Who Shops Where

Heather here and I’m guest blogging for my mom right at this moment.  No reason really, just fun!

Who has a membership to a wholesale club like Sam’s or Costco?  Do you use it enough to justify it?  We used to have one to Sam’s.  You’d think with a family of 6 that I would use it constantly.  The problem is, with living in an apartment, there is no room to store all those bulk extras.  If I had a deep freeze or even an extra closet for toilet paper it would be awesome!  As it is, we buy the membership, go a couple of times, then stop going because we run out of room.

What do you do with limited space when you want to save money by buying in bulk?

The Bills Come In The Bills Go Out

Heather here and I’m guest blogging for my mom right at this moment.  No reason really, just fun!

The bills fall out of the elephant’s snout.

Not really, but they are never ending.  Do you feel that way?  We really don’t have many:  rent, car insurance, car payment, electricity, internet, cell phones, coughcoughPato’sTrafficFinescoughcough, I think that’s it, no credit cards, no water bill – that comes with rent, no rv repairs – because we aren’t that fancy, just the basics.

It still feels like something pops up all the time, a trombone here, soccer uniform there, 2 kids who outgrow their shoes at the same time and the other 2 who follow the next week, you know what I mean.

What do you do when you feeled overwhelmed by it all?

Losing Weight

Hey all!  Heather here and I’m guest blogging for my mom right at this moment.  No reason really, just fun! 

So, I am on a quest for Jordan and I to lose weight.  We have decided that we are going to start running jogging walking/jogging every morning before school.  We could both stand to lose about 50 lbs.  Seriously.

I am taking suggestions on how to get started running.  My sister told me to start out just walking.  Then progress to fast walking.  Then to a jog.  Then you sprain your ankle and have to start all over again.  Kidding!  That’s actually what recently happened to her.  She was all in a pretty boot and everything.  Poor Abby!

I need to get a playlist going on my iPod just for this.  Must keep up the beat while walking/jogging or I’ll get incredibly bored and not want to finish. 

Wish us luck because unless they come out with a magical thermogenic fat burners that actually work this is probably the only way we are going to get in shape!

In Remembrance of 9/11

It's one of those things that you will remember the rest of your life. Like where you were, what you were doing, etc., when you got the announcement. 9/11 is one of those instances.

I was working at SecureCare of Iowa, where my sister, Sue, also worked. I had just heard about the towers being hit. Someone had their small TV on their desk and it was showing the event as it was occurring.

It was something too great to comprehend, but you are seeing it before your own eyes. As I was walking to my desk and pondering this, someone came up to me and said I needed to go to Sue immediately. At first I thought something had happened to my Dad. I was walking to Sue's area, someone I knew walked past me and said, "It's really bad."

I came up to Sue's desk and everyone is standing around her. She looked at me and started crying. You can't know how that felt. I was sure by now that my Dad had died. Sue tried twice to tell me whatever it was, failing to do so. Finally her boss said, "It's good news, Kathy. Your nephew, Mike, was in the Twin Towers when they were hit, but he is OK."

OMG, I didn't even know Mike was in New York. Please take a moment to read Mike's story. He was attending a meeting on the 63rd floor, coming back from a break when he heard the first explosion. I'll let you read his story to find out the rest.

Let me just say, Sue and I were so emotional....happy because he was alive, sad because of the whole 9/11 event. Both of our eyes were red and puffy from crying. I wonder if they have any eye creams that help eyes in that condition.

To this day, Mike is asked to speak at conventions and events, even for kids, where he explains his experience and helps anyone who asks him. He is such a wonderful man, that nephew of mine. I cannot even imagine what my sister, Jackie, went through until she finally had contact with him to know he was really alright.

Do you remember where you were when 9/11 happened? Tell me about it! Kathy

Watching the Fire

As you probably already know, we love to have campfires. Love having the family out, the kids playing, parents talking, just getting together in general. The highlight is always lighting the campfire (after lighting the Tiki lamps for mosquitoes). The kids, of course, always want S'mores. I just want a roasted marshmallow!

We have the wooden swing set that came with this house, but I'd love to have another swing set so all my grandkids could swing at once. You know how it is when you have 3 swings and at least 7 or 8 grandkids here at one time. Back to campfires...

The other night Steve and I were alone. He had the wood built to have a campfire and he looked at me and said, "What do you think?" Of course, I smiled and said yes to lighting it, though no one else was here. We've lit them before with just the two of us, but not this summer.

He stuffed a few pieces of newspaper to get it started and off it went. I love watching the different colors of the flames, especially the blue ones...so pretty. Pretty romantic stuff, just the two of us watching the flames. No S'more, no family, just ourselves, our conversation, and our thoughts.

Steve is such a beautiful guy. Not just his looks, I'm sure my daughters are thinking 'yes, he's good looking, but it's my Dad'. He has a beautiful way about him. He takes care of me, worries about me, loves me. What can I say except I'm in love. And I love 'love'! Don't you?

Thank You Party

We were invited to a party in thanks of everyone who helped Steve's brother and SIL move into their new home. I wish we could move into a new home. It doesn't have to be brand new.

We would like a ranch home with a finished basement. Or I should say, I would like it. Steve just wants a ranch-style home. I want one with the stairway wide enough to have one of those handicap seats that can take you up and down, in case I get worse down the road.

Back to the party. All of my kids were there and most of my grandkids. They had hamburgers, hotdogs, and brats, salads, chips, cake, and cookies. Yum! Their home is really nice. We all had a great time and the kids had a lot of fun.


I've been borrowing DVDs from Josh and Shelley. They are great for pasttime when you don't have a good antenna. Did you have a good weekend? Let me know. halfmoon

Up in the Attic Again

Since the change to digital television, we have had such poor reception, we started renting DVDs to watch instead of TV because the show would fail to broadcast so many times, you'd get sick of it.

We have a Standard Definition television, not HDTV, but close. Our normal channels are 5, 8, 8.2, 11, 13, 13.2 and 17. Since the change to digital, we could get 13, 13.2, and 17 (and not all the time, at that). No channel 5 or 8 at all.

Steve searched the web for antennas to see if we could get better reception. It's not like we live out in the boonies (sometimes it feels that way), but we do live out in the country and our house is surrounded by huge oak and fir trees.

I think maybe we should take an Orlando vacation. Just forget about the TV reception and go relax somewhere else.

Since we can't take off right now, Steve finally decided on an antenna called 'Futura' and it is an antenna/amplifier. We got really excited when he hooked it up and was able to get channels 5 and 8. We haven't seen those channels in months.

Now we are having trouble getting channel 17 to come in. It's my favorite channel as "Everybody Loves Raymond" is my favorite show. I wish they'd continue making that show. Oh, well. What's your favorite show?