Linda's Sunflower

I'm still recovering from strep throat. After missing 2 days of work, I went back yesterday. And a fun 2 days it was! My design group at work has been working their fool heads off this week - kicking booty all along the way! One huge special section set us back on ads for the weekend. After they got the special section done on Wednesday, they spent yesterday and today catching up. It ended up being a "surprise" food day. I took everyone Panera bagels for breakfast, advertising bought us pizza for lunch, and we celebrated a birthday with cheesecake! I went and visited mom at lunch. I was unable to be with her when the dentist came on Wednesday, and we'll be out of town this weekend. We had a good visit. Off to Manhattan tomorrow to move the boys...fun, fun, fun!  

Having strep throat sucks! I've felt so bad today that I could hardly move. May have to miss another day of work, at a time that one of my department's is super busy. It's the advertising design group, so it's not like I'm any help to them, but still... looking through some pictures today bought a new external hard drive to store my photos on... this is what I saw driving to work last Wednesday, the day before the Rascal Flatts concert... my latest arrivals from Literary Guild, except for the Mary Higgins Clark book which I got last weekend at Border's for half price... Kaitlin baked blueberry muffins today, using the last of our fresh blueberries... the new "by the swing" table Corby got me from work. He's going to take the staples out and paint it the same color as the swing...eventually...  

I've had a sore left arm off and on for a few weeks, but over the weekend it started throbbing at night. Unfortunately, I also woke up Saturday morning with a sore throat that grew steadily worse over the weekend, until I could hardly swallow this morning. I went to the doctor this afternoon, and not only do I have strep throat, but I have a pulled deltoid muscle. Ah, the joys of getting old! So, it's rest for the next 24-36 hours, take my antibiotics and muscle relaxants, and try to get better...

Kaitlin and I went to the Rascal Flatts concert at Intrust Bank Arena Thursday night. This has become a mother/daughter tradition... I must say, of all their concerts I've seen, this was probably the best one. The sound was wonderful, and we ended up with SECOND row seats. First up was Chris Young, he wasn't on long, but I enjoyed him. Second up was Kellie Pickler. I've liked a few of her songs, and she sounded good too. Then came RF - lead singer Gary LeVox, along with JoeDoe Rooney (from Picher, Oklahoma) and Kaitlin's favorite - Jay DeMarcus. I only took a few pictures because my batteries were about dead, but Kaitlin took over 200 photos! She narrowed them down to about 160. Here are some of the best: Kaleb came home on Friday and went camping with some friends. He was back late yesterday afternoon, so we went out to Abuelo's for dinner: and of course I had to have a yummy margarita Today I'm busy doing my normal Sunday chores - paying bi...

this baby frog was wanting in our garage last night...we did not accommodate him! Today was a wild and crazy and stressful day at work. Both of our layout computers went belly up, so I dragged out the 15-year-old layout pads and started laying out tomorrow's paper by hand. Whew! My mind was going a hundred different directions. Thank goodness our tech guru got one of the computers up around noon and I was able to finish tomorrow's paper electronically! However, my computer is still dead in the water, and I'm not sure where we are going from here. Mr. Guru was going to "sleep on it" and hopefully come up with a solution. We are dealing with an antiquated system here, so hopefully he'll come up with something. All I know is that I was ready to leave at 5PM!

not when they die on you... Late evening at work. While paginating our classified section, my computer monitor blew up. Strangest thing. Did not notice a power surge, lights didn't flicker, but it turned off both layout computers (not your average PC's) and my helper's MAC. The MAC came back on, but I had to call our tech guy back in to fix the others. Verdict: my monitor is dead. Since it's not your average monitor, not sure Mr. Tech will find me another one, at least not tomorrow. Good thing we have one computer that is working. Keeping fingers crossed, as we're toast if we lose that one!  

We got to see Pat Benatar (with her husband, lead guitarist Spyder) and REO Speedwagon in concert on Tuesday night...GREAT concert! Pat was awesome, and I'd never seen her before. Kevin Cronin and REO were really good, though his vocals were not as strong as they used to be. It was still a rockin' show, and my BFF Melody and I had a great time! We went to dinner at Stroud's on Wednesday night. We'd all been craving fried chicken, and we NEVER fry it at home. It was really good, but I don't think their cinnamon rolls are as good as they used to be. Sad news this morning. My niece, Lenore and her husband, Daniel, lost their 1 1/2 year old kitty, Finn, to the FIP (feline infectious peritonitis) virus. I only met Finn through Lenore's blog, but he was a beautiful kitty, and I know Lenore and Daniel will miss him tremendously! I am praying that Emmy, their other cat, is fine. She will be tested for the FIP virus too.

Check out this cool pillow that Kaitlin made today... She used an old Rascal Flatt's t-shirt. Very creative. I told her she needs to go into business making these!

We've had a good day. Started out the morning by visiting with mom. She was excited because my older brother Terry had picked her up last night and taken her out to his house. She got to see my sister-in-law's grandchildren, and had a great time. It's always nice to visit mom when she's in a good mood! Apparently my brother and his family had visited Tanganyika Wildlife Park and now mom wants to go there. I've been wanting to go there too, so we'll probably take mom in September when it cools off a bit! We had to stop at Walmart too, and pick up a few things. I bought a new CD - Train's "Save Me, San Francisco". It is really good. But the CD I've really been enjoying is actually done by a group here in Wichita - the Mudbugs Cajun & Zydeco Band. One of their members, Jaime, works at the Eagle, and I got their CD from her on Thursday. It is awesome! Really makes you want to get up and dance! We did our grocery shopping at Dillons, pickin...

Time for Battleship! Kaitlin won!

I read 7 books in June, one was a children's book... 1) Sweet Tea at Sunrise - Sherryl Woods 2) Honeysuckle Summer - Sherryl Woods 3) Evidence - Jonathan Kellerman 4) Caught - Harlen Coben 5) Treasure Hunt - John Lescroart 6) Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten - Audrey Vernick, illustrations by Daniel Jennewein 7) Family Ties - Danielle Steel Woods' books are always enjoyable. These 2 books finished a trilogy that I started in May. Kellerman's Alex Delaware books always intrigue me, though some are better than others. This was one of the good ones. Coben is one of those authors whose books are hard to put down. Suspense writing at its best! Lescroart has several series (my favorite involves Dismas Hardy), but this one is about the Hunt Club. Not his best book, but still a good read. Everyone probably knows by now that the children's book Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten was illustrated by my niece's husband, Daniel Jennewein. I highly ...

Thank goodness the rain let up late yesterday afternoon so we were able to have our annual July 4th bash. We were missing a few regulars (neighbors Paul & Tokeah & their kids as well as neighbors Jim & Nancy) but we had a few new faces this year (Kaitlin's friend, Lydia and Brandon's friend, Brady). Corby has a mishap first thing yesterday morning. While going down the deck stairs to get Cinnamon to go potty in the rain, he slipped and fell. He hurt his ankle, his arm and tore up some of his toenails. He won't be wearing flip flops on a wet deck again! He rested for a little while, but is fine. While we were waiting for the rain to stop and company to arrive, the kids played board games. They played Scrabble, Life and Trivial Pursuit. The skies finally cleared enough for the party to begin. Corby grilled burgers, brats & hot dogs, and we had a slaw salad (great recipe from my cousin Diana), baked beans, deviled eggs, watermelon, etc. Then it was time ...

Things we did today: * Bought gas for $2.53/gallon at Quik Trip * The hubby, the boys and I visited mom * Shopped at Walmart * Grocery shopped at Leeker's * Sent the kids back to Walmart to buy a new cooler (yes we forgot it on our first trip) * Chatted and caught up on each others' lives * The kids played rock band * Corby baked dessert for tomorrow's Independence Day BBQ (hopefully it won't get rained out) * Ate dinner at P.F. Chang's * The girls spent time at the neighbors, where Kaitlin is house-sitting and taking care of their dog * Rented and watched the movie "The Book of Eli" (the guys did, not me, not my cup of tea) * Took my daily picture (of the kids) for my Project Life scrapbooking project

I The Eagles are THE best "old" band out there performing! As Glenn Frey said "Welcome to the Eagle's Assisted Living Tour". I knew it was going to be a great evening when they opened with "Seven Bridges Road". I went to the concert with my friend Susan, and this song was bittersweet for her. It was played at her husband's funeral last October. However, we sang along, and realized that Dennis was probably there with us in spirit! They played so many hits that I can't even remember all of them. Hotel California, Take It To The Limit, The Best of My Love, Lyin' Eyes, Witchy Woman, Take It Easy, Peaceful Easy Feeling, One of These Nights, Life in the Fast Lane, solo Don Henley hits: The Boys of Summer and Dirty Laundry; and Joe Walsh hits: Rocky Mountain Way and Life's Been Good. They also played quite a few songs off their latest CD, Long Road Out of Eden: I Don't Want to Hear Any More, Guilty of the Crime, and No More Walks in the ...