Linda's Sunflower

We've had a busy week. Corby was on vacation all week, cleaning and cooking in preparation for hosting Thanksgiving at our house. My siblings and mom and our family friends (and honorary family members) Melody and Diane all celebrated Thanksgiving together. There certainly was no lack of food. We had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes & gravy, green bean casserole, corn casserole, Hawaiian bread, olives, spinach dip and pumpkin and chocolate pecan pies. Brandon was able to come home early Friday evening, while the twins weren't able to get here until almost 1am Saturday morning. Saturday we visited mom and my sister Rhonda, and did some shopping. Kaleb and Brandon went over to friend's Saturday evening, and Kaitlin stayed home and hung out with mom and dad. Today the kids and I went to Target to pick up a few things, and I did the kids' laundry. Kaitlin brought her dirty clothes home. The boys didn't, so I only had to wash the clothes they wore while they were ...

Coming tomorrow...Thanksgiving without the kids. Then kids' weekend visit...  

I love my husband with all my heart, but Donny Osmond has been my heart-throb since I was 13 years old when I saw the Osmonds in concert at what was then Henry Levitt Arena on the WSU campus. (Is that a run-on sentence or what?). Anyway, I have been glued to the TV set every Monday and Tuesday for the last few months watching Donny Osmond's journey on Dancing with the Stars. I am not normally a big TV watcher, so this was a BIG thing for me! And it all culminated last night with Donny winning the trophy! I was also rooting for Kelly Osbourne - her personality, spunk and dedication really won me over, and I was hoping she would be in the final two. I was not a Mya fan. While I thought she was a pretty good dancer, I thought she was a bit cocky and expecting to win. Donny certainly had the best freestyle dance on Monday night, getting his first perfect score all season. It was so cool to see Donny's joy as he won. When he picked his wife up and brought her out on the danc...

I began working at the Wichita Eagle on Nov. 22, 1976; so today I am celebrating 33 years! When I train the new salespeople on the layout procedures, I let them know I was a toddler when I started! I began in the classified advertising department, taking ads over the phone. About a year and a half later, I started working in the classified support area, and about 6 months later I went across the hall to be the lead typist in our Ad Services Department. Years later, I trained in layout, and while helping do it part-time, I became secretary to our Production Director, and then assistant to our VP/Operations. From there I became layout manager, and am now also supervising our classified inside sales staff. So I've had a variety of duties over the years, and have enjoyed learning a lot of different things. So, happy anniversary to me! It's been a great ride (for the most part)!!! Corby and I have both had busy weeks at work, so after eating leftover meatloaf for several days, we...

Those of you who've known me a long time, know I am an OSMOND fan and a BEE GEES fan! Tonight was seventh heaven for me. Donny Osmond made it to the finals of Dancing With the Stars, and the Bee Gees (sans Maurice, who passed away a few years ago) sang "You Should Be Dancing" on the show. The whole show was exciting for me! I remember the early 70's, when I shared a room with my older sister Rhonda. We had blue walls in our bedroom, though you'd never know that because they were plastered with pictures of Donny Osmond and his brothers out of Teen Beat, 16, Tiger Beat, etc. magazines! It's poetic justice to see Donny Osmond flourishing in his 50's. He turns 52 in December. Yes, I know his age. I know all the Osmond's ages. The older performing brothers are all 2 years apart in age. And Marie turned 50 in October. Yes, I grew up with them, and yes, I still treasure those memories. GO DONNY! I hope you win Dancing With the Stars. You deserve it!

We had a busy weekend with Kaitlin home. She surprised me on Friday afternoon by coming up to work as soon as she got to town! Friday night we visited with the neighbors, watched some TV and just hung out. Yesterday we were off and running. We had breakfast at The Beacon, one of Kaitlin's favorite homestyle restaurants. She loves their biscuits and gravy. We then visited mom. She was happy to see Kaitlin. We dropped Corby off at Fantastic Sam's to get a haircut, and ran to the bank while he was there. After picking him up, we went to Scrapbook Garden. I had gotten a gift certificate for my birthday, so of course I had to go use it! We also went to Yankee Candles (I had some GREAT coupons!), Bath & Body Works (great sale going on!), Bed Bath & Beyond and then Office Max to pick up a few things for work. We did grocery shopping at Dillons, and then headed home to unload the car. We filled up a couple of bags for Kaitlin to take home, relaxed for a little while, and th...

Yes, I'm a newspaper employee! Yes, newpapers have had their share of adversity and problems the last couple of years. However, things seem to be looking up right now, and since I'll celebrate 33 years at the Eagle on Nov. 22, I'm a happy camper! The fourth quarter, with the craziness of Thanksgiving and Christmas, can be very stressful, but since I'm an old-timer, I am enjoying it! Kaitlin is home for the weekend...so glad to have her home. It's looking more and more like she will come home in May and finish her career at WSU. I'm okay with whatever she decides, whatever makes her happy. As for momma here, of course, I want her to come home! Lots of "un-set" plans for the weekend. It's just good to have "sis" home. I hope the weather holds up until she gets back to Manhattan Sunday night!  

The cats are being quite lazy today... I'm enjoying the second of my two days of vacation. Back to work tomorrow! UGH? Last night was my night to watch TV. Donny Osmond is still on Dancing With The Stars, he's made it down to the last five contestants. I thought he danced better than the scores the judges gave him last night, but now I'm just hoping he got enough fan votes to keep him on there one more week! He's the oldest contestant (52 in December). DANCE ON DONNY! I'm hoping they vote off Aaron Carter - he's a big crybaby! Yesterday I spent the day going through junk mail, filing bill stubs, reading and relaxing. I don't have a car so I can't go anywhere. I'm hoping it's ready by the end of today so we can pick it up when Corby gets home from work...

We attended a Messianic (Jewish & Gentile) wedding last night. My friend, Vonnie, from work married her honey, Bill. The ceremony began with a Shofar Blast. From the wedding program, a Shofar is described as an animal's horn prepared for use as a musical instrument. Together with the reed, it is one of the earliest musical instruments known to man which is still in use. It is mentioned 69 times in the Bible. It was a beautiful wedding, with bits of fun, prayers, a Davidic Dance to a beautiful song "Fine Linen", violin played by Vonnie's 17-year-old daughter Abby, wine drinking between the bride and groom, the marriage vows and the traditional breaking of the glass. Vonnie's wedding dress was beautiful, and her colors - light sage and brown were breathtaking! We stayed for a bit of the reception, but left before the dance was fully underway. Ronnie Choy, who also works at the Eagle, was the DJ. Ronnie is a great DJ, and also did the receptions for Mike & Di...

It's been "one of those weeks". Got the scoop on my car on Tuesday - Magnetic speed sensor inside the transmission that needs replaced. Estimate $975. I said "NO" and picked up my car as it's still running. Thought about it for a couple of days, and decided to get it fixed. Even though I've had numerous issues with my car, I like it. We decided since we are not able to buy a new car right now (3 kids in college people!), it would be advantageous to fix it. So, I dropped it off at lunchtime today, and should have it back on Tuesday. Of course, we'll be about $1000 poorer! It's a good thing Corby will have a great check next week because of his recent overtime! Today was wild at work. My assistant had to leave unexpectedly around 11:30. She had a wreck about 4 months ago that messed up her back and neck, and she was having major problems today. She went to the ER and got some strong pain medicine, but then had to go home. So I was thrown into a b...

I only read 7 books in October. Looking back, I guess that's the same that I read in September, so I guess I'm on target... Here is my list for October: 1) The Wrong Hostage - Elizabeth Lowell. I had never read any books by Lowell, and this has been in my "to be read" stack for probably a year. I'm glad I finally picked it up. It was really good. I will be looking for more books by this author. 2) Killer Smile - Lisa Scottoline. Scottoline is one of my favorite authors, and this was one of two of her older books I found while shopping at thrift stores this past month. 3) That Holiday Feeling - Debbie Macomber, Sherryl Woods & Robyn Carr. Each author contributed a Christmas story to this book. Macomber and Carr are favorites of mine, and now I believe that Woods will also become a favorite (see the rest of list) 4) Wedding Belles - Haywood Smith. This is the first of Smith's books I've read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! 5) Never Too Late - Robyn ...

Looks like I'm going to have to buy a new "used" car. Mine is biting the dust as we speak. Transmission problems. Unless our two friends and neighbors, Tom and Paul, can find a rebuilt transmission, I'm going to be junking my car. C-R-A-P!!!!! At this point, I am driving it until it dies! Pray that it gets me through this week. I will explain later....

I've been driving my car this week, even though it's still having problems with the tachometer and shifting. Yesterday, the "service engine soon" light came on. Corby tried replacing a gasket on the EGR valve - that didn't fix it, but we still don't want to spend $200 to replace it if that's not the problem. So off to the shop it goes. I'll be dropping it off tomorrow morning on my way to work. Thank goodness our mechanics are just a few blocks from work. We did manage to get our errands done yesterday. Leeker's is having double $1 coupons this week, so I picked up some goodies. My bill was $98 - and ended up $56 after coupons. I LOVE SAVING MONEY! I don't buy anything we won't use. Normally this is how I buy shampoo, deodorant, cleaning supplies, etc. I did manage to get two 4-packs of Danactive yogurt drinks for .67 each, some Rhodes multi-grain frozen rolls (they are yummy) for .59 as well as other goodies. We usually buy dog treats th...

I went back to work yesterday, after a total of 11 days off! That was tough! I love my job, but think I could get used to early retirement! I don't think that will happen anytime soon though, since we have three kids in college! Corby is still trying different "fixes" for my car. At least it's still running. We know the problem is with the emissions, we're just not ready to replace the EGR valve for $200 unless we know for sure that's the problem. Our neighbor Tom hooked it up to his mechanic computer Tuesday night, and confirmed it's an emission problem. It just doesn't pinpoint whether it's the EGR valve. Corby is going to take it off, clean it and reseal it. Hopefully that will fix the problem. I don't want to invest a bunch more money into this car, especially since they won't be making Saturns anymore. We are trying to decide where to go for dinner on Saturday night. We'll be celebrating my birthday, which is Monday. No big de...

Monday morning I headed to Manhattan. It was a beautiful drive - beautiful weather and beautiful scenery. Fall is alive and blooming in Kansas! When I got to the kids' house, they were all there. Kaleb had to leave for a class, so I took Kaitlin and Brandon to lunch at Arby's (big whoop!). We had a nice visit. After dropping Brandon back off at their house, Kaitlin and I headed to Topeka. We wanted to get there early for the Daughtry concert. I've only been to Topeka a few times, most of them a long time ago. We found the Kansas Expocentre fairly easily (after a stop at Dairy Queen for a blizzard!). Since we had allowed ourselves plenty of extra time, we drove around the area a bit to find the easiest and quickest way out of the arena. We still ended up waiting about 45 minutes before standing in line another 20 minutes for the doors to open. The first act was Cavo. Kaitlin nor I had ever head of them. Apparently they are from St. Louis. Second act was Theory of a Deadman. ...

Kaleb came home Friday night for the weekend. We've enjoyed having him home. For those of you who know him, he has quite a jovial, sarcastic personality, and honestly, I've missed it! We spent most of the day on Saturday running around. Had a great visit with mom, and she was wearing one of her new shirts. From there we did some grocery shopping at Dillons. Went to the one at 13th & Tyler, which we hadn't been to in several years. It brought back a lot of memories because that's where I used to take mom shopping every week. We had to make a run to Walmart - our second this week. I am NOT a Walmart fan, but since they built the new one at 53rd & Meridian, it's the closest thing to our house. We also took Kaleb out to Cheddar's for dinner. The food was really good, as usual. We went to eat around 4:30, so there was no wait, which is very unusual for Cheddar's. From there we went to the Moonlight Madness sale at Leeker's. They were absolutely s...

Time to post some new pics: Kaitlin with her kitty - Muffin Freaky Kitty Kaitlin with her dad Kaleb will be home this weekend for a visit. He'll get home late this evening and go back on Sunday. It will be good to see him! My BFF Melody and I went out last night for girls night out. We went to On The Border, had some margaritas and had lots of girl chit chat time! Afterwards we went over to my little sister Marilyn's house to "crash" her girls night out get-together. Had lots of fun, but I found out I should have called Corby to let him know where I was. He didn't know I was going to be out late (well, 11pm isn't THAT late!), and said he was just waiting to get a call from me to come and get me out of jail. Not sure where that came from, but I agreed I should have called him since he didn't realize it was going to be such a long "date"!!!! I'll remember next time honey! Today's music: vintage Styx... and a quote for ...

I am now a member of the Neilsen Homescan Group. This means I scan my purchases every week and send them to the Neilsen Group. I can win cool prizes by doing this, so I thought - why not? I just got my scanner over the weekend, and I will submit my first purchases tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. I would love to win a big screen TV! I had lunch today with my good friends, Joyce and Paula - both friends from high school. Yes, we've known each other for over 35 years! Paula and I were best friends sophomore year through senior year, and Joyce and I were good friends too. In fact, Joyce, my sister, Rhonda, and I lived together for a couple of years in the early to mid 80's. It's always great to get together and catch up on each others lives! I also visited mom today. I helped her organize her new clothes so hopefully she will know what blouse to wear with what pair of pants! Thank goodness Kaitlin's truck is fixed now! It was a minor problem - a bad connection w...

I love Amazon.com...my checking account doesn't, but I do! I love ordering $25 worth of merchandise, and not paying for shipping! I ordered some books yesterday: by Robyn Carr: 1) Runaway Mistress 2) Never Too Late and by Sherryl Woods: 1) Stealing Home 2) A Slice of Heaven 3) Feels Like Family I've got all my winter reading ready now...though there are a few of my favorite authors coming out with new books in the next couple of months. I'll have to get those too! We had a busy weekend - went to Manhattan on Saturday to try to fix Kaitlin's truck, which wouldn't start. No luck! Corby thinks it's either a sensor problem or a fuel filter. If the truck had been here at home he might have been able to replace the fuel filter. However, you have to drop the gas tank - and on a pickup truck that's a big undertaking. So, her truck is at the Dodge dealership waiting for a health verdict. I hope it's not too expensive since she doesn't have mon...

Kaitlin & I went to another Goodwill store today looking for more hoodies & sweatshirts for her. Had no luck finding any clothes, but I did buy 4 more books (for $6!!!): Free Fall by Fern Michaels She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb Killer Smile by Lisa Scottoline Dead Ringer by Lisa Scottoline I've read books by both Scottoline and Michaels, but I'm new to Wally Lamb. I think this was actually an Oprah selection, but I'm not sure. If you've read it, let me know if you liked it. Kaitlin and I are spending our last few hours hanging out together before she heads back to Manhattan. I'll see her again two weeks from today because we're headed to Topeka to see Daughtry on the 19th. We had China Go for lunch. She's been craving chinese food since there isn't much to choose from in Manhattan. It was yummy, but I had enough left for Corby's dinner! We are headed to the memorial service for our friend Dennis tonight...