Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody! I have to work Thanksgiving Day but that's OK! I leave at 2pm and go to my sister's and eat leftovers! No worries! Friday is Joe's birthday...he will be 36!
Mom leaves to go spend some time with Ernie in Florida on Friday...which is nice...'cause now I will have an excuse (again) to go to Florida to bring her home in the Spring!
I miss our big Thanksgivings that we had at Grandma's house every year-- Grandma and Mom cooking a turkey all night, lots of pies and salads, playing with my cousin Barbara Ann, Uncle Virgil making castles and moats and whole scenic land sculptures out of his meal on his plate before eating it (trying to impress us kids...I was impressed!). I guess I just thought Grandma and Mom would be around forever to make Thanksgiving Dinner. Boy, was I ever shocked first time I had the dinner at my house! Believe me, I scolded myself many times for not helping more in the kitchen while growing up! I always had more important things to do-- like watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! I still like to watch it-- it's tradition! And speaking of tradition-- tomorrow at 8pm Levi will put Christmas music on the stereo and we will all listen to our first Christmas music of the year-- because it is tradition. Then Friday, we will go to St. John, Ks and get a Christmas Tree at Delp's Christmas Tree Farm...tradition! Tradition, tradition, tradition!

Kiowa County Wind Turbines

These are pictures I took last evening of the wind turbines they are putting up south of town.

Roses

Dennis met me at the airport in Wichita Monday and gave me these roses! They're so pretty! I had a good trip to Terri's. It was so fun to see Kale and my, how he has grown! He is a good baby and has such a sweet smile. Quinn is a good mommy. And I got to meet Kale's daddy. His name is Brad and he loves his baby. Now I need to stay home for a while and get some work done in my house-- you think that will happen?!?

Quinn, Kale, Terri and Me

Kale and his momma Quinn

Guess where I'm gonna go? Yup, to Roscoe, Illinois to see Terri and her little baby grandson Kale! I haven't got to see Kale since he was a little tiny preemie in the hospital! Now he doesn't even look like a preemie! See you later!

Halloween 09

Here's a scarey picture of Levi and I. Greensburg had a trunk-or-treat for the kids and Den and I dressed up (Den sqeezed into an old baseball uniform) and walked around. Levi and his friend Tim went as The Blues Brothers. This is not a good picture of Levi. I had told him not to squint because he squinted in the first picture! (I usually say Levi can't take a bad picture, but this one just isn't very good!)

I have to show off my pretty little great-neice Camille and her little brother Taden. Aren't they cute?!

Old pics of Mom and Dad

These are pictures of my mom and dad when they were in their early 20's. Dad always wore long sleeve shirts because he was a "tube bender" and worked over hot flames (he made neon signs). He also always wore a shirt with a pocket-- always. He carried pens and pencils and a pack of cigarettes in that pocket. He smoked like a train until Levi was a baby then he quit cold turkey. Never smoked again. Thank God! It was a answer to prayer! I hated taking Levi to their house when Dad smoked 'cause he would wreek of smoke (and so would we of course) . Dad also use to drink and quit that when Joe was a small child. We use to find liquor bottles in the tank of the toilet or in-between the towels in the bathroom when we were kids. I was so suprised when I got older to find out people kept alcohol in plain sight in cabinets in their homes! It's sad that none of us ever learned the tube bending technique. Dad could make anything out of glass. He made two beautiful doves for our church-- they had been broken by hail before the tornado and were waiting to be repaired but you know the rest of the story. I don't have anything neon that Dad made but I think Relena has a neon cactus. I miss my Dad-- he was a good guy and had a good sense of humor and would do anything for anyone if they needed help. He had alot of common sense. My Mom used to complain about his smoking (everyday) and when he quit I told the people at our church there had been a miracle and a wonder with Mom and Dad-- the miracle was Dad quit smoking and the wonder was it took Mom three days to notice! Dad was a WW2 Vet. He is buried here in Greensburg.

Karen

I lost a friend last night. She was a nurse at our hospital and her Mother is a nurse here too.

She was such a sweet girl, and such a good little nurse. I will miss her. Goodbye, Karen.

Ernie, Relena and Me

Weren't we just the cutist little kids? Ernie and his dog, Relena and her goose, and I and my cat! I think the picture with just me is from kindergarten. Isn't it odd to just look at a picture of yourself of when you were young and think back to what you thought of yourself and about what you'd been taught? I was usually a happy child.

Here are some pictures of Relena and Jake and their family. This is Laura and 3 of her children (she has 5).

This is Darline and Relena.

This is Ashley and Taden (her sweet little boy!). She also has Camille (her beautiful little girl!) and is married to Trent.

Ashley, Relena and Camille and Grandma (Mom).

Relena and Shawn.

Of course, Rocky was mentioned on another blog and I'll show his new house and a picture of him later!

Here's a young Relena and Jake...just for the fun of it. I've been looking at Relena's pics on Facebook and found this one and thought it would be fun to put it on my blog.

Kale and Quinn

My last blog was suppose to be a joke. Everybody blogs about all the "crafty" things they are doing so I decided to put a picture of my dishcloth on here (even though it is suppose to be square but is rectangle!). My kitchen does have some yellows, reds, and greens in it and it does kind of brighten things up a little.

I just don't know how you all find time to do all you do. . . it seems as though all I can do is just maintain. And lots of days I don't even maintain. . . I lag behind. But, I'm gonna keep on keepin' on! Who knows, maybe one day I'll crochet an afghan! Maybe one day I really will paint my bedroom! (I've had the paint for several years!). Maybe I will actually take a walk or ride my bike around town!

Until then, I'll just keep reading your blogs and enjoying them! And I'll keep you updated on my progress of course!

Oh, and more importantly, here is a new picture of Kale with his Mommy Quinn. He gets to go without oxygen in the daytime now! Isn't he a doll?!?

Dishcloth

Gosh, I haven't "blogged" for a long time! I've been sooooo busy crocheting. Here's a picture of what I've made. Oh yah, I've also thought alot about riding my bike, walking somewhere, and painting my bedroom. (You just can't keep a good woman down!)

Den and I went to the Kansas State Fair last Saturday and again yesterday. We worked in the Pride of Kansas Building last Saturday at the Greensburg Booth. Alot of people stopped by and asked about the progress Greensburg is making with it's rebuilding effort.
I took a picture of The Swings when we walked around Saturday evening. My niece (Darline) rode on these when she was little and a fair guy (who wasn't suppose to be on the ride) rode behind her and kept grabbing the chain making her swing go wild and she was scared to death! My brother and I were on the ground watching this. When they stopped the ride, my brother showed alot of restraint and got in the guy's face and got him kicked out of the fair by his boss. (I was afraid my brother was going to rearrange his face, but he never laid a hand on him!) Oh, the joys of The Fair!

Yesterday Dennis and I rode on the giant Ferris Wheel. Dennis was scared-- his hands were sweaty! But I thought it was fun!





When we looked at the quilts, this one was there and I just loved it.. it has several little girls on the front of it and it's like paper dolls-- you can change their dresses-- the envelope that holds their dresses is sewn on the back of the quilt. It's so cute and such a neat idea. (Are the little girls McCall's girls?) I hope it was Ok to take a picture and put it in my Blog!!


We love going to The Fair! Just walking around looking at everything and everyone! We like to eat Pronto Pups and Pizza and ice cream and caramel apples-- although this year I just couldn't bring myself to buy a carameled apple-- I told Dennis I'd go buy a bag of caramels and apples and make my own! We did buy some Taffy for Mom (and me) and I bought a piece of fudge. Plus I found a Gaspinite ring that matches my watch band and earrings. Oh yeah, we also got Joe's girlfriend's daughters some toys-- butterflies on the end of a stick that light up and flash and make noise! And, we played a game and won them a couple of little rubber duckies. We looked at camper trailers and dreamed of getting one to pull behind our Trailblazer-- (small ones). See you all later!

Colorado

This picture was taken as we were driving home from Terri's cabin. We also stayed at Mannitou Springs one night and we drove to Fort Collins and visited Becky Perry Irons and up to Estes Park for a lunch and some shopping before heading home. We want to go again in the winter and take Levi with us.

Den and I went to Colorado over Labor Day Weekend and stayed 2 nights at the Meadows new cabin @ Red Feather Lakes. Here's Terri and I there.

Relena's Scary Beet

Mom made some pickled beets! Relena had supper with us tonight (I made potato soup--yum!) and when she jabbed her beet it looked like this! You had to be there-- it was too funny! Ernie says it looks like an Alien.

Pickles

My neighbors gave me some cucumbers so tonight I made bread and butter refrigerator pickles! They have to set at least 24 hours then....they'll start disappearing! Mom wants to try to have us make some chow-chow soon also, but I don't know if I'm that energetic. But I love chow-chow on hot dogs...so maybe I'll be making it (with Mom's help) in a few days!

The pickles are in a Sun Tea jar that my neighbors gave me (the same neighbors that gave me the cucumbers)! It's not the best photo in the world but you get the picture- right?! (Gosh, I need to clean out my refrigerator!)

Another Kale Picture!

I couldn't resist- Terri sent me this picture of Kale and I just thought it was so cute! He looks like a sweety!

I hope he gets to get rid of the oxygen soon!

Kiowa County Memorial Hospital

This is a picture of KCMH from the air! It should be completed in January or February! That is Hiway 54 in front of it. It's going to be nice, isn't it?!

The rounded area on the back is the patient care area and the ER will be on the west end. This picture is looking southwest. There's alot of glass on this hospital on both the east and west on the north side. There will be a pond on the east side. And there will also be a wind turbine on the east end I believe.

Relena and Ashley

I was going to put a post about Rocky and his open house which he is having as I write this. But I couldn't find a picture of Rocky so I'll wait until I have a picture of him and his house! In the meantime...here's Relena and her youngest daughter Ashley. This was taken in May at the swimming pool park when we had the alumni picnic. By the way, tomorrow is Relena's birthday!

Den the Gardener

Wow! Check this out-- Den grew all this stuff in his garden! I am so impressed!

Quinn and Kale and Daddy

This is Terri's daughter (Quinn) and Kale and his Daddy. They look happy!!

Kale

This is Terri's little Grandbaby, Kale Cassidy. He weighed less than 2 pounds at birth. He was born February 21 but wasn't due until May 21. He had to have an emergency surgery for a ruptured appendex (very rare for a premature baby) but he is home now and doing well! This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully by now he has his oxygen off! I will keep you updated.

Band camp

Levi leaves tomorrow for a band camp in Wichita all week. It's a marching band and they will be the halftime entertainment at the East Vs. West Allstar Football Game on Saturday night. Saturday morning there is a parade and they will march in it (it's a Mason's Parade and they are the ones who get the band kids together). Levi plays a trombone. Friday evening, before the parade and ballgame on Saturday, there is a banquet and they also play at the banquet. This is the third year Levi has done this. The first year was at Hays, the second at Emoporia, and now Wichita. We will go to Wichita Friday to the banquet and stay the night and watch the parade and ballgame and half-time show on Saturday. Levi will get home late Saturday night. Then he leaves for Youth For Christ camp near Colorado Springs the next day. He is one busy guy!

Joe

Joe and Levi

Joe with Levi and Den Joe and Bill

Joe and I

Joe on Mountain in Colorado

Joe loves to go hiking in the mountains of Colorado. He sent me this picture of himself a couple of days ago. I'm not sure which of the 13ers or 14ers it is. He has always been an outdoorsman! He enjoys nature and believes in relaxing at the end of the day!

Levi

Yeah! My boy comes home tonight! He's been gone for 3 weeks to Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland. The Greensburg, Pa. Rotary Club has been so good to him! This was the 3rd year he got to go on this trip thanks to the Rotary Club in Greensburg, Ks. and Greensburg, Pa. He has met alot of wonderful good-hearted people, and seen alot of our USA. He has been to New York, West Virginia, and North Carolina plus the afore mentioned states! He is one very fortunate child!

I am glad he will be home tonight!

Summertime

Joe took this picture with his Blackberry phone today. It's a poodle! And I finally got my pool up and running but haven't been in it yet! I messed up- I didn't get it smoothed out very well plus when it filled I somehow didn't have the bottom all out far enough so the drains are on the floor of the pool! I thought about draining it all into the garden and starting over but I think I'll just leave it and stay away from the drain end of the pool.

Estes Park

Our Cabin

Dennis and I just got back from Estes Park, Colorado late Sunday night. Time goes by too quickly when you're in the mountains! Here are some pictures of the cabin we stayed in. We loved it there. Hummingbirds ate at our deck everyday and little chipmonks ran around on and under the rocks outside. We shopped in the stores downtown and came home with a few souviners. We spent one day with Perry and Becky and Perry drove us all up Trailridge Road to the Continental Divide, then we ate supper at "The Other Side" restaurant together. It was wonderful getting to be with my friend Becky and her wonderful husband Perry! As I said before, time goes by too quickly when you're in the mountains and we hope to return there soon!

Terri's Birthday

Today is Terri's birthday!
Happy Birthday Terri! Hope it is wonderful!

Zoo pictures

Here are some pictures I took with my Blackberry phone while we were at the zoo in Manhattan, Ks. Den is smelling the flowers.

And I thought these were so pretty!

The flamingos reminded me of Florida!

Do you know what animal these feet belong to?

The weather was perfect when we first got to the zoo but about half way through it got really hot and muggy! But we enjoyed our day there!