Our sad weekend....

It's been a tough week. Friends and church classmates lost their 37 year old son in an auto accident last Sunday (while on a business trip in Minnesota). The funeral is this Saturday. Corby is making chocolate chip cookies for the family dinner after the service. Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this difficult time. You NEVER expect to outlive a child, and I cannot imagine how difficult this is for them.

Please join us in praying for them...

Prairie Tale

I just finished reading "Prairie Tale" - the memoir by Melissa Gilbert, the star of Little House on the Prairie. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and learned a lot about her life. Some highlights:

* she was adopted
* her half-sister is Sara Gilbert, who starred on Roseanne and is currently on Big Bang Theory
* she considered Michael Landon her second dad
* she was very close to her mother and her grandfather was a Hollywood bigwig
* Michael Landon drank and smoked a LOT
* she was engaged to Rob Lowe
* she married playwright Bo Brinkman and had a son
* she did drugs, but not a lot by Hollywood standards
* she divorced Bo Brinkman
* she married Bruce Boxleitner (from TV's How the West Was Won and Scarecrow & Mrs. King - he's always been one of my favorite TV actors) who has two sons
* she had another son with Bruce
* she had a drinking problem
* she very much disliked Kent McCord (Adam 12), who was a nemesis while running for President of the Screen Actor's Guild
* there is bad blood between her and Valerie Harper (Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda) because they ran against each other for SAG President (Melissa won)

There is much more than that to her story. It was enjoyable to read, and even though she had her share of being a bit "wild", her story is fairly mild compared to other celebrities.

I would highly recommend this book, especially if you were a fan of Little House of the Prairie or any of the numerous TV movies she has made over the years.

The Toe

I would love to post a picture of my big toe, but I think I would gross too many people out. Suffice it to say that's it's still pretty scary looking. I think it's taking a bit longer to heal (and scab over) since the gauze got stuck to it. I'm still soaking it or wrapping it in a wet towel for a while every night. Kaitlin went to Old Navy today and I had her pick me up a couple of new pairs of flip flops (2/$5-can't beat that price) since that's all I can wear right now. I keep a big bandaid on it when I'm at work, but I think that just agitates it even more, so once I'm home the bandaid comes off and I let it breathe. Aren't you all getting sick of "toe" posts by now?

We've started collecting boxes so the kids can start packing. Brandon got all their utilities set up today, and the countdown is on (17 or 18 days-keep reading). They are moving either Fri. July 31st or Sat. Aug. 1. They can't have the gas turned on until Monday the 3rd if they move on Saturday, so Kaitlin is going to e-mail their landlord and see if they can move in on the 31st. Corby is off work that whole week, and I'm off Thursday and Friday. Originally I was going to be gone that week to State College, PA with my boss, but our trip has been cancelled. I'm glad, because that would have been 5 less days with the kids.

Corby and Brandon went to the eye doctor today. They both needed new glasses and even with insurance it cost a ton of money. In fact, Corby isn't quite the shopper I am so I'm calling them in the morning to change something on his lenses so we can save about $80. What can I say - the guy needs me? LOL!

Kaitlin informed me today that she'd gone through my "pet" file and figured out how old the pets are. Cinnamon will be 6 this fall, Sugar just turned 5, Muffin is 3 and Abby was 1 in April. They will soon be the only "kids" we'll have left at home!

Today's music: Daughtry's new CD. Kaitlin picked it up at Target today.

Today's quote: "Accept challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory." -- George S. Patton

OVER 5000 HITS!

Several months ago I asked for help. I wanted to reach 5,000 hits on my blog by October. Well, it happened TODAY - almost 3 months early! THANKS TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO READ THE BLOG. I wish I had something newsworthy to blog about every day - and who knows - when the kids leave home in a few weeks and I have more time on my hands - I might turn my blog into something trendy: something about entertainers, music, books, scrapbooking, loneliness (since ya know my kids will be gone), etc. No matter what I decide, I'll still post random things that I hope are enjoyable.

I must be honest here though, my project 365 has fallen by the wayside. This is the scrapbooking project that I started at the beginning of the year - take a picture a day and scrapbook it. I had a spiraled notebook going, but - the last entry was 3/22/09. That's when my life was overcome with mom's application for Medicaid. It's now 7/12 and though she's been approved, there are still things coming up that take a lot of time to fix/solve/figure out. I'm hoping to do a page for April, May, June and July, and start back up with the project in August. The next few weeks will be busy getting the kids packed and ready to head off to Manhattan. We need to go through all of Brandon's things in the garage and figure out what they still need. They have the big stuff - their beds, dressers, TV's, stereos, etc. We are giving them a dining room table & chairs, couch, love seat, end table & coffee table. Now we need to check on linens, kitchen items, cleaning supplies, toiletries - all that good stuff. I want them to be well-stocked to start out the school year.

And the quote for today: "Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it." -- William Arthur Ward

Keith Urban - My Pick for Entertainer of the Year

Friday was a good day...in more ways than one.

I was finally able to get the "stuck" gauze off my big toe - after coming home at lunch and soaking my foot for 45 minutes in Epsom Salt. It took a while, and some tugging and pulling, but I finally managed to get it off. Of course, that made my toe even sorer - it was just starting to feel better. But - it was worth it.

Last night we went to the Keith Urban / Jason Aldean concert at the Coliseum. Jason opened the show with a rockin' country set, and had the crowd on their feet. Our seats were AWESOME. Corby and I had seats right down in front of the stage. When Keith was performing in the center section which came out in the crowd a little, we were in the second row. He spent quite a bit of time there, so I managed to get some good pictures! Keith knows how to get the crowd pumped AND keep them pumped! My only complaint about the show was that security let people crowd down in front of the stage - only this big bad mama didn't let ANYONE get in front of her! We were close enough to the stage that it didn't affect my viewing of the concert, until the last 15-20 minutes when people started standing on chairs. Now, personally I think it's rude of people to stand on chairs and block everyone's view, and security should not have let people do it. Suffice it to say that when they started standing on the chairs in front of us, I hung myself over the chair in front of me and DARED anyone to scoot onto the chair. I guess I must have looked tough (ha!) so no one tried to stand there. Keith sang all of his hits, and some songs off his new "Defying Gravity" CD. The man has stamina, because it was really hot in there, and he played for well over 2 hours. I've been to a LOT of concerts in my lifetime, and Keith ranks right up there in the top 3 or 4. Here are some pictures:



Check out this cool guitar! I bet he played 10 different guitars during the show.





Jason Aldean came back out during Keith's show and they sang the Eagles "Take It To The Limit". They did a great job on it too!


















The next two pictures were taken from the big screen. Yummy!






Yes, Keith came out in the crowd. We couldn't see much of him at that point because there were so many people on the floor. He went out to a small stage set up at the rear and played a couple of acoustic songs. I'm sure the people sitting in the back and up way high were thrilled about it. I remember when Corby & I saw him last year, we were at the very TOP of the Coliseum, and we LOVED it when he came out there and played. He knows how to please a crowd - moved around all parts of the stage and came out into the audience twice!




Jason Aldean - he opened the show. Kaitlin and I had seen him a couple of years ago with Rascal Flatts.


Me and my honey bunchkins. We had 5 tickets total - Corby and I got the 2 best seats. Kaitlin, Kaleb and our neighbor Jansen sat about 5 rows behind us. Jansen is 12 and it was her first concert. She had a blast! Brandon originally was going to go, but decided (after I bought tickets) that he didn't want to pay for the seat. I guess I didn't specify he would be paying for the ticket when I asked him if he wanted to go.



This is where we found Sugar (or Sugie-Bear) when we got home around 11:40pm - chillin' on Kaitlin's truck!


Today has been pretty busy too. Corby had to work this morning. Kaleb and I went to visit mom, and then went to Dillons. My best friend, Melody, was there shopping, so we had a quick visit. Her daughter Diane is celebrating her 21st birthday tomorrow. Wow, time sure does fly! We brought home the Dillons groceries, picked up Brandon and Corby (who got home right before we did) and went to Walmart, my least favorite store in the world. I had to pick up some bandaids with antibiotics on them, and a few other necessities. Then we finished our grocery shopping at Leeker's. I sure am going to miss my discount when the kids leave for school! Of course, we won't be spending as much on groceries either! I'm trying to stock up on a bunch of specials and coupon savings for the kids. I'll do that for the next few weeks, as we will be moving them on August 1st! Kaitlin and I now have the laundry separated and I've started on it. I plan on doing some scrapping and reading the rest of the weekend. It's too hot and humid to do much of anything outside!

I'll end the post with a quote: "Be a first-rate version of yourself, not a second-rate version of someone else." -- Judy Garland

No Pictures of this

Had my big toenail removed today. Had 5 shots to the toe. OUCH! The first 3 were pretty painful, didn't feel the last 2. Didn't feel him removing the toenail, but it's sore now. At least the doc was helping me keep my mind off what he was doing. We talked about his 24 year old daughter who is going to med school and working at a hospital in Chicago. She will be a psychologist. He said they desperately need one in the family. We love our doctor. He's been our family doctor for 20 years now - since right after Brandon was born. He's my age, a great guy, and always refers us to specialists if we need it. I guess the only negative thing I can say about him is that he graduated from North High the same year I graduated from Carroll. We joke about that sometimes too.

Muffin's new toy

Kaitlin bought this new "cat" toy today at Walmart. Muffin cracks me up...she LOVES to play with "milk rings" - the little ring around the lid of milk gallons...

Crazy Neighbors

Why is it that neighbors have to be such jerks? I was outside tonight, watering the flowers, and then relaxing on our swing. Our neighbors across the street, who do their utmost to ignore everyone in the neighborhood, had someone come visit them. This person was driving a big ass suburban, and as she was coming down the street, she hit the mirror of our neighbor's van. It's a retractable mirror, so there was no damage, but she at least went to the neighbor and had him come out and look at it. The adult daughter of our neighbors across the street proceeded to bash us, and the fact that our kids park in the street. First of all, they park in front of our other neighbors house, who happens to be our friend. They don't park across the street in front of this neighbor's house. Not sure why she was complaining, but I heard her say "look at her. Her kids park in the street all the time. Their driveway is empty, but they park in the street." Well, folks, the street belongs to the city, not to any one of us. Second of all, Kaitlin parks her truck in the driveway so she doesn't take up a lot of the street (she happens to be at work right now). Since I leave for work first in the morning, and I park in the garage, Brandon and Kaleb park in the street - usually in front of our own house if there are spots available, but never in front of the neighbors across the street. Why she was bashing me and calling me a "fu--ing b-tch" I'll never know. Am I wrong? If there aren't any "no parking" signs in the street, isn't it up for grabs? Why would she care if we're parked in the street if we're not in front of "her" house? Actually, it's not "her" house, it's her mom and stepdads. She moves in and out with her kids as necessary because of not having a job, etc. Sorry, this just ticked me off and I had to get it off my chest!!!!!!