Grandma went to the fair and all I got was...

Leon and I were GOING to go to the Iowa State Fair on Saturday, but due to conflicting schedules between me and a video game, I went alone.

NOT a big deal!

It was actually quite liberating!  I decided to park at the capitol building and take a city bus ride over to the fair. There and back was only $3!  and how easy was that!  I did get a sales pitch about some health stuff on the bus ride because I asked the person where they worked that they get to travel all over the world.

I have their business card now.

And I chatted with some folks on the ride back.

The bus dropped us off AT the gate and picked us up there.  In the past, I've walked several blocks just to get to the gates and then on the way back to someone's yard where I'd left my car. If I remember which street I parked down.  This way is a WINNER! and I'll do it again next year.

I believe I was in the actual fair grounds for 1 hour.  I  visited the 4H building and got pics of my nieces projects.  Found them SO easy because they have a project locator on one end of the building!!!  Where was THIS all my life?!  You just have to know which county your kid is from. I guessed wrong. I guess she's in the county next to the one I grew up in. oh well.  It was easier than going down every aisle!

Then I walked through a horse barn to get to the adult sewing stuff and GUESS WHAT?!  I got ribbons on both items I submitted this year!

Matthew's jacket got an honorable mention!

And his PJ bottoms got 2nd place!  YAY!

I really need to get back into sewing so I'll have more current entries next year.

I walked through the business booth area and found my obligatory annual yard stick that will be lost or taken before next years fair.  Signed up for a few freebies to increase my spam cell calls and then got some cheese curds.

You know... there are NOT a lot of diabetic friendly food choices at the fair.  I think everything is geared towards steering you TOWARDS diabetes.

I tell you what...  going to the fair without the boy was a WHOLE lot cheaper than taking him with. And he agreed with me when I got home. 

I brought him back a bag of caramel kettle corn on the way out of the fair and he was oh so thankful for it!

Grandma went to the Iowa State Fair and all I got was a lousy bag of kettle corn!

:) He loves that stuff so all was good.

My brother is bringing me his old riding lawn mower today!!!

He is a pretty swell brother!  We're going to try that one more thing on my mower and if it's a failure, we'll roll it to the curb. (after taking out the battery)

I'm not strong enough to take that bolt out so I'm leaving it for him. Something about a possible sheered key, like I'm going to know how to fix it after he leaves.  Well, maybe I will be able to if he explains it to me.

Ok - back to work!  Have a beautiful day!

CatchUp Wanna Be Irish Style

 I had a weird day yesterday.  A feeling hit me that I haven't felt in 20 years and it knocked me off my feet.  It was not a good feeling.  

So once I got home, I got busy with work, folded some clothes, got ready for a cooking class last night and the feeling subsided.  I felt "in control" again.  MUCH better!

If that's an anxiety attack, I'm going to do my best to avoid them.

Anyway, the cars have been in and out of the shop with major issues for the past few weeks.  I'll be glad when all cars are functional again without the engine lights coming on or weird noises from under the hoods or near tires.  

In the market for a new or new to me lawn mower.  My dear brother drove here from western Iowa and mowed my yards a week ago Thursday and they're about due again.  What an awesome brother I've got!

While I tried out his mower, finishing the back yard, he used his gas powered trimmer and started in around my garden.  He accidentally trimmed up two of my 3 tomato plants that I grew from seed before he realized there were "wanted" plants mixed in with the tall weeds! :) I asked him to leave the last one as it was my favorite anyway.  They are NOT being productive plants anyway this year.  I guess I don't know what I'm doing with the garden.

His mower is a zero turn and I think I may be sold on that idea now.  It was very awkward to figure out and I almost drove over him a couple times yelling, "How do I stop this thing?" "PULL BACK!  Like WHOA NELLY!"

oh!  Treat it like a horse, huh?  okey dokey.  I've always WANTED a horse!  I'll name her Nelly, of course.  Or Mr Ed.  It depends on what name hits me as appropriate when I finally pick one out.

Aggie turned 2!!!!  We had her party at the Des Moines Science Center with all the major players of her life in attendance.  So much fun!

Then cake with just the immediate family and grandparents.  Her other grandma made the cake and it was SO good!  It had a raspberry filling! mmmmm  I went off my pre-diabetic diet and enjoyed a half piece.

OH - my A1C got tested again this morning and it's 5.5!!!  Dropped from 5.9 in 3 months!  yay!  I'm still pre-diabetic though and will have to consistently watch what I eat.  Keeping it low carb as much as possible.  I think I'll wait a few more months before I bring a few more carbs into my food though.

I got 2 things entered into the State Fair that just started.  Thank goodness my son-in-law takes such good care of clothing I've made for him!  I've been out of the sewing mojo for some time now.  I've STARTED a ton of projects but haven't gotten very far in actually sewing them together.  

That might be my new hobby.  Dream up and starting projects.  I need a friend whose hobby is to complete unfinished projects and we'll be the dream team!

I've got several ideas for Christmas gifts and once I push all the already started projects off my sewing table, I'll get going on them!

Wednesday night, I attended a cooking class in town nearby and learned how to chop veggies properly with knives!  It was so much fun and I've got 2 quarts of chopped veggies that I'll eat tonight.

Thursday night, I attended the cooking class again with a widow friend and we learned how to make Spring Rolls!  OOOH!!!  Those rice paper rounds made it so easy!  However with 8 carbs per wrap, I only ate one and made two other rolls using lettuce leaves for the wrap.  They were messier and I should have had a fork, but oh well.  The peanut sauce was DELISH and the chef deliberately left out the brown sugar!  So now we know we can!  I was too shy to ask, but someone else did. Whew! Thankful for their boldness!

Oh!  Last weekend, Leon and I met up with Maddy and Meri in Waterloo for the Irish Fest!  

We watched knives being forged from railroad ties

Bohran, tin whistle demonstrations and Myth telling

Maddy and Meri were the only ones who enjoyed authentic Irish cuisine.  Leon ate up most of my Food dollar bucks on lemonade, corn dogs, gelato, burgers, fries and fried cheese curds.  No, I wasn't keeping track...  But I did end up with a burger and a few curds.

We saw the Trinity Irish Dancers from Chicago!  And reminisced about when Meri took Irish dance classes when she was really young.

Lots of quality time with my girls!

Leon climbed 3/4s of a wall!!!  The last time he'd tried this sort of thing, he only got a few feet off the ground.  So he's improving!!

Maddy wove some fabric and may have just struck on her NEW hobby!  She's got a lot of them too.  Like Mother, like daughter!

Enjoyed the Highland games!  They're throwing a 28 pound rock as if it's a discus throw!  Some got it as far as 34 feet!  Mine would have landed on my foot.

The girls got to pet some Irish dogs!

It was a fun day and I put in over 5 miles in walking. My watch confirmed!  Leon was beat!  And now he's thinking twice about attending the State Fair with me because of the walking...

:) Maybe I'll bring him in with a stroller! LOL!

Well, back to work.  Meri's car is in the shop today and I'm working from my bestie's nursing home library for at least the morning.  Trying to be inconspicuous and quiet.  She and I have lunch plans but I'm working and she's got her morning schedule.

I've got a mile in so far today just walking from the car fixing place!  

THAT should work off any carbs I picked up last night or decide to eat today.  sigh.  I have no idea how this whole thing works yet.

Celebrations and plants

 

The kids were all here this weekend to celebrate my birthday a smidgen early!  They grilled brats, brought lots of cooked broccoli and cauliflower, and Leon even made brownies!  I treated myself to half a piece along with some low carb ice cream!  I figured I could do that many carbs.  And then later, I ate a whole piece.  My blood sugar the next morning was not happy with me.  shoot.

The kids all pitched in and I got a gift certificate to attend a couple cooking classes at a place nearby that I'd been wanting to go to! yay!  And I received a mug that Maddy had made in her pottery studio she likes to visit!  

It was a great pre-birthday!

FYI: Leon must have leaned backwards to avoid the picture. He does that...

Some neighbors have this plant next to their patio and it has spread to my fence!  I noticed it also in my church landscaping.  I BELIEVE this is a flowering milkweed variation and I'm going to plant more.  It's so pretty!  And the blooms last all summer.

Aggie and Jen did some artwork on our patio Sunday and made some gorgeous pictures!  I didn't grab a pic of Jen's!  But I will.  These are Aggie's.

Anyway, it was a great weekend!  And Leon has just recently gotten into the Walking Dead, so he and I watched the first 4 episodes since Sunday, in addition to the movie Independence Day.  I've never binge watched that much in so few of hours before.  Hopefully I can start marching in place or something during the next episode!

I'm meeting one of my sisters for lunch today. :)  and my favorite cousin for lunch on Thursday!

Whew!  Life is a rush!

Weekend Activities AKA I need a nap

Friday night, I went to Maddy's town to attend one of their free summer concerts with her!  They try to go every week but Matthew was out of town and Maddy didn't want to go alone.  She got more knitting in and we got a lot of chit chatting in.

The Death Stranding birthday party for Ryan and Jen, on Saturday night was a lot of fun!  

SO much pizza and goodies!  Leon had even made a cake.  I made the buttercream frosting for it.  Thank goodness Maddy brought a veggie platter.  I made a salad using lettuce and the toppings of a couple slices of pizza & said vegetables.  

mmm  and snuck a few boneless bbq chicken wings.  I need to knock THAT off!

Meri and Josh were there too and even Aggie joined in on the living room fun as Ryan forged his way into the sequel for the game.  Even though Matthew was several states away at a conference, he was able to connect via Twitch and watch the action too.  He texted several times about events going on in the game.

Sunday, after church, some church friends stopped by and helped me work on my rider mower to fix the bent wheel.  They ended up using the two parts I'd purchased after all and identified another crutial piece that got bent also. The front axle.  I asked a neighbor for a tool I didn't have and he came over and fussed over the mower along with Seth.  So much grease!  I felt so bad for getting them into the nitty gritty of it all.  I thought it was going to be a quick fix.

Seth will be back later this week with a pipe wrench to see if he can bend the axle back into place.  

In the meanwhile, I mowed the front yard afterwards and it handled SO much better than it had been doing!  Instead of a ten point turn at every corner, it was only 3!  PROGRESS!!!

Oh, plus they tightened the steering wheel!  So it's not so jiggly! Whew.

While Aggie and Jen played in the kiddie pool, I pulled thistle weeds out of my hostas and cement hill and finally planted my hydrangea plant that Meri gave me for Mother's Day.  It actually broke apart into two plants! So winner winner!

I opened a bag of mulch that had been sitting there all last winter to spread around it and low and behold there was a mass colony of ants living inside and they spilled out all over my tennis shoes and gloves!  Yikes!  and they were biters! 

That was about when I decided I'd had enough for one day.  Besides sweat was dripping off my face like a faucet was on.  I left my shoes on the porch so the ants could go find another home.  yuck.  

OH and I sprayed the air conditioner with the hose a lot!  I'm guessing that's why it's not keeping up very well with the heat.  It was pretty dirty.  So now we wait again to see if it made a difference.

Got a lot of weeding in this morning before work.  If I can get 30 minutes of weeding in a day, I think the yard will be good by Christmas.  You know.  Under a foot of snow.

above: dressing up with Mom
below: reading to herself.

I cried at church yesterday. Widows being given back their sons.  I'm not jealous but well, maybe.  It's a widow thing.  Always rehashing the actual day, wondering if I missed something or didn't pray at the right time or not do the right things.  And wouldn't you just know it?  The first service I hadn't brought tissues to the pew with me.  Even though I didn't get Robb back, God has been taking good care of us and Robb is having a beautiful time while he waits for me to catch up.

Well...

Back to work Mr Zook!  Thanks Dave!  * Robb always rolled his eyes at me for quoting that old Sioux City car dealership commercial!! * :)

Death Stranding, concerts and birthdays

 I'm looking forward to a great weekend!

I'm heading to Maddy's tonight to attend a concert in a park.

Then hanging with Aggie over lunch tomorrow so Ryan and Jen can go on a birthday date.

Probably mow my house that afternoon.

THEN the sequel to the Death Stranding video game came out on Ryan's birthday and we watched/played it as a family 3 years ago.  Love me some Norman Reedus!!  AND Mads Mikkelson although I know he won't be in it much this time.  Ryan usually runs the controller and the rest of us watch.  Restarting that tradition tomorrow night!  We'll probably play once a week until we're through it. * 6 months later *

Sounds boring huh?!  Not really!  It's exciting to see where Norman's character goes and where the story line goes.  And I KNOW who that child is and am anxious to see what becomes of her!

And we'll have food to celebrate both Ryan and Jen's birthdays this past week.

Did you know that the official Leon's Day was on Wednesday?  It's halfway between here and Christmas so it's NOEL backwards!  But who actually gets their own day and it's not their birthday? 

My grandson!

I'm starting Christmas shopping now!

And will start lobbying for a Valerie's Day.

Have a beautiful weekend!

She GETS me!

 Ah Aggie girl!

We were relaxing yesterday afternoon, her in her chair and me in mine.  I believe we were watching Aggie Videos that I have on a private Youtube playlist.  She's finally relaxed on the Beauty & the Beast kick a little!  Her video watching reperatoire is increasing.

She adores watching movies/slideshows about herself.

I used to love home movies too when I was a kid.  My dad would pull out the old 16 mm movie projector and a sheet would be hung on one wall, every weekend.  Usually Friday or Saturday night. 

I LOVED it!  

I'm sure my youngest sister didn't as she was only in a couple but with 7 kids, it was a riot to see our antics throughout the years.  Eventually someone had to go to work on that night or had a date and the movie watching became even rarer.  I remember being the ONLY one to set up the projector one lonely weekend and watch the movies by myself, crying that our family was disintegrating.

It wasn't!  Just people were getting too busy with their lives. Bummer. 

I started showing Aggie some other videos I have on Youtube, like Leon pounding on some metal plates with wooden spoons. 

She was inspired!  And since we don't have those plates anymore, I found some pots and spoons for her to be a star herself.

She had to watch the video when I had it done and I'll have to add it to her private playlist.

I SO get her!

To Sugar or NOT To Sugar?

 I haven't tried the mower trick yet.  We're down a car and I don't want to walk over.  I guess I could ride Leon's bike...  eh.  Got enough stuff to do at home.

But I'm confident that the new tool I bought will help.  Maybe when someone gets home I'll run over.

Leon and I attempted to make homemade chocolate chips this morning!  I don't think the sugar was completely dissolved so the first little chips in the molds were just coconut oil and chocolate.  But the pan with the final bits with sugary sludge in it were a hit!  I'll drink more water today so my blood sugar won't be so high. :) the sacrifices we make!

He fell asleep shortly after we finished the first batch and I'd discovered the problem.

So I did a 2nd batch for ME using Monkfruit sweetener instead.  I feel like I should have used Splenda as that has less carbs and might taste a little better.  Oh well.  NEXT time.

Not sure I like the taste of these either.  Pretty "coconut oil" flavored.  I might just use butter next time too as it's cheaper.  We'll see.

ALSO, I think I might remelt the first batch with sugar and get it fudgy before pouring into the molds.  I think Leon will appreciate them more.

He can make some cookies when he wakes up.  He said he was up until 2am and woke up ready to take on the world at 6am.  He crashed.  Even before the chocolate chips got done so it wasn't a sugar crash!

Anyone have a recipe for milk chocolate chips?  Those are his favorite chips and I'd like to attempt it.

I really do like Lily's chocolate chips but they're so pricey.  I was hoping to cut the costs a little. hmm.

Here's the original recipe I used.

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

Has anyone here tried making them before?  and/or a no-sugar type?

Tacos and catching up

Leon and I attended the Iowa Cubs game against the Louisville Bats on Friday night!  It was a lot of fun catching up with some college friends.  I hope more are able to attend next year!

My sister-in-law dropped us off with the intent of eventually finding a parking spot nearby and joining us but no luck.  Every single lot was full and she wasn't in a state to walk several blocks.  At least I got to visit with her for the drive from our parking ramp over! 

Leon didn't understand the game but was totally in it for the food.  Thankfully his dad gave me some money to keep the kid happy and boy did I!

He got a big slice of pizza right at the beginning and then ate half my peanuts.  Then we climbed over a fence barrier to our left, three more times to either find a restroom or more food and drinks.  He had seen a sign for Raising Cain's chicken fingers but apparently it was just an ad because there was NO booth for it.  He settled for a generic BBQ booth and only ate a teeny bit of the $14 plate of chicken strips and fries.  I ate the rest, not wanting anything to go to waste...  And since I'm counting carbs and blood sugar these days, I'm still working it off.

sigh.  The things I do for these kids!

It was delicious.

Ok - since a month ago, when I last blogged.

1) I did NO sewing.  I hope to remedy that this week.  I need SOMETHING to send to the fair.  I should actually sign up for some tickets today.

update: DID!  Signed up for 6 entries. Not sure if I'll have that many but we'll see.

2) Meri has a new boyfriend and I finally got to meet him a couple weeks ago. He's coming for taco night tonight too.  We like him. and she really likes him.  So things are good.

3) Leon and I visited with Maddy and Matthew and went on adventures in paint 

and boating!

4) Leon is out of school!!  and as far as we know, is now in the 8th grade.  You can't tell ANYTHING by those new fangled report cards. M=met expectations, N=nearing expectiations, S=sweet but trying, etc.  He is sleeping/gaming away his summer.  It's a challenge to get him out into the sun much less bed but we're doing our best! Thus the bribery with ball game food.

Come outside little boy!!...

5) staying as positive as I can about certain situations in my life right now.  

Robb would have said, "yep - told you."

6) possibly buying another car later this summer!  The current cars are nickel and diming us to death. One car will only drive smoothly if you put in a bottle of fuel injector cleaner and only if you put it in and fill it when it's around 1/4 of a tank.  Then you're good (maybe) until it's back down to a 1/4 tank.  weird.  Another needs new tires.  Another rattles when you start it and needs new tires too.

never ending.

7) I did something stupid (and almost died) with my riding lawn mower and that story is for another day.  Now the front tires look a wee bit bowlegged.  With any luck, Meri's new BF will help me bend it back into place today. I hope.

8) Leon and his middle school band played during Memorial Day out at the cemetery.

9) same day I realized that my blood sugar was way too high. That darn drunken peach cobbler.  

It's SO sweet!

and delish.

eh - I needed a wake up call.

10) Aggie's other grandparents came for a day and helped us all tear down the Eagle's nest from in front of our house and put up portions of it for a deck for Aggie's little house back in the yard. It's adorable!

pay no attention to the wheelbarrow!  it's not still there. This is an older picture.

and she is adorable too.

Just Grandma and Aggie

She is a stitch and a half!

Anyway, back to work and other things!  I hope you're having a beautiful week!

Eat a taco tonight!

Siezing Spring

 Between Jen and myself, we got Aggie's playhouse done!  Whew!  It is so cute!  And now has a sand floor because Aggs keeps bringing sand over from the sandbox.  There is a black tarp under that.

Jen wants to make a little raised garden too. :)  So sweet.  Aggie loves it.

End of the year concerts!!  Leon was very dedicated with his clarinet this year.  I don't know if he'll do band next year but we'll find out.

Meri and I hit up our local theater and saw Pride and Prejudice's 20 year anniversary showing a week or so ago on the big screen and then I saw this reel on FB.  SO TRUE!!!  

This past Sunday, Leon, Meri and I watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail at it's 50th anniversary at the theater too.

STILL hilarious after all these years!  And the popcorn was still fantastic.

I asked Leon if he recognized any lines from the movie that Grandpa Robb used to say and he replied pretty quickly with, "Yes, the 'it's just a flesh wound' line!" 

Oh YEAH that was one! lol!

And the trees and birds and bees are blooming, winging and buzzing all around.

It's got me in the mood to work outdoors a lot, so I've done a load of trimming, mowing, picking up stuff, etc outdoors.  I've got myself a doozy of a headcold right now but working outdoors keeps the agony of it to a minimum for the moment.  Or maybe it's the pseudofed/Aleve cocktails I'm on.  Don't know but I'll take it.

Last weekend, Maddy and Matthew were here and helped us move the ton or two of cement chunks out from under and around the eagles nest play thing we have out front.  Jen's family is coming in a few weeks to move that playland into the backyard for Aggie.  

I know it doesn't look like much from up in my office.  and probably not up close, but it's a commitment!  It'll have cement like planters on it and doll up that thistle loaded hill! *which I dug out earlier that day*

So the chunks were moved and when the last batch came around the garage, Matthew dumped it and we all gasped, WE NEED ICE CREAM!  So the last batch sits because then the cold symptoms hit me like a ton of cement chunks a couple days later.

uggh.

ON to sieze the day!  or another box of kleenex.  

Easter-tide

 Well, the Easter egg coloring last weekend turned into ONE egg for Leon and the rest of two dozen eggs for Meri and myself to color.  I failed to get a pic of them.  shoot.

Aggie and Jen were out of town until that evening so they couldn't join in.

Ryan completed a set of minis for a game he wants to get going with some friends.  He loves to paint tiny statues.  I can only imagine playing it is like the game Risk where you put out a ton of little soldier guys but in this case, monsters.  He said that I'll be playing too. :)

That Saturday afternoon, some ladies from church were supposed to come and watch Passion of the Christ with me and one by one, they cancelled for one reason or another.  Oh well.  I decided to work on the yard instead so that the Easter pictures would look halfway decent this year.  It's no fun when the kids are digging through molding leaves to find candy. 

TURNED out that it rained all day on Easter Sunday!  So the Easter egg hunt was in the living room and only Aggie hunted.  

Can't have everyone hunting when they're run into each other just turning around.  And there really aren't TOO many places to hide the eggs.  There were lots of plastic candy filled ones too.

Aggs had a ball.

Meri assisted by pointing them out.

Maddy outdid herself with her holiday cheese ball!  At Thanksgiving, it was a turkey with a pretzel tail, at Christmas, it was a snowman.  Well, get a load of the empty tomb cheese ball!!!

Even an angel made out of a cheese stick and the tomb sealed with a Ritz! 

I can't wait to see what she does for 4th of July.  Fireworks?  I don't know.

But for Mother's Day, I'm totally expecting a cheese ball bust of me.

Monday after work, Aggie "helped" me rake out the dead leaves in the garden and around the rhubarb.  She sat on my lap while I tried to saw out some volunteer trees under the leaves of the day lilies.  I'll have to get back there sometime and finish the job.  Then I ran a couple more loads of yard waste out to the towns lawn waste dump.  While there, I found clumps of hosta plants and more day lily bulbs!  Yay me!!!!  My garden will be built up with cast off plants!!!  for free!!!

Then she and I went on a walk out to Robb's grave.  It was still pretty wet from the Easter rains but it was fairly warm and a beautiful time out. She didn't beg ONCE for the overcrowded playground a block off our path!  I'm hoping she forgot about it for now.  I'll take her there, but I hadn't been out to the cemetery for a while.

Anyway, there was more yard work done this week and I started hauling the cement chunks back to the back yard, making the hill behind the garage a little more palatable and less thistly.  I'll show you when it looks less yucky.  I plan to work on that exclusively tomorrow morning and try to get done in time to go to the 20th anniversary of Pride & Prejudice.  Those Fathom Event Classic movies are the BEST!

Next week is 50th anniversary of Monty Python's Quest of the Holy Grail!  I hope to take Leon but we'll see what the week holds.

Has it been 50 years already??!

Am I feeling old?

yes.

Granted, I didn't see it until I was probably 20 but still.