Today is one of Grandma Ruth's last days here.  She will be leaving on the 2nd I think.  Tim is working this morning from home and then he's going to try to get away so we can go have a picnic at the beach and then go swimming.  Should be a good day for it, sunny and 84 degrees.

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The new cats are getting used to their new home.  The cages have wheels on the bottom so I wheeled them outside for a few hours this morning.   I don't know if they liked that or not.  Initally the older cat climed the side of the cage.  I think he wanted out.  

 

Grandma Ruth has given us a night out for a gift this weekend.   So she will babysit Payton and Tim and I will be going somewhere.   Probably to an IMAX movie.  I hemmed up this one particular dress I have today,  thinking I might wear it on the date.  I don't know though.  It might be a little too dressy- but we never go out so I don't have occasion to wear it (it is a little too "risky" for church).

 

Today my monthly delivery from Share Iowa came in.  I always forget what I ordered since it takes a month from the time you order until it gets delivered.   I got so much good stuff it was hard to know where to start.  Tonight we will be having the steaks and potatoes and maybe some of the blueberry bread for dessert.  I have been very thrilled with Share Iowa.

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I remember 5" floppy disks.

 

 

Today I got my new cats, 4 in all as I mentioned (2 grey tabby and 1 orange tabby kittens and one big orange Male).   They are very cute, and it even if they were hideous, I would still think they were cute.  the Feline Friends people, were very nice.  They brought out litter pans and litter, two flats of wet cat food, plus another bag of wet cat food, dry food, brand new cat toys and they are letting me use the two large cages to house them in while they acclimate to their new home.   They will pick up the cages in about a month.  If anyone wants a cat, I would highly recommend getting one from these people.  They also take on some of the overflow from the humane society from time to time.  They are a "no kill" operation so they are always looking for people to take in a cat or 5. 

 

The three kittens are a little skittish, but it won't take long for me to make friends.  The big orange male is very loving and he seems to like his ears and belly scratched.  He likes sitting in my lap too.   

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Latest new sport, Extreme Ironing

Today we went to the zoo, in the rain.   What a downpour.   But we wanted to make sure Ruth got to the new Butterfly Garden Building.   Which we did.   Afterwards we drove home and I attempted to make fried chicken for the first time ever.   It turned out ok (edible).... but I did learn that fried chicken is best done in a pan (as the directions stated) and not in a deep fat fryer.  The coating will adhere better.

 

Tomorrow I am finally getting my new cats, after a nearly 3 month wait.   This group I am getting will be 3 kittens and one large orange male cat.  I asked Payton what he would name a cat, and he said he would name it Wowie-Camilli.   I have no idea why he came up with that one.  I don't think that will probably be the name, but we'll see if it fits any of the cats.   You can't name a cat until you see them, because you never know....

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Yesterday, deciding the mower could not be fixed we went to the city.  Ruth and I got new haircuts at the mall, and we saw Johnny and stopped to talk to him for a bit.   Then we also scoped out bikes for Payton.  Big boy two wheel bikes.   Not finding what we needed we then took a brief look at goodwill, and they had a bike but it had no training wheels, the tires were flat and the front brake didn't seem to work.   So we went off to WalMart to get some photos copied and look at more bikes.   We found a nice one that Payton liked- and it came with the training wheels and came fully assembled (after working on the mower for a week now I felt like Tim would not want to assemble a bike too!).  We also got the helmet and pads as well.   Payton spent a lot of time riding it around the store.   Afterwards we went out for Chinese then before going home we stopped at Parables.

 

Sunday too, was busy- but only for Tim.   We went to church then came home so he could work on the mower.   Turns out he needed yet another part.  So he ordered that and then he spent the entire afternoon mowing with the old mower... it took 3+ hours.   The new mower only takes 1.5 hours so we hope the new part arrives soon.

 

Payton also got to play a new video game that was a present from Grandma Ruth... it was Jump Start 1st Grade.   He was pretty good at it.  He already had mastered his Jump Start Kindergarden game... so this was the next logical progression.

 

Grandma Ruth has also been having fun playing the Wii.  She has been doing the Wii Fitness game.  She is pretty good at the Yoga and the running.  Tightrope walking may not be her thing though.   That one is pretty hard.  It took me at least 10 tries to make it across for the first time. 

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 Mega Hamburger!

 

 

We have been having a good visit with Grandma Ruth.  Today I am not sure what we will be doing though, Tim is home but needs to repair the lawnmower this morning and has a guy that "should" be coming to help diagnose the problem- it may be more involved than Tim supposed.   I say should because he isn't so reliable about coming over when he says he will.   We will see.   Anyway, After the mower is fixed Tim has said he HAS to mow... which is true.   The grass is high.

 

But after all that is done...  We may go into Council Bluffs or Omaha.  Probably to get digital duplicates of some old family photographs from the Norenberg and N etz homes.  Maybe us women might have our hair done too.  We can't go to the zoo because of the college world series...  It would just be a mad house.   So I don't exactly know what is going on today for sure.

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What you can do with Legos and a lot of time...

Grandma Ruth is coming today.  Payton has been "counting down" for the last 6 days.   She should get here about 1 pm or so.   We don't have any set plans, but I am sure the zoo and the beach are going to happen at some point.

 

Tim got the last part for his mower in yesterday and began fixing it.  But there was one nut frozen on that he couldn't remove.   I am not sure what we are going to do.  He tried WD-40 and of course loosening it by hand.  It isn't rusted, it's just really tight.    I read online that if you can heat the nut with a torch then it might expand and come off.   That doesn't seem safe but if Tim can't get it off then that seems like a logical next step.   We luckily have a second "spare" riding mower... but it isn't nearly as good as the new one.   I think it was built in the early 1970's.

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I hope McDonald's paid them to do this, otherwise they have weird taste in cars.

We got our finished wills back in the mail.   It feels at least like we have covered all our bases now.  And the best thing is upon getting our attorney's bill I discovered he charged $50 less than he originally said he was going to.   No matter the cost, it's money well spent- an insurance policy for our family should something go wrong.

 

Today Payton goes back to summer session preschool for the 2nd week.  He gets to ride home on the actual big yellow school bus due to the fact there is child in another class that is handicapped and that is the only bus that accomodates her.   He doesn't care, he LOVES the big school bus.  

 

Other than that I have nothing pressing today.  Maybe some more cleaning, definitely some walking/jogging, possibly making more casseroles to freeze for later consumption.  Tim on the other hand, wasn't looking forward to his work because it was going to be a stressful/busy day- and potentially one where he would have to work late again.

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I made the decision to go grocery shopping/run errands in the city today rather than wait.  I wasn't in the mood, I had a headache- but the idea of waiting wasn't going to work unless I wanted to go at night.    So Payton and I went.   I got everything on my list except macadamia nuts and garlic flavored oil.  I didn't realize those would be so hard to find.   I will have to go grocery shopping again closer to Thursday to get some salad greens and tomatoes, so maybe I will try the no frills in Blair, NE which is a little closer.  Maybe they have my other two elusive items.

 

Speaking of headaches, I went off the daily migraine medicine I have been taking since 2006 (topamax).  So far I have had two extra headaches other than the normal 2 that I expect each month.   I am not sure what my criteria will be for either staying off or going back on again.   I'm just going to see how it is over the next month or two.  The medication itself is expensive even with insurance... about $90 a month.   And it dimishes your IQ, makes your thought processes a little cloudy and messes up your memory.  Even now having been off it for a month I can do math in my head again.  So I know that the medication has completely left my body.  Those two things were definitely a factor in my deciding to try life without it.    It would be nice not to have to take any pills, nutritional supplements or otherwise, but definitely the topamax was the one with the most side effects.

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Roar!   Other hairstyles like this here.

We have had the parts for some time to put in a nice new white aluminum railing on our front stoop, and Tim had taken off the old railing and ground off the old bolts that were sticking up out of the cement, but when he went to install the new railing he ran into some snags and so we put the project on hold.  Luckily my brother in law Kim said he would come out and help install it.   And it was a good thing too because it took nearly 6 hours and it still isn't totally done.   It was more tricky that we had surmised, there also was the added problem that our front stoop is an odd shape and not entirely level.   But it is mostly done, just some bolts that need to go in and they decided to put washers in on the bolts to account for the slope of the stoop.   Looking at it from the street you would think it was done.

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I looked at the calendar and realized that my Mother in law is coming for a visit in LESS than a week.   Today I decided to start cleaning up a bit.   The room she stays in is packed with junk now, but more than that I used it as an excuse to clean things I don't normally do.  I am cleaning the oven and I cleaned the oven racks- admitantly I have not EVER cleaned my oven racks.  I know disgusting.  But true.  So I finally did that.   My choices were ammonia and oven racks in a plastic bag for 12 hours or trying easy off.   I went the Easy Off route because it only took 20 minutes.   The results weren't perfect, and maybe if I did a second application they would have been but I just didn't feel like it.  90% in this case is good enough for me.   I also cleaned the microwave... and I don't think I have done that for a year.  But it wasn't really that bad actually.   I don't use the microwave much so I think that is why.   I am also attempting to clean the toaster oven.   I hate this job most.  It never seems to get truly clean looking because of the yellowing on the metal parts.

 

Switching gears a little bit I want to suggest another Blog.   This one is somewhat funny in nature.   www.iserveidiots.com This blog is written by a fellow who is a waiter and he recounts his bad/funny experiences with customers and also gives his opinion on people's noisy kids, their bad manners, lack of common sence and over all stupidity.   It also makes you thankful you are not a waiter or waitress and if you ARE a waiter or waitress it lets you know you aren't alone in your misery.

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Bar code art.

Some of you may remember I participate in a Disaster Drill back in May.   I finally got ahold of some pictures two days ago from that day from a friend.   I was planning on posting them today.   I would like to note that some of the rescue personel you will see are the SAME ones that were at the Little Sioux Tornado disaster, and all the younger boys you will see in the photos are boyscouts and cubscouts... I don't know that any of our boyscouts were at the camp.   Having had this experience of the disaster recovery drill made me appreciate how a real one might be.   I have heard some more reports on the radio with interviews from people who were there and I can't even imagine the horror of it.

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We are ok.  No damage (I don't think anyway).  Actually the tornadoes seemed to go everywhere around us but not us direcly even though it appeared we would get a lot early on in the evening.   I think we got a lot of rain though.  We did hang out in the basement all night.

 

The Little Sioux Boy Scout camp is not too far north of us though.... so that story really was scary to learn about.  Not sure if any of the Woodbine Boyscouts were there... Have not heard any reports with names... I assume that will be following tomorrow.

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Summer school has started up this month for the Preschool kids.  It runs 3 days a week for 3 hours a day.   Payton was pretty excited about going, but I was a little worried because he has been on medication for constipation which gives him the exact opposite of constipation... and well you know how that goes.   But that is why they make all the kids pack a change of clothes... and I packed two pairs of extra underwear... just in case of dual emergencies.   The doctor said back off on the medicine to once per day on Monday- which I did, but I almost wonder if maybe I should be doing every other day.  He is consistantly having diarreah a couple times a day. .

 

It was stormy early this morning and has been rainy/cloudy all morning.  Tonight they are predicting more severe storms for us.   I checked www.iowaroadconditions.org and it seems that highway 30 going north was still closed.  If we get any more rain I wonder if they will close it going south too or our bridge leaving town.  That would be inconvenient.

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Misunderstood...

I went out to check the nest to see if all the eggs had hatched... and when I came out everything was very quiet- no mother bird around, no chirping little birds.   I went over to the bush were the nest was and I saw what happened... the wind storms and heavy downpours we had last night wrecked the nest.   It was sitting at a weird angle and parts had broken off.   I looked around for any dead baby birds around the bush and on the ground but I didn't see any.   So I don't know if it is possible for a robin to move babies or if they got eaten by something... I just don't know.  A very sad turn of events.  

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One traffic cop is trying to fix this mess.   Unlikely.

we were at the zoo yesterday (see pics) we were not sure we should go initally because the bridge going out of town was looking bad, with the water flowing right up to the bottom, and they had emergency vehicles all around only letting traffic go over from one side.  Then as we got further on the highway, they were just starting to close the road going north.  But we went anyway.   As it turned out we were detoured about 2 hours out of our way just to make it home.   As of today Tim could get out to go to work but if we wanted to go North we would have to be detoured.

 

ANYWAY- the zoo was fun we were there ALL day basically with Katie Nicole Maliki Kristine Casey and Barb.  Then afterwards we went out to eat at Red Lobster.  It was a long day, made longer by our 3 hour commute home  We left Omaha at 7 and got home at 10!! 

 

At the zoo we went to the new Butterfly house for the first time since it opened... IT WAS SO COOL.  This was my favorite part.  There were so many butterflies and they are just flying loose all around you.   They were very tight with security because they didn't want any of the butterflies to escape.

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I have been greatly enjoying a new blog... www.thelastpsychiatrist.com .  I have been reading most of his entries and he has some good stuff in there on a wide range of topics.  I just got done reading a post he was writing on the TV show LOST from a philosopical point of view... I don't watch the show but I still enjoyed the post.  Here is a quote "If you know for certain God exists, there is nothing noble in believing in him.  It's only when you take the great gamble to live your life, your entire life, as if He exists-- at the risk of being wrong, at the expense of an easier, happier life-- that you define yourself as something greater."  This was referencing Charlie's belief he might be able to predict the future and how Charlie acted on it, even though he wasn't absoultely sure he could predict the future, or that any of his actions would matter since he had already predicted an outcome- but he still acted the information anyway even though it wasn't the easiest thing to do. 

 

A lot of little gems in there.  He also discusses the mental health issues a lot as you would expect from the Blog title.  But definitely worth a look if you have the time.

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My new laptop arrived today, and I am using it now.  I am pleased so far with it.  My old laptop will now be Payton's toy exclusively- I just have to uninstall everything except for Firefox and possibly Microsoft Word.  (Payton likes MS Word).  Hopefully taking everything else off will make it a little faster/work better than it was for me. 

 

I still am amazed that Dell can make two laptops that are identical, call one a home use computer and the other a business use computer and then charge $200 MORE for the home computer.  I am so glad we figured this out and bought the business model.

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