Linda's Sunflower

It's been tradition in my family since the early '90's to have a yearly garage sale. When we lived on South Pattie, we had one every May, and they were VERY successful. Of course, back then, we had three little children who outgrew clothes and toys every year! We also lived two houses from Pawnee and had a lot of traffic all the time! Since we moved to Park City in 2000, our garage sales haven't been as successful. The first year we moved here, I had a 3 day sale in July. That was the stupidest thing I'd ever done! Not only was it extremely hot, I found out people don't just drive out to Park City for a single garage sale, even if you advertise in the paper. Since then, I've been smart enough to have one when they do the city-wide sales in the spring and fall. Some years I have two, and once or twice I've skipped a year. But we have been renting a storage shed since April holding a bunch of stuff we needed to get rid of. I intended to have one during the...

I knew the day would come... Brandon moved home last May after he graduated from K-State. At the time, he'd gotten an intern job for CCH here in Wichita. I was glad to have him home and happy he'd found a job! He intended to stay here for just a few months, but decided to stay longer so he could pay off his credit card and one of his student loans. Then he had the automobile accident that totaled his car. Thank goodness he wasn't hurt, but he had to buy a new car. After his job became permanent in January, he decided to finish paying off his highest-interest student loan and then look for a place to live. He finally did. Am I happy about it? Of course! He's grown into a wonderful, self-sufficient young man, and I'm extremely proud of him. I am going to miss him though. Though he's always been a "shy guy", he loves to talk about his job, sports and music. We've enjoyed going to concerts together over the years, have season tickets to the Wings, ...

I read 11 books  in August - 10 by female authors, 1 by a male author. 1) Judgment Call by J.A. Jance (hardback) - another great book by Jance! 2) Forever After by Karen Rose Smith (Kindle) - enjoyed this one. 3) Catching Fireflies by Sherryl Woods (Kindle) - LOVE Woods books! 4) Moonshell Beach by JoAnn Ross (Kindle) - I'm a Ross fan! 5) I, Michael Bennett by James Patterson (hardback) - enjoyed it but had a frustrating ending 6) The Inn at Rose Harbor by Debbie Macomber (Kindle) A bit of a miss from Macomber, but still enjoyable 7) The Wedding Gift by Lucy Kevin (Kindle) - okay 8) A Baby of Her Own by Brenda Novak (Kindle) - enjoyed it and plan to read more of her books 9) Friends Forever by Danielle Steel (hardback) - extremely frustrating & sad. You can expect sadness and then ultimately happiness in most of her books, but this was too much 10) Hooked by Polly Iver (Kindle) - hated it, couldn't even finish so I guess this counts as 1/3 read 11) Chasing...

Okay, it's not a great picture. But it does tell the story of what we did on Sunday. Brandon and I went to visit Kaleb in Manhattan. Corby stayed home to get some things done around the house, and Kaitlin was house/dog-sitting for Terry & Sandy. In between some shopping, driving around Tuttle Creek, and eating; we went bowling at the rec center on the K-State campus. The picture doesn't really tell the story. And the boys probably wouldn't want to share the story, but I will. I WON BOTH GAMES! Ha! We were all pretty rusty, so I was the lucky one. Great time with my boys!

Brandon is moving out (boo hoo!). He's found a 2 bedroom townhouse to rent near Douglas & Rock. Since he works just east of there, he'll be able to walk to work most of the time. He gets his keys on Friday, Sept. 14, and move-in date is set for that Saturday. Brady is going to help him move. With his plans made, we went back out to Ashley Furniture on Saturday (Kaitlin and Corby went to Walmart instead). He bought 3 stadium-seating-type recliners, a king-sized bed, and a sofa table that matches the pub table he bought last week. We are giving him our blue sofa & love seat from the living room. He's got 3 floors to furnish: basement includes laundry room and rec room; main floor is the living room w/dining area, kitchen & 1/2 bath; upstairs are the 2 bedrooms and a full bath. He's going to put his TV and chairs in the basement, and our old furniture on the main floor. We've still got the old coffee table and end table that they had in Manhattan, so he...