Linda's Sunflower

Mom had an eye doctor appointment this afternoon, but I got a call from the nursing home this morning saying she didn't feel well and wanted me to cancel the appointment. So, I rescheduled for the end of January. It's been a quiet, relaxing day at our house. Kaleb has been having computer problems, so he took his hard drive to Best Buy to have the "Geek Squad" give him the lowdown on what's wrong. He should know in the next few days. Kaitlin and Brandon went to Taco Bueno for lunch. I am not impressed with TB, so they went by themselves. Corby worked on Brandon's car, fixing the headlight, the hood latch and the manifold.  Everything is good with his car now. I'm working on my 5th load of laundry for today, after doing ALL the laundry on Sunday. We definitely have more with all the kids home for the holidays. We also made a run to Leeker's to pick up some milk and cat litter. Yes, it's been a quiet day. Now we are ready to watch two basketbal...

Kaitlin made it home Tuesday night, before any stormy weather. Since a blizzard and high wind warning was in effect late Wednesday night and all day Thursday, the boys both came home late Wednesday night. Kaleb got off work at 6pm. Brandon was supposed to work until 10pm, but managed to get off a little before 9. So they were on the road by about 9:45pm, and made it home a little after midnight. They didn't run into any bad weather, but when the storm hit Thursday morning I was sure glad they made it home the night before! While we really didn't get very much snow, we had enough wind and drifting to create hazardous roads. We enjoyed junk food night Christmas Eve, and watched "The Hangover". It was stupid, but pretty darn funny! We were able to have almost all my family together for Christmas Day. Corby's side of the family lives in Oklahoma. One of these days the Joplin side of the family all needs to get together for Thanksgiving or Christmas. We always used t...

I'm done with my shopping, but still have a lot of wrapping to do. Thank goodness Kaitlin is headed home tonight. I have a feeling we'll be spending Wednesday night wrapping gifts. I hope the bad weather waits until Thurs. afternoon or evening, as all the kids will be home by 10 or 11am on Thursday. Corby is off work beginning Thursday all the way through next week. He goes back on January 4th. I have to work through Christmas Eve, but am then off until Wed. 12/30. I am so looking forward to spending time with the kids while they are home, maybe seeing a movie or two, and spending lots of time having fun!

I finally broke down last Sunday, and ordered me the new DROID smart phone from Verizon. My 2 year contract was up, and I was able to get a good discount on it. I had it Fed-Ex'd to Corby's work, so I got it Tuesday night. Five days later I am still learning about this phone. Okay, I'm not a tech geek. I have three kids who are, but they are still in Manhattan. I took my old and new phone out to Verizon on Friday at lunch, and they switched my contacts for me, so at least I'm not needing to add 50 people to my phone! (Thank goodness!)...I've learned how to do the easiest things: make calls, receive calls, and send and receive texts. I'm able to access Facebook, the web, and games. So I'm getting there. My kids swear I should have waited until they came home for the holidays before ordering it. But, I'm figuring it out all by myself. And I am damn proud of myself! We celebrated my brothers' birthdays this afternoon at Abuelo's. My younge...

It's definitely that time of year! Tuesday night, I worked the Eagle's Open  House from 5-7:30pm. My boss and I ran the "kids room", and had a lot of fun doing it. We had two pressmen who were making hats out of newsprint for the kids - that seemed to be the most popular kids event. We had newsprint covering one wall of our conference room - our advertising artists drew winter scenes on it, and the kids colored it. We also had some stamps made out of our press plates. Last year we had approximately 400 people come to our open house, this year we estimate around 1200 attendees. It was a lot of fun, and there were a bunch of volunteers who were tired on Wednesday! Thursday night, Corby and I went to mom's Christmas dinner at the nursing home. I forgot to take my camera, so I don't have any pictures to share. It was held in the main crystal dining room, which they had decorated beautifully for the holidays. I was really impressed with the huge tree, decorate...

Muffin loves ice cream. Can you tell? I think it's so gross that Corby lets her lick/eat his ice cream!!!! Corby and I went and saw the new Sandra Bullock movie "The Blind Side" yesterday! Very good movie! Inspirational because it's a true story. I highly recommend it... Mom moved again this week at Presbyterian Manor. She had some problems in her old room with noise in the hall and from the resident across the hall from her. She is in her old wing, back with her old nursing staff, and I think she is going to like it. The best part? She's now by a window! I'm close to being done with Christmas shopping. I still have a few things to get and some stocking stuffers. I'm working on my Christmas cards. It's been a little difficult this year because my printer isn't working right. I always like to print my labels because it makes it go faster. I'm waiting on a part from Kodak for my printer, but in the meantime, I am handwriting the envel...

My newest read: True Compass by Edward Kennedy. I've always been fascinated by the Kennedy's, and I remember reading about them when I was young...getting ready to start this book tonight...  

I read ten books in November. Obviously I was on a Sherryl Woods kick... 1) Feels Like Family - Sherryl Woods 2) Shades of Blue - Karen Kingsbury 3) Pieces of Happily Ever After - Irene Zutell 4) Welcome to Serenity - Sherryl Woods 5) Runaway Mistress - Robyn Carr 6) Free Fall - Fern Michaels 7) Send No Flowers - Sandra Brown 8) About That Man - Sherryl Woods 9) Ask Anyone - Sherryl Woods 10) Along Came Trouble - Sherryl Woods The last three were a trilogy. I love books where the authors carry their characters from book to book. It makes me feel like I'm a part of the family. Since it's December 5, I will say I just finished "Time of My Life" by Patrick Swayze and his wife, Lisa Niemi. It opened my eyes to a lot of things that he went through in his life, most of it kept private and out of the paparazzi's eyes. I enjoyed learning about his life. Haven't decided what I will read next, though I received Edward Kennedy's memoir "True Co...