Linda's Sunflower

And the giveaways go to... Elle's Studio is giving away TWO packages which include 10 sets of tags and two sets of stamps from their newest release. (2) Linda Joplin • I would wake up in Manhattan, KS where my oldest son is a sophomore at K-State. I MISS HIM SO MUCH! I entered a contest yesterday on Ali Edward's blog. Ali is a scrapbooker extraordinaire, writes a column in Creating Keepsakes magazine, has a husband who is in the House of Representatives in Oregon, an autistic son - Simon, and a new baby girl - Anna. Be sure to visit her blog here . She is a very inspirational woman. I won the package from Elle's Studio which includes tags and two sets of stamps. All you had to do was comment on her blog with an answer to this question: "If you could wake up anywhere, where would it be?"...see my answer above.

The tornado sirens have gone off about 4 times this afternoon and evening. So far, nothing in our immediate area, which is good. It's definitely springtime in KANSAS! Kaitlin and I went to Big Lots this morning. We were originally going to buy a Kitty Condo, but Kaitlin came away with this: Muffin loves it! I've been working on Kaleb and Kaitlin's graduation announcements. It's taken me all afternoon to get them done. Our 2009 Wichita Heights High School grads: And Abby stretching out on the couch:

What's the deal with these mid 80's temps? I don't want to go straight to summer and using air conditioning. I kind of like spring when I don't have to pay high heating or electric bills... My current book read: Look Again by Lisa Scottoline (a new favorite author). From Amazon: "When reporter Ellen Gleeson gets a “Have You Seen This Child?” flyer in the mail, she almost throws it away. But something about it makes her look again, and her heart stops—the child in the photo is identical to her adopted son, Will. Her every instinct tells her to deny the similarity between the boys, because she knows her adoption was lawful. But she’s a journalist and won’t be able to stop thinking about the photo until she figures out the truth. And she can’t shake the question: if Will rightfully belongs to someone else, should she keep him or give him up? She investigates, uncovering clues no one was meant to discover, and when she digs too deep, she risks losing her own life—and ...

I've reached 3562 visitors to my blog! Not too bad for a boring blog from the land of Oz! I'm sure most of those visitors are family and a few friends, but still...my goal is 5,000 by October. So those of you out there reading my blog (and I know there are least 2 or 3 of you), step it up! Visit 3 or 4 times a day, even if I don't update! It will still update my visitor numbers! Just joking! I know I need to have a decent post with pictures for you all to visit me. I'll try to do better. Life has just been very hectic lately. And here's why... I've been working for the last 3-4 weeks on getting mom on Medicaid for the nursing home. Her money is very close to being gone, and it has been the biggest hassle I've ever faced in my life. I won't go into great detail, but suffice it to say that I don't EVER want to go through anything like this again! The sad news is that mom will have to move out of her private room into a shared room. The good news is t...

Today would have been my dad's 82nd birthday. Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you and miss you! I can't believe you've been gone for 15 years! Also, Happy Anniversary to my brother & sister-in-law - Mike & Diana! I can't remember how many years it's been - 6, 7,8 or 9??? Love you guys!

Just bought a big-screened TV from some friends of ours. The best part is - they delivered it to us tonight. However, we have to do the TV shuffle before we can get it in our basement. The kids all have TV for their bedrooms next fall in Manhattan - but they wanted one for their living room - where they can watch movies, etc. So when our friends told us about this big screen, the kids decided to buy our 36" TV for their living room. However, we're going to have to store it in the garage until August. Right now the big screen is out there, awaiting it's new home in our basement. I have a feeling Corby will be doing the "shuffle" soon. He's anxious to get that 61" hooked up! What beautiful weather in Wichita today! Haven't heard the official high, but it's 68 degrees at 8pm, so I'm guessing at least the low 70's. Tomorrow it's supposed to get in the 70's too and then 83 or higher on Wednesday! I LOVE THIS WEATHER! Corby got the yard...

Kaleb and Kaitlin found out on Thursday that they have both been named Kansas State Scholars from the Kansas Board of Regents. This allows them to apply for more scholarship money. We are filling out the scholarship applications now. We will also be heading to Manhattan in June for enrollment. The wheels are turning...

Mr. Opossum is back. Several months ago I blogged about a pesky opossum. He or one of his siblings is back. Early yesterday morning, around 4am, Cinnamon started barking ferociously. The stupid opossum was inside our yard played dead, as I guess opossums do. Anyway, I ended up waking Kaleb to help us corral Cinnamon and get her in the house so she wouldn't wake up the entire city of Park City. I'll be danged if that pesky varmint didn't come back again this morning around 3am. At least Cinnamon came to us right away and we got her in the house. This time it was in the tree that is between our house and the neighbors. Our neighbor tried everything to shake it out of the tree with no success. It's either time to set a trap or kill the damn thing! I am reading Karen Kingsbury's newest book - Take One. She is a wonderful Christian author who has written several different series of books. This is the first in a new series. From the Back Cover Could they change the world—...

We are headed to Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, OK on June 12 to see Rascal Flatts. Kaitlin didn't find out about the concert until about 30 minutes ago. Since then we've bought tickets to the show and reserved a hotel room. Yes, where Rascal Flatts is involved - WE ARE QUICK! I had to tell Kaitlin OKAY since this may be our last concert together for a while. Oh, and for those of you who listen to Rascal Flatts and know some of their music, Kaitlin selected "My Wish" as the song for her senior picture slideshow. I apologize if I've posted this before, but here are the lyrics: I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow, And each road leads you where you want to go, And if you're faced with a choice, and you have to choose, I hope you choose the one that means the most to you. And if one door opens to another door closed, I hope you keep on walkin' till you find the window, If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile, But more th...

There's not much I can say - other than I am SO proud of these two kids. Both excellent students and great people. I am going to miss them come August. And without further ado, some samplings of their senior pictures:

Editor's Note from the 4/2/2009 edition: "Maybe Homeland Security should be helping to keep the print media alive. A few years from now, there's a good chance there won't be many newspapers left - if any. So what happens when some cyber-terrorist zaps the Internet or takes out a couple of satellites, and suddenly there's no communications infrastructure? This is not such an outlandish thought - deep in the Pentagon, there are people who do nothing but worry about these things. Aren't you going to sort of wish someone was throwing the paper on your doorstep?"

We had the family over for Easter dinner today. It was a rainy, blah day, but we managed to have a great time. Mom got to look at a bunch of old pictures and postcards. She's been saving postcards for years, and I found another scrapbook full of them when I was going through her things. She was in seventh heaven!Here come the pictures: Mike and Terry being goofy. This reminded all of us of dad and my uncle Gerald, who were the family comedians. And one of them actually behaving. My nephew Nick obviously inherited some of the family goofiness. Mom with all her babies...(okay, so we're not really babies...) My best friend and SISTA, Melody with me and mom. Nick, Sandy, Terry and Mom... Diana, Mike and Mom... The host and hostess and MOM! And, last but not least, Abby - she wanted in on the action! I didn't take pictures of the food, but it was yummy. Corby fixed meatloaf, baked mashed potatoes with sour cream and cheese (AWESOME!), corn and salad. Melody brought a ham and som...

He is Risen! Indeed!

Simple Scrapbooks magazine has ceased publication. It was my favorite scrappin' mag because - well - because of its "simplicity". I am a simple scrapbooker. I prefer it that way, though I do like to look at others' elaborate pages. It's just not me. I had just re-upped for a 2 year subscription, so they will now be sending me Creating Keepsakes mag. I used to subscribe to it, but some of the layouts in there are just WAY overboard, and it wasn't relevant to me any more. They say they are going to put some of the "simple" layouts and stories in CK, but I'll have to wait and see. Goodbye Simple Scrapbooks! You've been a good friend for a long time. May you rest in peace!

I've been going through boxes of things we packed up from mom's house several years ago, before she moved to Presbyterian Manor. I'm still trying to find some important papers, but while looking I came across some things that are very special. First is this drawing of mom that my dad did many years ago when they were young. I never saw dad draw - ever! I'm guessing that's one of the things he gave up when he had 5 children. However, from the looks of this drawing, he had talent! Next - an old mirror that my Grandma Appelhans had in her bathroom. I remember a little table in their small bathroom. It held this mirror, and a round container of talc powder with a powder puff. You don't see those anymore. Seeing this mirror brought back memories and smells of the talcum powder and the Dove soap that grandma always used. Last is a picture of Grammy - mom's mother. This is a beautiful picture of her when she was young, but I also love the antique frame that holds i...

We spent most of the afternoon with my friend, Milt, in downtown Wichita. That's because Milt was taking Kaleb and Kaitlin's senior pictures. Yes, I waited this long intentionally. Neither one of them had a desire to go into a studio and have their picture taken, so we opted for the outdoor, natural approach. Milt took Brandon's senior pictures too, so I'm anxious to see the pictures from today. Our biggest enemy was the ferocious wind - gusting upwards of 30-40mph. We wandered the warehouse district downtown, and whenever we could find a spot out of the wind, we went for it. Kaitlin fought the wind with her hair all day, but I think Milt got some great pictures. He's got an eye for photography, though he just does it on the side. Having worked with me for about 12 or 13 years, he left several years ago to be the marketing manager for the local Harley Davidson dealership. Thanks Milt for a fun afternoon, even though I am still picking sand out of my teeth. And rest ...

I read 11 books this month: 1) This Side of Heaven - Karen Kingsbury 2) Married in Seattle - Debbie Macomber 3) One Day at a Time - Danielle Steel 4) 13 Little Blue Envelopes - Maureen Johnson 5) True Colors - Kristin Hannah 6) A Virgin River Christmas - Robyn Carr 7) The Matchmakers - Debbie Macomber 8) The Associate - John Grisham 9) The Second Opinion - Michael Palmer 10) Still Alice - Lisa Genova 11) Second Chance Pass - Robyn Carr Although I love Kingsbury, Macomber, Steel, Hannah, Carr, Grisham and Palmer, I think the book that affected me the most last month was Still Alice by Lisa Genova. This is the story of 50-year-old Alice, who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. My family has been affected by this disease - my niece's grandmother on her mother's side has Alzheimer's, while my mom is suffering from dementia and the beginning stages of what we believe to be Alzheimer's. Alice is a Harvard professor who realizes there is something wrong when she st...