Mostly Aggie and anniversaries

 I initially thought this was a fern and it IS, sort of.  Ferns don't survive Iowa winters, but this sure does.  It's actually a yarrow plant and develops little flowers.  It has spread a little in my front yard so I think I might transplant one of the clumps to my ailing thistle garden behind my garage.  SOMEDAY it will not be an eyesore back there!  One plant at a time.

A few weeks ago, Aggie was running a temp and neither of her parents could take the day off as they didn't have any more PTO for a while, but I did!  I took the day off and she and I went to the doctor.  Turns out the poor thing had strep!

We had stopped by Walmart twice that morning to get some meds and things to make her feel better.  She insisted on wearing her Minnie Mouse "blanket" NOT ROBE all day.  

I get it!  I'm like that too some days.  

She was intrigued by the fish tank at the doctor's office.  So many neat fish in it!

So we stopped by the pet store and found a betta fish for her!  Well, it's mine now as the cats are not allowed in my room.  The new pet is named Ellie (short for Elephant ears betta).  She's a cutie!

Both the girls are!

We had a quick lunch when we got home and she had the choice of either go downstairs to her room for a nap and I'd lay with her and read for a bit or she could curl up on the couch and nap without me cuddling and reading to her.  I could tell she was sick as she chose the couch!

I guess it was just closer and she doesn't get the opportunity to nap there much.

So I sat across from her and got some work done on my laptop.

A few days later, I went and had lunch with my mother-in-law.  She was in and out of the hospital and finally had surgery which fixed her issues and then the nursing home for a while recuperating and is now finally back to her apartment!  We're all so happy for her!  She's feeling better than she did a year ago!

I think I'll make this a thing to go visit once a week.  She's only an hour away.  Gas prices suck, but oh well.  Family is important and as I well know, you never know how long you have.

And here Aggie is feeling much more perky!  She and I arrived at the Memorial Day parade first and scoped out a place to see Leon with his Scout troop walk past carrying the flags. :)

Some of my sisters and myself are planning another cruise in Europe next year.  I think we'd get a big discount on this one! 

Father's Day is coming up and I KNOW my son doesn't ever read my blog.  I ordered him socks with 4 pictures on it of both Aggie and Leon.  Do you see 4 different pictures?  nope.  neither did I.

So I let them know I was disappointed in my most disappointed font.  They sent me a new pair with the 4 pictures on it!  Yay!  And they didn't even ask for this pair back!

I mean.... what could they do with it?!  So Ryan is getting at least 2 pairs of socks!

This time next year, there will be pictures of THREE kids on the socks!  :)  Aggie is expecting a baby sister this fall!

Then Leon needed a check up for some Scout stuff and I just remembered that I haven't sent it in yet!  oops!  I'll get that done.

He was being goofy while we waited for the doctor and I wanted proof for his dad that he's a goofball.

Well, Aggie has been enjoying the Barbie Jeep immensely!  She keeps running into the cars because she has NOT figured out the steering wheel yet.  But she does hang on for dear life.

She had a little friend over a week or so ago and they drove it all over the driveway.  Her friend DOES understand the steering wheel, but there were several crashes anyway and neither of them understand the reverse lever.

Don't they look like a reboot of Thelma and Louise?! HA!

After each time of driving her jeep in a huge circle because that's all she knows how to do it, I give her a trike push to the end of the sidewalk and back.

She likes to show off her Tonie.  I'm checking into some "creative" ones to record Bible songs on.

More of Aggie and her jeep.

Then the annual parade for our local festival.  Leon threw us a third of his candy bag!  It really pays who you know! :)

After the parade, we all went down to the craft fair and then Leon and myself worked picking up trash for the scout troop at the food court.  Mostly consisted of Leon using my phone for a geography game and asking me questions like "where's the Taj Mahal" or Stonehenge.  And I mostly just sat and ate food that I shouldn't have.  

Another day of Jeep life.

And she's getting to be a pretty slack driver.

Well, my zucchini garden is in and growing nicely.  My clematis is looking divine this year!  I have tied it up at least another foot just this morning and the ivy is growing nicely.  I've got the indoor plants all moved outside enjoying the sun for real.  More on that another day.

Hoping I have time to keep up on all my plants this summer! 

I did do some sewing over the weekend and Aggie may or may not have a new dress that she loves.  Oh I got it done, but she hasn't tried it on yet because... attitudes...

Last month, I celebrated Robb and my 38th wedding anniversary! Wow I miss him!

As of a week ago, Meri and Josh celebrated 1 year of their first date!

And last weekend, Ryan and Jen realized it had been 12 years since they had first met!

And today is Maddy and Matthew's wedding anniversary!!  9 years since that day!  Hard to believe.  Seems like yesterday.

A teary moment during speeches.

God's blessings to you both!

Have a beautiful day all!!!

Some stuff I may not have shown here yet from this spring

I'm probably doing some of these things twice. I forget what I post sometimes when doing catchup.

Oh!  Guess what?!  Leon got his hair cut!!

Totally his idea.  Just out of the blue, he said he'd like to have it cut.

OKEY DOKEY THEN!

Here is him and his dad a day or so before Ryan took him to a barber.

And then Easter happened!  EVERYONE hunted for the eggs except for Leon and myself.  He helped me hide them all.

Then with Maddy in the picture and me taking it.

I was hoping someone would photoshop the other in, and they tried with AI, but Maddy's face was either totally wrong or mine was or she was missing hair. So weird...  We'll just put both pictures beside each other. :)

Maddy and I went to see the Red Hot Chili Pipers!

Got great seats in the balcony and they sounded super!  Second time seeing them and I just know that Robb would have loved them.

Aggie was on a kick of building towers with the magnetic tiles for a LONG time!  She and I would build it as high as we could just for her to knock it down.

Isn't that just the way?!

These days she's into reading out of the Learning To Read books from World Book with Poldy the scarecrow.  Wouldn't that be cool if she was reading before kindergarten?  

I'm not pushing her but B-B-B-Bat!

I tried my hand at fixing one of my electric canners that toasted the motherboard.  I bought the right motherboard and installed it just to have it happen two batches into some pork that I was canning.

sigh.  I pitched it.  I still have one canner left.  I'll get another someday.

The week after I got back from the Mediterranean cruise, Aggie and Jen went with her folks to see an aunt in Arizona.  They had a greatl time and I got some wonderful pics of their adventures!

And I dog-sat once or twice for Maddy since then.  I love her little shrine for Dad.

I still have Maddy's old Barbie Jeep from 2001 in the garage and this past week, I started to resurrect it for Aggie.  I bought new batteries because it's been 8 years at least since it saw the light of day and was tucked in the garage freezing, thawing, freezing, thawing ever since.  Apparently the batteries were the least of it's worries.  There is corrosion on the little plunger under the foot pedal and after buying the wrong size off Amazon, I called the only Power Wheels dealer in Iowa and they have the parts in that I need! WOOHOO!

Headed there this weekend with the jeep in the back of my car!  I WILL get this working!

Then it will totally need a paint job.

More pics on this Monday.

OH!  and I am still working hard on Italian speaking but started looking around for a group of Italian speakers near me.  I thought I'd found one but then they hadn't posted anything for a few years so shoot.  But a few days ago, someone sent me a note and woohoo!  The Italian conversation group still exists!  and she updated the FB group!  I'm going tonight!  Can't wait!  Apparently there are all levels of Italian speaking there, beginners and experienced but I'm fairly confident that I'll sound super stupid but I really want to learn how to be fluent.  So here goes!

Oh!  and I want to get into making cheese!

Ok, I'm done now.

Halloween Traditions and randomness

Friday night was Aggie and Jen's daycare Halloween open house.  She got to paint a pumpkin, play some ring toss and lots of fun stuff.  The tattoos on her arms are still there even after a few baths.

I think she was protecting them.

Oh!!!  and she doesn't just call me Gah anymore!!!  I've graduated to Gah-ma!

Last night, while making her and Leon grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, she practiced by chanting, "Gah-ma Gah-ma Gah-ma Gah-ma"

WHAT?!  

*gah-ma gah-ma gah-ma*

I guess she's just practicing... to drive us crazy.

On Saturday evening, the kids, grands and I went to Living History Farms in Des Moines!

Meri got her obligatory pic with the Taylor tombstone there.

Aggie got candy.

And lots of photo ops to go around!

We haven't been here in years and in the past, they had volunteers sitting outside each of the little buildings in this museum of a town.  I'd always thought it would be cool to open the buildings up and let people see what's inside, like they do on school field trips.  Well, this year they did!

We got a lesson on how to use a printing press, another on how to make a watery tonic of some sort at the pharmacy and a quick class from the blacksmith as he pounded out a red hot piece of steel.

The story tellers were awesome and one of them, in particular, had been there for 30 years.  The kids and I recognized her voice, which was loud and clear.  She told one about a ghost that tugs on your thumb nail.  In the past, she'd told the memorable ones about the purple egg, the nonguama and the tailypo.  Those stories had stuck in the kids memories ever since and probably gave them nightmares, but they/we loved them!  There was no kettle corn to munch on this time, but that's ok.

We rounded out the evening with dinner at Perkins.  Their pies looked delish and some of the kids had some.  I enjoyed them from afar.

I got the rest of the Halloween decor put up Sunday, or was it Saturday?  Eh - over the weekend.  I had quite a little list of to dos this weekend and only skipped a few.

but the web turned out pretty cool!  And there's a ghostly thing on the porch and a very large spider in the lilacs under the pergola.

Someone closed a cabinet door a LITTLE too hard Sunday evening and it fell apart in pieces, some splintered.  This is the remaining cabinet door.

So yesterday, I called an old retired co-worker of ours that lives nearby and fixed another cabinet that had broken many years ago.  He has glue and clamps. :) and knowledge.

He agreed to fix it for me in return that I hem a couple pairs of his wife's pants. No problemo!

A little bartering never hurt anyone!

*I hope I don't screw up the pants!*

I found this photo over the weekend of the girls in my small church school.  I was the only senior that year.  All the other girls were in various lower grades with one of my sisters to the far right.  I showed it to Leon to see if he could tell which girl I was. 

Believe it or not, he currently looks almost identical to me!

Now.  Which one am I?

I had told him prior that when I was a little girl and couldn't take care of my hair, my mom had us get pixie short hair cuts, so he assumed that in high school, I still couldn't manage my hair...

um yes I could.  The pixie only happened a few times and I was REALLY little then.

In this photo, my hair was down to the lower/middle of my back.

I'm the one with long hair, 3rd from the right.

Anyway, back to work!  Have a beautiful day and SPOOKY week!!!

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.