Linda's Sunflower

I've lamented on my blog about our car troubles over the last 8 or 9 months. Here's the latest...I FINALLY got my car back last night - after 4 weeks. A used engine was found, and after a battery of tests, they said I could pick it up. I was SO excited. They had it all nice and shiny - clean inside and out! It drove like a dream...Well, lo and behold, today, while headed back to work after running some errands at lunch, the "low coolant" light came on and the car started overheating. I tried to make it to the car dealer's lot, but had to pull over at Lincoln and McLean because I knew it wasn't going to make it. To make a long story short, they had to tow it to their mechanic again, and I'm waiting to hear what is wrong with it now. Hopefully it's either a hose that came loose or the thermostat. When I called the manager at the car lot, he was dumbfounded too because they had driven it all over town yesterday morning to make sure everything was running ...

Paul Newman 1925-2008 *My favorite Paul Newman movies: Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting *He was a great philanthropist. Did you know that his "Newman's Own" business (popcorn, salad dressings, etc.) donated ALL of its profits to charity? I've heard various numbers ranging from $190 million to $250 million since it's inception in 1982. * Married to Joanne Woodward for 50 years - practically unheard of in show business He will be missed... R.I.P. Paul!

My sisters and I had a successful garage sale yesterday during the city-wide sales. It was a beautiful day, though it did get a little warm in the afternoon. It was kind of like old times since they were both here to "share the pain"! Corby had to work a half-day, so he picked my mom up on his way home, and she was here for a few hours. Mom, my sisters and I have had wildly successful garage sales in the past. I think our biggest money maker was in the mid-90's, when we made almost $2000 between all of us. We used to live in the south part of town, right off Pawnee, so we had a lot of drive-by traffic. We've never been that successful in Park City, but we still try to do one at least once a year. My butt is sure dragging today though! They are a LOT of work. That coupled with a really busy week at work has worn me out! We are planning a visit to see Brandon in a few weeks (maybe I'll rent a car!)...Corby and the twins had planned on going camping the weekend of Oc...

Yes, it's been 34 years since I graduated from high school. For those of you who have difficulty with math, that means I'm 51, soon to turn 52. I graduated from Bishop Carroll in 1974. GO GREEN & GOLD! A few days ago, I received their quarterly newsletter in the mail. In the newsletter, they highlight former (and current) students. One of my former classmates was mentioned in the newsletter, so I checked out his website. I think you should too. His name is Gregory Zeorlin, and he is an amazing artist! We've e-mailed back and forth several times over the last few days, and reconnected. He lives in Texas now, but I wanted to give a shout-out to him. Please check out his website: www.zeorlinart.com . I think you'll be impressed!

is this kitty strange, or what? Check it out, her back paws are under the couch! And here's Muffin's take on the pose... It's been a pretty quiet week. Just about ready for the garage sale on Saturday. I had a "hellacious" day at work today. It was one of those days when I spent more time putting out fires than actually getting anything accomplished. Do you ever have days like that? It was a long day too. I carpooled with Corby, thinking my car might be ready today. That way we wouldn't have two cars in town. But no, it's not ready yet. Hopefully tomorrow! We watched one of my favorite shows last night - Criminal Minds. It was really good. Check it out if you've never watched it. CBS - Wednesday night - 8PM!

...for all of you with youngsters This can be you! You too can receive information from every college in the United States! Just wait until your child is a senior! In my case, it's doubled because of the twins. There is something in the mail EVERY day for both of them. It's two, two, two times the mail! I'll be honest, most of these go straight into the trash - unless they include a scholarship application. Just wanted to warn everyone!

Today was Employee Appreciation day at Foley Equipment - the local Caterpillar distributor that Corby works for. Several hundred employees met at their new Park City facility (no Corby is not at this location - YET!) for tours, food, games, prizes, etc. They bought the former Optima Bus location at 77th and N. Hydraulic, and it is a fantastic place! The place is huge, with overhead cranes, a paint shop (yes, to paint refurbished machines that wonderful golden yellow and black); tons of square footage, and beautiful offices. Ann (Foley) Konecny threw a wonderful celebration for her employees - which was much appreciated. Employees came from their other Kansas locations: Salina, Great Bend, Liberal and Dodge City. It's nice that some companies still believe in showing employee appreciation! We also visited with mom, who is seeing much better with her recent cataract surgery and subsequent new glasses; did grocery shopping, and watched the Chicago Cubs win their division. Was Corby h...

They finally found an engine for my car! It's in Missouri, so by the time they get it here and get it in my car, it will be next week - but at least there is an end to our car drought! The twins, Kaleb especially, have been very gracious in sharing their vehicles. I say Kaleb especially because Kaitlin is VERY territorial about her truck. She doesn't like anybody else to drive it - PERIOD! I'm okay with that for the most part, but sometimes you have to do things to help out the family! I drove Kaleb's car yesterday, and since she went to work at 4, and he went to work at 5, Corby planned on leaving work a little early to get Kaleb to work. However, he had a bad day and couldn't leave, so I had to force Kaitlin to let Kaleb drive her to work, so he could use her truck to go at 5. She doesn't want him driving her truck because he's not used to a really big vehicle. He only drove our old Suburban a couple of times. However, he's a good driver, so she didn...

I finally finished the 4th and last book in the Stephenie Meyer vampire series - Breaking Dawn. These books are aimed at teenage girls, so they are pretty quick reads. I enjoyed all of them, but Breaking Dawn was a bit painful and convoluted. I think it was probably 50-100 pages too long, but ended well. I think she could continue this series...with some new characters. If anyone wants to read these, I have all 4 books. I am getting ready to loan them to a friend, but let me know and I'll pass them on to you. Otherwise, I'll be putting them in my next garage sale. Corby, the kids and I went to the Coliseum this morning for the monthly flea market. I have never been to it, even though we live just down the road. It only costs $1 per person to enter, and there are tons of cool things. I saw so many things that we had when I was a kid, or that my mom or grandparents used to have. It's all worth good money now of course! Why didn't I keep that plastic Barbie case? Or the B...

Are you tired of Abby pictures yet? NO? YES? Either way - here's another one... She hijacked Corby's recliner tonight!

I went to school today with the twins. It was "parent" day - where a parent attends their classes instead of the student. However, because most of their classes are small (even though the school is VERY crowded) we decided I would attend WITH them. They traded me off the first few classes - I had Physics first hour with Kaitlin, Accounting second hour with Kaleb, English third hour with Kaitlin, AP Government, lunch, then AP Calculus and AP Chemistry with both of them. What did today teach me? First, that Wichita NEEDS the bond issue to pass - Heights is GROSSLY overcrowded. Second, even though they say no cell phones/texting at school, the kids still do it. Third, I am SO proud of my kids because of their great grades in classes that are sometimes disrupted by less-interested/motivated students! And fourth - IT IS PURE HELL GETTING OUT OF A HIGH SCHOOL PARKING LOT WHEN SCHOOL GETS OUT!

Today marks the 7th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in NYC and The Pentagon in Washington DC. Let's also remember those who lost their lives on American Airlines Flight 11 , American Airlines Flight 77 , United Airlines Flight 93 and United Airlines Flight 175 . A moment of silence please...

BE SAFE TEXANS! We are praying for you!

Abby obviously does... Enjoying my vacation tremendously! I don't even know what's happening at work, though I'm guessing the voluntary buyouts have been announced. If any of my work buddies know, send me an e-mail... I took mom to the eye doctor this afternoon, for her follow-up appointment to her cataract surgery from a few weeks ago. Her eye is healing nicely, and they also fitted her for new glasses. She should have them next week, and she should be able to see better! Since her vision is so poor, we're hoping this helps her at least be able to read large print! I just did an Excel spreadsheet for our DVD collection. We are not huge DVD purchasers, but there were movies we had on VHS that we'd like to have on DVD. Since we never can remember which ones we've replaced, I thought this list would be helpful. We have a total of 130 DVD's, this includes concerts and a few old TV series (Miami Vice - THE BEST-all 5 seasons, Golden Girls-1 season, Starsky &...

It's been "PARTY" time since Friday! The STYX / KANSAS concert on Friday night was STUPENDOUS! You all know I'm a huge STYX fan, and they continue to rock - even though they are all in their 50's now! Hey, that's a good crowd to be in, huh? Anyway, Kaleb and Kaitlin were not too into Kansas, but they were still pretty good. They haven't aged as well as Styx, but they still know how to rock 'n roll! I wasn't sure if Steve Walsh, their main lead singer, was touring with them again, but he was. Melody and I made seve ral comments about him - if you had ever seen them back in the late 70's, early 80's, you would remember him as always jumping around and kicking his legs out as he played the keyboards. He's fairly sedentary now, but it was still good to hear his voice. STYX, however, still sounds the same - GREAT! And they still know how to entertain. Kansas played for about an hour, and STYX played for 1 3/4 hours - pretty good for $30!...

Got the verdict on the car today. IT BLOWS MY MIND! THE ENGINE IS BLOWN! Needless to say, I called ......Sales - where we bought it (I will name the place later if I have to!) and they towed it to their mechanic this afternoon for a second opinion. As far as I'm concerned, after buying this car 5 weeks ago - they have 3 choices: replace the engine, give us our money back, or give us another car worth the same amount of money! We'll see what they say when they get back in touch after their mechanic looks at it - that's when the BE-YOTCH will kick in! We have spent SO much money on cars the last 8 or 9 months, I'm ready to buy us all scooters. Current book: Tailspin by Catherine Coulter. Then I'm ready to read "Breaking Dawn" - the final book in the Stephenie Meyer vampire series. (Thanks, Hope, for loaning it to me!) I AM ON VACATION NEXT WEEK, AND ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WAIT!

FIND THE KITTY. (please look past the dust. Cleaning came after this little "DARLING" invaded the top of our pantry cabinet). We used to keep napkins in this basket. I think you can understand when I say we don't anymore!