Linda's Sunflower

Happy Halloween to one and all... costumes abound... Kaitlin went to work as Little Red Riding Hood. Gotta love those Longaberger baskets! They sure come in handy. There was a contest in advertising today for the best costume, and my layout assistant Hope WON! Check out her Jimi Hendrix look Didn't she do a great job on the makeup? She won a $50 gift card. Way to go Hope! And here's miss bag lady Jane... All in all, a fun day...

Something fun and different. The rules: go to your pictures folder and select the 4th folder. Within that folder, you select the 4th picture and post it online. Kaitlin and Abby - the day we adopted Abby from the Humane Society. TAG - YOU'RE IT!!!!

It's been a really good day! I've done my usual laundry, but other than that have had a very relaxing day. Kaitlin bought me some flowers and a giant Nestle's Crunch candy bar (my favorite). The twins gave me Season 1 of Nash Bridges on DVD. (YIPPEE!!!) Corby made me dinner. Meatloaf Hash brown casserole Chocolate mayonnaise cake with cream cheese frosting (there was a veggie too, but it wasn't too exciting) My birthday present (and Christmas present) from Corby is a Cricut Expressions - a die-cut machine for my scrapbooking and card-making. I got to order it today and it should be here in a few weeks. AND - to top it all off - Brandon called me too! I miss him! He will be home for 5 days at Thanksgiving. YEAH! All in all, a GREAT day! Now - it's back to work tomorrow. UGH!

Here's another one of those "answer questions" e-mails that goes around. Thought I'd just do it on the old blog here. 1. Do you like blue cheese? NOOOOOO 2. Have you ever smoked? yes 3. Do you own a gun? My husband does 4. What flavor Kool Aid was your favorite? Cherry 5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Not usually. 6. What do you think of hot dogs? Only like hot dogs at the ballpark 7. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Choc chip cookie dough 8. Favorite thing to drink in the morning? milk 9. Can you do push ups? What are push ups? 10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My wedding ring 11. Favorite hobby? Reading 12. Do you have A.D.D.? um, no, I don't think so. What did you ask? 13. What's one trait you hate about yourself? I'm a procrastinator 14. Middle name? Sue 15 Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment. 1) Why is Corby yelling during the World Series when he's not a fan of either team? 2) How is K...

I am a coupon clipper. I've needed to with 3 kids. This week it's double dollar coupons at Leeker's. I love saving bunches of money! I've already got my coupons gathered, and I'll be hitting the store in the next day or two. Double dollar coupons AND a 10% discount - it's doesn't get much better than that! Just finished reading the latest Tess Gerritsen book - The Keepsake. Quite creepy - but really good. I'm having a Party Lite book show - so I'll be passing catalogs around soon. Oh yes, my best friend Melody, accepted a new position today. She's been looking for a job since the first of the year, and looking even harder since her position was eliminated late in May. She'll even be making more money than her last job! I'm so happy for her! CHRIS - YOU'RE NEXT!!!!! I can feel it! Music of the day: Jackson Browne's Greatest Hits! GREAT CD! And a quote, since it's been awhile: "We can only be said to be alive in those momen...

I have a birthday coming up. One of my good friends - Anne - along with giving me some great gifts, made this card: Isn't she creative?

Here's how the cats spent Saturday afternoon. Must be nice to be that lazy!

I've never hidden my love for the TLC show Jon & Kate Plus 8. It's the story of a young couple who have difficulty conceiving. Through IUI, an intrauterine insemination, she became pregnant with twin girls. When they decided they wanted one more child, they tried again. However, this time she became pregnant with sextuplets. Though doctors wanted them to do selective reduction, they refused, and they now have 8 healthy children. The book is a very good insight into their life from the time they met, got married, had twins and sextuplets, all within 5 years. When watching the show, I sometimes find Kate to be overbearing and mean to Jon, but after reading the book, I understand a little more about why she is that way. They were meant for each other because Jon is very mellow and laid back. They seem like a "real" family, and it's fascinating to watch how they survive! And yes, I think it should be called survival. The sextuplets recently turned 4, so I don...

Yep, I opted to do more scrapbooking today. I've been going through my stuff, re-organizing and did a few pages. Now I'm just waiting for the hubby and kids to get home from Senior Day at K-State. They didn't get out until after 3, so they should be home soon. I love animals, I truly do - but our 3 cats and dog have been driving me crazy since I've been home by myself for 2 days. Cinnamon - our big baby Chow/Husky, has been in the house the last 2 nights because of the wind. She has ear problems occasionally, so really strong wind bothers her. Anyway, getting up in the middle of the night and letting her out, letting her in, letting her out (you get the picture) makes me feel like I have a baby again! The outdoor cat, Sugar, has been all over me any time I go outside. She even tries to bite my toes. Weird! Abby - she has taken to springing out into the garage whenever you open the door. Not a good thing if Sugar happens to be in the garage. When she did it this afternoo...

Yep, it used to be a steel-toed boot box!

We had a great time at Tuttle Creek State Park yesterday. Above - the fam getting ready to set up the tent. I supervised, but had to help when the wind started blowing everything around. And, the finished product! Here's our view from the campsite: Here's my shaggy-headed and shaggy-faced college sophomore. We had a great visit! I miss that young man! Kaleb and Kaitlin were really happy to see their brother! I know Kaleb enjoys having a room to himself (as does Brandon now), but they are all still buds! And here's dad and son. I think Brandon got his height, dark hair and dark complexion from my side of the family. After we got the tent set up, Corby and Kaitlin drove around the park looking for firewood and hit the bait shop/convenience store for beer and bait! The boys and I stayed back at camp and had a good walk around the area and a great visit! I left them to camp and headed back to Wichita early evening, because as I've said many times, I DO NOT CAMP! Having had ...

Most of you know that I am a voracious reader. Here are just a few stacks of books I've got lined up to read. I purchase at least half of the books I read from used book stores and garage sales. The others I buy from book clubs or Amazon. Oh yeah, I also buy quite a few at the Eagle Book Ladies Sale 3 or 4 times a year. Those are my stacks - here are Corby's stacks. Yes, he only reads cookbooks! Most of you also know that I like to rubber stamp and scrapbook. The cabinets I recently brought home from work (yes-they were given to me!!!) are great for scrapbook/stamp storage. Here are a couple of drawers of stamps. I have a total of 5 drawers (so far). Here are my stamp pads. I buy mostly Stampin' Up - not only because they're the best - but because my sister-in-law Sandy sells it! Here is a drawer with adhesives, glue dots, etc. It feels great to be organized. Any while I'm showing you some collections, here's part of another collection: Boyd's Bears! I'v...

We bought a couple of small pumpkins yesterday, and Kaitlin went straight to work painting them. This is hers - notice the Batman theme... This is one she painted for mom... And here's Abby laying on my basket of clean clothes. Notice that I always lay a towel on top so she doesn't get fur all over them? What is it about a basket of nice clean clothes that cats like? UGH!

UPDATED MON. 10/6... My niece Lenore just corrected me. My nephew Nick was also born in Minot, not Colorado Springs. My youngest nephew, Eric, was born in Colorado Springs. Thanks, Lenore! We've had a semi-lazy day today (I'm still working on laundry, but that's a normal weekend chore). It seems like we've been running for so long that we needed a bit more relaxing day. We did meet up with my family at Town & Country this afternoon to celebrate a couple of birthdays - belatedly. My nephew Nick turned 32 at the end of August, and my younger sister turned 47 (YES, 47!!!!, sorry Marilyn!) on Sept. 8. My older brother and his wife were gone for a couple of weeks to Germany, so this is the first time we've all been able to get together. Here is my nephew - in his new Broncos hat that we gave him - and my mom. Nick is the outsider in our family when it comes to football. The rest of us are Chiefs fans, but Nick is a huge Bronco fan. I think it has something to do with...