Linda's Sunflower

Kansas.com has a cool database feature going on right now: HOW POPULAR IS YOUR FIRST NAME - in Kansas? I checked out our names and this is what I found... Corby has the most unique name. In the 1960's - the decade he was born (yes he's younger than me) - there were only 4 boys with his name. Since the 1940's, only a total of 16. His real first name is Corbin, but since he goes by Corby, that's the name I searched. Next is Kaleb. I'm sure there are more that spell it Caleb - but with our spelling there are a total of 47 from the 1980's and up. Then comes Kaitlin. Again, there are numerous spellings, but hers has 67 from the 80's & up. Brandon comes second to last. I originally wanted to name him Cody, but since it was so close to Corby, we opted for Brandon. (Cody is his middle name). Anyway, there are 1560 Brandon's from the 80's and up. And of course, I'm last. There are 12,356 in the state of Kansas with my name. However, there are only 98 ...

I've been a big Bruce Boxleitner fan since the days of How the West Was Won and Scarecrow and Mrs. King. Here he is with his wife Melissa Gilbert (yes, Little Pint from Little House on the Prairie) at a Mission lunch in L.A. Yes, some celebrities actually do good things...

The last week has been hectic but wonderful! I only had to work 2 days (Tues & Wed.) which is a good thing because we had a lot going on. Finishing shopping and wrapping gifts on Monday. Wednesday night my whole family met at my youngest brother's. He and his wife Diana hosted our annual Christmas Eve "junk food night" and gift exchange! Then we hosted everyone at our house for dinner on Christmas day. Corby cooked an awesome ham and scalloped potatoes, while I fixed sweet potato casserole and green bean casserole, and of course we had plenty of other food and sweets as well. Wonderful time spent with a wonderful family and friends! Pics from Christmas Eve... We have a habit of taking "goofy face" pictures, dating back to my dad and his younger brother, Gerald. Some day I will find some of those old pictures and post them, but for now - first it's Kaitlin (with my brother Mike) then my brother Terry then my sister Rhonda then my sister Marilyn and last ...

I had the day off today, so I finished up some last-minute shopping. I realized when I went to wrap Brandon's gifts, that I had mis-ordered the size on an online JCPenney order, so I had to exchange it. Corby, Kaleb and I went to Towne West (not too crowded), Best Buy and Kohl's. Kaitlin stayed home and made sugar cookies - she is still finishing the icing as I write this. Here are her creations: She was so slow at work last night that she did some Christmas art on a brown paper bag: I finished my wrapping this afternoon. Abby went to the vet today to get de-clawed. She'll be home tomorrow morning. Muffin is lost without her...poor thing. Corby is making yummy potato soup for dinner. Oh yeah, if you know anyone who wants to buy a big honkin' 27" HDTV - Kaleb is selling his. He wants a smaller version for school next year. Here's a picture... let me know if you know someone who might be interested. It's an Insignia brand and only about 2 years old.

My niece, Lenore, is home for the holidays. She brought me a stash of German candy - all chocolate I think. Her husband, Daniel, helped pick it out. I like to try different variations, and I couldn't remember what she brought me the last time. I think the only one I've had before is the Kinder. Here are some of the goodies: She also brought me some books. We both love to read. The one on the left is an autographed copy. Aren't I special? THANKS Lenore! This is where Kaitlin found Abby when she came upstairs this morning. She almost doesn't fit in the basket anymore. I'm hoping that day comes soon so I can start using the basket for napkins again! She's off to the vet tomorrow to get de-clawed. Perhaps she'll be mellow for a day or two afterwards! And here is Muffin's take on my breakfast and reading of the paper this morning. I guess she was helping me scope out the sales flyers. We celebrated birthdays today. My youngest sibling, Mike, turned 44 on Dec...

I know, this is 3 posts in one day, but I couldn't resist...Kaleb and Kaitlin won Foundation Scholarships from K-State! Kaitlin gets $3750 for freshman year, and Kaleb earned $2250. They are renewable for $1250/year as long as they maintain a 3.5 GPA. There is a special day of recognition on February 11. Guess we will be making a trip to Manhattan! Also - this is just the first round of scholarships they've applied for. The engineering scholarships go up for grabs in January. Keep your fingers crossed. They need more money! Way to go kids! Dad and I are SO SO SO proud of you!

I also received my People magazine year-end double issue with Top 10's...they had some different takes tho - most popular / bestsellers, etc. Here are their top 10 bestsellers - Fiction: 1. The Shack - William P. Young (waiting to borrow this one from my brother) 2. The Appeal - John Grisham (he's back to writing good books again) 3. The Host - Stephenie Meyer (haven't read) 4. The Friday Night Knitting Club - Kate Jacobs (not a knitter-haven't read) 5. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen (want to read) 6. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini (want to read) 7. Playing for Pizza - John Grisham (it's okay) 8. Fearless Fourteen - Janet Evanovich (haven't read) 9. The Lucky One - Nicholas Sparks (asked for this for Christmas) 10. 7th Heaven - James Patterson (loved it!) The Most Watched TV Shows: 1. American Idol (Tues.) - YUCK 2. American Idol (Wed.) - YUCK 3. Dancing with the Stars - not interested 4. Dancing with the Stars results - not interested 5. The Mentalist - my...

I received my "special double issue" Entertainment Weekly today. They are featuring the BEST & WORST of 2008 - Our Top 10 in Movies, TV, Music, Books and DVD's. Their Top 10 Movies: 1. Wall*E 2. Milk 3. The Dark Knight 4. Waltz With Bashir 5. Gomorra 6. Wendy and Lucy 7. Trouble the Water 8. Happy-Go-Lucky 9. Man on Wire 10. Tropic Thunder I've only seen one of their Top 10 - The Dark Knight, and I would rank it in my top 10 as well. I haven't even heard of #'s 4-9. Top 10 - TV: 1. The Colbert Report (which my kids love, but I've never watched an entire episode) 2. The Wire (never watched) 3. 30 Rock (never watched) 4. The Shield (never watched) 5. Lost (never watched) 6. Mad Men (never watched) 7. Fringe (never watched) 8. Late Show with David Letterman and Late Late Show w/Craig Ferguson (watch occasionally) 9. Dexter (never watched) 10. In Treatment (never watched) Guess I suck at watching TV, huh? Top 10 - Music: 1. TV on the Radio (never heard of)...

This will be short and sweet. I know it's a busy time of year, but to all my blogger friends out there - I MISS YOUR POSTS! I know Facebook is "all the rage", but I enjoy your views and comments on your regular blogs. Please reconsider keeping up with your blogs, even if it's only once a week. DO I NEED TO GET A LIFE, OR WHAT?

I was a "stand-by" juror this week. And I have been excused. I was instructed to call yesterday morning between 11 and 12 to see if I was to report at 1pm. Nope! Then I was instructed to call after 5pm to see if I was to report this morning. Nope! Then I was instructed to call after 5 today to see if I was to report tomorrow morning. Nope! And now, I've been excused for the rest of the week. I'm 52 years old and NEVER been called for jury duty, so I was kind of excited, but also knew it would wreak havoc with my job! So, even though I'm very happy to have been excused, I'm a tad bit bummed that I didn't get to serve on a jury...oh well, maybe next time. Now, I must again complain about the idiots driving in this LESS THAN 3 INCHES of snow that we got last night! Why is it that people don't have a clue how to drive in snow? I saw three, count 'em, three wrecks on the way to work - the worst a spin-out on I-135 that basically brought traffic to a st...

I am mostly done with my Christmas shopping!!! What an achievement! And it's still 11 days until Christmas! Today was spent visiting mom, hitting Walmart and Target, and grocery shopping. Now I'm broke until next payday - HA! Last night, Corby and I went to the Artichoke with some friends. Their son's band was playing their first real "gig". They are called Union Break, and they are very good. Sam, their son, is the oldest. He is the bass player and turns 16 this weekend. The lead singer and acoustic and electric guitar player will turn 16 next spring, and the drummer just turned 15. For young kids, they were really good. It was an enjoyable evening, albeit in a tiny, tiny place! (For those of you who have been to the Artichoke, you know what I'm talking about). My niece is headed home from Germany for Christmas. She is landing in San Francisco today to spend a few days with her brother and his family, and she'll be in Wichita on Wednesday. Her husband Da...

The Dark Knight came out on DVD today. As regular readers of my blog know, Kaitlin is obsessed with this movie, AND Christian Bale. Since I am off work today, I went to Best Buy and got it for her this morning - with HER money of course! I know she will be watching it as soon as she gets home from school! For all you idiots out there who don't know how to drive in snow - SLOW DOWN a bit and you'll get where you're going in one piece! I didn't find the roads that slick this morning, but I did see two accidents on my way to Best Buy. Honestly, I think the people in Wichita forget how to drive on snow from year to year. It's not that hard! Our first measurable snowfall... Here's the neighbors trash can. It's trash pickup day and there are trash cans all over the streets. That wind is nasty! Stay safe everyone!

I won't go into the whole story about our hot water heater again. It would be a repeat from a post back in January. Just suffice it to say Corby got it fixed, and we are living in the land of hot water again! In between helping him, I got some scrapbooking done today. The first 3 spreads are in a ringed scrapbook - the pages are 8x8. This last page (8.5x11) was made using my new Cricut Expressions. I am still learning all the nuances, but it has some cool techniques you can use, for example - the word "favorite" at the bottom of the page. Just too cool, and too much fun! And in case you can't read his top 10 music choices they are: 1. Nickelback 2. Hinder 3. Saliva 4. Shinedown 5. Trapt 6. Avenged Sevenfold 7. Jeremy Camp 8. Slipknot 9. Five Finger Death Punch 10. Seether How many of these have you heard of? I like all of them - except I haven't heard Avenged Sevenfold or Five Finger Death Punch (what a name). But I do like that he has one Christian artist in ther...

Kaitlin and I got our Christmas decorations up today - including our new 4 1/2 ft. pre-lit tree. We bought a small tree because of Abby. What kitten doesn't love to play in a Christmas tree? We're giving it about 24 hours before it ends up on the floor. Kaitlin took several pictures of Muffin and Abby laying on the tree skirt under the tree, but the pics are on her camera. Since I can't easily load those to my computer, I'm waiting for her to e-mail me some pics. I'll post them when I can. For now, here are my pics: Can you find the cat in this picture? Here's a cute sleigh card-holder that I wrapped some holly berry garland around. Here are some reindeer that I've had for almost 20 years. Rudoph is getting a little banged up, but Kaitlin still insists we put them out. This is a buffet cabinet that used to be mom's. We hung some of our bigger ornaments on here since we didn't put our big tree up. And of course we couldn't put up our decorations w...

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We finally had our first fire this winter! YIPPEE! I LOVE FIRES! (No, I'm not a pyromaniac!). This was Abby's first fire too. She had to check things out. She wasn't quite sure what it was all about, but she did like laying near it because of the warmth! There hasn't been much to blog about the last week or so. It's just been really busy at work. Newspapers are fun??? this time of year! We did have a great time with Brandon home for Thanksgiving. He's back in Manhattan studying for finals. GOOD LUCK SON! Kaitlin's been battling a really bad cough. If it's not better by Monday I will probably take her to the doctor. I'm on vacation Monday and Tuesday! YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! My niece Lenore will be home from Germany for the holidays in a few weeks. I am looking forward to seeing her. Daniel, her husband, will be staying home to concentrate on his illustrations for two children's books! Today's music - Melissa Etheridge's new Christmas ...