Linda's Sunflower

We have a new indoor soccer team - starting this fall. And they WILL be called the Wichita Wings. I have tons of memories of the original Wings. We were season ticket holders for years. Brandon grew up with the Wings! We will definitely BUY season tickets!

go to her blog to read her EXCITING news! http://presentinglenore.blogspot.com/2011/03/book-deal-announced.html

I know I'm a bit late posting this blog. After all, it's the 28th of March, and this is my February reads. But, I'm going to post it anyway! 1) The Confession - John Grisham - this was a really good book. I have since loaned it to Kaleb. 2) Promise Canyon - Robyn Carr 3) Wild Man Creek - Robyn Carr 4) Harvest Moon - Robyn Carr The last 3 books are by one of my favorite authors. I will buy anything that she writes! I like Grisham's earlier books, but some of his last ones have lacked the intensity of his first books. The Confession took me back a bit, to the time when he was writing good books. So I would highly recommend it!

Yes, we suffer from March Madness in our house - for several reasons. The twins birthday is March 15, and they turned 20 this year. I know you'll associate March Madness with the NCAA Basketball Tournament. This year was no different. Kansas State beat Utah State in the first round, but lost to Wisconsin in the second round. KU fared much better. They beat Boston University, Illinois and Richmond before losing to VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) in the Elite Eight. While the state's focus was on these two teams, Wichita State lit fans on fire with their run for the NIT Championship. They beat Nebraska 76-49 at Koch Arena, then beat Virginia Tech 79-76 in Virginia. Last Wednesday night, Terry, Kaitlin, Lydia and I went to their third NIT game - College of Charleston - at Koch. They won again 82-75. Now they are in the quarter finals of the NIT Tournament, and they will play another WSU - Washington State University - tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden. GO SHOCKERS! Ma...

  don't ask, okay, I'll tell you anyway. Corby's fish burrito - fish sticks, mac 'n cheese & tartar sauce. YUCK!

It's been way too long since I posted here... Work has been crazy busy as usual, and mom has been dealing with her new dental bridge. Let's say mom and the rest of us have been dealing with it. She's struggling with it, both understanding what it is, and complaining about it hurting. She went almost 9 1/2 months with just 3 teeth on the bottom while waiting for this bridge (it's a VERY long story), so I keep explaining to her that it will take a little while for her gums to adjust. I hope that happens soon. Kaitlin has been busy with school and working about 26 hours/week at the Eagle. She spends most of her weekends studying. We bought strawberries at Dillons yesterday. They are quite yummy for March! And, we lost an hour of sleep last night, but I love daylight savings time, once my body adjusts to it.

We went to Manhattan today to fix Brandon's car. He had problems with the battery a few weeks ago, and then he had more problems. Trying to diagnose the problem from here we thought it might be the alternator. The boys found a refurbished one and bought it. Thank goodness they asked if they could return it if necessary. Corby found loose wires to the battery that the boys replaced. It wasn't really their fault, as they didn't have any good tools to use. The boys both got home from classes shortly after we arrived. We got the battery all fixed up, and we hope that solved the problem. Took the boys to Old Chicago for lunch. Kaleb had to work at 1, Brandon decided to switch his work day from today to Friday, so he was off. After Kaleb headed off to work we ran over to Best Buy (driving Brandon's car so we could test drive). I bought The Town on Blu-Ray (yes, we finally got a blu-ray player). I bought the special package that included the Blu-Ray, the regular ...

Tax day. Well, tax figuring day! Boo hiss! Have to pay a big chunk to Federal AND State. UGH! Yesterday's pic of the day Kaitlin's shoe/boot stash

Enjoyed having Kaleb home this weekend... Corby & Kaleb washed cars today. My car and Kaleb's both needed a bath! I got the kids taxes done too... Took a couple of pictures before he headed home...  

It was a busy week (as usual) exacerbated by having alternators go out on Kaitlin's truck and Brandon's car. Corby replaced Kaitlin's alternator today, and we're headed to Manhattan on Tuesday to repair Brandon's car. I'll be so glad when the kids get thru college, and hopefully get good jobs so they can buy newer cars! :-) Along with the wild weather swing (-15 last week, 75 this week)...we were happy that Kaleb came home yesterday to spend the weekend. We went to the Shocker game last night, where they lost in the last few seconds because the refs called a foul on them (ugh) Corby replaced Kaitlin's alternator this morning, while Kaleb, Kaitlin and I visited mom. We came home and picked Corby up, then went to see the new Liam Neeson movie, UNKNOWN, at the Warren Theatre (east). Though the movie was a bit slow-going, I really enjoyed it (perhaps because I'm a big Neeson fan) and there definiately was a TWIST to the movie! I'm on vacation un...

Mom fell early Tuesday morning, but thankfully didn't break anything. Her hips are a bit sore, but the x-ray showed nothing was broken. I stopped to check on her after a dentist appointment on Wednesday. My niece, Lenore and her husband, Daniel, signed with an agent this week. Lenore has been writing a YA (Young Adult) novel, as well as working on humorous picture books manuscripts with Daniel! Very proud of them, and hope this leads to their books being published! Melody and I went to see Styx last night at First Council Casino in Newkirk, OK. It's just over the border south of Arkansas City, so it didn't take long to get there. The opening act was a band out of OKC - Stonewater. They were really good, so we went together and bought their CD. Styx ROCKED as usual. They even played some songs off their earlier albums. The sound was awesome. It was difficult to see them as it was all floor seats, and we had a lot of tall people in front of us. But still, it was a lot ...

Cinnamon LOVES the snow!  

Mom is the star of this month's Presbyterian Manor newsletter... Mr. Elvis impersonator sang "Are You Lonesome Tonight" to her at his performance last month. They all know she is a huge Elvis fan! And here are the cats trying to stay warm by my space heater...  

I read five books in January... 1) The Scarpetta Factor by Patricia Cornwell. I enjoy most of Cornwell's books, and though this one was a bit of a trudge to read, it still was a good book. Not her best though. 2) Queen of the Night by J.A. Jance. Jance is one of my favorite suspense/mystery authors, and though this book did not feature regulars Joanna Brady or J.P. Beaumont, it was a really good book. 3) Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi. de Rossi, the wife of Ellen DeGeneres, writes about her eating disorder. It was tough to read at times, I think because it's hard to believe that someone who weighs 90 lbs. can believe they still need to lose weight. It is obviously a disease, and one that she finally overcame. 4) Love Me to Death by Allison Brennan. This one is classified as a romantic suspense novel. I think it had more suspense than romance, but I thought it was really good. And I'm thinking it's the first book in a series of three. 5) Tick Tock by...

While we may not have gotten a ton of snow (maybe 5-6 inches?) we are under blizzard conditions tonight! The wind is blowing 30-40mph, it's bitter cold, and the snow is really drifting. We allowed most people to leave work between 2:30 and 3 today. I left about 4, and it took me about an hour to get home. Kaitlin didn't have classes at Wichita State today, but worked 10-2, and then got stuck trying to get in the driveway. Our neighbor helped get her un-stuck, so she parked in the street until Corby got home and shoveled the worst part of the drifting. Luckily, I had already planned to take tomorrow off, so I don't have to get out in it. WSU cancelled classes again tomorrow, but Kaitlin has to work 11-5. At least the snow has stopped... And I'm caught up on Project Life 2011

Didn't have a very good week, but don't really want to go into it... On Monday I went across the street to Cox and got the box for digital cable with DVR. LOVE the HD channels on our new TV, and got a good deal on digital for 2 years! We sure are enjoying the new TV! I think I sold the old big screen too! Brandon came home for the weekend so we could shop for a suit for him. K-State is having a Career Fair on February 8, and he wanted to dress up and hopefully get some interviews. We ran around all day Saturday and did buy him a suit, shirt & tie at Penney's. Also got him a winter coat for a clearance price of $19.99! Here he is trying the suit on - still hadn't cut tags off at this point. (Can you tell he doesn't like to pose for pictures?) Ate at Abuelo's after our day of shopping... then went home and watched KU beat K-State. UGH! I think the Shockers are playing much better than the Wildcats right now! At least they beat Bradley yesterday ...

Got a big surprise at work on Tuesday: Was named Employee of the Year for 2010. I shared the honor with 2 people from the newsroom - it was a tie! I'm extremely proud and feel very lucky because there are a lot of GREAT people at The Eagle! Won some money and a paid day off. YAY! Thought hard about what I might want to spend the money on. I really want to buy a Canon Rebel camera and get into photography more. But as the week wore on, I decided to buy a new flat screen TV for the family instead. After doing some research, and shopping around, we bought a 46" Sony Bravia yesterday at Ultimate Electronics! I am going to call Cox tomorrow and get digital HD TV set up, as well as a DVR. We are finally "getting into" the new TV technology! LOL! Today has been spent with Corby installing a new kitchen sink, faucet and garbage disposal. It's been a mess, and an all day project. Wish we were rich enough to pay others to be our "handyman", but at le...

Kaitlin's friend, Lydia, who spent a week with us, went back to Manhattan on Thursday. The girls had a great time during her visit! I know Kaitlin misses her... Thursday, Kaitlin and I had lunch together at The Beacon. Things were hectic at work this week with my layout assistant gone 3 1/2 days. Her grandfather had a bad stroke late Wednesday night. After surgery he was holding his own. I'm hoping she is at work tomorrow, as I have to take mom to a 2:30 doctor's appointment in Derby. That pretty much takes up the whole afternoon! Kaitlin bought a couple of puzzles at Michael's last week, and already finished one of them: Cinnamon relaxing on the steps of the deck: Abby & Muffin licking cheese queso off Corby's fingers (yes they are crazy!): and we finally put up the Christmas decorations. Well, Kaitlin put them up for me! Thanks hon! Yesterday was a good day for Kansas basketball teams. The day started with K-State beating Texas Tech, 94-60. KU b...

Here's is President Obama's speech from the memorial service in Arizona tonight. "To the families of those we've lost; to all who called them friends; to the students of this university, the public servants gathered tonight, and the people of Tucson and Arizona: I have come here tonight as an American who, like all Americans, kneels to pray with you today, and will stand by you tomorrow.  There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole torn in your hearts. But know this: the hopes of a nation are here tonight. We mourn with you for the fallen. We join you in your grief. And we add our faith to yours that Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the other living victims of this tragedy pull through. As Scripture tells us: There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. On Saturday morning, Gabby, her staff, and many of he...