Let Fall Begin

We had a lot of fun this weekend tracking around in my childhood neighborhood.  They had a fall festival Saturday.  It was nice being there and being reminded of very fond memories.  Apparently, they have not had this festival in a few years; so, it did lack a lot. Hopefully it will be the start of bigger things to come.  When you are in a really small town there is only so much to offer.  There was a parade at 11:00.  Food vendors, three bands, political booths, crafts, and local advertising.  There really wasn't a lot going on, but again, I hope this will set the stage for the future.  Hopefully, others will get involved.  It was a beautiful day and the weather was very cooperative.  It wasn't too hot to be able to enjoy being out in the sun. 

Birthday Wishes to our Daughter

It's been 28 years, yesterday, since our daughter was born.  Incredible how the time has flown by.  We celebrated at Applebee's, her choice.  She had designs on the "Blondie" for desert.  This is the first year I have not made or ordered her a birthday cake, but she really wanted the Blondie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and the warm maple-pecan sauce.  They are wonderful. 

Here are some pictures of her special day. 

 

Tried to start her day off a little special with a birthday banner on her car for a little surprise.

The next four pictures were from her co-workers.  One of her good friends made the hello kitty cookies for her.  What a nice surprise.  Cards, flowers, and the cookies.

The next two pictures are at home where we gave her our gifts.  She received a really nice wallet from Charming Charlie's, a pair of real cute slingback sandals, and nice undergarments from Arie's.

 

Happy Birthday sweetie.  Hope you had a great day!

Cheddars Restaurant

We recently visited Cheddars for lunch and it was wonderful.  The dining areas are much larger than what you would think.  Service was terrific and best of all, they serve COKE ZERO!!!!  It is so hard to find a restaurant with Coke beverages, let alone with Coke Zero.

The front of the restaurant.




















This is a great water feature outside.  At night it has a fire that burns on the very top.

 

 

I ordered a yummy fried chicken salad with a side of ranch dressing and a dinner roll

 

 

My son ordered salmon with fries and baked Mac-n-Cheese

This is a grilled chicken salad that I had at a second visit to Cheddars.  It was equally as good.

and, here we are enjoying our meal and a beautiful sunny day.

Happy 4th of July AMERICA!!!

Today is the celebration of America's birthday.  I LOVE the red, white, and blue that represents America and I LOVE July (it's my birthday month too).  How fitting to see "Captain America" today and followed with "God's Not Dead".  A movie I recommend everyone see.  We don't typically see two movie's at the theatre in one day - but we wanted to just chill and not have an agenda.  Both movies were terrific.  We then picked up pizzas from Donatos and took them home. 

So on the 4th you wear red, white, and blue.  Here is the outfit I selected for today.

Capri bling jeans from Burlington, studded flag shirt from Maurices, Bobs flag canvas shoes by sketchers, and can't leave out my camel trimmed in eggshell blue Coach purse (I received this beautiful bag for Mother's Day). 

 

 

My guys even participated in the celebration by sporting the red, white, and blue:

    
Caleb's shirt was especially appropriate to wear at the "Captain America" movie.

Here we are just having fun at home.

I hope you enjoyed family, fun, and celebrated America.

Where Do They All Come From??

I'm not really sure why our home has become the favorite place for animals to just show up, but here is the latest:  A beautiful Siberian Husky.  As much as we would have loved to keep "Lila" we took her to the Johnson County Animal Control to see if she had been reported missing or had the chip in her.  Sure enough she was chipped and we were able to contact her owner and have her reunite with them.  She is just under 3 years old.  It was a very warm day and she welcomed the water and food we provided her.  She was very well mannered. 

 Lesson: always have tags on your pets.

Hair Cut. Does any one ever really notice?

Okay.  I was tired of the hair style I was currently fashioning, after two years of growing it out.  So, the heat of summer is coming and it is time to make a change.

 

 

 

                  BEFORE                                                        AFTER

So, probably doesn't seem like much of a change, but if you knew how thick my hair is, you would know what a big difference this really is.  It was taking me a good 30 - 40 minutes to dry my hair.  Then I still had to curl it or us a flat iron on it.  I don't like having that much heat on my hair because it is pretty healthy and I was concerned with damage.  I've had my hair much shorter in the past but I didn't want to have a complete shock so I didn't go quite as short.

It feels great to get it off my neck and some of the weight off.  Summer is always a great time to sport a new hairdo!!!

Spring Has Finally Sprung! Guess the visitors we've had!!

What a winter we had, and finally the flowers and trees are blooming.  The fresh smell of spring and rain.  Although it doesn't bother me, also comes along are the allergies.  Both of my children severely suffer with allergies.  My son is on a year round prescription and we have had to add two over-the-counter meds plus another prescription for eye drops.

Well, enough of that.  I wanted to share an interesting tale.  I had suffered with a very severe flu right before spring break and from that developed vertigo.  My sister came to my house to take me to the doctor.  Boy was she surprised to open our storm door to find a possum wedged between the two doors.  It was a baby, but not happy by any stretch of the word.  The below picture shows the possum in a wreath that had fallen off the wall of our porch.  Look close - he is in the wreath from where I ran him out of the door.

Well, this was quite a shock.  But the better surprise was the baby duck that decided to get caught in our garage.  Have no idea how either creature landed where they did.  The possum had to go but the duck was a little easier to handle.  Here is his first review:

Now who couldn't love this little guy???  We bought a heat lamp, a kiddy pool, duckling food, a water bottle, and wood shavings for the little fella.  He is growing and doing well.  We will be releasing him soon.  His pool sits inside our garden tub, for now.  He is very messy but we love watching him swim.  He is very fascinating and quick.

The next few pictures are of some of our spring tulips and flowering trees.  They are beautiful.