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...

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....