Remembering Things

Just a little note as I was thinking about my Dad. I remember going for walks with him and holding his hand. I remember him smoking and now I wonder if they were Davidoff cigars? Mom said he smoked cigarettes early in their marriage but now I wonder if that was just a dream I had because he really hated Mom smoking cigarettes.
What I remember the most is him using chewing tobacco. Well, yes, I do remember him having a cigar or two when he fished (I think).

On to remember more recent things. I really am posting this because Heather wanted to see the pic I took of Christiano in Grandpa's shoes (my hubby's). He was having a blast putting them on and we all cracked up watching him try to walk in them. I wish my grandkids could have known my dad. Sadly, he died about five years ago.

I also decided to add a pic taken the day Steve II helped Steve bring the entertainment center to our house. It was also a short amount of time to spend with my granddaughters, Sydney and Jadah, but we had fun!

I Think I've Survived

What a night. Yesterday I felt fine in the morning and afternoon. However, around 4:30 on my stomach started rebelling. How can I put it nicely? I spent a lot of the evening and overnight in the bathroom. The rest of the time I tried to sleep to forget it all. Every time I'd wake up with a splitting headache and my tummy rolling, I'd just want to go to sleep again.

I wasn't able to help Steve at all last night. Normally, I type up his report for his IT class (one a week). I love being able to help that way. But, I felt really bad that I couldn't sit up to type anything for him. He's never asked me to, either, but I love to type and I can help him out that way.

This morning (10:00 am) I woke up with the headache again and a slightly queasy stomach. I knew I needed to eat something, but, everything I normally have for breakfast sounded gross! I finally made a piece of toast (slightly burnt), plain, scraped off the burnt and had two bites of it. It still smelled burnt so I threw it away and went back to bed.

I woke up again at 12:00 pm and got up, took two Tylenol, and got into the tub with an ice pack on my head. Get the picture? Still have a headache from ____! By 1:00 I got out of the tub and dressed. Actually felt slightly better.

I know I need to eat something, but nothing sounds appealing that we have here. I wouldn't mind yogurt, but we're out of it. I wish I was back to 100% but just am not there yet.



I thought I'd post pics of the boys and their families. It was so great to actually have my whole family together. Even though we didn't do anything before or after the pics, just the effort everyone made to have a family pic made meant the world to me.









My kids have those participating games (forgive me for not knowing what they are called, Wii fit or fun?) that you hook up to the television and can play or exercise to your heart's content. I wonder if the xbox 360 can be played on it? It has tons of neat games you can play. I wouldn't mind having one here that they could play on.

My Family Pics

Click on the picture to see it fullsize

After months (years?) of complaining to my kids that we need a family picture. We finally got it scheduled. Twice. Both times problems came up and we had to cancel. The third appointment was set and since we had to do it outside due to the size of our family, we kept an eye on the weather forecast for the scheduled day. Let me tell you, it was enough to give me adult acne.

For three days the weatherman said it would not rain until evening. The day before the event, it was to rain early morning and then again in the evening. We had to schedule it for 4:30 as two people worked on Saturdays.

As we were driving to the park to meet family and the photographer, it started sprinkling on our windshield. I sent a prayer up for the Lord to hold the rain off until the pics were done. This was after having Heather or Abby tell me it was raining where they were. Bummer!

By the time we arrived, the rain had stopped! I was so happy. 40 or more pics later and it was finished. Hooray. Mind you, I didn't expect a whole lot since Steve Michal had to try and get 20 people to all look at him at once, especially kids. I think they turned out pretty good though.




















Here are pics of my oldest and youngest, aren't they and their families beautiful?

They're All Growing Up

We watched Mikayla for a while as Abby was getting off later than the babysitter's hours. She is such a sweetheart. You can't see much of Steve in the 2nd pic but you can see how much Mikayla loves her grandpa, can't you?

I haven't been to the Y for some time now. I've got to get back into it. The last two times (yesterday being the last time), I actually was in the parking lot, but sooooo sleepy I couldn't go inside. Instead, I slept in the car until Steve came out.

What we really need is a hot tub at home. Then we could look for some spa covers. I could do my exercises in the back yard, then get in the hot tub to relax and get all the kinks out.

I've been wanting an addition on the back of the house so I can be outside without all the bugs attacking me. We could have the hot tub out there and everyone could enjoy it. Sounds grand, doesn't it?

Taylor's Concert

We were invited to go to Taylor's concert last week and it was excellent, as usual. It was for both orchestra and choir so we had a double treat. Steve and I sat with Josh and Shelley, Carter, and Cambria. That was a treat in itself

What a Blessing

Steve's brother, Joe, moved to a new house a few weeks ago. Steve helped him in the moving process and while he was there, Joe asked him if we would like the entertainment center they weren't moving to the new house. Steve told him he'd talk it over with me.

Actually, he told me it was a stereo cabinet. Since we don't have a stereo set up, I didn't think we'd need it. A few days later, he told me it holds a TV, DVD player, etc. I said, "You mean an entertainment center?" He told me that was probably what it was. I got all excited because he said it was in a nice wood finish.

I bugged him until he finally called Joe and set up a time we could go to the old house in Van Meter to look at it. I was afraid it would already be gone as so much time had passed since he'd asked Steve about it. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was. The one we have is one Josh had given us which serves the purpose but it was nothing like this one.



We finally got it moved to our house and it looks sooooo pretty. We gave the black one to Heather who needed one as theirs was falling apart. Every time I look at it, I just smile. I'm sure you all have beautiful entertainment centers. Until we can afford a new one, this one will be just fine.

Enjoying Heather's Family

Heather brought her kids out today to visit and to let the kids run outdoors. We have a nice swing set, a basketball hoop, and a lot of little tyke toys. They came out fairly early so I decided to enlist Kat to help me make some oatmeal cookies.


First, it took me forever to find an oatmeal cookie recipe. I had bought generic oatmeal, so there was no recipe on the box. After finally finding a recipe, Kat and I started tossing in ingredients. I measured, she poured in, and she stirred. What a champ. I asked Heather a question about the recipe and she said, "Doesn't it have flour in it?" When you look at the ingredients, there is no flour listed. However, when you look at instructions, it tells you to add the flour....what's the deal with that? So we guessed how much flour to put in and went on.

After adding raisins and walnuts, we put them on trays and baked. The cookie dough was fantastic. The baked cookies were ok, but not that great. I'd never use that recipe again. Heather said it needed more sugar. I sprinkled some on top of the cookies ready to bake which made them slightly better. Let's just say it makes me not want to cook for a long time.

Heather did cleanup from the cookie making venture, then started in making homemade pizza from scratch. What a girl. The whole time she was here, she had her hands full with Christian.


Jordan was dropped off at 4:00 (by his Dad, who lives in Adel). After everyone had been there about an hour, Jordan held his arms out and said, "I need a hug, Grandma!" I was totally shocked. Usually that is my line. Thus far no one had exchanged hugs, and usually that is the first thing that happens when Heather's kids get out of the car. They run to me and hug me. Okay, the two girls run to me and hug me, I have to corner Jordan to get a hug. Which is why today was really special.

Supper was wonderful. When handing out paper plate holders, Kat claimed the purple one. I gave Alyce the blue one and she said, "Look, Grandma, it's the same color as my eyes!" And she was right. She is my little 'Blue Eyes', beautiful ones, at that! I sent home leftover pizza and lots of cookies with Heather!!! I saved a couple slices of pizza for Steve and I and a bag of cookies for us. Cleanup is done and Heather sailed off into the blue with her little clan.

Steve's in the living room working on his homework (and going crazy). He's in an IT class and it is really demanding. Brings back the days I went to DMACC. He has to look for work at the same time and has to apply for five jobs a week. We're hoping he will be able to find a job soon. Right now he is working on an Excel spreadsheet with the cost of setting up a computer system.

What a fun day! It took Heather about an hour to get my house childproofed (Nano is into everything), but we were both more relaxed when we were able to go outside with the kids. Hope your day was as great as mine!