Patrolman stopped. We told him we had already called a tow truck. Next to stop was Brady's (Brandon's roommate) family. They were hea...

Back in a July post, while my niece Lenore was here visiting from Germany, I mentioned that she had some exciting news that I had to wait to share. Well - here it is, straight from her blog (DRUM ROLL PLEASE!): Daniel’s (her husband) about to be a published children’s picture book illustrator! In fact, Harper Collins has offered him a two book deal to illustrate manuscripts written by Audrey Vernick. The first book will be released Summer 2010 and will be called “Is your Buffalo ready for kindergarten?” and the second is set to launch Summer 2011 and will be called “Teach your Buffalo to play the drums.” You can check out the rest of the story by going to her blog - Presenting Lenore - under my favorites. CONGRATULATIONS DANIEL! I LOVE YOUR ILLUSTRATIONS, AND I CHECK OUT YOUR DAILY DRAWINGS - WELL - EVERY DAY! Friends - check out Daniel's Drawings too! It's under my favorites also!

This will be brief! HILLARY ROCKED AT THE CONVENTION LAST NIGHT!!!!

I meant to mention this yesterday, but I guess I was more concerned about our LONG doctor's appointment. I got a call at 7am yesterday morning from Presby. Manor telling me that mom had fell in the bathroom. She was okay - no broken bones, just a contusion on her arm and a bump on her head. Actually, once they told me she was okay, and then explained what happened, I had to laugh (sorry, mom!). She was trying to kill a bug who kept getting away from her, and she fell while "chasing" it. The nurse said she cracked them up because when they went to help her up, she was more concerned about "finding that dang bug" and killing it than she was about herself. I can just see mom on the floor chasing that bug around! Just cracks me up! I am so glad she's okay, but it kinda makes me laugh!

Mom had a doctor's appointment at 3 today. I got home at 7. I got to Presby. Manor at 2:20 to pick her up. 20 minutes later, after chasing down her nurse, we got the paperwork we needed to take to the doctor. I must interject, they normally have the paperwork ready. Today wasn't a good day to be running late though, as her doctor recently moved to Derby, so we were headed quite a distance to a place we'd never been before. We hit Derby about 3:05, but the directions I'd been given were bogus. After driving around, stopping twice for directions, and calling the clinic, we finally made it at 3:25. When we checked in, we were told that we may have to reschedule because we were more than 15 minutes late. Fortunately, the doctor said she'd go ahead and take us. After a 5 minute wait, the nurse took us back and we answered all of her questions. ONE HOUR LATER, at 5:15, we were still waiting on the doctor. Mom and I were having a great visit, so we weren't freaking out...

We had a great time at mom's LUAU this afternoon. It was a tad bit hot, but we snagged a table in the shade so it wasn't too bad. Here are the drinks they were serving, sort of a pina colada without the alcohol: Here is Kaleb with my mom: Mom won a door prize - a square glass candle holder. She's going to use it for peppermints. She keeps candy on her dresser for all the employees. Ain't she sweet? Here's the group: my little sister Marilyn and her granddaughter, Aspen; Kaleb, Corby, mom, my sister-in-law Sandy, and my brother Terry. And here's Aspen in her pineapple hat. A great time was had by all! I am reading the third book in the Stephenie Meyer vampire/werewolf series - Eclipse. I know these books are aimed at teenage girls, but I am really enjoying them! Kaitlin rented another Christian Bale movie today - 3:10 to Yuma. We will watch it after she gets home from work. Our music choice today was vintage Who. Kaleb bought their 30 greatest hits a few weeks ag...

I apologize for all of the cat/kitty pictures, but I can't help it...aren't they adorable? They both love to crash in the window in the basement...The only way they can reach the window is from my desk. We have a "no lag" rule. If they jump on my desk, they must immediately jump into the window. They follow the rules when I'm here, but who knows what they do when I'm gone? It's been a STRANGE week at work. We received an e-mail late Tuesday afternoon that the VP of Operations was leaving to pursue other options. As a member of the Operations group, I was surprised. He had been off on personal leave for a couple of weeks, but it was an unexpected departure. One of the guys who started a copy boy in the newsroom and worked there into his 7o's? - used to say "I've seen 'em come, and I've seen 'em go." Well - I'm at that point now. I'll celebrate my 32nd anniversary in November (if I make it that long) and I'm beginnin...

I'll let the pictures tell the story...

Oh my, now I see what all the hype was about! Kaitlin and I watched Batman Begins last night, and I have to admit, Christian Bale IS hot! She also went with me and Corby to see The Dark Knight today. It's her 3rd time! I agree with Robyn's post of a few weeks ago - Heath Ledger gave an Oscar-worthy performance as the Joker! He certainly put his all into the character. I'd like to think it didn't lead to his accidental overdose, but the Joker was SO WICKED! If you haven't seen the movie, run, don't walk to your nearest theatre!

Went to my sister-in-law's Stampin' Up open house this afternoon. Sandy is a SU demonstrator extraordinaire! She is WAY "craftier" than I am! Her cards and scrapbook pages are beautiful. Anyway, I've been in her Stampin' clubs for several years, but sat out this past year (they usually run September through June). Today she was selling retired stamp sets - some new, some used. We also got to make a card: If you signed up for one of her clubs (one you agree to spend $15/mo. for 10 months - one you agree to spend $30 every other month for 5 months) you got their new catalog ($9.95 value) for free! (Can you tell I've already "post-it noted" some pages?) I signed up for the $30 every other month club again (me bad girl!). One perk of the club is that one of the months you are the hostess and get a hostess set plus $15 worth of product! She has classes at her house (in Benton) throughout the year, AND a hostess appreciation party at the end of the ye...

It's tradition at my house to take a "first day of school" picture. The kids get less and less thrilled every year, but I still do it. Here are the twins before they left for their first day of senior year: Kind of funny that they both wore gray - unplanned of course! I think Kaitlin is putting in her plug for the college she'd like to go to. They had a good day. Found out that at 1800 students, Heights is over their limit by 400 students!!! OMG! I'm not sure what the answer is, but it is WAY TOO CROWDED! I think the northeast side of town needs a new high school. Something needs to be done! Just finished my Nora Roberts book, and have started New Moon, the second book in Stephenie Meyer's vampire series. Kaitlin took Abby to the vet yesterday to get her last distemper shot and a rabies shot. The vet told her that she comes from a line of very strong / physically superior cats. I knew there was some reason that she climbs EVERYWHERE in the house, including u...

Got my car back yesterday. When the guy who sold us the car called me around noon to tell me it was ready, he said it would cost $50. The warranty is 50/50 for the first 30 days or 1,000 miles. They said they spent about $130 with the tow and the parts, so I thought $50 was fair. However, when I went to pick it up, the owner/manager? told me that since I just bought the car (YEP, only 2 WEEKS AGO!) they wouldn't charge me anything. Was I happy? Of course! Was I surprised? Of course! I know you are always taking chances when you buy a used car, and this was certainly nothing that would have been caught on inspection - but I am very happy that they treated us the way they did! Now, would everyone PLEASE pray that we go without car troubles for a while? It seems like there is always something going on with one of the vehicles! Mom's cataract surgery was cancelled this morning. I took the day off, and took her to the appt. at 9:30. After getting eye drops, and then calling her back...

The boys room is mostly finished. We are still looking for a futon since Brandon took his bed to Manhattan with him. Here is the finished room: The cool new lamp: And yes, Kaleb's dresser - actually CLEAN! Kaleb did a good job - with a LOT of help from Kaitlin. Now we just need to teach him that you don't wear white t-shirts, good jean shorts and good socks when you are painting! Saturn woes...while heading to get my hair cut yesterday morning, the battery light came on, and it started overheating. Thankfully we were near Fantastic Sam's AND Jiffy Lube. Found out the belt tensioner broke, thus destroying the belts. I called the guy who sold us the car at OK Sales, and they sent a tow truck. It will be getting fixed on Monday. I've only had the dadgum thing 2 weeks! At least it is still under warranty. We were basically stranded. Kaleb was with us, and Kaitlin was working. I had to call Leeker's and talk to the manager to see if Kaitlin could leave long enough to com...

more cat pictures

Can you believe it is August already? Where did the summer go? School starts next Thursday! Look at these two beautiful kitty cats! Aren't they sweet? Getting Abby was the best thing for Muffin. She was missing Callie, even though Callie was old when we got Muffin, and they didn't really play together, but they did snuggle up next to each other sometimes. Abby is still very much a kitten, and can be very annoying, especially if she climbs up your legs (yes, she'll be getting declawed when she's 6 months old). But she is also a sweetie pie! And now - the biggest project in our house the last couple of days? Clearing out the boys bedroom and painting! And I have to say I didn't have to do any of it!!!! (That's the best part). Kaleb has been wanting to paint his (well it's his when Brandon is gone) bedroom for a while. We told him a couple of weeks ago that if he totally cleaned it out, including the closet that was a disaster area, he could paint. Lo and behol...

We got Brandon settled in Manhattan yesterday - in his new apartment (and yes, it's only 1 year old). It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO frickin' hot! His appointment for check-in was 1:15, and we got to town about 12:15. He stopped at Dillons to check his schedule for the coming week, and we grabbed some Sammies at Quizno's first. His roommate, Brady, and his family were running about 2 hours behind us, so we went ahead and signed in - got the key card, mailbox key and key to his bedroom. Yes, they each can lock their bedroom! Probably a good thing especially if you're living with someone you don't really know. Anyway, we got everything in to the apartment and had just about everything unpacked before Brady got there. We intended to grocery shop at Dillons, since Brandon gets a discount and they had a good sale, and pick up the other things we needed at Walmart. I don't know if I've ever mentioned my intense dislike for Walmart, but there it is. I HATE IT! There are so...