Lillypond's Project 365

December 20 – 26, 2009

2009-12-29T19:02:00.001-05:00

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Katie playing in the snow!

Monday, December 21, 2009

I went to the health department and got my H1N1 flu shot.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Katie has found her place with the new furniture. The arms on the chair and couch are much higher than the old ones so she can’t sit and look out the back door like she used too. Now she lays on the recliner.

No picture for Wednesday!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

I just give Susan and the kids money for Xmas. I’ve got their stuff ready to go for tomorrow. I had the envelopes taped to the bears and under the tree but Katie decided the bears were for her to play with.

Friday, December 25

We opened our gifts at home. Katie opened her presents first. About the only things wrapped under the tree were from Roberta! Since we each bought our own, we didn’t feel like wrapping them!

Roberta gave us some good Wisconsin cheese, some cheese utensils, and a really neat cheese cutter.

She gave me these cute little Home Grown figurines!

Here’s Katie wearing her elf hat!

Later we went to Susan’s!

Here are the kids and the table!

After dinner we came home and Billie Jo came to visit. We just relaxed the rest of the evening.

Saturday, December 26

We spent the day relaxing and playing with Katie!

Photos from December 13 – 19

2009-12-29T14:30:00.001-05:00

Sunday, December 13

I worked on my Xmas cards and got them ready to mail.

Monday, December 14

I started baking some for Xmas. The first thing I made was cakeballs. This a a crumbled red velvet cake mixed with cream cheese frosting and dipped in almond bark. Very good!

Today was also Nick’s birthday but they had his cake Saturday and didn’t ask us to come up so I don’t have a photo.

Happy Birthday Nick!

Tuesday, December 15

I’ve been crocheting like mad. I wanted to get this finished just to see what it looked like. My first crocheted doll dress.

Wednesday, December 16

Today I made my mix. Mom always made it and gave it to us for Christmas. I feel I should have it every Christmas so I make it for me and Rick now. Mainly me, I don’t think Rick likes mine very well. I hunted and hunted for a large roasting pan to make it in, but this was the largest I could find. I had to cut down on some of the ingredients to get it in the pan.

Also Susan’s birthday was today. She’s 37 – wow! I’m getting old!

Thursday, December 17

I made peanut butter fudge for Rick today. My chocolate didn’t turn out too well. Now that I don’t work, I don’t have to do my baking all in one day. I can string it out and do a little each day!

Friday, December 18

Jerald (my ex boss) had his Xmas party today. We went for a while but didn’t stay too long since Rick hurt his back yesterday.

Here’s Jerald. He’s a big WV fan – that’s why he’s wearing a blue and gold Santa hat!

The guys I worked with the last few years – left to right – Brent, Rich, & Jeff

Jerald, Donna (who took my place – black sweatshirt) and some guests.

Saturday, December 19

Our first snowfall with accumulation this winter

December 6 – 12 photos

2009-12-29T12:21:00.001-05:00

I think I’ve gotten the weeks count off somewhere. As long as I have each week done I don’t think it matters.

Sunday December 6

The first photo is a Christmas decoration that Nicky gave me one year. It’s really cute.

Monday, December 7

I told you about the Barbie doll crochet patterns I saw. They are from Annie Attic. She did a collection of 12 patterns plus a bride’s pattern for about 10 years. I told Rick I wanted them for Xmas. I had to get them from used book stores and Ebay since they started in 1991 and are no longer published. They have the 1991 ones for download at Annie’s Attic but they were 6.95 apiece. The first two sets I got from a used bookstore in Florida. They arrived today. I’ve already started thinking about which one to do first.

1991

1992

Tuesday December 8

We finally got the new furniture! I love it!

Wednesday, December 9

We finished decorating the house. I used to do this in one weekend. I guess I’m getting old. Rick has put the garland up for me the last few years. I’m terrified of heights and it was hard for me to stand on a ladder and get it up.

Every year I say I’m not decorating so much and then I pull it all out. I have quit putting up the villages. I used to put one on the mantle and then one on the table in the hall. It’s just too much. Especially when sometimes no one comes and we’re the only ones that see them.

Thursday, December 10

Rick received this in the mail today. He is summoned for jury duty twice the week of Christmas. What fun!

Friday, December 11

Today is Mom’s birthday. She’s gone but she’s missed everyday! This is a photo from Christmas 2004. She was always delighted by everything we got her.

Saturday, December 12

My cocker ornaments – I have two of them. One is Molly and the other is Katie!

Week 49

2009-12-29T10:47:00.001-05:00

Better late than never!

Here’s photos for the first week of December.

Sunday, November 29

Things are really slow – so I’ll just take photos of some of the Xmas decorations. This I really like. I picked it up at a craft show in Wheeling a few years ago.

Monday, November 30

I love stuffed animals! Guess is comes from not having any as a kid. Rob’s allergies were so bad we didn’t have any stuffed animals in the house.

Tuesday, December 1

Here is my Katie Xmas pin! Isn’t it cute!

Wednesday, December 2

Sometimes I get myself in trouble when I surf the web. I came across some crocheted patterns for Barbie dolls and went nuts. Why didn’t they have things like this when I played with Barbie’s? I came across this on Ebay and just had to have it! Now to get my courage up to make it! This is just the pattern!

Thursday, December 3

Roberta is traveling from Wisconsin to Roanoke. Since I probably won’t see here over the holidays, I decided to go to Roanoke with her. Rick drove me to Gallipolis, OH (about 2 1/2 hours) where we met Roberta. We had a nice suite with kitchen, living room and bedroom.

Friday, December 4

We decided to stay over again tonight. We were going to see Sue and Jill while we were here but they are ill. We spent most of the afternoon having Rob’s truck worked on. The wheel bearing in the right front had gone bad. I got some good photos of Rob, but I can’t seem to get a good one of us together!

Saturday, December 5

We got up to a snowstorm this morning. Since it’s a two day drive for Rob to get home, we headed out. We stopped by Mom and Dad’s gravesite in Covington and someone had stole the flowers I put there in September to last until spring. Thankfully, Jenny said she would take the new ones and put on the graves. It probably would have taken us most of the day to do it.

It was pretty slippery until we passed Charleston, WV. Rick met us again in Gallipolis to pick me up and the roads were clear. Rob had clear sailing the rest of the way home. We only got a dusting in Moundsville.

Week 48

2009-12-17T08:25:00.002-05:00

Here I am – behind again. Oh well, just a few more weeks!

Sunday, November 22

We went to another of Nick’s hockey games. It just wasn’t his night. He was playing two games again. In the first game, he got knocked up against the boards pretty hard. It took him a minute to get back up. Since we were taking the girls home after the first game, we stayed around to make sure he was okay. He said he was okay, his neck just hurt a bit. In the second game against a much larger opponent he got knocked into the board again and broke his arm in two places. So no more hockey until the arm heals.

Monday, November 23

Since this is Thanksgiving week, here is my cute Katie Thanksgiving pin!

Tuesday, November 24

I’m starting to decorate for Xmas very slowly We got new garlands for the steps and I got them up today. I intend to take several days and not try to do it in one day this time.

Wednesday, November 25

Today I started working on the tree. We’re going to Susan’s for dinner so I don’t have alot of cooking to do. You couldn’t tell it from the photo, but Rick did bring down the tree from the third floor and put it up by himself today. But this is my decorating helpers!!!!!!

You can’t tell from the photo, but he has his feet propped up on pillows to keep his legs from crushing Katie. She insists she has to stay near one of us! Especially when we’re laying down! What a lazy dog!!

Thursday, November 26

Thanksgiving dinner at Susan’s! A good time was had by all!

Friday, November 27

Since I didn’t cook yesterday, I didn’t have any leftovers. I made a small dinner for us today with a small turkey. I love turkey!

Saturday, November 28

Christmas tree is up and decorated – now for the rest of the house!

Week 47

2009-11-23T08:43:00.001-05:00

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Nick had two soccer games, one right after the other. He was playing for the John Marshall Junior team which is an honor since they’ve only asked younger players to join them twice. We worry since most of the kids are older and much larger than Nick.

Monday, November 16, 2009

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous! It’s been pretty, sunny, and warm – around 60 during the days. I took a photo of the mums out front today!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

A neighbor has this bush that gets these pretty berries in the fall. I’m not sure what it is – but then I know very little about bushes and plants.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

One of Rick’s plants that we need to bring indoors. It’s really gotten large this year!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Just took a photo of the leaves on the sidewalk today. Katie is no longer white but a dirty gray from walking through all the leaves. I wish people would clean them up but they would probably say to keep my dog at home, but she loves her walks. On a different note, Rick go his H1N1 shot today. I was afraid he wouldn’t be able to get one. With all the lung infections he gets, he really needed one!

Friday, November 20, 2009

As soon as soccer finished, Sarah started her ice skating lessons. She started last year. We took her to the first couple and lessons and this is the first time that we’ve seen her skate since. She has improved so much!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Today was the Xmas parade in Moundsville. It was great – around 55 degrees so you didn’t freeze. Of course you needed a jacket but it was nice not to freeze your buns off! We took the kids since Susan was working and Mike busy!

I played with this photo in lightroom and used a preset that isolated just the red.

It’s nice to be caught up again!!!

Week 46 – November 8 - 14

2009-11-18T14:55:00.001-05:00

I’m still having trouble finding things to take a halfway interesting photo. But I do have photos this week.

We put pumpkins on the steps for fall. It’s almost time to throw them away so I ran out to take a photo. We also had ferns on the steps this year too. These are a best looking ferns we’ve ever had.

Susan and the kids came down for a while Monday night. I snapped a photo of Sarah. She’s at the age now where it’s hard to get a decent photo.

The weather has just been beautiful. I saw this woodpecker on the lamp post out back.

Seeing this fellow gave me an idea. He was a couple of years old when I got Molly in 1997. His name is Boo and he lives across the street with a couple of large dogs. He was never afraid of Molly and they played together for years. I thought he had died but he’s still going. He’s around 17 or 18 years old now. He was jet black when he was younger.

Since I took a photo of Boo, I’ll have to photograph the other cats I see as I walk around the block. This one lives just down the street. Katie would like to get close but this one doesn’t like dogs at all. She did pose very nicely for me.

I’ve been seeing this one for several months. It stays under my porch and deck alot. I can’t find out who it belongs too. It may be a stray but it looks like someone has been feeding it. It’s pretty small and young. It’s really beautiful and even though I’m not really a cat person, I would take it in if Rick wouldn’t string me up. I’m sure it most belong to someone. I saw it for the first time the day I found the baby bunny which was in July.

Nick played a home hockey game on Saturday for the Wheeling Nailer’s kids team, so we went and I took some photos. He’s grown alot this year.

So now I’m caught up on the photos but still behind on layouts. Maybe I can keep caught up now! But no promises.

Week 45 Photos

2009-11-18T14:30:00.001-05:00

Gas prices here went up so here’s another photo for the record. It’s amazing how much lower prices are in different parts of the country.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Monday, November 2, 2009

Picture of the cattails in the pond.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Since it’s been so nice, we’ve been sitting outside. I took some more photos of the birds. I didn’t notice this until I downloaded the photos on the computer and took a closer look. This was cool – look at it closely. I call it mirror image. It looks like a reflection but it is actually two birds – one on each side of the apple. I had to really lighten the photo for you to see the second bird.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Our living room furniture is starting to look a little shabby and old, especially the chairs. The couch has some spots I can’t seem to get out and the covers are starting to wear. So I went to look for a new couch and chairs. This is the old stuff.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

I found something yesterday so Rick went with me today to make sure he likes it too. I didn’t get the original couch because the arms were sloped downward which were uncomfortable and I didn’t notice. We settled for this couch in a different fabric. I like the fabric it had on it, but it’s not suitable for a dog like Katie. She has really big muddy feet! So we ordered the couch and chair in another fabric. We also got a new recliner. It won’t be delivered until sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This is the style of the couch:

This is the fabric we decided on. I hope we like it when it gets here!

Of course the colors are still close to what we had, but unless I change the whole downstairs, I’m sort of locked into those colors.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Still having major computer problems. I feel like I’ve been living in this chair the past few weeks trying to find the problem. My desktop computer station! Yes, I have all those stuffed animals on my desk – I was deprived as a child!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Katie doing her thing to keep the yard clear of the birds. She takes her job very seriously.

Week 44 Photos

2009-11-05T16:20:00.001-05:00

Sunday, October 25, 2009

This is an older photo I took of the prison. This is 3 photos blended into one. I also did an effect called the Orton effect. It makes it look really spooky. The prison was closed several years ago and now it has tours, hosts the training for law enforcement officers, and is a haunted house for the month of October. I did go down and take new photos but they’ve done some remodeling and I couldn’t get good shots. I really had to reduce it to get it on the blog but I hope you can see it.

Monday, October 26, 2009

The wheels on the camper looked awful so Rick ordered new wheel covers for it. They arrived today.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Today’s photo is Rick putting the wheels on the camper. I played with this photo in Adobe Lightroom 3 beta.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

We had dinner with another old friend we had lost touch with. We all get busy with our lives and sometimes just don’t keep in touch as much as we should. This is our good friend Billie Jo.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Today is Sarah’s eight birthday. They’ve all been pretty sick so she had just gone back to school Wednesday.

Blowing out the candle!

Friday, October 30, 2009

I took a photo of an dried up sunflower head. Since starting this project which is supposed to improve your photography, I tend to just take photos to get my picture of the day. I really don’t think it’s improved my photography but made it worse. I don’t experiment like I used to do.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!! Today is Susan & Mike’s 15th wedding anniversary. Wow, that makes me feel old. It’s also the first time in years we haven’t been home to give out candy. Our good friend Tim is 60 today so we went to his birthday party. Since I only get between 10 & 20 kids for Halloween, they probably won’t even notice.

Here’s Tim with Father Time and the Grim Reaper. What guests to show up at your party!

Week 43 Photos

2009-11-05T11:58:00.001-05:00

I’m really hard up for photos this week. The desktop still freezes and has to be rebooted all the time. The tech decided it was my internet connection and Comcast decided it was my computer, so I’m back to trying to fix it myself. Since we’re into Halloween stuff I took some photos of my Halloween things.

Sunday, October 18

Here’s my Halloween Katie pin that I had made. I wish I was this talented.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Here’s my Halloween pin that I made when I still had Molly. I just can’t get the hang of it. I made several but they broke so this is the last one I have.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

This project didn’t turn out too bad. I painted and sanded the letters and then did the clay. I wish this had been my idea but it’s from a clay instruction booklet. But it’s cute! I downloaded Adobe’s free beta for Lightroom 3 and played with a preset. The photo turned out nice but it took the pink color from the ghost’s cheeks.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

This was my cocker witch statue. I didn’t do so great on this one! I got the ideal for this one and the next one from an Ebay listing.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

This is best one I’ve ever done. I even managed to duplicate it once. I’ve tried a dozen times since then to make another really good dog sculpture but failed. I’ve tried to do Katie’s coloring and thrown the results in the trash can. I guess this is my crowning clay achievement.

Friday, October 23, 2009

I did a witch from one of the instruction booklets but she didn’t turn out like I wanted either.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

The last thing I made in clay were some pins. I made three of these each slightly different. I think this is the last time I did anything with the clay although I’ve been thinking about going down and playing again.

See what happens when I can’t find interesting to photograph. Maybe next time I’ll photo all my cocker statues!

Week 42 Photos

2009-10-31T08:57:00.001-04:00

October 11 – 17

I’m really behind again! I’ve been messing with my desktop computer for two weeks now. It kept freezing and restarting. I reformatted the hard drive twice and started fresh but it still kept freezing up. After the first week, I took it to a tech because I couldn’t figure it out. He tweaked it a bit and it froze first thing when I got it back. I messed with it a few more days, deleted some things, tweaked some things, and it’s been running okay for three days now. Maybe it’s fixed but it’s been driving me crazy. So now I can post a few photos. I only have one week ready but hopefully the others soon.

I didn’t take a photo every day but some days took lots.

Took this Sunday, October 11 while Rick and I were riding around. Our fall this year is extremely colorful but it’s been raining so very few photos.

Monday, October 12 – No photo but Cheyanne broke her little finger playing goalie in her soccer game. I felt so bad for her.

Tuesday, October 13

I was feeling sick but we did manage to get to some of Sarah’s last soccer game of the season. She’s improved alot this year and she can really kick that ball! Here she’s playing the goalie position.

Wednesday, October 13

My favorite model!

Thursday, October 14

Another photo I took while we were riding around. I thought this was cute.

Saturday, October 15

No Friday photo – I’m really slacking and this is getting hard! Lots of photos for Saturday. These aren’t the greatest it was early and very gloomy. My cameras don’t take great low light photos.

The kids last cross country race was today. There was also a fun race for adults. Of course, the temperature is dropping and it was really cold – around 35 to 37 degrees. Rick and I wore our winter coats.

Susan ran in the adult race which was 3.2 miles. She did it in about 34 minutes which was really good. Cheyanne finished 44 in her race and Nick finished 43 in his. The real kicker was they had to cross a stream. Susan had to cross four times and the kids twice. We took photos at the shallow crossing. The one we didn’t know about was the deep one – it was up to Susan and Cheyanne’s chest and poor Nick had to swim across. Remember the temp is about 37 and this was first thing in the morning after a cold night. That water was freezing. We got cold just standing around watching the races.

Susan’s start – she was on pink shorts.

Coming by us the first time

Crossing the shallow water

The finish line – notice the water line on her shirt – the dark is wet.

Cheyanne’s start

Here is her first water crossing – some of the kids fell face first!

Coming into the finish line

Now Nick’s – the start photos weren’t too good so here’s the water shot

Starting the hill climb

Coming to the finish

Standing in line to get his place

I haven’t even downloaded the past two week yet so it may be a while before I post them.

Week 41 Photos

2009-10-14T11:40:00.001-04:00

I have lots of photos from the Smokies and I'm not going to divide them into days, just write a bit about them.

Of course the first photo I took was Rick and Katie.

While driving through the mountains the creek runs beside the road. There are lots of areas to pull off and take photos. Some of the most beautiful water photos I have seen have been taken in this area. Of course, mine aren't like the pros but I had to try. Here's some of the water photos we took. You can see there's not too much color change yet.

Then Rick took a photo of me and Katie.

We also checked out Maggie Valley and bought some delicious apples.

The next day we did the eleven mile loop around Cades Cove. It's easy to see why this valley was forgotten for a hundred years.

We also saw a pumpkin fair in Weir Valley.

We spend one day hanging out at the campground because of the rain. We were talking about going to Wonderworks but decided against it thinking it was probably more for kids. But I loved the outside of the building!

After we left the Smokies we drove back to Wythesville, Va and stayed in the same campground that we stayed in coming down. Now for the funny story. We like our creature comforts so I hunted up campground that had both wi-fi and cablevision. We tried and tried but could not get the cablevision to work. The last morning in the Smokies, Rick came across a mobile RV repair and asked him about it. Apparently there is a ittle button that you have to push to disconnect the antenna. It's back behind the wires in the cabinet so we didn't see it. So finally we had cablevision and what a beautiful picture it was. I had gone through the camper and tv and antenna manuals but nowhere did it mention that button. Anyway, the campground was a really nice campground and had fantastic dog walk areas!

Here's our spot!

These two photos are the dog walk areas!

So we're headed home and guess what? The best color is where? In WV!!!

My last photo - a picture of Katie looking out the window of the camper.

Week 40 Photos

2009-10-11T14:06:00.001-04:00

There is nothing like not remembering how to change your blog. I've spent three hours trying to change it to a fall scheme this morning and really messed it up so I changed it back to what I started with at the first of the year. Wow, what a mess. Maybe I can work it out by Christmas!! or not!!

So sorry for being so late with photos again. I just can't seem to get them posted when I'm supposed to. These are the ones for September 27 - October 3.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

I bought this cute scarecrow decoration at the Oktoberfest at Oglebay Park last year.

Monday, September 28, 2009

One of my neighbors has a beautiful flower garden in fall colors that I love. Everytime Katie and I take a walk we go past it. It's so pretty for this time of the year.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Finally got the fall flower wreath on the table.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

I finally went to do some much needed shopping since I didn't lose all the weight that I told myself I would. I did manage to find a few things including a friend that I had not send in quite a while. Carol and I used to bowl together and it was wonderful seeing her again! She looks fantastic!!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Rick and I have been getting bored sitting around the house (can't you tell) so we loaded up the camper this morning and headed for the Smokey Mountains. Rick saw on the news that the leaves have started to change in that area also and hopefully the weather will be better than it's been here. This was taken at a rest stop along the way. I'm sorry I don't even remember which state it was in. We looked across the highway and this huge guitar was there so I snapped a photo. I should have written something down, but over a week later all I can say was it's across from a rest stop! I'm not even sure if it's a building, club, or what, but it is for sale. I did take it on the first and we stopped in Wytheville, VA the first night at the junction of I-77 & I-81 so it's somewhere on I-77 past the Beckley exits.

Friday, October 2, 2009

We arrived in Pigeon Forge and I was completely shocked at the change since we were here the last time. The traffic was four lanes and bumper to bumper. Stores and flashing lights everywhere. Lots of people too. It was not what I imagined it was going to be. The first time we were here Susan was five and we camped in Pigeon Forge - you had to watch for the bears then, they came right up to your camper. The second time we came down, Susan must have been a teenager because it was just Rick and me. We had trouble finding a motel in Gatlinsburg but the area was nothing like this. I took a photo of the campground. We were told that we could stay for three nights but then we would have to move because the spot was reserved for the week starting Monday night. The campgrounds were absolutely full and I'm sure the motels were too.

It was a very nice campground. Lots of trees and full of ducks. I thought Katie might try to chase them but she didn't. She just watched them. I snapped this Saturday morning when I took her outside. The people at the next site were feeding them.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

We drove through the National Park and Cherokee NC. I took these photos of the wonderful bear sculptures that are all through Cherokee. I wish I had taken a photo of all of them. They were really beautiful.

Week 39 Photos

2009-09-27T12:52:00.001-04:00

Sunday, September 20, 2009

I haven't posted any Katie pins for a while. These are just two general pins. One of her with her ducky(favorite) and one covered in toilet paper (a common site when she was a puppy).

Monday, September 21, 2009

When I was at Sue's house she showed me a fantastic cookbook which I just had to get. So I ordered a copy and it came today. You only need four ingredients for each recipe. Great for RV's because you don't have a ton of ingredients.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

We went to Sarah's soccer game. She's doing much better this year, especially when she plays goalie! Probably she knows more of what to do from watching Cheyanne's games all the time.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Katie all spruced up from her grooming yesterday. I think it's really cute how she sits around with her tongue stuck out all the time.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Sarah working on her homework.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Our dryer quit working today. We decided to get a new one since that one was over eleven years old.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

We went to Cheyanne and Nick's cross country meet this morning. It was for quite a few of the area schools. Both kids did really well. The course was 1.8 miles and wet since it's been raining the past few days. Cheyanne's time was around 16:55 minutes and Nick's 13:54. I don't know how they placed but I have lots of photos.

Cheyanne getting in line.

About halfway through the course.

The finish line.

Here is Nick at the starting line -

Halfway through the race

His final sprint towards the finish line

Sorry some of the photos are blurry - my camera just doesn't focus properly on action shots sometimes.

Week 38 Photos

2009-09-27T11:08:00.001-04:00

I apologize for being so late with these photos. This is something that is getting harder and harder to do. My life is not exciting enough to find something to take a photo of every day. Sometimes I don't even leave the house but I do have some photos.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

The birds using the birdbath in the backyard. I love to sit and watch them.

Monday, September 14, 2009

This is actually Cheyanne's birthday but she had cross country practice after school and a soccer game that night. I made it to the game. They played an all boy's team and unfortunately lost. There aren't enough kids for an all girl or boy's team this year so they are co-ed. Cheyanne's team has about 3 boys and the rest girls, so they are playing different teams this year.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Today is actually my birthday. I'm not telling my age but it's depressing. We went to dinner at Red Lobster, and I got lots of cards. It was a good day even though I'm so depressed at getting older. i really don't know why but it did depress me this year. Susan got me the Pumpkin Spice bath and body soap. It smells delicious!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Snapped this photo of Katie asleep on the couch. Sometimes I think she's going to fall off it!

Friday, September 18, 2009

I didn't have a photo for Thursday, but I have two for today. We went to the Steamboat Festival in Wheeling. There was food and steamboats. It was okay but not great. They did have the Johnsonville Brats - which they say is the largest grill in the world. The whole thing is a grill and it can cook 750 brats at once.

Also this was about the cutest steamboat I saw. There was one other trimmed in red but I couldn't get a photo of it.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Rick and Jerald went 4-wheeling again down in the southern part of the state. Pam stopped by with Lexie, their granddaughter, who is three. I snapped a photo of her. She's a little cutie!

Week 37 Photos

2009-09-13T08:50:00.001-04:00

Sunday, September 6, 2009

On our last day at Joe's, he and Tammy took us to the battlefield where the Battle of Antietam took place. It covered much more ground than I ever dreamed. Beautiful but sad.

Monday, September 7, 2009

We left Joe's and headed home. It was an uneventful trip except that between Washington, Pa. and Wheeling there is a lot of construction. It took us two hours to travel what would be a normal 30 minute drive. So of course, by the time we unloaded the RV, cleaned it up, and put everything away we were tired. I didn't take a photo but I have one of Teresa's new little dog. She's so cute! She has a purple tint to her which is why Teresa calls her Violet!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Home! Of course, now I have a horrible migraine and really don't feel well so I do nothing. I lay down for a while and when I get up I found that Rick has been a busy beaver!! The rocks around our pond have started to slide into the pond because the sides are caving in some. The ivy is in the way of our fixing it, so he started tearing out the ivy. We're leaving the waterfall covered but that's all. He spent the afternoon cutting ivy.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

We spent most of the day still working on the pond. So here's a photo of a beautiful wildflower I took at Teresa's.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Soccer has started again! Sarah had a home game and we managed to go. She's doing much better this year. She make a goal!!

Friday, September 11, 2009

We got the ivy all cleared and the rocks leveled up. We're going to have to get some more rocks, but now you can see the pond! Maybe it's not as pretty but you can actually see it instead of a mound of ivy!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Today is Rick's brother Joe's birthday. Happy Birthday Joe!!

We also celebrated Cheyanne's birthday today. Her birthday is actually Monday but with school, cross country practice, and a soccer game, we don't have time on Monday.

Here's the birthday girl - 14 years old now!! She's so grown up these days! She and Nick had a cross country meet this morning.

Here's a photo of the cake a friend of Susan's made her!

We just give them money for gifts now. That way we know they like their gifts!!

Week 36 Photos

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Sunday, August 30, 2009

We attended a picnic for the local union at the coal mine at Olgebay Park. They had lots of food and gave away lots of prizes. We didn't win any big prizes, but Rick did get a small knife.

Monday, August 31, 2009

We left for a small trip in the RV. First stop, Covington, Va to put flowers on Mom and Dad's graves. I miss them very much!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

We stayed an extra night so that I could see my good friend Jenny! It was great seeing her again! We spent a lovely evening with her and her family.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

We left Covington and drove to Roanoke to see Sue and Jill, my sister and niece. We had a great time - went to the Paperback Exchange, had a fantastic meal, and lots of chit-chat!!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

We're on the road again. This time to Elkton, Va to visit some of Rick's family. First his sister Teresa and her hubby Teddy.

Today is also his sister Sonja's birthday! She's out west and we hope to see her sometimes in the next year. In the meantime, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONJA!!!!!

Friday, September 4, 2009

We stayed an extra day at Teresa's and they took us to Massanutten Resort where I got a photo of this wood carving.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

We headed up to Hagerstown, Maryland to see his brother Joe and his family whom we haven't seen in quite a few years. Here's a photo of Joe and Rick.

We enjoyed staying in the RV but had trouble finding campgrounds where we were headed. The only nights we stayed in a campground was the two nights in Covington. We boondocked the rest of the time in the families' yards or in front of their house. That's okay, but rather limiting. We had everything we needed but were unable to run the generator a lot because we didn't want to disturb the neighbors. We pulled Mom's car behind us and really only ran into trouble once. We went to Camping World on Friday looking for a dump site. Since they are an RV store, we thought the parking lot would circle around behind the store. It didn't! Since you can't back up with a tow dolly, we had to take the car off the dolly, move the dolly aside, turn the RV around, hook up the dolly, and then load the car. We weren't under any pressure because that side of the lot was low traffic so I guess it was good practice. We're looking forward to more trips and hopefully this time staying a good campground.

Week 35 photos

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Sunday, August 23, 2009

I got a photo of this hummingbird at the feeder this morning.

Monday, August 24, 2009

We have a miniature peach tree on the lot behind the garage at our house. It probably isn’t more than 30 inches tall. I took a photo of it beside my purse so you could have a size comparison. Well it’s loaded with peaches!!!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

We’ve been talking about a tow dolly for the motorhome since both of our cars have to be towed with only two wheels on the ground. We couldn’t be so lucky as to have one that can be towed with all four wheels down. You can’t back either one up but it’s easier to just unhook one with four wheels than back one off the dolly and then unhook and move the dolly manually if you get in a tight situation. Either way is a bit expensive and we were going to wait a while, but I found a great deal on one so we bought it. We went to Hickory, Pa to get it.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

We were going to practice getting the car on and off the dolly and hooking it up today but the brake lines on the truck broke. We’re lucky it didn’t happen yesterday when we used the truck to go and get the dolly! So I spent the day washing up the towels to put back in the camper and we bought a small table to use for our grill and utensils when we cook outside.

Thursday, August 27,2009

Here’s Katie playing with the new toy I bought for her at the Dollar Store yesterday. She insists that it go outside with her.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Beautiful yellow finches come every year to eat the sunflower seeds and I love to watch and photograph them.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

We finally got the truck back and were able to practice putting the car on and off the dolly. It’s a good thing because we want to take another trip next week!!

Week 34

2009-08-23T12:19:00.001-04:00

Sunday, August 16, 2009

I found these darling salt & pepper shakers in Wisconsin. Of course, I just had to buy them.

Monday, August 17, 2009

I had a little trouble with road signs on the trip so thought it was time to get my eyes checked again. All is well - my vision has not changed that much. I just needed my glasses adjusted a bit. I should have thought of that first but I didn't.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

J.D.Robb has a new paperback book. I got and read it. I wish I could control myself and not finish the book in one day. Books are getting too expensive and I finish them way too soon!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

I finally got a good photo of Nick!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Our first camping trip! We only went about 30 miles from home in case we forgot something important or had trouble. This is after we set up at the campground.

Friday, August 21, 2009

We're having a great time. Every thing is working fine and we're really comfortable. Of course, Katie, being so timid, stays really close. She's actually laying on my other foot. She seems to like the RV but not the trips. It makes too many loud noises for her, especially when we hit a bump.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Time to go home, but we took one last walk before we left. Someone decorated their campsite with these cuties. Katie actually snarled her lip when she checked them out!

Week 33 Photos

2009-08-16T14:42:00.001-04:00

Sunday, August 9, 2009

We left Robbie’s house this morning and made it as far as Indianapolis, Indiana around 6 pm. Here’s a photo of Rick and Katie relaxing in the motel room.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Another long day of traveling. We did make it home around 4 pm. I took some photos out the window as we passed by. This was the best one but I don’t remember where I took it.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Now that we’re home we can start cleaning on the RV. Even though it’s really hot we washed the outside of it and did a little inside cleaning today. This also gives a bit of perspective of how large it is. I couldn’t get the whole thing in one photo so I had to combine two.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

We spent the whole day cleaning the inside of the RV so I wondered what I would take a photo of. Then I noticed how big the bushes in front of my neighbor’s house were and how many flowers they had. You can also see they still haven’t finished tearing down the house next to him.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

More RV cleaning but we went motorcycling for a while in the heat. This photo was of a barge going through the locks and dam in Hannibal, Ohio.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Pam, my ex-boss’s wife, gave him a 50th surprise birthday party. Jerald and I never had a photo taken together during the thirteen years I worked for him so we had his nephew take one of the three of us –Jerald, me, Rick. Happy 50th Birthday Jerald!!!

PS – I DO have other outfits but it just happens that the last few times I’ve had my photo taken I’ve had this on! It’s just the newest so I wear it on special days and that seems to be when someone else takes my photo!!!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Katie misses Maggie terribly. She always mopes and doesn’t eat when we leave but today she perked up and was chasing the birds out of the yard again.

Week 32 Photos

2009-08-15T09:59:00.001-04:00

Sunday, August 2, 2009

We're in Wisconsin at Rob's house. My first photo is of Maggie. She has been one sick little girl this past winter. She's had 3 operations and has diabetes. She seems to be doing okay now. Such a beautiful dog! Of course, she doesn't care much for troublemaker Katie!!

Monday, August 3, 2009

Rob has been complaining about the bees all summer long. She finally found out why they were so bad. This is right next to the patio where she sits. Now that they've built their nest they don't seem to be too bad so we left it alone!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

She also have a variety of wildlife in her yard. I didn't see any new birds but I did see this. It's a black squirrel.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

The most interesting thing we saw I don't have any photos. We went to the Hardwood Air to Ground Weapons Range. The range provides training for combat aircrews by presenting realistic targets for weapons practice. It was something to see the planes descend and fire the machines guns. If we ever go back to Wisconsin I'd like to go here again! The planes went a little to fast for our cameras. Most of them are just blurs. This is the realistic town they were shooting but you can see we're really a good distance away.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

One of the towns we went through had these beautiful murals painted.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Of course no visit to Wisconsin is complete with seeing how they make cheese! We bought a good bit to bring home with us!

Saturday, August 8, 2009

We will be heading home tomorrow. We also visited a lovely garden and a very unique stone grotto in Rudolph. I did manage to get one photo of Robbie and me together although she hates to have her photo taken.

Week 31 Photos

2009-08-07T20:35:00.001-04:00

This week I am going to start the posting with Sunday’s photos.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

The RV is sitting at a service station waiting on new tires, plates, and an inspection sticker. So we decided to spend the afternoon doing a little cleaning. Rick is cleaning the front with Katie helping.

Monday, July 27, 2009

It’s been a real boring day and I needed to take a photo of something so I took a photo of the bell in the back yard. When the grandkids were younger they would run and ring it whenever they came down. Poor thing is really neglected these days – no one rings it.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Another photo of one of our backyard treasures. This rock that has been engraved you might say. I’m not sure of the correct term.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

We decided to go to see Roberta in Wisconsin tomorrow. I’m trying to pack much lighter than I have in the past (getting ready for the RV). We’ve got almost everything together to load in the car in the morning. I’ve found this is the best way for me not to forget anything.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

We left around 9 am this morning and traveled a little over 400 miles to Champaign, Illinois to spend the night. Of course lots of the scenery looked the same but I saw this interesting truck and snapped a photo.

Friday, July 31, 2009

Another day of traveling all day again. I did see this helicopter on the back of a trailer.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

I took a photo of Roberta’s house. It’s a really nice house but I wouldn’t want to live this far north.

Week 30 photos

2009-07-26T13:45:00.001-04:00

I really should start with Sunday and make you read the whole week in order. Maybe next post - but you can always start at the bottom and work your way up!!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Wheeling is having their Italian Festival this weekend. It's mainly music, some games for the kids, crafts, and food. We took a walk through this year but didn't buy anything.

Friday , July 24, 2009

We found the bunny nest this morning. We couldn't tell if it had been abandoned or not but since it's illegal to have one and everyone's best advice is to let nature takes it's course, we put the baby at the entrance. Apparently he smelled something because he scooted right down the hole. I haven't been back because I just want to assume his mother was there and he's fine. It's better for me if I think that.

Now for some big news. We are now the owners of the motorhome we started looking at in May. Of course I'm in debt up to the a.. now but hopefully things go well. We have to get 6 new tires very first thing. It's at the station now. Also we have to get tags and an inspection sticker. We are then taking it to the RV service center and having them check out the rv stuff. It's a 2002 28 ft. Four Winds motorhome. It wasn't used much - it only has 16,000 miles on it. The owner's wife had a stroke and didn't recover enough to be able to climb in and out of it. So they decided to sell. I took more inside photos.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

This is what we found on the sidewalk while walking Katie. Do you know what it is? It's a baby bunny. Apparently it had been there almost all day according to someone who walked by there this afternoon. We left it in case the mother bunny came back for it but around dark I couldn't stand to think of it freezing to death so I went and got it. I put it in a shoebox (yes it was still alive) half on and off a heating pad. I also put some water in a Ziploc bag, heating it a few seconds in the microwave, and put it in there also. I curled right up around it. I tried to feed it some canned milk but after reading on the Internet found I could do more harm than good. We'll take it in the morning and try to find the nest and put it back.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Thought I'd post a photo of the progress they're making on tearing down that old house. They are doing it board by board themselves. What a mess!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Our hibiscus plant is finally blooming. It has lots of flowers this year.

Monday, July 20, 2009

I spend so much time taking photos of Katie that I thought it only fair our cat get equal time. This is our cat! Can you tell how exciting life is around here?

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Rick & I spent the afternoon washing the cars. We've been using our 2008 Avalon some so it needed washing too.

Week 29 Photos

2009-07-19T15:05:00.001-04:00

This was a busy week so I have lots of photos.

Saturday July 18, 2009

Oour 39th Anniversary. Rick bought me this beautiful bouquet of flowers and we got each other cards. We went out to Red Lobster for a great dinner, watched some movies. We are waiting for the guy to call us about the camper but I think he's sold it someone else and is just stringing us along. Since we may spend lots on it, we didn't want to spend any extra right now. If we don't get it, well, we saved some money.

Close up of the butterfly

Friday July 17, 2009

Needed to have a photo of something so I took one of my summer Katie pin. Isn't this just darling?

Thursday July 16, 2009

The laptop I gave the kids was acting up Tuesday so I brought it home to see what the problem was. The card that connects them to the internet was bad so I replaced it and took it back. So I took some photos of the kids today.

First Cheyanne

Ever elusive Nick mowing the grass. I wish this was a better picture. Look at that face!

Last, Sarah with her new bike!

Wednesday July 15, 2009

Susan asked us to come up. She was working Monday, so she got a cake today and we went up to their house to celebrate Rick's birthday again. Sarah had Susan buy a 58 candle but she was really upset that they lost the 8 somewhere before we arrived.

These are the cards from the grandkids and a little dog from Sarah.

Susan and the kids also got him this great planter.

Tuesday July 14, 2009

More flowers. One of the ones Rick planted. I need to take another photo of the back yard with most of this stuff blooming.

Monday July 13, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICK!! He's officially 58 today. I didn't get him anything - he couldn't find anything he wanted. We did have a good day. I got him lots of cards, a small red velvet cake, and took him to lunch. We lunched at Alexander's which is unique in that it was once a bank and now a restaurant. The vault is now the wine cellar.

Rick opening his cards. Robbie, my sister sent him a bunch too. He got lots of phone calls from his family also.

The cards from Robbie and me.

Lunch at Alexander's.

The vault wine cellar

The door

Sunday July 12, 2009

This photo is of a beautiful wildflower that Rick dug up and brought home. It really draws in bees and butterflies. Although we have lots of bees, I haven't seen any big butterflies this year.

Week 28 photos

2009-07-18T09:08:00.001-04:00

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Our sunflowers have started getting heads on them. These are the small ones. We didn't plant any of them this year - they just came up from seeds the birds dropped last year.

Friday, July 10, 2009

My neighbor asked me to let his dogs out today and tomorrow. I seldom get to see them without the white vinyl fence in between so I snapped a photo. Macy - black lab and Champ - weimaraner. Champ is younger than Katie and jumps all over you. Macy is about nine and really a sweet dog. They were delighted to see me every time I came in. Trying to get both of them in the photo proved to be a challenge. Champ kept trying to lick the camera!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Another bad photo of me. We decided to go out to dinner at the Highlands (shopping mall near Cabela's) at Cheddars. I had a new outfit so Rick snapped a photo.

Wednesday July 8, 2009

It was a gorgeous day so we went riding with Tim and Deb on the motorcycles.

Tuesday July 7, 2009

Barrels - that's all you see on the highway these days. I get so tired of looking at them don't you?

Monday July 6, 2009

I'm running out of ideas for photos so I have to start snapping things around the house. These are the calendar bears I bought years ago. I saw a perpetual calendar with little statues of the Pillsbury dough boy around the outside edges and I loved it. I had the idea of getting someone to make the calendar with the frames around the outside edge for the bears but it never happened. These guys now sit on my kitchen counter.

Sunday July 5, 2009

I saw something on the web about charm bracelets coming back. I remembered one of the charm bracelets I had in high school. It was from my business teacher Mrs. Williams. She got all of us girls (sorry no boys in the class) a charm bracelet and gave us charms for every level we passed in the courses. I still have mine so I took a photo of it. The file folders are the filing, my shorthand speed, my transcription, and the last two my typing speed.